Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 19

The Disturbing Fact of the Resurrection

"The Resurrection", central panel from the Triptych of the Resurrection (c.1485-90) by Hans Memling [WikiArt.org]

The Disturbing Fact of the Resurrection | Bishop Robert Barron | CWR's The Dispatch

If Jesus was not raised from death, Christianity is a fraud and a joke; if he did rise from death, then Christianity is the fullness of God's revelation, and Jesus must be the absolute center of our lives.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the be-all and the end-all of the Christian faith. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, all bishops, priests, and Christian ministers should go home and get honest jobs, and all the Christian faithful should leave their churches immediately. As Paul himself put it: "If Jesus is not raised from the dead, our preaching is in vain and we are the most pitiable of men." It's no good, of course, trying to explain the resurrection away or rationalize it as a myth, a symbol, or an inner subjective experience. None of that does justice to the novelty and sheer strangeness of the Biblical message.

It comes down finally to this: if Jesus was not raised from death, Christianity is a fraud and a joke; if he did rise from death, then Christianity is the fullness of God's revelation, and Jesus must be the absolute center of our lives. There is no third option.

I want to explore, very briefly, a handful of lessons that follow from the disquieting fact of the Resurrection.

First, this world is not it. What I mean is that this world is not all that there is. We live our lives with the reasonable assumption that the natural world as we've come to know it through the sciences and discern it through common sense is the final framework of our lives and activities. Everything (quite literally, everything) takes place within the theater of our ordinary experience. And one of the most powerful and frightening features of the common-sense world is death. Every living thing dies and stays dead. Indeed, everything in the universe, scientists tell us, comes into being and then fades away permanently.

But what if this is not in fact the case? What if the laws of nature are not as iron-clad as we thought? What if death and dissolution did not have the final say?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Pre-order: "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?" by Carl E. Olson

Coming in April from Ignatius Press-Augustine Institute:

Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? Questions and Answers about the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

by Carl E. Olson

203 pages | Paperback | $14.95

Major feature films such The Passion of the Christ and Risen, and books such as Bill O'Reilly's Killing Jesus raise many questions about one of the greatest controversies in history—what really happened to the crucified body of Jesus of Nazareth.

Using a popular question-and-answer format, this book examines the historical evidence concerning the fate of Jesus. Did Jesus really die on the cross? If so, what became of his body? Was it stolen? Misplaced? Is the resurrection a cleverly devised plot to found a new religion? Did the disciples of Jesus hallucinate? Is the Resurrection of Jesus a myth developed decades later, after the original disciples' experience of Jesus was distorted by a subsequent generation? Or did Jesus rise from the dead, as he promised and as his disciples came to believe and sacrifice their lives to proclaim?

Carl E. Olson carefully weighs the evidence with in-depth analysis. Whether you are a believer, a skeptic, or something in between, be prepared to have your thinking challenged by this provocative and insightful book.

Carl E. Olson, MTS, is the editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. He is the author of two best-selling books, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? and The Da Vinci Hoax, and the author of hundreds of articles on theology, Scripture, current events, and apologetics.


"Every year, right around Easter, the super-skeptics come out in droves to call into question the truth of the Resurrection. In Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?, Carl Olson does an excellent job of laying out the key questions raised by skeptics and offering compelling and well-researched answers. A must-read for any Catholic whose ever wondered about the historical evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus."
— Dr. Brant Pitre, Author of The Case for Jesus: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Christ

"Carl Olson offers a cogent survey of the most common objections to the historicity of the Resurrection, doing the particularly invaluable work of tracing their historical roots and philosophical assumptions in an accessible way. This book is an essential resource, especially for teachers, catechists, and anyone involved in evangelization."
— Amy Welborn, author of the Prove It! series of apologetics for Catholic teens

"This is a doubly scandalous book. It's about the greatest scandal in history, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it's a scandal in its own right because it dares to argue (convincingly, I think) that the Resurrection actually occurred and that all the arguments against its historicity have fallen flat, including recent arguments from the New Atheists and others. Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? will give delight to believers and distress to unbelievers. What more can one ask?"
— Karl Keating, Founder, Catholic Answers

