December 8th - Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Bellarmine University
FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
“A Worthy Container”
Rev. Ronald Knott
December 8, 2014

Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you!
Luke 1:26-38

My grandfather had an expression that has stuck with me all these years. He used to say, “Nobody puts a $50.00 saddle on a $5.00 horse!” By that he meant that you should not invest something of value in something that is worthless to begin with!

As a person who has remodeled several houses, I have learned that it is never a good idea to waste good money trying to remodel a house that was built poorly to begin with!

If you want to give your fiancée a gorgeous, expensive diamond for Christmas, you would never think to have that diamond set it in some cheap plastic ring. You would put it in a worthy ring – a ring with enough gold to hold it securely and to show it off!

All these images came to mind when I reflected on this Feast of the Immaculate Conception. There is a lot poetic language surrounding this feast – a “virgin” mother and a “sinless” woman – but what it is saying is simple. When God decided to become one of us, to come to us in the flesh of a human being, he chose the right “setting” for this precious gift, a gift infinitely more precious than even the Hope Diamond. He chose Mary, blessed among all women, sinless from birth, as the mother of Jesus, as the Mother of God.

Just as “no one would put a $50 saddle on a $5 horse, waste good money remodeling a falling-down wreck of a house or place a precious diamond in a cheap plastic ring, God chose Mary as a worthy setting for his most precious gift to humankind – his only Son! In a nutshell, this is the message behind all the poetic language we are given in this ancient Marian feast!

December 7 - 2nd Sunday of Advent

Bellarmine University
"Christmas Was Not Stolen, We Abdicated"
Rev. Ronald Knott
December 7, 2014

Prepare his way! Make straight his paths!
Matthew 3

Last week the gentle Isaiah invited us to go up on the mountain of the Lord in order to be instructed in his ways so that we might be able to walk in his paths - instructed in his ways so that we may walk in his paths. This week we hear from a totally different personality than the gentle Isaiah. This week a fiery and uncompromising John the Baptist invites us to go into the desert to be cleansed of our sins in preparation for the imminent arrival of the world's Savior.

Mountains are places to look out and get a birds-eye view of things going on around us. Deserts are places to get a close-up view of the things going on within us. Both mountains and deserts are traditional places where our inner noises can be calmed, our senses heightened - places that help us better discern our priorities. Mountains and deserts are places where we can go to shut out the world and "hear ourselves thinking" as my mother used to call it when she wanted to clear her head.

Last week, we heard about Isaiah speak of "going to the mountain of the Lord" so that when he comes “he may find us doing right and being mindful of his ways.” "Going to the mountain of the Lord" is a metaphor for simply rising above the madness of the world: the hustle and bustle of Christmas that screams out for us to look here or look there, buy this or buy that, eat this or eat that, go here or go there! Advent is designed to be a time to "go up the mountain," to "rise above the madness" for four weeks so as to prepare our selves from the inside out - so that we can "get it" when the meaning of Christmas is proclaimed yet again! Without throwing cold water on the way we celebrate Christmas in this country, I simply tried to make the point that we need to do our homework first! We need to clean out our hearts before we clean our houses. We need to decorate our souls before we decorate our trees. We need to prepare ourselves to receive the spiritual gift of God's unconditional love before we start preparing to give our material gifts of love to each other. It's not a matter of one or the other. A "good" Christmas is a matter of both! We prepare our inside first and things outside second!

Last week the gentle Isaiah told us that we are invited up to the mountain of the Lord for a reason - "so that when God comes he may find us doing right and being mindful of his ways.” This week the fiery John likewise invites people to the desert "to be instructed in God's ways so that they could walk his paths." The huge crowds who came to be instructed by John were so moved by his message that they were inspired to make a complete about-face in the way they were living and begin to walk with God rather than away from him!

To be honest with you, all these invitations to be "instructed in the ways of God so that we may walk his paths" seem so irrelevant to a modern-day American Christmas where "more, bigger, brighter, noisier and flashier" seem to be the real message. Our speech gives us away! "They had over 150,000 lights in their lawn decorations." "You should have seen the table. It was literally breaking down with food!" "We consumed four cases of beer, a case of wine and eight bottles of champagne on Christmas Eve alone!" "I got everything the kids had on their list even though most of it is on my credit cards!" "We went all out this year! The whole family went on a cruise! We'll worry about the money later! You only live once!"

Christians! Somewhere along the line we lost our spiritual grip on Christmas and now others are defining it and shaping it for us! "The Grinch" did not steal Christmas! Commerce did not grab Christmas! Santa Claus and his Elves did not overpower Christmas! We abdicated! We pulled out! We handed it over! We surrendered it! We lost it - all because we tried to celebrate Christmas without doing the "inner work" of Advent! Because we do not do the "inner work" of Advent, when we do get to Christmas we are losing our understanding of what it really means! It's stupid to be mad at others for stealing it from us. We lost Christmas because we fell asleep - because we were not paying attention!

It's still not too late to "go up the mountain" and "out into the desert" for a few hours "to be instructed in his ways" so that we can "walk in his paths." It's still not too late for us as individuals to "reclaim Christmas." The best way to reclaim Christmas, in my estimation, is not by signing up for some silly, loud, organized campaign with signs and TV spots, but for one Christian at a time to silently reclaim it for himself and herself!

November 30 - 1st Sunday of Advent

Bellarmine University
“Meet Us Doing Right”
Rev. Ronald Knott
November 30, 2014


Would that you would meet us doing right
and being mindful of your ways.
Isaiah 63


To live well is a lot like driving a car – you have to be able to see what is going on behind you, in front of you and all around you, but all at once. You have to learn from your past, plan for your future and be alert to what is happening in your life right now.

In order to live well, during this season of Advent we look back, look around and look forward. Each Sunday for four weeks, we re-read the scriptures that foretold the coming of Christ, we re-read the scriptures that foretell the return of Christ and we re-flect on our lives and how we are living right now “as we wait in joyful hope” for his return in glory. As we wait, as we live each day, we pray in the words of Isaiah that when he comes, God “would meet us doing right and find us mindful of his ways.” To live well, we need to look back, look forward and pay attention to all that is going on around us.

Jesus reminds us in the gospel to be “watchful” and “alert,” warning us that “we don’t know when the Lord will come.” It says that he “may come suddenly and find us sleeping,” so we need to “watch,” “wake up” and “pay attention.”

