The Beloved Disciple, Jesus' Brightest Pupil

St. John, says Msgr. Eugene Kevane, was Jesus’ “brightest pupil, the one who understood him best and took his teaching more fully to heart. John learned fully the lesson that the Kingdom of God is in this world but not of it, that it results from the redemption from sin, that it is within persons first and only through their new life does it radiate upon temporal structures, political activity and cultural works” (1).

John, “the beloved disciple,” heard the call of the Lord not from a bush that burned, but from a voice on the shore. While he was mending the nets in a boat with his brother James and his father, Zebedee, Jesus called them. The response of St. John and his brother was swift: “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him” (Mt 4:21-22). The gospel of Mark points out that they left Zebedee with the hired servants (Mk. 1:20). John and James left the servants with their father to do the work of this world, which must be done. But their call to apostleship, to become “fishers of men” (Mk 1:17), is one of ministry, of feeding souls rather than stomachs.

From this point on, Christ takes John – along with Peter and James – into the most intimate circle of his revelation of his salvific mission. The three are lifted above discipleship, above their role as members of the Twelve, into companionship. The three are sole witnesses to some of Jesus’ most intimate moments.

John was among those chosen to witness the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mk 5:22-24, 35-43; cf. Lk 8:41-42, 49-56). Jesus chose Peter, James and John to witness the Transfiguration atop Mount Tabor. At this point, the beloved disciple with Peter and James become as dead men, falling down in prostration. There, they see a conversation between Elijah, Moses and a Jesus whose garments became radiantly white. Then a cloud came over them and the voice of the heavenly Father proclaimed, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Christ tells them to keep the matter to themselves, so they tell no one (Mt 17:1-9; cf. Mk 9:2-10; Lk 9:28-36).

John has some growing pains in his path to holiness. John is the disciple who tells the Lord they forbade someone from casting out demons in Jesus’ name. But Jesus instructs John not to forbid that, “for he that is not against you is for you” (Lk 9:49-50). In the following verses in Luke’s gospel, John continues on his roll as he and his brother have a request: that the Lord would permit them to call down fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan village that refused to shelter them. Our Lord rebuked the brothers (Lk 9:51-56), and they earn the nickname “sons of thunder.” Finally, John and James fall somewhat out of favor with the other apostles when they (or perhaps their mother) request that they sit at the Lord’s right and left in his glory. Jesus reveals that what they request is not for the Son of Man to give, but is for the Father in heaven who has prepared their place. Their question prompts an explanation about what true authority means, that “whoever would be first among you must be slave 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” (Mk 10:35-45; cf. Mt 20:20-27).

In John’s own gospel, he proudly boasts of his intimacy with Jesus – and this is not a lack of humility, but the type of boasting in Christ of which St. Paul speaks. The image of Jesus and John, “whom Jesus loved,” at the Last Supper is a powerful one: John reclining at the Lord’s breast, almost the way a child puts his ear at his father’s chest to listen to the heartbeat. After three years of sharing Jesus’ public ministry and his private life, John is not only a disciple, he is not only an apostle, he is not only a friend, John is in love with Jesus. John’s notion of apostleship is not a mere soul-saving occupation; it is a deep and all-consuming loving relationship that must be shared (cf. 1Jn 1:1-4). John and Jesus’ physical closeness is an expression of security, serenity, trust and love. Who lays their head upon a person he or she does not love? After three years with Jesus, John has beautifully entered a familial relationship with Christ, and it is a witness to all believers that nothing but love will draw you close to the person of Christ. He is a challenge to men everywhere to imitate the love of the Evangelist and become the Lord's beloved – what could be more manly?!

Even Peter isn’t close enough to Jesus at the Last Supper to discretely find out the identity of the betrayer, so he asks for John’s help. “Who is it,” John asks. Now, everyone must have been a great commotion in the room with the apostles talking amongst themselves, because it seems that no one at the table except John heard Jesus say, “It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it.” Perhaps Jesus said it quietly in confidence. Only John knew why Jesus, when he handed the morsel to Judas, said, “What you are going to do, do quickly” (cf. Jn 13:21-30).

