Just Do It

Just about everyone has heard of the Nike slogan “Just Do It.”  Although the origins of this slogan aren’t the best, advertising professionals selected it as one of the top two taglines of the 20th century.   Created in 1988, this slogan became successful because it was determined to be both “universal and intensely personal.”  Some professionals in the industry labeled the corresponding advertising campaign as “tough” and “take no prisoners” that was meant to target every American regardless of age and gender and status. Throughout the campaign, Nike famously hired well-known athletes to show that their brand was good enough for professionals.  In the end, Nike succeeded because their customers associated their purchases with the prospect of achieving greatness (just like their sports heroes).

As many of you know, today is the feast day of our Blessed Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan.  As I was sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament this afternoon, Nike’s silly slogan just wouldn’t leave my mind.  But I kept wondering why it kept popping up.  I figured I would pray the Luminous Mysteries today since the first mystery is the Lord’s Baptism and then my mind would refocus on Jesus…but it didn’t.  Once I started praying, the connection between His baptism and Nike’s slogan “Just Do It” hit me.

I know, as you are reading this, the connection probably seems pretty murky at best.  What would you say if I told you that this slogan not only relates to our Blessed Lord’s Baptism but also ties in very, very closely to the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary?  Let me explain.

As we read and heard Matthew’s account[1] of Jesus’ Baptism in mass today, we heard the very first words spoken by our Blessed Lord when He was starting his ministry.  He is addressing John the Baptist when John questions whether Jesus should be baptized.  And what are these words?  Well, depending on the translation, they are “Allow It;” “Give In;” or “Let It Be So.”  In other words, “Just Do It!”  Ring a bell??

In this context, Jesus was instructing John to do something that John didn’t necessarily want to do.  But what was Jesus really saying?  Jesus was telling John (in a nice way) do it My way not yours…even if you don’t understand why.  If I could only do the same…

What else was Jesus telling John?  We know that John didn’t want to baptize Jesus because he felt unworthy. Where else do we hear something similar? During Mass, we hear “Behold the Lamb of God!”[2]  Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world!  Who said that??  Oh yeah, it was John the Baptist. And what do we say in response?  We mimic John the Baptist and the Roman Centurion at the same time and say “Lord I am not worthy….”[3] Then, what do we do?  We allow it, give in, let it be so, and “Just Do It.” We receive communion, say yes to Jesus, and invite Him into our bodies and souls.

So you may be thinking…well that was a cute analogy that I could tie a popular message into the Gospel reading of the day.  But wait, the similarities between “Just Do It” and Jesus’ message don’t end there.  This theme carries on throughout the Luminous Mysteries, of which the Lord’s Baptism is the first.  After we hear “Just Do It” in the first Luminous Mystery, we wonder, could it appear over and over in the second, third, fourth and fifth?  Yes it does…loud and clear.  Booming in fact.

In the second Luminous Mystery, The Wedding Feast at Cana[4], what do we hear?  We hear Mary, the Mother of our Lord, say some pretty powerful words to the servants that have run out of wine.  What does she say?  She says “Do What He Tells You.”  Hmm…sounds a lot like “Just Do It” to me.  In fact, it is exactly the same.  Our mother is telling us precisely…Just Do It.  Do it His way, not yours.  Just do what He tells you to do and everything will work out just fine.

Ok, Ok…this must be just a coincidence that this idea/slogan keeps popping up. No, no…it keeps going.

In the Third Luminous Mystery, The Proclamation of the Kingdom[5], Jesus is heard directly commanding the people: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Moreover, throughout the Gospels we hear similar commands. In Mark 2: 10-11, Jesus commands the paralytic to get up and walk.[6]  In Luke 7: 50, Jesus commands the woman to Go in Peace.[7]  In John 20: 19-22, Jesus commands the apostles to receive the Holy Spirit and sends them out with the command to spread the Gospel.[8]  In each of these cases, what is that familiar phrase we keep hearing over and over again? Do it my way and you will find eternal life.  Do it my way and your sins will be forgiven.  Do it my way and you will be saved.  Just Do It!!

In the Fourth Luminous Mystery, the Transfiguration[9], the booming voice from Heaven is heard.  Can you just imagine it?  A deep rumbling voice that rumbles like thunder.  “This is my chosen Son”…..wait for it….wait for it…”LISTEN TO HIM!”  Just Do It Already!!   Is any more explanation needed???

As we come to the Fifth Luminous Mystery, The Institution of the Eucharist[10], you know what you are going to hear.  “Take and Eat!  This is my body! This is my Blood! Drink from it all of you!  Do this in memory of me![11]”  Yep, still the same message.  Just Do It!!  Do it my way and you will have eternal life.[12]

I know what you are thinking.  We are now at the end of the similarities.  It’s time to conclude.  Well….not exactly…there is one more concept that we need to consider.

As I mentioned above, why did Nike’s slogan “Just Do It” hit home?  Why was it successful?  There are a few reasons.  (1) The slogan was deemed to be “universal and intensely personal.”  (2) The ad campaign was described as “tough” and “take no prisoners” and was meant to target every American regardless of age, gender, etc.  (3) Nike’s customers associated their purchases with the prospect of achieving greatness because they saw their sports heroes using the brand.  Do I really need to explain the connection?  Well, I will and I will keep it short, I promise.

(1) – If Nike’s slogan is universal and intensely personal, how much more are the directions from Jesus, Mary, and God the Father?  When they tell you to “Just Do It!” what could be more personal than that?  Our Father, Mother, Brother, King, Lord, Judge, and Friend are all telling us the exact same thing.  Just Do It!   Who else is closer to our hearts than they are?  If you aren’t going to listen to them, who ARE you going to listen to??

(2) – If Nike’s ad campaign was tough and take no prisoners, and targeted each and every person, how much more hard hitting is Jesus’ message?  It doesn’t get any harder than being arrested, stripped, beaten, kicked, spit on, punched, crowned, pushed down, whipped, dragged, punctured, pierced, hung, and suffocated on a tree in the searing heat…when wholly and entirely innocent.  I’m sorry, whose message is tough and take no prisoners again??  Whose message touches the hearts of all people?

(3) – If Nike’s slogan inspired people to believe in the message because their heroes believed and performed, then just how much more of an example do we need?  Never mind that the Savior himself says JUST DO IT…Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul…the list goes on…all say the exact same thing.  In fact, EACH AND EVERY saint, blessed, venerable, angel, and soul in Heaven says the same thing.  JUST DO IT!  How many more heroes do we need?  To put it in sports terms, can you imagine if each and every hall of fame athlete from every single sport all said that one particular piece of equipment was the entire reason for their success???  What would we do?  We would go out and Just Do It!  Well, guess what…each and every angel and soul in Heaven is saying just that.  So when are we going to wake up and take it seriously.  When are we going to Just Do It??

So in the end, why was Nike successful?  They succeeded because their customers associated their purchases with the prospect of achieving the same greatness as their sports heroes.  What is more important than achieving the greatness of Heaven?!?  What more do we need to associate His way with Heaven?  What more do we need to show that His way is the best way?  What more do we need to see that our heroes in the faith achieved Heaven precisely because they did it His way?  When it comes right down to it…What exactly more do we need to realize that if we don’t “Just Do It” His way, we won’t achieve that greatness?!?

