A Homily – The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Ezekiel 2:2-5

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 122(123)

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Gospel Acclamation – John 1:14,12

Alternative Acclamation – Luke 4:18

The Gospel According to Mark 6:1-6 ©

                        

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 The true prophet speaks to the people on behalf of God, because the prophet hears the voice of God speaking clearly people within the secret chamber of the hearts. God speaks to all people there, do not doubt it, but the prophet is one who is attenuated to the divine and embraces the risk of telling the truth…even to those who do not want to hear it.

 The true prophet speaks to us about justice, mercy and humility, the true prophet conducts themselves lovingly and with compassion. When we hear the prophet speak we know the teaching is real, because it echoes what God is telling us, it strikes a chord and resonates. Within us

 Remember.

 We are all children of God, the creator of the universe, we are all in our own way obstinate, imperfect and rebellious...not even the true prophet is perfect.

 The creator desires nothing more than that we love God, and that we demonstrate our love for the divine through the loving service we provide to one another. God desires mercy from us in the furtherance of justice, that we offer these as gifts to God through the mercy and justice we demonstrate to one another.

 There is one thing that God desires of us, and that we give it directly to God without intermediary; God desires our patience. Therefore, be patient with God, who you will not see in this life, unless you search for the divine reflected in the spirit of your sisters and brothers.

 Know this!

 We are not persecuted by demons or devils that are not of our own making.

Do this:

 Teach from a place of humility, instruct from a place of servitude, lead from a place of gratitude.

 Be mindful.

 We are all flawed human beings. What power we have to light the way to the divine does not come from us, but from God’s spirit within us.

 Remember.

 We are born the children of God, we are not made this way by any power; we coming into being as children of God, in the Word, by the Word and through the Word we come into being, as rational beings in a rational universe. Our status as children of God is as unconditional as God’s love for us.

 Understand this.

 The purpose of the gospel, which means good-news, is to give comfort to the poor. The gospel is meant to free those in bondage, not to replace one set of shackles for another. If you are a teacher of the faith and your ministry is not pointed to this end, then you are failing in your duty. If you use the words of Jesus to shame the poor or to justify ignoring them, if you mistreat the prisoner, the captive or the man or woman bondage, than you are doing the work of someone other than God and you have abandoned Christ.

 Consider the gospel reading for today, which suggests that there are limits to Jesus’ power. It tells us that “he could work no miracles there,” because the people in his home town would not accept him, it is as if the gospel writer wanted us to believe that God’s power and God’s love, that God’s intention for the world was conditional on us.

 The reading tells us that Jesus left his hometown feeling despised, by most if not by all. Even though we know that his mother, Mary, followed him. We know that she was with him when he was crucified, and we know that his brother James was one of the twelve disciples, an apostle of the church and the first bishop of Jerusalem.

 We know these things and therefore we should be able to understand that whatever resistance Jesus met and the beginning of his ministry, at least in relation to his family, was overcome.

 What we are told regarding Jesus’ family relations is less interesting than the revelation that the healing and miracle work Jesus was noted for, could not take place in the absence of faith. This corresponds to other passages in the scripture where the faith of the individual is instrumental in the healing of themselves or their loved ones, some even draw on Jesus’ power without his knowledge or consent, as if it were activated by their faith and not by divine intention.

 This is instructive, for us, because Mark’s gospel is the earliest of the four and it represents a less nuanced apologetic for the “miracle-working” Jesus was often engaged in.

First Reading – Ezekiel 2:2-5

These Rebels Shall Know that There is a Prophet Among Them

The spirit came into me and made me stand up, and I heard the Lord speaking to me. He said, ‘Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to the rebels who have turned against me. Till now they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me. The sons are defiant and obstinate; I am sending you to them, to say, “The Lord says this.” Whether they listen or not, this set of rebels shall know there is a prophet among them.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 122(123)

The Lord Guards His People

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

To you I lift up my eyes,

  to you who dwell in the heavens.

