The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Church Scandals and Mouse Traps

Episode Date: August 24, 2018

You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show, Episode 78, Church Scandals and Mousetraps. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. Hey, welcome to the show this week. I've been kind of a tough week for, I think, a lot of you who have,

have been following the news and particularly the news out of Pennsylvania. And I thought that I would take a few minutes this week and try to offer some encouragement and how we might go forward in situations like this. And so I have a number of other topics I'd love to talk about, but I think that this is timely. And I've been getting some feedback from many of you saying that it's very, very discouraging. In fact, I'm holding in my hand right now a note from an individual who wants to drop out of His church's catechetical class, learning about the catechism because of the situation going on in Pennsylvania. So it's definitely having some kind of effect on the laity, and that's one of the unfortunate fallout portions here, is that it does affect people's lives, and particularly those who are new in their faith, or those who have been hanging on by the skin of their teeth, so to speak.

It's very, very, very difficult. And it's very difficult for evangelization and think we need to band together. We need to work together and pray for each other and pray for our leaders about the current situation. So I'm going to talk about the church scandals and mouse traps and kind of equate the two just a little bit. People have been asking is, you know, what should we think in a situation like this? And I am not the expert on this. I'll tell you that. I'm not an expert on anything, to be honest with you, but I have really come to really depend upon the truth of Jesus Christ and the fact that he is the leader of the church. The Holy Spirit is among us, but as you can read all throughout the Old Testament and in the New

Testament, that when God is even present, there are still people, that we mess up our lives, you know, and we do things that we shouldn't do, and it has consequences. I'm reminded of what St. John Paul II said when he talked about sin, he said there really is no such thing as private sin. It all affects all of us. And it's like throwing a rock into the middle of a pond, and the ripples will hit all shores. And so we are facing a difficulty right now. Now, one of the articles that I read, which I'm going to put in the show notes to you, I think is very, very important. and it's an article by Ralph Martin. He's a friend of mine. I've known him for over 20 years now, and he is just a very smart man. He's very holy man, and he's part of the team at Renewal Ministries, renewal ministries over in Michigan. And I'm going to put the link to his letter about,

you know, what do we do, Dear Troubled Catholics, a letter from Ralph Martin about the current crisis. and he brings out in that article a few things that we should do, and I'm going to bring those up at the end of the show today, because I want to talk a little bit about the trap of being scandalized and being discouraged and letting the situation in the world today steal the joy of following Jesus from you. I'm not saying that it isn't going to affect us, but we certainly don't have to step down with our own walk with the Lord simply because of what other people have been doing or what they haven't been doing. So, you know, I want to start off by saying that in John 1633, and I'm going to put these in the show notes for you, and by the way,

some of you've been writing and saying, I'd like to get the show notes too. All you have to do is send me an email, the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. That's the Jeff Kavan Show, is important there. The Jovecaven Show at ascensionpress.com. And just put in the subject line, I want the notes. I want show notes. We'll put you on that list, and they'll be sent to you every week. John 1633 says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. And that's the message from the Lord is that he has overcome the world and problems in the church are not foreign. In fact, if you read all of Paul's letters to the churches, except for Ephesus, to the Ephesians, you'll see that

what is he doing? He is, he's hitting problems straight on from jealousy and infighting to incest, to you name it. You know, he's going after all the problems of this growing church. Now, when Jesus said in John 1633, he says, in this world, you're going to have trouble, that word trouble in Greek speaks of pressure, anguish, tribulation, burdened. He says, but he says, take heart, I have overcome the world. And that word overcome means to subdue, to conquer, to overcome, to prevail, to get the victory. All right? And my prayer is that we will get the victory in this situation.