Following the meal, Jesus takes John, James and Peter into Gethsemane to pray. The hour is at hand for betrayal, and the three cannot keep their eyes open while Jesus prays (Mk. 14:32-42). When Judas betrays the Lord and the soldiers seize him, all the disciples abandon Jesus; but Peter and John follow Jesus (Jn 18:15). And as the apostles had scattered, Judas had despaired of this life, and Peter had fled in remorse over his denial, John’s loving devotion drives him to the foot of the Cross; he is the lone apostolic witness to the crucifixion. At the Cross, right before Christ’s death, John is given a most precious gift – he is charged with the care of the Virgin Mary. He takes her into his own home “from that hour” (Jn 19:26-27). This is the fruit of loving the Lord – adoption into his very family. Jesus is not only our brother in a spiritual sense, but in a real sense. We can truly say with Jesus, "our Blessed Mother."

A couple of days later, a frantic Mary Magdalene brings news of the missing body of the Lord to John and Peter who race to the tomb. John outruns Peter, but yields to Peter who enters the tomb first. When John enters the tomb, “he saw and believed” (Jn 20:1-8). The resurrected Christ later appears to Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John and two others as they are fishing. John is the first to recognize Jesus and exclaims to Peter, “It is the Lord” (Jn 21:1-7). Peter, upon learning of his own fate, inquires about the beloved disciple. Jesus replies, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me” (Jn 21:20-23). John’s faith and love of Jesus is overwhelmingly beautiful. Perhaps our Lord found his faith so pure and beautiful that he would not allow him to die a martyr’s death. His love is so intimately united with the love the Lord seeks that there is no better caretaker for his most holy mother, Mary.

There is something important to notice at the end of John’s gospel. John writes that he is the disciple who is “bearing witness” to all that is written in this gospel (Jn 21:24). He proclaims the authenticity of his words because he has witnessed them personally. His faith is personal in nature, and his relationship with Christ is woven throughout the gospel.

John is there in the Upper Room with the other disciples when Peter gives his first catechesis. He is there at Pentecost. After Pentecost, he is frequently seen at Peter’s side. The book of Acts speaks to a “boldness” they both possessed. When rebuked by the authorities for speaking or teaching in the name of Jesus, John and Peter say, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:13-20). Finally, Scripture reveals the apostolic ministry of John, again alongside Peter, as they go to Samaria to pray that those baptized in the name of Jesus might also receive the Holy Spirit. There the apostles went to lay hands on the new believers (Acts 8:14-17).

Anyone seeking a higher love will find the story of John and his devotion to and intimacy with Jesus a compelling story of brotherly love. Thus goes the transformation of St. John, a young man chosen to become an apostle. But even more he is an intimate witness to the life of Christ adopted into the Holy Family by the Son of God on his Cross of redemption. John's profound faith is a testament to the grace a fallen man can attain who makes Christ his beloved.

Notes

(1) Eugene Kevane, Jesus the Divine Teacher: Fullness and Mediator of Biblical Revelation (New York: Vantage Press, 2003), 202.

Merry Christmas! Pope Benedict's Midnight Mass Homily...

Here is the text of the Pope's Midnight Mass homily, provided by Zenit

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"The time came for Mary to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" (Lk 2:6f.). These words touch our hearts every time we hear them. This was the moment that the angel had foretold at Nazareth: "you will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High" (Lk 1:31). This was the moment that Israel had been awaiting for centuries, through many dark hours - the moment that all mankind was somehow awaiting, in terms as yet ill-defined: when God would take care of us, when he would step outside his concealment, when the world would be saved and God would renew all things. We can imagine the kind of interior preparation, the kind of love with which Mary approached that hour. The brief phrase: "She wrapped him in swaddling clothes" allows us to glimpse something of the holy joy and the silent zeal of that preparation. The swaddling clothes were ready, so that the child could be given a fitting welcome. Yet there is no room at the inn. In some way, mankind is awaiting God, waiting for him to draw near. But when the moment comes, there is no room for him. Man is so preoccupied with himself, he has such urgent need of all the space and all the time for his own things, that nothing remains for others - for his neighbour, for the poor, for God. And the richer men become, the more they fill up all the space by themselves. And the less room there is for others.

