Feast of Christ the King - Do As You Will

Homily for Christ the King

November 23, 2025

Not As I Will, But As You Will

 

            You may never have heard the name Aleister Crowley, but he is one of the more influential people in history. He was expelled from Italy, and the British press called him the “wickedest man in the world” in the 1930s. But he wasn’t a murderer or a thief, he was a philosopher – what did he do that was so bad?

            The answer: he founded a religion known as Thelema. It drew on the occult and Eastern mysticism, even bringing in some elements of Satanism. There was only one Commandment of Thelema: “Do what you will.” This was his great imparting gift to Western Civilization: do as you wish.

            One might want to consign Aleister Crowley to a dusty footnote of history, but his influence lives on. His face was featured in the famous montage of the Beatles’ “Seargent Pepper” album…Led Zeppelin wrote his famous commandment into the vinyl of their third album…David Bowie wrote a song about him, as did Ozzy Osbourne…and Timothy Leary, architect of the countercultural hippie movement in the ‘60s, called Crowley the “forerunner” of the cultural revolution that happened during that tumultuous decade.

            And the effect of this commandment, “Do what you will”, continues today. How many times have you heard: “Live your truth…you do you…be true to yourself…follow your heart”? We see this commandment of “do what you will” lived out so much in our culture – spiritual-but-not-religious people who seek God but on their own terms…transgenderism, where you can do what you will to your own body…relationships, priorities, choices about the future – most of our daily lives are lived by “doing what we will,” rather than obeying what God commands.

            “Do what you will” is not atheism. Most people believe in God, but many people want to pick and choose what to believe about God, which is called relativism – or sometimes, more bluntly, called “Cafeteria Catholicism”. Of course, we will only pick those aspects of God that already fit our lives and don’t force us to repent or sacrifice anything.

            Recently I visited a woman who was still very spry but had just been diagnosed with cancer and was very afraid. She insisted she was very devout and was a strong believer in God. So I said, “Well, to give you peace, would you like to go to Confession?” And she said, “No, I don’t believe in that.” “Well, perhaps you should at least go to Mass at your local parish.” “I think I can pray to God just as well at home.” She was wearing a Miraculous Medal, and had the sayings of Confucious on the wall above a Buddha statue. Syncretism – “do what you will” applied to religion.

            The truth is that a King demands obedience. When Pope St. Pius IX in 1925 established the Feast of Christ the King, he wrote the following words: “Jesus Christ was given to man, not only as a redeemer, but as a law-giver, to whom obedience is due.” As King, Christ has the authority to pass laws that must be obeyed. Jesus didn’t come to make us feel good about ourselves; He came with very specific laws we must obey for our own happiness, laws that demand even more than the 10 Commandments required: it’s not enough to avoid murder, now we cannot even harbor anger in our hearts. It’s not enough to avoid adultery, we cannot even look at a woman with lust. It’s not enough to avoid false oaths, we shouldn’t lie at all. And He added new laws: “Do this in remembrance of Me” – the command to worship Him weekly at Mass… “If something in your life causes you to sin, cut it off” – the command to rid our lives of anything that causes sin…and so forth.

            Yes, it is hard to obey these. But there is good news: First, we don’t have to rely on our own strength to obey Jesus Christ as King – He will give us grace to do so. So if we’re having trouble following the Lord, a good prayer might be, “Lord, help me to want to do your will, and give me the grace to carry it out.” Just be honest with Him about the difficulty – He will come to your aid, and use the aids He has already given – Confession, the Scriptures, the Rosary, daily prayer. Second, we must remember that His commands actually lead to happiness! It’s much like when we look at a sweatshirt or a suit-coat and see the tag. “Do not dry clean, wash with warm water, do not use bleach.” All of these instructions were given by the manufacturer so we know how best to care for our clothing, so it will look great for years. Likewise, our “manufacturer” (the Lord) has given us instructions so that we will flourish, both here and in eternity.

            Back in France in the early 1700s, a skilled shopkeeper named Jeanne Delanou was a Catholic – but of her own making. She kept her shop open on Sundays, in part so that she’d have an excuse to skip Mass, but partly just out of greed. She was very vain, and had many superficial friends just so she could be “popular” among the townspeople. She even had the reputation of being quite flirtatious with the young lads! She thought she was a good Catholic, a reputable woman, but in reality she just wanted to do whatever she wanted.

