Feast of Jesus Christ the King, November 25th, 2007

Jesus introduced his ministry with "This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel." In other words the kingdom of God is for those who repent and believe.

If a person is caught up in a sinful life style he/she must repent: turn his/her life around; give up habits of sin; point his/her life toward God; reject self.

It is the fashion among many to want to follow the gospel and live a life of self-indulgence at the same time. All one has to do is deny that what you are doing is a sin. You do that by saying things like: "times have changed", "the pope is out of date" (he's not), "morality is up to me...I'll decide what is immoral." etc.

This is known as moral relativism: "I am the judge of right and wrong for me; you are for you." In other words it is not the reign of God. it's the reign of the individual.

But none of this is traditional, bible-based Christianity. It is trap and a diabolical one at that. Peter reminds us to "beware of the roaring lion who prowls about seeking people to destroy". His remedy is "resist him steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings." Expect to suffer if you commit yourself to follow Christ.

Either Jesus is a religious icon, a sort of spiritual good-luck charm - or - Jesus is Lord: Lord of the universe, Lord of creation, Lord of life, Lord of Heaven and Earth, Lord of our daily lives.  And, as Lord he is King. Not a kingdom of this world (only) but a kingdom that rules people of good faith both during this life and in the life to come.

"Repent and believe for the Kingdom of God is at hand."

Father Rod Keller

Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 23rd

 I am not anti Protestant, anti Jewish or anti anything. I am pro Christian and pro Catholic.  St. Paul tells us in I Timothy 2 that "Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and men."  He is not one of several!

 My concern is that people may leave the church or lose fervor as Catholics because of the moral failings of its leadership or because they may conclude that it really doesn't matter what one thinks. "Onc church is as good as another" - "You can't know truth anyway" - "It's all a matter of personal opinion."

In today's Gospel Jesus says that the person who is trustworthy in small matters is also trustworthy in great ones. Our faith life is a great matter, not a small one. It does matter what one believes. One cannot, in good conscience, leave truth for error just because it is attractively packaged. There is a big difference between what we believe (divine truth)  and who we are who believe (human).

In 2000 the Vatican issued a document entitled Dominus Jesus over the signature of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI). This document addresses modern objections to traditional Catholic/Christian teaching and belief. He writes of "religious pluralism" which makes all religious the same in value. He also writes of "relativistic theories" which seek to justify religious pluralism.

He writes of modern attacks on: the completeness of the revelation of Jesus, the nature of Christian faith, the universal salvific mediation of the Church, the subsistence of the one Church of Christ in the Catholic Church etc. He speaks of the modern attitudes toward truth itself, that what is true for one would not be true for another and that all truth must be subject to materialist scientific laws, the modern tendency to read and interpret Sacred Scripture outside the Tradition and Magisterium (teaching authority) of the Church.

In a word the pope knows and understands the modern and postmodern challenges to truth and faith. We have received in our Catholic faith a golden treasure to be guarded by prayer and continued growth in knowledge. "The one who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones...No one can serve two masters."

Father Rod Keller

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 5, 2007 - Greed

Today's readings center around greed. Greed can be looked at from many directions. I want to to explore greed in so far as it affects others: God and neighbor. "Take care to guard against all greed" (today's Gospel from Luke 12).

I will speak of greed as putting self before others, being will to hurt or injure another for selfish reasons. Like the wealthy man who would not accept a small gift from a child because he was too proud and haughty.

Think of the person who does not pray in praise of God by daily prayer or attending mass regularly on Sundays and Holy Days. He has half a spiritual life. He is hot and cold. Or the one who takes God's mercy for granted by confessing the same mortal in again and again because he loves it too much.

God identifies with your neighbor. "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25) Greed puts self first and you second. It easily becomes a life-style, e.g. drugs, alcohol, premarital sex, adultery. Adultery has always been considered one of the gravest of sins along with murder and apostasy. Sadly no longer!

Another flaming example of greed is child molestation, of the very young (pedophilia) and of teen-agers (ephebophelia)  What a comment on our times in the Catholic Church that some priests are quite willing to wreck young innocent lives to indulge their own passions!

One could also make the case that the earth's environment has suffered from the greed of people eager to make money at the expense of others and the long-term integrity of our planet. This is greed with a capital "G".

One could also make the case for the unbalanced pursuit of pleasure as a form of greed. The key word here is "unbalanced" since pleasure has its place and is gift of God.

On the other hand many people dedicate their whole lives for God and for others. Some are priests and sisters, most are every-day people who want to love God and neighbor in all things. They are faithful to Mass and daily prayer. Even in their work place they promote God and faith whenever they can. A full life for them is a life lived for others. Their automatic response is "how can I be of help?"

We saw some of those people in the recent tragedy in Minneapolis and their numbers are many.  So also, our service men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq: willing to make the supreme sacrifice for you and me. No greed here. God be with them.

Father Rod Keller

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 29, 2007 - Persistence in Prayer

It is fashionable to not need God, to be totally self-reliant, to see religion as quaint, to humor religious people and not to take them seriously.

The Los Angeles Times recently ran an obit for Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of the Humanist Judaism Movement. For the humanist man is at the center of the universe, not God (if there is one!). For example he rendered a famous Old Testament passage "You shall love the Lord your God" as "We revere the best in Man."

Christopher Hitchins writes for the magazine Vanity Fair. He also writes books attacking belief in God and the virtues of Mother Theresa. His latest attack book is "God is Not Great", twisting a phrase from Islam. It is ironic that Hitchins' first name means Christ-bearer given that he denies even Christ's historic existence. There is also, among others, atheists writers Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins.

