A blog by an orthodox, practicing Catholic. An ordained deacon in the Archdiocese of Denver — Deacon Joseph Meilinger KCHS

You Are The Rock

Sun, 27 Aug 2017 15:57:01 -0600

How many of you have been to Mount Rushmore? Some of the great leaders of this country are carved in stone and most Americans feel a rush of pride and buy flags and T-shirts saying God Bless America or some such thing. Long before Mt. Rushmore Jesus carved his church on the rock of Petros (Peter) as a reward for his great confession of faith in the divinity of Christ, revealed to him by the Father.

Therefore we might call this Sunday “Power Sunday” because the main theme is the handing over of the “keys” or the power representing authority of the Church and in the kingdom. “What is bound on earth shall be bound in Heaven.” The gospel is composed of two questions and the answers. It is important to understand that they were in Caesarea Phillipi a place that was a center of Pagan religions. There were temples there for the Syrian gods Baal and Pan, the Roman god Zeus, and a marble temple in honor of the emperor Caesar. Jesus realized that if his disciples did not fully understand his true identity his mission would be useless. Therefore he asked a question in two parts.

The first question: “Who do people say that I am?” Their answers were: “some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” John the Baptist was so popular a figure that some thought he had come back from the dead. Elijah, the greatest of the prophets was believed to be the forerunner of the Messiah. Jeremiah had taken the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple before the exile and he was to return it and God would come to Israel again. One of the prophets suggests that Jesus had a ministry like the former prophets, as he brought the Word of God to the people.

The second question: “Who do you say that I am?” For the first time since he had gathered the twelve, Simon bar Jonah speaking for the other disciples declared publicly, “You are the Christ (Messiah) the Son of the living God.” Cyril of Alexander says, “Peter did not say "you are a Christ" or "a son of God" but "THE Christ, THE Son of God." For there is only one who is by nature the Son of God. And in calling him Son of the living God, Peter indicates that Christ himself is life and that death has no authority over him. And even if the flesh, for a short while, was weak and died, nevertheless it rose again, since the Word, who indwelled it, could not be held under the bonds of death.”

Simon is the first apostle to publicly recognize Jesus as the Anointed One, which is translated in the Greek as Christ and in the Hebrew Messiah. It means that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the anointed one of God. Jesus immediately pronounces a blessing upon Simon, the only disciple to receive a personal blessing. “Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah!” Then Jesus confirms his statement as a special revelation from God. Jesus is quick to explain that he is not the Messiah that they expected according to Jewish belief. He is a messiah who must suffer and die and be raised to life again.

After this Jesus gives his promise: “You are Petros (Greek for Rock) and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Historically these verses are the most disputed verses in the New Testament. Jesus’ promise to Peter (Petros) is the Catholic foundation of the position of the Pope and of the Church. For Christ is a rock which is never disturbed or worn away. Therefore, Peter gladly received his name from Christ to signify the established and unshaken faith of the church... The devil is the gateway of death who always hastens to stir up against the holy Church calamities and temptations and persecutions. But the faith of the apostle, which was founded upon the rock of Christ, abides always unconquered and unshaken. And the very keys of the kingdom of the heavens have been handed down so that one whom he has bound on earth has been bound in heaven, and one whom he has set free on earth he has also set free in heaven. This power, given to Peter, has descended to all bishops of Rome; it exists today in the Pope Francis, who is the head of the Church and the Bishop of Rome and it will continue through out all ages.

Jesus is pressing us today: Do you understand who I am? Do you understand what my being here means to you? How do I really see Jesus? Do I see him as Good Shepherd, Savior, and Redeemer? Is he my BFF, best friend forever? Closer to me than my spouse, my child, father or mother? Are there areas where I have excluded him, where my life is not noticeably different from the lives of those who do not know him?

