The Futility of Life in the World; The Sublimity of Life in the Word

Normally on the Sabbath from time to time I like to mention the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the extraordinary form, today being the Fifth Sundayafter Pentecost. But I also peruse reflections on readings from the Missale Romanum, and today’s Gospel for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time teaches us what is at the heart of why the world we live in is the way it is.

As background, in the Gospel according to St. Mark, we read: “…Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel. Here the word "kingdom" literally means "sovereignty" or "reign" and the power to "rule" and exercise authority. Repentance has to do with turning from our life as we live it and to will to open our hearts to God’s reign over us.

The Gospel for this Sunday (Parable of the Sower and the Seed) asks us to look at why it is some Christians hear the Word of the kingdom, yet fail to accept it as a call to conversion, i.e., to will to let God reign over our hearts. It is the ultimate question, for should we repent and ask God into our hearts, the Father will reveal to us the kingdom’s mysteries, making of us rich soil in which the Word Who is Life, Christ Our Lord, can grow and bear fruit.

Since the first humans (Adam and Eve) rejected God’s Word, the created universe has been subjugated to futility(Cf. Gn 3:17-19; 5:29). But God’s Word does not go forth only to return to Him empty. His Word awaits our response. Christians must allow that Word to accomplish God’s will in their lives, in case, as todays' Gospel says, the devil steal it away, or so as not to be choked by the utter pointlessness of worldly concerns.

In the Mass, the Word (Jesus) gives himself to us as His Body, that we might be made fertile, yielding fruits of holiness. Keep holy the Sabbath! Repent, submit to Christ's rule in your life and believe the Gospel message. Through the Sacraments Our Lord Jesus gives us the grace and power to renounce the kingdom of darkness ruled by sin and Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) and the ruler of this present world (John 12:31). Repentance means to change my way of thinking, my attitude, disposition, and life choices so that Christ can rule over my heart rather than sin, selfishness, and greed. True repentance requires a contrite heart (Psalm 51:17) and sorrow for sin, and a firm resolution to avoid it in the future. Then we await with joy the great harvest of the Lord’s Day (Cf. Mark 4:29; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 1:10)—when His Word will have achieved the end for which it was sent.

Comments

Adult happiness declines, while teen contentment grows - Try Jesus Christ!

Adult happiness declines, while teen contentment grows - TODAY.com

Neomodernism vs. Religious Life (conclusion)

That’s a credit to him, that he at least had pangs of conscience; whereas these other orders, like the Jesuits, even when they saw that the IHMs were almost extinct, nevertheless they invited the same team in. Oh, yes. Well, actually we started with the Jesuits before we started with the nuns. We did our first Jesuit workshop in ‘65. Rogers got two honorary doctorates from Jesuit universities…. A good book to read on this whole question is Fr. Joseph Becker’s The Re-FormedJesuits. It reviews the collapse of Jesuit training between 1965 and 1975. Jesuit formation virtually fell apart; and Father Becker knows the influence of the Rogerians pretty well. He cites a number of Jesuit novice masters who claimed that the authority for what they did—and didn’t do—was Carl Rogers. Later on when the Jesuits gave Rogers those honorary doctorates, I think that they wanted to credit him with his influence on the Jesuit way of life. But do you think there were any short-term beneficial...

Libido V

I think it helpful that, as I discuss in chapter 3 of my book that recent events corroborate Pope Paul VI's prophecy in Humanae Vitae as evidenced by this story...

Rolling Stone gathers Ross

Halfway through reading Ross Douthat's Bad Religion , I wish to warn Catholic "progressives" that liberal Protestantism gives us a for-taste of what the Holy Spirit will always guard Christ's Church against- read it in the Times here. See also Ross' blog at right.

Recent contest win for Missions Category!

The conversion of my revised Book Cover is complete! It is now orderable and appears on the following: Amazon.com-Kindle Barnes & Noble - Nook Apple iBooks

Bishops Bishoping!

As the nation’s courts increasingly strike down popularly-supported state bans on marriage between men who have sex with men, and women who have sex with women, bishops increasingly are “bishoping”, to coin a term I use often in my book; i.e., they are at long last defending the faith against the onslaught always sure to come from the secular culture. Diocesan Catholic schools in Cincinnati and Oakland, Calif., are weathering criticism for contracts that require teachers not only to witness to the faith in the classroom, but also in how they live their lives in the public square. Condemnation of Catholic-school contracts that ask teachers to not controvert the Church in public have received dramatized coverage from the secular media in California and Ohio, where a slight number of teachers are opposing the contractual language. A a teacher in a Catholic school it is heartening to see the dioceses in question standing their ground, emphasizing the dynamic role teachers ...

Post-Obergefell: Dutch woman to marry dog after cat-husband dies

Years go, when support for "same-sex marriage was 12% nationally, I would argue to my classes that it would never catch hold with a majority of the American people, as such a redefinition of marriage would not preclude one from marrying anyone one wanted- I used the example of marrying my pet turtles. No one took me seriously, though I wasnot far off the mark in this prediction, as evidenced in Dutch woman to marry dog after cat-husband dies - NY Daily News : 'via Blog this'

Because Rope Sales are up...

In light (or dark?) of the Fifty Shades of Grey bewilderment, I think it time catechesis on the dignity of women be emphasized every chance one gets. Alexandra Richards reminds us that women are a threat to his mission of the destruction of souls. But not if they are his property. The following warrants prayerful thought : To Women: Be What God Made You You don’t need to read Genesis to see that God created men and He created women, but have you ever asked yourself why he created you a woman and not a man? We live in a time where gender is as interchangeable as ketchup and mustard, where men dress up as women and women dress up as men. We are having an identity crisis, and it’s time to find out why God created you the way He did. God created your feminine heart to give and to receive true love. Yet, why is your heart is daily torn apart by a culture that is blinded to your indispensable dignity? We need only look at how the contraceptive industry n...

Libido Redux: Who is to Blame for the Evil of Pornography?

Donny Pauling has rightly observed: "....our enemy in the fight against porn is not the pornographers who produce it, or the people who participate in creating it. As St. Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, powers, forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual realm. Trying to fight porn by going after pornographers is like trying to treat one symptom of a disease rather than finding its cure. Pornography has a cause, rooted in the condition of our own hearts. To fight it, we must start with ourselves, being willing to face the part we play. We must let our hearts be changed."

This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News

DANCING WITH MR. D: This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News : 'via Blog this'

Search This Blog