As we look back on the recurring theme, what do we really see?  We see Jesus, Mary, and God the Father all saying the same thing.  Just Do It!  Do what Jesus tells you.  Do it His way not your way.  We see all of our heroes in the faith saying the same thing.  Just Do It.  We see a universal and intensely personal message.  We see a hard hitting and take no prisoners mentality.  We see the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  So ask yourself, when are you going to Just Do It already?

I leave you with the following list of questions to ponder and with the following prayer:  Jesus, please help us to realize that Your way is the best way.  Help us to Just Do It Your way in our souls, families, jobs, and communities.  Help us to be meek and humble of heart and to realize that Your way is easy and your burden light.  Help us to find You, know You, and love You…and JUST DO IT ALREADY!   All through the intercession of your Mother…

Questions to Ponder:

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like saying the Rosary?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like going to morning mass?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like forgiving?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like going to confession?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like fasting?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like praying?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like letting go and letting God?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like trusting in him?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like tithing?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like evangelizing?

When are you going to Just Do It when you don’t feel like offering it up?

A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher, ridin’ on a midnight bus bound for Mexico. One was headed for vacation, one for higher education, and two of them were searchin’ for lost souls.

That driver never ever saw the stop sign…and eighteen wheelers can’t stop on a dime…

That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres, the faith and love for growin’ things in his young son’s heart. That teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children – Did her best to give ’em all a better start. And that preacher whispered “Can’t you see the Promised Land?…as he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker’s hand…

That’s the story that our preacher told last Sunday. As he held that blood-stained bible up, for all of us to see. He said: “Bless the farmer, and the teacher…and the preacher who gave this Bible to my mamma…Who read it to me!”

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway.  Why there’s not four of them, Heaven only knows. I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you. It’s what you leave behind you when you go.

——-

I’m not sure how many of you are Randy Travis fans, but those are the lyrics to a song “Three Wooden Crosses” [1] that he made fairly popular a few years ago.

There are many things that we can glean from thinking about a scenario such as this.  But I want to focus on two questions that are very simple, yet never seemingly understood…at least by many (young) people.

The first question is – (1) Where was God when this happened? This question is subtly different from the second question which is – (2) Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?  Although these are age old questions, it never hurts to review the answers.  The answers aren’t nearly as difficult as people make them out to be.  However, they are admittedly not as clear cut as many would like.  In this article, we will address the first question.  In the next article (i.e., Part II of the story), we will address the second question.

At the onset, the most important concept to understand is that God knows everything that will ever happen and has either willed it (good) or has allowed it to happen (evil). Period.  This seems fairly straightforward.  In fact, many of you are probably saying “DUH!” of course that’s true…everyone knows that!  I would disagree.  I don’t think its obvious and certainly not all that many people truly understand this concept.  Let me explain.

He Is:

First, we must remember that God IS.  He has no past, present, or future. He is eternal and is existence itself.  He is pure act and pure potential at the same time.  In fact, He isn’t even a “He.”  He Is existence.

Remember when Moses spoke to God, He said that His name is “I AM.”  He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  He is the same now as he was in the beginning and is the same as he will be in the end.  But wait…if He IS…then how can there be a beginning and an end??  Well, it comes as no surprise that these concepts of time are themselves limiting.  God stands outside of time and thereby is not constrained by time.  Therefore, the ideas of “beginning” and “end” have no meaning in themselves. Although God is the alpha and the omega…the beginning and the end…these concepts are human concepts and are merely attempts by our human minds to better understand God.   Rule number 1 – We can’t understand the eternity of God.  We simply must remember that He IS.

Rule number 2 is to remember that God does not actively “will” evil.  That is impossible.  The “Is” that is God is pure goodness.  Pure goodness cannot produce evil.  In fact, evil doesn’t exist in and of itself…it is the absence of good.  Accordingly, how could pure goodness produce something that is the absence of itself…ugh…it can make your head hurt and that is a concept for a whole different discussion.  So just remember, God does not “will” evil – He allows choices to be made that are not pure goodness.

Movie Reels:

Moving on – since He Is, the (human) concept of time unfolds in front of Him.  We can imagine a movie on a reel being rolled out in front of us on a long table.  If we imagine ourselves as God, and the movie as the story of creation, we can walk up and down the table looking at any frame that we choose.  We can look at the beginning of the reel on the far left and see Adam and Eve.  We can look at the far right end of the reel and see the end of “time” as humans know it…culminating in the end of the world, the resurrection of the body, etc.  In fact, we could look at any individual frame and see exactly what is happening at any point in time.  But unlike God, we would simply be outsiders looking in and observing what is happening on the movie reel.  But you get the general idea.[2]

To go a little further with this concept, we should also appreciate that God doesn’t even have to look at the movie reel to know what is happening!  Even that is a human concept.  He only needs to look at Himself.

Remember, God is not some mythical sky figure that has a big checklist with the Ten Commandments written down in columns.  He doesn’t walk the sky putting a check next to each commandment that we break.  Our own consciences keep track of that.  He simply Is…and for that reason, knows all, in one instant, that will happen or that will not happen.  He needs only to look at himself to know all.

Is God In the Movie?

So if we would just be outsiders looking in and observing what is happening on the movie reel, then what would God be doing?  Would He be in the movie?  The short answer is Yes!  The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us!  God injected, and continues to inject, Himself into the movie reel to save us!  So the short answer to the age old question is yes – God was there when the 18-wheeler hit the bus.  He was fully aware and was watching (if we want to use human terms).  Said differently, He was and is acting in the moving.

However, participation in the movie does not at all mean that God causes any one particular thing to happen any more than a certain actor in a movie causes something to happen. This is the key concept of Part I of this article.  Foreknowing is not Forecausing.  (That actually should be the title but I wanted to go for something a little more catchy!)

Foreknowing is not Forecausing

Ok, so what does this phrase really mean?  It means that just because Gods knows that something is going to happen does not mean that He causes (or actively wills) it to happen.

For example, if I am looking out my window and I see two cars speeding at each other, I may know that they are going to collide, but it does not mean that I caused the accident.  Ehh.. most people don’t seem to understand this concept.

Similarly, if I fast forward a movie and know the end, does that mean that I caused the ending to happen???  Of course not.

I guess this concept is harder to grasp and accept when you are talking about the creator of the universe and infinite power.  Most people seem to be unable to grasp the concept that if God sees a bad thing coming on the movie reel, why would He just sit back and let it happen?  That question is precisely the question of why does God let bad things happen to good people…but that is the subject of Part II.

Back to the Bus…

So back to the people on the bus…and the question at hand…where was God on impact???  (Some other people extend this concept to “Where was God during the hurricane, the holocaust, etc.  The answer is the same…it may just be harder to accept)

Well, we know that God knew that the eighteen wheeler was going to hit the bus.  He looked ahead on the movie reel and saw that it would happen.  That’s easy.

We know that God knew that three people were going to die while the hooker was going to live, the bus driver was going to live, and the driver of the eighteen wheeler was going to live.  That was also on the movie reel.  Again, an easy answer.

