The Relevance of Caesarea Philippi

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”^[1]

            Caesarea Philippi was “a town north of Galilee at the base of Mount Hermon.  Philip the tetrarch changed its name from Paneas to Caesarea.  Philippi was added to distinguish it from the better-known Caesarea on the coast of Samaria.”^[2]  The question that comes to mind: Why did the evangelist deem it necessary to mention the place?  Why does the Holy Spirit deem it important that we know this?  St. Luke does not mention the city in his gospel account, although St. Mark does.  Because the specific answer is nowhere to be found, we should contemplate upon it, and surmise how it will have a beneficial effect upon each of us.  The can be a myriad of answers; I will give mine.

            Philip, the tetrarch, named this city “in honor of Caesar Tiberius and himself.  The name distinguished Philip’s city from the coastal city of Caesarea (Antiquities 18.2.1 28; Jewish War 2.9.1 168).  Caesarea Philippi later became the capital city of the region and Philip’s place of residence.”^[3]  In this, we see can see pride, and this causes us to see this as the world.  Another interesting point is that Caesarea Philippi is near Mt. Hermon, which very possibly is the site of the mount of the Transfiguration.^[4] 

            It is in this world that we must decide who Jesus is (which I will discuss in another meditation).  If we say that he is the Son of God in this world, in Caesarea Philippi, then the following applies: From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.^[5]  If Jesus, our Head, was made perfect through what he suffered,^[6] it needs be that the Body must also learn obedience through suffering and, thereby, be made perfect. 

           It is interesting to note that, in the name “Ceasarea Philippi,” “Caesar” means “severed” and “Philippi,” “lover of horses.”^[7]  Severed from what or who?  “Philippi:” lover of ____?  Let us fill in the blank.  If we do not think we are lovers of anything but God, let us reconsider.  Look around.  Are we not at least lovers of comfort, ease (convenience)?  Let us consider the accessories in our vehicles, in our homes.  We strive for comfort, for an “easy” life, an enjoyable life.  This is Caesarea Philippi, and we need to ascend from here.  It is here that Christ asks us who the Son of man is.  We need to ascend Mt. Hermon, the mount of transfiguration.

            Caesarea Philippi is relevant because it causes us to make a decision: What are we really striving for?  Caesarea Philippi “was enriched and embellished by Philip, the son of Herod, in honor of Cæsar Augustus.”^[8]  Our world continues to be enriched and embellished by men desiring wealth, status, and comfort.  Is this our desire, or do we desire to learn obedience through suffering, to be made perfect?

            The human race dies with Christ.  All of humanity is represented by the thieves crucified on either side of our Lord.  At first, both ridiculed the Lord.  We all are thieves because, in our sins, we attempt to steal the glory of God.  This is Caesarea Philippi.  Two thieves are set up on His right and left hand to signify that the entire human race is called to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Passion; but, because there shall be a division of believers to the right and unbelievers to the left, the one who is set on His right hand is saved by the justification of faith.[9]  This also can be viewed as seen by St. Remigius: “By the two thieves are denoted all those who strive after the continence of a strict life.  They who do this with a single intention of pleasing God are denoted by him who was crucified on the right hand; they who do it out of desire of human praise or any less worthy motive are signified by him who was crucified on the left.”[10]

            Caesarea Philippi is relevant in that it reminds us where we are and who we are.  Do we remain or ascend?

           

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^[1] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 16:13.

^[2] Steve W. Lemke, Holman Christian Standard Bible: Harmony of the Gospels, 2007, 109.

^[3] Brian Algie, The Lexham Bible Dictionary, 2016.

^[4] Steve W. Lemke, Holman Christian Standard Bible: Harmony of the Gospels, 2007, 112.

^[5] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 16:21–24.

^[6] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Heb 5:8.

^[7] Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The exhaustive dictionary of Bible names, 1998, 44.

^[8] John MacEvilly, An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, (Dublin; New York: M. H. Gill & Son; Benziger Brothers, 1898), 290.

[9] Aquinas, Thomas. Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew - Enhanced Version (Kindle Locations 17932-17934). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Kindle Edition.

