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Study questions and Essay topic    Please find here a document that lists the guide questions for Helming as well as a guide for the final essay. Please look them over and have questions ready for class on Friday.

     I have attached the chapters from the Helming book for your reading. The study questions will follow.

Helming chapters

Please read chapters 22 and 23 of the Ethics text  (Fagothey)for class on Friday and answer the questions and be ready to discuss them in class.

April 13-20 study questions

Easter Sunday Homily 2012 

       Today we celebrate the most powerful event that has ever occurred in the world. Jesus of Nazareth, born of the Virgin Mary was crucified and now he has been raised. The thing we fear the most, death has been conquered by the self-offering of Christ for us on the cross so that we could be freed from the slavery of sin. We know in faith that God the Father has accepted this offering of love because he raised his Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

           The Apostles are witnesses to this reality. They saw the empty tomb. Later they will see the risen Jesus and touch him. The saints are witnesses to this reality. The resurrection inspired them with the Holy Spirit and given them the courage to proclaim Jesus’ message: God is with us. God has saved us. God loves us. It does not get any more complicated than that. They proclaimed this message in the face of persecution, ridicule and even death. They never stopped proclaiming it and they desire that we still proclaim it loudly today.

          Where do we get the authority to make such a statement? What is it that has given us the courage? What have we received to spur us onward in faith even when everything seems against us? It is really something quite simple. We have it all in common. It is the great equalizer among all Christians. It is the sacrament that makes Christians to be Christians.  It is the Sacrament of Baptism. Many of us have taken our baptism for granted. Most of us received it when we were infants, because our parents knew the most important thing they could give us is a sharing in their faith. Our only memory of it may be a candle, the baptismal garment and a few pictures. It is something of the past. Others may have received it later in their lives, but in the rush of all the things going on, we have failed to reflect on the power and the grace of the Sacrament.

           For this reason, every Easter Sunday, we renew their baptismal promises. We are asked once again to renounce sin and evil and profess our faith in the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are reminded that our life has its roots in the gift of God’s unconditional love. We are reminded that the wealth of the inheritance of the children of God is ours. That wealth is the life of the Sacraments especially the Holy Eucharist, the Word of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the sure teaching of the Church through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all of which empower us to be who God has formed us to be, a Holy People, configured to Christ through his death so that we might live forever in his love. Think about the power of the gift we have been given. 

          It seems that we have forgotten what Baptism means for us. When we face struggles in life, we often come up with a variety of excuses for our situations. We act as if we are trapped by forces out of our control. If I was only smarter, or quicker or better looking or richer, life would be so much more fulfilling and joyful. Are those things more powerful than the love of God? Are those things more powerful than the truth that God has made all things possible for us through Jesus Christ?

           Remember your baptism! Allow the peace of Christ and the power of the Risen Lord fill you with courage and strength to know the Truth and live it. You have been clothed with Christ, use the gift you have been given. Offer your life to God everyday in prayers of thanksgiving and petition. Put God first as he has put you first. Have confidence in him as he has confidence in you. 

           Many of us see that the world is in terrible shape and we are wondering why God is not doing anything about it. Could it be that God, who has given us the Spirit of his Son to make known the power of his love is asking the same thing about us? We will not change the world or our lives through laws or philosophies or governments. Rather, God can and will change the world through our actions of selfless love and generosity and faithful prayer and service and become worthy of the name child of God. 

          As we renew our baptismal promises today and are sprinkled again with the waters of rebirth, let us ask the Lord to unleash the power of baptism in our hearts again. Let it rise to the top of our hearts and souls and let it fill us with the Power of Jesus Christ, who has shown us his love, made us his brothers and sisters, and makes every day a new opportunity to see his wondrous presence in the world.         

Easter Vigil 2012       

           Of the many possible ways to describe the Catholic faith, one that is very appropriate for tonight is “road trip.” In his earthly ministry he was on the road from Galilee to Judea and back again. The disciples followed him along the way. Some got off the road because they thought that the journey is too difficult. Others joined because they believed the truth of Jesus’ message. During the season of Lent, Jesus walked the road to Jerusalem where his mission would find its completion. Just yesterday, Jesus walked the via dolorosa in Jerusalem, the road to Calvary. It is there that the road trip has appeared to end.  