We also know that just because He knew what would happen does not mean that He caused it to happen.  Point in fact, the eighteen-wheeler driver and the bus driver caused the crash.  Again, relatively easy.

Moreover, we also know that God could have injected Himself into that precise moment of the movie at any point if He wanted, i.e., if He willed it.  So where was He???

Well, we know that God was there.  He was there.  Plain and simple.  He is omnipresent.  Again, easy answer.

At this point you may be saying – Don’t play word games with me…if He was there, then why didn’t he save those people???  Again, that is a question for Part II.

The question of Part I was – where was God on impact?  I just answered it.  He was there.  He knew the crash would happen, knew the movie, and was there. He didn’t cause the crash but was there.  End of story.

But since that’s probably not a satisfying answer, I will leave you with this…who is to say that He didn’t actively save the lives of the people that lived??  Maybe He did act.  That we will never know.  As the song says…”Heaven only knows…”

Till next time…

God Bless,

M

Many of you are probably familiar with one of the most famous Seinfeld episodes of all time.  The actual title of the episode is “Soup Nazi” and, for those of you who don’t know, Jerry, George and Elaine go out to a new soup stand Kramer has been raving about.[1]  Its owner is referred to as the “Soup Nazi,” due to his harsh temperament and insistence on a very strict manner of behavior while ordering.  As the episode progresses, the owner explains to Kramer that he demands perfection of himself, his soup, and his customers. When the customers screw up their order, even a little bit, they get kicked out of line.  When that happens, the owner yells, “No soup for you!” In some cases, the owner even bans them from coming back for a year!

 So how does any of this relate to a teaching of the Church?  Well, when I was watching this episode recently, it struck me that these same concepts can be related to the concepts of Purgatory and Heaven.  Yep, I’m serious.  But don’t worry, this post is really short and to the point!

Ok, so just to be clear…yes, Catholics must believe in Purgatory because it is a defined doctrine of the faith.  But what is Purgatory?  Well, in 1 Peter 3:19 (as explained in the last post about Limbo), the author describes that, after His death on the cross (but before His resurrection), Jesus went to preach to the spirits “in prison.”  Clearly, that does not refer to the souls in Hell because nothing can be done to help them.  Similarly, that passage can’t describe the souls in Heaven because Heaven was not opened until after the Resurrection.  Therefore, it can be assumed that Jesus went to visit the souls in Purgatory (or perhaps one of the versions of limbo, depending on how you want to describe it.)  Similarly, in 2 Maccabees 12:46, the author states that it is holy and wholesome to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins.  Again, this thought clearly does not apply to the souls in Heaven or Hell.  All that said, Purgatory is taught to be a place wherein souls are purified before continuing their journey to Heaven.  Yes, all souls in Purgatory eventually reach Heaven.  The souls in Purgatory are from those people who died in a state of grace but who had even one venial sin on their soul and/or had to suffer the temporal punishment due to previous sin even if they died without sin.

But ok, getting back to the Soup Nazi…how in the world does that relate to Heaven and Purgatory??  Hah, hold on for this analogy!  In some ways, I think that we can relate Heaven to the soup line…both require perfection! Except, for those in the soup line, there is no Purgatory…its all or nothing! In the soup line, if the customers screw up at all, i.e., if they are not 100% perfect, they get kicked out of line and get no soup. They can even get banned.  If we screw up at all in our life, even the smallest venial sin, we are, by definition, unfit for the perfection of Heaven.  In that situation (without Purgatory) we could also expect to be kicked out of the line for Heaven and told “No Heaven For You!”  We wouldn’t even be lucky enough to be banned for a short period of time.  Nope…in that case, we would go straight down!

In some ways, God is like the soup maker…he demands perfection from all of us (Matthew 5:48).  However, unlike the customers in the soup line, God gives us one last chance to get our soup in Heaven.  He doesn’t condemn us for making small mistakes.  So thank God for Purgatory, because without Purgatory, not too many souls would be making it through the Pearly Gates!

God Bless,

M

So I just can’t help thinking about the topic of limbo without humming that catchy tune…and now it is stuck in my head…so here is a link.[1]  May it haunt you the way it haunts me!  In fact, I think it should be required listening in the background when reading this post!  hahaha

But on a more serious note, if we are going to talk about Jack and the state of his immortal soul, we first have to figure out when Jack lived and (generally) how old he was.  Wait…huh?  You thought limbo was just for unbaptized babies didn’t you!  Well, the answer is both yes and no.

First of all, there is no “official” church teaching about limbo.  The concept has arisen and has been passed down based on theological speculation.  For that reason, you can choose to believe in limbo or choose to believe[2] that limbo does not exist, well at least the limbo relating to infants.[3]

Back to the idea at hand, the concept of limbo swirls around the question of what happens to people that die in original sin but, apart from that, die without any personal sin.  The people that die in this condition are typically categorized into two groups: (1) the fathers of the faith that died before Jesus made redemption possible and (2) unbaptized babies.

The limbo of the fathers (also called Limbus Patrum) is a name coined by medieval theologians when speaking about a certain outer portion of hell.  Typically, those theologians agreed that the limbo of the fathers was a temporary place that allowed the souls present therein to be in a generally happy condition, but not in the eternal bliss of Heaven.  The limbo of the fathers is also thought to be replaced by a condition of final and permanent bliss after a Messianic Kingdom is established.[4]

In the New Testament, the limbo of the fathers is described  in many different ways.  For example, it is described as a banquet[5], a marriage feast[6], the bosom of Abraham[7], paradise[8], the lowers parts of the earth[9], and even as prison[10]. In addition, this idea was taught by Clement of Alexandria.[11]

So if Jack died a long time ago…and did so without any serious sin…then maybe he is still in Abraham’s stomach…or bosom…or whatever that word means…or maybe he is sitting at a table at an eternal wedding feast.  Oh goodness…if that’s true, I hope that silly limbo song is not playing over, and over, and over….Maybe prison would be better than that!  Maybe not.*

Ok, so back to Jack…what if Jack was a baby?  The limbo of infants (i.e., unbaptized babies) is also called Limbus Infantium.  This concept is, in essence, a hypothesis about what happens to unbaptized babies who do not have any personal sin but who were not yet freed from original sin. There is no definite statement about this type of limbo made in the New Testament.  However, if we look to John 3:5, we see that Jesus says we must be born again of water and the Holy Spirit.  In addition, in Romans 5:12, St. Paul teaches that men are born into the world in a state of sin (and thus would then need baptism and rebirth).  Similarly, Scripture and Tradition teach that the methods of rebirth and regeneration are not available after death such that those people who are not reborn are forever excluded from the beatific vision.[12]

In olden times, the Council of Florence stated that baptism was necessary even for children[13], which basically affirmed the previous teachings of the Council of Carthage that took place in the year 417.  In addition, the Council of Florence stated that those people who die in the state of original sin go to hell.

However, over time, Catholic opinion has clearly developed that unbaptized children are not sent to a place of suffering.[14]  To that end, some theologians hypothesize that the limbo of infants is a place of maximum natural happiness.  Other theologians hypothesize that this limbo is a place of least possible punishment.