In the Gospel reading from last Thursday we hear Jesus responding to the question "Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?"  Jesus' response is "Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. I speak to them in parables because they look but do not see; they hear but do not listen or understand." In other words they are intentionally blind and intentionally deaf.

Unless they repent before God they will continue in t heir blindness an deafness. But if they turn to God in trust the Holy Spirit will be given them.

"Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you...What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish, or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you them, who are wicked, now how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

Ask outrageously, but ask in faith, expecting a "yes". Do not ask for material things that are selfish requests, but for the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Father who is generous will give.  Be persistent, make a nuisance of yourself. Be like the man in the gospel who would not take "no" for an answer.

Father Rod Keller

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 22, 2007 - The Settlement in Los Angeles

What I have to say is my own. You do not have to agree with any of it and I will still love you just as much. The financial settlement in Los Angeles has been in the news for the past couple of weeks and I would like to speak about it.

I am not a fan of Cardinal Mahoney although I once was.

All bishops of dioceses have received an unwritten rule: "Protect the good name of the Church at all cost." Cardinal Mahoney inherited that rule and did not have the courage to rise above it. He is a victim of his own cowardice, but he is not alone - by a long shot.

A better rule would be: "Let the truth be known." This takes courage. Truth is always a friend, even at a cost. The people, you and I, can handle the truth. Jesus never lied nor simulated. He answered a straight question with a straight answer.

The Church in this country has learned, hopefully, a hard lesson about being open and truthful. But I have even more rage toward my brother priests who have done these unspeakable deeds.

We all have taken a vow of celibacy and taken it voluntarily, without force. It is like a marriage vow: sacred, sacramental and in the presence of others. It is a difficult vow, but not an impossible one. Furthermore we have the benefit of God's grace. Thus, it is important to pray to God for chastity and not to take it for granted. It is a positive virtue, one that honors God and not merely a negative one, taken as the price of ordination.

I used the word "rage" intentionally. It is postmodern to say that they are sick and acted out of sickness. I say they are indeed sick but have chosen a sick life style. They can not plead "sick" as an excuse. It is very much like drugs. The first drug use was voluntary.

To prevail on little children from a position of trust is a betrayal and a monstrous evil. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:6) Repentance, even sincere, does not undo the harm; a faith life is often ruined; trust is gone; the trauma never goes away.

To be betrayed by a priest is somehow to be betrayed by the whole Church. Surely God understands that and understands the heart of the victims.
Apologies do not take it away; financial settlements do not take it away; the damage is for life in one way or another.

I take some comfort that the Church, at least in the USA, is becoming more open, more spiritual and putting children where they belong: protected and loved.

 Father Rod Keller

Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 1, 2007

Yesterday we observed the mass honoring the First Roman Martyrs. The day before we celebrated the solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul, martyrs. I  wonder if any of those under sentence of death by Nero elected to turn away from Christ rather than accept death.  Maybe some did. But surely the majority did not. They were surely as frightened as you or I would be - but they did not turn back!

To sign up for Jesus Christ includes a real life-time commitment.  We are fortunate to have so many heroes, male and female, who have gone before us in total commitment.

Jesus warned us: "No slave us greater than his master. If they persecute me, they will also persecute you." "Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness...blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you because of me...rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. "If you follow Jesus, without looking back, you must be willing to follow him in suffering, rejection and death.  Jesus know all of these. We are not likely to be martyred, though it seems more likely now that a few years ago, but we are roundly despised by the modern pagans.

The modern pagans shout for homosexual marriage, abortion rights, test-tube babies and sexual unrestraint... It takes something like a martyr's courage to stand up to these 21st century pagans.  Many of you here today were once part of that pagan scene. You have turned away from the world of self indulgence.  Jesus, today in the Gospel, asks you not to look back longingly upon a self-indulgent life style. "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit the the kingdom of God."

"Lord, will only a few people be saved" the apostles ask. Jesus gave the only answer he could "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough...Those called last will be first (the Gentiles) and some are first (Jews) who will be last."

There are many here today are "first" without knowing it. These are the unsung heroes, for whom faith is more dear than life. They can truly say with the person in the Gospel "I will follow you wherever you go."

Father Rod Keller

Third Sunday of Easter, April 22, 2007

Today's first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 5, leaves our verses 33 to 40a. I have no quarrel with the selection of the verses, but in view of recent events in the United States I would like to include them and a couple more in addition.

The entire passage would read thus:

[ 5:27] When they had brought them in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, the high priest questioned them,
[ 5:28] "We gave you strict orders (did we not?) to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us."
[ 5:29] But Peter and the apostles said in reply, "We must obey God rather than men.
[ 5:30] The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
[ 5:31] God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
[ 5:32] We are witnesses of these things, as is the holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him."
[ 5:33] When they heard this, they became infuriated and wanted to put them to death.
[ 5:34] But a Pharisee in the Sanhedrin named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up, ordered the men to be put outside for a short time,
[ 5:35] and said to them, "Fellow Israelites, be careful what you are about to do to these men.
[ 5:36] Some time ago, Theudas appeared, claiming to be someone important, and about four hundred men joined him, but he was killed, and all those who were loyal to him were disbanded and came to nothing.
[ 5:37] After him came Judas the Galilean at the time of the census. He also drew people after him, but he too perished and all who were loyal to him were scattered.
[ 5:38] So now I tell you, have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.
[ 5:39] But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God." They were persuaded by him.
[ 5:40] After recalling the apostles, they had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them.
[ 5:41] So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.
[ 5:42] And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus.