Like the eyes of a servant watching his master,

  like the eyes of a maid on her mistress’s hands,

  so we keep our eyes on the Lord our God,

  as we wait for his kindness.

Take pity on us, Lord, take pity:

  we have had our fill of contempt.

Our souls have had their fill

  of the laughter of the rich,

  of the contempt of the proud.

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

 

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

The Lord's Power is at its Best in Weakness

In view of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud! About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me, but he has said, ‘My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.’ So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 1:14,12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word was made flesh and lived among us:

to all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Luke 4:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 6:1-6 ©

'A Prophet is Only Despised in His Own Country'

Jesus went to his home town and his disciples accompanied him. With the coming of the sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’ And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house’; and he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

 

A Homily – The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Independence Day, The Fourth of July!

I have always loved the 4th of July, the mid-summer holiday with its nostalgic look back at the victories won by the Continental Soldiers, the American revolutionaries who threw off the yoke of tyranny and the oppression of kings. I loved it uncritically as a child. I loved it in its simplest way, without thing about it or questioning the lore in anyway…and a part of me still does.

As I grew older however, I discovered the real history of the revolutionary war, the real politics of the founders and the philosophies that drove them, as well as the numerous ways in which they were morally and ethically compromised (though “compromised” is too light of a word); they were compromised by war mongering and profiteering, they were compromised by slave-holding and the exclusion of women from governance; they were compromised by religious intolerance and they were compromised by greed that drove them against the First People.

As I learned more about these historical-realities it became self-evident that the nation was founded on a carefully balanced set of ideals that the founders themselves did not have the courage to live up to.

Knowing what I know now, after a lifetime of study, it is fair to say that America was founded on a compact of lies, and though I do not love the real history with its countless tragedies, I do still love the American ideal as it was articulated by them in its simplest form.

The preamble to the constitution states that all people are created equal, endowed by the creator of us all with inalienable rights, the foremost of which are: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The self-evidentiary nature of these truths is the axiomatic principle upon which the American experiment rests.

We believe that these rights do not derive from government, they are an inherent feature of human existence; we hold that these rights do not belong to us because we are Americans, but that they belong to us because we are, and we understand the American purpose to be the defense of those rights, both within our borders and around the world…that is how it is supposed to be, and we are failing to live up to that responsibilities, both here at home and around the world.

The sad truth is this:

We have only ever paid lip service to these ideals, the articulation of which amounts to little more than wishful thinking and hope for a better tomorrow…today is the nation’s birthday…light the candles on the cupcake…close your eyes and blow.

Within our own borders we are trampling all over said rights, rights of self-determination that belong to everyone, to all citizens (women and men), including the immigrant and the resident-alien, our black and brown skinned sisters and brothers, the working poor, the homeless and every human being struggling to have their basic needs met…this is Un-American.

In America we have stripped women of their right to control their own bodies, of the right to consult privately with their doctors in regard to family planning, to use the best science and medical technology available to both prevent pregnancy when it is unwanted and to advance pregnancy when it is desired…and America women are dying because of this.   

In America out courts have declared against all good reason and judicial precedent that a president is above the law and immune from criminal culpability if they violate the law in connection with their official duties as president…never mind the fact that a president’s official duties can never be construed to include law-breaking, as the chief law enforcement officer the president’s duty is to uphold the law, to support and defend the constitution, not to undermine it.

America has always failed to live up to our ideals…maybe it is wrong to expect that we can do better…maybe this is America.

The entire rationale for the American experiment rests on the rights we see as belong to personhood, to each person and to every person, not more or less because of any group of people that they are members of.

The expression of these truth…truths which we hold to be self-evident as stated in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the United States Constitution, together with all of its amendments and the Bill of Rights, did not at the same time they were made into law abolish the institutions of slavery, give women the right to own land, to vote and many other modes of self-determination that we had come to take for granted by the end of the twentieth century; neither did it make illegal our aggression expansionism and the many wars we waged against the sovereign nations of the First People. Our stated belief in these self-evident truths and our inalienable rights, did not prevent the United States of America from entering a campaign of genocide and extermination against them.

