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.”
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
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!
“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!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
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!)
“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!)
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