Living well, alert and watchful, is hard work. Our lazy side must be stood up to, over and over again. Our lazy side tells us that we have plenty of time, that we can get around to it someday and that we can cut corners for a little while longer. Our lazy side is our sinful side. The best definition of “sin” I ever heard was that it is at its root giving in to laziness. When we “sin,” we choose the “easy way” rather than the “right way.” Laziness is the opposite of “staying awake and staying alert.”

All sin is about laziness. Theft has laziness at its root. It is easier to take what belongs to others than it is to work for your own. Theft is a lazy shortcut to getting what we want. Gossip has laziness at its root. It is easier to cut others down to our size than it is to build ourselves up. Gossip is a lazy shortcut to feeling good about ourselves. Pornography has laziness at its root. It is easier to relate to an anonymous printed image than it is to build intimacy with real people. Pornography is a lazy shortcut to feelings of intimacy. Excessive eating and drinking has laziness at its root. It is easier to do the things that feel good to our bodies than it is to do thing that are truly good for our bodies. Excessive eating and drinking is a substitute for facing unpleasant feelings. Taking recreational drugs has laziness at its root. It is easier to take a pill or snort a substance that gives us an artificial high than it is to work for the high of a deeply spiritual life in relationship with God and others. “Following the crowd” has laziness at its root. It is easier to gain acceptance by “doing what everybody else is doing” than it is to “do the right thing” and risk rejection. Yes, all “sin” is about choosing the “lazy way,” about choosing the “easy way” over the “right way.”

Advent is about “waiting in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior.” How do we wait? We wait by being “watchful,” “alert,” and “awake,” doing the hard work of remembering where we came from, where we are, and where we are going. We don’t know when it will happen, but we do know that someday we will stand before God, with our lives in our hands, to give an account of what we have done with the life that God has given us.

Our Advent prayer is simple. It is the prayer from Isaiah, “Would that you would meet us doing right and being mindful of your ways!” While we wait, “do not let us wander from your ways or let our hearts harden so that we quit fearing you.” “Living in joyful hope” is not about “getting ready,” it is about “being ready,” whether it happens “in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.” Advent is a time to examine our consciences so see whether God might find us “doing right and being mindful of his ways” no matter when he comes! To live well is to live prepared!

St. John Paul II gave us some great advice for daily living when he put it this way: Remember the past with gratitude! Live in the present with enthusiasm! Look to the future with confidence!

November 16 - 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University
“Talented”
Rev. Ronald Knott
November 16, 2014

To one he gave five talents, to another two; to
and third, one – to each according to his ability.
Then he went away. Matthew 25: 15

I spent 12 years of my life in a two seminaries. We were sent there to be “trained.” (Sounds like something you do to dogs doesn’t it?) Seminary is not just a matter of passing courses in theology and going to chapel several times a day, it was also about changing yourself for the better in four areas. There was academic formation, of course, but there is also spiritual formation, human formation and professional formation. Each seminary had completely different tacks on how to accomplish those goals.

During the first six years, they approached us with the assumption that we had faults, sins and defects that needed to be identified and eradicated. I learned a lot about myself, but I did not grow at my potential under that philosophy. It left me with self-doubt and low self-esteem. During my last six years, thanks to Vatican II, they approached us with the assumption that we had gifts and talents that needed to be identified and encouraged. It was a time of great personal and spiritual growth and creative possibilities. I thrived under this philosophy. My confidence level and ability rose significantly during those years.

Parenting went through a similar transformation. Some of you were no doubt raised in an environment where your every flaw was consistently pointed out to you and focused on, while some of you were raised in an environment where your gift and talents were identified and celebrated! For some of you, your glass was always half empty, while for some of you, your glass was always half full!

Now you need to know what God thinks! In the story of creation, on the very first page of the bible, we are told that when God had finished creating human beings, he stood back and declared that what he had created was “very good.” Over the centuries, even when human kind turned against God, God has never given up on our basic goodness. In the Old Testament, God is sometimes pictured as a punishing God, but even more importantly he is often pictured as a love-sick husband, always forgiving his beloved wife who is constantly whoring around on him, even a love-sick teenager lusting for his beloved. They say love is blind, that it doesn’t see limitations and failings, but only the good stuff. That is so true of God! He chooses to overlook our sins and focus on our basic goodness. “Even while we were sinners, he died for us!” The lost sheep is joyfully carried home. The prodigal son is welcomed with robes and rings and receptions. All the workers are paid a full days wages. All are entrusted with some of the master’s gifts and talents.

The message of Jesus is simple, but seldom heard clearly. It is often hidden under layers and layers of “ifs” and “yes, buts.” The reason so many young people avoid organized religion is that it tends to focus on their sins and failings, rather than their talents and possibilities. The fact of the matter is, Jesus focused on the basic goodness of the rejects of church and society, while the religious authorities of his day focused on their sins. While Jesus encouraged and forgave, they condemned and withheld forgiveness.

Jesus came with “good news” and the “good news” is this: we are loved without condition, no matter what we have done or failed to do. From there, we are called to grow ourselves, to invest our talents and to become all we were created to be! Knowing that we have a basic goodness that can built on is essential to personal and spiritual growth. People who believe they are worthless, talentless and bad, see no point in trying. As Marriane Williamson said, “It is our light, not our darkness, that most scares us.”

God allows for mistakes, and because of that, he wants us to take some risks and be pro-active with the gifts we have, as the parable tells us. The man who buried his talents, did not really know his master, he was scared of life, a coward when it came to taking risks. He is called a “lazy lout” in most translations. A “lout” is a stupid person, an oaf, a dunce, a fool, an airhead, a moron, an idiot, an ass. A “lazy lout” blows every chance he or she has to “make something” of himself or herself even when he or she is given every chance to do so.

You, my friends, are gifted and talented or else you would not have been accepted as a student here. God has brought you here so that you can “invest” those talents and see what you can do with them. Don’t blow the stake God has in you! Talents must be developed and used. Calvin Coolidge once said, “Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.”

You are in the right place. I looked up Bellarmine’s mission statement. It says that Bellamine’s mission is to “provide an educational environment of academic excellence and respect for the intrinsic value and dignity of each person. Bellarmine seeks to be a place where talented, diverse persons of all faith and many ages, nations and cultures develop the intellectual, moral and professional competencies for lifelong learning, leadership, service to others, careers, and responsible, values-based, caring lives.”