The founders applied these principles to themselves and to their “peers” (land-holding white males of European descent), they used those principles to justify their separation from the dominion of the British Empire, they used these principles to protect their property after the War of Independence had been won, but they refused to extend these principles to everyone within the aegis of American power, and we continue to live with the repercussions of those basic failures today.

When I reflect on the 4^th of July…Independence Day, I see a day to celebrate our freedom, and our victory in the Revolutionary War; I still believe there is much to celebrate in that.

As a veteran, I know that war and combat create many opportunities for selflessness and displays of courage that most human beings cannot help but admire and applaud, even though the antecedents of war and the causes of conflict are always unjust, morally vacant and abhorrent.

I know in my heart that war, always and without exception represents a failure of human beings to live up to the purpose we were created for. In my heart, I want to celebrate the revolutionaries, their courage, the flag which unifies us as a nation, but I find it increasingly difficult.

The story of America, beginning on July 4^th, is one that has many bright moments, but we remain a foolish, cold-hearted and ignorant people if we do not at the same time recognize the millions of slaves who built our first cities, who farmed the plantations that fed the country and served as the foundation of international trade.

We must recognize the laborers who established our first industries and the millions of people belonging to sovereign nations that we crushed in our westward expansion, as we starved and slaughtered them without mercy, displacing them, outlawing their religion and customs, erasing their languages as we attempted to eradicate their heritage.

I find it difficult to celebrate, and I would like to know who among us, knowing that history, finds it easy?

A person would have to be a monster to be unmoved by the tragedies that ensued after the signing of our Declaration of Independence.

Today one of America’s two major political parties is advocating policies that have stripped women of bodily autonomy and criminalized any action that might be taken to assist them with a relocation to another state where they might be able to exercise their freedom. They are openly discussing ways that they might ignoring the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the principle of birthright citizenship. They are not talking about amending the constitution further, they are talking about ignoring the law, rounding up migrants, and those who they deem to be dissidents and putting them in camps to be disposed of. They would raise the voting age, disenfranchise the young, make it more difficult for the elderly and the disabled and the poor to cast their vote…today all American’s are in grave peril

The 4th of July should be a time of soul searching and deep reflection and community, forget about the flag waving and jingoism.

Ask yourself what it means to be an American; consider the immigrant and the refugee, the stolen people, the enslaved people, the conquered people, the vanquished people…and then consider the revolutionary.

We are their descendants…all of us come from all of them, the immigrant, the refugee, the stolen, the enslaved, the conquered, the vanquished; we are their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren…we are one people with a common history, and a common set of ideals.

We are a great nation, if and only if we remember the whole story, the real story…save the fireworks for the moment when we can embrace the truth of it without fear…though not without shame.

A Homily – The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading - Wisdom 1:13-15,2:23-24

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Timothy 1:10

The Gospel According to Mark 5.21-43

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

All things born shall die, this is true of both plants and animals, it is true of planets and stars; this is the order of creation.

God made the world and it is replete with pain, God endures that pain with us, and with all beings, in all places, at all times; God suffers with us, even as we suffer ourselves.

Be mindful.

There is wisdom here, but it must be understood that the blessing of peace which belongs to the virtuous, the trusting and the faithful, is a blessing that awaits everyone.

Everyone goes into the fire, everyone is transformed in the refiners fire, in the eyes of God, we are all pure as gold.

Do not give any credit to the enemy of peace for the creation of anything.

God alone is the creator, even death was authored by God, for God’s own purpose, and because it is God’s our faith instructs us to believe that it is for the benefit of all creation.

Remember!

God, the creator of the universe, God will not intervene in your affairs. God will not lift you up, God will not strike you down. God will not be angry with you, but God does love you, and God’s love is forever.