"'If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless ... we are of all men most to be pitied.' So says St. Paul. In his new book Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? Carl Olson demonstrates there is no pity necessary—the resurrection is true! He analyzes and presents the historical and objective reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central and crucial fact of all human existence. Written for novice and scholar alike, this book will convince even the skeptic."
— Steve K. Ray, Best-selling author and Host of "The Footprints of God"

"Conversant with both the relevant scholarship as well as the misconceptions and false presentations of Jesus current in contemporary culture, Olson’s book is an inviting, readable introduction to the question of the resurrection that deepens one’s faith in the fundamental fact of Christian faith—that Jesus Christ was truly raised from the dead."
— Dr. Leroy Huizenga, Associate Professor of Theology, University of Mary (Bismarck, N.D.)

"Scholars are often busy 'rethinking' the Resurrection of Christ only to find, so they tell us, that it never happened, or perhaps that Christ never happened. Carl Olson has read over these various theses and examined  their credibility. Not surprisingly, he finds them wanting on this or that particular issue of fact or logic. The Resurrection is at the center of Christianity. Olson's book shows quite clearly why it is and that it is. The scholarship that opposes the Resurrection is seen to be deficient not only in faith but also in reason, in scholarship itself."
— Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University

"For the earliest Christians, to preach Christianity meant primarily to preach the Resurrection. It was the focus of every sermon reported in the book of Acts. It was the heart of the good news which the Christians brought to the world. Yet in some circles today, it has become fashionable not just to doubt the Resurrection, but to question such basic facts as Jesus' very existence. That's why this new book by Carl Olson is so desperately needed. As St. Paul did in the first century, Olson affirms the life-changing power of the Resurrection. But he does more: he shows how the best evidence and contemporary scholarship affirm what Christians have believed for centuries, that Jesus really did rise from the dead. Comprehensive, well-researched, and accessible, this is the best defense of the Resurrection from a Catholic perspective."
— Brandon Vogt, Content Director at Word on Fire Catholic Ministries

“Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? is a brilliant and lucid presentation of the overwhelming evidence for Christ’s resurrection. Like a skilled surgeon, Carl E. Olson masterfully analyzes and dissects the radical skepticism and iniquitous criticism that often dominate the study of the Gospels. The question and answer format allows the reader to follow the arguments in a logical progression, and is a wonderful medium for Olson to showcase his unique talent for keeping the reader interested and engaged while bridging the chasm between academic scholarship and the armchair intellectual. This book should be required reading for every priest, deacon, seminarian, catechist, apologist—anyone who wants to strengthen their Christian faith and deepen their love of Jesus Christ.”
– Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, author, Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality

Read the first chapter of "Barely a Crime: A Novel"

Read the first chapters of the novel Barely a Crime by Robert Ovies. If you like what you’re reading, visit the novel’s page to learn more or order!

PROLOGUE

Kieran Lynch was born in a pine bed in his parents’ lower flat in West Belfast, Ireland, on a night that was, for the middle of summer, unusually cold.

His mother, Maureen, cried and laughed out loud when she saw her new son wailing in the Widow Shea’s fat hands, free of his umbilical cord and his purple coloring, his hair already as black as pitch.

Kieran’s father, who was called Thomas rather than Tom and who had stayed downstairs in the kitchen with Kieran’s four-year-old sister, Colleen, let out a whoop at the sound of his firstborn son crying and his wife laughing. With little Colleen bouncing in his arms, he danced like the sailor he had been for more than ten of his forty-seven years, wheeling in tight little circles toward the stairs leading to the upstairs bedroom, where he knew that everything was surely better than fine.

A sharp knock at the back door interrupted his dance and his momentum; a knock at the back door meant friends or relatives, for sure.

Thomas hesitated, undecided about the moment’s highest priority.

A second knock sounded as the Widow Shea rushed red-faced and beaming down the stairs and fairly shouted to the proud new father, “Well, for heaven’s sake, you’d better come see your own handsome son, man!” She rushed to gather up Colleen as Thomas’ wife called his name from upstairs and laughed out loud again, bright as a bell.

