Quid Sit?

…after a couple weeks off. Longer than normal, the readings just happened to touch a hobby horse of mine (and, no doubt, Pope Benedict XVI as well). (PDF)

PDF: Homily – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
(readings)

Memorial of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, priest (readings)

Poor Herod. The gospel writer tells us that Herod keeps trying to see the source of all the confusion and controversy, but he is unable. Herod is unable to see, to figure anything out, because Herod isn’t concerned with what’s really there, what the truth of the matter really is. Herod represents a kind of self-destructive tendency so prevalent in our culture today, in which we do everything we can to bend reality to suit individual desire. It’s impossible for Herod to see the Truth in Jesus Christ, because he is not at all concerned with the truth as it really is.

Contrast Herod with the figure of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, more commonly known to us as Padre Pio. Pio joined the Capuchin Franciscans at a very young age, and immediately dedicated himself to God. He was often in poor health, and suffered great spiritual trials. Beyond the stigmata Padre Pio is immediately famous for, he also underwent direct physical abuse from evil, malicious spirits, not to mention a public which was all too immediate to cast doubt upon a shy, holy priest who seemed to take no joy in being the cause of such attention.

For St. Pio, life was never about rewriting God such that he fit his own terms. Life was about living out his baptismal commitment in the unique way through which God called him. And because he was able to approach God as he really is, that he was able to catch a glimpse of the immalleable Truth.

Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time (readings)

If you dump me over at any given time, you’ll find a host of things falling from my person: cellphone, watch, wallet, pocket knife, keys, maybe a flashlight. I carry these things because I might need them at any given point during the day, and I don’t want to be caught without them.

We tend to hold on to stuff, to keep it with us just in case. Many a traveler has been caught cramming everything one might possibly need for a relatively short trip into a relatively small bag. On any given day, I don’t need half the stuff I carry with me, just as the traveler rarely needs two curling irons or an extra shoeshine kit.

We hold on to these things because we want to be safe. Certainly, we need to be prepared to meet duties and responsibilities; the traveler who neglects to take deodorant with him because he expects God to provide will soon find himself very unpopular amongst his fellows. But we tend to take it too far with material things: we want to be secure in the knowledge that we have everything we need with us, available in the moment, as if success or failure hinges upon whether or not we are able to take care of ourselves.

And yet, God reminds us that He alone ultimately gives us what we need, and it is He alone who takes care of us. It is only when we begin to cede control that we begin to grow more deeply in our sense of the divine.

In our spiritual lives, we tend to be our own worst enemies. Whenever it hits us that we need to reform some facet of our lives, whenever we feel that sense of invitation on Christ's part, we're often tempted to say, "But..." We're tempted to withdraw, to hesitate, to remain where we are because we see in our faults and limitations something that excludes us from Read the rest of this entry »