God does not need us to proclaim God’s goodness, though it is never wrong to do so, but God does not require this because God is already speaking in the hearts of each and every one of God’s children.

Consider the words of the apostle, as happens so often in the scriptures, there is language here that taints the message the author intended to convey.

Know this!

Jesus is not a lord. He was rich in spiritual gifts and he shared those gifts with many, with all whom he encountered, and by sharing he became richer in those gifts.

There was no poverty, lack or want in Jesus this is true because no person is poor who has friends; Jesus was our friend, and he encouraged friendship among us.

He encourages us to share what we have and to build something new together, he implored us to find common cause with those we know and those who are strangers to us, he taught us to make peace with our enemies and sit with them, share our water with them, break bread with them at the common table.

Be mindful!

The early church often went astray, deviate from the teaching of Jesus and the way.

Peter would have us believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret message of eternal life, as if finding this secret and keeping it were the purpose of the gospel, as if believing that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is the key to receiving the gift grace. We are asked to believe that God parcels out access to Jesus, to the truth, to the reality of life everlasting, allowing some to come to it while refusing others.

None of this scheme is true.

Here is the gospel: God loves you and because of this you are saved. You are not saved for anything that you have done, you did not earn salvation (neither were you asked to earn it, just as you did not ask to be born); you are saved because God loves you and for no other reason than that.

The promise of salvation is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will forgive you.

The good news is that God has already forgiven you; you are saved already. God has prepared you and everyone for eternal life.

Believe it!

Let the goodness of the promise flow through you now and start living this life as if it were true.

We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that, the Holy One of God, we are called to act on the principles of his faith, to live lives of charity, humility and service to each other.

God is calls us to be holy at all times, God is speaks in our heart, inviting us to share with the divine a life of compassion.

God does this out of love; this is the divine plan and has been from the beginning of time. There is not one of us, not one child of God, not one being in the whole of creation who is outside of this plan.

Jesus revealed this; follow him.

The gospel is not that God has abolished death as much as it reveals that the death of the body is merely a transition, one we all pass through on our journey toward the creator.

Consider the gospel reading for today, it is a lesson on faith.

It is steeped in stories of divine power and magic, but it is really about faith, which means trust.

Today’s reading speaks to all people who suffer, encouraging them to hope and believe in the coming of a better day.

It is easy to read this narrative as a story about Jesus and his power. This is not the right way to read it, his super-natural deeds must be understood as myth and read as allegory. No such miracles ever occurred.

We live in a world where disease and illness afflict us, in which death surrounds us, all of it is in accordance with the laws of nature, laws which God established for the good of all creation; it is our task to see this for what it is.

Remember!

God does not abrogate God’s own law.

Therefore, we are given to understand that what the gospel intends, is for us to have faith, faith in the notion that everything we suffer is a part of God’s divine plan, and that plan includes our salvation, which means an end to all suffering, for all time. The gospel writers used the stories of miracles, and healing to convey their faith.

First Reading - Wisdom 1:13-15,2:23-24

God Takes no Pleasure in the Extinction of the Living

Death was not God’s doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living.

To be – for this he created all; the world’s created things have health in them, in them no fatal poison can be found, and Hades holds no power on earth; for virtue is undying.

Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world, as those who are his partners will discover.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13

Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death

Lord, I cried to you for help and you have healed me: I will thank you for ever.

Alleluia!

 

Lord, I will give you all praise, for you have rescued me

  and not let my foes triumph over me.

My Lord God, I cried to you

  and you healed me.

Lord, you led my soul out from the underworld,

  gave me life so that I would not sink into the abyss.

Sing to the Lord, his holy ones,

  and proclaim the truth of his holiness.

His anger lasts a moment,

  but his favour for a lifetime.

At night there are tears,

  but in the morning, joy.

Once I was secure. I said,

  “I will never be shaken.”

Lord, by your

favour you had given me strength, set me high;

but then you turned your face from me

  and I was shaken.