But the knock sounded again, this time more insistent than before, so Thomas exclaimed, “God’s breath. This’d better be good!” and took four quick steps to open the door.

Continue reading at IPNovels.com.

Three gifts offered by Jesus on His way to the Cross

Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man"), Antonio Ciseri's depiction of Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to the people of Jerusalem, painted in 1871.

Three gifts offered by Jesus on His way to the Cross | Carl E. Olson

On the Readings for March 20, 2016, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Readings:
• At the procession with palms, Gospel: Lk 19:28-4
• Is 50:4-7
• Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
• Phil 2:6-11
• Lk 22:14—23:56

"It is done. We have judged our God and have ordered Him slain.
We will not have Christ with us more—He is in the way.”

Those lines open Paul Claudel’s poem, “The Way of the Cross”, a lyrical, moving reflection on the fourteen Stations. Claudel, who is one of my favorite poets, had a profound love and knowledge of the Bible (he wrote a book titled, The Essence of the Bible). His poetry has often opened up new and wonderful perspectives in my study of sacred Scripture.

In writing that Christ “is in the way,” Claudel emphasizes the two choices before each one of us: to embrace Jesus as The Way or to try to remove him from our way.

Those choices are evident throughout today’s reading from St. Luke’s Gospel. There is, in this reading, a series of gifts offered by Jesus as he, the King of kings, makes his way to his throne, the Cross. These gifts involve choices, not only on the part of man, but also on the part of the God-man. 

In the Upper Room, reclining with the apostles, Jesus took the bread and blessed it, and said, “This is my body, which will be given for you…” He took the cup, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.” This, of course, is the gift of the Eucharist, “the source and summit of the Christian life,” the Body and Blood which nourishes the sons and daughters of God. This gift was offered along with the gift of the priesthood, through which this perfect and holy sacrifice has been perpetually offered (CCC, 611). 

Yet one of the Twelve rejected the gifts. Judas—grasping and greedy—had spitefully judged Jesus and believed he was now in the way. Judas refused to accept and be part of a kingdom rooted in self-sacrifice, suffering, and redemptive love. “But woe,” said Jesus, “to that man by whom he is betrayed.”

The gift of the cup of the New Covenant, the Catechism remarks, “is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani…” (par. 612). This gift of Jesus—offering himself, his fears, and his horror of death—is a profound mystery, for it is bound up in mystery of the Incarnation. The second person of the Trinity, St. Paul states in today’s Epistle, had “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” and had “humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death…” The first Adam had failed the test of love in the Garden of Eden when faced with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But the new Adam, whose sweat in the Garden of Gethsemani “became like drops of blood,” humbly embraced the torturous trial of the tree of Golgotha. The anguish endured in private prayer in the Garden would soon be a public lamentation: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

The third gift is that of love, redemption, salvation, reconciliation. It is the gift of the Cross, the gift of the Incarnate Word who did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. “The shame of his passion was not the fruit of his own will,” wrote St. Cyril of Alexandria, “but he still consented to undergo it that he might save the earth.” Arms stretched wide, Jesus embraced the world. He embraced the thief, who asked to be remembered in Paradise. He embraced the centurion, who gloried God. He embraces each one of us as we kneel in silence and contemplate those humble words of trust and filial devotion: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Jesus, for many people, is in the way. But for those who gaze upon the gift of the Cross, Jesus is the Way. In the beautiful words of Claudel:

“There is no cross of our living where His body will not fit.
There is no sin of ours for which He has not a wound.”

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the March 28, 2010, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

New: "The Walls Are Talking: Former Abortion Clinic Workers Tell Their Stories" by Abby Johnson

Now available from Ignatius Press:

The Walls Are Talking: Former Abortion Clinic Workers Tell Their Stories

by Abby Johnson, with Kristin Detrow

This book narrates the harrowing and life-changing experiences of former abortion clinic workers, including those of the author, who once directed abortion services at a large Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas. These individuals, whose names have been changed to protect their identities, left their jobs in the abortion industry after experiencing a change of heart. They have come forward with their stories, not for fame or notoriety, but to shed light on the reality of abortion. They want their stories to change the lives of others for the better.

These stories are difficult to read, because an abortion is an act of violence, harming not only the obvious victim—the unborn child-- but also the mother, the father, the doctor, and everyone else involved. But these stories also offer hope, for they show that anyone, no matter what part the person has played in an abortion, can start anew, can make amends for past mistakes. They demonstrate that the first step on that journey is telling the truth, as these courageous individuals do in these pages.

"Those of us that have worked in the abortion industry all live with a constant burden. We can't let our burden slide off of our shoulders; it is what keeps us on fire. It reminds us of why we fight so hard. We have seen death and evil in a way that most haven't—and we participated. But we are forgiven. He who has been forgiven much, loves much. And we love a lot. I am eagerly awaiting the day when we can call all abortionists and clinic workers former and repentant abortion providers."
— Abby Johnson, author

Abby Johnson holds a B.S. in psychology from Texas A&M University and an M.A. in counseling from Sam Houston State University. She was hired by Planned Parenthood in 2005 and progressed to the position of community services director and health educator, where she served as liason between the community and Planned Parenthood as media correspondent. Later promoted to heath center director, Johnson ran both the family planning and abortion programs. In 2009 she left Planned Parenthood and joined the local Coalition for Life as a volunteer. She continues her volunteer activities and now works on projects with the national 40 Days for Life campaign. She and her husband, Doug, have a young daughter and live in Texas.

Praise for The Walls Are Talking: Former Abortion Clinic Workers Tell Their Stories:

"Abby Johnson has done a phenomenal job of gathering the experiences of those who have worked in the abortion industry. The movement of grace that brings them out of the industry is profound. The wounds that they carry remind us that the abortion debate is not a moral and philosophical discussion, but a heart issue! The walking wounded are everywhere and, as Abby concludes, it is love and respect that heals the heart."
— Vicki Thorn, Founder, Project Rachel

"In this riveting, compelling book, Abby Johnson tenderly holds out a loving hand of compassion to those millions of Americans who've participated in an abortion and takes a giant step toward healing our abortion-wounded nation."
— Sue Ellen Browder, Author, Subverted: How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women's Movement

"I've seen Abby's transformational story inspire people around the world, and I've witnessed the experiences of many other workers who are also now abandoning the abortion industry. Read and share the testimonies in this important book. It's time to let the world know what really goes on behind the closed doors of the abortion industry."
— David Bereit, Founder, 40 Days for Life

"This is such an important book right now. At a time when Planned Parenthood is under so much scrutiny and pressure, these stories of former abortion clinic workers could make a huge difference when it comes to shutting down abortion providers and ending abortion all together. "
— Teresa Tomeo, Radio Host, Author, Extreme Makeover

"It is not a trivial thing to heed the call of one's conscience, especially when the cost is one's livelihood. I know. Years ago, I walked away from a Stanford Ph.D. and an academic position when I told the truth about forced abortions in China. The women in this book did the same thing. They walked away from the security of their jobs in the abortion industry when they realized the murderous truth about what actually goes on there. Read their stories, and pray that hundreds more abortion clinic workers will follow them out the door, with the last one turning out the lights as she leaves."
— Steven Mosher, President, Population Research Institute

"The Walls Are Talking, and they're urging us to listen. The voices of Abby Johnson and other former abortion workers are loud and clear. Their real life accounts describing the inner workings of the abortion industry can no longer be ignored. And despite the stark madness of this gruesome environment, these stories of grace remind us that no one is beyond the reach of Christ."
— Ramona Trevino, Author, Redeemed by Grace: A Catholic Woman's Journey to Planned Parenthood and Back

"Abby Johnson is one of the bravest women I know. Once she realized the truth about abortion, Abby had the courage to leave the abortion industry and become a powerful voice for the defenseless. She challenges us to face the truth about the abortion industry and its many victims."
— Lila Rose, President, Live Action

"My friend, Abby Johnson, has been teaching us for several years what it means to leave the abortion industry and feel free of the murder, the heartache and the misery that accompany abortion.

Abby's latest book, The Walls Are Talking, is another remarkable journey down the path that she, and so many others, have travelled on their way out the torment of the abortion industry and into the light of truth.

I encourage everyone to read The Walls Are Talking and share it with family and friends. Heroic women like Abby inspire all of us."
— Judie Brown, President, American Life League

Human Liberty and “The Obsolete Man”

A still from the 1961 Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man".

Human Liberty and “The Obsolete Man” | Thomas M. Doran | CWR's The Dispatch

Have we finally arrived at the real—and inhuman—Twilight Zone?

Is there a common thread between Christians and other “enemies of the faith” murdered by the scores in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere; “enemies of the state” beaten or disappearing in Russia, China, and North Korea; and many other states where a failure to conform to the orthodoxy of the day gets one publicly vilified, shunted to the side, or worse?

At first glance, an avowedly atheistic Kim Jong-un of North Korea, materialists Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China, and the leaders of ISIS and Al-Qaeda don’t seem to have much in common, though all of them share a foundational belief in the obsolete man.

Rod Serling captures this truth in the 1961 Twilight Zone episode, “The Obsolete Man”, which he himself wrote, where Romney Wordsworth (Burgess Meredith), a librarian in a state without books, is judged to be obsolete and sentenced to death. There’s not much room for subtlety in a half-hour show, and Serling gives it to us with both barrels, a parable rather than a fleshed-out story. The warehouse-like courtroom has no human ornamentation, a spartan beehive with buzzing drone-like people, while Wordsworth’s small room is cluttered with books but feels homey and comfortable, in spite of the menace outside his door.

Serling introduces this dystopian state as a place where “Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace…a future that might be”. As the story progresses, we learn the “State has proven there is no God”, to which Wordsworth replies, “You can’t erase God with an edict.” When he’s judged obsolete, Wordsworth responds, “No man is obsolete. I am a human being. I exist”, to which the Chancellor of the state responds, “Delusions that you inject into your printer’s veins with printer’s ink…the state has no use for your kind…no more books means no more librarians”. How this state executes Wordsworth, giving him a choice of how to die and broadcasting his death for its “Educative effect on the population” is where Serling displays his characteristic ironical twist, when the Chancellor poses this question: “How does a man react to the knowledge that he is going to be blown to bits?”

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Stopping—and Marching—for Saint Patrick

A stained-glass window depicting Saint Patrick is seen inside the chapel at the Diocesan Pastoral Center at the Diocese of Rochester, N.Y. (CNS photo/Mike Crupi, Catholic Courier)

Stopping—and Marching—for Saint Patrick | George J. Galloway | CWR

Today is an international call to pause and reflect upon the life of the patron saint of Ireland. But why?

It is celebrated, world-wide, every year in more countries and continents than any other saint’s feast day. And not just in the Catholic Church, but in the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox, and Lutheran Churches as well. Not to mention the throngs of people who revel in black beer and whiskey and lively jigs and reels, but who really have no faith at all. From New York to New Guinea, from Moscow to Montserrat, from Argentina to Australia and even throughout all of Asia, St. Patrick, who died in 461 A.D., impacts our lives today in some way or another.

March 17th is an international call to pause and reflect upon the life of the patron saint of Ireland. But why?

What is it about St. Patrick’s Day that makes the world stop on a dime every year and recognize a saint who we know little about? Whose real history is lost in obscurity and remembered in legendary tales for things which he never accomplished? He didn’t chase the snakes out of Ireland, just as George Washington never chopped down a cherry tree or pitch a dollar over the wide Potomac. And how could this Irish saint’s fame spread so far and wide across the globe that we honor his memory centuries after his death?

Think about it for a moment. There are tens, if not hundreds of millions of people on this planet who either participate in or attend parades dedicated to St. Patrick annually. They plan family get-togethers, feast on ham and bacon and cabbage, scones and tea, Irish soda bread made with baking powder as leavening instead of yeast, colcannon and corned beef and boiled potatoes which I like, as my grandfather did, smothered in mustard.

