How the Fortitude of A Catholic Pope Changed the Name of a Lutheran Boy
March 28, 2010
[Note: As we approach the 5th anniversary of the death of our beloved, "blessed', John Paul II, I thought it would be appropriate to re-post this article. What follows is a true story. The young man's name* has been changed to respect his privacy.]
John Paul II
In the month after the death, days of mourning, and funeral of the late Pope John Paul II, a certain Lutheran youth pastor took 10 youth on a “pre-Confirmation” retreat, as part of their final preparation to receive the Rite of Confirmation. This pastor had, months earlier, expressly told these 10 youth that they would each need to ponder a saint of the Church whose life and faith were a witness to them, an example that they would wish to emulate, a patron saint whose name they would want to take on at their Confirmation.
As the van was unloading at the familiar beach retreat house, one young man said, “Pastor Paul, do you think they’re gonna make John Paul II a saint.” (”They” obviously meaning the Catholic Church.)
“Well, Keith*, I have no doubt that John Paul II was a saintly man, and I have little doubt that the Catholic Church will expedite the process of canonization for him… but why do you ask?”
“Cause that’s who I want for my saint’s name”
Two thoughts went through the pastor’s mind simultaneously: (1) “OOOKKKK…. that’s kinda outside the box…”, and (2) “WOW… I LIKE IT!”
“Keith*, we’ll need to sit down a little later and talk about that.”
Later that night, the pastor pulled the young man aside. “Sit down here, and explain to me why John Paul II is an example of faith to you, and someone whose name you would want to add to yours.”
“Well,” said the young man, “he took a bullet for the Faith, basically brought an end to the Cold War, and got old and sick and coulda quit but he didn’t… I think that’s pretty strong.”
Knowing there would probably be some “blow-back”, and not really caring very much if there was, the pastor smiled at the young man and said, “Keith, I agree with you, and I think that’s a very brave decision on your part. If anybody asks you, ‘Why John Paul?’, you just explain it to them like you did to me”
And so, on Pentecost Sunday, 2005, in a Lutheran church, the witness of the late Catholic pope changed the name of a young Lutheran boy, as I laid my hands upon his head, and proclaimed him Keith* Andrew “JOHN PAUL” Watson*
And the ceiling did NOT fall in.
That may not qualify as one of the three miracles necessary for canonization… but it comes pretty darn close.
Of Royal Blood
November 23, 2009
Christ the King Sunday
(Note: This was the last sermon I ever preached as a Lutheran pastor; I don’t believe that anything I said THEN could not be said by a faithful Catholic NOW. The lessons refered to were from the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A.)
“of Royal Blood”
It seems very fitting that the last Sunday of the Church year would be observed as the Sunday of the fulfillment, the Sunday of the culmination and consummation of all things – Christ the King Sunday. On this Sunday of the Church year we sum up all that has gone before, and affirm that ALL things are – and will be — summed up in the rule and reign of Christ.
Living in a democracy, (or, to be specific, a democratic republic), we aren’t used to the idea of royalty, of being subject to the rule of a king. And yet, Sacred Scripture affirms that just such an absolute monarchy exists within the Kingdom of God. Again and again, the evangelists and apostles bear witness that Jesus is Lord, that Christ is King. The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday provides an excellent example of this witness. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory… He will sit upon His glorious throne… then the King will say to those on His right… ‘Come… inherit the Kingdom…’ ” St. Paul also affirms the absolute monarchy of Christ in our Second Lesson this morning:
For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.
(Sounds pretty “absolute” doesn’t it?)
The whole of the NT bears witness to this truth: the Angel Gabriel, announces to Mary that she is highly favored with grace, and will give birth to the Savior, “and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians, “… at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” Again, St. Paul, writes in Romans (15:12), quoting Isaiah the prophet:
The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.
The Revelation to St. John affirms again and again the reality that Christ rules the universe, even now, and that the saints in heaven continually proclaim His kingdom.