Saint John, in his Gospel, went to the heart of the matter, giving added depth to Saint Luke's brief account of the situation in Bethlehem: "He came to his own home, and his own people received him not" (Jn 1:11). This refers first and foremost to Bethlehem: the Son of David comes to his own city, but has to be born in a stable, because there is no room for him at the inn. Then it refers to Israel: the one who is sent comes among his own, but they do not want him. And truly, it refers to all mankind: he through whom the world was made, the primordial Creator-Word, enters into the world, but he is not listened to, he is not received.

These words refer ultimately to us, to each individual and to society as a whole. Do we have time for our neighbour who is in need of a word from us, from me, or in need of my affection? For the sufferer who is in need of help? For the fugitive or the refugee who is seeking asylum? Do we have time and space for God? Can he enter into our lives? Does he find room in us, or have we occupied all the available space in our thoughts, our actions, our lives for ourselves?

Thank God, this negative detail is not the only one, nor the last one that we find in the Gospel. Just as in Luke we encounter the maternal love of Mary and the fidelity of Saint Joseph, the vigilance of the shepherds and their great joy, just as in Matthew we encounter the visit of the wise men, come from afar, so too John says to us: "To all who received him, he gave power to become children of God" (Jn 1:12). There are those who receive him, and thus, beginning with the stable, with the outside, there grows silently the new house, the new city, the new world. The message of Christmas makes us recognize the darkness of a closed world, and thereby no doubt illustrates a reality that we see daily. Yet it also tells us that God does not allow himself to be shut out. He finds a space, even if it means entering through the stable; there are people who see his light and pass it on. Through the word of the Gospel, the angel also speaks to us, and in the sacred liturgy the light of the Redeemer enters our lives. Whether we are shepherds or "wise men" - the light and its message call us to set out, to leave the narrow circle of our desires and interests, to go out to meet the Lord and worship him. We worship him by opening the world to truth, to good, to Christ, to the service of those who are marginalized and in whom he awaits us.

In some Christmas scenes from the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the stable is depicted as a crumbling palace. It is still possible to recognize its former splendour, but now it has become a ruin, the walls are falling down - in fact, it has become a stable. Although it lacks any historical basis, this metaphorical interpretation nevertheless expresses something of the truth that is hidden in the mystery of Christmas. David's throne, which had been promised to last for ever, stands empty. Others rule over the Holy Land. Joseph, the descendant of David, is a simple artisan; the palace, in fact, has become a hovel. David himself had begun life as a shepherd. When Samuel sought him out in order to anoint him, it seemed impossible and absurd that a shepherd-boy such as he could become the bearer of the promise of Israel. In the stable of Bethlehem, the very town where it had all begun, the Davidic kingship started again in a new way - in that child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The new throne from which this David will draw the world to himself is the Cross. The new throne - the Cross - corresponds to the new beginning in the stable. Yet this is exactly how the true Davidic palace, the true kingship is being built. This new palace is so different from what people imagine a palace and royal power ought to be like. It is the community of those who allow themselves to be drawn by Christ's love and so become one body with him, a new humanity. The power that comes from the Cross, the power of self-giving goodness - this is the true kingship. The stable becomes a palace - and setting out from this starting-point, Jesus builds the great new community, whose key-word the angels sing at the hour of his birth: "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to those whom he loves" - those who place their will in his, in this way becoming men of God, new men, a new world.