Notice that in verse 33 (left out of today's reading) tells of the Sanhedrin's fury and wish to put the apostles to death. The solution to the challenge was death. Since they found nothing to accuse them of they sentenced them to be flogged. Shades of Pontius Pilate!

Death is, even to this, day a solution to problems. We in this country as so accustomed to killing whatever causes inconvenience that we slaughter hundreds of thousands of unborn children every year. Or is it in the millions? 

Do you see any connection between Columbine and Virginia Tech? Is it just that Virginia Tech was larger in number and horror? Do you see any connection between these acts and the culture of death?  The harm done to our country by abortion is greater even that the harm done to the child and the mother. It corrupts us all. So much so that the late Holy Father would call our country a "culture of death". Where life is cheap it is treated as of little value whether at the outset of life or at the end.

Happily we have just seen the Supreme Court support, by the narrowest of margins, a ban on partial-birth abortions. This to the dismay of the pro choice people who dearly want the option of death to remain open. They say they want the option of death open to protect of the health of the woman. But the woman is not threatened, the unborn baby is. It is not her body that she demands jurisdiction over, it is the body of the unborn child. If her life is threatened sound morality allows it to be protected against an intruder, even from the child in her womb.

When death is the solution to problems we are in deep trouble. No nation of any size ever fell from outside conquest, but only from internal corruption. Our country is in grave danger. We need to step up to save it.
 

Father Rod Keller

Feast of the Holy Family, December 31, 2006

Family life is being ravaged by divorce.  Think of Hollywood. The approach to marriage is often not by God laws but by personal preference.  This is yet another example of moral relativism: the individual makes his or her own rules of conduct without reference to God.

To say that a return to traditional values is needed is an understatement.  Moral relativism is hazardous to marriage.  It is also hazardous to one's eternal salvation.

Let's hear what Jesus had to say about marriage and about its permanence.  Moses was the lawgiver supreme, the author of the law or Pentateuch.

"Pharisees approached and asked, is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife? they were testing him.  He said to them in reply what did Moses command you?  They replied Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.

But Jesus told them because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote to this commandment.  But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer to but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must as a separate.

In the house the disciples again to question him about this.  He said to them whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if he divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus into the arguing against Moses.  Moses had allowed divorce. Jesus answered their question with a question of his own (rabbinic argumentation technique) which was "What did Moses command you?" Their reply was "Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." Then Jesus cited  Moses "from the beginning God made them male and female"; that it was "because of the hardness of your hearts that he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation 'God made them male and female...and the two become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." In other words Jesus cited an earlier Moses to show what Moses really thought. Divorce was because of the "hardness of their hearts". The Pharisees could not trap him.

Jesus clearly supports and commands the permanence of marriage under penalty of adultery. Marriage is of God, not of man. Family is of God, not of man. Marriage is only marriage between a man and a woman - by God's design.

Father Rod Keller

Christmas Day - December 25th, 2006

What does the birth of Jesus the Christ say to our present world of insanity in the middle east?  What does it say in the west where moral values have come to be redefined as from humans rather than from God?

Some say that "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men" is the full meaning of Christmas. I say it is one meaning. Do you see goodwill toward men in the political battles within our country?  Do you see peace and goodwill in the middle east?  There are some who are peaceful but there is much hatred and violence, the very thing Jesus preached against. Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus' requirement for love of neighbor as yourself. Jesus does not preach the golden rule "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you". Rather his rule was to love one another as "I have loved you", namely to death if need be.

In our time, even in our country, it is "kill others who are inconvenient": by abortion, gang warfare, assisted suicide... Elsewhere it's kill everyone who does not agree with you; it's a world of death!

But Jesus comes to bring life. He came 2,000 years ago as we celebrate on Christmas. He not only came, he stayed: in his people, in his promised Holy Spirit, in the Eucharist, in his teachings and in you and me, his followers. I believe Jesus is just as present to us, and in his church, as he was on Christmas day when angels sang "Hosanna". 

We do not have to face this crisis lone, forgotten and abandoned. One reason is the goodness of so many people. Goodness in the long run prevails over badness. Badness has temporary victories only.  Another reason is the promise of Jesus to be present where two or three gather in his name. We have no reason to despair or to lose heart.

We also need to take Jesus as Lord to heart, to live our faith to the full, to love God and neighbor as Jesus said we should.  "Do not be afraid" (words often spoken by Pope John Paul II). Trust in the Lord... and a merry Christmas to all.

Father Rod Keller

Fourth Sunday of Advent - December 24th, 2006

"How does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"  Mary made a personal sacrifice to visit and spend time with her cousin Elizabeth, giving us an example of generosity and selflessness that we can follow with benefit to ourselves.  It is my experience that there are many in this parish who are generous to a fault with their time and with their God-given abilities.

Similarly I want to commend you on your faithfulness to Sunday Mass and the sacramental life. This past Tuesday and Wednesday our parish penance services were a source of great edification to me. You do inspire me. Your inspire me by your evident prayerful devotion at Mass; your attention at homilies - unless you have learned to sleep with your eyes open!

There are many distractions and allurements to tempt you away from Sunday mass and weekday prayer. I am edified that so many aspire to a holy life, not merely a minimal one. This moves me to act in the same direction.

Often enough we hear homilies (sermons) that are critical and guilt ridden. To me that kind of homily should be the exception. It should be the exception even when there are many present who don't come to mass otherwise. Jesus attracted people by his kindness and personal honesty.