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!” (15:3)
They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them,
for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are
called and chosen and faithful. (17:14)
In the middle ages, a certain theory of monarchy began to take hold; the theory that earthly kings ruled “by divine right” , i.e. they were kings and had the right to the throne because God had chosen them to be king. In truth, there was – and is — only one king who could claim a throne “by divine right.” And that king was Jesus, born of the house of David, the legitimate “King of the Jews.” But Jesus has the divine right not just to a temporal throne, not just to an earthly throne, but to an eternal and heavenly throne. He rules by divine right because He IS divine – He is God, and the very Son of God. He is not a creature – God did not create Jesus. Jesus is God, and all things were created by Him and through Him. He has the right to claim kingship over the entire universe because He made it all. He has the right to claim kingship over us, because He created man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into the very breath of Life.
But this king also has another claim on us. For this king laid aside His divine glory, willingly put aside His divine right, and took on the form of a servant, and was made man. And being found in the likeness of man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death – even death on a cross. This king rules by divine right because this King has mounted a throne of shame and death, and on that throne suffered agony, and bled, and died, in order to ransom us from bondage to Satan, from slavery to sin and from the grip of the grave. This King, and this King alone, has the divine right to “first claim” on our lives, because this King, and this King alone, has created us and redeemed us, has breathed into us of His very Spirit, and has brought us back to life.
And there’s more. For this King not only died for His subjects, His servants – but by His victorious death and glorious resurrection, this King has adopted us as His own, claimed us as His very sons and daughters, made us to be of royal blood! As St. Paul writes in Ephesians, the very passage prior to our Second Lesson: “In love the Father predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
What astounding love! What amazing grace! It would have been enough to have been freed from bondage, to have been given a new life… but to be taken into the King’s palace, to be cleansed and robed in royal robes, to be brought into the throne room and seated with Him… to be called no longer servants, but sons and daughters… to be made of royal blood… it should cause us to stand in awe, and to bow in adoration.
This King, and this King alone, has the right to rule over our lives. This King, and this King alone has the right to claim the throne of our lives. This King, and this King alone has the right to command us to kneel, and to make us royal knights in His service, to proclaim His glorious and gentle rule of justice and peace throughout the world, by our words, and by the very lives that we live in loving service to others: “as you have done it to the least of these…”
In a recent movie entitled, “The Kingdom of Heaven”, a young man, the illegitimate son of a noble knight, is claimed by his father, and at his father’s deathbed, is knighted and proclaimed as his father’s rightful heir, and given his father’s title. This young knight ultimately is left to defend Jerusalem against Sala’-hadin and his army of Saracens. It seems a hopeless task. The bishop of Jerusalem, the patriarch of Jerusalem, expresses that hopelessness to Balian, the young knight.
Bp: “My Lord… How do you intend to defend Jerusalem without any knights? We have no knights!”
Bn: “Truly?” He surveys the armed peasants that surround him, his eyes lighting on a tall boy, barely a man. “What is your condition?
Boy: “I am a servant to the patriarch.” The bishop nods in agreement, “Yes, he is one of my servants
Bn: You were born a servant?” The boy nods.
Bn: “Kneel.” (Again, surveying the peasant crowd.) “Kneel. Every man at arms, or capable of bearing them, kneel! … On your knees!
Be without fear in the face of your enemies.
Be brave and upright that God may love thee.
Speak the truth even if it leads to your death.
Safeguard the helpless. Do no wrong.
This is your oath.”
He slaps the young man across the face. “And that is so you remember it. Rise - a knight.” He then turns and proclaims to all the men gathered, “Rise - a knight!”
The bishop, scandalized at this indiscriminate “mass knighting” of ignorant and low-born peasants, protests: “Who do you think you are? Will you alter the world? Does making a man a knight make him a better fighter?” Balian, turning to the bishop, says emphatically: “Yes”
And so, I call on each one of you, each one who will hear the call of the King, each one of you willing and able to bear His Word to the world… kneel. In this moment, in your heart, go to your knees!
Be without fear in the face of your Enemy, THE EVIL ONE.
Be brave and righteous for the sake of the One who loved you.
Speak the truth of His Word, even if it leads to your death.
Safeguard the helpless. Do no wrong.
