Blog Posts

B. Isenbarger Uncategorized

Scared of Confession?

You know the feeling – that dread in the pit of your stomach, the tingling in your arms, and those thoughts running through your head: “I’m so embarrassed” or “How can God ever forgive me?” It’s the shame we all experience as a result of our sins, and the thought of having to reveal our darkest moments to a priest seems nearly insurmountable. Though those thoughts and feelings are very real and palpable – let me tell you a secret – they are a big fat lie! Shame is pure deception from the evil one seeking to imprison us in our woundedness and brokenness.

The reality of our Lord and His saving mission is that he came as the Divine Physician – He wants you to experience total healing – mind, body, and soul. If we begin from this outlook, it becomes possible to soberly recognize our own sinfulness and brokenness as symptoms of our wounded nature rather than indications of our identity. After all, our identity is most truly beloved sons and daughters of God Almighty. We are totally unique and unrepeatable – desired to come into existence from all eternity by a loving Father. By our baptism, we truly become partakers in the very life of God. 

So, while there is pain involved in asking for forgiveness from the One you love, we must never fall for the lie of shame. Sin does not define who we are. It only shows our need for a Savior and Healer – Jesus Christ – who stops at nothing to pour out His abundant healing upon our open wounds. Take some time during this sacred season to go to the Divine Physician in the sacrament of His healing – reconciliation. The Father wants nothing more, or less, than to see you – his beloved child – to live in peace and freedom. 

B. Isenbarger Catholicism, Evangelization, Jesus Christ

You are Jesus

This past week, eight of my seminarian brothers and I had the opportunity to go to the University of Saint Francis for an evangelization trip. Our mission was simple: to facilitate an encounter between Jesus Christ and the students at USF.

How did we go about doing this? We were armed with nothing more than our baptismal identity as sons of the Father and the anointing of our confirmation as soldiers for Christ. Many of you reading this probably have the same gifts dwelling within you; that is, the indwelling presence of the Most Blessed Trinity.

Think about it, by nature of your baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist, God dwells totally in you and makes you a member of the Body of Jesus Christ. Thus, you and I are Jesus really present in the world.

This fact should give us great fortitude and fearlessness in witnessing to the Christian event. No matter the trial, setback, or failure, you and I are always children of the Father and members of the Body of Christ. Further, because the human person was created by God and for God, there is a deep yearning within the human condition that longs to be in communion with God. As such, the Christian is the tangible Body of Christ which must bring about the communion of humanity with God.

In our experience at USF, we found this to be the lived reality. In the course of two days, we met somewhere between 200-300 students. After engaging with them on a very human level about their own life and experiences, we then proposed the basic kerygma and invited them to pray with us. Repeatedly, this led to either a reconsideration of the Faith, a return to its practice, or an overwhelming gratitude for our presence; that is, Christ’s presence. In a word, when folks encounter Christ, they experience a transformative fulfillment which satisfies a yearning from very root of their created nature.

It’s a fulfillment for which all creation yearns – and you are Jesus.

Be not afraid to cast out into the deep!

Fr. T. Zehr Catholicism, Fasting, Lent

Can I eat Sushi during Lent?

During Fridays in Lent, the Church asks us to abstain from eating meat as a sacrifice. But why? First of all, why Fridays; that’s usually the day when we want to indulge a little and relax from the busy work week. No, the Church didn’t choose Fridays because it wants to invade on our relaxation time.  She chooses Friday as a day we remember the great sacrifice that Christ offered on the Cross on Good Friday. So every Friday (in or out of Lent) should be a day that we offer up some small inconveniences as a sacrifice, to unite our sufferings with Christ and to remind ourselves of His great sacrifice.

So we should make Friday a day of sacrifice. Well, what if we want to go get a giant tuna steak or a lobster feast or some delicious sushi for Friday dinner? Technically I am meeting the Church’s request to not eat meat, but is it really a sacrifice? Are we really joining with Christ’s great sacrifice on the cross by indulging in something that we only get on special occasions? Perhaps not. But on the other hand, we don’t need to be eating cold dead fish heads to be intentionally miserable.

So following the LETTER of the law, which means what the Church literally says, eating sushi is permitted because it is not meat. But following the SPIRIT of the law, which is the idea/concept/reason behind the letter, maybe eating a giant sushi platter or an entire shark for dinner on Friday isn’t the best choice.

The Friday meat fast is a way that we, in some small way, can accept an inconvenience that reminds us that the Lord sacrificed his entire life for us.  The entire season of Lent should be a time when we are saying “NO” to our sinful/selfish desires and saying “YES” to the Lord. As St. John the Baptist proclaimed, “HE must increase, I must decrease.”

During these Fridays in Lent, let us see abstaining from meat as a small reminder that as Christ gave His all for us, I can give up this small thing for Him.

M. Hellinger Catholicism, Lent, Reflection

Are You Ready to Change?

“Put off the old man who is corrupted according to the desire of error, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth.”

Eph. 4:22-24

These words from the letter to the Ephesians are what Dietrich von Hildebrand describes as “inscribed above the gate through which all must pass who want to reach the goal set us by God.” Further, he says,

“All true Christian life, therefore, must begin with a deep yearning to become a new man in Christ, and an inner readiness to “put off the old man” — a readiness to become something fundamentally different.”

Dietrich von Hildebrand
Transformation in Christ

What does it mean for the Christian to become fundamentally different? It is a call to be something wholly other. To throw off the old man, who is a slave to our narrow world view, our prejudices, our vices, to sin itself and the will of the Evil one. It is a change in us that draws us back from bondage to sin into the glory of the Lord who has created us in love.

What allows this difference to happen? This is key because often we want to change ourselves. Recently I was listening to a podcast about forming new habits and one of the points that the speaker made was that when we go about forming new habits it’s important that we start to think in a new mindset. So rather than thinking, “I don’t do that anymore” when it comes to, say, watching 6 hours of Netflix, it is more effective to say, “the type of person I want to be does not watch 6 hours of Netflix on a Tuesday night.”

I think this points to a reality that is deeper than wanting to change bad habits. The change that Jesus Christ effected in the world by His Passion was clear, effective, and permanent. The world can never be the same. God has suffered, died, and rose from the dead. Sin has lost, the battle won.

We are called to life in Christ, to an encounter with a living God who desires to draw us ever closer to Himself. Because of the victory won for us, we cannot just simply say things like “I don’t do that sin anymore” or even, “the saint I want to be wouldn’t do that sin.” The change that God wants to effect in us is deeper and more powerful than any habit change.

We are adopted sons and daughters of God. We no longer live for ourselves, but rather Christ lives in us. Our “readiness to change” really rests primarily in our “readiness to die to self” so that Christ might live in us.

We know when this doesn’t happen in ourselves, and we certainly know when it isn’t happening in others. But we are presented with a great opportunity in the season of Lent to really foster this readiness to change. Because that is the beauty, God does the changing, we just have to be ready.

Through self-denial, exercises of temperance, and even noticeable changes in our daily routine we are not trying to earn holiness or even do penance in the strictest sense (yes, they are penitential practices). Rather, I think it is more helpful to see all of the things we do for Lent as ways that stretch us to be ready (like the wise virgins) for the coming of the Lord into our life. Once we are ready to change, to die to self, then He can come in freedom and accomplish His good work in us.

“The readiness to change is an essential aspect of the Christian’s basic relation with God; it forms the core of our response to the merciful love of God which bends down upon us: ‘With eternal charity hath God loved us; so He hath drawn us, lifted from the earth, to His merciful heart (Antiphon of Praise, Feast of the Sacred Heart).’ To us all has the inexorable yet beatifying call of Christ been addressed: Sequere me (“Follow Me”). Nor do we follow it unless, relinquishing everything, we say with St. Paul: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? (Acts 9:6)”

Dietrich von Hildebrand
Transformation in Christ
M. Hellinger Community, Literature, Reflection

That Glorious Freedom Pt. 4

This is the final installment of a series which began here.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Creation has been redeemed in His blood. And the Holy Spirit is fighting tooth and nail to bring the power of that redemption into your life and the life of each and every person who has ever lived and ever will live.

What really motivated me to reflect on this idea was a conversation I had with a friend over the dinner table in which we were discussing miracles and healings. What came up in the conversation is just how complex they are. Here I do not offer a definitive explanation of all things miracles, or even a novice understanding. Rather, something has struck me about the beauty and mystery of miracles and I want to reflect on it.

In his commentary on C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces (which is right above Orthodoxy on my list of books that every person should have to read) Peter Kreeft tells the story of Bertrand Russell near the time of his death. Russell was a militant atheist. Someone asked him what he would do when he died if there was a God and he had to face him. Russell apparently replied by saying, “[I] would say, Sir, I see now that you clearly do exist, so I ask, why didn’t you give us enough evidence?” To this Kreeft points out the age-old answer, that God gives just enough evidence so that those who wish to see Him do and those who do not, don’t.

Well, this got me thinking about how beautiful God is, especially in the way He treats us. At the heart of an answer to Russell and, I suspect, many modern people, is the Glorious Freedom of the Sons of God. Love is what God desires so much that He is willing to do everything He can to draw us to Himself, but since freedom is a necessary foundation for any actual love to exist, everything He does in the world is marked by the need to never compel anyone to lose that freedom.

This really means that every action of God is marked by authentic love in that it cannot force anyone into a relationship with Him. In some ways, it cannot even force someone to believe in Him. Something is lacking in love if you are forced into it. Why does God work miracles for some and not for others? Why does He or His Mother appear to some and not to others? I think that one way we can make sense of these confusing issues is to realize that every miracle, every appearance, every action, is aimed to draw every person to Himself while never violating anyone’s freedom in the process.

I’ve never been satisfied with the idea that God leaves any prayer “unanswered.” I know that we don’t think we mean that God doesn’t hear all our prayers and answer each one when we say that word to describe an unfulfilled request of ours, but I think that we are slowly conditioned to a dangerous premise by using language like that. (All I can think of is that country song that goes, “sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers…some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” And come to think of it, now you are probably singing it in your head…sorry.)

The truth is that God answers every one of our prayers. What limits our perception of His answer and its power in the world is our lack of freedom to accept it, to let it change us. God’s work in this world is mind-numbingly complex, but every action He takes is to draw each one of us into an intimate relationship with Him.

What Jane and Mark seem to be looking for throughout THS is happiness on their own terms, with their own vision being played out as they will it. Ultimately, what Lewis seems to be drawing us to through this work is seeing that our freedom has a purpose and that the paradox of our freedom is that the more it is submitted to the will of God, the freer we become.

May we all grow in courage and freedom as we try to allow God to work more freely in our lives. And may we be ready for change, especially when it requires us to step outside of our own narrow view of the world and God and into the mystery of God’s love and the glorious freedom of the sons of God.

B. Isenbarger Almsgiving, Fasting, Lent, Prayer

A Short Cut to Heaven

As we prepare ourselves for yet another Lent, I have been finding myself looking at cupcakes and ice cream as if it will be the last time we will meet in a while. I’m not sure about you, but Lent is not the time of the year I look forward to the most. In fact, it puts me in a somber and downcast mood. But maybe this year can be different.

Instead of seeing Lent merely as a necessary suffering before the joy of Easter, why not see it as a short cut to heaven. 

Here’s what I mean. What are the three pillars of Lent? Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These three are not some arbitrary rules the Church put in place. They are really an invitation to reroute our entire lives toward heaven. And in fact, these three practices, rooted in the evangelical counsels, can actually help us to live the reality of heaven now. To start, let’s take a look at the story of the Rich Young Man in the Gospel of Matthew:

16 Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” 17 He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 iHe asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”20 The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”[1]

In this passage, our Lord makes it clear – we must keep the commandments to gain eternal life. Clear enough. That’s the bear minimum and a non-negotiable. But then He encourages us to go a bit further: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Contained in this single verse, our Lord shows us that the quickest way to experience the reality of heaven now is through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which all of us are called to live, most especially during Lent through the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

“Go sell what you have and give to the poor” – A Call to Poverty through Almsgiving

Now I’m certainly not negating the importance of having material possessions. We need certain things for survival. For instance, if you are the parent of a baby, I highly recommend hanging on to those diapers. However, the Lord is asking us to become detached from worldly things so that we can be freed of the obstacles which keep us from focusing our minds and hearts on the things of heaven. Going hand in hand with this detachment must be the very act of almsgiving, or charity. In emptying ourselves of the worldly clutter, we quickly recognize that we are mere custodians of the Lord’s possessions. Necessarily, we should use those possessions like the Lord does – for the love of one another. 

Perhaps this Lent, take some time to purge yourself of those things which others could use more than you.  

“…and you will have treasure in heaven.” – A Call to Chastity through Fasting

Elsewhere in the Gospel (Lk 12:33), Jesus is straight and to the point when He says heavenly treasure does not pass away. And through the counsel of chastity and the practice of fasting, we can begin to live with the wealth of that treasure now. By disciplining our bodies and their unruly desires for pleasure through fasting, we grow in our capacity to love in an ordered way with our bodies. Accordingly, our bodies can become the living temples of heaven which God desires them to be. 

So, here’s my suggestion for fasting during Lent – the Heroic Minute. Proposed by St. Josemaria Escriva, the heroic minute is the discipline of getting completely out of bed within the first minute of the alarm going off. It starts the day on a winning note over the flesh, and can definitely keep that momentum going for the rest of the day. 

“Then come, Follow Me” – A Call to Obedience through Prayer 

This is the most important point. Poverty and chastity (corresponding to almsgiving and fasting) are ultimately aimed at one thing – communion with God and conformity to His will. When we empty ourselves out, love our neighbor, and focus our bodily desires toward heaven, we remove the obstacles to the communion to which Jesus invites us – as well as the Rich Young Man. As a result, our desire for God will increase as our pride and self-centeredness decreases. Naturally, this finds its greatest manifestation in increased prayer. 

So, this Lent why not make communion with Jesus the central focus? Try to go to a daily Mass or spend an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration. 

“When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions”[2]

Like I said at the beginning, I usually approach Lent with a melancholic outlook – much like the Rich Young Man – because I am too wrapped up in cupcakes, ice-cream, and ultimately my own will. But the Lord does not desire us to be melancholic – he desires our happiness, literally to an infinite degree. He offered the Rich Young Man a short cut – which was rejected, leaving the man sad. 

