Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost

By Father Scott Archer

“I beg you not to faint at my tribulations for you” (Ephesians 3:13).

In this Epistle, St. Paul prayed that the Ephesians would not be troubled but would take comfort in his afflictions. He was afraid that his persecution and possible martyrdom would result in their thinking he had failed. He told them that just because he had to undergo persecution it did not mean Christ had abandoned him. Christ had not abandoned Paul but was the comfort toward which Paul turned during his persecution.

I have been thinking about an effect the present crisis in the Church may have in the future. We know that secularists and the devil hate priests because we lead souls to Christ and provide what is needed for salvation, especially the Mass and absolution. When priests are led astray through sin or denial of the faith, this eliminates them from the equation; however, the world and the devil wish to eradicate the faithful ones. When there are no priests the faithful are easily led astray. St. John Vianney said, “After God, the priest is everything. Leave a parish twenty years without priests; they will worship beasts… When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.”

In the Protestant Revolt of the sixteenth century, King Henry VIII declared himself the head of the Church in England. Most of the country accepted this without question because of the abuses in the Catholic Church, and the Renaissance papacy had taken its toll on the people’s trust in the pope. Reform was needed, but the circumstances were used to sever the Church in England from the Mystical Body of Christ. When clerics, like St. John Fisher, stood against the king, they were put to death, with many priests following him in martyrdom.

People see corruption and sin in the Church; however, many, instead of using it as an occasion to pray, sacrifice, and live their states in life even more fervently, give in to hatred of priests in general. Many, spurred on by bloggers and social media, declare that priests, bishops, and cardinals can no longer be trusted and, therefore, they must usurp the authority Christ gave to the clergy when He founded the Church. Many seem to feel helpless when confronted with such evil. But do not fall into despair! Pray for strength, and pray for those who are grasping at actions that seem reasonable on the surface but would, like in the time of King Henry, sever the Church from its Head.

The secularists would then be able to take advantage of this fervor among the laity as a middle step toward persecution and eliminating priests. We see lay groups cutting off money, individuals disrupting Mass to shout out in protest as they leave, writings promoting extreme actions – all this by those claiming to be faithful Catholics.

Persecutions do not transpire overnight, and the enemies of the Faith will gladly use the failings of priests or corruption in the Church to bring about the destruction of those who are faithful. Countless numbers will go along with the idea of lay control over bishops and priests, again, as they did when King Henry declared himself head of the Church in England.

In this respect, you must have no part in the hatred that leads to persecution. Your part is to remain faithful to Christ and the Church He founded, pray and sacrifice, and live your state in life more fervently. Paul, encouraging the faithful, pleaded, “I pray you not to faint at my tribulations for you, which is for your glory.” Similarly, I pray you not faint at the tribulations currently endured by the Church which God will ultimately use for His glory.

A Quiet Place (2018)

A movie review by Father Scott Archer

A Quiet Place opens in a small, sleepy town on Day 89 of lives being changed by blind creatures who hunt by sound; thus, the key to staying alive is silence. The story is about a family, the Abbotts, who are living on a remote farm and are struggling to stay alive. The father, Lee Abbott, is played by John Krasinski, who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay. The mother, Evelyn Abbott, is played by Emily Blunt, the real-life wife of Krasinski.

This movie is so tightly directed that nothing seems unnecessary. I appreciated that it begins after they have already adapted their lives to the new reality. The audience accepts that something happened, there are creatures hunting them, and this family is struggling to survive. It is unnecessary to know what happened 89 days prior or how the creatures got there. This is a story about lives altered by horrific circumstances and the present danger they face. It also deals with issues of grief and guilt. For the most part, it foregoes cheap jump scares in favor of a suspenseful atmosphere of constant threat and intense action.

A Quiet Place is one of the best horror movies I have seen in many years. The acting is outstanding, even by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, who play the Abbott children. The movie was filmed in Upstate New York, so it is also a gorgeous movie. I highly recommend this smart, intense horror film.

Paul: Apostle of Christ (2018)

By Father Scott Archer

Paul: Apostle of Christ was directed by Andrew Hyatt, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Tereance Berden. This much-anticipated movie tells the story of the Evangelist Luke and how he came to write the history of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, which immediately follows the gospels. While much of the movie focuses on Luke interviewing Paul, who is imprisoned in Rome awaiting martyrdom, there is also a subplot involving the Roman in charge of the prison, Mauritius, whose daughter is dying. Starring James Faulkner as Paul and Jim Caviezel as Luke, many Christians have been looking forward to this film’s premiere.

Setting aside my suspicions of movies marketed toward a specifically Christian audience, I entered the theater with an open mind. Nonetheless, despite the wealth of source material provided by the Scriptures, this movie was surprisingly – and sadly – a very dull experience leaving me to wonder why they even bothered making it. The screenplay may have been intended to be meditative, but it did not translate well on screen. The scenes were listless as we viewed close-up after close-up of Paul in prison telling his story. And despite mixing it up with flashbacks of his life, we were shown the same flashbacks over and over, and we still did not get the full story of Paul. As for the character of Luke, who was somewhat livelier, his doubts and occasional blasphemous exclamations left no doubt that he little resembled the historic Luke. The story of Mauritius, played by Olivier Martinez, was far more interesting and entertaining, but it was not expanded upon enough to save this movie.

As a priest with a degree in Church history, I was perplexed by the lack of any mention of Peter, the bishop of Rome and head of the Church. Though this movie takes place in AD 67, and tradition holds that Peter and Paul were martyred on the same day, there is no mention of him. In fact, the Christians in Rome refer all questions through Luke to Paul. Without any knowledge of history, one would get the impression from this movie that the entire Christian community in Rome consisted of about twenty-five people living in a gated community.

The historic story of Paul is rich with drama, conflict, and redemption, all of which could have worked toward stunning, spiritually moving effect in this film, but it failed on every count, giving instead a dull, forgettable tale of Luke visiting Paul in prison. I give it one arrow out of five.