Every Sunday we gather in the name of Jesus. We do not come together to celebrate a historical good man who died long ago. We come to celebrate the Risen Christ who is alive and here with us, truly present. May his light shine in us because his light shines in this world through our light and our lives. Surrender our lives and recognize Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. This should be a personal experience for every Christian. The next step is to give humble and loving service to others with the strong belief that Jesus is present in every person. Then praise and thank God in all the events in our lives, realizing that God’s loving hands are behind every event in our lives.

Persistence in Prayer

Sun, 20 Aug 2017 12:17:19 -0600

Many years ago, there was a man from my home state of Illinois, who ran for the State Legislature but the rumor was that he only had six months of formal schooling to his credit so he failed to get elected. He then entered into a business with a partner of doubtful standing and the business failed. He spent the next seventeen years paying off the debts of his partner. He fell in love with a charming young lady and got engaged. Before they could marry she took ill with fever and died. This fellow then had a nervous breakdown. After getting back on his feet he ran for Congress and was defeated. He tried to get an appointment to the U.S. Land Office and failed. He was a candidate for Vice-President and lost. He was defeated in a subsequent race for the U.S. Senate. Finally, he ran for President of the United States and was elected. His name was Abraham Lincoln. — He never quit.
Winston Churchill, took three years to finish his final year of elementary school, because he couldn’t pass his English tests. Many years later he was invited to give the commencement address at Oxford. He got up and gave his, now famous address, in three words: “never give up.”
The point is obvious — be persistent. In our every day life, many times, persistence can be very annoying. Which gives us our old saying “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” But God tells us more than once in the scriptures that he admires this persistence. Persistence is the virtue of the Canaanite woman in the gospel. Why does Jesus love this persistence; because it is proof of her deep faith in him; it shows that she believes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he can perform this miracle. She believes he is a man of God, and she believes in God, and she will not be turned away. She pesters the apostles to the point of annoyance and they beg Jesus, “Lord get rid of her.” — She pleads again for her daughter. Jesus says he must only minister to the Jews, for they are the chosen people. She falls to her knees and begs again for a miracle. He then refuses her by using the comparison of the wasting of God’s power of healing, to feeding the food prepared for the children to the household pet, in Greek the word used here means household pet and is not the same as the word for dog, which is a different word. This is an important point in the translation because it allows the woman to make her retort: Because the pet is part of the household and not outside the household, i.e. part of the family. Therefore, it would be allowed to eat the scraps from the table of the household. She is saying Jesus is the master and she as the household pet could eat from his table scraps — the woman will not be denied.
Jesus has tested her and He marvels at her faith and grants her petition. And in so doing, He teaches us to be persistent in our prayer. For the deeper we believe God will answer our prayer, the more we will persist. We realize, of course, that we do not always get what we ask for. This helps us to see more clearly what God wants for us and what is best for us. For He knows us better than we know ourselves. What we need most in today’s world is peace and security and that comes from being in harmony with God’s will. This in turn, does come from consistent and confident prayer.
Jesus is also teaching the disciples and us that all people are in the household of God. Like Isaiah, in our first reading, who tells the Jews returning from the Babylonian exile, “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Thus, inviting the gentiles that have returned with the Jews into God’s temple. You see, some of the Jews had married Gentiles while in their exile. Although God chose the Hebrew people as His chosen people, He included all nations in His plan of salvation. The prophet, in turn, states that everyone has a part to play in God’s plan — even those who don’t belong to the so-called “chosen People.”
Very often we set up walls. Walls which separate us from one another, and maybe even from God. These readings indicate that God’s mercy and love extends to all people who call on Him in faith, no matter who they are. God is asking us to tear down our walls; any walls that separate us from His children. God’s house should truly become a house of prayer for all people. And this, my brothers and sisters, where you sit, is God’s house. Like the ancient temple of Israel, this Church is where God’s presence is real.
In these violent times in which we are living, when Christians are under attack and being persecuted and people are separated by race, gender, religion and nationality, we have to be persistent in prayer. Those who are not aware of the fact that we are all children of God must be evangelized. A perfect example is our persistence in the Eucharist, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
We must be careful not to build walls that separate us from each other while we persist in our prayer. All of the baptized must unify and come together to pray. The Church teaches us that where there is great evil and sin, grace abounds all the more. My friends, God is in control and he calls all creation to himself, his love knows no walls. Each person will be judged on his own life and all who are saved will be equal in his kingdom and all will be happy with him forever and ever. The measure of his judgement, he has told us, is love, love of God and love of neighbor. Lord Jesus, tear down our walls let us see you in all people.

