Archive for September, 2024

The Journey to Sainthood

September 29, 2024

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Deacon Dick Kostner

Our scripture readings today are telling us that we are not to focus on other peoples spiritual levels, for we all mature at different speeds and levels. God only asks that we try to develop and mature our level of listening to God’s commands that we obey his two great commandments of love of God and love of neighbor. There are different stages of spiritual development for we all learn at different speeds, and at different times. Catholic Doctors of the Faith have identified three stages of spiritual development and maturity. The First Stage is the Purgative Way: It is here that we realize that we have limited ability to fend for our self. We realize that we are sinful at times and that we need help to avoid that which will divorce us of God. We find that we want to form a relationship with God knowing that this will allow us to be happy and free of stress and worry. A conversion is happening within us to learn more about about our Creator. We cultivate virtue and humility realizing our limitations and looking for answers to questions that we encounter during our lives.

The Second Stage is the Illuminative Way: Our minds are gradually enlightened to the ways of God. The relationship with the Holy Spirit becomes stronger although there may be struggles. Sufferings may occur. When I encountered this Way while in Deacon Formation I felt sad because I thought the old Dick Kostner that I grew up with needed to leave. But I was wrong, I just needed to mature in my relationship with God and my personal priorities.

The Third Stage is the Unitive Way: Here we find a constant awareness of the presence of God in all that we do. We discover that he is constantly with us and welcomes conversations with Him in every aspect of human activities. God even responds to us before we even begin a conversation with him giving us direction and help before we even ask for it. At this stage we no longer ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” when encountering difficult situations in life for we already know what Jesus would do. This is the highest level of Spirituality one can develop. Some never reach this level during a human lifespan. It is important to realize that these Stages may not occur in order and because we are all unique we may alternate back and forth as our maturity develops.

The Three Stages of Spirituality is one of the things I believe Jesus is trying to teach his disciples and us. He desires a relationship with all baptized persons whether they are Catholic or other Christians. All Christians have access to the gifts of the Holy Spirit for we are all trying to build a relationship with Jesus, but because we are all unique, we need to realize that all of us are at different levels of Spiritual maturity and that makes us special in the eyes of God, and should not be criticized. As Jesus has told us “whoever does the will of My Father is my brother, sister and mother.”

Our Gospel today has Jesus telling us that “There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ…will surely not lose his reward.” I am happy to say that I feel I have lived out my life knowing and having many friends who are saints. One of them was a friend who I had while going to college. Larry was a quiet sort of person but there was something about him that was peaceful. He lived in our dorm and had about five friends he would associate with. Those friends never knew or heard from him after we graduated. A couple of years ago I received a call from another of my friends who called me with news about Larry. He had been surfing the net and he came across an article written about Larry. It announced the death of Larry and thanked him for his service. It seems that Larry had been employed by a half-way house for battered and abused women in Chicago for some twenty-plus years. This quiet mouse of a kind person had served others who were struggling to find life in a troubled world. Larry served many cups of water to people thirsting for some peace in this world.

I think the Church calls these types of persons “saints.” Wishing all of you a safe and enjoyable journey to sainthood.

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For Love & Life

September 21, 2024

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr Victor Feltes

What is the act of eating for? It is good for eating and drinking to be enjoyable, but they are intended for supporting life. What if people tasted but refused to consume? What if it became common and culturally accepted for people to eat and expel their meals without digestion? A normalization of bulimia would obviously be very unhealthy. It would be psychologically unhealthy — warping attitudes about food and our bodies — and also physically unhealthy, leading to malnourishment and the death of many. However, new technologies, products, and politics would rise to promote this way of life despite its harms. The divine purpose for eating and drinking is our nourishment. It is not merely for our delight but for the good of supporting life. As Jesus once taught in a conversation about marriage, “What God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

Did you know, less than one hundred years ago, all Christian denominations opposed contraception? Contraception is an intentional act, before, during, or after a marital embrace to render it unfruitful. It is like the priest at Mass consecrating the wine while refusing to consecrate the bread; a distortion which is not how the Lord wills us to renew our covenant. Natural and artificial forms of contraception are nothing new. Scrolls from 1850 B.C. describe various Egyptian methods, and pagans practiced contraception in the Roman Empire. Church Fathers like St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and St. John Chrysostom condemned contraception and sterilization. Protestants like Martin Luther (the founder of Lutheranism), John Calvin (the founder of Calvinism), and John Wesley (the co-founder of Methodism) all wrote against contraception as well. Naturally, not every occasion of marital union creates new life. But until about a century ago, all groups of Christians agreed that whenever a husband and wife renewed their one-flesh union they must be open both to love and the possibility of life.

