Pat Arensberg: Why fully man and fully God

“Jesus paid a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.”  -Many people

This phrase has actually been popularized in Christian music.  If I threaten the life of a local teacher the city police would investigate.  If I threatened the life of the Governor of Alabama the state police would investigate.  But, if I threaten the life of the President of the United States it is a federal crime.  Who we offend can determine the seriousness of the crime.  When mankind listened to the serpent they decided that God was not their loving Father.  They, we, decided that God is an oppressor from whom we need to be liberated.  Adam and Eve did this in the Garden, but we do this every time we grasp after something that is sinful.  This offense is against God, who is an infinitely good being who is also eternal.  So the redemption for this offense must be infinite and eternal in stature.  We, none of us individually, not all of us together could rise to that stature.  Only God could redeem.

But, it was against God that the offense was offered.  It had to be a man who offered the price.  “Umm, Houston, we have a problem.”  Only God has the stature to pay the price, but only man can pay the price.  In his infinite justice and his infinite mercy God conceives a plan.  He will become incarnate.  The Incarnation must be complete.  The person of Jesus must completely be human and completely God for the redemption to occur.  The divine person Jesus is fully human, so humanity is in fact paying the price.  But, that divine person is in fact fully God and so that price is sufficient….and more.

Think about that for a minute and it should shake you to the core.  We cannot be lukewarm Christians any longer (see Revelation 3:16 too).  If in fact, Jesus of Nazareth is who we believe he was/is we owe everything and more to him.

Pat Arensberg: Savior and Redeemer

“He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” -Colossians 1:13-14

The reason Jesus became man was to redeem us. He testifies to this, “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father Glorify your name.” -John 12:27-28 He came to redeem us and to be our savior. Yet, we are reminded that the work of salvation is present through the entire life of Jesus. We are reminded that in the Incarnation he became poor and enriches us through his poverty. In his hidden life that humble submission atones for our disobedience. The word he preaches purifies his hearers. The healings and exorcisms he performs took our infirmities and he bore our disease. And by his Resurrection he justified us. (see CCC #517)

In other words, the entirety of Jesus life while on earth was redemptive. There are two players in the relationship between me and God; namely me and God. Jesus’ life and death purchased my redemption, but his life also modeled for me how to participate in that redemption. I cannot be a passive player. If someone gives me the winning lottery ticket, but I do not take it to the appropriate office and cash it in it does me no good. So too, we can render Jesus’ life, death and resurrection powerless in our lives by not accepting the free gift that he offers. His life of humility and service as well as the lessons he taught with his preaching instruct me in how I must live. He shows me and teaches me how to cash the lottery ticket.

Jamie Floyd: A Reflection on Ascension and Pentecost; thoughts on the Fr. Kevin Lee scandal

It's comforting knowing God is here. Perhaps somewhat disquieting; challenging, certainly (but that's my issue). It's comforting none the less.  Not sure what I mean? Let's briefly look at two men.

Malachi Martin was a catholic priest, a Jesuit. Through much hard work and dedication he got to prominence within the church holding an office in The Vatican. While I am not sure exactly what straw it was that broke his back, he left the church disgusted at some of the goings on within it. His approach from then seemed to be one of amendment of the church, perhaps in the hope of cleaning it up from the outside. He wrote a number of books questioning many aspects within the church. And being a former priest of the church he undermines seemed to give some authority to his teachings which were not in line with the Catholic Church.

He was, however, somewhat right; there is plenty that needs cleaning in the church (I need not go into all details). Most recently, here in Australia there was a priest, Fr Kevin Lee, who has openly confessed to a secret marriage: news which hit the main stream media. While that is scandalous enough he claimed that most priests lead a double life and that priestly celibacy should be reconsidered. A clear allusion with undertones of a greater scandal.

Now this is not the time for a debate nor for an apologetical lesson (though much could be said, of course). What I would like to point out is that both Kevin and Malachi identified problems, which was great, but in seeking to address them left the church then proceeded to point the finger and, perhaps, grind an axe or two. I question the effectiveness of this tactic, given that history is littered with notables who have done much the same with little effect. It seems to me that to make real change in the church, one must remain, well, in the church.

At the conclusion of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus promises to be with  his church until the end of the world (Mat 28:20). Luke tells us how this is done - through the Holy Spirit: a Spirit of power (Acts 1:8). In the wake of the Ascension its easy to imagine the disciples either wondering around aimlessly or just waiting around for the promise to be fulfilled. While I don't think it was quite like this (they did have the issue of replacing Judas after all) there was a notable change in the apostles from before Pentecost to after; epitomized in Peter's speech in Acts 2. The difference is the Spirit of Power.

While Fr Kevin and Malachi might have intended well in trying to implement change in the church (if that was their intent) ultimately all change will come with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Power found at home in the Church. Let him do the cleaning of his home in his time. God is in charge. God is here, guiding and guarding his body, the church. It's comforting to know God is here.


About Jamie Floyd
Jamie Floyd is a leader of the Men of St. Joseph in Melbourne, Australia

Daniel Miller: Does a celibate priesthood promote pedophilia? No!