One of the greatest obstacles we have to overcome in our walk with the Lord is the obstacle of being offended by others. So how would you define the word offended? Well, the dictionary tells us that offended is the condition of being hurt, angry, resentful. And I know from some of your letters that your response to the Philadelphia, or not the Philadelphia, but the Pennsylvania scandal, which some say is now the tip of the iceberg, is that you're angry and resentful and it's, you know, you're hurt. And these are natural responses, I think, too, when leadership lets us down, whether it's in the family or whether it's in our own parish or whether it's in a diocese. Oftentimes, being offended is followed by bitterness and unforgiveness. And this is where

it gets dangerous. And I'm going to really, I'm going to really exhort, if you want to use that word, you and myself, to not get in the trap of unforgiveness and bitterness. Either one can greatly hinder your growth as a disciple of the Lord. But together, if you get bitterness and unforgiveness together, can literally immobilize you. And you don't want that. You don't want that. Your children don't want you immobilized, your friends don't want you immobilized, your, you know, employer, if you're working in a ministry, they don't want you immobilized. But more than anything else, my friend, Jesus doesn't want you to be immobilized. It was for freedom that he set you free. So unforgiveness is due to an offense, and it can drive you into the pits of depression and bitterness.

and I'd like to show you today that when you have the opportunity to be offended, it can be an opportunity for growth in your life, in your parish life. Two things I've noticed about this subject of offense and unforgiveness. Two things. Number one, that I have the opportunity to be offended right when God has something special going on in my life. And as I look back now in my life and where I'm at, so many times God was just on the verge of doing some amazing things in the ministry and our family and in my own life. And then something came up that really gave me the opportunity to be immobilized through unforgiveness and bitterness.

So that's number one, the timing. Number two, it's always geared, unforgiveness and bitterness is always geared towards stopping me from being obedient to Jesus. It's like it puts a barrier up in front of me. Now, unforgiveness and being offended, are carefully laid traps of the enemy with the purpose of immobilizing you. I'm not saying that what other leaders have done around the world and Rome and around the South America, the United States, and so forth. I'm not saying that those aren't having a direct impact on us, but I am saying this, that the enemy, who is very real, can use these situations to steal your joy and to steal.

life, and to steal your faith in God and in his faithfulness, your trust in his faithfulness. They undermine your trust in his kindness, in his kindness, and his word. And we can't let that happen. Unforgiveness, bitterness, to be scandalized, can be a trap, and taking offense can be a Now, here's what's really interesting. And perhaps I'll even put a picture of one of these traps in my show notes in case you have never seen a mouse trap. Most people have seen a mouse trap. A little wooden mouse traps were so popular when we were younger and you would put a piece of cheese on this little metal bar and you'd place another bar across it so that at the moment that the cheese was taken, bam. I mean, slap. The mouse's life is either greatly inhibited or ended.

you know, at that point. They've got other kinds of traps now, which are more, I guess, humane. But anyway, the type of trap that I'm talking about, I'm going to put a picture in the show notes. Now, here's what's really interesting about it, is that little bar on the trap that you put the cheese on, that you're hoping the mouse will come to and grab that bait. You know, it's like that juicy bait. That little bar that you put the cheese on is in Greek called the Scandalon. It's the Scandalon. I'll put this in the show notes. It originally was the name of the part of the trap, which the bait was attached, and it was a hindrance, which causes a fall.

And when you knew the moment the mouse takes that bait on the Scandalon, bam, he's trapped. Or she's trapped, one of the two. Now, an offense, to be offended, to be scandalized can be a trap. I think it's a natural thing to feel scandalized in situations like this, but what we have to watch for is, I don't want to take the bait and become immobilized in my walk with the Lord. I want that joy to continue on as I talk to my children and all the people that I'm teaching. I don't want to give up on Jesus Christ in his church, which has been everything to us. Everything to us. It's the pillar in support of truth. It is the conduit in which God reaches the world. It is the family that he formed for us to grow in

as a hospital for the sick. It is the source of sacraments. It is the tradition from which the word of God comes. I'm not going to give up on it. Are there characters in the church? Are there people who let people down? Yes, I've let my own family down from time to time. Maybe I got angry or whatever. I didn't, I wasn't an adequate witness of Jesus Christ in front of my kids, and I had to apologize. We all are frail, and we can't give up on the one thing that God has given us. Okay? So, unforgiveness and being offended can be a trap. An offense is a deliberately laid trapped by the enemy to get you to fall, to put you out of commission. In other words, you're trapped. And there's a couple things about a trap that you have to remember. And that is