         Tonight, St. Mark tells us that when the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ lifeless body, they found a man in dazzling robes who said that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and the women were to tell the disciples to get back on the road to Galilee where Jesus will be there to meet them. 

         We speak of the Church as the Pilgrim People of God, the Mystical Body of the Risen Christ. We have heard in Scripture that this journey began at creation, and although the human race had lost its way, God the Father sent his Only-begotten Son to get us back on the right track so that we can reach our heavenly destination. We are commanded to love each other and help each other on the way. At this Easter Vigil, we recall what truly binds us together: a common belief, a common faith, a common journey. We have all died with Christ in baptism to be raised with him in glory. All of these have the center and focus in Jesus Christ who has been raised from the dead.           There are some people here tonight who wish to take this journey of faith to the Lord with us. Some wish the Sacraments of Initiation. Others, who are already baptized, want to be received into communion with us because they have come to discover that our path to Christ is the surest way to meet him. One thing is clear: Jesus has shown us time and time again that this journey is not going to be an easy one. It is going to require sacrifice, commitment and daily prayer. Our faith is not for the weak at heart, but rather those whose strength is drawn from Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

         On this night, the Church makes known to us the priceless gifts Christ has entrusted to all of us so that as we go along the way, we may be strong and have courage to never leave him. He gives us the Easter fire, reminding us of the pillar of fire that led Israel from slavery to freedom. This fire of the resurrection lights our Easter candles so that we can clearly see the way that Christ has laid out for us. He gives us the waters of Baptism, that wash away sin and quench our thirst as we walk the dry roads of this world. He gives us the anointing of the Holy Spirit that limbers us up and gives us the seven-fold gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, courage and the fear of the Lord so that we can live a morally upright life in a morally upside-down world. Most importantly, he gives us the food for the journey, his Body and Blood under the humble appearances of bread and wine so that we will always have the food we need to nourish the faith in our souls, the hope in our deeds and the love in our hearts.

           Tonight, Christ through the Holy Spirit fully equips you so that you will have all that you need in order to walk the road of faith with confidence and trust. He reminds the rest of us that we have not been left to fend for ourselves. We are grateful to God for giving you the gift of faith, and grateful to you for having the courage and wisdom to accept it. Let us now do what we have been told do in the Gospel. Let us continue or for some of us begin on our way along the road of faith, and as we live in the world in our families, may our confidence in the Risen Lord never fail, and may our support of each other help us to safely arrive at our heavenly home.

Good Friday 2012       

          Where does love come from? We say that we love things and people and God, but where does it come from? Who gives us the idea and reality of love? There are really only two choices. Either love is something that we create or love is something that is given by one who loves us for no particular reason only than that he does. This is such a basic question that most of the difficulties we face in the world truly revolve around the meaning of the term love.         

          Today we are given the freedom to answer that question and it will have lasting effects both in the hearts of all people and the whole world. The Passion of St. John puts the question on the lips of Pontius Pilate. Pilate asks the people who they want him to release, Barrabas or Jesus.        

             It is clear that Barrabas was a revolutionary figure who was seen by some of the people as a type of political Messiah, who had no trouble shedding the blood of others to achieve his goals. His goals are achieved through violence and subversion. He will take what rightfully belongs to him and the end justifies the means. It is a selfishness and slavery our own wants under the disguise of freedom and liberation. This desire to free Barrabas is really a desire to control our own destinies and take matters into our hands. We set the rules and therefore we determine the outcomes, and if we don’t get what we want, we will destroy or marginalize it so no one else can have it in an attempt to take everyone down with us. I LOVE IF I GET WHAT I WANT!  

        What about Jesus?  He was someone who was quite different, but equally revolutionary in his thinking. He was however, not interested in changing the political situation, but in changing the world. The only blood that Jesus sheds is his own. In the Gospels it says that he has come to offer his life as a ransom for sinners. As the Son of God, he empties himself and takes on our human nature. He too offers freedom and liberation, but it is through surrender of our hearts and wills to the love of God, to make of ourselves an offering as he offers himself for us. He gives himself to the Father as God and man not to placate an angry God, but to restore a fallen nature that has too often chosen self over others, greed over generosity, revenge over forgiveness. He loves us not so that he can get something from us, but so that he can GIVE something to us:  life, freedom, hope, purpose and unconditional and unlimited love. CHRIST LOVES WHEN HE GIVES WHO HE IS.            

