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Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Easter 2018

Condemned or
free?

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.

Today we witness the baptism of Finley Edward. It is the first step of the sacrament of Baptism-Confirmation by which we enter and grow in the regenerated life. While the two parts of this sacrament, both baptism and confirmation, seem like bookends, they are not. Rather they are steps in a journey, a journey from condemnation to freedom.

What is best and most amazing in the process of Baptism-Confirmation is that by our actions of faith, our proclamation of belief in Jesus and trust in His salvation, and rejection of all sin we are saved and are completely freed. We are changed in the most essential of ways. Theologians call it an ontological change. Really old folks like me were taught that our soul receives an indelible mark – something that can never be undone. This is why we call it what Jesus called it in speaking with Nicodemus – regeneration or rebirth: Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again… Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

Today, St. John reminds us of what we received. We have new hearts and sprits that will not condemn us. They have been freed and that should give us great confidence. At the same time, St. John knew that we know somewhat differently.

While we are able to have confidence, while we have been essentially changed and regenerated, we fall. We fail to keep the commandments of God – the two key ones – to love God enabled by our belief in Jesus because in Jesus we know God, and to love each other. When we fall short in those regards we loose confidence.

When we forget the commandments, are away from the vine, apart from the love of Jesus’ community, we lose confidence. That’s when our hearts condemn us. Yet if we remain on the path of transformation we are freed, and in freedom bear much good fruit.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, , , , ,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Institution of the Polish National Catholic Church – 2015

regeneration

And they will be
amazed.

Then the righteous man will stand with great confidence in the presence of those who have afflicted him, and those who make light of his labors. When they see him, they will be shaken with dreadful fear, and they will be amazed at his unexpected salvation. They will speak to one another in repentance, and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say, “This is the man whom we once held in derision and made a byword of reproach — we fools! We thought that his life was madness and that his end was without honor. Why has he been numbered among the sons of God? And why is his lot among the saints?

The Scripture above from the Book of Wisdom obviously points to Jesus, a man mocked and spurned by His people, thought to be just another mad prophet, and eventually killed in the most horrible of ways even though innocent. He emerges victorious in the end and is recognized to be what He always was, the Holy One of God, the only Son of God, God made man Who now sits at the Father’s right hand.

Beyond this obvious reference to the life of Jesus we should be able to see in ourselves the same experience. As Jesus was mocked and derided by the leaders of the time, so too are we. As Jesus was thought mad, so too are we. As Jesus was mocked, so too are we. As people said: ‘how can this be possible’ of Jesus, so too they say it of us. Yet, in the end, we know we, like Jesus, will emerge victorious.

Is emerging victorious a foregone conclusion for us?

Victory is solely dependent on our likeness to Jesus. The prerequisite for our victory is the same as that exhibited in the earthly life of Jesus Christ. It is by our faith that we will be victorious. That is both the starting point and the reality that must underpin all we do. In approaching our work, joys, struggles, and interactions – in both our interior life and social interactions – we must define ourselves by our life in Jesus.

A life fully lived in faith and likened to Him will result in others being amazed by us. That faith life makes us changed people with the potential of being amazing. That is what regeneration in Jesus is. Because of essential change we become a confusing lot of people in the face of the world. We get up early, worship by faith, work hard, and have a totally different attitude than that of the majority of people. We believe that we can change individual hearts and the wider world. We think that by all this effort will make God’s kingdom a reality. We may face derision, be assessed fools, and might be mocked. Yet we know that by living regenerated lives we will be numbered among the saints and victorious. Be ready to be amazing.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

They will know we are Christians…

a.) by our politics
b.) by our economics
c.) by our left-wing right-wing dichotomy
d.) by our love

I found a link to Frank Schaeffer’s Huffington Post article: Changing the Failed Strategy of the Religious Right Into a Winning Formula That Helps Heal Our Country at Huw’s site in Heal Our Country.

The Republican/evangelical right’s world view has been replaced by a battered, it’s-the-economy-stupid!, state of mind. Economic collapse and perhaps worse awaits us. We are losing one war, and the other war was clearly a mistake. And the fools who got us into this mess need not apply for any post higher than dog catcher for years to come. Most American know all this.

This knowledge signals not just a loss for the Religious right but a resounding and permanent defeat. It also signals (to anyone sane) that even if you except the Religious right’s view that, for instance, all abortion is murder, gay marriage an affront to God’s natural law and so forth, a change of tactics is in order. Obviously no one is getting convinced, but rather the culture is moving in the other direction. In fact the Religious Right has made its case so badly that with friends like them the right’s causes need no enemies.

What might a change of tactics be? How to effect change at the same time as practicing love for one’s neighbor without which love — by Christ’s standard anyway — everything else becomes mere sound and fury signifying nothing?

Here’s the answer. (Yes, I said the answer.)..

One of the reasons I love the PNCC. There is a distinct dearth of polemics in our Church. You do not see the ultra-conservative ultra-liberal dichotomy that exists in other Churches. We know that we can achieve nothing by conflict and everything through unity.

Perhaps it comes from Bishop Hodur’s focus on our regeneration in Christ. We are made new by our choice. We know that once we adopt regeneration we must learn to adapt to it — to become fully human as part of a community. Focusing on regeneration requires that we hold a high opinion of man’s value as a child of God. We see mankind as endowed with the intellectual capacity and moral capability to see, to learn, and to decide for God. That message counters those who seek division, who key on differences.

In valuing all we realize that we cannot and must not cast obstacles before those who come seeking. We know that they seek love — a love that differs — the love of God. Our evangelism requires that we show our members, and all who seek, that every aspect of the Church, from the liturgy which is an intimate encounter and an actualized unity with Christ, to our democratic form of governance, is an opportunity to work and struggle for ourselves, for our brothers and sisters, for mankind, and ultimately for union with and in Christ. In achieving that we achieve truth and the ultimate victory. In that we hold-up God’s model of love.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, , ,

On Regeneration

In many ways in keeping with what Bishop Hodur wrote on regeneration in Our Way of Life:

Rebirth comes from a spiritual transformation which changes man into a new being. It begins with an understanding of our true relationship with God and moving into closer union with Him. This understanding and this union become sources of the great power which is needed to complete the transformation…

But how does one attain this situation? How can we bring about this miraculous transformation of the human soul, which changes the wretched and sinful human into the fortunate one who finds satisfaction even among life’s greatest adversities?

There are two incentives for this change: one flows directly from God; the second is inherent in human consciousness…

They found themselves, figuratively, on the brink of an abyss of torment and despair. A sense of hopelessness and a feeling of the insignificance of human life emanated from it.

At such a moment in their lives, they met the Divine Teacher from Nazareth. This meeting determined their subsequent way of life and their entire futures. It became their rescue, deliverance, and rebirth.

Through this contact with Christ, their uncertainty vanished, their doubts disappeared, and they no longer heard the voices of despair. An energizing force flowed into their souls, and along with it came great perception, holy fervor, unbounded love of God, and the desire to dedicate their lives to the service of mankind. — Excerpts from Chapter IV, Spiritual Rebirth.

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