There are many books and articles these days on the mystery (miracle) of the mass. What is happening before your very eyes is very much like  the birth of Jesus which could only have special meaning through the eyes of faith.

Don't get too hung up on the atmosphere of the church, the singing, the lectoring or even the homilizing. Some times liturgy will be great. Some tines it will be poor.  But Jesus is present in the Eucharist and that is what makes the mass to be the mass.

Just as Jesus' birth is seen as a mystery of truth and of God's love, so do the humble see every Sunday mass in the parish church.

Father Rod Keller

First Sunday of Advent - December 3rd, 2006

We pray every Sunday, in the Prayers of the Faithful, for the Holy Father, Benedict XVI. He carries a great burden. Much of the future of mankind rests upon him. Remember how John Paul II brought moral force to bear on Soviet Communism and stared them down.

Islam is not as simple as atheistic communism. Nor does the church seek to destroy that religion. What the holy Father is asking is twofold: first, reciprocity between Christianity and Islam, mutual toleration and respect, freedom of religious expression in Islamic countries as we in the west when we offer freedom of religious expression to followers of Islam.

Second, intellectual grounding for religious teachings rather than emotion and even violence. God is not the God of chaos but of reason; not of violence but of love.

This may seem a strange topic for the beginning of Advent, but it is current and we live in a very dangerous and hostile world. The problems of our time will not simply go away.

Let me share with you my personal assessment of we stand at present vis-a-vis Islam and those Islamists who are terrorists.

Pope Benedict did not stumble in his Regensburg speech in September. Knowing he was going to Turkey in November he made sure he would have a world-wide audience when the time came. He, as pope, is the preeminent spokesman in the world for Christianity.

He had great respect for followers of Islam, even though he sees it as a Christian aberration, a sort of cut-down version of Christianity into a simple unsophisticated religion. His concern is that too many (maybe most) within Islam, understand Islam as an emotional response to God, not as intellectual, even though God made us both feeling/emotional and thinking beings.

We too must use our gifts of both intellect and feeling in order to be balanced. We need to both know and love our faith; we need to keep informed of our world; we need to continue to grow in our faith life.

Right now we enter the season of Advent in preparation for the great mystery of the incarnation. Jesus is indeed prophet, but not only prophet. I encourage you to immerse yourselves in the Advent Season by: daily readings for Advent (see the bulletin for the references), Advent Prayers on line (including links on the parish website); daily prayer for the Holy Father, Benedict XVI.

Father Rod Keller

Feast of Jesus Christ the King - November 26th, 2006

"King" is not just a title of honor. Call Him Lord or "my all".  Jesus is Lord of creation. He is Lord of all on the earth but has a relationship with only those who recognize him in faith.

What is so marvelous is the consistent teaching and belief within the Church for these past two thousand years. The truth could not have been kept without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our constant belief is that Jesus entered out history personally; that He is the Son of God who walked on this earth and interacted with ordinary people in such a way that his divinity was not seen, but only his humanity.

Pope Benedict XVI writes that the deepest longing of the human spirit, the "vocation and complete fulfillment of the human is not attained by rejecting God's law but by abiding by the law...And yet religious obedience is often seen by some as weakness and even anti-human." But God gave us our nature and has revealed to us, in Jesus, how we are to fulfill it. If we abuse the nature we have received our pursuit of pleasure will lead to unhappiness and lack of purpose. We have all the operating instructions we need for both fulfillment and happiness.

• If you love me keep the commandments.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit.

• Love one another as I have loved you.

• My yoke is easy and my burden is light.

• Give what you have to the poor and come, follow me.

• Be perfect as (in the manner) your heavenly Father is perfect.

We stand in contrast to much of contemporary culture which argues that human beings can't put the world together in a coherent way and that everything is plurality and difference. This same culture is exceedingly nervous about any assertion of truth.

But Jesus is truth and to refuse truth is to refuse Jesus as Lord and King. To accept truth is to accept Jesus as Lord and King. As Father Augustine Pro said years ago as he was about to be executed in 1927 for saying mass in Mexico: "Viva Cristo Rey" (Long Live Christ the King)

Father Rod Keller

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - November 19th, 2006

(The following is an outline only)

Some teachings of the Catholic Church seem to need clarification from time to time.  As we come to the end of the Church year I want to say a few words on the following topics:

The Real Presence in the Eucharist. This is an historic, scripture and tradition-based truth that is central to the worship life of the Church and is not subject to question. The Lord is truly present in the Eucharist and not present in a merely symbolic way as is generally understood outside the Church, especially by the Reformers who totally reject the priesthood and the mass.

Marriage is between a man and a woman. Since marriage is of God and not of man it is not subject to civil interpretation. If marriage were merely a civil union then it would be subject to civil definition and literally anything would go, from homosexual unions to marriage to several people at one time, etc.

Sex is lawful and moral only within the boundaries of a true marriage. For Catholic a true marriage is one that observes the laws of the Catholic church. Marriages outside the Church and not recognized as valid. Those of other religious practices marry in ways they see fit. The Church only legislates for it own members, i.e. where one or both are Catholic. If both are baptized marriage is a sacrament.

Natural Family Planning is a legitimate and moral way to deal with postponing or avoiding pregnancy. It is as reliable as any known method of contraception. It is morally acceptable where there is a proportionate reason. Classes on NFP are available at most Catholic hospitals. See article on NFP on this website.