            One day a poor but holy beggar named Francoise stopped by the shop and asked her for shelter for the night. Ordinarily she would refuse, but something told her to offer hospitality. She allowed the holy woman into her home, and Francoise told Jeanne that she needed to consecrate her life to the service of the poor. Jeanne initially dismissed the idea – she had too many responsibilities at the shop! But long after the holy beggar left, the idea plagued her – could she actually stop making excuses and follow what God is asking? She finally asked a priest, who confirmed that this was indeed an inspiration from God – and that she had to leave behind her lukewarm, half-hearted Catholicism and actually get serious about following Him. She began to do just that – dedicate all of her free time to serve the poor and to prayer, eventually inspiring a whole movement of professional French women to do the same. She is now St. Jeanne Delanou, who had to stop “doing as she willed” in order to do as God willed.

            My friends, even many churchgoing Catholics are infected with the religion of Aleister Crowley – “do what you will.” But instead, we ought to take as our inspiration Our Blessed Mother, whose motto leads to Heaven: “Not my will, but Yours be done.”

Ordinary Time 33 - Thus Passes the Glory of the World

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 33

November 23, 2025

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

 

            In 1907, a book was released that shook the literary world: the first-ever dystopian novel, entitled “Lord of the World”, written by a Catholic priest named Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson. In the story, it shows a Catholic Church that is persecuted and meets secretly, because the atheistic one-world government rules all. The government is led by a man named Felsenburgh, who is not an evil man but whose motto is “God is man” – seeking to build a post-religious culture (not unlike what we often see today). They hear a false rumor that the Catholic Church is seeking to assassinate Felsenburgh, so the government burns down Rome and seeks to destroy the Pope and remaining Cardinals, who have fled to Nazareth. The Pope, of course, has no armies and no way to defend himself, so all he can do is place the Eucharist in the monstrance and process through the town, singing hymns to the Eucharist as bombers begin to rain down their firebombs. But as their hymn singing grows louder to drown out the bombs, the book suddenly ends with the most evocative words in the history of literature: “Then this world passed away, and all the glory of it.” Christ has come, let everything opposed to Him crumble into nothingness.

            Someday, all that the world values will pass away. Where are all the tyrants who persecuted Christians? Where are all the celebrities in history who, in their ego and vanity, considered themselves above the common horde? Where are those politicians who have grappled and lied and cheated their way to power? Thus passes the glory of the world.

            In the Gospel, Jesus’ disciples were marveling at the fine art that covered the Temple. But within one generation, the Temple itself was completely destroyed by the Romans. The only part still standing is the Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall because Jewish men and women travel to the site to weep over the loss of their Temple.

            So will happen to all things that glorify man but not God. In our first reading, Malachi speaks of destruction – but of whom? “All the proud and all evildoers.” God cannot allow evil to triumph over the good forever – there must be a time when all things that do not belong to God are conquered, once and for all.

            We’ve seen glimpses of that throughout history. In 1675, Pope Urban VIII, who was originally from the Barberini family, ordered that the bronze on the Pantheon be dismantled and brought to St. Peter’s Basilica, where it was made into the famous bronze baldacchino (canopy) that covers the main altar. In fact, the removal of that famous pagan temple made the Romans famously exclaim, “What the barbarians didn’t remove, the Barberinis did!” But then the Pope took that ancient temple and re-consecrated it into a Church – instead of a pantheon dedicated to all the pagan gods (pan-theon meaning “all gods”), it became a Church dedicated to Mary and all the Saints. All that does not glorify God will be transformed into something that does.

            So it is good for us to evaluate all things in light of this principle: Thus passes the glory of the world. If it is not of God, it will pass away. All those riches – what do they matter? Our good looks – how quickly they pass! The awards, the sports trophies – nothing will be remembered in a hundred years. I was speaking with a young man in high school this past week and asked what he wanted to do for a career. He told me he wanted to be an entrepreneur, so that his name would be remembered forever. But since the beginning of human history, about 117 billion people have lived on earth…how many of them are household names? A couple hundred, maybe? People who thought they were incredibly important a hundred years ago are now just names on a gravestone, quickly fading into obscurity.

            The only thing that remains is our eternal soul – which will last forever as an eternal glory or an eternal tragedy. We must keep this before our eyes always!

            In the 1400s, crowning a new Pope was quite a show. The Pope would receive a three-tiered gold crown, and sit on a chair carried by four men, to the chants and praises of the assembled throng. But starting in 1409, a new addition entered into the ceremony: a priest would stop the procession of the new Pope three times, carrying a smoldering handful of straw, and proclaim the words, Sic transit gloria mundi – thus passes the glory of the world.

            I sometimes wish we had that phrase plastered on sports stadiums, on concert venues, on the halls of Congress, on the doorway into Sephora. May it always be written on the heart of every Christian: thus passes the glory of the world – that we may live for the One Who ever endures.