This is your oath.
And this (X sign of the Cross) is so you remember it.
Rise… a knight of the Most High King. Go forth in the power of His might. Fight the good fight. Finish the course. Keep the Faith.
In the King’s Name, and for His sake… Amen.
Meditations on Advent
November 27, 2008
I recently finished reading Thomas Merton’s spiritual autobiography “The Seven Storey Mountain”, in which Merton traces his spiritual journey into the Church, and ultimately into a Trappist monastery. His reception into the community of monks coincided with the beginning of Advent, and he finds the intersection to be deeply meaningful:
Liturgically speaking, you could hardly find a better time to become a monk than Advent. You begin a new life, you enter into a new world at the beginning of a new liturgical year. And everything that the Church gives you to sing, every prayer that you say in and with Christ in His Mystical Body is a cry of ardent desire for grace, for help, for the coming of the Messiah, the Redeemer.
The soul… is a Bethlehem where Christ comes to be born — in the sense that Christ is born where His likeness is reformed by grace, and where His Divinity lives, in a special manner, with His Father and His Holy Spirit, by charity — in this “new incarnation,” this “other Christ.”
The Advent liturgy prepares that Bethlehem with songs and canticles of ardent desire.
(p. 379)
In another place, he writes: “Advent is the beginning of the end of everything in us that is not yet Christ.”
I pray it may be so for me.
I pray it may be so for all of us.
Pilgrimage to EWTN
October 1, 2008
On "The Journey Home"
Of all the unexpected gifts, of all the things I would have never dreamed, sitting across the desk from Marcus Grodi on “The Journey Home” program was probably the most surprising. It was surreal… I kept thinking, “Mother Angelica sat in THIS chair… Fr. Richard John Neuhaus sat in THIS chair… Scott Hahn and Stephen Ray sat in THIS chair… Fr. Jay Scott Newman sat in THIS chair… (OK.. maybe not the EXACT same chair, but still… )… WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!
If you think I looked calm, if you think I sounded coherent - thanks. But I have to tell you… it was all the the Spirit of God at work, giving me the words to say… in answer to my constant prayer: “O Lord open my lips… and don’t let me say anything stupid.” What an honor and a privilege to be able to share my story, and provide a defense of the Faith on live television, on the largest global Catholic network on the planet.
The studio of EWTN
Which brings me to the other joy –being able to actually be on campus at EWTN. What an amazing global ministry of evangelism and education, what a force for broadcasting “the splendor of Truth”! And it all started with a nun — a cloistered nun with only $200 and a vision of turning plans for a convent garage into a cable TV studio. And now… it is the largest global Catholic network on the planet. It may sound strange to call a visit to a cable TV studio a “pilgrimage”, but actually being on the campus of a ministry that has had such an impact on our lives, having the opportunity to participate in the morning Mass that we watch almost every morning at home… to meet Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Fr. Anthony Mary, Br. Paschal (thanks again for the tour!), and the others… it was a true blessing.
One of the unexpected blessings was meeting a young man from Germany, named Andrew, who was staying at the Madonna Guest House with Marie and I, and who was at EWTN, (along with his priest and a young lady and her mother), taping a special series for German youth called, “Faith is Beautiful.”
Beaming the signal around the globe
(We actually had the opportunity to watch the series being taped during our tour). We enjoyed several meals with them, and their presence underscored in a very tangible way the global outreach that now exists because of the unshakable faith of one cloistered nun. Please keep the ministry of EWTN in your prayers, and remember to keep “EWTN” between your electric bill and your gas bill, (as Mother always used to say).
Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament
If you ever have the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to EWTN, then a drive to Hanceville, and the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament – even tho’ it is an hour away — is a “must do.” If you’ve watched a Mass broadcast from the Shrine on EWTN, you only glimpsed the glorious beauty, only had a faint impression of the holy awe the Shrine inspires. While we were there, (my wife Marie had come along to add support and encouragement as always), the nuns came in to sing the “hour.” The angelic voices of the nuns singing “Salve Regina” and other hymns was … beyond the ability of language to describe. You gotta be there.