In other words, Bellarmine begins by accepting your basic goodness and dignity as a talented person and then gives you an environment to work from there in creating a happy and effective life. Belarmine helps you take what God gave you and encourages you to see how far you can take it.

Bellarmine cannot give you talents. God does that! Bellarmine cannot make you use them. You have to do that! But Bellarmine does offer you a great place to invest those talents! Be that “good and faithful servant who doubled God’s investment, not the idiot who buried them because he was scared, lazy and stupid. As William James put it, “He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had tried and failed.”

November 9 - Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Bellarmine University
“CLEAN IT UP!”
Rev. Ronald Knott
November 9, 2014

Stop turning my Father’s house into
a marketplace.
John 2

In a moment of great humility, something rare for our church at that time, the bishops of Vatican II admitted in writing that the church is “semper reformanda,” “always in need of reform.” The human side of the church, like all human organizations, has a tendency to fall into sin and decay and must be called back to fidelity, over and over again as it moves through history. As it was in the beginning, is now and shall ever be, as long as it is on the earth. Yes, even in Jesus’ day, the church needed a good cleansing.

In a dramatic and public gesture of outrage, Jesus anger boils over. It is very important to remember that the anger of Jesus was not directed at people who sinned or failed in all its everyday ways. His anger was directed at those who controlled religion and used it to abuse simple people. He had pity and compassion on the outcasts, the sick and sinner, but he was outraged at what had happened, at the hands of its leaders, to the religion he loved. In some of the most blunt words from the mouth of Jesus ever recorded, he called them “snakes, fakes, phoneys and frauds. He called them “whitewashed tombs,” “all clean and pretty outside, but filled with stench and rot inside!” It is important to note that Jesus was not against organized religion, but what these people had done to organized religion. As this gospel story tell us, he did not come to tear down the temple, he simply came to clean house! Instead of serving the religious needs of their people, they used people to serve their own needs. The temple had become a market place and they were getting a cut from every corner of it!

Even so, Jesus is not interested in a shake-up of temple administration. He knew all that “religious business” came from hearts that had turned away from God. He wanted conversion and transformation of minds and hearts, not just some cosmetic changes in the structure. He was more interested in people changing than making changes in the material world, because he knew that if people turned to God, the organization would get better.

It is sad that many people never get below the packaging when it comes to religion – this includes some of my very good friends. They see only the earthenware jar and never the treasure it holds. The purpose of religion is to serve, not be served. The purpose of organized religion is the transformation of people, not using people to serve organized religion.

It is also sad that many people naïvely assume that organized religion is always evil simply because it has gotten off track here and there in history. Jesus was clear that he did not come to destroy organized religion, but to lead it back to its original purpose, to do the right thing and to do it for the right reasons, to protect the “truth of the gospel.” Without organized religion the truth of the gospel would not have been passed from one generation to another. Without organized religion, we would never have heard the “good news.” Without organized religion, we would not have the sacred scriptures. Without organized religion, we would be split into millions of personal opinions and small little cults. Without organized religion, we could not be the unified “Body of Christ” in the world today. Without organized religion, the followers of Christ would not be able to take the “good news” of Christ to the ends of the earth. Without organized religion, we would not have a way to offer support to other believers around the world. Yes, the church may always be in need of reform, but that does not negate the need of the church to be organized. Yes, the church may need a good “house cleaning” ever now and then, but the organization of the church is always needed.

Students! The church of the recent past has been too closely identified with its leaders. These days we have re-discovered and re-emphasized the fact that we, each and ever one of us, is the church. For the last thirty or forty years, people have operated out of a romantic notion that all the ills of the church reside with the institution – so that if only we could reform it, we ourselves would be better Christians. The truth quite often is the other way around. The institution will get better when each one of us are reformed and transformed. This is the message of Pope Francis – it’s about personal conversion, not organizational tinkering. These days, we are called to renew the church, not by focusing on the weaknesses of the institution, but through personal conversion, one heart at a time. No church can be strong when every member of it is weak.

We are the church. We are called to “clean house” one person at a time! The problems of the church begins right here in our own hearts and in our own lives. When I get better, the church will get better. It’s like the old song about “peace.” “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!” Let there be a renewed church and let it begin with me!

Students! The church of the recent past has been overly identified with its leaders. Members of the church were seen as serving the leaders of the church. Now the church is again identified with the members of the church and the leaders are seen as servants of its members. The church of the future will be a church more identified with the laity. That church cannot be strong if its lay members are weak. If the church is to be renewed, it will begin with you. Step up to the plate and take responsibility for your part in carrying on your part of Christ’s mission to the world. Let the “house cleaning” begin with each one of us, one heart at a time, beginning with me!

November 2 - Commemoration of All Souls

Bellarmine University
“We All Have To Go Sometime”
Rev. Ronald Knott
November 2, 2014


This is the will of my Father, that everyone
who believes in me may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him up on the last day.
John 6:40


Woody Allen has a lot a funny things to say about death, but one of my favorites is this one: “I know everybody dies, but I’m still hoping an exception will be made in my case!” In another place he says, “I don’t mind dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Most of us, especially when we are young, tend to think of death as an old people’s disease. But once in a while something will happen that brings the possibility of death home to us. Since I have been here, we have students who have died from a shooting, a drowning and car wrecks for example. At the Blue Christmas Mass here in this chapel, last Christmas eve, three of the first people down the hill had children who had died from suicide. At the seminary, one of my students was killed instantly a few days after his ordination to the priesthood. Death is not just for old people. The reality is that every one of us in here will die sooner or later and there are no exceptions.

Every year, in the month of November when the days grow dark and nature seems to go through its annual death cycle, the church presents us a series of Sunday readings that rub our noses in this reality so that we will look at it, whether it is comfortable or not, reminding us believers that death, rather than being morbid, is actually part of life. For believers, life does not end in death, life simply changes from one level of living to another level of living.

November begins with the Feast of All Saints, yesterday, when we celebrate the nameless billions of holy people who have made it to life on the other side, life with God in heaven. It is immediately followed today by a day of prayer for those who have died, but who are being purified in preparation to enter into heaven. All Souls Day rarely falls on Sunday, as it does today, but when it does it gives us an opportunity to think about something that we don’t normally like to think about, our own deaths, and to pray for our family, friends and fellow believers who have gone before us.