I cried to you, Lord,

  and prayed to my God.

“What use is my life,

  when I sink into decay?

Will dust proclaim you,

  or make known your faithfulness?”

The Lord heard and took pity on me.

  The Lord became my helper.

You have turned my weeping into dancing,

  torn off my sackcloth and clothed me in joy,

It is my glory to sing to you and never cease:

  Lord, my God, I will proclaim your goodness for ever.

Alleluia!

 

 

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15

The Lord Jesus Became Poor for Your Sake, to Make You Rich

You always have the most of everything – of faith, of eloquence, of understanding, of keenness for any cause, and the biggest share of our affection – so we expect you to put the most into this work of mercy too. Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was: he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty. This does not mean that to give relief to others you ought to make things difficult for yourselves: it is a question of balancing what happens to be your surplus now against their present need, and one day they may have something to spare that will supply your own need. That is how we strike a balance: as scripture says: The man who gathered much had none too much, the man who gathered little did not go short.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life; you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Timothy 1:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 5.21-43

Little Girl, I Tell You to Get Up

When Jesus had crossed in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.’ Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.

  Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak. ‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. Immediately aware that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, “Who touched me?”’ But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. ‘My daughter,’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.’

  While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to say, ‘Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?’ But Jesus had overheard this remark of theirs and he said to the official, ‘Do not be afraid; only have faith.’ And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly. He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.’ But they laughed at him. So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. And taking the child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, kum!’ which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up.’ The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment, and he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.

 

A Homily – The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

The Feast of Saint’s Peter and Paul, Founders of the Church

Not all Christians celebrate the lives of the Saints, but today is the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, who, following Jesus, are the principle founders of the Church.

We celebrate their feast on the day of their death and ascension; June 29^th is the anniversary of their martyrdom, the day they were murdered as enemies of the Roman State.

The influence of Peter and Paul on Christian doctrine was more extensive and more enduring than Jesus’ own teaching. Though was literate, it is reported that he read and taught in synagogues and was purportedly well-versed in the law; we do not have a single written word from him.

Paul, through his letters, wrote the core articles of Christian doctrine, including the Apostle’s Creed; Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and Patriarch of the Latin Church.

Peter and Paul did not always see eye to eye.

Peter carried the rank as chief of the disciples, and Paul was the apostle to the gentiles, founding churches all over the ancient near east, Greece and Asia Minor, and though Paul never met Jesus, he was the greater teacher and was more responsible for opening Christianity to the world.

Note well:

Peter is given credit for founding the church of Rome. The lore of the Church tells us that he was its first bishop; this is pure mythology, the earliest record of a bishop in Rome refers to a man named Linus. Church tradition now holds that Linus was the bishop following Peter, but no-one called wither of the Pope (or papa), a title which was not even in use during Peter’s day. And while Rome was important, the center of the Christian movement was in Jerusalem, where Jesus’ brother James was bishop, and it was James who resolved the conflicts between Peter and Paul.

In order for Peter to bear the title of apostle, he needed to be given credit for founding a Church somewhere and so he was given credit for founding the churches at Rome and Antioch. Though other people are also given credit for founding the Church in Antioch, including Barnabas and Paul as recorded in the Book of Acts.

Peter travelled and was an ambassador of the faith, but Paul was a true missionary; he founded churches wherever he went.

It is accepted as true that both men were put to death in Rome, martyred there on account of their commitment to the Church and its mission, they were not put to death so much for the content of their beliefs, but for leading the kind of secretive society that was generally feared by the Rome’s emperors, who perceived such groups as a threat to Imperial authority that had to be curtailed.

Paul was a Roman citizen; his letters are the earliest known Christian writings, and though not all of the letters ascribed to him were written by him, Paul’s actual influence on the Christian narrative and its doctrine are immeasurable.

A casual observer of history may find the authority he held to be odd, because Paul never met Jesus, did not know him, never heard him speak. Prior to his conversion Paul was the type of man who would punish members of his community if they were not properly observing the traditions of the synagogue; he fulfilled a function similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the morality police in Iran…and Christians were his primary target.

After Paul’s conversion to Christianity he led the mission to the gentiles, he opened the way to the masses by sharing the good news that Christ had risen, and he made it so that a person did not need to become Jewish first in order to join the church.

The Feast of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons

Saint Irenaeus served as the bishop of Lugdum (now Lyons), a Celtic city in Cisalpine Gaul, named for Lug the chief god of the Celtic pantheon.

Irenaeus was born c. 130 CE and died c. 202. His leadership in the Church took place during a time commonly referred to as the Apostolic Era. He was an acolyte of Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, a Greek city in Anatolia (modern Turkey), who was himself acquainted with the apostle John, making him only three steps removed from the life and ministry of Jesus. He was a martyr of the Church, though the details of his martyrdom are unknown.

Irenaeus was a prolific writer; his surviving works demonstrate a deep commitment to the unity of Christian doctrine. He was among the first of the Ante-Nicene theologians to argue for the doctrine of apostolic succession, positing that a bishop of the church, and through the bishop all of the priests that he ordains, should stand in an unbroken line of succession that goes back to the first apostles, who were the disciples of Jesus. And he was ardently opposed to heterodox sects like the so-called Gnostics that were prominent in his day.

What is most important in Irenaeus’ work is something referred to as the Irenaean Theodicy.

Theodicy is the specific field of theological study devoted to understanding the problem of evil, and its ultimate resolution by God.

The Irenaean Theodicy was the leading doctrine in the church for three-hundred years; from the time that Christians were a persecuted minority, through the transformation of Christianity into the Imperial church. The Irenaean cosmology and the metaphysics that supported it were preeminent until late fifth and early sixth century when they were supplanted by Saint Augustine’s sacramental theology and its reliance on the novel doctrine of original sin, after which Saint Augustine’s teaching became normative, and still holds sway throughout the Christendom today.

 Augustine taught that creation was made perfect and without blemish, and subsequent to creation the fall into sin occurred, teaching that the inclination toward sin, corruption and depravity comes out of nowhere and nothing, resulting in a degree of chaos and disorder which completely separates the created order from God.

Irenaeus did not deny the fall, though he posited that the world is not wholly fallen. He understood the reality of sin, but he taught that creation, including the fall, takes place within God, and that God is in the fallen world.

His argument was for unity, making it so that the fall (as we understand it) is not an irreparable breach that requires supernatural or divine power to overcome it; he put forward the notion that God’s plan for the resolution of evil is to slowly draw all things to God’s self and that this takes place within the context of the natural order, according to the specific nature which God has relegated to all things and being.

For Irenaeus the perfection of the created order is a process of assimilation, which he calls recapitulation, imagining that each individual-being is on a journey, coming closer to the divine over-time, and that our imperfections fall away as we approach the eternal, a process which culminates in the atonement, at which point we become one with God

Irenaeus’ theology, which was never condemned, provides a strong theological grounding for a theology of universal salvation, the teaching of which has been my mission since I first discovered that I had something to say on the matter.

Thanks to the work of Irenaeus eighteen-hundred years ago, this hopeful theology has persisted as a teaching of the church…though only among a minority of believers.

The Feast of Saint John the Baptist, A Homily

John, born in darkness

bore witness to the light

 

A faint spark in the deep night

 

He saw the light and felt its warmth

            preaching by the river

eating honey in the wild 

he baptized Jesus

who showed him the way

 

John, man of the desert

herald and prophet

repentant…angelic

 

The way is not in stillness or silence, John taught us

The way is found through service, love and humility

 

John…was comforted by Sophia

Ruha…washed him in living flame

while Salome danced for her father

and the soldiers came for his head

 

John lived by the Jordan

he was not perplexed by his fate

he had turned once toward the divine

and was not tempted to turn away  

 

From the Gospel According to Mark