Adultery, the sexual exchange between one or more previously or currently married persons, is sinful and against the teachings of both scripture and the tradition of the Church. The fact that in our culture many people are divorced and remarried does not adultery any less wrong. If a couple wants to pursue a Church validation they are invited to contact one of the priests for guidance and assistance. They are completely welcome and will be treated with total respect.

The Teachings of Jesus and objective, i.e. not subject to personal preference. The Catholic Church is divinely founded and divinely guided by the promised Holy Spirit. It's teachings are true because revealed by the Lord and not because they are deemed acceptable by people. We believe because of the one revealing, not because of the personal preference of the person of faith. The Church is divine in its founder and human in its members.

Father Rod Keller

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 22nd, 2006

Centuries ago a devout Catholic mathematician and philosopher separated soul from body in an attempt to protect the spiritual side of man from the materialists of his day.  He saw  the body as a machine programmed to operate on its own. In fact he saw all of creation as a machine.  The soul was separate and had a higher function.

The unintended result was to setting the stage for those would put the soul and all things into a box called "unscientific". Rene Descartes died in 1650.

Immanuel Kant took him to the next stage and denied freedom of the will even though he say that you have to act "as though"  your will was free.  He never solved the contradiction! Kant died in 1804.

And that's where we are right now: No personal responsibility; no moral principles except maybe environmental; no limit to lies and distortions - all in the name of personal aggrandizement and/or political gain.

In today's Gospel Jesus speaks of "the baptism with which he is baptized and that he would drink". Cup and baptism refer to His crucifixion and death along with much suffering. All of which was freely accepted in obedience to the Father and out of love for us.

We are taught by a cynical world to avoid all suffering. In response we note that life begins in suffering and turns to joy in the eyes of the mother who was in pain one moment and in ecstasy the next as she holds her newly born. Similarly the end of life is frequently one of pain followed by the ecstasy of the presence of God, a "newborn" into eternity.

Europe does not have a birth rate able to replace itself. It is in total decline. It's labor force is augmented from abroad, largely from Moslem countries. Within not many generations Europe will be majority Moslem!

America is replacing itself with a 2.1 birth rate per family. Like it or not this is largely possible due to people smuggling themselves across our borders.

All too often for some Americans, especially the rich and famous, children are toys, not the heritage of family line. They are conceived by in Petri dishes!

This month dedicated to Respect Life includes the value of each life and the beauty of a family of several children, if possible. The family is the Domestic Church where values of faith and love are learned.  Hopefully we are like Jesus who came "to serve, not be served" and who gave his life as a "ransom for many".

Families are our future.

Father Rod Keller

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 15th, 2006

Our faith is not a philosophy for intellectual debate. Religious truth comes from God, not from man.

It is Politically Correct to say that "every religious expression has an equal claim on our acceptance or toleration. We do tolerate people, but we do not tolerate false teachings, not matter how sincerely expressed.

What is intentionally insidious about religious political correctness is that it means that there is no such thing as religious truth. If all are true for their followers there is no really truth, only opinion.

Of course the cognoscenti, the really sophisticated, do not believe at all. They look down upon all believers with amusement and disdain.

Jesus says "if you would be whole (not lacking in the one thing necessary go sell your possessions and come follow me." This is a call for complete commitment to the Gospel; not some half-hearted intellectual acceptance of it. Like the "pearl of great price" we are to posses it any cost.

I know of a youngish woman with two pre-teen boys who now, at age forth, is expecting her third child. I admire her and her husband very much. They are totally pro-life and they live it and support it.

How many sacrifices does a couple have to make to bring a child into the world and to parent the child for twenty years?  Is that not sacrificing your possessions for the kingdom of God?

The first Commandment, found in Genesis chapter one, is "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it."

Of those whose lives are totally self consumed Jesus says "How hard it is for those who have wealth (i.e. have no need for God) to enter the Kingdom of God."

The skeptics tell you that you're foolish to embrace religion. Bill Maher, the political commentator and comedian) says that  they (religious people) are mentally deranged. He gets laughs and applause. It's easy to get approval for deriding people of faith in our country.

A multiplicity of Christian religious are confusing and disedifying to many people. Who can blame them for being confused? Differing faith systems can not all be true. None are true or only one is.

Embrace your faith more dearly than life!  "All things are possible for God."

Father Rod Keller

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 1st, 2006

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." (Today's Gospel from Mark 9)

Jesus had no sympathy for those who attack children and child-like people. Gehenna is too good for them.

Our bishop wants us to encourage you to support the Parental Notification Initiative, number 85, on the November 7th ballot. I want to explain to you what is behind the opposition to this measure.

A recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times encourages a "no" vote - which is no surprise to me.  This means that a school can not give an aspirin tablet to a student without parental knowledge and consent, but that same child can have an abortion without parental knowledge, much less consent!

Why? Because the modern Secular Progressive  (SP) agenda seeks to separate children from the supervision of their parents. They want the young people to decide their own moral values without the values of either parent or church.

Why, for example, do you think they are so against vouchers that would help education across the board?  Because they want to control what enters their impressionable minds:  no God, no morality, no love of country.

They want to introduce 5 year olds to anal sex as normal and acceptable. "Get them started in the 'right direction' at the earliest possible age".

They want to turn children against their parents and so to remake them in the Secular Progressive image: moral relativism (no God, no ten commandments), no such things as sin, political correctness above truth - because there is no such things as truth, only opinion.

Proposition 85 calls for Parental Notification before an abortion is performed on a minor. There are built-in safeguards for those who have reason to fear their parents.