          God has shown us today that LOVE comes from him first, and we see it in our crucified Lord Jesus Christ. The love of the Father and the Son from all eternity in the Holy Spirit created this world in all its beauty, glory and wonder. Our first parents were fooled into believing that God really did not love us, but was using us, so they believed they had to determine their own meaning of love. They took the beautiful gift of love and began to change it into lust, domination and manipulation and made it something that can be quite ugly.   

        Yet, today, when we look at Jesus crucified for our sins, we see someone who in his appearance appears quite ugly and repulsive. It is hard to have this around. It makes us uncomfortable uneasy. It shakes our idea of love to the core. We put him on the cross because we thought he would finally go away and quit telling us that real love makes demands and requires sacrifice and commitment.             We did not realize though that by crucifying him, it only made his love echo throughout the universe. Barrabas faded from the scene and is never heard from again. Jesus love has never left us, and it is there for us to accept with a humble and contrite heart.  In faith, we see not a criminal getting his just punishment, but a profoundly beautiful act of love and devotion, by the Son of God who knew that the only way to free us was to love us to the end, even if we did not ask for it, even though we did not deserve it.          We are still asked today that same question? Whose love is worth living for? Barrabas or Jesus?  Jesus shows us today that we are worth it to him. Is he worth it to us?  Love comes from God and the cross is its enduring sign. Will we accept it?

Holy Thursday 2012    

    People thrive on contact. We shake hands, embrace, give each other the occasional high-five or fist bump. The sense of touch is something that brings joy or pain, unity or division. Tonight, we hear that the Son of God, who loves us even to the end, touches us. We might even boldly claim that one of the reasons God become man was so that he could physically touch us. He desires not only to shape our minds and hearts, but our bodies as well.  

            St. John tells us that the Day before Passover, when Israel remembers its liberation from slavery in Egypt by the hand of God, Jesus gathers his disciples and does a very simple thing. He washes their feet. He performs in person what the touch of God is created to do. It reconnects us, heals us, forgives us, and makes us holy. One of his disciples, Peter, does want to be washed, but then allows it when Jesus tells him that it is the only way he can have communion with him. Judas Iscariot, another disciple, accepts the humble gift from the Lord but later returns to offer not the kiss of love, but of betrayal.          

           Since the beginning God has been offering us the freedom to love, to reach out and to touch, but we have responded many times by falling prey to the slavery of sin, to close ourselves inward and push others away. We tell Jesus we will follow him, but then we deny him. We call Jesus teacher, but then we betray him by our selfish sins.         

          Tonight, we remember the institution of two Sacraments of the Church: the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the Holy Eucharist. Jesus chose twelve men to be witnesses to his life and make present sacramentally his unending love for us. Through the laying on of hands, the priest becomes in the person of Christ one who is consecrated to touch others with the touch of Christ. He does this by absolving sins, anointing the sick, baptism and many other ways. Priests connect people to God and are sent to serve by loving those entrusted to them to the end. By their self-emptying love and service, they provide in Christ through the sacraments of the Church the path to holiness, knowledge and goodness. They grow in holiness through their prayer and their ministry of charity that the Lord has entrusted to them. They become the ones who carry out the unending sacrifice of Christ for the salvation of the whole world.   

            It is from the priesthood of Christ that they pass on to us what they have received. It is not a memory, thought or philosophy, but the Body and Blood of a divine Person, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Through the sacrament of Holy Orders, priests are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit not to pass on themselves, but HIM. In Jesus’ own body and blood, God humbles himself to touch us through the Holy Eucharist. In the gift of his body and blood, Jesus Christ gives us the strength to walk the journey of faith, courage to be his witnesses to the Truth, healing from  sin and peace in our hearts.   

         This encounter with God is truly a Holy Communion. It is a mysterious and wonderful way that Jesus gives himself completely even now. Everywhere the Mass is offered, sins are forgiven, peace is bestowed and healing brought about. Just as God touched Adam and made him a living being, so now God touches us by giving us his Body and Blood, so this night we share in this saving gift and be freed from sin and death.   

        Lord Jesus Christ, you offered Body and Blood that we may have an abundant life. As we receive this divine gift, cleanse our hearts and help us to reach out to you so that your touch will never be far from us and that we may share it in our love for each other. Amen.