Tag: Christianity

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In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Church concludes its guidance as we pass through the great school of Lent, pointing us to the examples of two great ascetics whom we should imitate: Sts. St. John of the Ladder (Climacus)It is known from St. John’s life that he ate what was allowed by the rule of fasting, but within measure. He did not go without sleep at night, although he never slept more than was needed to support his strength for ceaseless vigilance, and so as not to negatively affect his mind. ”I did not fast beyond measure,” he said of himself, ”and I did not conduct intensified night vigil, nor did I sleep on the ground; but I humbled myself…, and the Lord speedily saved me.

“>John of Climacus and St. Mary of Egypt. A Homily by St. Tikhon, Patriarch of MoscowThe life of St. Mary teaches us that there is no sin that could overcome the mercy of God, there is no abyss of dissoluteness that we could not rise from by the grace of God and by taking the path of faith and repentance.”>Mary of Egypt. Nevertheless, on the last Sunday, the Church also reminds us of another necessary condition for spiritual labor.

You heard in today’s Gospel reading how Christ, on the path to Jerusalem, told His disciples: The Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes… And they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him (Mk. 10:33-34). And the disciples were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid (Mk. 10:32).

But when they heard about the Resurrection, the Sons of Zebedee came to Him and said: Master, we would that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And He said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto Him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in Thy glory. After He told them that it was not given to them, but to them for whom it is prepared, the other disciples, hearing the request of the Son of Zebedee, were indignant, and the Lord called them all and said: Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mk. 10:35-35).

This Gospel narrative includes one of the necessary conditions that ensures that the path offered to us by the Church in these days not be in vain (the other I tried to reveal during Lent as much as I could). The Lord, in coming to earth, came to serve us: For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45).

And the Lord calls us to learn from Him: Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart (Mt. 11:29).

“Learn this humility, for you are ruled by the prince of this world, and the best of you—the Apostles James and John—are overcome by vanity and pride.”

And so, on this day, the Holy Fathers have appointed the reading of this Gospel, which provides us with the necessary conditions for our spiritual work.

After all, one can follow the path indicated by Sts. John Climacus and Mary of Egypt and in the end still fall into great pride. Warning us against this, the Holy Fathers point us to the example of the Lord and the disciples.

“For God is manifested not in labours but in simplicity and humility,” says St. John Climacus (Ladder of Divine Ascent 26.52).¹ Only he who walks the path of humility can receive gifts.

So, we are called to walk the path of humility. But what is humility? Let us turn to the one whom the Church gives us as a teacher during Great Lent.

It [humility] is of a quality that baffles all description. This treasure has an inscription, which is incomprehensible because it comes from above, and those who try to explain it with words give themselves great and endless trouble. And the inscription runs thus: Holy Humility.

Let all who are led by the Spirit of God enter with us into this spiritual and wise assembly, holding in their spiritual hands the God-inscribed tablets of knowledge. We have come together, we have investigated, and we have probed the meaning of this precious inscription. And one said: “It means constant oblivion of one’s achievements.” Another: “It is the acknowledgement of oneself as the last of all and the greatest sinner of all.” And another: “The mind’s recognition of one’s weakness and impotence.” Another again: “In fits of rage, it means to forestall one’s neighbour and be first to stop the quarrel.” And again another: “Recognition of Divine grace and Divine compassion.” And again another: “The feeling of a contrite soul, and the renunciation of one’s own will.” But when I had listened to all this and had attentively and soberly investigated it, I found that I had not been able to attain to the blessed perception of that virtue from what had been said. Therefore, last of all, having gathered what fell from the lips of those learned and blessed fathers as a dog gathers the crumbs that fall from the table, I too gave my definition of it and said: “Humility is a nameless grace in the soul, its name known only to those who have learned it by experience. It is unspeakable wealth, a name and gift from God, for it is said: Learn not from an angel, nor from man, nor from a book, but from Me, that is, from My indwelling, from My illumination and action in you; for I am meek and humble in heart and in thought and in spirit, and your souls shall find rest from conflicts and relief from thoughts” (cf. Mt. 11:29) (25.2-3).

Thus, we should learn humility not from angels, not from men, not from the great books of the Gospel, but from Christ Himself, for He calls us to this. “Humility is Christ’s spiritual doctrine, noetically introduced into the inner chamber of the soul by those who are counted worthy of it. It cannot be defined by perceptible words” (25.41).

So how can we know anything about humility now in the sense of one understanding of it or another? The Holy Fathers say that we can know humility not by its essence, but by its action.

“We cannot describe the power and essence of this sun, humility, but from its properties and effects we can explain its intrinsic nature” (25.25).

“Humility is a Divine shelter to prevent us from seeing our achievements” (25.26).

The humble man does not see his achievements, but only his sins. There is a veil covering over his achievements.

How can we check whether we have humility or not?

St. John of Climacus says that, “Most of us call ourselves sinners, and perhaps really think it; but it is indignity that tests the heart” (25.33).

“It is not he who disparages himself who shows humility (for who will not put up with himself?), but he who maintains the same love for the very man who reproaches him” (22.17).

Here is the sign that can reveal the state of a soul regarding humility:

“A sign of the deepest humility will be to abase ourselves by pretending to have faults that we do not possess” (25.44).

If we not only tolerate humiliation, but consider ourselves worthy of it, then we will have humility.

The Lord says that humility must be learned from Him: For I am meek and lowly in heart (Mt. 11:29). Jesus Christ came to earth in order to “raise up the image of the fallen forefather”—fallen because man fell due to his pride.

The Lord came, taking the form of a slave in everything save sin, becoming like us—He humbled Himself, humbled Himself to death, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross (Phil. 2:8).

He constantly testifies to His disciples that He came not to fulfill His own will, but the will of the Father, and in the Garden of Gethsemane He prays: Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done (Lk. 22:42).

And in the prayer that the Lord gave us, He teaches us to say: Thy will be done. He Himself gave us a great example of what kind of attitude to have towards the will of God; He showed that our actions are based on this.

We must do the will of God, and to do it, we must know what it is.

This knowledge is acquired by discernment, for “discernment is, and is recognized as, the certain understanding of the Divine will on all occasions, in every place and in all matters” (26.1). But it’s given to those who are already on the path of labor, who are ascending the path of humility. We must follow the path of obedience, the path that St. Mary of Egypt walked, having surrendered her will to that of her Faithful Guardian.

What do obedience and humility have in common?

This is what St. John Climacus says:

I once asked one of the most experienced fathers, and pressed him to tell me how humility is obtained by obedience. He said: “The obedient man who has discernment, even if he raises the dead and receives the gift of tears and freedom from conflict, will still think that it is the prayer of his spiritual father that has done it, and he remains foreign and alien to vain presumption. For how could he possibly pride himself on what is done, as he himself admits, by the help of his father, and not by his own effort?” (4.55).

Thus, an obedient man is one who constantly attributes what he has in terms of certain achievements to his guide. You know from the life of St. Mary of Egypt that she considered all her spiritual deeds as a gift from the Mother of God.

This is the condition that helps us in the struggle to acquire humility, and we have to remember that it’s not according to our merits that the Lord gives us certain gifts. We receive humility according to the degree that we struggle against pride.

“By the ineffable providence of God, some have received holy returns for their toiling before their labours, some during their labours, some after labours, and some at the time of their death. It is a question which of them was rendered more humble?” (26.88).

And so, St. John Climacus says that the Lord gives spiritual gifts according to the extent of our humility, so we must fight for humility; we have to remember that everything that the holy Church taught us in the days of Great Lent will serve for our salvation only if we have humility as our foundation; for we know that it’s possible to fall from Heaven, but David was pardoned for humility alone: I was brought low and He saved me (Ps. 114:6).

“If the pride of some of the angels made them demons, no doubt humility can make angels out of demons. Wherefore, let those who have fallen take courage!” (25.63).²

So, all of us who are fallen, all of us who have come to God in repentance, and who yesterday called out for the last time: “Open to me the doors of repentance, O Lifegiver,” must remember that no labors, no spiritual feats will help us if we don’t walk the path of humility.

Therefore, the Gospel that’s appointed for us to read today gives us that foundation without which our labors are in vain.

Yes, we need to know what can ruin us. It’s only in humility that we can receive a reward and a crown from Christ.

When we come to the Dread Judgment, the Lord won’t demand gifts from us, but only humility. He’ll ask us whether we learned humility from Him.

“Many,” says St. John Climacus, “have received salvation without prophecies and revelations, without signs and wonders; but without humility no one will enter the marriage chamber” (25.52).

When we receive prayer from God, or the ineffable joy of loving people, we consider it our own property; we don’t consider that the Lord gave us this gift, but that it’s our acquisition, and we start condemning others and exposing ourselves, and then, through pride, our gift is exhausted and destroyed.

We have to remember that the Church calls us along the path of prayer and the Sacraments, through illumination by the light of Tabor, through bearing the cross and imitating the saints.

We must remember that we can learn humility by reading the Holy Fathers, for reading those who knew what humility is, although they couldn’t express it in words, their soul is evident in their writings. And then, let those near to us be our teachers of humility, for they know our wounds better than we do. Let us be attentive to those who reveal our shortcomings to us, and take their instructions as God’s instructions. They reveal our transgression to us; they humble us. And if someone says something to us in vain, it brings us into communion with the Lord, Who was wounded for our transgressions [and] bruised for our iniquities (Is. 53:5). Those who want to walk the path of ascent must constantly remember that it’s not only necessary to walk it, but to always bear in mind that our efforts may prove to be in vain if humility isn’t acquired.

Let us learn from Him Who came to raise us to Heaven and Himself ascended there in glory, and only under this condition will our spiritual labor have a crown, which is received by those who have striven well on earth.