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin..."

Father Rod Keller

Transfiguration of the Lord - August 6th, 2006

The Transfiguration is a supernatural event, known directly only to Peter, James and John. Could it have been photographed? I don't know but I doubt it. But that does not mean that it did not happen. Supernatural events are of a higher order, not a lower order.

Today's materialistic science and philosophy does not recognize supernatural  events: No miracles are possible. Therefore none have ever happened. God did not make man; man made God!

You will notice that Jesus was not transfigured in front of doubters or non believers. Only eyes of faith can see the truth, see what the eyes of the body can not.

Supernatural things are just as real, they are just of a higher order. But so is love, and trust and hope. In fact the most important lasting things of life are not measurable or seeable, but they are very real.

It is the goal of some to cast doubt. The Jesus Seminar is one such organization. The Jesus Seminar are a good example of people guaranteeing a faithless result because they are faithless themselves.

Their assumptions include: Gospel writers felt free to invent sayings of Jesus; there is no such things as miracles; Jesus' words after his resurrection are not authentic; Jesus' claims of who he was are not authentic.

In the name of science they throw out 80% of Jesus' teaching. To them Jesus was a bland teacher who spent his time telling people to look at eh lilies of the field.  The stated goad of the Jesus Seminar is to discredit orthodox Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant) and to insert a New Age Pantheism.

They also presume that Jesus was not celibate. Mary Magdalene is the most likely candidate as a lover.

The Transfiguration is a type (indicator) of the miraculous changes in the Eucharist, of the resurrected body of Jesus and of our own resurrection after our few years here on earth.

"Lord, it is good for us to be here."

Father Rod Keller

6th Sunday of Easter - May 21st, 2006

The movie Da Vinci Code opened on Friday. I have not seen it and have no current interest in seeing it. Go if you want. There is a lot of coverage in the papers and on the air. A lot of the coverage is in defense of traditional beliefs and practices.  I will leave those things for yourselves.

I will not defend the Church against the book. I don't want to dignify it. Rather I want to talk about the world view of the author of the book, Dan Brown. 

The Christian world view is that God created the world and all that is in it (including ourselves); that man is fallen and is in need of redemption; that Jesus Christ is the redeemer by his atoning death on the cross and resurrection.

There are other world views from Marxism to Planned Parenthood to New Age. These leave no room for a personal God much less a loving one.

The author of the Da Vinci Code is in the category of New Age. He claims a nominal Christianity. I suspect he is anti-Christian. He is gnostic in that he claims a higher knowledge and is pantheistic in that God is within and not external to us.

Listen to the opening pages of "The Da Vince Codebreaker" by James L. Garlow: "God, to Dan Brown, is not the transcendent, above-and-beyond God portrayed in the Bible. God is creation itself - something within me." Most of all Dan Brown is relativistic. He claims his book is based on fact, not fiction, therefore whatever he himself believes is "true". In other words, for him, truth resides in the individual, not outside him. That is why his gave no disclaimer at the opening of his book that it was fiction.

The Catholic faith, on the other hand, and its teachings is based on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. This is its fundamental truth. Many heresies have challenged Jesus' humanity. For example Docetism, an early heresy, taught that Jesus only "seemed" human. They taught this because they said that the world was evil.

Albigentianism (the Cathari) taught that matter was evil and so Jesus could not have had a true human body. Catholic understanding and teaching has always been that Jesus was truly a man, fully human, God-become man and we humans are one with him. He has validated the human condition.

Ours is not a religion of secret knowledge (like the Gnostics) nor of the elected few (like the Calvinists). nor of superstition. The Catholic faith is not a mystery religion nor a cult. We have nothing to hide. All is open! Truth will prevail - we have nothing to fear.

Father Rod Keller

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time - February 26th, 2006

We are within days of the beginning of Lent, Wednesday, March 1st. Receiving ashes is an act of humility and of penance. We are dust and ashes.  "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes! (Gen 18:27)

Let's not do the same old thoughtless Lent: giving up this or that; being slightly bored by the whole thing.

If Jesus is Lord for us (he may be or he may not be) then our lives will be guided by that. If Jesus is Lord of our lives, the guidepost of our conduct, our hero of heroes, the rule and measure of all that is good or evil...if Jesus is Lord then Lent wants to be a time of drawing closer to Him!

By any measure Jesus is the most popular person in history. Ashes on Ash Wednesday symbolize our poverty of spirit. Ashes have no power themselves, they are only a symbol. We must do the work of making ashes meaningful to us. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, they kingdom of God is theirs."

We are nothing without God and are filled to overflowing when God rules our lives. Lent is a time of preparation. It reminds us of one of the great truths of life: the rule of delayed gratification. Delayed gratification leads to the joy of fulfillment and is the exact opposite of the practice of self-indulgence which leads to bitterness and despondency. Advent goes before Christmas and Lent before Easter. First the preparation and then the celebration.  "Blessed are the pure of heart for they will see God."

The culmination of Lent are the three final days of Holy Week: Holy Thursday Good Friday and Holy Saturday. These are days to walk with Jesus from the Last Supper to Calvary all the way to his death and burial. We can keep Him company as a friend does for a friend. "Blessed are they who mourn, they shall be comforted."

It all explodes into the surprising miracle of Easter: He is risen, He is alive, He lives still. "Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them." ( Mat 18:20)

He is Lord. We belong to Him. He belongs to us!

Fr Rod Keller

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time - February 19th, 2006

(Following is a summary of my homily. I will do my best to explain my thesis. The topic is religious relativism, which is similar to religious pluralism.)