[10] Ibid., (Kindle Locations 17935-17937). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Kindle Edition.

Utilizing Our Distractions During Mass to Our Advantage

                We go to Mass with good intentions.  We desire to be attentive, to benefit from the Mass.  Can we not give one hour of our time to God?  Soon after the Mass begins, however, we begin to lose focus.  (I am, of course, speaking to us who are weak, not strong.)  Our minds begin to wander.  No matter how strong the desire to be attentive, no matter how hard we try, our minds go to a myriad of other things.  What are we to do?      What we need to do is to take these things, capture them, and turn them on their proverbial ear.

            Get to Mass early, giving yourself time to pray, and also bring a notepad and pen.  Pray for the grace to be attentive, to “grow” from the Mass.  Because this is God’s will, we know that he will answer the prayer.  God never says “no;” he either answers the prayer or he does not.  “Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.”^[1]  “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.”^[2]

            Now, comes the Mass, and would you know it: Your mind begins to wander.  What has occurred?  Did God not answer your prayer?  I had just said that we know that God will answer that prayer; so what has happened?  What has occurred is: God is allowing us to ascertain the “loves” we have before him, above him.  Therefore, when your mind wanders, take up your pen and paper and write down the subject matters of the wanderings of your mind.  These you begin to confess immediately, asking for the grace to overcome them.  Also utilize these notes during daily prayers, praying for the grace to desire—and the resolve—to overcome them.  In this way, we are turning our distractions into good, towards our sanctification.

            Then turn your eyes to the crucifix and fix them there.  Envision every word being spoken as coming from Christ on the Cross, to the Father on our behalf and also to us in order to teach us.  Many times, we forget that the priest in the Office of Christ; we don’t see him as speaking in Christ’s behalf.  However, when every word is coming resoundingly from the Crucifix, it can have a profound impact upon us.  If all else fails, see that on the Cross God died for you.  Why?  Why did he die for us when we can’t even spend one hour with him without our minds wandering to things of the world?  Because his Passion and Death occurred in time and occurs outside of time—eternity—he continues to die for us and continues rises for us.  The Liturgy of the Eucharist shows us this because it is a re-presentation of Calvary.  Not only is he dying for us, but we are dying with him.  It is the great Exchange.  While the inanimate sign of the crucifix can help to direct your attention to the Savior’s unlimited love for us, the Eucharist is the living sign of it.^[3]

            The Mass is efficacious.  We will probably forget the homily; we may even forget the readings; however, let us pray that everything that is occurring during the Mass is affecting us, causing us to grow, being conformed more and more into the image of Christ.  We pray that what we hear in the readings is causing a change in us.  Let us not be ones who are full of pride, living to fulfill their wills, but let us live to fulfill the will of the Creator, the One who created us for a purpose.  Let us not be like those who cry out but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.^[4]  Let us confess our distractions in order that they humble us.

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^[1] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Job 35:13.

^[2] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Jn 9:31.

^[3] Jim Blackburn, 101 Quick Questions with Catholic Answers: Marriage, Divorce, and Annulment, (San Diego, CA: Catholic Answers, 2010), 61.

^[4] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Job 35:12.

Is Mankind Progressing Towards the Nature of Animals? If So, How Do We Stop It?

            In searching the Church fathers, I came across this: “What [is] the use of man, having been originally made in God’s image?  For it had been better for him to have been made simply like a brute animal than, once made rational, for him to live the life of the brutes.”^[1]  This caused my thoughts to turn to the culture today, wherein there is more and more dislike of authority.  Many want to do whatever they desire without consequence, without care for others.  In essence, they desire to live as brute animals.  Science teaches evolution.  If it turns out to be true, in my mind humanity would be reverting back to their nature.  Why should I even consider something like this?  What is the import of it?  The significance of it is to make ourselves aware of where it is that we are headed.  Of course, we can deny it and, therefor, as a consequence, do nothing to deter the trend.  When I speak of this “reversion,” it is not to say there will be an exactness of mankind reverting to the nature of animals but that there is a trending towards that resemblance. 

