BE NOT AFRAID. (Don't read if not suffering)

Boy, at this moment in my life is the following ever music to my ears:

EXTRAORDINARY FORM, HOMILIES

4TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

JUNE 21, 2015 FATHER ACERVO

Although the readings in the Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form this Sunday are different from each other, they both touch on a similar theme: Jesus scolds His followers for being afraid and for not trusting in His Power.

Jesus says, “cast your nets”, but Peter protests. We’ve labored all night. We did this and we did that and nothing has happened. It was only when they did as the Lord had commanded them to do that they made their catch.

The problem with us is that we always think we know better than God. If things don’t go the way that we think they should go, God is obviously making a mistake or He’s powerless.

This can especially be a temptation for us whenever we think about all of the suffering and evil that happens in the world. We know that there are a lot of bad things going on in the world today. Maybe we’re even struggling with some trials in our own lives. The temptation is to ask, “Where is God?” Why doesn’t He care? Doesn’t He care that there is violence? Doesn’t He care that there is terrorism? Doesn’t He care about what is happening to marriage and the family? Doesn’t He care that I’m sick or someone that I love is sick? Doesn’t He care that my children have fallen away from the faith? Doesn’t He care that there are so many who are poor and suffering?

Jesus, of course, does care, and He rebukes His followers of not having faith in Him. But not only that: He rebukes them for being afraid. You see, where there is no faith, there is fear. And where there is fear, there is an easy target for the devil. Show me a disciple who is afraid, and I’ll show you a disciple who is ineffective.

Now, fear is a natural reaction. It’s understandable that there is some reluctance on Peter’s part when Jesus ask Him to cast his nets once again. But this wasn’t the only time that Peter and the other Apostles lacked in trust despite seeing the miracles and healings that Jesus performed. And so Jesus admonishes them because of it. If you believed in me and really knew who I am, you would have faith in me, and if you had faith in me, you would not be afraid.

Fear, as I said, is a natural human emotion. It’s a natural reaction to danger. Often times, it might prevent us from being reckless in the face of a real danger. Where fear becomes a problem is when it paralyzes us or when it robs us of joy, which often happens when we don’t trust in God. In our own lives, no matter what our vocation might be, whether we are a priest, or nun, or married person, or consecrated person, there will be trials and even the occasional crisis. God never said that following Him would guarantee a life of smooth sailing. But when these trials come up in our own personal life, when the world around us seems to be falling apart, this is not because God is asleep at the wheel. It is not because God doesn’t care. It is not because God is powerless or incompetent. Often times, these difficulties are nothing more than tests – opportunities to make the right choice. Opportunities to persevere and not take the easy way out.

So understanding this helps us when we’re trying to deal with the problem of suffering and evil either in the world or in our own lives. Suffering and evil are not good things, of course. But they test our faith. They test our willingness to persevere. And if we approach it in the right way, it can actually strengthen our faith and increase our joy.

When we find ourselves afraid or lacking in faith, a good thing to do is to pray for the virtue of fortitude. Fortitude is one of the cardinal virtues. It is the virtue that allows us to stand firm in the face of difficulties. It strengthens our resolve to resist temptation. The Catechism tells us that fortitude “enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.”[1]The fortitude of the martyrs was off the charts. I love the story of St. Lawrence. Legend has it that he was literally grilled to death. And as he was lying on the gridiron, his flesh roasting, he said, “turn me over, I’m done on this side”.

Why do we want to overcome fear? Because we want to be joyful. Pope Francis said that Christian communities become “sick” when they live in fear and fail to be joyful – even when times are difficult. This applies to individuals as well. He said,

“A Christian without joy is not Christian. A Christian who continually lives in sadness is not Christian. And a Christian who, in the moment of trial, of illness, of so many difficulties, loses peace – something is lacking in him.” What is lacking is an understanding of who Jesus is and what His messages say to us.

Why do we want to overcome fear? Because we want to be effective disciples. The Apostles would never be effective fishers of men as long as they continued to be burdened by fear or a lack of trust.

Again, Pope Francis says, “Do not be afraid. Ask for the grace of courage” so that when time seem to be tough, we can remain joyful knowing that the Lord is near.

Comments

Dancing With Mr. D: Grooming the Little Children

A former pro-transgender activist said she regretted her previous work in pro-transgender activism, adding she felt she was "indoctrinated" on gender ideology in an interview with Fox News Digital. "I started to realize that what I had been doing at my job at the LGBT Center, it was grooming," Kay Yang, a former employee of a location in New York, said. Grooming in this context means "to get into readiness for a specific objective." Kay works as a 'deprogrammer' to help parents and children who have been 'indoctrinated' by the 'cult-like' transgender agenda. Yang herself previously went by they/them and worked as a 'trans educator' in schools for years. Listen to her testimony.

Bishops Bishoping!

I view of the Federal Disctict Judge's ruling on same-sex "marriage" in Michigan, and the Circuit Court's stay : Marriage is and can only ever be a unique relationship solely between one man and one woman, regardless of the decision of a judge or future electoral vote. Nature itself, not society, religion or government, created marriage. Nature, the very essence of humanity as understood through historical experience and reason, is the arbiter of marriage, and we uphold this truth for the sake of the common good. The biological realities of male and female and the complementarity they each bring to marriage uniquely allows for the procreation of children. Every child has the right to both a mother and a father and, indeed, every child does have lineage to both. We recognize not every child has the opportunity to grow in this environment, and we pray for those single mothers and fathers who labor each day to care for their children at times amid great challe...