In 1917, the Anglicans called contraception “demoralizing to character and hostile to national welfare.” But then, in 1930, they became the first Protestants to officially approve the use of contraception in limited cases. By the 1960s, most Protestants had changed their previous teachings. The Catholic Church, however, stood firm in the unchanging truth. At the end of 1930 and again in 1968, popes reaffirmed the constant teaching of Christ’s Church on the nature, purpose, and goodness of marriage and the marital act. In 1968, St. Pope Paul VI warned that great harms would come from the acceptance use of contraception: broadly lowered morality, increased marital infidelity, lessened respect toward women, coercive impositions by governments, and the self-destructive belief that we have unlimited dominion over our bodies and human life in general. Advocates for contraception insisted back then that it would increase women’s happiness, strengthen marriages, prevent unplanned pregnancies, and reduce abortions. But today in our country, after decades of widespread contraceptive use, women report lower levels of happiness, nearly half of pregnancies are unplanned, nearly half of marriages end in divorce, and every year an estimated one million unborn children are murdered.

Powerfully driven by modern media, one false cultural idea has led to another. Contraception promises couples child-free relations, so when a child is conceived that child is viewed as a mistake for which his or her parents do not feel personally responsible, making abortion seem like an acceptable solution to the problem of an unwanted human being. When contraception strips away the idea of the creation of children as a primary purpose for marital relations, marriage need not require a man and a woman. From there, it is hard to explain why marriage need be limited to only two people who love each other. Once sexuality becomes detached from human biology, gender identity becomes easily confused. Where sexuality is viewed as exclusively for pleasure, unchastity grows and interest in marriage itself collapses. On the other hand, spouses who respect the God-given meaning of sexuality and are aware of their fertility levels throughout the month can faithfully practice Natural Family Planning (or NFP) as a safe and reliable way to space or postpone the conception of children. These couples are statistically less likely to divorce and grow together in communication, self-control, and intimacy.

The world, hostage to its passions, does not welcome the Catholic Church’s message but instead attacks the messenger. The crowds foretold of in the Book of Wisdom say, “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings…” Jesus suffered in this way before us. Even Jesus’ apostles began with worldly views on many things. For instance, they argued over who among them was the greatest. Following Jesus requires our repentance, turning to him for mercy and healing, which he lovingly extends to us in confession, whatever our past sins may be. Christ’s love redeems us. From there, we are called to imitate him, carrying our crosses for God and each other, growing in virtue, growing in the gift of self, and growing together in love.

To follow Jesus requires humility, to confess and turn away from our sins, and to be open, teachable, and trusting in Christ. Jesus, taking a child, put his arms around it and said, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me… receives the One who sent me.” So let us love purely and be open to life, welcoming, protecting, and cherishing all little ones, for the person who loves these least ones is loving Jesus Christ.

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Two Parables, a Poll, & a Purpose

September 15, 2024

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Once upon a time, many years ago, a man who knew nothing about food production resettled to the countryside. He saw a farmer tilling a field and thought, “What a waste of effort! He’s just turning over dirt!” Then he saw the farmer planting seeds and wondered, “What’s he burying? Pebbles?” When the plants began to sprout and grow, he thought, “Ah, I see now! He’s growing a garden.” But the man was shocked at harvest time, “He’s cutting down everything he grew!” And when the farmer and his wife began hand-threshing, the man was baffled, “Why are they beating the plants?” The farmer’s wife ground flour and made loaves, placing them inside an oven, and the man was dumbfounded, “Now they’re burning it in a fire!” The farmer, of course, was growing grain and his wife was baking bread, but the onlooker did not understand all this until he was invited over to their house for supper.

Once upon a time in another tale, a little girl sat on the carpet of her living room while her mother sat in a nearby chair weaving embroidery stitches. The girl looked up and saw the chaotic, mishmashed underside of the embroidery and asked her good, and wise, and loving mother why she would create something so ugly. Her mother turned over the cloth, revealing what she was weaving and the little girl saw a beautiful, half-completed work of art.

Our God is all-good, and wise, and loving, and he is currently fashioning a beautiful, meaningful, lasting masterpiece for us on a scale the size of the universe. But until its completion we will see and experience ugly, painful things we will not understand, like the sufferings of Christ on Good Friday. His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are his ways our ways, for we “are thinking not as God does but as human beings do.” Following Jesus will mean picking up the difficult crosses which come to us, denying ourselves, and acknowledging Christ before others.

Did Jesus care about what other people thought of him? Yes and no. Jesus asks, “Who do people say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?” That question is important, for Jesus declares, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” and “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus gives his Church our Great Commission because all people are called to receive his baptism and to embrace all that he has taught for human thriving and salvation. But in another sense, he did not care what people thought of him.