Gregory of Nyssa, in his Christmas homilies, developed the same vision setting out from the Christmas message in the Gospel of John: "He pitched his tent among us" (Jn 1:14). Gregory applies this passage about the tent to the tent of our body, which has become worn out and weak, exposed everywhere to pain and suffering. And he applies it to the whole universe, torn and disfigured by sin. What would he say if he could see the state of the world today, through the abuse of energy and its selfish and reckless exploitation? Anselm of Canterbury, in an almost prophetic way, once described a vision of what we witness today in a polluted world whose future is at risk: "Everything was as if dead, and had lost its dignity, having been made for the service of those who praise God. The elements of the world were oppressed, they had lost their splendour because of the abuse of those who enslaved them for their idols, for whom they had not been created" (PL 158, 955f.). Thus, according to Gregory's vision, the stable in the Christmas message represents the ill-treated world. What Christ rebuilds is no ordinary palace. He came to restore beauty and dignity to creation, to the universe: this is what began at Christmas and makes the angels rejoice. The Earth is restored to good order by virtue of the fact that it is opened up to God, it obtains its true light anew, and in the harmony between human will and divine will, in the unification of height and depth, it regains its beauty and dignity. Thus Christmas is a feast of restored creation. It is in this context that the Fathers interpret the song of the angels on that holy night: it is an expression of joy over the fact that the height and the depth, Heaven and Earth, are once more united; that man is again united to God. According to the Fathers, part of the angels' Christmas song is the fact that now angels and men can sing together and in this way the beauty of the universe is expressed in the beauty of the song of praise. Liturgical song - still according to the Fathers - possesses its own peculiar dignity through the fact that it is sung together with the celestial choirs. It is the encounter with Jesus Christ that makes us capable of hearing the song of the angels, thus creating the real music that fades away when we lose this singing-with and hearing-with.

In the stable at Bethlehem, Heaven and Earth meet. Heaven has come down to Earth. For this reason, a light shines from the stable for all times; for this reason joy is enkindled there; for this reason song is born there. At the end of our Christmas meditation I should like to quote a remarkable passage from Saint Augustine. Interpreting the invocation in the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father who art in Heaven", he asks: what is this - Heaven? And where is Heaven? Then comes a surprising response: "... who art in Heaven - that means: in the saints and in the just. Yes, the heavens are the highest bodies in the universe, but they are still bodies, which cannot exist except in a given location. Yet if we believe that God is located in the heavens, meaning in the highest parts of the world, then the birds would be more fortunate than we, since they would live closer to God. Yet it is not written: 'The Lord is close to those who dwell on the heights or on the mountains', but rather: 'the Lord is close to the brokenhearted' (Ps 34:18[33:19]), an expression which refers to humility. Just as the sinner is called 'Earth', so by contrast the just man can be called 'Heaven'" (Sermo in monte II 5, 17). Heaven does not belong to the geography of space, but to the geography of the heart. And the heart of God, during the Holy Night, stooped down to the stable: the humility of God is Heaven. And if we approach this humility, then we touch Heaven. Then the Earth too is made new. With the humility of the shepherds, let us set out, during this Holy Night, towards the Child in the stable! Let us touch God's humility, God's heart! Then his joy will touch us and will make the world more radiant. Amen.

Scheeben on the Holy Spirit...

Short one today. Some times, an abundance of my words would only detract from something altogether pure and beautiful in itself. This is from Matthias Joseph Scheeben.

In thus applying the name "Holy Spirit" to the Spirit of the Father and the Son, we behold Him, as it were, in the guise of an infinitely precious diamond of unshatterable compactness and the most limpid purity, crystallized out of the breath of their love and life, a diamond in which in an inexpressibly sublime manner the Father and the Son pledge their love, and secure, seal, and crown their bond of union.

~Mysteries of Christianity

A Quick Administrative Note...

For those of you who are already my subscribers, I am switching subscription services from the confusing Atom thing at the bottom to FeedBlitz. So if you want to maintain your subscription, you may do one of two things:

1. You may email me with your email address at kevinmclarke(at)gmail.com
2. or you may put your email address in the "Subscribe me" box and follow a few quick steps.

I hope FeedBlitz works out better, as I have had several people struggle with blogspot's Atom (including myself).