A Leap of Faith

Sun, 13 Aug 2017 13:10:49 -0600

It was a dark winter night in a Midwest farming community and a family farm house caught fire. Quickly parents and children made their way out of the house as dad had made them practice. When they all got outside the father took a count. The five-year-old boy was missing. The father looked up to his son’s room and sure enough, there he was at his bedroom window crying and rubbing his eyes. Rather than going back in the house the father called out to his son, “Jump, Son! I’ll catch you!” The boy responded, “But, I can’t see you, daddy!” The father answered with assurance, “No, Son, you can’t see me but I can see you! — Jump!” At that the boy jumped into the smoky darkness and found himself safely cradled in his father’s arms. That my friends, is a leap of faith.
In the Gospel today Matthew tells us that Jesus spent the night in prayer after dismissing the apostles to go across the lake. Jesus’ solitary prayer is a model for all of us. Showing us the importance of communication with the Father. Besides our common prayer, there are times when we need to withdraw from the world, even friends and family, and pray alone to the Father.
While praying to the Father, Jesus decides it is time to move His apostles to a much deeper understanding of Him and His mission. Jesus feels the time is right to bring His disciples to a profound change of values, which will be necessary for them to plum the depths of reality, the meaning of life and the physical existence of the supernatural. As the Apostles journey to the far side of the lake they are suddenly met by fierce winds and waves. This storm is symbolic of all of us fighting the whirlwind of life trying to live the gospel in the middle of violence, persecution, and destruction of our moral values around the world.
In the midst of this fierce storm a figure emerges out of the darkness, it is a ghost! To the Apostles a ghost is spiritual and not physical and a physical person could not walk on water. Therefore, only a ghost could be hovering over the water. Once the figure is determined to be the Lord the impetuous Peter calls to come to the Lord. Then we hear the account of Peter walking on the water which is found only in Matthew. Thus Matthew expands the purpose of this event to say something about Peter and his faith. While we might smile at Peter’s fear and his sinking and his “little” faith, we need to look deeper at his great leap of faith. How many of us would believe we could walk on the water? But Jesus tells him “Come.” Peter represents all who dare to believe that Jesus is Savior, Jesus is supernatural and take their first steps in the confidence that he is able to sustain them, and then forget to keep their gaze fixed on him when they face storms of temptations. From the depth of crisis, however, they remember to call on the Savior, and experience that his grace is sufficient for their needs. It is this leap of faith, not the “little faith” of Peter, which is the basis upon which the Father will choose Peter as the rock foundation of the Church. It means that the only faith Jesus expects of his followers is a faith, which concentrates solely on him.
"Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." Matthew wrote this story after Peter was crucified and the Christians were being persecuted. The two storm stories address issues of danger, violence and faith. In both stories, the boat seems to represent the Church, buffeted by temptations, trials and persecutions. Are we not going through the same storms today? In both, Jesus appears as the Church's champion, who has the strength to save those who call on him in faith. Therefore, this episode brought great comfort to the early Christians giving them the assurance that Christ would save them even if they were to die for their faith in him. This story reassured Matthew's disciples that, even in the midst of persecution, they need not fear because Jesus was present with them. It offers the same reassurance to us in times of illness, death, persecution, or other worldly troubles. It teaches us that adversity is not a sign of God's displeasure or prosperity a sign of God's pleasure. Illness is not a sign of inadequate faith or health a sign of great faith. Paradoxically, the storms of life can be a means of blessing. When things are going badly, our hearts are more receptive to Jesus. A broken heart is often a door through which Christ can find entry. He still comes to us in the midst of our troubles, saying, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.
It is the presence of Jesus which gives us peace even in the wildest storms of life: storms of sorrow, storms of doubt, tension and uncertainty, storms of anxiety and worries, storms of anger and despair, storms of temptations. These storms reveal our inabilities and the ability of God. When Jesus shows up in our life’s storms, we find that we gain strength. We gain strength to do the seemingly impossible. For example, when Jesus shows up he makes marriages out of mistakes. When Jesus shows up he invigorates, restores, and empowers us to reach the unreachable, to cross the un-crossable. Storms let us know that we are not in control, God is in control and we need to turn to him to be saved. Yet, when Jesus shows up, we gain the strength to join in with Paul and say, “in Christ I can do all things.” But this demands a personal relationship with God, with Jesus achieved through prayer, meditative study of scripture and an active sacramental life.

