How the Fortitude of A Catholic Pope Changed the Name of a Lutheran Boy

[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.]

   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.

Weapons of the Spirit

Session One: “Know Your Enemy!”

(Note: This is part of a Lenten series which I am currently offering at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, my parish in Raleigh, NC.  If you would like to have this series done as a retreat in your area, please contact me!)

Millions of people think that Satan, (aka, “the devil”), is a figment of human imagination; a non-existent being akin to orcs, goblins, and elves. They are mistaken. Holy Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, clearly teaches that Satan does exist. One has only to read the daily papers, or watch the evening news, to know that Satan exists and is as active today as he ever was in the past. Of all the enemies the human race has – especially those members of the human race who are part of the Church, the Body of Christ – this Enemy is the most dangerous.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church leaves no doubt about the truth of the existence of Satan, and of his works, and of his ways:

391   Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.²⁶⁶ Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil”.²⁶⁷ The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: “The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.”²⁶⁸

392   Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels.²⁶⁹ This “fall” consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter’s words to our first parents: “You will be like God.”²⁷⁰ The devil “has sinned from the beginning”; he is “a liar and the father of lies”.²⁷¹ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 

 266  Cf. Gen 3:1-5; Wis 2:24.   267   Cf Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9.   268  Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 800.   269  Cf. 2 Pet 2:4.   270  Gen 3:5.   271  1 Jn 3:8; Jn 8:44.

 His Name

The name Satan means _______________________ (“devil” means __________________________)

When this word is used as a proper noun, it describes the chief of the fallen spirits, the most malevolent adversary of God and man, (Jn 1:6, 12; 2:1; Zech. 3:1), hostile to everything good or pure.

 His Aliases & Titles:

Matt. 12:24          “B_____________________” (means ______________________________________)*

John 8:44 (two)   “a murderer” and the “F___________________________________________”

John 14:30           “the ______________________________________________________________”

2 Cor. 4:4            “the ____________________________of this world”

2 Cor. 6:15           “Belial” (In common use, a Hebrew word for  “ __________________________” )

Eph 2:2                “the P______________________________________________________________”

Rev. 9:11 (two names)

                              “A_________________________” (means ______________________________)

                               “A_________________________” (means ______________________________)

                              (This passage also refers to him as “the angel of ___________________________” )

Rev. 12:10            “A __________________________________________________ “

Rev. 20:2             “the D_________________, the A______________________________”

 

His Origin

Nowhere does Holy Scripture specifically explain the origin of Satan, but two passages that biblical scholars often point two as possible “poetic” descriptions are: Isaiah 14:12-15 and  Ezekiel 29:12-19  (Look up both passages, read them together.  What words or phrases suggest to you that the prophets are talking to someone “beyond” the person they are addressing?)

  If these passages do disclose something to us about the origin of Satan, what do you “sense” might have happened? What was the root of his sin?

His Personality

Satan is a real, spiritual, being – a “person” in the same way the Holy Spirit is a “person.” Sacred Scripture teaches that he has:

      1. (2 Cor 11:3)  _____________________________;

      2. (2 Tim 2:26)  _____________________________; and,

      3. (Rev. 12:10)  _____________________________.

Furthermore, he is treated by God as a morally responsible being, not an impersonal power or thing, who of his own “free will” chose to rebel against God, and will suffer the due punishment. (Matt. 25:41, see also CCC par. 392-393)

 His Strategy

Satan is totally obsessed with hatred for the Almighty and all things holy and good. He never tires of trying to get others join him in his rebellion against the authority of the Almighty God, the Holy One. By his deceit, he lured Adam and Eve into sin against God, thereby stealing their innocence from them, and making them – and all their descendents – his slaves.  Every redeemed child of God who has confessed faith in Christ, all who have been baptized in the name of the Triune God, marked with the Cross and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, have been released from his dominion (Col. 1:13) – and have entered the battle against him. (cf. Liturgy for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism)

