Solemnity of The Ascension of The Lord
May 14, 2018 Column Father De Celles
Ascension of the Lord. Today we celebrate the Ascension of
the Lord, the day in history, 40 days after the first Easter, that
Our Lord Jesus Christ ascended body and soul into heaven.
This great finale to the paschal mystery, along with the bodily
death and resurrection of Jesus, has many and profound
ramifications for us today. Perhaps most urgent is the reminder
of the great dignity and profound meaning of the human body:
that the body is not merely an empty shell temporarily
inhabited by our souls, but rather it is part of who we are, that
part that communicates ourselves to others. As St. John Paul II
used to say so often: “the body speaks!” The words of our
mouth talk to others, our hands express our creativity and
helpfulness, our feet take us to be with family and friends, etc.
Nowadays people especially forget that our bodies
communicate our sexuality—our maleness and femaleness—
and through that express our openness to the self-gift (of body
and soul) of marital, maternal, and paternal love. In a time of
great confusion surrounding sexuality, “gender,” marriage and
family, we need to open our eyes to the most basic, simple and
common-sense lessons our bodies teach us.
Mother’s Day. I haven’t forgotten you Moms! I’m sure you
haven’t minded me placing the Lord’s feast first—I’m “sure”
because that’s how Moms are! Always placing others first. And
that’s why we love Moms, and motherhood, so much, and truly
revere them. As I spoke above of the meaning and dignity of
the body, motherhood is yet another expression of this
meaning. What a miraculous gift and blessing—to mothers,
husbands, children and to all society—is the motherly love
expressed so tenderly and yet powerfully through a mother’s
bodily acts: carrying a baby in her womb for 9 months, the
sacrificial pangs of childbirth, nursing her baby at her breast,
holding her child in her arms, kissing the scraped knee, the
smile that makes everything better, or the tears of compassion
or pride.
Thank the Good Lord Jesus for the gift of mothers! On
this special day, and every day, may the Lord give us the grace
to show them the love that they deserve.
And, Moms: thank you for all you do and are for us;
may the good Lord Jesus bless you and may His Mother Mary
keep you in her tender embrace forever. And let us pray for
those who have gone on before us into death: may the Lord
forgive them for their imperfections, and reward them for their
great love.
Debt Payoff Celebration. I mentioned here last week that we
should be paying off the parish debt very soon. But one
parishioner wrote to remind me that we need to do something to
celebrate this milestone achievement, and I agree (thanks, G.).
Unfortunately, this is not a good time to plan a party, with
Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and Father’s Day, and finals,
graduations and vacations, etc. So, I’ve decided to postpone the
celebration until September at our annual parish picnic, making
that an extra special event. Fr. James Gould, my predecessor
who built the church and accumulated the debt in the first place
(raising an amazing $11 million in cash along the way!), has
promised to attend. Bishop Burbidge is trying to make it work
with his calendar as well. If you have any suggestions about
how we can spruce up the picnic, let me know. Save the date:
Sunday, September 16.
Parishioners Moving. I love the summer, but I hate all the
moves that take place, especially with all the military and
government employed families. If you are planning a move this
summer, please let the office know. And please let me know,
personally. I don’t know all of my parishioners nearly as well as
I wish I could, but I love you all, and pray for you constantly.
So, please, don’t forget to say good-bye.
Scandal, and the Met Gala. Most people tend to use the word
“scandal” to mean “an action or event regarded as morally or
legally wrong and causing general public outrage.” So, if an
“event” doesn’t cause outrage, if people consider it no big deal,
then it’s not normally considered “scandalous.”
But the Catholic Church has a different definition of the
“sin of scandal.” As the Catechism teaches:
“2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads
another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his
neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may
even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave
offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a
grave offense.”
“2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason
of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those
who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse:
‘Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to
sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened
round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.’
Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office
are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the
scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves
in sheep’s clothing.”
“2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions,
by fashion or opinion….”
So, the sin of scandal is doing something, even simply
remaining silent, that leads other to sin, including leading them
to think that something evil is okay. So, for example, when a
father laughs at someone else’s dirty joke in front of his little
son, the father sins by leading his son to think dirty jokes are
okay. Or when a mother allows her daughter to dress in sexually
-provocative outfits, she leads her daughter to think that
tempting others is okay.
Last Monday’s (May 7) annual star-studded “Met Gala”
in New York was filled with this kind of scandal. Although the
theme was promising, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the
Catholic Imagination,” at the actual event famous entertainers
showed up wearing outrageously sacrilegious outfits (e.g., halfnaked
women wearing dresses embroidered with pictures of the
Blessed Mother). One, the singer Rihanna, reportedly wore a
bishop’s miter (the hat bishops wear at Mass) with a very
skimpy dress. This would be enough to cause great scandal on
its own, since these public figures were leading others to think
that nothing was wrong with this. But what made it most
scandalous was that some Catholic leaders in New York
reportedly seemed to endorse or make light of these folks’
actions. Maybe I have my facts wrong (you can never trust the
press), and I’m no puritan, but if this is true, it makes no sense to
me….
But let’s just try, personally, never to be the source of
scandal to others, and have confidence that, by the grace of God,
“the gates of hell shall not prevail” against His Catholic Church.
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles