Royal Blood

From Wednesday’s Baccalaureate Mass, Fr. Scott said the following near the end of his homily (emphasis added). It applies to all people, not only to the “youth of today”.

They say that the biggest problem with the youth of today is their lack of identity. They don’t know who they are because they have not had that knowledge passed onto them.

So who are you? You are the beloved of God. You are Royalty. It is in your DNA. Way down at your deepest core is God. This is your true identity. I have probably told the seniors this a 100 times over the last three years. It is not something easy to believe, in fact, a lot in our culture is saying just the opposite of this.

For example, The Da Vinci Code. Now I am sure that none of you have read the book and that no one here is planning on seeing the movie. So most of you probably have no idea what I am talking about. Well, my confession is that I did not read the book. I probably won’t see the movie, but I did listen to it on audio tape.

[It is] a fun book to listen to. So what is all the controversy about? Many would say the most dangerous part of the book is when it says that Jesus was married. I don’t think so. This is not something new. We would say that Jesus was not married but we have heard that theory before.

I think the most dangerous part of the book is when it talks about Jesus having kids and that his gene line are still alive today and that they are the only ones with Royal Blood inside of them. That is the part that is completely wrong. Everything that Jesus stood for in his life, everything he preached was about how much God loves us and how we are his children. We have the royal blood inside of us, all of us do.

That is at the core of our faith and therefore once we tap into that identity, once we start experiencing that love, our world views, dreams, hopes and desires all change. Once we take a drink from our true fountain of life, which is the Holy Spirit, nothing will ever be the same.

May God bless all the graduates this year (and from every year). Don’t forget where you came from, and where you are ultimately going.

A.M.D.G.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God. (Gerard Manley Hopkins)

I ran across the initials A.M.D.G. the other morning. I knew they were Latin for something by the context. A quick Internet search found Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, “For the greater glory of God”.

As the day wore on, I found myself more and more irritated with this phrase. It is the word “greater” that bothers me. It seems so arrogant and prideful to say that I, or anyone else, could add to the glory of God. All is gift. Everything is from God. Everything reflects God’s glory already, albeit some things and some people are better at it then others. But that happens because of God’s grace and the willingness of those people to be open to God, not because they add to it.

The best I can do is get out of God’s way. Or maybe I should say that I need to polish more my mirror with the help of His grace so that I can better reflect Him to others around me. The old but true cliché comes to mind, “Let go, let God”. Which in turn brings to mind Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

There is nothing that I can do to add or increase the glory of God. God is already doing it all. He is just using me, or someone else, to reflect and shine through. And I should be so lucky and grateful for the opportunity.

The initials A.M.D.G. are usually connected with writing or producing something. I know that most people who use them are humbly attributing their work to God (like St. Ignatius of Loyola, Pope John Paul II, and many other great people). They have definitely let the glory of God shine through them, but did they add to God’s glory? Am I seeing this word “greater” in the wrong way? These individuals did bring our focus and attention to specific aspect sof God’s glory. In a way, they do add light to a dark world. But then again, not really. God did. Are they asking for God to shine brighter through them?

Upon further reflection, I wonder why the word “greater” bothers me so much. This irritation surely points to something deeper, something under the surface. It is probably a symptom of a disordered desire, an attachment that I am not willing to face. The clue lies in the words I used above—arrogant and prideful. This irritation points to my own arrogance and pride. Ouch! Is it uncovering a false sense of humility in myself too? I don’t know. Irritation at other people’s sins is usually a mirror reflecting your own sins. I don’t know. The only thing to do is lay it on the table of my heart in prayer for God to handle. Let go, let God.

I found another Latin phrase. I like it better. It is Dei Gratia, “By the Grace of God”. All is gift. All glory comes and returns to God through creation. We are only the wire through which the electricity of God flows. I should be so lucky.

D.G.

Forgiveness

Is an inability to forgive another person connected to an inability to receive forgiveness? Are these connected to an inability to forgive oneself?
Something to ponder. I know that I am much harder on myself than others. And I know that none of them happen without much prayer and God’s grace.

Distractions

I have not written one word on the Da Vinci Code or on gnostic writings like the Gospel of Judas or Thomas (or anything written by Elaine Pagels). I probably will not write any others after this post.

My forte is not apologetics and so I leave it to others so gifted to stand against these distractions. I call them “distractions” because they stir up a dust cloud around the signposts pointing to Truth, and even re-erect false signposts that lead to nowhere. For those who flaunt these distractions, they draw our attention away from and ignore some very important and basic historical facts about the beginning of Christianity. The following two quotes illustrate that none of these “distractions” satisfactorily explain these events.

Michael at Singing In The Reign found this quote by N.T. Wright:

Those who were thrown to the lions were not reading “Thomas” or Q or the “Gospel of Mary.” They were reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the rest, and being sustained thereby in a subversive mode of faith and life which, growing out of apocalyptic Judaism, posed a far greater threat to Roman empire and pagan worldviews than Cynic philosophy or Gnostic spirituality ever could. Why would Caesar worry about people rearranging their private spiritualities?

This reminded me of something I wrote a couple years ago:

The Apostles were a group of uneducated men that followed Jesus for the last two or three years of His life. They lived and traveled closely with Him. They witnessed their friend tortured and killed. They themselves went into hiding for nearly two months after His crucifixion. They could have easily gone back to their former lives, but instead, they began spreading the Good News about Jesus. They faced hardships and risked their own lives to do it, at no personal gain for themselves. In fact, tradition says that all but one of them eventually met horrible and painful deaths. And the Message continued to spread. Something had to have happened immediately after the death of Jesus. Something very special had to have happened to motivate those men to do what they did. I do not think they risked their lives for just an idea or a philosophy. There had to be more, much more to it.

Illusory vs. Real Religion

The maxim of illusory religion runs: “Fear not; trust in God and he will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you;” that of real religion, on the contrary is, “Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”

— John Macmurray, Persons in Relation

Is religion an aspirin? Or is religion transformational?