And we march.

Oh, My Aching Arms

For the past 28 years I’ve helped organize a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Buck County, Pennsylvania. There are hundreds like it across the United States, indeed across the world, except for the fact that I live in suburbia. Ethnic and religious parades, processions, and the like are normally something that occur in cities or small towns, not in fenced-in communities where people crave their privacy and live the American dream behind walls, staking out their quarter-acre of God’s green earth away from the helter-skelter of sirens and buses and smog, traffic and taxis, trolleys and overhead trains.

When we started the parade there was little chance for its success.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

New: "After the Natural Law: How the Classical Worldview Supports Our Modern Moral and Political Views"

Now available from Ignatius Press:

After the Natural Law: How the Classical Worldview Supports Our Modern Moral and Political Views

by John Lawrence Hill

The "natural law" worldview developed over the course of almost two thousand years beginning with Plato and Aristotle and culminating with St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. This tradition holds that the world is ordered, intelligible and good, that there are objective moral truths which we can know and that human beings can achieve true happiness only by following our inborn nature, which draws us toward our own perfection. Most accounts of the natural law are based on a God-centered understanding of the world.

After the Natural Law traces this tradition from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas and then describes how and why modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke and Hobbes began to chip away at this foundation. The book argues that natural law is a necessary foundation for our most important moral and political values – freedom, human rights, equality, responsibility and human dignity, among others. Without a theory of natural law, these values lose their coherence: we literally cannot make sense of them given the assumptions of modern philosophy.

Part I of the book traces the development of natural law theory from Plato and Aristotle through the crowning achievement of Thomas Aquinas. Part II explores how modern philosophers have systematically chipped away at the only coherent foundation for these values. As a result, our most important moral and political ideals today are incoherent. Modern political and moral thinkers have been led either to dilute the meaning of such terms as freedom or the moral good – or abandon these ideas altogether. Thus, modern philosophy and political thought are leading us either toward anarchy or totalitarianism.

The conclusion, entitled "Why God Matters", shows how even the philosophical assumptions of the natural law depend on a personal God.

John Lawrence Hill is a law professor at Indiana University, Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, where he teaches constitutional law, torts, civil procedure and legal philosophy courses. Formerly an atheist, Hill came into communion with the Catholic Church in 2009. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and a law degree both from Georgetown University.

Zeal for the Law and Casting the First Stone

"Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery" (1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder [WikiArt.org]

Zeal for the Law and Casting the First Stone | Carl E. Olson | A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for March 13, 2016, the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Readings:
• Is 43:16-21
• Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
• Phil 3:8-14
• Jn 8:1-11

Imagine being caught in a most serious and embarrassing sin, then taken into a crowded public area and placed before the man who will, apparently, determine your fate. You stand in the middle, between your accusers and your judge, like someone walking a tightrope with doom, perhaps death, waiting on either end.

You are lost, alone, damned. And you know you are guilty of the sin of which you have been accused. The only unsettled matter is the exact form of your punishment. You only hope it isn’t death.

We all have something in common with the woman caught in adultery: we are sinners in desperate need of mercy, without argument or alibi, completely at the mercy of a righteous judge. Lent, of course, is meant to remind us of this need for God’s mercy and forgiveness, not in order to make us feel enslaved, but to recognize anew the joy of salvation. “Those that sow tears,” today’s responsorial Psalm states, “shall reap rejoicing.”

A word that stands out to me in the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman is “caught.” The woman had been caught in adultery—probably through devious means, based on the absence of the guilty man. The scribes and the Pharisees hoped Jesus would be caught in their legal snare. Their trap was simple and seemingly airtight. The Law was clear about the punishment for sins such as adultery: “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.” (Deut. 22:22; cf. Lev. 20:10). If Jesus allowed the woman to live, he would be accused of acting contrary to the Law. But, as St. Bede noted, if Jesus “determined that she was to be stoned, they would scoff at him inasmuch as he forgotten the mercy that he was always teaching.”