November 9, 2025 - Beauty for God's Sake...and For Ours

 

Homily for Dedication of St. John Lateran

November 9, 2025

Beauty, for God’s Sake And Ours

 

            The year was 313 AD. Christianity had just become legalized through the Emperor Constantine, whose mother St. Helen was a Christian. But Constantine himself had no immediate interest in religion – he was interested in power and love. And he happened to fall in love with a noblewoman named Fausta, who lived in a palace on the south side of Rome called the Lateran Palace.

            Marrying Fausta meant that the palace became the Emperor’s, but he didn’t really need it, so he gave it to the Pope to please his saintly mother. The Pope ordered it to be turned into a church – at the time, the largest and grandest in Christianity. It was dedicated as St. John Lateran, and to this day it serves as the Pope’s official Cathedral – that is, the Church where he officially serves as Bishop of Rome and of the whole world. As the inscription above the church reads, “[This is the] Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World” – pretty doggone important. Today is the day we celebrate its dedication, back in the 324.

            But it begs the question – if God is everywhere, why do we need church buildings? A traveler to the Vatican might be scandalized by the opulence of the churches there – grandiose Baroque buildings filled with gold and silver and precious stones – wasn’t Jesus a poor carpenter from Nazareth? Do such churches disrespect His memory and prevent the Church from its mission to be close to the poor?

            Not at all – we build beautiful churches, to the best of our ability, for two main reasons: one about us, and one about God.

            First, we build it for us. A beautiful Church shows us that we have an immortal soul – we are not just merely bodies taking up space. Have you ever seen Communist architecture? It is very functional, but completely devoid of beauty – their apartment buildings are just square blocks, their statues are often brutal abstract concrete shapes without any meaning. Communist philosophy was ultimately materialistic – believing that human beings had no soul, but were just cogs in an economic machine. But because we have souls, we express ourselves in beauty – and the most spiritual things, such as prayer and worship, deserve the highest beauty.

            But we also build beautiful churches because they visually demonstrate the truths of our Catholic Faith. Gaze upon this Church and see the life of Christ in the stained-glass windows…see the crucifix to viscerally behold God’s love for you…observe how the gold tabernacle reflects our belief that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. In 988, King Vladimir of Russia needed to unite his vast empire which stretched from Ukraine all the way to China, and he knew that having one religion for the whole country would be a powerfully unifying factor. So he sent emissaries to the three surrounding religions: to an Islamic mosque, to a Jewish synagogue, and to Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which was the largest Christian Church in the world. When the emissaries returned, they said that when they were at the Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia, “they didn’t know whether they were in Heaven or on earth.” So the Czar converted to Christianity, and the whole Russian country followed suit – converted because of the beauty of the Faith.

            Which brings us to another reason: beauty in churches makes us long for the infinitely greater beauty of Heaven. One time a priest was assigned to an inner-city church – one of those old-fashioned Gothic marvels with exquisite stained glass and a marble altar and old chalices made of gold. But the city had gone to seed, and the neighborhood was filled with poverty, homeless people, drug dealers. So the priest decided that to win over the hearts of his poor congregation, he would sell the beautiful artwork and chalices in the church and give the money to the poor. So he began to sell off the vestments, the gold and silver, the beautiful paintings on the wall. But to his surprise, instead of making the people grateful, they began to stop coming to church one by one, until there were only a handful of old-timers left. Finally the priest asked one elderly man, “Why didn’t the people appreciate what I did for them? I sold everything in the church so they could have food! Why is no one coming to church?” The old man replied, “Well, father, coming to church was the only time they got to enjoy something beautiful in their poor and miserable lives. You’ve taken that away from them, so they see no reason to go.” Indeed, to step into a beautiful Catholic Church is to step into a foretaste of Heaven, which gives us hope amidst an often-difficult life. Beauty should make us desire God, the All-Beautiful One!

            But we build beautiful churches for God, too. It can be such an act of heartfelt love to give our best to God. St. John Vianney, for example, possessed only two sets of clothes and his shoes would often have holes in them, because whenever someone gave him a little income, he would use it to buy flowers for his church or purchase a new statue of a saint. Or, for example, it took 120 years to build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which means that most of its craftsmen and artists never even got to see it finished – they did it solely for the glory of God! This building isn’t beautiful just for us, it’s beautiful because we honor God when we give Him our best.