In fact, in 1980, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that we must entrust unbaptized babies to the mercy of God.[15]  Then, in 1992, the Catechism affirmed that while the Church does not know of any means other than Baptism to assure salvation, God is not bound by the sacraments.[16]  Even more recently, in a document entitled “The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized” the International Theological Commission opines that Heaven may be possible for unbaptized babies.[17]

So all that said, maybe it doesn’t really matter how old Jack is/was or when he lived.  We can be fairly certain (if we want to believe) that Jack is experiencing eternal happiness.

So the next time you see a limbo stick or hear that….song….maybe you will think of Jack and wonder just where he went…

This week’s entry is from the very smart and talented Ms. Giroux…enjoy…

———-

Truth is real and accessible to anyone who cares enough to look for it.  However, sometimes the truth, even though accessible, can be hard to comprehend.  Nevertheless, we are all called to spread the truth and to let the world know that the truth is not just a something but a somebody.

In today’s world of misleading headlines and social media, where anybody can proclaim their perception of truth, whatever is most captivating and presented with the most style is often considered the “truth.”  Regardless of the credibility of the message, the most convincing speaker always seems to win.  But before you bite my head off for sounding like a relativist, I am not saying that the truth changes.  What people perceive to be the truth can change, from person to person.  To clarify, we are not talking about whether Taco Bell is the best fast food chain. I don’t think there is any objective and unchanging truth in the answer to that question.  No, instead, in this post, we are talking about the Truth himself…the truth of the Gospel.  There is no “maybe” or “depends on who you ask” element to this Truth.  This Truth is eternal, unchanging, and solid rock upon which we are all called to base our lives.  However, how that Truth is expressed does really depend on who you ask…and thats not necessarily a bad thing!

First lets start with the question of why do you have faith (i.e., why do you believe in the Truth)? Different people say different things.  Some people say “God is the only logical explanation to life.” Other people say “I feel the presence of God in my life.” Still others say “The intimate relationship I have with Jesus is more real than any human interaction.”  Even others say “If there is no God, how can science explain this, that, or the next thing?”

What is clear is that there are many different reasons for each of us to have our faith.  In the same way, the Truth can be expressed in many different ways to many different people without watering it down or changing it.  Ultimately, all Christians understand God to be the way, the truth, and the light, because that is what He said.  But why are there so many different reasons for faith, if all faith is the same way, truth, and light?  If He is the way, the truth, and the light then why are there people who don’t believe?

God knows each of us, individually.  He knows how to communicate His truth to every man, woman and child.  He knows what we need and what we are capable of understanding.  He knows everything about us.  If God didn’t know us, He could not have revealed Himself to us in the different ways that He has throughout history.

Maybe think of it this way…when you want to invite a multitude of people to an event, is there a universal form of communication that works for everyone? Nope.  Some people use Facebook, Twitter, email, texting, and some people don’t have any of those so you can only mail them a letter or go visit.  Regardless of how we communicate, we all want that personal invitation.  God knows that if he emails someone like my mom or sends a text to someone like my dad, they will not receive the invitation.  He communicates with each of us in the best way for us…because he knows us better than we know ourselves.  In the same way, we are called to spread the Truth to the world in the best way that we know how…and that way may change from person to person or group to group.

There are many different ways in which God expresses His love for us.  To name just a few, we think of creation, scripture, Tradition (oral and written), consolation, desolation, other people, the Cross of Christ, life circumstances, etc…  The list goes on.  God knows you.  He knows how to get the message to you. Faith stories all have similarities but there are no two alike.  This is one of the many ways that show how intimate our relationship is with our Creator.  God uses different instruments or forms of communication to show His love, grace, and existence to different people.  As followers of Christ, we play a vital role in this line of communication between God and man.

We are those instruments.  The mission of the Church is to spread the good news and to share the Gospel.  It is our duty to share what we have been blessed with, the truth.  When you think about a musical instrument, different people play different instruments and reach different audiences.  God has blessed each of us with a distinct set of gifts, but as a Church we have the ability to reach the entire world.

You may be familiar with the phrase, “You will be the only Bible some people ever read.”  This concept can be quite frightening when we look back each day and think that the people we interacted with may have only had one opportunity to meet Christ and it was through us.  Is that a little too much pressure?  Maybe.  But why should we have to make the effort when nobody wants to have anything to do with God?  They have just as easy access as we do to the Gospel.  Why is it up to us?

We are Catholic and have the fullness of the truth which makes it is easy for us to keep it to ourselves.  The world not wanting anything to do with Christianity makes it even easier to keep it to ourselves.  Why should we come out of our comfort zones when nobody really cares?  Jesus said so, that’s why! (Check out the Bible if you don’t believe me.)  Some people will not accept the Gospel; this is where trust becomes essential.  When you are trying to introduce someone to a friend, Jesus Christ, you cannot force them to like Him or accept Him. That is between them and God.  It is our duty to bring the love of God to our neighbor.  The only thing we are required to do is to love.  We love them by sharing the Gospel with them.  But we should try and share the Truth with them in the way that they can best understand it.  It will do no good to try to explain the Truth to someone in a foreign language or using foreign concepts.

To share a message, you need to know the message and your audience.  To share the Gospel with the world, we need to know the Gospel and the world.  Without knowing either, evangelization is not possible.  Nobody is going to listen to a complete stranger.

God reveals Himself to us individually. We have been blessed with the grace to recognize the truth.  Thanks be to God, the truth has set us free and we are free to love.  As inconvenient and challenging it can be, it is our duty to love our neighbor.  Loving our neighbor consists in revealing to them their dignity, self-worth, and purpose in life – happiness.  However, we are called to this in a way that they can best understand.

In the end, it is our duty to spread the Gospel of truth and the Gospel of Love.  But let’s not be afraid to express it in different ways to different people.  The Truth is unchanging, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be re-packaged, re-explained, and brought to life using different means and different techniques than we’ve ever done before.  As long as the core message is dead centered on Jesus, I hope that it does actually all depend on who you ask…at least in terms of the delivery, the style, the language, the enthusiasm, and the emphasis…because if that is true, then it means that we are all engaged in preaching the Truth in our own way.  What a great problem to have!

Oh Man…who knew that Anna Mae Bullock was 73 this year!  She sure was a looker back in the day.  Seemed like everyone….Wait…Wait…Wait…What do you mean you have no idea who Ms. Bullock is??? “It’s Physical…Only logical[1]”…flipping her hair…that ring a bell? Ehhh…never mind its not important anyway.

The important thing that we are looking at this week is what love is…at least, in its highest and most perfected level…or as some would say…“True Love.”  But heads up!  This post isn’t politically correct or soft.  This post doesn’t pull any punches.  In fact, this post was basically written on the fly as I was debating two atheists on a local blog about DOMA, gay marriage, and the inherent lack of true love exhibited therein.  That said, read on at your own risk!  😉

Ok, so back to the issue at hand…Some, like Ms. Bullock, would sing – “The touch of a hand makes her pulse react – That it’s only a thrill of boy meeting girl…That you must try to ignore that it means more than that.”  Boy is she wrong…it’s a cheap way to define love.  But hey, it seems to work in today’s culture.  How sad.  How cheap.  Like trading diamonds for dung.