that the person, well, you have to remember this. Number one, a trap doesn't look like a trap. So if you're all of a sudden you become so offended and scandalized and you want to give up and it immobilizes you, the trap doesn't look like a trap to you. But suddenly you're in it. And the second thing about a trap is that it's stronger than the one that it is intended for. In other words, if I'm in a trap that was set for me, it is stronger than me. And I need help to get out of it. But what I'm saying on this show today is don't get in it. Don't get in that trap. Now, there's some things that Ralph Martin says in his letter that I'm going to read to you at the end here and suggest that you go get that letter yourself. But number one,

do not allow yourself to get trapped, okay? An offense is a deliberately laid trap of the enemy, and the person that you offended you, you might not even know them. I would say that most of the names that have been brought up in this scandal, you don't know them, you've never met them, but the person who offended you may not even know that they offended you, but the devil has laid a trap for you to put you in bondage and render you unproductive. Now, what happens to us at this point of offense where we become scandalized? Well, when we are offended or trapped, we have a sense of being violated. We have a sense that someone has taken something from us and we should be paid back.

We have a feeling that the score should be evened. We want to pound a flesh for the offense. But listen to this. 2,000 years ago. A baby was born in Bethlehem. This wasn't just another boy. This was God coming to dwell with man. This baby would grow up as the son of God and he would show us a better way to deal with the hurt and the pain and the rejection and the scandalized situations that we find ourselves in, a way that would transcend retaliation, a way that would do away with controlling one another by unforgiveness. And this way I speak of is the way of forgiveness. And I'm not talking just about

forgiveness on the show today. I'm talking about keeping our relationship with God, keeping it sound. Okay. Now, forgiveness is to absolve someone. It's really to release someone of the wrong that they have done us. And I think that one of the ways that we avoid this trap to be scandalized is we have to continue to walk in in forgiveness, no matter how hard that is. I've often argued that forgiveness is the hardest part of being a disciple of Christ. Why? Because there's no other way to do it other than the cross. You can say, oh yeah, I forgive you. but if you don't truly take it to the cross and say, I forgive you because he forgave you, then it might not mean a whole lot, but it's the hardest thing because it requires dying

to ourselves, dying to ourselves. So when you find yourself offended or walking in unforgiveness, you're trapped. I want to give you a scripture here that is so beautiful. before I give you that scripture, I'm going to take a break. And when I come back, I want to give you a number of scriptures here that will help you in this situation and a word of exhortation to continue on in your vocation. Fathers do not step back from being a father. Mothers do not walk away from being a mother and a spiritual mother to your children. Faithful disciples of Christ continue.

in what you know to do, because that's the answer. Will we become smaller? Perhaps. Cardinal George used to talk about it in Chicago, but he also said, we'll come back stronger, and judgment begins in the house of God. I'm Jeff Kavens. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven show, and I'll be right back. It's hard to live out your Catholic faith on your own. In fact, the Bible reveals that we need a community of people to help us on our journey of faith. If you're interested in finding that community by joining or starting a small group study, visit ascensionpress.com and sign up for a free Ascension account.

With your account, you'll get all the tools you need to start walking with others towards Christ. Welcome back. We're talking about church scandals and mousetraps and about being scandalized. Don't take the bait. That little bar on the mousetrap is called the Scandalon. and it's set up as a trap, and it's a trap to immobilize us, and we can't afford to do that right now. This is the time that we step up to the plate. We walk in righteousness. We depend on God in prayer. We humble ourselves. We walk by faith, and we become Christ in the world. This is our time right now. This is our mission right now. Psalm 124, verses 6 through 8 says, praise be to the Lord who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of

the fowler's snare. The snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 124. I put it in the show notes. I love that. Psalm because basically what it's saying is, hey, have we been caught up in the snare? You know, the Fowler's snare, we're trapped, we can't fly, we can't do anything. But praise be to God. We have been taken out of the snare. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. We have escaped like a bird out of the Fowler's snare. And that's what Jesus will do. If you find yourself scandalized, find yourself hurt, find yourself bitter, and walking in unforgiveness, you need to go and be freed from that so that you can continue on to be the person that God has called you to be.