God bless!

This is good...

Normally, I neither forward nor delete emails that I receive. They just collect in my inbox for whatever reason. But this one I couldn't not share. So if you need a bit of a break from my previous blog, I wanted to share The Month Before Christmas by Anonymous - a recent Anonymous, but an Anonymous nonetheless. My mother sent this to me after receiving it from one of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (by the way, any young man considering priesthood should look into this amazing order).

The Month Before Christmas

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas—no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a "Holiday."

Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken and Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas—was nowhere to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.

Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, now Darden, now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith;
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "winter break" under your "dream tree"
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say

Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!

~Anonymous

Congregation for Clergy Unveils Plan for Worldwide Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration

This is wonderful news indeed! The Congregation for the Clergy sent out letters on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8) to bishops all over the world requesting the implementation of Eucharistic Adoration. For those wishing to dispense with my blog, I offer the following link from Clerus.org. For those of my readers who may not know what exactly is Eucharistic Adoration, I will offer a brief explanation. For my commentary, scroll down to the subheading following this brief explanation of the Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration.

The Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration

Understanding Eucharistic adoration becomes simple enough once there is understanding of what the Eucharist is. While at some point, I will offer a more thorough presentation of the Eucharist, the Eucharist is the body of Christ. The same Jesus Christ who died on the Cross is indeed risen from the dead and has ascended to the right hand of God the Father. From heaven, he exercises his high priesthood through his priests on earth. During Mass, priests offer gifts of bread and wine to God. During their offering, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the eternal generosity of God the Father, Jesus Christ becomes present in person under the appearance of bread and wine. Though the host (the bread) looks like bread, tastes like bread, and has all the properties of bread, the substance of the reality is no longer bread, but God, Jesus Christ. So when we receive the Eucharist, we are actually receiving the flesh and blood of God himself, who so loved us as to take on flesh and blood. But this is no ordinary flesh and blood, but the risen flesh and blood of Christ. This is not a part of him, nor is this some form of cannibalism, which involves consuming of the dead. Quite the contrary is true. We are consumed by God when we receive the Eucharist. Though we receive a tiny host, the substance is infinitely majestic and powerful. Though materially, it appears that we dwarf the host, immaterially the host dwarfs us. Our immaterial souls dwell in our bodies and are limited to our bodies. The infinite immateriality of God dwells fully in the Eucharist, but at the same time God is wholly transcendent to this world. In receiving Christ in communion, we are called up into communion with this infinitely majestic God. The finiteness of our being is lost in the majesty of the Most High. He consumes us. And how wonderful is this consummation! This is indeed why everyone should be Catholic – to receive the bread that has come down from heaven.

While we adore Christ most by eating his flesh and drinking his blood in Communion, other forms of worship of the Eucharist bear great fruit for the soul and for the world. Eucharistic adoration involves reverence and love before the Sacred Host, exposed for viewing. This is a time of deep prayer and communion with God. Nothing pleases God the Father more than honoring his Son, whom he gave for the salvation of the world. To look upon with the Son with adoring eyes leads to any number of things. Many converts to the Catholic faith speak of seeing the Eucharist exposed and “just knowing” it is the Lord. For Catholics as well, the Eucharist is the light that shines into the dark recesses of the heart and exposes all that is displeasing to God. So no matter the place on the path in the journey towards God, Eucharistic adoration bears the fruit of deep conversion in the soul. Some who adore Christ in the Eucharist are called into ecstasy. These mystical experiences are an encounter of the divine nature of God. Many lose time. Hours spent on the knees before the Eucharist can feel like minutes. Adoring Christ in the Eucharist brings one into the blazing furnace of God’s love. Not even subzero temperatures have been able to keep some mystics cool. But mystical experience is not only for a few. God speaks to the silent recesses of the heart of all his children. For instance, in Eucharistic adoration I “heard” God tell me to ask my wife out again. I had asked her out three times unsuccessfully. But I was not even considering asking her out again. In fact, that’s just the opposite of what I wanted to do. But I listed to his words and she said yes. This is only a brief example. The full story is quite remarkable. After what had happened, such an inspiration could have only come from God. Before Christ in the Eucharist I’ve received so much goodness.

