Per Ipsum

God is love.                      1 John 4:8 Free will is one of life's great mysteries. We look at the violence, greed, and destruction men choose to do as an exercise of their freedom to choose, and it is tempting to ask What was God thinking when he gave us free will ? We could start with the cross, evil doing its level best to suppress supreme Good, and scratch our heads. What is it Jesus meant when he said, "Be it done according to Your will..." What did the Father demand? That He not interfere with the free will of men, and look at the result. Couldn't he have come up with a better plan? No. the reason is, that God is love. Let me explain. God by his very nature, we are taught, is love. In Deus Carita Est Benedict XVI beautifully expounds on Eros as it applies to God — the fundamental drive to be united with the other. God loves us. He longs for us. He desires to be united to us. Here's the catch: unity that is force...

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. John 1:18 Perhaps it is a distaste for the iconography, but when I was younger I was at best unimpressed with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Some of the more anatomical renderings or prayers were big time turn offs. I've opened myself a bit more to it, realizing the devotion has its roots in the need to pull God close, to remember that Jesus, while fully God and in majesty at the right had of the Father, is fully human. As such his heart knows sadness, disappointment, grief but above all love and yearning, the very human manifestation of the fundamental nature of God. The Sacred Heart is one way of portraying the aspect of Jesus who is always knocking, always calling, always thirsting for our love. I found a litany in a copy of June's Magificat this morning in the chapel that spelled that out beautifully with none of the treacly Victorian sen...

Render to Caesar what is Caesars and give to God what is God's.                                                                                Mark 12:17 When this is quoted, people often leave off the question and give it as an example of Jesus's wisdom—sometimes it is simply cited as an example of cleverness. The question before it is interesting: Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Romans or not? By "lawful" they meant under Jewish law of course. The question is an example of religious scrupulosity and legalism being wielded as a weapon against the Lord who spoke over the top of the details of law most of his earthly life. Standing against that was the state, Roman law and the hammer of Roman power to enforce it. I was thinking about that moment this morning when I read about the S...

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into the sanctuary Hebrews 9:11 Once for all. The great mystery of the Mass is that every time—every time—we stand at the foot of the cross and enter into the passion. Does it mean it occurs over and over? No! God's time isn't our time. We enter into the saving act which occurred once for all and the "greater and more perfect tabernacle," as opposed to the Holy of Holies in the massive temple in Jerusalem.I think I'll just let that one settle in for a while and see how much of it I can fully grasp.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.          John 15:5 In many ways, this is the quintessential Easter text. Life for those of us connected to the vine.  The abiding part is fairly easy. It is a warm fuzzy sort of text. God's life is in me! Remembering that last bit, however, is the tough part. We can do what? Nothing. All our work means nothing unless we do it with Him. A good marriage? Not without God at the center. Our efforts at spiritual life? Nada. Prayer? Don't even go there. Most mornings I wake up with a prayer and remember the day belongs to God. Most. Not all. Evenings are another story. By about mid-afternoon (if not before) I'm running on my own power...which means running on empty. If it is a good day, I circle back around and tap in before I got to bed. In this effort, as in all things, I need His help because I can do nothin...

Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.                                         1 John 3:15 I live in a political desert that lies between warring armies in the battle between life and death. There are no innocent parties, me included. They whole of life is a precious gift from God and we are all obliged to protect it. Killing is killing. Death is death. On one side are the gun lobbies. They run the extreme from responsible gun owners (I'm related to many) to the rabid gun promoters. That last group includes the masses genuinely persuaded that "liberals" plan to take their precious guns to which God entitles them to the cynical bloodsucking NRA and firearms industry people growing fat off the firearms that have flooded the U.S. To those who believe the second amendment is about (or only about) some individua...

 Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.   For to me, to live is Christ  and to die is gain.                                         Philippians 1:20-21 That is one of the few bits of scripture I know by heart in both English and Latin. Why then do I forget it so often? I have wandered into yet another patch in which prayer has become one more thing to check of my list of tasks, and Mass one of the obligations I faithfully carry out.  When this happens I become a creature of the religion and the law, as Paul viewed it. Only life in Christ gives Lauds meaning. Only life in Christ gives the Mass its power and glory. I walk with a person, not a set of rules and I forget that at my peril.

 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.                                                                              1John:1:5 I've been reading about Quakers for my most recent book, and I have become enamored with the concept of inner light. As a Roman Catholic, I value the structure of the church around me. In spite of eras of weak leadership, worldly popes, and/or men corrupted by power (and lack women's influence), having a center has generally kept us from splintering and from wandering into the extreme fringes of religious ...