This day raises all kinds of questions, more questions than I can answer, but I will make an attempt to say a few words about some of the big questions it raises. I will present a simple summary. If you want to go deeper into these questions, I suggest you take some theology courses here at Bellarmine or ask Melanie for a reading list of books - like the Catechism.

The following comments must be placed in the context that what awaits us after death is unknowable and anything we say about it is in the language of poetry, not the language of science. Science is good, but science isn’t everything. But, surely, we all know that there are realities in this life, such as faith, hope and love, that cannot be measured and weighed or whose existence cannot be proven with material evidence. As St. Paul says, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

(1) The first thing we celebrate today is the fact that God loves every human being unconditionally, that God asks us simply to accept that love and to open our arms to the wonderful things God has in store for us in the life we will have on the other side of this life. If we accept this love, we have nothing to fear and everything to look forward to! The “good news” is that we need not tremble with dread when we think about death, but simply “wait in joyful hope” as we pray at every Mass, right after the Lord’s Prayer. That wonderful life, that eternally wonderful life, is what we call “heaven.” Heaven, in the end, is not something we earn, it is simply a gift waiting to be accepted. It is not our doing, but God’s gift for the taking, pure and simple. We can’t prove it. We accept it on the word of Jesus, God who became human flesh.
(2) The second thing we celebrate today is “the communion of saints.” Some Christian churches have a very individualistic approach to religion, as summarized in an old country song, “Me and Jesus got a good thing goin’” or the bumper sticker that reads, “I’m saved. Sorry about you!” The Catholic understanding, very close to the ancient Jewish understanding, is that we are family, we are the people of God, “if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” We must help, and be helped by, others. Even when we die, we remain part of the same family of faith. The idea that those who have died and gone to heaven can help us, by their prayers, on our journey here on earth is a very ancient belief, as well as those who are being purified on their way to heaven can be helped by our prayers. The Old Testament Second Book of Maccabeees talks about praying for the dead. From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and prayed for them, especially at the Eucharist. We see inscriptions about this on the walls of the catacombs, those ancient graveyards in Rome. We pray for those who have died and are now going through their final purification for entry into heaven.

We call it “purgatory.” Again, because the traditional imagery used to talk about this purification has been so simplistic, many have dismissed its reality. The imagery of purgatory as a “place” where we go for a certain “time” to be purified by “fire” has led simple minds to conclude that purgatory is merely “hell for a short time,” a “vast torture chamber where God gets even with us.” No, it is really a mysterious process of facing our own truth and growing in love. If there is any suffering, it is the clear realization of how much God has loved us and how shoddily we responded to that love in our lives. If it is painful, I believe it is like the pain of total embarrassment in front of a loved one. Purgation is a time of growing in love, not some “mini-hell” or “torture chamber where God gets even with us.” The experience of “purgatory” may be instantaneous as the loving gaze of God cleans away all our sins and imperfections so that we can hold his total love. Because we are connected across death, our prayers can help those who have died as they are purified for heaven.
(3) The third thing this day brings up is the idea of “hell.” Even though it is God’s will that all people be saved, he does not force his love onto us. Even though I believe, personally, it is rare, it is possible to freely, knowingly and fully reject God’s love. Hell, then, is complete alienation, no love, no sympathy, no sense of companionship, only emptiness and hatred – of oneself, of the other damned, of all creation, of God. Hell, then, is that self-imposed isolation and refusal to be loved and forgiven. Those who choose this cannot be helped, by us or by God.

The best way to prepare for death is not to focus on death, but to focus on living well, living with your bags packed and ready to go, waiting in joyful hope for the unimaginable great things God has in store for those who love him. The best way to prepare for death is to let ourselves be loved by God and to love God and all people as best we can. Then we have nothing to be afraid of. On the contrary, we have everything to look forward to.

In the meantime, let us pray for those who have gone before us (our family members, our friends and all those who have accepted God’s love in whatever way they were able, even if imperfect) and now are being “cleaned up,” “made pure,” and “de-sinned” for their meeting with God, face to face!

(This is my feeble attempt to explain some pretty deep realities in a very short time to people who may not be steeped in theology. Please excuse any defects or limitations!)

October 5 - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University
“No Need to be Anxious”
Rev. Ronald Knott
October 5, 2014


Have no anxiety at all. Let the peace that God
gives, guard your hearts and minds.
Philippians 4


He’s got to be kidding! No anxiety at all? With a war on ISIS going on, a political stalemate in Washington, an EBOLA epidemic, ongoing terrorism, a blood clot in my leg, the funeral of a friend’s drug addicted son and his girlfriend killed in a car wreck, two friends battling aggressive cancers and God-knows-what else, how can Saint Paul’s words possibly fit those of us living in today’s Church and world? How can we possibly remain anxiety-free in the middle of all these situations?

“Anxiety” is a state of intense, often disabling apprehension, uncertainty, and fear caused by the anticipation of something threatening. It is often not so much about what is happening or even what has happened, but about what might happen.

Have no anxiety at all. Let the peace that God
gives, guard your hearts and mind.

My dear mother comes to mind when I think of anxiety. It seems that she always had a thin stream of anxiety trickling through her veins. Even though she has been dead for thirty-eight years now, I can still see her in my minds eye picking at her lower lip, a nervous habit that always accompanied intense moments of anxiety. I can still remember one time when we laughed at her for being so anxious. She snapped back, “Well, somebody around here needs to worry!” Looking back, she had a lot to be anxious about: seven kids, a demanding husband and breast cancer, to name only a few!

When I was about to be ordained, anxiety was very much on my mind. The church was undergoing a great upheaval and priests were beginning to leave in significant numbers. I asked myself many times, in that year leading up to ordination, “How am I going to keep my cool in a fast-changing church and in a world coming unglued? How will I be able to stay focused when one problem after another is going to be hurled into my face from both inside and outside the church? How will I be able to calm others when I seem to be torn up all the time myself?”

I have spent my life as a priest searching for an inmost calm that no storm can shake. When I discovered and admitted to myself that I cannot control what happens out there, I knew I must find a way to control my reaction to what happens out there. As one spiritual teacher said, “It is easier to put on slippers than it is to carpet the world.” I knew I was going to need, and certainly wanted to have, the peace that only a close relationship with Jesus could give me, that peace that Saint Paul invites us to embrace in our second reading today.

Have no anxiety at all. Let the peace that God
Gives, guard your hearts and minds.

I have spent most of my young adult life looking for an inmost calm that no storm could shake, an inner peace that would remain rock solid no matter what!. I am, happy to say that I have found it. Sometimes I panic and forget, but I always come back to it sooner or later. Once I discovered that a peaceful center is available to me, I know I can always come back to it.

How can one have that peace? A close relationship with Jesus brings that peace. If you truly believe that you are loved without condition, that God is on your side and holds no grudges, that in the end things are going to turn out OK because God has promised us so, then a great peace will come over you. You will know that no matter how bad things get sometimes, no matter how much you have to handle, no matter how great your losses, you will know in your heart of hearts that you are in good hands because you are in God’s hands. When you know these things to be true, a great peace begins to stand guard over your heart and mind! That is what St. Paul is talking about today when he tells us to “let the peace that God gives guard you hearts and minds.”

Once I began to live in the knowledge that, in spite of it all, things will ultimately be OK, I began to realize that many of my life’s greatest blessings have come out of what long ago seemed like an unbearable disaster. Looking back at the times in my life when God seemed absent, at the times when I was overwhelmed with anxiety, worry and panic, in hindsight I can see that the hand of God was actually bringing me to where you needed to go and teaching me what you needed to learn. Most of the things I have most worried about never happened! Statistics even tell us that fully 90% of the things we worry about never happen! Most of my imagined tragedies have actually contained great blessings! It has happened too many times to dismiss as a fluke.

I have been going through one of those anxious periods again with retirement. The plans I had worked on for the last three years fell apart in three days recently. I ended up in the hospital a couple of days later with a blood clot in my left leg. I am still grieving the loss of some of the things I expected to happen, I think I have about recovered from the clot, but I know that even this upheaval is clearing the way for something even better. For me, it always has before! Even my LEO horoscope said as much this week! “In three years, you will comprehend truths about yourself and your life that you don’t have the capacity to grasp now. By then, past events that have been confusing to you will make sense.”

Peace, however, is not a time when there are no problems. Peace is a calm state of mind in the midst of problems and in spite of problems. Peace is a trusting state of mind that comes from a close relationship with Jesus whose name is Emmanuel, meaning “God with us.”

Students, we cannot control most of what is going to happen, so let us finish each day and be done with it. Let us do our best and let go of it. Let us not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Our fretting anxiety has no power to affect tomorrow, but it can certainly ruin today. Let us thank God for how far we have come and trust God with how far we can go. This peace of mind is Jesus’ last gift to us. No matter what we are going through, let us lean on His everlasting arm, accepting his gift of peace and learning to live out of it. “Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening its power. A childlike and abiding trust in Providence is its best preventive and remedy.” (Tyron Edwards) As soon as true trust in God begins, our anxiety begins to fade. We will never be problem free, but we can be free of anxiety and needless worry!

September 21 - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University
“Is It Too Good To Be True?”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 21, 2014


He gave everybody a full days pay.
Matthew 20

Of all the parables of Jesus, this is one of my very favorites. A parable is a little made-up story to make a point about God. Jesus came to reveal God and because his audience was made up of simple people, he made up little pointed stories as a way to get his message across, to help them understand something they didn’t know by comparing it to something they did know.

The point that Jesus makes about God here is that God is nuts about us. The hero in this little parable is a vineyard owner. His listeners were familiar with vineyard owners, but the one in Jesus’ story seems a little nuts. You know what he does? He gives all his workers, even those who came in at quitting time, a full days pay no matter how much or how little they work for him.

Jesus wants his audience to know that God is like that, he is nuts about us. He loves everybody 100% regardless of how much or how little we have done for him!

There were two different audiences listening to Jesus and he wants both to hear him. He speaks to the “religious types,” the ones who kept all the rules and the “non-religious types” who couldn’t, wouldn’t or hadn’t kept the rules. This message outraged the “religious types” who thought that God should love them more because of all they had done for God. To them it was bad news. It was unfair. The “non-religious types” were bowled over to hear that God loved them with all his heart, in spite of the fact that they had done so little for God. To them it was good news. It was not about fairness, but generosity.

If Jesus wanted us to know that God loves us no matter how much or little we do for him, that is a pretty mind-blowing message. It sounds unbelievable, too good to be true. Because it sounds too good to be true, many cannot accept it. They say, he must not have meant what he said, so let us help it make sense by adding a list of “yes, buts,” playing down the radical-ness of this mind-blowing “good news,” saying “Yes, God loves you unconditionally, but, if, when, except.”

But what if it is true, no ands, ifs and but about it. What if God did love all of us 100% no matter how much or how little we were able to do for him? We’ll it is true. This is what I believe is the central message brought to us by Jesus, Son of God. He not only said that that is true, he proved it. Before we even repented of our sins, he took our punishment. It was done for us, simply out of love, regardless of whether we loved him back.

The reason why so many religious types are threatened by this parable is their fear that if people start believing this unconditional love stuff, they will do anything damn thing they please. They believe that what people really need is the fear of God. Fear is what will keep them in line. That’s religious slavery! Paul made it clear that we were freed from the slavery of fear. What really happens, is when people finally “get” this incredible message is the opposite. They will want to change their lives. They will “hunger and thirst” for holiness is the broadest sense of the word. This “wanting to change” has been my experience of preaching this “unconditional love message” all these years!

What worries me most about our church is that we are forgetting why we do what we do. Instead of preaching and ritualizing this uplifting message in word and deed, we are overly focused on priest shortages, legal settlements, school merging, sports, picnics, ideological bickering, liturgical intricacies and church politics. We have fallen into worshipping the container and neglecting the treasure that holds it - the great news that all people are loved by an incredibly gracious God! It is this message that will renew the church, not making winners and loser of each other in some kind of jihad for orthodoxy or iconoclastic revolution. All of us in the church need to get a grip and focus on what is essential, what is basic: the incredible compassion of a hugging God.

This message has implications. Once you know that you and every other child of God is loved in this way, you begin to realize that you are part of a family, responsible to, and for, other members of the family of God. You don’t love the family of God to get God to love you, you do it because God loves you. It is a response to God’s love, not a way to earn God’s love. We don’t turn our lives around to get God to love us, our lives turn around when we know God loves us.