Either truth lies outside of us or only within us. God either exists or He does not. God can not both exist and not exist at the same time. In the words of one author explaining Religious Pluralism:

It means that no religion, is universally or exclusively true. Religious beliefs are simply an accident of birth: If a person grows up in America, chances are good that he might become a Christian; if in India, that he will be a Hindu; if in Saudi Arabia, that he will be a Muslim. If what one believes is the product of historical happenstance, the argument goes, no single religious belief can be universally or objectively true.

Religious relativism takes the position that whatever a person believes is true for him but has no objective value. This makes religious truth relative to the person. It is subjective truth only.

Recently I was listening on the radio to Dennis Prager, whom I respect. He fell into the trap of religious relativism. Or so it seemed to me.  My concern is that we can easily fall into that trap with the best of intentions and endanger our faith in the process.

A caller had said that he, as a Christian, had the truth.  Dennis said that the caller was only expressing his own religious conviction and that this did not apply to anyone who did not believe that way.  This response suggested that there was no possibility of truth behind the caller's faith conviction, that truth is relative to the person who holds it and in no way obliges anyone else.

One the one hand we are want very much to be tolerant. Political correctness demands complete tolerance of both the person and of his/her ideas. To imply that someone is wrong seems intolerant, especially when tolerance is popularly but erroneously defined as being open to and accepting of all ideas.

It is one thing to be tolerant of someone who expresses his/her conviction. It is another to be tolerant of that conviction. A person can be both sincere and wrong. We respect Hinduism without agreeing that it is a true expression of God's revelation. The same can be true of other religious systems, e.g. Islam, Taoism, Mormonism.  Good people can be sincerely in error. Surely God judges us where we are and for our sincerity. But even that does not make false beliefs true.

The danger is that if we are politically correct about religion we can come to the conclusion that there is no religious truth. That would be tragic. This would make a disconnect between belief and truth.  As Christians we see belief and truth as one because revealed by Jesus Christ who rose from the dead as proof of his claims to our loyalty.

Religious relativism puts the focus on the person; religious truth puts the focus on God the revealer. We may not know all that is true about God but we do know that truth exists independently of our knowledge of it.

In the words of Alan Bloom, ''Openness used to be the virtue that permitted us to seek the good by using reason. It now means accepting everything and denying reason's power.''

Fr Rod Keller

"We proclaim to you the gospel of God."  (From today's Second Reading of St. Paul to the Thessalonians)  St. Paul's mission was to proclaim God's good news.

He goes on to write "You received the world of God...not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God which is at work in you who believe."

It is fashionable to set aside God's word in the name of Pluralism and to say that every one has his/her own religious truth. This makes the human person the judge of truth rather than God. This becomes faith in self and not in God.

If there is no divine truth then there is no such thing as faith, only philosophy. Faith to be faith is trust in another. Human faith believes on the testimony of a trusted person, divine faith believes on the revelation of God.

In yesterday's L.A. Times there was an article in the California section about Christians becoming Muslims. The people who had left Christianity had two major objections. (1) The teaching of the Trinity and the (2) divinity of Jesus Christ. One person was quoted as saying "I had trouble believing that someone could come to this world as a man and become God" His name was Hispanic. But that is not what Christianity teaches. It teaches that God became a man not that a man became God.

Another person said "I liked the Islamic teaching that says your paradise is set so long as you are righteous and believe in one God. This was from another Hispanic. Jesus did not teach any such simplistic obligation.

Clearly St. Paul has no use for the idea that all religions are of equal value, religious pluralism. Truth lies outside of ourselves. It lies in God who has revealed himself to us. We are not free to chose our own religious beliefs, not if God has spoken to us.

We will be judged for our faith in God, not for our home-made of religious ideas.  That is what Jesus is saying in today's Gospel "Call no one on earth your teacher, you have but one teacher. Do not be called master, you have but one master, the Christ.

Fr. Rod Keller

"Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

Time was when theology was the queen of the sciences. Philosophy was under it in order to give theology a logical basis. Now, for many. and for most of the media, philosophy is on top and theology is reduced to private devotion. Instead of God being preeminent, science became preeminent - and to make matters worse the science in vogue is materialism. If you can't quantify it it does not exist.

Materialists have no place for God because God, by definition is non-material, and as non-material God exists only the minds of ignorant people.

Take the dispute about allowing the concept of intelligent design into the class room.  Those who object say "such a concept is not scientific." Remember that to such people science means material and measurable. They also object "Intelligent design is religion". We answer that it is not religion, it's science. If you are truly scientific you will pursue truth wherever it takes you - even to an uncaused cause.

The word "supernatural" has gotten a lot of bad press. That which is supernatural is above something else. Supernatural is a relative term, like "above ground" or "over head". God, in Himself, is not supernatural but natural; that is God has a nature and it is divine and the divine nature is superior to man's nature. So from our point of reference God is supernatural  to us just as man's nature is above that of a dog or a horse. (Apologies to PETA!)

When speaking of the Holy Trinity we say "one God in three divine persons. Of Jesus we say one person with two natures, human and divine.

"Supernatural" has come to mean superstition or something imagined like the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. Supernatural is a relative term that says that God's nature is superior to ours.

In rendering to God the things that are God's we want God to be restored to His proper place as the creator of the world who, it would certainly seem, created the world of nature and man with thought and purpose. The argument for intelligent design is not an argument for God, it is an argument for the possibility of God.

