Church High Not Needed

I love hearing conversion stories. This might not be the proper way to say it, but I feel a sense of pride in my Church when I hear how people have joined the flock.
The greatest and most common piece that brings people in, from what I have experienced, is the Eucharist. How awesome is that!
Over the last weekend I got to hear another conversion story. This gentleman and his wife were both Protestant ministers. They went through all the training and each had their own congregations that they were in charge of. Somewhere along the line they were encouraged to read up on the Church Fathers. This lead to a deeper understanding of the celebration of communion. In there denomination they were only permitted to celebrate the breaking of the bread 21 times a year... but they wanted more.  A deep desire to celebrate the breaking of the bread lead to diving in deeper into its theology and eventually lead them to the Catholic Church.
That was great to hear, but the rounding out of the story is what got me.  With the understanding that the bread and wine become the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, this gentleman shared that attending mass became easy. Easy in a sense that there was no stress involved, no worries about the celebration, and no wondering whether God would be present or a spiritual high attained.
Having been a Protestant minister his job every weekend was to give the people a church high. He had to provide a sense of the divine for his congregation. All the wait of that was on him and the words that he chose.  But in the Catholic celebration of the mass, there is no need for a church high. There is no need to give the congregation just the right words to make them feel good. God is present at every Catholic mass and that is the most important thing that needs to be understood. No matter what a person feels and thinks, God is there, and the priest does not have to provide proof with his words and agonize over what he will say to give the people what they need.
We all need God, and at the celebration of the mass God is always present.
Many Catholics fail to understand this and that frustrates me. If Catholics fully understand the miracle that happens at the mass, it does not matter what priest is the celebrant.
God is present. His full body, blood, soul and divinity are there and that is all we need.

Peace all

Two Processions

At Palm Sunday mass today, Father said some wonderful things in his homily.
I have to admit that I was distracted at the beginning of the homily, with my own thoughts mostly.  When I starting truly paying attention towards the middle and end I did grasp what Father what trying to get across and I really liked it.
He spoke of the two processions that went on in Jerusalem during Jesus' last week before his passion and death.
On Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, the people celebrated Jesus and opened their arms to him.  They laid palm branched down and yelled "Hosanna!".
Then they turned.  The procession became an angry mob that shouted for Jesus to be crucified.
In a very similar manner people today do this all the time.
We receive Jesus joyfully and rejoice in our Lord and savior... until, as He did in Jerusalem, He shakes things up.
Jesus rocked Jerusalem and gave them a swift kick in the butt.  He does that to us all time, but most of the time we ignore it.  When we do feel it though we do what the people of Jerusalem did, we kick Him our of our lives.
It frustrates me that so many people, especially people who call themselves "Catholic" can openly speak out against teachings of the Church.  I see it as the same thing as well.  We love Jesus until who He needs us to be doesn't fit with how we want to be.  We love the Church and say we are a part of it until something truth that Church holds doesn't line up with some truth we think we know so we protest and rebel.
Jesus and His bride, the Church, know what is best for us yet we still nail them to the cross whenever we think we know best.

I pray during this Holy Week that more people can see the truth that both Jesus and his Church offer us.

Peace all

Seek Knowledge or Eat Your Pie

Humble pie never really tastes good, but in this instance I am glad to eat it.  Maybe it isn't really humble pie,  but I can't think of anything else to call it.

So what am I talking about you might ask... well, I am speaking to the fact that I am a teacher and I have come to realize that some things I have said in the past have not fully been correct.

As a theology teacher the question inevitably comes up each year whether or not I believe in hell or if people really go to hell.  From my past experiences and understandings, I had always said "no, I do not think anyone actually goes to hell".  I always prefaced this by stating something I had learned in high school; that hell would be an absence of God, and since God made everything, therefore hell does not exist.  To cover my tracks I would say something like the Church's understanding of purgatory would be what we think of as hell.

I don't think it is the worst thing I could have said and at the very least it may have given hope to students that were feeling, well, hopeless.

I have come to understand though, through the help of Father Barron and his wonderful YouTube series of commentaries, that what I have been believing myself and in tern teaching has been wrong.

The devil exists and hell exists.

Here's why... God indeed has created everything.  God created everything we see and do not see out of love, to be good.  In His love, God has given all His creation freedom.  We can either choose His love and accept His grace, or we can reject it... part of our being free.  There are angels and there are fallen angels; those angels that have rejected God's grace and love and exercise their powers on us through temptation in many different ways.  Thus, we have the devil and many demons (they tempt me oh so often).

Just as angels have chosen to not accept God's grace and love, so to can humans.  It is in the fact that God, out of His love for us, has given us freedom that we have to accept that hell can exist.  Undoubtedly, it is entirely possible that some humans have chosen to reject God and have ended up in hell.  It is well within our God given freedom that this is a possibility.  

Do we really know for sure? No.  But we can reasonably hope that all people are saved from hell. 

Pax!

Corpus Christi

Altar serving at mass today was an enjoyable experience.  Two baptisms made the mass a little longer but a visiting priest meant I had less to do.  

While sitting quietly in front of the entire congregation, I remembered back to one of the best homilies I have ever heard.  I unfortunately cannot remember the priests name.  He was new to my college in my last year there and every homily he gave I very much enjoyed.  

This homily stood out to me because he did not mince words and his point fit perfectly with today's Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  

Christ did not say "this is kinda my body" or "this is a representation of my body" or "this is a mixture of my body and bread"... Christ said "this is my body" and "this is my blood" (emphasis added).

The Real Presence, the Body and Blood of our Lord given up freely for us.  Mass is such a wonderful and needed celebration and sacrifice!

Peace all!