The 21st Century Must Come Into the Church

Continued from September 14.... T hrough the Church’s teachings, God has also revealed his truth on how humanity can live happily. What is so little understood by Catholics and Christians is that doctrinal revelations that come through the Church come out of God’s very Self. They are not tied to culturally constructed norms! Read Vatican II’s Dei Verbum : “by divine revelation God wished to manifest and communicate both himself and the eternal decrees of his will concerning the salvation of humankind.” Our Lord’s Church derives its basic vision not from mere human speculation, which would be tentative and uncertain, but from God’s own testimony—from a historically given divine revelation. Thus Catholics believe that just as God himself is immutable, so, too, are His teachings as revealed through the Church because they come from him. As I discuss in my book, although the Church does not change its central teachings, we do see the theological principle of “devel...

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'

Marquette: Jesuit But not Catholic

In the fall of 2014, a graduate student instructor of a philosophy course , Cheryl Abbate told a student at Marquette University, which claims to continue “the tradition of Catholic, Jesuit education” who secretly recorded the exchange, that his defense of man-woman marriage was an unacceptable topic in her ethics class and compared his views to racism. Abate said, "You can have whatever opinions you want but I can tell you right now , in this class homophobic comments, racist comments, and sexist comments will not be tolerated." And then she told the student he should drop the class. Now, for Marquette to be truly Catholic, a defense of a Cathodic understanding of marriage must not only be tolerated, but promulgated. Marquette Professor McAdams blogged on the incident and charged the teaching assistant with "using a tactic typical among liberals now. Opinions with which they disagree are not merely wrong, and are not to be argued against on their merit...

Tolkein, Paul VI, and the Devil

In 1941, Tolkien wrote a masterful letter to his son Michael, dealing with marriage and the realities of human sexuality. The letter reflects Tolkien's Christian worldview and his deep love for his sons, and at the same time, also acknowledges the powerful dangers inherent in unbridled sexuality. From the letter: This is a fallen world…. the dislocation of sex-instinct is one of the chief symptoms of the Fall. The world has been 'going to the bad' all down the ages. The various social forms shift, and each new mode has its special dangers: but the 'hard spirit of concupiscence' has walked down every street, and sat leering in every house, since Adam fell….The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject. He is as good every bit at catching you through generous romantic or tender motives, as through baser or more animal ones. Tolkien advised his young son that the sexual fantasies of the 20th century were demonic lies, intended to ensnare u...

Rotten to the Core

There are many similarities between Catholic schooling and its public K-12 counterpart, but the two also have profound differences. In addition to providing students with the academic knowledge and skills they need to prosper, Catholic schools have a unique spiritual and moral mission to nurture faith and prepare students to live lives illuminated by a Catholic worldview. The Common Core national standards have been adopted by hundreds of Catholic elementary and high schools. ... Thus, this letter takes on importance of the highest magnitude; Gerard V. Bradley, Professor of Law c/o University of Notre Dame, The Law School 3156 Eck Hall of Law, PO Box 780 Notre Dame, IN 46556 October 16, 2013 (This letter was sent individually to each Catholic bishop in the United States. 132 Catholic professors signed the letter). Your Excellency: We are Catholic scholars who have taught for years in America’s colleges and universities. Most of us have ...

Pope Francis blasts “gender” ideology, quotes Benedict XVI: “this is the age of sin against the Creator!”

Here is an excerpt. From Vatican Insider : “In Europe, America, Latin America, Africa and some Asian countries we are seeing some real ideological colonisations,” he repeated. “And one of these, I’m going to say it outright, is gender ”: “Today, children, children! are told at school that they can choose their sex. Why are they taught this? Because the books are supplied by the people and institutions that give you the money. These are the ideological colonisations backed also by countries that wield a great deal of influence. And this is terrible. Speaking with Benedict XVI ,” he said, “who is well and lucid, he told me: ‘ Holiness, this is the age of sin against the Creator! ’ He is intelligent! God created man and woman; God made the world like this, like this, like this… and we are doing the exact opposite. ” Watch video:

On Marriage and Family

Today should one attend a wedding, it is quite possible that the parents of either the bride or groom in attendance will be married, either in the Catholic Church or outside it, to someone other than the one they were first married to. In such a case, one would find oneself praying that the offspring of said marriage will not meet with the same fate. The state of marriage today is what it is in part due to poor sacramental preparation in the years immediately following Vatican II for reasons I take up in my book, another fruit of the “sexual revolution” . Sad, but as is well-known, many young Catholics these days are delaying marriage, hooking up, practicing birth control, and cohabiting before getting married. Traditional marriage is under assault, and many baptized Catholics are joining in the attack, especially in favoring “same-sex marriage.” Thus it is inspiring to see the shepherds of the flocks gathering in synod to discuss “the pastoral challenges o...

What God Hath Joined Together...

A recent 2016 study of suicide risk from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a 24% increase in suicides in the United States over the 15-year period between 1999 and 2014, including a tripling of the suicide rate for females 10-14, this in a culture that posits that all family structures are the same. Research on the children of divorce provides overwhelming evidence to disprove the myth that divorce does not harm children. In fact, the divorce epidemic has contributed to the serious and growing psychopathology in American youth. One example is the 2010 study of American adolescent psychopathology published in 2010: 49 percent of the 10,000 teenagers studied met the criteria for one psychiatric disorder and 40 percent met the criteria for two disorders. Research by Penn State sociologist Paul Amato (2005) on the long-term damage to children from divorce demonstrated that, if the United States enjoyed the same level of famil...

Search This Blog