"…do everything for the glory of God."
- 1 Cor 10:31
St. Paul calls his readers to make the glory of God their focus and goal. What is God’s glory? St. Irenaeus says that "The glory of God is a man (or woman) come fully alive." God is glorified as we become fully human, which testifies to His goodness, His design, His power, and His guidance. It is God that gets the credit for any good that we might do. Even Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? God alone is good."
This may sound strange from Jesus’ lips, but He is either testing his listener, or speaking from His humanity, or perhaps both. He may be testing to see why his listener called him ‘good’. Is it because he believes that Jesus is God? Or is Jesus leading him to that conclusion? Jesus often, or shall I say always, teaches through questions. (Like the Socratic method).
Jesus may simply be speaking as a human being. We can see him speak from both His Divinity at times, as well as His humanity. In this case He refers to God as if God were a separate being, someone other than Himself. Our faith tells us otherwise, as do Jesus’ own words when He says things like, "The Father and I are One", or "Before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I AM." But we see His humanity throughout the Gospels when we read of His hunger, stress, sadness, and joy. These are human emotions and states that indicate that Jesus was no mirage, but fully human in every aspect except sin.
As we become more fully human, we also are ‘divinized’, we become more integrated with the Godhead, our souls and bodies being animated by a Divine Principle. The word for soul in Latin is ‘anima’, from which we get the word ‘animation’. Our souls animate our bodies, but what animates our souls? Is it not God Himself? God calls us to return to worship and to praise him if we, as baptized Christians, replace this Principle with another god (i.e. money, pleasure, power, control, anger, etc.). God is the One who motivates us. Let us adore the One who is within, Who loves us into being, Who desires our happiness. Deacon Harold Burkes-Sivers
Deacon Harold will be with us February 21, Mardi Gras, to kick off our 40 Days campaign of prayer and vigil to protect the unborn. He is a nationally recognized evangelist and preacher who comes to us from Portland, Oregon. Please join us for Mass, refreshments and a rousing exhortation to protect human life. You can learn more about Deacon Burkes-Sivers at
www.dynamicdeacon.com.
Boycotting Starbucks
Sad to say, but Starbucks has joined Microsoft, Group Health, Nike, Google and other companies in supporting homosexual ‘marriage’ in Washington State. Whatever rights one may desire for significant friendships is one thing. All of us desire love and companionship. But marriage involves an exchange of body and soul. As Jesus said, quoting Genesis, "…a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." (Gen 2:24) To distort this is contrary to nature and destructive to the human body.
I’ve written to Starbucks expressing my dismay. I used to enjoy their coffee. Many of you have graciously supported my habit with generous gift cards. I will have to turn them down in the future. Now I join other Christians around the country in refusing to support a company that violates both natural and Divine Law. If you would like to write to Starbucks, you can do so at: Starbucks Customer Relations, PO Box 3717, Seattle, WA 98124-3717.
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