Go to confession. Now you might say, oh, Jeff, you sound like this is just so easy and you're not taking this seriously. Oh, I take it seriously, so seriously that I can find no other place of rest than the cross and the resurrection. And I take great comfort and peace in the words of the Lord who says, seek first the king. him and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. He is the place to flee to. He is our cover. Read Psalm 91. Great comfort. You see, the blood of Jesus is stronger than the traps of

offense, and I believe that. But in order for the blood's power, the blood of Christ, for the blood of Christ, that power to be effective in our lives, we must walk as he walked. In other words, we must release others when we have been wronged. Then we start, we start to build and we start to encourage and we start to raise up the name of Jesus in our communities. In Psalm 119 and 165, it says, great peace have they who love your law and nothing can make them stumble. Jesus said in John 161, all this I have told you so that you will not go astray. Paul said a couple things. I'll put these in the notes for you. Romans 6, verses 17 and 18, Paul says,

But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. So what Paul's saying there, my friend, is that when we find ourselves doing his word, we're free. We are sons and daughters of God, and we don't want to be slaves to unrighteousness. How do you get set free? You wholeheartedly obey the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. We don't sit back idly and say, well, I'm going to be patient, as if patients were a state of passivity, that if we wait long enough, good things are going to happen. No, no. We wholeheartedly obey the form of teaching. We become free. We become leaders. We become lights that shine, salt in the earth. And that's why John, chapter 8 in verse 32, Jesus said,

then you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. I am the way and the truth in the life, Jesus said. And one of my all-time favorite verses is Galatians 5-1. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. This last week, my wife and I went to Mass on Sunday night. It was a great Mass in Minneapolis, actually in Medina, Minnesota, our holy name of Jesus. Young priests there just gave a great message. and afterwards I told him so. And one of the things he said was just so beautiful. He talked about how before Jesus gave himself,

he knew he's going to be betrayed. But he still gave himself. You know, Peter was going to deny him three times, and Jesus knew it and even predicted it, and Jesus denied that he would do it, but he did it. And Jesus still gave himself. In the face of denial, in the face of betrayal at the hands of Judas, he still gave. He still obeyed the Father and did

everything he was called to. Today, with the scandal, he knew, but he still gives himself to you in the Eucharist. He still gives himself to you in the precious blood. He still meets you in the sacraments. Receive him. Don't reject Him. Don't reject Him. him because of the scandals. Don't judge Jesus on the basis of Judas. Don't judge Jesus on the basis of the downfalls of men and women. Judge him by what he did. That he went to the cross. He gave his life for you so that definitive suffering would be dealt with and you would be with him forever and ever and ever. He had to cross these scandals himself. in order to love you. Will you cross the scandals in order to love him back and to be a

leader for him? I hope you will. I really, really hope you will. I was reminded of this just yesterday. Just yesterday, I had an opportunity where I engaged with a homeless man. I was talking to him. And he only had the clothes on his back and some winter shoes and a leather coat. And I saw his need. You know, I could think, well, there's so much going on a church today. I don't have time to do this right now. I'm all mad. I'm angry or whatever. But you know what? There was this homeless guy. And I took him up to a store. And I said, let's get a shirt. Let's get a couple shirts and things for you. And so I took him to the store, trying to be an activated disciple to do what Jesus does. And I discovered something in the middle of it.

I found myself treating him like Jesus. And so I kind of took note and thought to myself, I'm taking Jesus to Coles. I'm taking Jesus over to the men's shirt section. And when you know it, Jesus was even picky about what shirt. And I thought, well, this is incredible. I here's a man with nothing. and he's living in a homeless shelter, and he has dignity. There are certain shirts he likes and certain shirts he doesn't like, and I'm thinking,

hey, man, you don't have any shirts, take whatever I give you. And he's thinking, I kind of like this and that. I thought, this is beautiful. And to be able to serve the Lord like that. Then I found out that after that, the Lord, this guy, wanted a pack of cigarettes. So that's all he had in the world. So I took him to a store and bought him a pack of. a cigarette and a lighter. When you know it, the lady at the counter knew me. I didn't have to