Jesus did not allow what other people thought prevent him from doing what he should. Not even his friend Peter could change Jesus’ mind to do something against God’s will. Jesus knew that he would “suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed” but he went up to Jerusalem anyway and testified that he is the Christ. Christians today are called to courage too.

This week, I created an online survey to which 135 self-identified Christians responded. The poll’s question was: “Do you suffer for Christ?” 67% answered, “Yes, a little.” 12% replied, “Yes, significantly.” And 21% said, “No.” Do you suffer because you are a Christian? I asked a pastor-friend of mine how a Christian might discern if we’re suffering for Christ “significantly” or just “a little.” He thought that if we’re not sure, then it’s probably just “a little” — suffering greatly for Christ would be unmistakable.

So most Christians seem to suffer only a little for Christ, if at all, and yet we’re so afraid. You pray before meals, and that is good. Do you also pray before your meals in public? Do your coworkers or neighbors know you are a Catholic Christian? Have you invited anyone to our worship, to share this precious treasure? (Our classes for becoming Catholic begin two weeks from today.) As St. James says, ‘A faith without works is dead.’ We are called to be courageous, like the Prophet Isaiah, ‘to set our faces like flint, knowing that we shall not be put to shame, for the Lord God is our help.’

I doubt the sufferings which flow from your Christian witness will be as severe as you might fear, but if sufferings do come your way know that you are not abandoned. When you suffer for Jesus and his Gospel, know that you are living out your faith with him. If you are faithfully carrying your Christian crosses, then you are following Christ.

Posted in Courage, Homily, Jesus Christ, Parables, Sunday Homilies, Witness | Leave a Comment »

What is Good for Us?

September 1, 2024

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Jesus said to the crowd, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” Jesus speaks to the Old Covenant’s rules about the ritual purity of objects and foods. With the arrival of his New Covenant those ordinances passed away. “Thus,” St. Mark writes, “he declared all foods clean.” After carefully forming his Jewish people as a unique group set apart from the world, God lifts the burden of those purity laws to open the door to true religion for all the nations. That has led to gentiles like you and me worshipping him here together this Sunday.

So what substances should enter our bodies? Millions of Americans now use illegal drugs, abuse alcohol or prescription drugs. I can imagine someone asking: “If nothing from outside the body defiles, if God has created all things good, then how could any substance be forbidden?” Yes, all that God created is good, very good, but recall how one of his first commandments in the Garden of Eden was not to eat from a certain plant. The woman saw how that tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom, but it was not good for Adam and Eve to then eat of its fruit. Fire is another of God’s good creations, a blessing very useful for life, but misusing it can burn you or may entirely consume you.

Alcohol is a similar case; a good thing which can be harmful. Psalm 104 says God gives man “wine to gladden their hearts.” Jesus transformed water into wine at the Wedding Feast of Cana, and we know wine back then was more than just grape juice. No one put their new wine into old wineskins because the alcoholic fermentation would burst them. St. Paul even once counseled St. Timothy, “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” So alcohol is a blessing, but Scripture also describes its dangers. Proverbs says, “Wine is arrogant, strong drink is riotous; none who are intoxicated by them are wise.” And St. Paul taught the Ephesians, “Do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery.”

Intoxication or drunkenness carries both personal and communal consequences. Opposition alcohol’s harms was once so intense in our country that the 18th Amendment banned “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” beginning in 1919. After almost 15 years, because of increased crime and corruption and the government’s desire for more tax revenue during the Great Depression, Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Of course, just because something is legalized doesn’t mean it’s safe, healthy, or helpful for me. For instance, smoking is highly-addictive and causes cancer but it’s legal in all fifty states. And now many places are legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana use despite its known health and social harms. Just because an activity is legal doesn’t mean we or those we love should do it.

True freedom is not unchecked license. It’s the ability to choose and do what’s right and best. Our addictions make us slaves. Consider your habits. Are their fruits good or bad? Jesus said the sins which come out of us are what defile us. Look at what comes from you because of this or that habit. What habits, then, should you moderate or abstain from entirely? St. James urges us in today’s second reading to “be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves… Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” Accept the pruning of correction and the nourishing support of others to bear better and more abundant fruit.

Why do we freely chose to sin – to do what we know is wrong? Because it feels like a shortcut to peace and happiness. But the holes in human hearts are meant to be filled by love instead of sins — divine and neighborly love, poured out and received. Jesus calls all sinners to change but he does not expect us to achieve this change alone. Ask for his help, his grace, his inspiration and strength, “for what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?” And through the support of fellow Christians, helping each other be better, embrace Christ’s ways which bring fruitful joys without any regrets.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Culture, Homily, Jesus Christ, Salvation History, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »