May Newsletter Article

No Other Name Under Heaven

Alleluia.  Christ has risen.

Sometimes writing these articles is hard, Dear Reader.  It is easy to get caught between the desire to write an amazingly poignant reflection on scripture and a deeply theological comment on the state of the Church, the world or on God, Himself.  Some may call it writer’s block, but I tend to think of it as gray-matter overload or the problem of over-thinking something and making it far more complicated that it really should be.  Therefore, the solution is usually to keep it simple.

With that in mind:  Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  Jesus Christ was the son of a woman named Mary and the Holy Spirit.  Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies; He was the Messiah.  Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins.  Jesus Christ walked out of the tomb, bodily resurrected as proof of the love and power of God.  Jesus Christ is the New Covenant through which we are made right with God, and thereafter live in the promise of everlasting life.

As Peter said, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

We are Easter people.  This is our Eastertide, the Season when the resurrected Jesus walked, talked and ate with His people; live according to that notion. 

Rejoice in the presence of Christ with us; join with us in worshiping God and in participating in His sacrifice and resurrection through the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. 

Proclaim to friends and family the joy of knowing that Christ has broken the bonds of sin and death not only by word but in the happiness and peace that can come only from our relationship to God.

May the knowledge and love of Him who is our Savior and Redeemer reside always in our hearts.

The Lord has risen, indeed.  Alleluia.

Fr. Michael+

Mardi Gras Party

Don't forget the Mardi Gras party at Christ Memorial tonight starting at 6 PM.  The food and the company will be great.

Ash Wednesday is tomorrow (and that is a traditional day of fasting), and we will have Mass with Imposition of Ashes at Noon and 7 PM.

Lent is a time of penitential preparation in anticipation of Easter.  Now is the time to decide on what you will give up and what you will take on during this season.  Many choose to give up a type of food or an activity during Lent, and that is a great way to refocus our attention on God.  But it is also very important to take on something that will bring us closer to Him.  Maybe that is a daily reading of Scripture.  Maybe it is reading a book by C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton or St. Augustine or N.T. Wright.  Personally, I am going to sit down with C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.

Lent is also a time of reflection, examination and repentance.  We take this opportunity to consider and to confess all that which has separated us from the God and turn away from those things, setting ourselves, with God's unbounded Grace and Love, on a new path towards Him.

I am available to hear Confessions, by appointment.  Please call me at 318-840-9196.

Fr. Michael+

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand! (Mt 4: 17 RSV)

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.  And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mk 13: 24-27 RSV)

Jesus spoke of the time when every knee will bow before the Lamb and all the brokenness of creation will be set right.  This is the eschaton, the Second Coming.  Part of what Jesus preaches refers to that promise, the promise when God will rule the world with pure justice and pure mercy and pure grace; setting all things right and in their proper place.  We do not know the time of this conclusion of history; but we know that it is on the way.

When speaking of the "Kingdom of Heaven", however, Jesus tells us not only of a coming event that may or may not be distant in its arrival.  Jesus also speaks of a present reality; the presence of God in the midst of His people.  Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, is the Kingdom of Heaven.

The new proximity of the Kingdom of which Jesus speaks - the distinguishing feature of his message - is to be found in Jesus himself.  Through Jesus' presence and action, God has here and now entered actively into history in a wholly new way.  The reason why now is the fullness of time (Mk 1: 15), why now is in a unique sense the time of conversion and penance, as well as the time of joy, is that in Jesus it is God who draws near to us.  In Jesus, God is now the one who acts and who rules as Lord - rules in a divine way, without worldly power, rules through the love that reaches 'to the end' (Jn 13: 1), to the Cross.  John Cardinal Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth

We live in a history that has been touched irrevocably by the physical presence of God.  He chose to make himself one of us, fully man and fully God, so that we might not only look forward to the promise of life eternal with Him; but that we might share in a restored relationship with our Father right here and right now.  Jesus points to the future, but he is not only about prophesy and promises.  Through our faith in Christ, our actions guided by the Holy Ghost and our participation in the Body of Christ, the Church, we find that we are in the presence of the Kingdom even while we await its arrival at the end of time.

Fr. Michael+

Feast of the Epiphany

No, don't worry.  It's not Epiphany, yet.  Please mark your calendars, however, for Thursday, January 6 at 6PM for our celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany.  Epiphany marks the arrival of the Magi at the home of the Jesus and his family in Bethlehem.  The arrival of these gentiles from the East also reinforces the universality of God's plan for the salvation of His Creation.  The Messiah has not come just for the Hebrew people, but for all the people of the world, and since the Gospel is not yet ready to be carried to the world, the world will instead come to the Gospel.

Also on Thursday evening, we will observe an old tradition of the Church by blessing chalk.  This chalk is then used to inscribe a blessing on the door post of one's home as an acknowledgement of God's blessing upon us for the new year.  The chalk will be blessed prior to the conclusion of the Mass.

Finally, we plan on having a King Cake Thursday evening, so plan to hang around to enjoy is traditional treat of Epiphany (at least in Louisiana).

See you Thursday!

Fr. Michael+