The Transfiguration

Sun, 6 Aug 2017 09:44:52 -0600

There are so many lessons and meanings in this event, one could go on for hours to explain all the important teachings present. But I won’t do that to you today. I would like to concentrate on one aspect of Transfiguration event and that is the apostles, especially Peter.

Recall that Peter shortly before this declared that they believed Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. Yet Jesus insisted that they go to Jerusalem knowing that he would suffer and die. Thomas had once said, (I’m paraphrasing) “well, if he wants to die let’s all go with him and we will die together.” So at this point the apostles are bewildered, depressed, wondering what comes next. It must have looked to them that there was nothing but sorrow and suffering ahead of them. But the experience and the atmosphere of the Mountain of Transfiguration is glory. Jesus shone like the sun with garments glistening white.

But more than that they all should have been privileged to see the luminous cloud that came down upon the mountain. Every Jew knew well that that cloud was the shechinah, the presence of God who led the children of Israel through the desert a cloud by day a pillar of fire by night. Here was a sign that would lift the hearts of every righteous Jew, especially the disciples and enable them to see the glory through the shame; the triumph through the humiliation; the crown beyond the Cross. Hopefully it gave them some hint that the Cross was not all humiliation, that there was a tinge of glory. It is the glory of this event that creates the atmosphere of Christ’s exodus to Jerusalem and to death.

Peter must have learned two lessons from this experience: his first reaction was to build three tabernacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Peter, always the man of action; always the man who must be doing something. But Peter be still, there is a time for stillness; there is a time for contemplation, for wonder, for adoration, for reverence in the presence of divine glory. Before a man can fight and adventure upon his feet, he must wonder and pray upon his knees.

The other side of that coin, is that Peter wanted to prolong the time upon those mountain slopes. He wanted that great moment to last, in fact, he probably wanted it not to ever end. Peter and the others were given a small glimpse of heavenly joy, to be intimately connected to the almighty and bask in the wonder of divine glory. Peter did not want to return to every day common things again but to remain forever in this presence of God.

This is a feeling everyone should know, an experience every God-fearing person should have at least once in their lives. A feeling of intimacy, of peace, of serenity, of nearness of God, which everyone has known and wished to prolong. “The Mountain of Transfiguration is always more enjoyable than the daily ministry or the way of the Cross.” – A.H. McNeile
But this religious experience is given to us only to provide strength for the daily ministry and enable us to walk along the way of the Cross.

Christ has asked us to follow him, carrying our daily cross, and the end of our journey is not Calvary but Resurrection. The entrance to a life of glory with our risen Savior. The Christian who embraces his cross, understanding its value, will find it becomes lighter and not a burden but a pleasure. The person who tries to shirk his cross will find its weight increases and it loses the value for which it was given. So let this thought of the Transfiguration encourage us today, to do what God demands of us so that he will welcome us with open arms as we pass out of this life.