St. Thomas Aquinas defined love as the willing of the good of another[2] and wanting the absolute best for the other person.  As a matter of fact, it’s even more than that. Love is no less than acting to make “the best” real for the beloved.  We all know that the best for the other person is Heaven itself…nothing less. If love is “only physical,” then it can’t possibly be wanting the best for the other person. Can It?

Well, lets get one thing out of way straight up.  Love, in its highest and most perfected sense, is not an emotion or feeling or something that “happens” to us. Love is not limited to, or for that matter, limited by, sexual attraction or romantic feelings.  However, those things can be part of love.  They just cannot be true love itself.  If “love” is limited to just sex or just attraction then its not love at all.

Love, in its highest sense, is a choice, an act of the will – something we do.  When Jesus was hanging on the cross, I think it’s a pretty safe assumption to say that he wasn’t thrilled to be up there and wasn’t exactly “happy,” at least in the modern understanding of the word. Nevertheless, he made the conscious choice to want the best for all of us…Heaven…no matter how it made him feel as a man…no matter how much it physically or emotionally hurt. That is true love!

Some people mock this definition of love and say that it is too simple, rudimentary, or even juvenile.  I argue that this definition of love is absolutely rudimentary, absolutely simple, and absolutely juvenile – all in the best way. Love is pure simplicity Himself. It is pure act, pure potency, and eternal.  Love is also purely juvenile because it gives without asking in return and isn’t deterred by “adult” emotions of jealousy, irritation, anger, or anything else.  Love just is. This crazy culture, with all of its “intellectuals,” wants to muck up the definition of love and add all sorts of other words or concepts so that they can manipulate the definition in whatever way suits their situation. Not good.

The current culture hammers us with the idea that sex equals love, and love equals happiness, so therefore sex must equal happiness.  If we apply St. Thomas’ definition, then I think it becomes clear that wanting the best for the other is not sex, is not a pleasurable feeling in the glands, its not an orgasm into the orifice of choice, and is not eros. The best is much greater and higher than any physical act could ever be.  The best is fulfillment at the deepest of levels leading the other person to no less than Christ himself.

Unfortunately, some relationships in this culture are capped at the physical level. At their most intimate, some end with the sexual act.  Sometimes this type of relationship is evidenced as a same sex relationship.  Other times, this type of relationship exists when heterosexual contraception is used.  In still other situations, the relationship is limited at the physical level when a husband or a wife is seen solely as a provider, or as a caretaker, or as any “thing.”

None of these types of relationships evidence true love…not even close.  These types of relationships turn a human being into a human “doing.” They change a person into an “it.” They disregard our natural design and reduce us to an object…of pleasure, of work, or of anything. Such a transformation can never be the best for the other. It replaces purpose with feeling. It replaces purpose with act. The person becomes the thing that brings pleasure, or money, or fun, and therefore becomes replaceable. And just to be clear, this unfortunate conversion can happen in any type of relationship.

All authentic love results in incarnation of some type. Relative to sexual intimacy, the best and authentic love is the biological reception of man by woman and woman by man. It is the absolute giving of all that you have, by each party, and the absolute reception of that gift by the other, within the sacrament of marriage.  It is entry into the very creative power of God himself, which is infinitely greater than the act itself.

For many couples, this love results in a physical incarnation of children.  Hah…that’s easy.

But what about infertile couples? For these couples, their love is open to life but that life may never come in the form of a child.  However, these couples can still exhibit the true and highest form of love based on the marital act of full donation and acceptance…even if new life is absolutely impossible. The idea here is that that the sexual union is total, complete (as much as possible), and biologically based. This love is true and authentic because it is of the type that can result in new life.

Relative specifically to the idea of “incarnation”, the true donative love of infertile people is incarnated as a total giving of oneself to the spouse and still acting in a way that represents what is the best for them. In essence, the husband and the wife are incarnating a new life in themselves of total service and giving to the other. There is no substitution here. There is no transforming of the person into an “it” or an object here.  The person’s procreative potential (although maybe never fully realized) is still never cut off or purposely frustrated.

But moving even further, what about an otherwise “loving” couple that uses contraception?  Well, at its basic level, using contraception also converts the spouse from a person to an “it.” If I treat my wife as merely an object that gives me pleasure, by my artificially blocking my donation to her or her to me, then I fall into the same trap described below relative to homosexual relations. That is not true love.

If I cannot share myself…all of myself…with my spouse, and be received by my spouse 100%, then the unitive concept of love and marriage is broken. There is not full donation and there is not full acceptance. At the very deepest level, by doing this, I am saying to my spouse that you can have all of me…except…

This type of “rejection”, from the person that I am closest to and in most union with in the entire world, is not healthy. It is saying that I want 99% of you but don’t you dare give me that last 1%. Such actions do not evidence true love. They may be “close” but they aren’t genuine and authentic. Just like above, they are cheap counterfeits.

(Congrats to all of you for still reading at this point and for not giving up on this post because it is a bit in-your-face and a bit direct! Although I would like to say that I apologize for offending anyone, I cannot apologize for describing the Truth.  And so, for that reason, I go on…)

Ok, so now some of you are probably also asking, how can a person living a celibate life “love” in such as a way as to result in an incarnation? For those living the vocation of celibacy, their love, i.e., their best, is the service of others to their absolute maximum, leading the others to Christ. Their love is the total giving of self to the service of this world for the absolute best of other people, putting themselves second or even third.  This love results in an incarnation that is not physical but that is spiritual.

Still others may also be wondering whether the aforementioned definition of love means that people with same sex attraction can never “love.” Again, lets be clear – every single human being, no matter their sex, gender, identity, attraction, etc., is capable of, and is required to exhibit, the highest form of love.  That is precisely how we get to Heaven.  Loving God first and loving our neighbor as ourself..or, said differently, loving our neighbor into Heaven, is what we MUST do. As a child of God, each of us is capable of this love.  In fact, with sanctifying grace, each of us is capable of loving as Jesus loved – yes even to hang on a cross.

Make no mistake, love is a choice. If Male 1 and Male 2 “love” each other, then they must want the best for each other (i.e., Heaven), as outlined above. And, yes, this love involves tough choices of living chastely and for the other.  No one ever said that love was easy.  If we paid more attention to the cross, the complaint of “love is hard” wouldn’t even cross our minds!

If these men live as brothers, then absolutely they can exhibit the highest form of love, regardless of their attraction or their inclination. No doubt about it. However, once they choose to have sex together, they have not chosen love. They have chosen eros. They have replaced the dignity of the other (and of self) with a counterfeit. They have replaced the person with an action.  They have capped their relationship at the sexual level which, again, is no where near the depth of true love.

If I love another person, I want the absolute best for them. I want them to reach their best and ultimate fulfillment. I want them to be deeply happy and joyful to their core.  True and perfected love does not, and cannot, affirm self-destructive practices or the limitation of the other person by a destructive and malicious culture. True love does not support the lies of this culture, the do whatever-you-want abuse of freedom, or the changing of human being into objects of lust and pleasure.  True love does not grasp at second-rate substitutes for happiness and fulfillment.  True love does not grab onto the garbage that this culture slings at us and uses to try to convince us that we are happy when we are sexual.