How about you? Do you believe the message of this parable? Do you “get it” - that God already loves you? Or do you still think you have to do something to earn that love? Do you understand that you are good enough, right now, the way you are, in God’s eyes? Good enough to be loved, nonetheless? Once you “get” that, once you accept that, once you begin to live out of that knowledge, God will slowly turn your life around. You will respond to that love and work with God to become, fully, your true self! You will begin, maybe for the first time in your life, to love God, your neighbor and yourself with all your heart.

September 14 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Bellarmine University
“Take a Good Hard Look”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 14, 2014


Serpents were biting people and many died.
So Moses made a bronze image of a serpent,
put it on a pole and made them look at it.
Numbers 21

If you have ever been in the hospital or flipped through the phone book looking for a physician, you’ve seen the image – two winged serpents wrapped around a staff. It is known as the caduceus. It has been the symbol of the American medical profession for nearly a hundred years – a decidedly odd symbol for doctors until you begin to investigate where it came from and its underlying meaning.

This ancient symbol of healing is referred to today’s first reading and the gospel. In their trek across the desert from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land, the People of God underwent all sorts of trials and troubles. The one mentioned today is their plague of biting winged serpents. After praying for delivery from this awful plague, God instructs Moses to make a bronze image of the same serpents, put it on a pole and invite the people to take a good hard look at it. When they looked at it hard and long, they recovered.

Now this may sound like some kind of voodoo magic, but it isn’t! It’s primitive psychology! All you future nurses, doctors, psychologists and mental health professionals, listen up! What Moses did here is still good practice! What he is saying here is that the road to healing is always through looking at the problem squarely. Failing to look at problems squarely is the best way to keep them going!

The worst thing you can do, if you have a mysterious lump on your body, is to pretend it isn’t there! You need to pay close attention to it and have a professional examine it carefully and as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look the other way and pretend that it isn’t there! Healing begins with noticing!

The worst thing you can do, if you are having financial problems, is to keep on spending and pretending that the problem doesn’t really exist! If you are having such problems, you need to face some hard facts and get some help as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look away and pretend the problem does not exist! Recovery begins with facing that which is painful to face, squarely!

The worst thing you can do, if you or one of your friends has a drinking or drug problem, is to look away and pretend that it isn’t there! Reality must be faced squarely and help must be sought as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look away and pretend the problem does not exist! Recovery begins with facing facts squarely! That’s why people in AA must first of all say to themselves and others, “I am an alcoholic!” before their healing can begin!

We live in a world that has avoidance down to a fine art! If we don’t like something, we look away! Because if we look at it, it means that we have to do something about it! Nowhere is it more obvious than in the energy crisis. Just drill for more oil instead of facing the facts that doing that just delays the problem!

Nowhere is it more obvious than in the collapse of the housing market, when easy loans where given out to people by greedy lenders who had little chance of paying them off, always with the hope of a government bailout, of course!

Nowhere is it more obvious than the mushrooming credit card debt, when people spend and spend when they can barely pay the interest, even using one credit card to pay the interest on another!

About four weeks ago, I was scheduled to take a nice trip to France to celebration my official retirement. I was about to get on the treadmill for my daily exercise routine when I noticed my left leg was reddish and a bit swollen, but no pain at all. I went to the internet and of course it listed several nightmarish possibilities, one of them being a blood clot. I called my doctor and he said that he didn’t think it could be that since I exercised regularly on a treadmill. His advice was the put my leg up and if it was not better the next day, go to the emergency room and have it tested. Well, the next day it was not better but I worked all day and at about 4:30 I went to Audubon Hospital emergency room. After 6 hours of waiting to get it, I almost decided to give up and go home and hope it all would go away. I decided to stick it out and finally got it tested. It was a large blood clot! They admitted me immediately. I was not allowed to get out of the hospital bed for three days, even to go to the bathroom, lest it dislodge and kill me instantly. To think I might have come home that night or got on a plane for Europe because I did not want to deal with the inconvenience of checking it out! I could be under-ground right now if I had continued in my denial!

Nowhere is denial more obvious than in our national obesity problem. Instead of facing this problem individually, every time we sit down to eat, we keep stuffing our faces with massive amounts of bad food, while we wait for that magic pill that will melt fat away as we sleep. According to Dr. Phil’s massive diet program, for the first time in our history the next generation will die younger than their parents because of obesity related problems.

Moses didn’t put it this way, but this is what he meant – all of us need to “wake up and smell the coffee” in several areas of our lives! As a culture, we are addicted to our denial. Whatever it is, we need to open our eyes and take a good hard look at reality and quit going to sleep just because it is comfortable and feels good for the moment!

And, yes, on a spiritual level, looking at Jesus dying on the cross – looking intently at it and understanding what it means – not looking away and not avoiding our responsibility in considering its implications - is the path to our eternal life as well! We must embrace our crosses and die with him if we are to rise with him to eternal life!

September 7 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University
“Fraternal Correction”
Rev. Ronald Knott
September 7, 2014

If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked
from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I
will hold you responsible for his death.
Ezekiel 33

“Fraternal correction” is an old religious idea that has fallen out of style, but one that our readings today talk about! “Fraternal correction” is the practice of calling a brother or sister on some destructive action as a way of helping them stop doing that wrong! As you might imagine, it is extremely risky, because the one who receives the criticism almost always acts defensively. “Mind your own business,” “You’ve got a lot of room to talk,” “Who in the hell do you think you are?” are only mild forms of the backlash you might receive in response. You could end up with black eye, missing a tooth or even a former friend, in the process! John the Baptist had his head chopped of for having the nerve to tell Herod that it was not right for him to live with his brother’s wife! No wonder the idea of “fraternal correction” has gone out of style!

Regardless of how tricky it is, the Scriptures tell us that it is our obligation to correct others and others to correct us when wrong is being done! “If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die and I will hold you responsible for his death.” Whoa! That sounds like another version of Cain’s old question to God about his brother Abel: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is: “Of course, you are!”

In the gospel, Jesus gives his disciples a four stage process on how “fraternal correction” is to be done. (1) If your brother or sister is in the wrong, first have a “one on one” to discuss it. (2) If that doesn’t work, get a couple of friends together to make the appeal. (3) If that doesn’t work, get the whole faith community to make an appeal. (4) Finally, if that doesn’t work, “treat him like a Gentile or tax collector.”