A member of our local MOSJ group in Sydney, Benny, made a good point to me after the conclusion of our meeting last week: given that (sadly) lay people no longer practicing the Catholic faith these days is hardly the stuff of front page news (let's never cease praying for the conversion of all souls, including our own conversion!), Satan likes to go for a "big scalp" in drawing people away from the faith - so he attacks our Priests.

Benny made the comment to me in the course of a discussion after the meeting about Fr Kevin Lee, who we had prayed for as a group during our meeting.  As some of you may have heard (unfortunately it's been across the media, even around the world), Fr Kevin Lee, Parish Priest at Glenmore Park (in western Sydney), admitted last week to entering into a civil marriage with a lady from the Phillipines approximately 12 months ago.

Here is footage of Fr Kevin's very public admission to our local Channel 7 (one of Australia's "mainstream" stations, much like CNN or NBC).

My own initial response was one of shock, hurt and disbelief.  I hold all priests in very high regard for all their sacrifice in bringing Jesus to us in such an intimate and personal way through the sacraments. Also, a move such as this "registers" with one more when you know of the Priest involved - I didn't know Fr Kevin in a personal way, but I was certainly aware of his work throughout the Diocese (apart from being a Parish Priest he also had additional roles such as Police chaplain) and I had attended the odd Mass here and there over the years where he was the celebrant.  One of his many gifts was as a powerful and dynamic preacher of God's Word. Please pray for Fr Kevin that he will return faithfully to his vows.  While Fr Kevin has committed a grave error of judgment in doing what he has done, this is not the time to engage in personal attacks on his character.  We all face temptations related to persisting faithfully with our state in life (whether religious life, married or single) and we should all be constantly praying for ourselves and others that we always remain faithful to our calling - the temptation to "throw it all in" could happen to any one of us.

However, some matters that as men we do need to be ready to respond to though are 2 highly inaccurate comments that Fr Kevin has made, namely: (1) that celibacy of the Priesthood is directly linked to pedophilia (and by extension that the church should remove the celibacy requirement for Priests), and (2) that there are many other Priests leading a "double life".

Point (2) above is an unfair reflection on the majority of Priests who lead very holy and dedicated lives.  Such comments have the potential to weaken Catholics' faith in the priesthood and create potential cynism and distrust in the Priesthood for those who aren't Catholic.  Wherever you are in the world, the historical record (and our own experience with Priests) simply doesn't support such a blanket assertion.

More particularly, point (1) above is a point that we need to be prepared to respond to because it will no doubt come up in conversation.  Given that this issue has been getting alot of media attention over the past decade in particular (with the sexual abuse scandals that have emerged in various parts of the Church throughout the world), as men we need to be prepared to address the issue with our families, friends and at work. We must be prepared to address the arguments made so that as Catholics our faith in the Priesthood is not weakened, and so that non-Catholics don't have the wrong idea around the reasons for celibacy.  Thankfully, many faithful Catholics have already done the initial hard work for us in writing a number of excellent articles on the topic that deals with the issue fairly, objectively and truthfully.  The following article from Christopher Kaczor at Catholic answers (from a 2010 issue of This Rock magazine) is an excellent summary of the issues.

Also, for those who subscribe to the new Catholic Answers Magazine (which succeeded This Rock), I notice that the May-June 2012 issue has an article by the outstanding Catholic author Mark Shea titled "Why a Celibate Priesthood".

I know that the media likes to make a circus of issues in connection with the Priesthood all the time, so in some respects this sad event is nothing new.  However, let's all make sure we're prepared to defend the Church's position and support all our Priests, the majority of which are faithful and dedicated and would not share Fr Kevin's views at all.

Most importantly, again, please pray for Fr Kevin, and also for our Bishop who needs our prayerful and active support - dealing with these matters is never easy but our Bishop has (as always) acted courageously and with great class - here is the statement released after Fr Kevin's announcement, and more importantly the homily he gave this past weekend as part of a pastoral visit to Fr Kevin's former parish.

Video: Bishop Anthony's homily at pastoral visit to Fr. Lee's parish.

About Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller is a leader of the Men of St. Joseph in Sydney, Australia.

Pat Arensberg: Eternally begotten; incarnate in time

“But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  -Galatians 4:4-5

Today, we move on to our discussion of the second person of the Blessed Trinity.  We will then discuss the third person before returning to an in-depth study of the Incarnation and the teaching of Jesus.  From all time Jesus proceeds from the Father.  He is not created by the Father, but is co-eternal and of the same substance as the Father.  We really struggle, as people who live in time, to try to understand existence outside of time.  I would argue that we really can’t understand it.  We can talk about it as best we can, but at the end of the day it is a mystery to us.  Jesus proceeding eternally from the Father is a statement that causes us a lot of consternation precisely because we think temporally.  From our experience if something proceeds from something else it has a beginning.  But this is not so with God who is outside of time.  Jesus proceeds from the Father from all eternity.  Jesus always was and always will be.

This divine person took on a human nature.  The divine person now has two natures; a human nature and a divine nature.  This event is called the “Incarnation.”  This making into the flesh occurred in a specific time and place.  The Divine Logos existed from all time, but he became a man at a concrete moment in history.  He continues to possess that human nature.  He was resurrected and ascended to the Father.  For all eternity a person with a human nature will be sitting on the Throne!  That is part of the reason the Church sings, “O felix culpa” at the Easter Vigil!

Pat Arensberg: God desires to be the father of all

“Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.”  -CCC #1260

Since, as we discussed in yesterday’s blog, God is eternally Father he is continually seeking to invite all men and women to be his adopted sons and daughters.  That is why Jesus commanded that the Church should go forth, “and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  (Matthew 28:19-20)  He wishes to extend his familial invitation to all.  That’s how he rolls.

Now, we believe that Baptism is necessary for salvation, because Jesus said so in John chapter 3.  But the Catechism reminds us that, “God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.” (CCC #1257)  We believe that the desire for Baptism can bring about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.  (see CCC #1258 and see Luke 23:42-43 and the Good Thief receiving the promise of salvation without being sacramentally baptized).

But what about those who do not know Christ, or the Gospel, or know anything about the Church?  And what about babies who die without baptism?  You really should read the Cathechism #’s 1260-1261 and Lumen Gentium #16, but in summary:  one can be saved by the power of Christ even if they do not know Christ.  This can be only if the ignorance is through no fault of their own and that they would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known.  Only God can make that judgment.  We entrust them to the mercy of God, and do all in our power to bring people to the saving waters of Baptism.

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.

David O'Brien: The Yard Sale from Hell

Spring cleaning is an annual rite of passage in my house. Out with old, please no more new. I used to be able to pack everything I owned and fi t it into my Toyota Corolla. Now I have to rent a U-haul to go to Goodwill every April.

This year we decided to have a yard sale. We invited our neighbors to join in the fun, selected the neighborhood park as a central location for the sale and advertised in all the normal venues.

All went well as we stacked hundreds of big and small, cheap and expensive items by our front door in preparation for the big day. The clutter was manageable for a week and then I broke down.

"Honey, we need to borrow a trailer to store this stuff until the sale," I told my wife. "I’m going to break my leg trying to negotiate this maze of boxes and containers." She agreed.

Yard sale day arrived and we were in the park unloading the trailer at 5 a.m. in the dark, trying to display all our treasures on the borrowed tables.

At 6 a.m. we had our first early birds. No sales. At 7 a .m. a few more perusers made their way through. By 8 a.m. we had made a grand total of $7. I was starting to panic.

Around 11:30 a.m. I had to fight back the tears. I was just so tired, so beat up from two weeks of loading and unloading, sifting and pricing, purging and pleading with my children to cut ties with that toy they never play with anymore. Now, with 30 minutes left before closing time, we had made less than $20.

I was tempted to buy a gallon of gasoline and burn everything right there in the park. The prospect of reloading the trailer or, God forbid, putting this stuff back into our house, ugh, I would rather drink poison.

Then, a final customer moseyed over to our book section. After a moment, she looked up at me and said in a surly tone: "I’m not much interested in your book collection. They are a bit too spiritual, borderline religious."

I smiled even though I could tell she said "borderline religious" in the same way someone would say "he has borderline personality disorder." She seemed to think I might be dangerous.

Then she said it again. I thought to myself "that’s odd. Why make that comment a second time? Are you trying to tell me something Lord? Do you have some deeper purpose for this woman?"

I took the bait hoping that God was behind this encounter.

"I work for the Catholic Church," I explained and we chatted a bit over what I did. I ascertained that she was brought up Catholic but had put some distance between herself and the institutional Church over the years. Perhaps God was leading her back to Him and I was the bait.

"I write for The Catholic Week and that book is a collection of my columns," I offered pointing to a box of books on the last table. To my surprise she walked over and picked one up. She even stood there and read an entire chapter, right in the middle of the park.

"What are you doing Lord?" I asked Jesus. No answer. I waited to see if a door would open for more conversation. Nothing. She simply thanked me and walked back to her car. She didn’t even buy the book.

About David O’Brien David O’Brien is the Associate Director of Religious Education for Lay Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. His column, Everyday Faith, appears regularly in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Week. Email David at dobrien@mobilearchdiocese.org.

But strangely, my spirits were lifted. Gone were the thoughts of arson and throwing all this stuff into a landfill. Now I was invested in God’s work with this woman. My mind was caught up in a greater plan, a noble and glorious purpose that God might be unfolding through this abysmal yard sale.

Yes, we had spent over 300 hours getting ready for this disastrous event. Yes, we had sacrificed sleep and time with our children in the hopes of making thousands of dollars. But none of those crushed expectations and investments seemed important anymore as I watched this woman close her car door and drive away. All I wanted was for God to plant a seed in this lady’s heart, a seed of love that would grow and perhaps one day entice her to give God and the Church a second look.

Will I ever see this woman again? Probably not. But I wonder if she were writing this column a year from now, perhaps she would entitle it "The Yard Sale from Heaven" because this is when she started her journey home to God.