Catholic Watchmen

Monday evening was our first Catholic Watchmen night. It was filled with great conversation and faith-sharing, food and prayer! There were about 40 men in attendance, and there is plenty room for more. This first night, Tony Grack presented a little about the Catholic Man Crisis. Too often, the media portrays men in a negative light (think Al Bundy or Homer Simpson). Too often, men are displayed as idiots or dolts, or over domineering. A few more ‘positive’ portrayals include James Bond who has no really family bonds (as Bishop Olmsted in his document Into the Breach points out). We can point to more misbehaviors than strong models of masculinity. Much of society’s ills can be traced to the lack of true men - from the BLM movement to single mothers to abortion. But there is another way, one that is not portrayed well in the media - the family man, sure, strong, consistent, and humble. These are the men that fill our parishes, and these are the men we hope to reach, encourage, and develop. There are men willing to give of themselves, to sacrifice for wife and family. There are men who are modeling their lives after Jesus Christ and being disciples and invite others to follow Christ. With this in mind, hopefully we can all see that the Catholic Watchmen is not in competition to the KCs, mens groups, etc, that are already in place but a means to help them. The Midnight Watch and the events themselves, while they take the men away from their families for those times, actually allow them to return stronger and better!

Evangelization

Many Christians, and in particular many Catholics, have a reputation of avoiding “evangelization” – the process of sharing the faith with others. Perhaps it has several reasons. It might be related to fear: we are afraid of rejection, being thought a fool, or failing. We might feel unprepared: what if the person asks a question we do not know how to answer, or perhaps worse, where do we go from the initial positive response.  Perhaps the largest is a certain amount of spiritual apathy. We are too accustomed to relativism – that truth is adaptable and subjective to the person, that the person decides what is true “for them” – think of the term “self-identify”, for example. This view of the truth rejects that there is any “always and everywhere” truth, one that is objective and not dependent on a person’s ability to grasp it. If all things are relative or subjective, which ironically is presented as an objectively-held truth, then the other persons’ beliefs or un-beliefs are as valid as our own.

But there is something profoundly different about Christianity. We believe that God loved humanity so much that the Father sent His Son to redeem us, and this Son, Jesus Christ, tells us Himself that He is the only way to the Father. Even in the Parables of the Lost that we heard proclaimed last weekend, it is God who ‘finds’ us – not us finding God or creating our own way to Him. In the end, what we have in Christianity is not a set of principals and procedures, rules and regulations – it is about being ‘found’ by the Lord, and being in relationship with Him.

If that is all true, then we know that we cannot be apathetic about evangelization. We come to understand that in Christ alone are we saved from sin and given the promise of eternity with God. We are asked by Jesus Christ to go to all nations, sharing the Good News of what He has done for us. We are not selling information but providing a relationship by introducing them to a Person. We invite them to deepen that relationship through the Sacraments and Church. We do so because we love the Lord (and perfect love drives out fear). We must ask ourselves, what kind of friend, either of the Lord or the other person, would we ultimately be if we did not wish to help them find each other?

Podcast for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sorry about the quality - I learned that I need an attenuation cable! https://soundcloud.com/fr-todd-petersen/24th-sunday-in-ordinary-time

First Homily Podcast

My first podcasted Sunday Homily: https://soundcloud.com/fr-todd-petersen/23rdsundayot

I'm on iTunes!!!!

I received word that iTunes approved the podcast! It can be found at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/view-from-the-ambo/id1150645572 . Subscribe today... In the near future, I may run a give-away to promote the podcast - stay tuned.

News!

I know that it has been a while since I have blogged except for the various articles that have appeared in newspapers and prayers.
Part is that my focus has been elsewhere.
Recently, though, a few have asked about recording my homilies. After doing some research into process and equipment, and after praying about it, I have decided to create a podcast. You can find it at http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:251744182/sounds.rss, or soon on iTunes (View From the Ambo).
The reason is not in pride, but rather in humility. I feel blessed to be given the opportunity to proclaim the Good News, and I try to do so. I know that the first few may be rough until I get the settings right, as well as the knowledge of the software to help make things sound better.
Input is appreciated!

In - not of - the world

“In it, not of it”… These words, more than any other, capture the Christian’s attitude to this world. But there are two unfortunate errors, one from each side of the statement, that can result if we do not properly understand the statement. Since we are not ‘of’ the world, we pretend that what we do here in the world has no eternal consequence. St. Paul would be appalled to see that we let ourselves detach so easily. When we simply live in the world with no regard to the consequences of our actions, we might display a disregard for truth and acting in accord with it. We live in the world just like those who do not know the Lord live. We join in sin, and perhaps even condone it. We might fool ourselves to think that whatever we do doesn’t matter at all. In the extremes of this side of the error, we live our lives aware of Christ, but delude ourselves to think that we can live like all others in the world, as long as we are apart from it. In other words, we might even deny Christ by our worldly actions. On the other side, it is tempting to allow sin to prevail, for wrongs to be left uncorrected and for lies to stand, and justify it by saying that we are more. After all, we are not of this world, but made for eternity. We become so heavenly-minded that we are of no earthly good, to quote an old expression. We rightly live for Christ, but we fail to really heed His call to bring His message to the ends of the earth. As Christians, we are living in the world and and using the things that surround us, but we know that we belong somewhere else, to a world that is not here. Our world is our eternal destination - Heaven, life with God. Our hearts are to be there, even now.As Christians, we are called to be in the world, and as such called to be leaven and salt - we are called to raise the world and to give it flavor. We are in the world! But we are not transformed by the world, but the world is to be transformed by us. That is why we as Christians need to step forward and boldly proclaim the truth. That is why we as Christians need to affirm the reality of sin and to seek God’s will and avoid sin. That is why we need to use the things of the world, lived in right relationship to them as transitory and passing things, to lead others to Christ. That is why we as Christians are called to take part in politics. It is not that we are imposing our beliefs on others, but that as Christians, the truth of God has been revealed to us. It is a truth not just for us, but for all. It is a truth that will set us free. This year, especially in the area of politics and race relationships, the world needs our insight, our love, our proclamation of truth. We cannot live in this world oblivious to the consequences or completely detached from it. Rather, we place our hope in God, and change the world for the better, one person at a time.