It is very important to understand this 4th step. How did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors? He loved them anyway! In other words, if all efforts fail, let it go and love them anyway, even if you have to get away from them!

I remember one particular event when I tried “fraternal correction.” It involved one of the few weddings that I simply refused to do! A young woman and her boyfriend, both friends of mine, were fighting like cats and dogs. There was infidelity, as well, on both sides. They came in one day and told me that they wanted to get married and asked if I would preside at the wedding. They had the crazy belief that marriage would cure for their fighting and infidelity!

It would have been easier on me to just go ahead and perform the wedding, and have them to like me, but I knew in my gut that it was not right and that it would not be good for them either. I told them I could not, in good conscience, do their wedding under the circumstances. I chose to do the right thing, not the easy thing. They left very angry at me and went to the Lutheran Church where the pastor asked no questions and performed their wedding in a few weeks. The marriage lasted six months and ended in a very messy and angry divorce. I could not stop them from hurting themselves, but I felt that I had done the loving thing, even though they did not appreciate it at the time.

I often counsel Catholic parents who have children who choose to marry out of the church. Not willing to abide by the church’s wisdom on the Sacrament of Matrimony, they sometimes choose to celebrate their marriages in civil ceremonies or in Protestant Churches. This leaves the parents in a dilemma. Do they refuse to go to the wedding and create a wall between them and their children for years to come or do they go and become accomplices in an illicit marriage, creating a scandal for other Catholics and setting a bad example for other young adults in the family? I usually counsel them to follow the advice of Jesus in today’s gospel. I tell them to let their children know, clearly and unambiguously, that they do not approve, let them know what the teachings of the church are and why we have those teachings. Then, if they choose to do it anyway, attend the wedding and try to love them anyway!

There are times when we must speak out, especially when others lives, property or reputation are at stake. We should know that it is illegal, and immoral, not to report a Columbine-like situation. We should know that is illegal, and immoral, not to report child abuse, even suspected child abuse. We should know that it is illegal, and immoral, to leave the scene of an accident without offering assistance or calling for help. We should know that we are morally and legally obligated, for the sake of the community, to “blow the whistle” in cases of gross embezzlement, grand theft, pyromania and hazardous exposure.

It is not always appropriate or advisable to confront someone personally, as in cases of suspected spouse abuse, grand theft and vandalism. In those cases, there are avenues that provide help and guarantee anonymity. Sometimes, when the situation is not life-threatening but involves close friends or family members, all we can do is speak the truth with love and let it go! Sometimes all we can do is not participate in, encourage or condone immoral behavior! That kind of silence and passivity can speak louder than words! The loving thing is not always the easy thing. The easy thing is not always the loving thing.

We are our brothers and sisters keepers. We are morally obligated to speak out, but we are obligated to speak the truth with love! The goal of “speaking out” is not to hurt, embarrass or get even, but to help the individual and to help the community. As Christians, we are called to do “fraternal correction” for each other. Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to evil gives it an environment to grow and spread, until it inundates a community and even the world.

In the Confiteor, when we call to mind our sins, we admit to the things we have done and failed to do. The Letter of James says this, “It is a sin to know the right thing to do and not do it!” The famous Edmund Burke put it this way, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!”

August 31 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University
"God’s Ways versus Our Ways”
Rev. Ronald Knott
August 31, 2014

Peter took Jesus aside and began to scold him.
Matthew 16:21-27

Up to this point in the gospel, things were going very well in the ministry of Jesus. A mute man was able to speak. Five thousand had been miraculously fed on one day and four thousand on another. A blind man had regained his sight. A successful exorcism had been performed on a young demon-possessed girl. Another young girl had been lifted well from her sick bed. A woman with a hemorrhage had been restored to health. An insane man had given back his sanity. A man with a withered hand had had it made healthy again. A leper had been cleansed from his leprosy. A crippled man was made able to walk. A storm was calmed. Peter was able to walk on water. A deaf man with a speech impediment was able to hear and speak plainly.

Peter was so overcome with excitement by all these things that he was moved to call Jesus the "Messiah." He was the very first one to do this. The "Messiah" was the "promised one to come" that Jews had looked forward to for centuries, one who would do such things as these. The lights went on for Peter! He had come to the conclusion that Jesus had to be the "Messiah” that had finally come!

Jesus immediately took the wind out of his sails, telling him that the Messiah would not only do wondrous things, but would have to go through great suffering, rejection by religious authorities and even death on a cross. Only then would he rise victorious from the dead after three days.

Peter did not like what he was hearing, so he took Jesus aside to scold him. "Look, Jesus, we are on a roll here. The people are behind you. Soon we will be able to conquer these foreign Roman invaders occupying our country and finally throw them out. Then you can be king and we can all be part of your royal court. Please don't blow it now with all that negative talk about suffering and death!"

When he heard this, Jesus spun around in disgust and said to himself, "Satan said he would be back to tempt me again and here he is disguised as Peter!" Jesus then looked at all of his disciples and addressed Peter directly, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking like God, but like a human being! I went through these kinds of temptations in the desert before I began my ministry! I rejected them then and I reject them now! That is not what God wants from me!"

As Peter's face fell, Jesus addressed the whole crowd following him, "Now listen up because you need to get one thing straight! If you are going to follow me, you have to be ready to suffer with me, for whoever loses his life will my sake will save it. Otherwise, if you go down the path that Peter has just proposed, you will certainly lose it! You will not be thinking like God, but like human beings!"

Just because Jesus stood up to Peter in this story, we do not need to conclude from this story that it's never OK to scold and argue with God. The fact is that many of the major figures in the Bible and church history argued, scolded and had words with God - people like Job, Jeremiah and Theresa of Avila. Just as Peter learned a lesson today, sometimes the only way they learned what God's will was for them was through a struggle. As any good teacher knows, encouraging, challenging, questioning, discussion and debate are the best way to learn. Like students, when disciples are allowed to think through and discover things for themselves, the best learning takes place.