It’s not in vain that the Church now gives us the image of these two disciples—the Sons of Zebedee, who were infected with pride and vanity and incited the other Apostles. And the Lord instructs not only them, but all of us, that whoever wants to be first must be the servant of all.

This is the covenant that Christ gives us; this is what it means to walk the path of humility; these are our examples for learning humility.

Thy will be done—this must not only be our prayer, but also our work.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 5:3), but not only those who labor in caves, deserts, and abysses of the earth, but also all those who commit their every deed in humility—they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, while others will be cast out.

Let us remember that without fulfilling this covenant, not a single virtue will serve unto salvation, and that in fulfilling it, we mustn’t be proud of our gifts.

Amen.

By now it should be clear that when the Church issues a document addressing several topics, one of which is sex, our major secular media will ignore the rest and concentrate on sex. The latest example is the coverage of the new Vatican document on human dignity, as provided by the New York Times, Washington Post, and Associated Press.

The document, a “declaration” called Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity”), was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope Francis. It speaks of many things, including market economics, poverty, the death penalty, war and terrorism, migrants, violence against women, euthanasia and assisted suicide, abortion, the environment, and social media.

So what did the Times, the Post, and the AP talk about — along with highlighting dissident voices, of course? Sex change, LGBT interests, and surrogate parenting. Passages concerned with these matters, the Times warns darkly, are “likely to be embraced by conservatives for their hard line against liberal ideas on gender and surrogacy.”

The Times, you see, not only knows what’s in Dignitas Infinita (although, unfortunately, it can’t be bothered sharing that information with readers, except in a very cursory way) but deems it a matter of urgency to report that people whom it doesn’t like (“conservatives”) will embrace the results.

What none of these news organs troubles to report are the first eight substantive pages of the 25-page document (two preceding pages by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, recount its development, while the last seven pages are footnotes). And those ignored eight pages are the very heart of Dignitas Infinita.

Especially, that includes a passage that sets out and analyzes the four meanings or aspects of human dignity — ontological, moral, social, and existential. The ontological aspect is “most important” inasmuch as dignity in this sense “belongs to the person as such simply because he or she exists and is willed, created, and loved by God.” The other three aspects are grounded in this one.

The text then turns to the specifically theological bases of human dignity as these are found in Revelation and especially in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ as presented in the New Testament. Crucial here is the affirmation in the account of the creation of human beings as it is given in the first chapter of the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis: “Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness … male and female he created them.”

To be created in God’s image, the document says, “means to possess a sacred value that transcends every distinction of a sexual, social, political, cultural, and religious nature.” The Gospels show Jesus applying this in very concrete terms: “[H]e broke down cultural and cultic barriers, restoring dignity to those who were ‘rejected’ or were considered to be on the margins of society” — a category that included tax collectors for the Romans and lepers, among others.

Dignitas Infinita says this emphasis on respecting and loving outcasts and the disabled has “changed the face of the world” and inspired countless institutions and programs for persons in need. But it also warns against an “ever-growing risk” today — “reducing human dignity to the ability to determine one’s identity and future independently of others, without regard for one’s membership in the human family.”

Much in this document deserves pondering. Too bad you wouldn’t know that from the Times, the Post, and the AP. Yes, what the text says about sex deserves notice. So does a lot else.

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Today we glorify St. Mary of Egypt, who from the rank of great sinners became a great righteous one. Thus, rejoice, sinners! To you is opened not only the doors of repentance, but also the bridal chamber of glory. Look at what St. Mary was and what she became and be inspired to follow her courageous path. The Lord called her and she rose up and went, and having gone, she never turned back. The Lord is calling all of us now: And who hasn’t responded to this, His merciful calling? Almost everyone has already fasted, confessed, and communed of the Holy Mysteries; that is, you’ve heeded the calling and risen up. Let us now walk steadily along the same path that St. Mary walked, having risen up from the fall, in order to achieve what she finally achieved.

St. Mary repented and left everything, and having crossed the Jordan, there, in the desert, she left a strict life and was cleansed from the passions and was saved. This is our example! Prepare yourselves to emulate her.

Perhaps none of us literally took a vow, but everyone should act exactly like this, if we consider not the outward appearance of actions, but at their spirit and strength.

Having departed into the desert, St. Mary distanced herself from the allurements of the world and thereby On Cutting Off TemptationsDainty foods and naked bodies have become idols of our days, and gluttony and viewing erotic images can be compared to idol-worship. How can we deprive ourselves of temptations?

“>cut off all temptations from their side. After this, sin could only draw her through the flesh. But her flesh also was given no rest in the desert. Fasting for Non-MonasticsA curious phenomenon can be observed in the interactions between pastors and their parishioners at the beginning of each major fast of the Church. Pastors attempt to call their parishioners’ pious attention to the spiritual heights of fasting: the fighting against sin, the conquering of passions, the taming of the tongue, the cultivation of virtues. In turn, parishioners pester their pastors with purely dietary questions…”>Fasting, lying prostrate, and the heat and cold exhausted her. And here are two powerful ways that she withstood and overcame sin: departing from the world and the exhaustion of the flesh.