If we truly love, we want the source of happiness itself…which is true, unending, sacrificial love, that leads to the incarnation of life. We want the power itself, not some crappy counterfeit. Taking a person and making them an “it” or an object – for whatever reason (not just with sex) – is never OK, is never respectful, is never an acknowledgement of the other person’s dignity, and is never…ever…true, highest, and perfected love.  Anything less than true sacrificial love of the other is flat out highway robbery of the dignity of the human person and deceit of the worst kind.  Let’s not go there…not now…not ever…not even with a gun to our heads.  Love is a somebody…so lets start acting like it!

Ohhhhhh…and I almost forgot about Ms. Bullock and her crappy definition of love and sex.  Well, maybe she never knew what love really was.  Maybe she never witnessed the real deal. Maybe no one ever worked to make the best real for her.  Hah…Ike may never have.  But Tina Turner should have known better.  Tina Turner, with all of her pop cultural influence, should have explained it better.  Tina Turner should have been a better example for the youth.  So let’s pray for all of the new Ms. Bullocks/Tina Turners that are just coming up, that they provide a better example of love, a better example of wanting the best for the other, and a better example of leading others to true happiness and true love Himself.

God Bless

So are Jerry and George really a gay couple?  What about Bert and Ernie, or maybe Thelma and Louise…or maybe even R2D2 and C3PO???[1] Not that there is anything wrong with that! [2] And who cares anyways…right?  I mean, if God made me this way, it must be good…and God would not want me to be unhappy…and remember Jerry, it’s not a lie if YOU believe it!   Yikes!!  Where to begin?!?!

Church Teaching:

Ok, well let’s start at the beginning…with same sex attraction.  The church clearly teaches that it is not objectively sinful or immoral to have same sex attraction or, in the vernacular, to “be” gay, bisexual, etc. To say it more formally, a person is not morally culpable for such an attraction if the attraction is not subject to free will, i.e., is not consciously chosen.  Nevertheless, the attraction itself, whether chosen or not, is objectively disordered[3].  The attraction predisposes a person toward what is not good.  It leads the person down the wrong path.

WHOA – WAIT A MINUTE – IS THE CHURCH REALLY SAYING THAT A PERSON IS DISORDERED OR DEFECTIVE?!?!

NO!  Lets be clear, the Church never ever says that[4]!

All people, no matter their sex, gender, attraction, or identity, can have disordered attractions, passions, and desires.  Yet not one of them…not a single one…is defective, rejected, hated, worth any less, or is any less loved as a child of God.

Some people may have a disordered attraction to money, others to power, others to envy, others to sex, and still others to gluttony.  Many heterosexuals have a disordered attraction to sex.  Some of these attractions are chosen and some are not. Some are more serious and some are less serious. [5] Nevertheless, none of them lead towards the good…towards towards Truth…towards Life.

To be clear, the Church is not casting judgment on the value of a person. The Church is not saying that the person, as a whole, is disordered. Perhaps most importantly, the Church is absolutely not saying that the person is hated or has been rejected by God!

Quite the opposite, the Church consistently and universally teaches that every single person has co-equal dignity and an eternal unfathomable value to the Lord no matter what attraction they have or what sin they commit. God created every human person out of love and wishes to grant them eternal life in the communion of the Trinity.[6]

It’s really quite simple when you dig into it.  All people are created in the image and likeness of God and thus possess an innate human dignity that must be acknowledged and respected at all times.[7]  The Church teaches that persons with a homosexual inclination “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.”[8] In other words, we, as Catholics, must respect the dignity of all persons whether we perceive them to be saints or sinners, good or bad.

All of us are children of God and tabernacles of the Lord.  We must stand up for the human dignity and respect of our brothers and sisters, even if we disagree with their choices or lifestyle.[9]  Even more, we must love them…past all of their sin, past any disordered attraction, and past any weakness.  We must choose to love them and want the best for them (Heaven) precisely because of all of that and pray for them very much.

Alright…so at this point you are probably tired of reading about attraction and want to move on from the potential to the actual.  Well, its not rocket science.  The Church unambiguously teaches that voluntarily acting on a same sex attraction or entertaining same sex temptations is objectively sinful and immoral.  Seems pretty cut and dry, so I won’t muck it up with any additional words.

So here we find ourselves, probably with a head swirling about attraction versus action, potential versus real, and everything in between.  But just what are we to do in this culture when confronting same sex attraction and it’s elevation by the culture to a “norm”? Good question!  The answer is simple – Love our brothers and sisters very much and pray for them in front of the Blessed Sacrament for the cross that they have to bear.  Pray for society and for a recognition and respect for human dignity.  Pray the Rosary!

But for those of you that want something a little more concrete, the Bishops have established some guidelines for us to follow.[10] For example, we should: encourage members of our Catholic Community who have same sex attraction to fully and actively participate in the sacraments; support their efforts to live a life of chastity and integrity; welcome them into Catholic Communities; encourage those living in accord with Church teaching to take an active role in the life of the faith community; and, perhaps most importantly, love all of them (Catholic or not, Christian or not, theist or atheist) with everything we have and everything we are by praying for them very much and very often.

And so, as we conclude and ponder Jerry’s and George’s exclamations, lets remember Church teaching and the inherent dignity of every human person. Let’s remember that every one of us, regardless of attraction, action, or inclination, is a child of God, has an inestimable worth and value, and deserves to be treated with the dignity of the King’s kid at all times…nothing less.  But let’s not forget the objective Truth, the Eternal Word that is the source, center, and summit of life itself, and fall into the trap of calling good evil and evil good…because that would be a lie, whether you believe it or not, and yes Jerry, there is something very definitely wrong with THAT!

God Bless

No, there is no typo.  This entry is not about the now famous tag-line “Don’t Taze Me Bro!”  It’s about wrestling and tag-team partners.  Yes, I know, yet another odd topic for a Catholic blog!  But at least you are reading it…so mission accomplished!

 So how many of you are familiar with the movie Talladega Nights???[1] Ok, so if you are familiar with this movie, I can ask you how many of you think of Jesus as 8 lb. 6 oz. Baby Jesus or, as Will Ferrell says, “Baby God” or “Christmas Jesus”? (Maybe to be more reverent, we should talk about the Infant of Prague, but I digress.)  Do any of you think of Jesus like Cal Naughton Jr. does… wearing a tuxedo shirt because he wants to be formal but also wants to party…or as the lead singer at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert?!?  How about as teenage Jesus, or as bearded Jesus, or as a ninja fighting off evil spirits?? (For those of you who still have zero idea what I am talking about, click on the link[2].  For those of you that went to the most recent Steubenville youth conference, think of the Chris Padgett Arm-Wrestling Jesus).  Well, sometimes I think of Jesus as a WWF wrestler[3]…as my tag team partner who is just waiting to be tagged in…and so begins this entry.  So lets take a closer look at the main wrestling story of the Bible, Genesis 32:22-32[4].