            But it also recognizes Who is here. Unlike Protestant churches, which are really just meeting halls for prayer, a Catholic Church contains God Himself in the Holy Eucharist. In 2004, my home parish church in Maryland burned to the ground in a tragic accident. But as the church was aflame, my pastor ran into the burning building to rescue the Eucharist. He didn’t take out the priceless art or the valuable vessels – no, the only thing worth risking his life for was Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Thankfully, he and the Lord both got out alive. But it was an important lesson to me that the Eucharist is not a sign or symbol but Someone who is worth giving our lives for – and worth any expense to build a beautiful church to house Him.

            My friends, there should be no distinction between building beautiful churches and serving the poor. Both honor the Body of Christ – His Body in the Eucharist, and His Body in the distressing disguise of the poor. St. John Chrysostom gave a famous sermon on this when he said:

            Of what use is it to weigh down Christ’s altar with golden cups, when he himself is dying of hunger? First, fill him when he is hungry; then use the means you have left to adorn his altar. Will you have a golden cup made but not give a cup of water? What is the use of providing the altar with cloths woven of gold thread, and not providing Christ himself with the clothes he needs? Once again, I am not forbidding you to supply these adornments; I am urging you to provide these other things first. No one has ever been accused for not [decorating a church], but for those who neglect their neighbor a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all.

            So, it is a both-and – we honor the Lord when we serve Him in the needy, and we honor the Lord when we build beautiful churches for His glory. Let us not neglect either one.

November 2, 2025 - Purgatory

 

Homily for November 2, 2025

All Souls Day

On Purgatory

 

            One day, St. Padre Pio was passing a quiet snowy evening by the fireplace, when a poor man came in and sat beside him. He was startled, as he thought all the doors were locked. “Who are you, and what do you need?” the saint asked.

            The man responded, “My name is Pietro DiMauro, and I died in this place fifteen years ago. Before it was a monastery, it was a poorhouse, and I fell asleep with a cigar in my mouth and I died in the fire. I am in Purgatory and have come to ask for help.”

            If you know anything about Padre Pio, the mystical was always a part of his life, so he was unfazed at seeing this soul from Purgatory. The saint replied, “I will offer Mass for you tomorrow.” At this, Padre Pio showed the man to the door – the saint noticed that he had to unlock the door, since it was locked. The man stepped out into the snow, and vanished – no footprints, nothing.

            Padre Pio, though, wondered if this was all a dream, so he and one of his fellow Franciscans went to the Town Hall a few days later, and looked at the vital statistics. Lo and behold, a man named Pietro DiMauro really did die from a fire in that exact location! It was no dream – it was a true visitation from Purgatory!

            This Feast of All Souls is a good time to reflect upon Purgatory. It is really a very consoling teaching of our Catholic Faith, one with roots in Scripture and has been taught since the very beginnings of the Church.

            God gives us Purgatory out of His great love for us. If you were to walk outside on a day where fresh snow is on the ground and the sun is shining, you are completely blinded – not because there is no light, but because there’s too much light and your eyes haven’t adjusted. Likewise, if we were to enter into the presence of Almighty God but our spiritual eyes have not yet adjusted to seeing His holiness, we would be struck blind. So Purgatory allows our eyes to adjust to seeing the brightness of God. Or, another example – imagine that you’ve been mowing the lawn with a push-mower – getting sweaty, dirty, smelling like grass and grease. And someone comes up and tells you that the Pope wants to have lunch with you in an hour. Surely we would be embarrassed to show up in our ripped tee-shirt and sweat stains! We would want to take a shower, put on good clothes. Likewise, we would be humiliated to be in the presence of the all-holy God if we had the stains of lust, greed, pride, unforgiveness on our soul. So He allows us a place of cleansing before we enter His presence.

            And that is precisely what Purgatory is: cleansing. Purgatory isn’t a state in-between Heaven and Hell; rather, it’s part of the journey to Heaven. You can’t fail Purgatory – if you’re there, you’re saved! But most of us go there, because if we haven’t achieved perfect union with God here, then we will have to be trained in that union with God in the afterlife.

            But does the Bible teach about Purgatory? Yes! In 2 Maccabees, in the Old Testament. The Jews were battling the Greeks to take back the Holy Land, and they win a major battle, leading to a cleansing of the Temple (which is the root of the holiday of Hannukah). But a few Jewish men died in the battle. So as they were preparing the bodies of the dead to bury them, they found that all the men who had died were wearing, under their cloaks, a magic good-luck charm dedicated to a pagan idol. But rather than despair, the leader of the Jews took up a collection to purchase animals to sacrifice to God as a way of atoning for their sin. In fact, it says in 2 Maccabees, “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.” Well, the souls in Heaven don’t need prayers, and the souls in Hell can’t use them…voilà, Purgatory. It’s true that the word Purgatory isn’t in the Bible, but the concept is – you can also find it in 1 Corinthians.