            God did not create mankind as he did the rest of creation.  He created first by word alone.  He then arranged things, causing them to come to fruition by his word.  “God brings an orderly universe out of primordial chaos merely by uttering a word.”^[2]  God said for the waters to be gathered; they were gathered.  God said for the earth to put forth vegetation; it did.  God called for the waters to bring forth swarms of living creatures; they did.  God called for the earth to bring forth living creatures; it did.^[3]  However, when it came to man, “God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”^[4]  He did not command the earth to bring forth mankind; he formed mankind and breathed life into him.  The waters brought forth living things, as did the earth, but God formed mankind and breathed his life into him.

            When mankind rebelled by the disobedience of Adam, he became “diseased” and began dying.  When Jesus began healing, the healings refer to different disorders in soul.  For instance, the paralytics symbolize the palsied in soul; the blind, those who are blind in respect of things seen by the soul alone; and the deaf, those who are deaf in regard to the reception of the word of salvation.^[5]  This not only encompasses our relationship with God but also our relationship with one another.

            In the Transfiguration, we see the highest end of mankind.  This is what we are to be aspiring for.  If we are not progressing towards that end, then what end are we progressing towards?  Do we just desire to remain as we are, taking everything as it comes, wanting to live as a jellyfish?  The problem with that: Jellyfish only has a lifespan of a few hours to a few months.[6]  With the Son of God becoming man, living the life that was purposed for mankind and dying for us, with his ascension mankind as a species is also ascending.  Some are being “pruned” off because they “hinder” this ascension.  It is for this reason that we do not live for ourselves but for the sake of the Body, the Church. 

            We are either living, aspiring for the elevation of mankind, or we are progressing towards an ulterior end.  It is not sufficient to “think” or “believe” we are progressing towards that glorious end; there must be an actual progression.  We are not the ultimate judge of this; hence, we must constantly be going to the One who can make it happen and will make it happen.  We cannot rely upon ourselves and our notions.  This is because we have to major illnesses when it comes to spiritual matters: tepidity and laziness.  Although we work to alleviate these illnesses, we can always do better.  We cannot treat ourselves; we must go to the Physician.

            After seeing the Transfiguration, the three apostles were led back down the mountain, back to “reality,” where it needs be of prayer and fasting because we are a “faithless and perverse generation.”^[7]  Coming down the mountain, they are confronted with the scene of the father and his epileptic son.

            Now, someone might think that this does not apply to the Baptized, saying the Baptized cannot be possessed by demons.  Instead, we should be thinking of ways that it does apply to us.  Above, it was mentioned how paralysis, blindness, and deafness symbolized diseases of the soul.  Origen tells us: “On the same principle, it will be necessary that the matters regarding the epileptic should be investigated.  Now, this affection attacks the sufferers at considerable intervals, during which he who suffers from it seems in no way to differ from the man in good health, at the season when the epilepsy is not working on him.  Similar disorders you may find in certain souls which are often supposed to be healthy in point of temperance and the other virtues; then, sometimes, as if they were seized with a kind of epilepsy arising from their passions, they fall down from the position in which they seemed to stand and are drawn away by the deceit of this world and other lusts.  Perhaps, therefore, you would not err if you said that such persons, so to speak, are epileptic spiritually, having been cast down by ‘the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places,’ and are often ill at the time when the passions attack their soul; at one time falling into the fire of burnings, when, according to what is said in Hosea, they become adulterers, like a pan heated for the cooking from the burning flame; and, at another time, into the water, when the king of all the dragons in the waters casts them down from the sphere where they appeared to breath freely so that they come into the depths of the waves of the sea of human life.”^[8]  In this way, we see this applying to each of us, the times we fall because of temptations and desires.  It is then that we are resembling the nature of brute animals.