But I must turn to Mother Teresa, who sums it up with few words so much better than I can with many words:

The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven, and will help bring about everlasting peace on earth.

The Congregation for the Clergy and an Increase in Our Hope

Praise be to God for Claudio Cardinal Hummes and the work being done by the Congregation of the Clergy! The sheer magnitude of what is transpiring within the Church is not to be underestimated. This will bear an inconceivable amount of fruit for the world. The Church is hungry for vocations. And this is the path. Without doubt, this will work. The Congregation is asking for more priests. The sighs and tears of the faithful will bring the graces necessary for the Church, and will foster the environment of love for God necessary in the Church for young men to hear God calling them. In yet another elevation and affirmation of the dignity of woman in the Catholic Church, the Congregation is asking women to consider potential vocations of spiritual motherhood to priests, following the model of the Blessed Mother of God, Mary Most Holy.

I want to guard against an overly pessimistic view that this plan will not take off in the Church. Some bishops to be sure will reject this and not implement this in their own diocese—much to their loss. However, the impact this will have upon the Church (and subsequently the world) will be nothing short of astounding. Moreover, the bleating of the sheep, desirous of divine intimacy, is as I type and as you read sounding in the heights of heaven until their cries are answered – either through their bishops, or through new more capable ones.

Imagine, through Eucharist adoration “a prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, petition, and reparation will be raised to God, incessantly and from every corner of the earth…” We are in such need of vocations. But if the United States bishops drop the ball on this one (and though I don’t think they will, I assure myself that there are at a couple dozen who won’t) the bishops of the world will not fall short on this lofty request from the Congregation for the Clergy.

The bishops of the world, the great pastors of the Church, will guide the faithful to the most luminous Sacred Host. And they will sustain us through their prayers. I am overwhelmed with joy at the thought of more Eucharistic adoration in Africa. Does this excite anyone else? What a beautiful and faithful people who are absolutely in love with the Eucharist! Let me be a fool for Christ and say that there will be greater peace for the whole world with more faithful Filipinos adoring with their eyes and hearts the Sacred Body of Our Lord. And the sighs of the old little church ladies throughout the world beholding the face of the Lord will help end the crisis of lost fatherhood in the Western world.

The busy and time-strapped world so desperately needs stillness and silence before the Eucharist. Many people give abundantly with generous hearts to God from their financial resources to those less fortunate. But is money the only resource given by God to man? Does God not also allot man a certain number of days, and a certain number of hours in a day? Few people give a tenth of their financial resources. Fewer still give a tenth of their time. Imagine giving God 2 hours and 24 minutes every day! That is a tenth of the day. Any time spent in Eucharistic adoration is a great way to give a portion back to him. “OK, so I need to give some time back to God as well. Might I do something better with my time,” many might ask. “Isn’t there something more productive I can do for God, like volunteer at a homeless shelter or do some social justice work?” I can only at this point direct attention to Blessed Mother Teresa, who gave of herself to the poor of the world in a way not seen in the modern world. She gave of her time to God in the poor. But consider her perspective on the Eucharist:

We cannot separate our lives from the Eucharist; the moment we do, something breaks. People ask, "Where do the sisters get the joy and energy to do what they are doing?" The Eucharist involves more than just receiving; it also involves satisfying the hunger of Christ. He says, "Come to Me." He is hungry for souls.

Can God Die?

All this talk about The Golden Compass has got me thinking a great number of things. The triumphant characters actually kill God in the end of the book series. The first thing I'm thinking is: why would you want to kill God? And isn't this Pullman fellow chasing the train that's left the station? I thought that the atheists had determined that God died sometime during the scientific revolution – he was no longer deemed necessary, thus, he died. So they say. Because that's what all people do who are no longer necessary. Anyway, how could a bunch of kids in a fantasy story kill God?

