Fr. Dom's Homs: The Most Dangerous Thing in the World Is a Good Man Who Does Nothing

James Caldwell: This is the Manly Catholic, the podcast that calls you out of the shadows and into the fight. Here we forge men into warriors for Christ, husbands, fathers and leaders who refuse to kneel to the modern world's lies. No more passivity, no more excuses, no more lukewarm faith. This is your battle cry, your call to arms. The time for weakness is over. It's time to fight. Welcome to the Manly Catholic. Let's get to work. in the of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. When I was 27 years old, I gave my life to Christ. He came into my life and I had no choice but to say yes. And it changed me forever. Because he came, he offered, and I said yes. I had no choice. and it changed me forever. Now, granted for the next four years, there was a lot of work that needed to be done. There was a lot of healing. There was a lot of repair work. There was a lot of restoration that needed to happen in my mind, my body, and my soul. But I was never going back. I didn't want to. And it was a saving moment. One of the things that happened almost immediately when I gave my life to Christ. was that I wanted to take him everywhere. Just like in our gospel, God says, I'm in you and you're in me. So wherever I went, Christ came. Wherever Christ went, I went. We were inseparable. but I wanted to take Christ to the world. That's what Axi apostles is all about again. We need to be reminded of this. We're in Easter season. The resurrection has conquered all things. It changes eternity. It changes us. Every day is a celebration of the resurrection. So during this time of Easter again, we let Axi apostles wash over us to remind us of who we are as Christians, to remind us that you have Christ in you and to remind you to take Christ wherever you go. To your spouse, to your children, to work, to running into strangers at the grocery store, online with social media. Everywhere the ball field the classroom wherever it's our job as Christians to do that for when we do that We fulfill the meaning of our lives. We have hope or we have peace and we have joy. We have the adventure We have a meaning in our life. That is what it means to be a Christian You are called to engage the world if you do not then you will be unsatisfied. I guarantee it Maybe some of you know that And when I had Christ in me and I was in Christ, just like in our gospels, I loved the Lord. Why? Because I followed his commandments. Because I was afraid if I broke them, I'd be committing mortal sin. It was out of fear. No, not necessarily. It was because I had a relationship with God that I did not want to break any of his commandments. I loved him. If you love me, you will follow my commandments. So a litmus test for yourself is this. If I say I love the Lord, ask yourself. Honestly, do I follow the commandments? Do I follow the commandments? The reason why I'm speaking of this is because in Acts of the Apostles, if you've noticed, in our reading today, in previous readings, as we travel through the Easter season, we're accompanied with a very interesting character. His name is Philip. He's in our first reading today. And I'd to focus on Philip for the remaining of our homily because he does that. He brings Christ wherever he goes. And as I reflect on the great Saint Philip, I'm reminded of a quote that I heard. I've heard it many times. I'm not exactly sure who it comes from. It's said in different ways, but the meaning of it strikes deeply and profoundly, especially for Christians who brings light into the darkness and where the power of Christ casts out evil. The saying is this, the most dangerous thing in the world is when good men, meaning humans, men and women, When good men do nothing in the face of evil, think about that. The most dangerous thing in this world is when good men do nothing in the face of evil. Walk out those doors. There's a plethora of evil out there for you to engage in. That's what we're called to do as Christians. And a fully initiated Christian is equipped with the weapons of the Holy Spirit to fight on the battlefield with love and peace. and gentleness and joy. And the most easy way to do this is when you're walking down the street, you make contact with another human being, you smile and you say hi. Wow, that's powerful. And that's kind of how far our society has fallen. There's other ways we can do it as well too. It doesn't matter if you're young or if you're old. Your first breath to your last breath when God calls you home, you are sent on mission. You are engaged with the world to sanctify it and transform it through the power of Christ. And that's exactly what Philip is doing in our first reading today and other readings in Acts of the Apostles that have washed over us. during this Easter season. So let's at our first reading again from Acts of the Apostles. It's the blueprint of what it means to be a Christian. If you wanna learn how to love God and keep his commandments and have him in you, read Acts of the Apostles. Acts of the Apostles is still going on, it's us. Until the second coming of Christ, Acts of the Apostles will never end. It's us through the power of his church and the sacraments. So let us look at our first reading once again and dive deeply into Philip and what he does here. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing for unclean spirits. crying out in a loud voice came out of many possessed people and many paralyzed or crippled people were cured. Think about that for a second. That's amazing. Demons are being cast out. The lame are walking. Just like Jesus was doing in the gospels, the same spirit must be working through Philip. And because of all of this, there was great joy in that city. Is there great joy in your heart? Is there great joy in your family? Is there great joy in the city of Rockford? Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they, Peter and John, laid hands on them, those who Philip baptized, and they received the Holy Spirit. What is going on here? Let's just take it from the top quickly. Who's Philip? Is Philip one of the apostles? No, Philip is not an apostle. Philip's a deacon, a permanent deacon, just like Deacon Jim, just like Deacon Greg, who are here at OLC. Look at the power he's doing, he's a deacon. Well, how did he become a deacon? Well, if you remember a couple chapters before, might've been two weekends ago, we hear that the apostles gathered the disciples or the bishops gathered. their priests who they ordained because as the church was going in Jerusalem, there were people who were being unattended to, not being ministered to. There's not enough energy. There's not enough time for the apostles and the disciples or the bishops and the priests to minister to all the people. So they gathered seven reputable men and then the apostles or the bishops did what? Laid hands on them, empowered. By the Holy Spirit, they became deacons, our first deacons in Greek, diakonoi, it means to serve. Just like Deacon Jim and just like Deacon Greg, they were called, the bishop laid hands on them. And then they were sent to help the bishop and the priests at the altar, word, homily, and to the poor. They're still doing it today, but the bishops laid hands on them. One of them was Philip, the same character in our reading today. The other was Stephen. Shortly after this, Stephen proclaimed Jesus Christ and he was killed by Saul or soon to be Saint Paul. Then there was a great persecution in Jerusalem started by Saint Paul, then Saul. The apostles stayed in Jerusalem, but the deacons were sent. Where did Philip go? Samaria. That brings us to our first reading today. Why Samaria? You remember in the gospel, the woman at the well, that's Samaria. Jews could not go through Samaria. They were half-breeds. They were dirty. They were unclean. Jews had to go around Samaria. They were full of Samaritans. But Jesus went, didn't he? In the year 724 BC, the Assyrian Empire came in and conquered northern Jerusalem, where the ten tribes of the twelve resided, decimating them, intermingling them with pagans, calling them the Samaritans. The two remaining tribes remained in Judah, in Jerusalem. Assyrians never conquered Jerusalem. Jews could not go through Samaria, Jesus did. Here it is, the woman at the well. The woman wants water from Jesus. Jesus says, the water I will give you is not from this well. The water I will give you will be the spirit. It'll be like a well of water, welling up from within you, satisfying your thirst and giving you eternal life. What did the woman say at the well? Give me this water to drink. And Jesus in so many words says, not yet, I haven't fulfilled my mission. because I'm gonna send you Philip. And that's exactly where Philip goes, Samaria, a very dark place full of demons, full of Satan's grip and grasp. And now with the 12 apostles, he's uniting the 12 tribes and he's sending Philip to Samaria and he's casting out demons. He's casting out Satan. Satan has no more hold over the Samaritans. Now they're free. The light of Christ has come through Philip, who's a deacon and he's baptizing. Deacons can baptize. And then the apostles heard word about this. Remember, they're still in Jerusalem. And what happens? Peter and John, who are prominent through Acts of the Apostles, they're so excited because they know about the Samaritans, because they're Jews, Peter and John. And now the light is coming to the darkness of the Samaritans and the demons are being cast out. Satan is losing his grip. Let's go and let's finish this job. So they went. But here's something interesting, and I'd like to end with this at the end of our first reading, because you would think, Philip's been baptizing and you've filled with everything, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Everything's in you like a mustard seed ready to develop as you mature and receive the rest of the sacraments as you grow into the church. But then John and Peter had to come down and like finish the job. Cause it says here, now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John who went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for it had not yet fallen upon them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, then Peter and John laid hands on them and then they received the Holy Spirit. What's happening? Remember when I said, and actually apostles, you read it, all the sacraments are there, not six, not eight, seven, by Jesus. Two sacraments are being, three actually, diaconate or clergy, right? The sacrament with the priesthood, they're attached to it. Baptism, Philip. Then the bishops come from Jerusalem to lay hands on them. That is the most holy sacrament of confirmation. We've all received that and only the bishops can do that. And when you receive your confirmation, that great sacrament, you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit and that's exactly what's happening. So we have the church right here in our first reading, the same church we're in today, the Catholic Church, it's beautiful. This is so powerful. And they received the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that's in us. So let us ask. the great deacon, Saint Philip, to give us the strength to model the same spirit that he has been given for us laity, because the world needs you. This is the time of the church and the world where the world needs you. You can do things I can't do. You can go out to the world and sanctify it with your sacraments, baptism and confirmation. Let us ask Philip to give us that strength to bring the light and the darkness. so that we may not be those in the face of evil who do nothing, but we will be those in the face of evil who are excited to bring Christ. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Brothers, thank you so much for listening to this episode. If this show has added value to your life, I'm going to ask you to do three things. Share it with a brother who needs it, leave us a review, and finally, support the show so we can keep fighting. Links are in the show notes. We'll see you next week.