            The father saying “I brought him to your disciples and they were unable to cure him” is an implicit accusation of the apostles, for the inability to cure is sometimes referred not to the weakness of those doing the curing but to the faith of those who are to be cured. This is what the Lord says: “Let it be done to you according to your faith.”^[9]  Likewise, when one accuses the Church, he is actually showing his lack of faith.  Whenever we do not receive, it is not a question of the inability of the giver, but the fault lies with those who are praying.^[10]  Let us therefor cry out as the father did: “I believe; help my unbelief!”^[11]

            Mankind’s nature is much higher than that of an animal.  He was created to aspire towards godliness, loving and worshipping the God who created him.  I have heard that, in Australia, it would be lesser punishment to do harm to a human being than to a koala bear.  Our Lord teaches us that humanity is higher than the animal when he healed the woman with an infirmity for 18 years on the Sabbath (Lk 13:10-17).  Archbishop John MacEvilly tells us: “[Jesus] shows that the cure of the woman was not a servile, but a Divine work, most worthy of the Sabbath, as it tended to glorify God, the Lord of the Sabbath.  Every word is emphatic, and shows the indignity of preferring a brute beast to a human being.  The antithesis is most marked, between ‘the daughter of Abraham’ and ‘an ox or ass;’ the loosing of spiritual bonds in a human being, and the corporal loosing of a brute animal; the length of time this woman had been suffering, ‘eighteen years,’ and the few hours the brute animal had been bound; the loosing of the animal required time and labor; that of the woman was performed in an instant; the woman was restored to perfect health and sanctity, the beast was only watered for the time (A. Lapide). ‘Loosed from this bond,’ so grievous and afflicting.”^[12]

            Let us not have the desires and instincts of an animal.  Christ died for us, not animals.  Let no man then become chaff.  Let no one be tossed to and fro nor lie exposed to wicked desires, blown about by them easily every way.  If we continue to be wheat, though temptation be brought on us, we will suffer nothing dreadful.  On the threshing room floor, the wheat is not cut into pieces; but, if we fall away into the weakness of chaff, we will suffer incurable ills now, in this world, being smitten of all men here and, in the next, where we will undergo the eternal punishment.  Chaff is for the brute animal.^[13]  We must be wheat.

            It is so easy to live according to our whims and wishes.  It is “natural” for us.  We cannot overcome them of our own strength.  Sometimes it seems as though Satan is dangling a string and we are the cat trying to catch it.  This is what the epileptic is showing us.  We do not have the strength of our own to resist.  We believe; Lord, help our unbelief.  We can only overcome by prayer and fasting and the Sacraments Christ has given us through the Church.  We do not overcome immediately; however, Christ does give us the strength to take baby steps, one step at a time.  Let us control our desires and passions and stop letting them control us.  Christ conquered this on the cross; all we have to do is aspire to ascend and take one step at a time, one day at a time.  It is then that we stop reverting to the nature of a brute animal.

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^[1] Athanasius of Alexandria, St. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters, 1892, 4, 43.

^[2] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011).

^[3] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ge 1:9–25.

^[4] Ibid., Ge 2:7.

^[5] Origen, The Gospel of Peter, the Diatessaron of Tatian, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Visio Pauli, the Apocalypses of the Virgil and Sedrach, the Testament of Abraham, the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena, the Narrative of Zosimus, the Apology of Aristides, the Epistles of Clement (Complete Text), Origen’s Commentary on John, Books I-X, and Commentary on Matthew, Books I, II, and X-XIV, 1897, 9, 477.

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish#Lifespan

^[7] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 17:17.

^[8] Origen, The Gospel of Peter, the Diatessaron of Tatian, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Visio Pauli, the Apocalypses of the Virgil and Sedrach, the Testament of Abraham, the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena, the Narrative of Zosimus, the Apology of Aristides, the Epistles of Clement (Complete Text), Origen’s Commentary on John, Books I-X, and Commentary on Matthew, Books I, II, and X-XIV, 1897, 9, 477.

^[9] Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, ed. Thomas P. Halton, The Fathers of the Church, (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008), 117:202.

^[10] Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, ed. Thomas P. Halton, The Fathers of the Church, (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008), 117:203.

^[11] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Mk 9:24.

^[12] John MacEvilly, An Exposition of the Gospel of St. Luke, (Dublin: Gill & Son, 1887), 148–149.

^[13] John Chrysostom, Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, 1888, 10, 72.