The exhaustion of the flesh is a means we all understand and can use. Reduce your measure of food, assign yourself more work and less rest and sleep, choose hardness instead of softness, cold instead of warmth, tension instead of laxity, self-reproach instead of various carnal pleasures, and you will exhaust and deplete your flesh and thereby suppress the passions seated within it. But how can we who live in the world depart from it?

There is a removal from the world in the body—this is the departure into the desert. But there is a departure from the world without leaving the world—distancing ourselves from it by manner of life. The first is not appropriate for everyone and not everyone can do it, but the second is necessary for everyone and must be fulfilled by everyone. This is what St. Andrew invites us to in his Canon when he advises us to retire into the desert in fulfillment of this law. Thus, abandon the customs of the world and let your every action and step be done as the good law of the Gospel commands, and you will live in the midst of the world as though in the desert. This fulfillment of the law will stand between you and the world as a wall, through which the world cannot be seen. It will be before your eyes, but not for you. The world will have its own cycle of changes, but you will have your own rank and your own order. It will go to the theater, and you will go to church; it will dance, and you will make prostrations; it will go out for a walk, and you will be home in solitude; it will be talking idly and ridiculing, while you are in silence and praising God; it enjoys comforts, and you are at work; it reads empty novels, and you reading the word of God and Patristic works; it is out at balls, and you are in conversation with like-minded people or your spiritual father; it makes selfish calculations, and you are practicing self-sacrifice; it is in passionate dreams, and you are in divine contemplation. Thus, set rules for yourself in everything and establish an order in your life that is contrary to the customs of the world, and you will be in the world but not of it, as in the desert. Neither will you be visible in the world, nor the world in you. You will be a desert-dweller in the world. And you will become an imitator of St. Mary without having to retreat to the desert.

If, as I have mentioned, you add to this bodily fasting, labors, vigils, and the general deprivation of all rest, then you will possess both means by which St. Mary overcame her passions and was saved.

Let me put it succinctly: Flee from rest for the flesh and establish an order in your life that is contrary to the customs of the world, or protect yourself with fulfillment of the law. Do this and you will overcome the passions, and you will be saved.

For this is what will happen to you, as St. Isaac teaches, if you master these two methods: subjugation of the senses, sobriety of mind, meekness of thoughts, clear movement of thought, diligence in actions, lofty and subtle mental conceptions, tears without measure, remembrance of death, pure chastity far from any tempting fantasy, mysterious concepts that the mind grasps with the aid of Divine words, fear that cuts off laziness and negligence and extinguishes all desire, and at the end of it all—the freedom of the true man, spiritual joy, and resurrection with Christ in the Kingdom. This is salvation.

If anyone neglects these two methods, he should know that he will not only harm himself in everything, but will shake the very foundation of the virtues. And just as they’re the beginning and head of Divine work in the soul, and the door and path to Christ for the man who maintains them within himself and abides in them, so if a man retreats and withdraws from them, he will come to their opposite vices: fleshly indulgence and bodily wandering, that is, following the customs of the world, which open the entrance of the soul to all sins and passions.

Indulge completely in the customs of the world, which are all nothing but bodily vagrancy; indulge in this wandering alone and see what happens! Inappropriate and unexpected gatherings (I’m here continuing the word of St. Isaac) that lead to falls; the rebellion of strong sensations aroused by sight; a quick inflammation that takes over the body; uncontrollable thoughts that race towards a fall; the cooling of love for the works of God and the complete abandonment of the rules of your new life; resuming forgotten evil deeds and teaching them to others who didn’t know them before. And the passions that were already mortified in the soul by the grace of God and eradicated by forgetting memories begin to move again and compel the soul to engage in them. This is what will be revealed in you as a result of your first indulgence, that is, the wandering of the body according to the customs of the world and impatience in enduring a sorrowful existence in the new order of life. And the things that will happen from indulging the flesh, especially gluttony, can’t be enumerated. From this follows a heaviness in the head, a great burden on the body, and relaxation in the muscles, the abandonment of prayer rules, laziness in making prostrations, the darkening and coldness of the heart, coarseness of mind and thoughts, an obscuration, a thick and impenetrable fog stretching across the entire soul, strong despondency and boredom in every work of God, as well as an inability to taste the sweetness of God’s words when reading, thoughts wandering all over the earth, foul phantoms filling the soul and igniting lust, incessant and unbearable burning throughout the body, and from this, new seductive thoughts emerge, which, merging with the soul, lead it to fall into the passion of dishonor, first internally—through agreement, and then externally—through actual deeds.

These are the bitter fruits of wandering according to the customs of the world and any indulgence of the flesh! The enemy knows that whoever succumbs to them will surely become his prey. This is why he tries in every way to either disrupt the established new order of a good life or to incline one towards some kind of indulgence of the flesh. Compromise in one thing and you’ll fall into another, and with both you won’t avoid falling into sin and the return of your former passions. Indulge the flesh, and it will lead you to indulgence in the customs of the world. Or indulge in the customs of the world, and they’ll lead you to indulgence of the flesh. One enemy will pass you to another while not falling behind himself, and together they will then always drag you into a fall. Knowing this misfortune, stand firm in what you have begun. Love of this earthly life will stand for the flesh, and people-pleasing for the world. Counter them with the feeling of true life in mortifying the flesh and fellowship with true people in rejecting the customs of the world. The flesh will whine and the soul will yearn, so arm yourself with patience. Inspire yourself with the thought that death awaits either way. From indulgence of the flesh and the world, death through falling into sin is true and eternal death. The flesh and the world also threaten death to those who go against their demands, but this death is illusory, not real, and fabricated by the enemy to frighten us. Let us rather condemn ourselves to this death for salvation, to avoid ruinous death.

This is difficult, of course, which is why this is called the “narrow” and sorrowful path, though it also comes with the consoling promise by the true God that it leadeth unto life (Mt. 7:14). But only a fool, as St. Isaac says, prefers a small, immediate rest over the distant Kingdom, not knowing that it’s better to suffer torment in a spiritual labor than to rest on the bed of an earthly kingdom and be condemned for laziness. The wise long for death, only so as not to fall under the accusation of having performed any of their deeds without sobriety. Do not be disheartened when it is a matter that will bring you life, and don’t be too lazy to die for it.

With such thoughts and such fatherly instructions, strengthen your determination to stand in the new good order of life, in contrast to the customs of the world, and not to fulfill the lust of the flesh (cf. Rom. 13:14). By this you will escape the painful work of subservience to sin—and you will enter into the liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:21), when, strengthened by the power of God, you will begin to The Way of Christ’s CommandmentsThe dignity and nobility of man is not so much in the privileges he received from his ancestors as in those good qualities of the soul that he acquired by working on himself.

“>walk in the commandments and ordinances of God unhindered, effortlessly, without special sacrifices, as sons walk in the house of their father.

Amen.

When my father was in the hospital for the last time, we shared our final days together with O.J. Simpson. Not just O.J., but also Johnnie Cochran, Jr., Robert Shapiro, Judge Lance Ito, Marcia Clark, Mark Fuhrman, Kato Kaelin, and the whole strange cast of characters that made up “the trial of the century.”

The trial was on constantly in the hospital. My dad was watching it from his bed, and if we left the room, it was playing out in the waiting rooms and lobby. It was relentless.

It seems hard to recreate how all-consuming the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, the subsequent arrest and trial of U.S.C.’s greatest running back, Hertz pitchman, and actor Orenthal James Simpson was, especially in Los Angeles. The whole city was the set for this reality TV show. 

A friend was commuting on the 405 Freeway when he saw in the opposing lanes the slow-motion chase of the white Ford Bronco followed by a host of news helicopters broadcasting the whole bizarre event live. He said the sight of the helicopters coming over the horizon made it seem like a scene out of “Apocalypse Now.”  It was a bizarre preview to an equally bizarre trial.

Non-spoiler alert: What seemed like a slam dunk of a case surprised almost everyone with the jury finding Simpson not guilty. By and large, white Los Angeles was shocked and dismayed. Black Los Angeles was shocked too. They saw what can happen when you get the best legal defense team money can buy.

One of the less-famous members of that defense team was Gerald Uelmen, former dean of the University of Santa Clara law school. He was an expert on the California Evidence Code. In his book “If It Doesn’t Fit: Lessons from a Life in the Law,” Uelmen explains that he was the one who came up with the line, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” that Cochran used with such devastating impact in his summation.

In his essays on the O.J. trial, Uelmen lays out the defense strategy, which was simply to show that if the prosecution does not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, it requires the jury to acquit. He tells the story of one of the jurors who said she thought “’O.J. probably did it,’ but she understood that ‘probably’ wasn’t good enough, that she had to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“The verdict,” Uelmen wrote, “was a vindication of the principle that guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Uelmen is eloquent in his defense of the jury system, and he stresses the importance of a defendant getting the best, most capable defense possible. He is also not blind to the impact of racism on our legal system. O.J. was a wealthy man. He hired the best. If you are black and poor in America, your odds of acquittal diminish dramatically. He cites a range of statistics showing that one’s color makes a difference: “Whites do better at getting charges dropped. They’re better able to get charges reduced to lesser offenses. They draw more lenient sentences for the same crimes and go to prison less often.”

“When you are on the receiving end, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that our justice system is far from color-blind,” Uelmen wrote.

Uelmen’s passion for a more just system includes his work in opposition to the death penalty. He has been a long-time board member of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, an organization that opposes the death penalty and supports restorative justice. (Full disclosure: I am also a member of CMN’s board.)