Jesus’ response was brilliant on both the legal and spiritual levels. First, he bent down and began to write on the ground, the only instance of Jesus writing that is recorded in the Gospels. What did he write? Speculation abounds. Perhaps the sins of some of the accusers? Perhaps something from the Law, such as, “You shall not join hands with a wicked man, to be a malicious witness” (Ex. 23:1)?

Whatever the words were that Jesus traced on the ground, they set up his stunning riposte: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” This turned the rhetorical thrust of the scribes and Pharisees back into themselves. In so doing, Jesus presented the accusers with difficult options: if any of them did throw a stone, he would have outrageously declared his moral perfection. And if anyone threw stones, they likely risked being severely punished by the Romans (cf. Jn. 18:31). If none of them threw a stone, they would admit implicitly their sinfulness. They were caught.

It wasn’t just that the scribes and Pharisees were sinners; it was the fact that Jesus had exposed their unjust and sinful use of the woman as a pawn. “He recognizes that,” observed Fr. Raymond Brown, “although they are zealous for the word of the Law, they are not interested in the purpose of the Law…” Beaten at their own game, the accusers melted away. “The two were left alone,” wrote St. Augustine in a memorable description, “the wretched woman and Mercy.”

Now you are standing face to face with the righteous teacher and merciful judge. You know your sins; you are well aware of what you deserve. Further, you know that Jesus has not overlooked your sins. “Therefore the Lord did also condemn,” insisted Augustine, “but condemned sins, not the sinner.” And so, while rejecting your sin, he accepts you. He invites you to a radical life of discipleship, liberated from sin and free from being precariously balanced between accusation and damnation.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the March 21, 2010, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

The Modern World and the Election of 2016

(Illustration: us.fotolia.com | dervish15)

The Modern World and the Election of 2016 | Carl E. Olson | Editorial | Catholic World Report

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives," wrote G.K. Chesterton in an April 19, 1924 column in The Illustrated London News. The essay was titled "The Blunders of Our Parties", with the parties in question being the Tories (conservatives) and the Whigs (progressives).  Despite being nearly a century old and being written about another country's political conflicts, the essay provides plenty of food for thought, as do the many other essays by Chesterton from the same period—many of them about America (a country that both fascinated and rather confounded the great English writer, who confessed "I really did feel as if I were on another planet when I was in the United States.")

"The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes," wrote Chesterton, who then stated:

The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types -- the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.

The current Long March to the White House is a perfect case in point. Perhaps even the best case possible, for it is, to my mind, yet another round of the same old song-and-dance routine that is presented under the auspices of "liberal vs. conservative". Now, I am not denying there are real and substantive differences between the various candidates, as I think there are; nor am I saying that it won't really matter who is elected since nothing ever really changes and improves—although I confess to being tempted at times to resign myself to such a perspective.

Rather, consider what FOX News, the leading "conservative" news/opinion outlet, covers approximately 94.38% of the time: the presidential campaigns, caucuses, speeches, debates, dramas, arguments, strategies, posturings, and platforms. It's not just that news stations and outlets focus nearly all of their time and energy on politics, with occasional forays into the world of entertainment and celebrities (and, really, who can tell the difference between candidate and celebrities?). It's the incessant, constant, and unremitting coverage of the cult of the presidency, which has in recent decades been married (or adulterated) with the cult of celebrity, further fusing together the essential qualities of the dominant American culture: power, fame, and salesmanship.

So, we are told that Candidate X is "liberal" and Candidate "Y" is "conservative" because of differing stances on the economy, immigration, marriage, race relations, solar power, and so forth. That's all well and good, but we hear and ingest these labels and positions with the assumption—it really is the political air we breathe—that Candidate X or Y is going to bring about remarkable change on all these fronts. He or she is going to bring about "change", impart "hope", restore "order", manifest "sanity", inculcate "fairness and equality", establish "accountability", grant "freedom", and once again plant—in the town square, or on your television screen—the shining beacon of "greatness" that has soiled and sullied by President Z.

Yet that was not the role of the President of the United States prior to the 20th century. Quite the contrary.

Continue reading on the CWR site.