 Satan’s battle-plan is simple, but deadly:

1.      To lure people into sin (Genesis 3:1-12), and make them his slaves ( John 8:34).

2.      To oppose, hinder, and counterfeit the plan of God. (Daniel 10:10-14;  Rev. 13:1-10)

3.      To blind the minds of unbelievers, and snatch the Word of God from their heart.                (2 Cor. 4:4;  Luke 18:2)

4.      To deceive and destroy believers, (2 Cor. 11:14;  I Pet 5:8), tempting them to sin and to shipwreck their faith. (Acts 5:3;  Heb 3:12-13;  2^nd Tim. 4:9-10a;  1^st Tim 1:18,19)

 BUT… and this is crucial to remember: “The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.”²⁷⁵ “  (CCC 395)  275 Rom 8:28.

 His Ultimate End

Though he is a spiritual being of enormous power, cunning, and wrath, the Devil is NOT equal with God. He is not invincible. He can be - and, in fact, has been – defeated, and faces eternal punishment.

1.      Judgment pronounced in Eden (Gen. 3:14-15)

2.      Judgment prophesied by Christ ( Luke 10:18)

3.      Judgment sealed at the Cross (John 12:31,32)

4.      Cast into the Lake of Fire at the end of time. (Rev. 20:10) 

Battling the Un-holy Trio

Note: Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a former Anglican priest who is now the Catholic chaplain at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Greenville, SC, (and sometimes retreat leader at Belmont Abbey College, and due to speak at this year’s “Ignited By Truth”), authored the following article. My only comment I think would be — where he refers to the World, the Flesh, and the Devil as the “un-holy trinity” — to speak instead of the “unholy trio”. There is only one “tri-unity” and it is the Holy Trinity of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While I understand the “poetic” reasons for using the term “trinity” as he does, I’m certain that he would be the first to say that the unholy trio is in no way a “trinity” as is the Holy Trinity.

The un-holy Trinity are the false goods and false gods that Satan sets up. They are the World, the Flesh and the Devil. I wrote about how the Holy Trinity counters the un-Holy Trinity here, but as we head into Lent consider the tools we are given to battle the un-holy Trinity: there are three, and they give us a well rounded and complete armory in the fight.

The three are prayer, almsgiving and abstinence, and together they counter the World, the Flesh and the Devil. How so?  The World is the underlying assumption that life is about power and prosperity. We’re here to get money, save money, spend money and attain worldly wealth and power right? Wrong. And it is almsgiving that counters this basic assumption that it’s all about money.

When you give your money sacrificially you’re telling your bank account who’s boss. You’re taking control of money and by giving it away you’re telling the money god just what you think of him. You’re reminding yourself that money is like manure: spread it around and it does a lot of good. Save it all in one place and it starts to stink and breeds germs. So almsgiving is a direct, practical and simpe way to put The World in its place and turn our hearts to heaven.

Abstinence, or giving something up for Lent, is a sure way to discipline the flesh. It’s fashionable to cut this one out these days and say, “Instead of giving something up, I’m taking something up.”–meaning some good cause. Actually we’re supposed to do both, and the old tradition of giving up some physical pleasure means that we are taking the threat of The Flesh seriously. The Flesh is not just the physical pleasures of food, sex, sleep, entertainment and drink. It is also the underlying assumption that life is all about keeping this body of mine satiated with all sorts of pleasurable sensations. Giving up a fleshly pleasure corrects that underlying assumption and shifts our attention to higher things.

Prayer is the antidote to The Devil. It’s simple. The Devil wants to be worshipped instead of God. By offering more prayer and worship to God we stymie the devil. By turning our attention to God and offering him our devotion and obedience we trample down the head of Satan during Lent.

So this Lent we battle the un-holy Trinity with three holy weapons. Almsgiving counters The World. Abstinence counters The Flesh and Prayer counters The Devil.