One window into the imperfections of our judicial system is the number of people, often on death row, who are exonerated. Last year alone, 153 were exonerated, including four on death row and 22 who were sentenced to life without possibility of parole. Eighty-four percent of these exonerations were of people of color; 61% were black.

Uelmen, as a Catholic and as a lawyer, judges the death penalty to be morally wrong. It is a position supported by the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the teachings of the last three popes.

Then what about O.J.? To say his life only got worse after his acquittal is an understatement. O.J. lost a civil case with a lower standard of proof. He served nine years of jail time for another crime.

Was justice ever served in this life for Nicole and Ron? No. The person who many of us think was their killer died April 10 of cancer.

It is an imperfect justice system, its imperfections most often exposed in its inequalities. It is one of many reasons to oppose the death penalty: While the guilty may occasionally go free, the possibility that the innocent would lose their lives at the hands of the state is infinitely more horrifying.

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The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (10:32-45)

Our reading today is a preparation for things to come. We are told that our Lord Jesus Christ began to teach His disciples and to tell them that they would be going up to Jerusalem together. He told them that the Son of man would be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes and that He would be condemned and delivered to the Gentiles. He told them that He would be mocked, scourged, spit upon and killed. We are so used to hearing these things that we don’t see how amazing these statements are. The Lord is giving them confirmation and certainty regarding events that have not yet taken place. He sees it clearly, as if it has already happened.

So it is amazing because the Lord clearly predicted all of these events and it is also amazing because when the events began to happen, the disciples were terrified in the truest sense of the word. They trembled. They hid. Although the Lord told them all that was to take place, they did not accept these things or truly hear Him. They thought only of their lives in those moments when their Master was arrested. In their extreme fear they had also forgotten the final prediction that Our Lord had made to them. After telling them all that He would be betrayed and arrested and mocked and scourged and spit upon and killed, He in fact told them one more critical piece of information. “After three days He will rise.”

All of it was predicted. The Lord prepared them all for what was to come and yet they didn’t believe until they saw it happening with their own eyes. Even after these events began to transpire they did not believe. Had they believed they would not have been troubled at all precisely because the Lord said that He would rise again on the third day. Why should one be troubled by persecution and possible execution if one believes in the resurrection of their Master and Lord? We see this in the witness of the martyrs and their courage. But it is clear that the disciples did not yet believe.

After hearing all of these things, the two brothers, the sons of thunder, James and John came to the Lord and asked for Him to grant them whatever they desire. It sounds very strange to us, as if they think of the Lord as a genie. And what do they ask for? They ask to be seated in glory one at the right and the other at the left of the Lord. We can commend them for their grand thinking and having faith that the Lord could share such gifts with them. But then our Lord lets them in on a little secret regarding His kingdom. Everything is upside down. In this world we have certain expectations of how things should work. We have certain ideas about how things need to be done to “accomplish goals” or to conquer our problems. Most of these ideas and solutions involve the use of human ingenuity or the use of force and the exercise of power.

Alexander became great through his use of force and the exercise of his power. Napoleon was similar. Most historical leaders have followed this path. It is the path of the world. Yet the Lord offers a rebuke to His disciples and to all of us. In the kingdom, everything is truly upside down. Our Master Jesus Christ answers the brothers with these words,

“You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be servant of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

In essence the Lord says “you have come to me to become great, but you don’t understand that greatness requires great love and great sacrifice on behalf of all and for all.” Our Lord Jesus does not merely speak as a teacher detached from the situation. He lived this reality. He is more than happy to see us become great and to share in the glories of His kingdom. He wants us to share everything with Him forever. But there are absolutely no shortcuts available. If you want to be great. If you want to be great in the way that Our Lord Jesus Christ desires us to be great. If you want to be a living saint, then you must follow Christ and imitate His love and sacrificial service.

It’s definitely much harder than it sounds because it requires each of us to become less from an earthly perspective. I have all of these things that I desire, hopes, dreams and so forth. But many of these things have to be postponed or cancelled in order to fulfill the roles that God has given me. In order to become the man that God wants me to be, I must decrease and find a way to make everyone around me more important. I should be willing to make time for everyone, to help everyone, do be with others not only when they are happy but when they are in pain and have need. Each of us is called to serve one another in love.

We serve one another because we know that the world is full of pain and suffering caused by sin. We serve one another because we would hope that if the roles and circumstances were reversed we would also want others to serve us. But most of all we serve one another because Christ taught us how to serve one another fully. He showed us what it is to be a human by the way that He served and gave of Himself even to the point of death. This is our calling, difficult as it may be. We incarnate the life of Christ by dying to ourselves knowing that God sees our daily sacrifice and pours out grace upon us to multiply and bless our work.

Finally, we can serve one another through the work of heartfelt prayer. As St. John of KronstadtSt. John of Kronstadt

“>St. John of Kronstadt says,

“Do not let pass any opportunity to pray for anyone…. The Lord looks favorably upon the prayer of our love, and upon our boldness before him. Besides this, prayer for others is very beneficial to the one himself who prays for others; it purifies the heart, strengthens faith and hope in God, and enkindles our love for God and our neighbor. When praying, say thus: ‘Lord, it is possible for Thee to do this or that to this servant of Thine; do this for him, for Thy name is the Merciful Lover of mankind and the Almighty.’”

This is our calling together, to love and serve one another and give our lives for each other with the sure and certain faith that the giver of life, Jesus Christ will raise us up at the last day and will give us new and glorious life.

Today the Church venerates Sts. Caius and Soter, popes in the early Church, as martyrs, although no reliable account of their martyrdom has survived today.

St. Soter was born in Fundi, Italy. Although we don’t know when he was born, he is recorded as pope of the Church for eight years, from 166 until his death in 174.

As pope, Soter was known for his remarkable generosity. His personal charity and love for his flock can be seen in a letter written to him by Bishop St. Dionysius of Corinth, quoted in the 4th century “Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius:” “This has been your custom from the beginning, to do good in manifold ways to all Christians, and to send contributions to the many churches in every city… Your blessed bishop Soter has not only carried on the habit but has even increased it, by administering the bounty distributed to the saints and by exhorting with his blessed words the brethren who come to Rome, as a loving father would his children.”

In the same letter, Dionysius chronicles that Pope Soter had written a letter to the Corinthians, which was read alongside the epistle of St. Clement and held in high regard.

Pope Soter fiercely opposed the Montanism heresy, a sect which believed a Christian who had gravely sinned could never be redeemed.

St. Caius was pope for 13 years, from 283 until his death in 296, just before the Diocletian persecution. He was related to the Emperor Diocletian.

Early in his papacy, Caius decreed that a man must be ordained as a priest before he could be elevated as a bishop. He is said to have been driven into hiding in the catacombs for eight years, where he died.

Both St. Soter and St. Caius are buried in the cemetery of St. Calixtus, and are remembered on the date of St. Caius’ death.

St. Anselm was born in Aosta, part of present-day Italy, around 1033. His father was not a particularly moral role model, but his mother was extremely devout, and sent Anselm to be educated at a school run by Benedictine monks. 

While he was at school, Anselm felt called to religious life, and had a dream in which he talked to God about his calling. But his father prevented him from joining the Benedictines when Anselm was 15. After this disappointment, Anselm was extremely ill, and lost his mother. 

Tired of his father’s mistreatment, Anselm left home and wandered through France and Italy for three years. In Normandy, he met the Benedictine prior Lanfranc of Pavia, and became his disciple. Lanfranc recognized Anselm’s gifts, and encouraged him to pursue his vocation. 

Anselm was ordained a priest in the Benedictine order at 27, and succeeded Lanfranc as prior in 1063, when Lanfranc was called to be the abbot of another monastery. In 1079, Anselm became abbot of his own monastery. 

Lanfranc was appointed the archbishop of Canterbury, and asked Anselm to come help him. After Lanfranc’s death in the late 1080s, the English Church went through a difficult period. King William Rufus refused to allow the appointment of another archbishop, and Anselm had gone back to his monastery, refusing to return to England. 

But in 1092, he was persuaded to go to England, and the king allowed Anselm to be appointed archbishop. Although Anselm was very reluctant to become archbishop, he eventually accepted the appointment. For three years, in the early 12th century, Anselm insisted that the Church be allowed to self-govern in England, which led to his exile. He continued his fight, and returned to his archdiocese in 1106. 

In his last years, Anselm worked to reform the Church and continued his theological investigations. He died in 1109. 

Pope Clement XI named St. Anselm a Doctor of the Church in 1720. He is best known for his writings on Christ’s atonement and the existence of God.

St. Agnes of Montepulciano was born in Tuscany in the 13th century. When she was six, Agnes began asking her parents if she could join a convent. Three years later, she was finally admitted to the Dominican convent at Montepulciano, even though it was generally against Church law to allow a child of her age. 

Agnes’ reputation for holiness attracted other sisters, and she became an abbess at 15, which was exceedingly rare. She insisted on great austerities in the abbey, herself living on bread and water for 15 years, and sleeping on the ground with a stone as her pillow. 

Agnes is said to have received visions from the Virgin Mary, in which angels gave her communion. She also had a vision of herself holding the infant Jesus. When she awoke from her trance, she was holding the small gold crucifix the infant had been wearing. 

In 1317, Agnes died. Miracles were reported at her tomb, and when her body was moved to a church years later, it was found to be incorrupt.

St. Agnes was canonized in 1726. 

Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report shows an increase in abortions from the previous year, while also showing a decrease in health services.

In its 2022-2023 annual report, titled “Above and Beyond,” detailed its operations from 2021-2022, a window of time that included the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the abortion issue back to the legislature.

Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions in 2021-22, according to the report — an increase of about 18,000 from the previous report. For every adoption referral it made in 2021-22, Planned Parenthood performed approximately 228 abortions.

Meanwhile, total cancer screening and prevention services — such as pap tests and HPV vaccinations — decreased by more than 6,000 since the previous report, from 470,419 to 464,021. Pap tests alone declined from 228,466 to 197,617, while HPV vaccinations increased.

A joint message from Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Tanuja Bahal, its board chair, said “these have been the most trying of times,” for Planned Parenthood staff, citing the Dobbs ruling and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“And yet, each day, they open their doors,” the pair said. “They welcome patients from down the street, and patients from two, or three, or five states over. They listen. They educate. They hold hands. They find the referrals, the resources, the energy, the extra minute a patient needs.”

The message said Planned Parenthood “is proud to be the nation’s largest sex educator, an advocate at the forefront of the fight to protect and expand reproductive freedom, and a leader in research to make sexual and reproductive health care better for all people.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement, “Planned Parenthood’s business is abortion, abortion and more abortion.”

“Their annual report shocks the conscience, showing that they ended nearly 393,000 American lives in a single year,” Dannenfelser said.

Dannenfelser argued that the data shows that “pregnant women who walk into Planned Parenthood are sold an abortion 97% of the time, rather than helped to keep their child or make an adoption plan.”

“Meanwhile they saw 80,000 fewer patients, provided 60,000 fewer pap tests and breast exams, and even gave out less contraception,” she said. “As a reward, Democrats in Washington and in the states sent them almost $700 million from the taxpayers — one third of their revenue — to end the fiscal year with $2.5 billion in net assets. Vice President Kamala Harris even made a campaign stop at a Planned Parenthood abortion center. In turn, their political arm spends more than any other abortion-related group to lobby the federal government against commonsense policies like protecting babies born alive after failed abortions.”

The Biden administration has sought to protect Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. But despite campaign promises from former President Donald Trump during his earlier campaigns to defund Planned Parenthood, that organization’s federal funding actually went up during the Trump administration, with its federal reimbursements and grants reaching record levels during the group’s fiscal years starting in 2017 and 2018.

Jeff Bradford, president of Human Coalition, said in a statement the annual report “is jarringly titled ‘Above and Beyond.’”

“The sick irony is that they are going ‘above and beyond’ not to care for women, but to expand abortion — more wounded women, more dead children,” Bradford said. “At Human Coalition, we know full well that vulnerable women are victims of the abortion industry because we see the walking wounded all the time. They leave abortion clinics and return to the very circumstances that pressured them to abort in the first place — poverty, unemployment, family pressure, or domestic abuse. Abortion solves none of these problems. And in our experience, most of these women seeking abortion — 76 percent — would prefer to parent if their circumstances were different.

“Our pregnancy centers and partner pregnancy centers provide them with a range of care support they didn’t know they had, and walk with them to a place of stability and empowerment where they can be the mothers they wanted to be,” he continued. “This is true empowerment because they leave our centers transformed. We are here for women and children and we are proud to be the ones who will truly go ‘above and beyond’ for them.”

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred and must be respected from conception to natural death and, as such, opposes direct abortion as an act of violence that takes the life of the unborn child. After the Dobbs ruling, the U.S. bishops have reiterated the church’s commitment to serving both women and unborn children.

Acts 4:8-12 / Ps. 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 29 / 1 Jn. 3:1-2 / Jn. 10:11-18

Jesus, in today’s Gospel, says that he is the good shepherd the prophets had promised to Israel.

He is the shepherd-prince, the new David, who frees people from bondage to sin and gathers them into one flock, the Church, under a new covenant, made in his blood (see Ezekiel 34:10-13, 23-31).

His flock includes other sheep, he says, far more than the dispersed children of Israel (see Isaiah 56:8; John 11:52).

And he gave his Church the mission of shepherding all peoples to the Father.

In today’s First Reading, we see the beginnings of that mission in the testimony of Peter, whom the Lord appointed shepherd of his Church (see John 21:15-17).

Peter tells Israel’s leaders that the Psalm we sing today is a prophecy of their rejection and crucifixion of Christ. He tells the “builders” of Israel’s temple that God has made the stone they rejected, the cornerstone of a new spiritual temple, the Church (see Mark 12:10-13; 1 Peter 2:4-7).

Through the ministry of the Church, the shepherd still speaks (see Luke 10:16), and forgives sins (see John 20:23), and makes his body and blood present, that all may know him in the breaking of the bread (see Luke 24:35). It is a mission that will continue until all the world is one flock under the one shepherd.

In laying down his life and taking it up again, Jesus made it possible for us to know God as he did — as sons and daughters of the Father who loves us.

As we hear in today’s Epistle, he calls us his children, as he called Israel his son when he led them out of Egypt and made his covenant with them (see Exodus 4:22-23; Revelation 21:7).

Today, let us listen for his voice as he speaks to us in the Scriptures, and vow again to be more faithful followers. And let us give thanks for the blessings he bestows from his altar.