Beware the millstone (Mt.18:1ff) – just because God is not honored in the heart of the author of The Golden Compass, doesn't mean that he can kill God. He is tragically killing himself – exiling himself from the one who is life and breath, but even more tragically perhaps leading children to deny God’s existence. This is a very sad and tragic thing. And we no doubt will spend the entirety of our lifetimes undoing the work of these manipulative and militant atheists.

But let’s look at this notion: Modern man thinks he can kill God – or that he already has killed God! That's quite an assertion – an asinine assertion methinks. Nevertheless, let's humor them and have a look.

Can God die? Absolutely. We'll see why in a minute. OK, modern man, so maybe you could be on to something. Let's see if you've got it right.

What is death? Ah, here's where we start parting ways with modern man. This requires a bit of perspective – what do they mean by "kill"? What do they mean by death? There are a number of death theories. A pantheistic man might say that in death the energy of the self passes into the energy of the all-one. Another may say that in death one's life force passes into another being in reincarnation based on the deeds of the recently lived life. But atheistic modern man says that the nervous system's synapses stop firing and consciousness permanently ceases. Life is consciousness, so they say (we'll see the tragic ramifications for this thought). Nothing remains in death, they say. Yet, the evidence of human experience rejects all of the above.

What the evidence shows is that in death, the body and the soul part ways – the body to decomposition and decay (unless you're really rich and you freeze it), the soul to eternal something (never-ending self-worship or eternal love). The point is that the mysterious conferred existence of the human person continues on past death. Modern man is constantly looking for evidence, and it is all out there for him – countless stories prove that this is the human experience. It is absurd to count as a hallucination so many similar death experiences in which someone dead comes back to life with a story of heaven or hell. When has there ever been evidence of mass hallucination in which all the hallucinations were nearly identical. Innumerable miracles demonstrate the activity of the "dead" in the lives of the bodily.

So modern man's anthropology is all out of whack. We see that clearly. He says that man is body with firing nerve endings generating sense experience. But the immaterial reality of man is totally denied. But man in his truest composition is body and soul. So let's cast out this false notion of man before we venture into the eternal existence of God. It is important because this God became man. God himself took on a human body and a human soul, and thus became capable of death. But death does not mean nonexistence. There is real wisdom in the phrase "passing away." The soul passes away from the body. This is what happens to the God-man, Jesus - his human soul united with his divine spirit passes away from his human body. We crucified him, but we didn't put God to death, he laid down his life of his own accord.

The time of saying that "God is dead" is at an end. Modern man has been foolishly saying for centuries what could only be said for three days throughout the entire course of human history. Death is what it is – the separation of body and soul. If and only if God has a body can he die. Someone who is pure spirit and pure existence cannot die. So this polemical movie presents a great opportunity to highlight the true anthropology of man – a being who is mortal body and immortal soul, but who will become immortal body and immortal soul.

In his Resurrection, Jesus lives again in his truest anthropology – soul reunited with body – immortal soul, immortal body. God the Father has made a new creation, his glorified body. So yes, modern man, God died. But for all of modern man's deicidal desires, he could neither kill the Incarnate Word nor prevent his return to materiality in the Resurrection.

Hence the confidence of the martyrs (of whom more are to come). They knew that no material being can harm an immaterial spirit. God as the greatest of all immaterial beings has already vanquished the immaterial spirits committed to doing evil. Christ has already subjected the immaterial world, and man is free should he choose to be. The martyrs understand this, knowing of the ever-flowing justice of our God, who prophesies our persecution, but promises:

[T]hey will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives (Lk 21:12-19).

Many martyrs have lost many hairs. They endured and they lost their lives. But they lost their earthly lives, and by their endurance have gained ever-flowing life. This is a great promise from the Lord, who is abundantly just. He restores those who are struck down. Let us have confidence in the strength of the Lord over the foolish modern atheists. Our God has said:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one (Jn 10:28-30).