Christ is the Treasure

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 15:01:00 -0600

There were six friends that went deer hunting in the mountains. They would separate into pairs and go off in different directions, into the woods. One night one hunter returned alone staggering under the weight of an eight-point buck. “Where’s Harry?” asked one of his friends. “Oh, he fainted a couple of miles back.” “And you left him lying there all alone and carried the deer back?” “Yep, it was a tough call, but I figured no one is going to steal Harry!” Our scriptures today speak to us about choosing the right path at the right time and knowing the right course of action in order to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. In baseball and golf it’s called keeping your eye on the ball.
We, who follow Christ, are called to imitate the two men in the parables who surrendered all their earthly possessions to attain the one thing that was important to them. Many of the ancient Church Fathers said that the pearl of great value is the Kingdom of Heaven and the buried treasure that is found is the Messiah. Does this mean, then, that we are all expected to abandon the world and take on the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience? Well, there are many who do just that. But it is not the only way, to purchase the eternal treasure. Heaven is within the reach of all of us who live ordinary lives and partake of the joys and pleasures of this world as long as we do it within the framework of God’s commandments and the teachings of the Church. As long as those joys and pleasures don’t take over our lives.
We don’t have to take a vow of obedience, but we must obey legitimate authority. We don’t have to live in poverty, we may possess the goods of this world, but only if they are gained lawfully and justly. And we may not withhold those goods from those who are in need when we have abundance. We don’t have to take a vow of chastity, but we must be chaste, and we must only use the God given pleasures of sex within the bond of marriage, according to God’s laws.
The Gospel justifies and reinforces the story that we heard in our first reading. Imagine —God tells Solomon “ask something of me and I will give it to you.” — Consider that my friends — How many of us would have immediately said “I want to win the lottery?’ — But Solomon pleases God by asking for wisdom and understanding. He pleases God so much that he gets not only the wisdom and understanding but all the earthly wealth as well. We must never lose sight of what is truly important in life, unlike our friend the hunter who obviously did not love his neighbor as himself.
All of this, my friends, is easier said than done. Our society today is totally engrossed in earthly comforts and pleasures of the body. We live and operate within what John Paul II called the culture of death. The world is becoming devoid of any spiritual belief or outlook on the reality of life after death. Western society has vigorously rejected the concept of “fear of God.” Along with wisdom and understanding one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is “fear of the Lord. This gift fills us with sovereign respect for God and makes us dread, above all things, to offend Him. The biblical God has been lost in relativism, humanism and pantheism. God has become a big teddy bear to the modern pagan, sweet and loving but impotent and completely irrelevant. These people believe religion and the Church are good things but only suited for the uneducated masses. Their religion is science, and not even good science, with goal of a secular utopia created and run by government.
This is the ideology of the modern pagan that we must combat. They come to us in very subtle ways, not as obvious as I have stated them. They come to us in the form of a false separation of Church and State; the legalization of abortion, suicide, euthanasia, homosexual lifestyle, ptransgenderism, and the undermining of marriage. They work in many ways to keep God out of the public view or discourse, they cry, “Keep God in the churches and let him stay there.”
The kingdom of heaven is the Good News, and it is not to be hidden. The treasure Jesus is referring to is sanctifying grace, worship in the Church, life after death, and an eternity in heaven. This triple reality is worth more than anything else in our lives, it surpasses all the “isms” man can ever postulate. — Except one — Catholicism. We must stand up against this secular onslaught and bring Christ out of the church. You and I must strive to develop the wisdom to understand our faith and make Jesus and His Church a topic in our conversations. In St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he urges Timothy to protect the community from the impact of false teaching, without fear of the personal attacks that may result. “If we have died with him (Christ) we shall also live with him; If we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.” (II Tim 2:11-13) Through Baptism we have spiritually died with Christ and hope to live and reign with him forever.
The love of Christ is a treasure everyone is invited to possess, let us not refuse our invitation.