 In today's second reading from Paul's letter to the Romans we heard: "What will separate us from the love of Christ?"  Persecution? We Catholics have traditionally been a persecuted minority in one way or another in this country. Peril? The sword? We have no real fear of martyrdom here but others do in other parts of the world. Principalities? Those in power.

"For those he foreknew he also justified and those he justified he also glorified." (Today's second reading from Romans)

I always get a little nervous when I head that passage - it sounds so Calvinistic! In his theory of predestination Calvin says that we can do nothing at all about our salvation. God has already determined our destiny: some to damnation to show his justice and some to salvation to show his mercy and grace. (You'd think that one person damned would be enough!)

Calvinism was to become the most international form of Protestantism.

Is that who Paul is writing about in Romans? The letter of St. Paul to the Romans is about God's righteousness that saves all who believe. "The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: Jew first, then Greek." (Romans 1:16-17) It is about salvation and justification through faith in Christ. It is also about God's "wrath against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness." (Romans 1:18)

It is in view of this overarching theme of Romans that we are to understand today's second reading. "We know all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son..."

The great question raised by justification is how, at the same time, is God omniscient (all knowing) and we totally free? If God knows our destiny does he not cause it? If every good act of ours is grounded in the grace of God how is it also an act of our freedom?  It is the problem of divine sovereignty and human freedom.

The extreme positions are Calvinism that states that all is in God's hands and nothing in ours - and - Pelagianism, Deism and New Age that all is in our hands and nothing in God's. As always the truth lies where the mystery is deepest, in the middle. The fact is that to this mystery we do not know the answer! We know that God is sovereign and we know that we are free. It's the same as the mystery of the incarnation - that Jesus is true God and true man. We know these truths but we don't know how.

Calvinism wants to solve the mystery. Protestantism in general is uncomfortable with mysteries. Calvinism says God is sovereign and that is that! Man is predestined to heaven or hell by God's decree and we can do nothing about it.

Catholic teaching lives with the mystery of grace. "Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 1993)

"Some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty fold." Some seed fell on hard ground, a path, and birds came and ate it up. Some on rocky ground with little soil and some fell among thorns which choked the seed. In other words only one seed in four fell on rich soil - about 25% of people respond to God's seed of grace! Judgment of the heart belongs to God, not to me.

Early in his pontificate, in 1979, Pope John Paul made a nine day visit to his native Poland. He went as a pilgrim, not as a politician. John Paul was never political. Poland by this time had been under a Communist government for 34 years - since 1945 when they drove out the Nazis.

The Communists sought to rid the country of its Catholic heritage and to establish a purely secular humanist society. (Sound familiar?) The means they used to "win over" the people was to break their spirit. A people can be conquered if they have already given up.

His pilgrimage to eight holy places, beginning with Warsaw, was between June 2nd and June 10th, 1979, They were, in the words of George Weigel's International Best Seller, "Witness to Hope, the Biography of John Paul II, 1920-2005, the "nine days that changed the world."

John Paul had the ability to appeal to people's consciences, believers and non believers; also the remarkable ability to speak to missions of Poles who heard him as if he were speaking to them personally. One man was heard to reprove his companion at a sermon "Don't speak when the Pope is talking to me!" The pope called for a national moral renewal; he challenged what he called "dishonorable living" and called for the revival of "the ethos of sacrifice", long a Polish tradition "in whose name our grandfathers and fathers never stopped fighting for national and human dignity."

In his call for national moral renewal John Paul said that the opponent was not communism, but "their own lethargy which permitted, by tacit or even overt consent, the continued imposition of an alien form of political control on their country".

A year and three months later, in August of 1980, the first independent, self-governing trade union in the communist world was born: Solidarity. In 1991 the USSR ceased to exist. Atheistic humanism as a valid view of the human condition was finished.

The future of our world is to be found in redeemed humanity where the seed falls on "good ground" and Jesus Christ is the Lord of history.

Last Thursday, May 19th, marked the end of one month of the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI. The pontificate of John Paul II is now over - or rather it has just really begun.

The ripple effect of the late Holy Father will continue for a very long time to come.  He is famous for his role in the end of the Cold War and Russian Communism but his lasting impact is and will be spiritual; a man of faith who preached every person's call to personal greatness which is to say holiness, the inherent dignity of the human person and the sanctity of marriage and of the marriage bed.

What do you think is the First Commandment? What did God first say to us? "God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them saying 'Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.'" (Genesis chapter one)

John Paul was the first truly modern pope. He was pope of the Catholic Church and of the entire world searching for meaning. When he died the entire world mourned his loss. He was not an administrator as much as an evangelist.

He preached live to hundreds of thousands. At one time he spoke to Muslim teenagers in a packed stadium in Casablanca. Morocco, North Africa. John Paul respected faith wherever he found it - even though is was not his faith.

He was and still is controversial. He was the champion of the cause of human freedom, an unbendingly strong leader yet to many, he was "out of touch" the post modern world and easily dismissed by moral relativists.

There was some who despised him "I frankly abhor Pope John Paul II." (author Conor Cruise O'Brien). Another author said "he prays daily for the pope's demise." 

Today was celebrate the central teaching of our faith, the Most Holy Trinity. God is one in three persons. It is a mystery of our faith; a mystery but not a contradiction. How else are we redeemed but by the Son sent from the Father? How else are we sanctified but by the Spirit send by the Son? "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned..." (Today's Gospel, John 3:16-18)

Our new Pope Benedict needs and deserves our fervent prayers - in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Father Rod Keller