explain at that point why I was buying these cigarettes. I don't smoke, but I thought, well, this is kind of funny, you know, that in the middle of all of this, still Christ is reaching out to the poor. Still, Christ is bringing hope to the homeless and clothes to those who don't have them and food to the hungry. I say that, not to just say, this is what I was doing yesterday, but I found it interesting that Jesus crossed my path yesterday in a homeless man, and I want to be free myself. And so I'm going to wholeheartedly obey all that he says. Now, at the beginning of the show, I mentioned to you about Ralph Martin in this tremendous letter that he wrote, which was very, very frank. And he doesn't pull punches in this letter. I recommend it. I'm putting it in the show

notes for you, the link. He mentions at the end of him a few things that we should do. He says, number one, we need to go about our daily lives, trying to live each day in a way pleasing to God, loving him and loving our neighbor, including the neighbor in our own families. We need to look to ourselves lest we fall. Good point. Number two, he said, we need to remember that even though we have this treasure in earthen vessels, or as some translations put it, cracked pots, the treasure is no less the treasure. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Baby Jesus, Jesus is the treasure, and he is still as present as ever and still as ready to receive all who come to him at Coles and a men's clothing department. And the Mass every day he's willing

to come to us in such a special way. Let's attend daily Mass even more frequently to offer the sacrifice of Jesus' death and resurrection to God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit for the salvation of souls and the purification of the church. Third, he says we need to remember that the Catholic Church is indeed founded by Christ, and despite all problems, has within it the fullness of the means of salvation. Where else can we go? Nowhere. This is indeed our mother and home, and she needs our love, our prayers,

and our persevering in the way of holiness more than ever. And then finally, he said, we need to remember that there are many truly holy and dedicated bishops and priests, and we must pray for them and support them. They need and deserve our support. The full content of that letter from Ralph Martin is in the show notes, the link. I'll just end by saying this. I spoke to a really a holy local priest yesterday on the phone. I'm going to be working with him doing some men's things. And I said to him, I said, Father, I want you to know I'm praying for you. I know this is difficult right now. And his response was so genuine. He said, oh, Jeff, thank you. He said, this is so hard. He said, I got to talk to the people this Sunday about this.

This is hard. He said, Jeff, I'm really trying. I'm really, really trying to be a holy priest and to serve people. This has made things difficult. I said, I know, Father, I'm going to pray for you. It's made difficult for a lot of people. They're interested in evangelization, men's ministries, women's ministries, seminarians, deacons. Yes, yes. Let's pray for each other. I know you're working hard. I know that you want to be successful in the kingdom of God. I know that you want your church to grow. I know you want your children to remain Catholic. I know that. I'm in the same boat. Let's not abandon Mother Church. Let's not leave each other. Let's let's let's come together and pray.

Some people are going to be coming up with some answers. Some people are going to be coming up with some motivational things that we need to tend to that are going to help to strengthen us. Maybe you're one of them. Maybe this podcast can help in some way. Will you do me a favor? Will you share this with your friends who are hurt? Will you share this with your family who's hurt?

Go on to iTunes. Give the show a ranking. give it some comments, tell your friends about it. That's why I'm sitting down here in the Northwoods. Thinking about the situation and knowing that you are probably looking at that piece of cheese on the mousetrap. Don't take it. Turn to Christ. Let's pray.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you today for giving us your life, the Holy Spirit, the blessed mother, I thank you for giving us all the gifts you've given us in this church, your word, your guidance, your mercy, your kindness, your love, your protection. Lord, we flee to you and we flee to our mother and we ask for protection in this time of need and we ask for a consolation in this time of a personal desert that many are going through. We pray for our leaders, we pray for the Holy Father, that wisdom would come to the church and that we would act appropriately and that light would shine in the darkness. Oh, Jesus, we hope in you. We love you, and we adore you. And we pray this in your name. And we ask for the prayers of our mother, Hail Mary, full of grace.

The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women. And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. God bless you. God bless you. Stay free.