            So what happens in Purgatory? It is suffering, but with hope. There are two kinds of suffering: first, when all of us die, we will see Jesus face-to-face, and we will realize that He is the object of all our desire, our greatest happiness. And then, for those destined for Purgatory, He will be taken away – so that they may desire Him more intensely! So the first suffering is not having Jesus, whom you know is your own happiness. Secondly, there is the re-fashioning of Christ in us. Imagine for a moment that your soul has a bronze statue of Jesus in it, shining and brilliant. But over the years, the statue gets dinged, dented, loses its shine, becomes moldy. It’s still the image of Jesus, but it’s obscured. So what would we have to do to make it new again? We have to scrub it, buff it, hammer it out, maybe heat it up and re-cast it. That’s painful work – but necessary work. Purgatory refashions that image of Christ in us by hammering out, scrubbing out those dings and bumps and scratches that obscure Him in us.

            Some of the saints and mystics talk about different levels of Purgatory. One good explanation, from a nun who had visions of the souls in Purgatory in the late 1800s, mentions four levels. The lowest level of Purgatory is for those souls who had mortal sin on their soul, but were saved at the last minute through the prayers of a relative or through an act of repentance right before they die. This requires a great deal of suffering, so much so that souls have said it is almost like the suffering of Hell, but with one key difference – they have hope, so they praise God despite their suffering. One level higher is for those souls who have been lukewarm in their Faith. Maybe they didn’t commit huge sins, but certainly didn’t care about holiness and neglected to develop even a basic prayer life. Higher than this is those souls who did love God and seek Him, but ignored His inspirations for greater holiness. The mystic writing this said that many, many priests and nuns are at this level, as they received great graces from God but ignored some of those graces. Finally, the highest level of Purgatory is for those who love God, avoided sin, and made some progress in the spiritual life, but still loved creatures more than the Creator and were not yet saints.

            Can we help the souls in Purgatory? Absolutely! Pray and have Masses offered for them – you may hear at every Mass, “This Mass is offered for so-and-so” – that is a beautiful and effective way to help your loved ones! There was in Germany in the 1300s two priests who were close friends, one of whom was Bl. Henry Suso. Henry and his friend had made a promise that whoever died first, the other one would offer Mass twice per week for the friend’s soul in Purgatory. Many years passed, and Fr. Henry’s friend died, but Henry had forgotten his promise. He prayed for his friend, but didn’t offer any Masses. One day in prayer, his friend appeared to him and reminded him of his promise – but Fr. Henry objected, saying, “I prayed for you, and even offered sacrifices for you, wasn’t that enough?” The soul of his friend replied, “I need the Blood of Jesus to release me from Purgatory, nothing else is strong enough.” So Fr. Henry began to pray the Mass for his friend’s soul, and in a short while he saw him again, this time radiant and joyful, having been admitted to the company of the saints in Heaven.

            But what about us? Is there anything we can do to avoid Purgatory? Yes – three things. First, pursue holiness. Not mediocrity, not being lukewarm, not making a thousand excuses about how busy we are. No – develop a real prayer life, come to the Sacraments regularly, examine yourself and try to overcome your faults and grow in virtue. Second, respond to all the graces and inspirations God is giving you. How often do we think, “Oh, I should pray…oh, I should do this act of charity for someone else…” but we put it off, we make excuses, we find the NFL and Instagram far more interesting. But these inspirations, these “thoughts from Heaven”, are God’s way of showing us where He is and where we will find Him…don’t miss them! Finally, suffer well. I have a student at Cardinal Kung who loves to pray the Rosary but hates to go to math class. Every time I see him in the hallway before math class, he moans as if he was going to be tortured – “Oh, I can’t stand my teacher! This is dreadful! I hate this class!” Finally one day I said to him, “Offering this class up to God as a sacrifice, joyfully, will make you holier than a thousand Rosaries.” It didn’t stop him from complaining! But it’s true – offering those aches and pains, daily inconveniences, and especially the huge crosses to God, joyfully and without complaint, “make up for” Purgatory time while here on earth.

            My friends, on this All Souls Day, it’s always a fruitful endeavor to reflect upon this often-neglected teaching of the Church – that of Purgatory. Perhaps in a special way we can pray at this Mass for all of our relatives and friends who have died, and ask that God hasten them through any cleansing they may be enduring, that they may go to join the saints in Heaven!