The prophet, Jeremiah, in our first reading, is a case in point. Jeremiah was a very young man, maybe about your age, when God called him to be a prophet and to preach in his name. God says to Jeremiah, "Hey, Jeremiah! I've had my eye on you since the moment of your conception. I want you to go to the people and preach to them for me!" What was Jeremiah's response? "No thank you! I'm not interested in preaching to anybody! I'm too young! I have other things I want to do in life! Besides, I'm not good at public speaking!" God snaps back, "Do as I say and don't give me those lame excuses! Wherever I send you, I will be with you! And don't worry about what to say, I will put the right words into you mouth as you go along."

This wasn't the last time that Jeremiah argued with God. After he was deeply involved in his ministry as prophet and everything seemed to be going wrong, Jeremiah returns to give God a royal chewing out. "You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped. When I speak in your name, I am a butt of people's jokes and mockery. I tell you what! I quit! Take this job and shove it. I ain't working her no more! From now on I am never going to mention your name again!"

After he had unloaded his guns on God, Jeremiah must have felt better because he follows his rant with these words. "On the other hand, your words are like a fire in my heart. They are embedded in my bones. I grow tired trying to hold them in. I guess I'll just have to keep going!"

(Students!) Many of us grew up being told that faith is about unthinking trust and acceptance of God, the Bible, the teachings of the Church and the trials of life. To question any of those things was to demonstrate a weak faith and a blasphemous heart. However, faith does not grow through unthinking submission, but through a process of questioning that leads to understanding. Just as Jacob wrestled with the angel, a real commitment to God often involves a deep, honest and sustained wrestling with God. The only sin is never to enter the ring, but just walk away because the struggle is too much trouble! The real sin is to dismiss God without ever really engaging him, not arguing with him! If you insist on rejecting God and his Church, at least do it after an honest fight! At least, give God a chance to win!

(As your pastor here at Bellamine,) I challenged you to enter the ring with the rest of us this year. We go into the ring as a tag team. Together, we wrestle with God - in here and in the classrooms. We need to put up a good fight and not wimp out just because we are lazy or scared. God will win, of course, but when the match is over, we will all know more about God and how he operates than we did when we first entered the ring. We will have flexed spiritual muscles we never knew we had and we will be strong enough to handle the inevitable struggles of marriage and family life or priesthood or whatever profession we end up in!

August 24 - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University
“Rock Solid”
Rev. Ronald Knott
August 24, 2014

You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.
What ever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and
whatever you loose of earth will be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16


Right after this homily, I will invite you to joining me once again in saying the Creed, the summary of the basics of our faith. In it we will profess to be in a church that has four qualities – a church that is one, holy, catholic and apostolic!


Last week, when Jesus was outside Jewish territory, the readings gave us an opportunity to about our church being catholic, meaning universal, inclusive and welcoming to all. We see the catholic side of our church every time one pope is elected and another ones dies – bishops of every color and from nation on earth. The last four popes in turn have been Italian, Polish, German and now Argentinian. The next one could be Korean, Nigerian, Mexican, Filipino, Australian, Ugandan, American or any other nationality on earth.

This week, the readings offer me a chance to talk to you about our church being apostolic, one that goes back in an unbroken line to the apostles themselves, with Peter as their designated leader. The only reason our headquarters is in Rome, rather than Jerusalem or Antioch is that Peter, head of the apostles, preached in Rome, died in Rome and is buried in Rome. How can I ever forget that picture of Pope Francis hugging the box holding the bones of St. Peter last June 29 before they were reburied under the high altar in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome?

You have all seen the big church in Rome that is named after Peter the apostle – Saint Peter’s Basilica. Saint Peter was crucified, like Christ but upside down, around 64. Two hundred years after his death, the Emperor Constantine erected a church in honor of Saint Peter on Vatican Hill. The fact that Emperor Constantine built his church over a cemetery and on a slope makes no sense unless he wanted to mark the grave of Saint Peter himself. It has long been believed that this was the spot where Peter was buried. The original church was torn down in the 16thy century and the present church was built on the same site with the altar in the same spot. It wasn’t till 1939 that excavations underneath the floor of Saint Peter’s Basilica uncovered a Roman cemetery and at a spot directly beneath the main altar was discovered a small shrine with a box of bones that are believed to be those of Saint Peter himself.

Pope Francis is the 266th continuous successor to hold the “keys” given to Saint Peter in today’s gospel. Pope Francis is Peter in today’s church! He holds the power “to bind and loose” that was given to the apostle Peter in today’s gospel. When we say we believe the church is apostolic, we are saying that we believe that the line of succession is unbroken all the way back to the apostle Peter himself.

We have to remember that Peter was a nickname that Jesus gave this apostle in today’s reading. Peter means rock. His real name was Cephas. “Cephas, from now you will be called “Rock” and on this “rock” I will build my church.”

Now, what about all the corruption that has happened throughout history? Should we not just start a fresh new church? Again, look at what Jesus said to Peter in today’s gospel! He tells Peter that “the gates of hell will not prevail against the church he has built on Peter.” He does not say that evil will not infect and afflict the church. He does, however, say that it will not prevail against it! As Vatican Council II said, “the church is semper reformanda, always in need of reform! We are indeed the field of weeds and wheat growing side by side that Jesus talked about. Here is one of my favorite quotes by a faithful Catholic who has a love-the relationship with the Church.


How much I must criticize you, my Church, and
yet how much I love you! How you have made me
suffer and yet how much I owe you. I should like to
see you destroyed and yet I need your presence.
You have given me so much scandal and yet you
have made me understand holiness. Never in the
world have I seen anything more obscurantist,
more compromised, more false yet never have I
touched anything more pure, more generous or
more beautiful. How often I have felt like slamming
the door of my soul in your face - and how often I
have prayed that I might die in your arms! No, I
cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even
though not completely you. Then, too - where
should I go? To build another? But I cannot build
another without the same defects, for they are my
own defects I bear within me. And again, if I build
one, it will be my Church, and no longer Christ's.
Carlo Carretto


Those who would like to forget the apostolic nature of the church are like people who would take the family album and cut out all the people and events they don’t like and find embarrassing so that they can appear to be clean and pure. The only problem with that is that they will always be clipping and editing because the church will always have a sinful side - it has always has, and always will be, made up of sinful people. I am happy we have left all the losers, crooks, bad popes and sinners in our family album because it is indeed proof to me that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church founded on The Rock! We members of the church have had every chance possible to destroy it over the last 2,000 years, but the fact that it is still going, is still as healthy as it is, is proof to me that Christ is still “with” the church he founded on Peter the Apostle.