In this story, Jacob tricked his brother Esau into giving up his birthright and received the blessing from his father Isaac by taking advantage of Isaac’s blindness.  Obviously, once Esau found out, he became very angry…probably angry enough to kill Jacob.  As a result, Jacob ran away from home to live with his relatives.  After some time, Jacob eventually decided to return home and face Esau.  However, as he was on his way home, he was suddenly met by an unknown man in the middle of the night and wrestled with him.  Because it was dark, Jacob could not see who he was wrestling with.  In fact, he was probably thoroughly confused.  Maybe Jacob thought the man was a robber.  Maybe Jacob thought that the attacker was one of Esau’s men sent to kill him. The text does not specify the identity of the attacker but, in Hebrew, the word used indicates a “man” in the generic sense…probably to keep the reader guessing as to who exactly was the attacker. Nevertheless, Jacob battles with all his strength.

For the reader, it is hard to tell who is winning the battle. At the beginning, Jacob seems to be stronger, but yet Jacob doesn’t win.  In fact, the attacker injures Jacob’s hip so that he is hobbled.  However, Jacob refuses to give in and says that he will not let go of his attacker unless the attacker blesses him.  But the attacker instead asks Jacob his name, which Jacob gives him.  In a Biblical sense, knowing someone’s name implies having power over that person.  Accordingly, when Jacob tells the attacker his name, he is, in essence, surrendering to the attacker.   After the wrestling match is over, and Jacob survives, it is revealed that Jacob was wrestling with God and Jacob is given a new name (Israel).  The new name is symbolic of Jacob’s new life after surrendering entirely to God.

In this story, Jacob faced an attacker, in the middle of the night, and didn’t give up.  He had no idea why he was being attacked or even who was attacking him.  Maybe he doubted that God was even there to help him or that God even existed.  But through all of that, Jacob battled on!

Ok Ok, enough old stuff.  At this point, you are probably wondering just how I am going to tie this story back into my mental image of Jesus as a WWF wrestler.  Well, at some point, we need to surrender to God and not wrestle with him.  For me, that means I need to tag Jesus in as my wrestling partner (not my adversary), put all my trust in Him, and trust that He will win the battle for me.  Yes, even if I doubt that God exists…I reach out and make the tag anyways.

Think about it…during the wrestling match, God saw that Jacob was clinging to Him with his entire strength and refused to let go.  But why would God then injure Jacob? God injured Jacob so that Jacob would be humble and realize that he needed to be totally dependent on God.  Only once Jacob was injured and humbled, was he able to trust in God totally, tag-in God, and let God fight his battles for him.  Maybe, in our lives, when things are at the darkest, God (Jesus,) is just waiting for us to say “uncle” – You Win! – I give it all to you!

There are times in life when we are faced with situations that seem dark.  Sometimes, we may think that we are in total spiritual darkness, that God isn’t listening or that God doesn’t even exist.  In these cases, we always try to win the battle by our own efforts.  Sometimes we throw ourselves into different activities to distract ourselves.  Other times we just go through the motions without feeling any sort of consolation.  Still other times, we simply give up and quit.  But that is not what Jesus wants!  The battle is His, not ours. Our battle should be based on clinging to God and His Eternal Word (Jesus) no matter what happens in life and no matter how dark the night gets. Clinging to God with perseverance is a part of loving Him.

How many times do we wrestle with difficult problems?  Maybe it is just a mild temptation and maybe its something a lot more difficult!  Maybe its sin, maybe its doubt, maybe its addiction, maybe its pornography, maybe its lust, maybe its anger, maybe its pride.  In all of those circumstances, who are we really wrestling with?  It’s the Devil.

But apart from that, how many times have we wrestled with God instead of tagging him in and letting him help us? How often do we obsess with the bad things in life instead of appreciating how God is always in control?  How many times do we even question God’s very existence if we feel desolation? If we think of all of the difficulties as opponents, maybe they are small wrestlers or maybe they are Andre the Giant.  It simply doesn’t matter.  We need to tag-in the King of the Universe and let him squash the problems and squash the Devil!

I personally have the nasty habit of trying to take all of my problems on myself, without any help from God, and end up getting squashed pretty quickly and amazingly consistently.  As a matter of fact, I’m 0 for a million.  I’ve never won on my own.  Not even once!  I’m batting .000.  For all of you baseball fans, I win the Golden Sombrero each and every day when I don’t ask Jesus for help.  Whenever my prayer lacks, even for a day, I get crushed.

Sometimes I turn my energy on my wrestling partner, wrestle with God, and get angry when I think He isn’t helping me.  Sometimes I wonder if He is deaf or just doesn’t want to pay attention. Yeah, that makes real smart sense.  I’m going to wrestle with the King of the Universe and expect to win?  Seriously?  Ugh.

But this is not what Jesus wants!  It is not why He came to Earth! Jesus wants to help us in our wrestling match.  He isn’t our adversary!  He wants to jump in and squash the Devil.  In fact, He has already won! But, because of our free-will, He will not jump over the ropes unless we ask Him.  We can’t access that victory until we say Uncle! I Surrender!

Let me say it differently, sometimes having faith is purely an act of the will.  Sometimes you have to say “I believe” no matter what it feels or doesn’t feel like, no matter what it looks or doesn’t look like, and no matter who tries to convince you otherwise.

So, in view of all of that, yes, sometimes I think of Jesus as my tag-team wrestling partner.  And, for lack of a better, more appropriate phrase, I can hear him yelling “Tag Me In Bro!”  I see Him just waiting at the ropes, straining and stretching his hand out so close to mine that I could easily tag his hand when I am pinned on the mat! But, most of the time, I never think to tag him in.  Maybe it’s because of pride.  Maybe it’s because of ignorance.  Maybe it’s because of a lot of things.  All I know is that I need to remember to tag Him in and let Him fight for me.  Sometimes, in the deepest part of the darkness, if I doubt that He is even listening or, for that matter, even there, I simply need to reach out for the tag anyways.

As explained in the Catechism[5], Jacob’s wrestling match sets the foundation for our spiritual tradition that prayer is a battle of faith and a triumph of perseverance. Jacob’s story talks about a long dark night of seeking God and wrestling with all sorts of struggles but still persevering.  It talks about never letting go and simply deciding, as an act of the will, to hang on, even if it injures or kills you.  This story helps us understand that prayer requires trust and sometimes hand-to-hand combat that is symbolic not of a God who is an enemy or an adversary, but as our merciful King to whom we must surrender.

So let me leave you with this…Sometimes our “I believe” has to be an utter surrender to God.  Sometimes the prayer simply has to be “God, My Name is XXX, I Believe In You, I Surrender To You, I’m Tagging You In And I’m Not Going To Let Go Until You Bless Me Just Like You Did Jacob!!”…and then you just hang on for the ride no matter what happens and until death if need be!

Try it out.  I promise you that in the darkness there is, in fact, an all powerful hand waiting to be tagged.  So just make a conscious act of the will, reach out and smack that hand with everything you’ve got!  Whether it be through crying, or yelling, or swearing, or foaming at the mouth because you are so angry you can’t even speak…smack that hand!  Even if you are so tired and despondent…smack that hand!  Even if your hands are filthy dirty because of all of the junk and sin you are swimming in, smack that hand!  Even if you don’t think it’s there, swing at the hand anyways.  Don’t give up!  Use the last ounce of energy to tag Him in. You’re wrestling partner is the King of the Universe and is going to crush your opponents like a bug!

God Bless

If you didn’t already wonder about my choice of titles, this one has got to have you wondering.  I’m sure that you are asking how such a title is at all related to a Catholic blog.  Simple answer – read Tobit 2: 9-14[1]!  This reading was read last week at daily mass and is now my new favorite Bible verse.

So now that you have read it, you can see that poor Tobit gets bird poop in his eyes and goes blind, then makes a crazy comment about women weaving cloth…because that is, of course, what women do…and then accuses his wife of stealing a goat!  She is pretty snarky in return and gets him back though…as if the blindness wasn’t enough! Is there any Bible verse that is crazier?

So what can we possibly learn from this story?  Well, first we have to figure out who Tobit was and how his life progressed.  Then we can compare Tobit’s (Old Testament) response to adversity to St. Paul’s (New Testament) response when he was in Corinth.

Tobit:

Starting first with Tobit, he was a wealthy Israelite of the tribe to Naphtali who lived in Ninevah after the northern tribes of Israel were deported to Assyria around 721 BC.    Tobit was married to Anna and had a son named Tobias.  Tobit was known for being a very pious and devout man, probably to a fault.

At the start of Chapter 2, Tobit speaks of the festival of the Seven Weeks held fifty days after Passover[2] wherein many Israelites made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  While in Jerusalem, Tobit was ministering to the poor people, strangers, orphans and widows.[3]

At one point, Tobit was dining on a wonderful feast and felt bad that he was eating in such abundance.  For that reason, Tobit looked for a poor man to share in the feast.  Little did Tobit know that such a good deed would set off a whole chain of events that would cause him half a life time of suffering and almost destroy him in the process.

To make a long story short, Tobit sent his son Tobias to look for the poor man to share in the feast.  Once Tobias went out, he found a strangled corpse and reported his finding back to Tobit.  (As a side note, don’t you wonder just how often such a thing happened??) Feeling pity, Tobit felt obliged to retrieve the corpse and bury it.  In so doing, he ruined his appetite and became “unclean.”  Because he was unclean, Tobit slept outside in the courtyard, with his face uncovered, and ended up on the wrong end of the sparrows sitting on top of the wall, thereby going blind! As a result of his blindness, he could no longer support himself or his family thereby causing his wife Anna to support the family by weaving cloth.  After Anna came home with a goat that she received as a bonus, Tobit wrongfully accused her of stealing the goat and demanded that she return it! In response, Anna mocked him and sarcastically asked him how he could be so afflicted in view of all of his good deeds.  (Crazy story right?!?!?)

As a result of all of these events, Tobit fell into a deep depression.  It seems as though Tobit could not understand how he could suffer so much if he was such a good man.[4]  In layman’s terms, Tobit seemed to think that life was going “to hell in a handbasket” and that there was nothing that he could do to stop it.   For that reason, Tobit prayed for death. (I will leave the end of the story to your own reading)

So what is the moral of this story?  Well, Tobit was a devout and pious man.  He praised God and gave alms.  However, his piety was arguably obsessive and self-destructive.  But who among us hasn’t had these feelings at some point in life?  Haven’t we all wondered at some point why bad things happen to us, especially if we think that we are living a good life? So how do we combat falling into such a trap?

Well, one good way is to reflect on the life and teachings of St. Paul, especially when he was in Corinth.  His response to suffering and adversity was quite different from that of Tobit.

St. Paul:

When we think of Paul preaching in Corinth, we must remember that he was being persecuted most of the time.  More specifically, the church in Corinth had been infiltrated by false teachers that were seeking to replace Paul and take power for themselves.  However, before they could do this, they needed to discredit Paul and turn the people against him.  They tried to turn the people against Paul by attacking him in a very vicious way.  However, Paul’s response to these attacks and all of the negativity was very different from Tobit’s response.  Paul agreed with his attackers and admitted that he was nothing without the Lord.  In so doing, Paul taught the church that, because of his weakness, anything good that came from his life was the direct work of God.

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9[5], Paul speaks to the church and addresses these attacks.  He professes that “[w]e are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…”  Note how different Paul’s response is from Tobit’s.

More specifically, Paul uses the word “afflicted” which, in Greek, is “thlibo.” This Greek word means to be under pressure or under the gun, as we would say in the popular vernacular.  How many of us, on a daily basis, think that we have a lot of pressure at school, home, or at work??  How many of us think that we know exactly what pressure is?? I know I do.  But just how many of us have had to face death on a daily basis?!?  How many of us have had to face the pressure of supporting a church, of spreading the Gospel in a hostile land, or of being the direct target of the Devil himself??  Probably none of us…but yet we all despair at some point in life…some of us on a daily basis…maybe just like Tobit.  But in comparison, and through all of this, Paul persevered and did not despair.  Even though he faced death, he did not give up or pray for death…unlike Tobit.

Paul goes on and says that he is perplexed but does not despair. In Greek, Paul uses the word “aporeobut” which means to be at your wit’s end but not totally mentally crushed or in utter despair and defeat.  In so doing, Paul affirms that he can be pushed down and driven to deep depths but when that happens…when he digs deep…he finds strength in and through God alone.

To go even further, Paul then talks about being persecuted but not forsaken. Here, Paul uses the Greek word “dioko” which refers to being pursued or, perhaps more accurately, being hunted.  In using this word, Paul makes it clear that he was being stalked by the Devil and those doing evil in Corinth. More specifically, Paul was likely referring to the people (both Jews and Gentiles) that were trying to kill him.  Yet again, throughout all of this, Paul was not forsaken or abandoned because God was always with him.

Finally, Paul concludes by professing that he was struck down but not destroyed.  Here, Paul was talking about being knocked down, knocked out, punched, kicked, etc. but never being totally wiped out.  At no point did Paul give in and simply pray for death.

As we look back at all of this, we see that Paul was clearly under the worst type of assault and stress in Corinth, but he never gave up, never quit, and was never destroyed.  Through Paul’s response to his adversity, we see a man who remained humble and invincible, strengthened by the Word of God, even when he was being hunted and under attack.  We see a man who was aware of his weakness but at the same time aware of his strength in God.  We see a humble man who acknowledged the truth of Jesus and triumphed in it.  We see the opposite of the despair and defeat felt by Tobit.  Paul finds God’s strength in his own weakness.  When Paul acknowledges the Truth (which is the definition of humility), he finds the power of God channeled through his life and his actions.  Paul becomes invincible precisely because he lets God take over.

Paul realized that he had to take up his cross and follow Jesus.  Paul realized that if there was no pain there would be no gain, if there was no cross, there would be no crown, that there would be no life except through death, and that there would be no glory without suffering.

As we reflect on the reactions of both Tobit and St. Paul, may we all be as charitable and conscientious as Tobit and yet as humble, invincible, and strong-in-the-Lord as Paul….yes even if life poops in our eyes!

Lord, I pray that I can be humble, and by doing that, I can be invincible in You.  I pray that I can be sacrificial and be useful to You.  I pray that even if people criticize me, attack me, mock me, slander me, accuse my falsely, and knock me down, that they see that I can be strong in You.  I pray that I can be weak, inept, and clumsy in the eyes of the world but be humble, strong, and confident in You.

I hope that you all read the full story of Tobit and that this comparison will help you understand it even just a little bit better.

God Bless!