He offers us the same short cut to heavenly happiness.

This Lent, let’s take it. 

[1]New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 19:16–21.

Ibid., Mt 19:22.

B. Isenbarger Reflection, worship

What do you worship?

It’s definitely a churchy word, but the fact of the matter is – everyone worships something. 

While it’s certainly a good thing for people to associate worship with God, do we ever pause to examine what that word actually means?

In the English etymology, “worship” is actually combination of two words – “worth” and “ship.” So, in its simplest form, worship is what we choose to give the greatest worth. 

How do you evaluate what you give the greatest worth?

For most of us, I would venture to say it is through time and money. As a culture, these two things are what we consider to have the greatest value, and we actually use the word “spend” as the verb of usage in regard to both time and money. So, what we worship seems to be precisely what and where we spend our most time and money.

Living at a seminary connected to an undergraduate university, I have the joy of meeting many different college students. In particular, I have a lot of interactions with student-athletes. I often find them to be extraordinarily talented and driven people. They have their sights on incredible goals and dreams. All of this is quite admirable. Academics, athletics, and career success are all fine things to aim for – but they can never be that which we worship – or give the greatest worth. 

Simply on a human level, these things are fleeting and extrinsically contingent. Cognitive ability, physical health, and job opportunities are by and large contingent upon external factors. 

Worship, however, is an act of the will which we can freely choose to undertake. Unfortunately, in a society which can mindlessly spend much of its time and money on fleeting things, it seems we inadvertently allow our freedom to be given to things which do not leave us in place of lasting peace and happiness. There are always more degrees to attain, more games to win, and more money to be made. 

The Lord, however, made us for both peace and happiness. In fact, that’s the whole point of the story. God almighty wants nothing more, or less, than the happiness of His beloved children – so much so that He was even willing to sacrifice His only Son. Further, he gave us His commandments as a guidebook for happiness. 

In particular, the Lord’s first commandment calls us to worship Him – not because He is some needy attention seeker – but precisely so that we can live lives of peace and happiness. In fact, our worship of Him adds nothing to His glory but only benefits us! When God is given true worship, in which we give Him the ultimate worth, all other things find their proper place. Success, athletic prowess, and business prestige quickly become ancillary and seen as passing things. Moreover, our investment in the worship of God has a guaranteed profitable return in the form of our own freedom and happiness. 

To me, that sounds like a pretty good deal. 

B. Isenbarger Chastity, priesthood, Reflection

In Defense of Celibacy

I have a confession to make:

I am in Love. 

Over the centuries as well as in recent days, there have been many questioning the long-standing discipline of priestly celibacy. Some claim it to be impossible. Others claim it to be unnatural. 

But what does Jesus say?

Let’s take a look at Matthew 22:30, where Jesus speaks of marriage from the perspective of heaven:

“At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven”

Further, let’s not forget St. Paul in his address to in 1 Corinthians 7:32-34:

“I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided”

I think it is precisely the issue of celibacy which illustrates the divide between the life of the Spirit and the life of the flesh and the world. For those with an eye toward heaven, there is a realization that there is only one true Wedding Feast – that of the Lamb (Christ) and the Bride (the Church) (see Rev. 19). For those who experience Christian marriage, there is a foretaste of the one Wedding Feast through the love exchanged between spouses. For those living a life of celibacy, this foretaste is forgone in order to experience the reality of total communion with Christ here and now. As marriage is a foretaste of what is to come, celibacy is an icon of that eternal Wedding Feast now.

For those called to a life of celibacy, it is truly a wonderful gift. While it, like marriage, is not an end in itself, it is certainly an avenue to participating in the eternal love of God in a unique and unmediated way. 

In other words, as I write this now, I can tell you unashamedly, that I am in Love. 

No, I’m not talking about some affective state. I am talking about a Person – Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Christ is the God, who is love, made incarnate. Through the gift of my baptism, confirmation, and sharing in His flesh in the eucharist, I have a life which is sacramentally united totally Him. In fact, every time I go to Mass, I re-enter into that one, eternal Wedding Feast of the Lamb. 

Through ordination to the priesthood, the priest shares in the one priesthood of Christ, the Lamb who was slain and the divine Bridegroom. To put it another way, the priest is configured in a particular way to be the living and incarnate image of Christ wedded to His Bride – the Church. 

So, why do I want to live priestly celibacy?

Because I am in love with Love Himself and have heard that His Bride is prepared to welcome Him (Rev. 19:7).

In short, I believe in heaven. 

And I want to see you at the Wedding. 

B. Isenbarger Chastity, Prayer, St. Joseph

Join Club 3-19!

It’s totally free and could change your life!

Thirty days from now, on March 19, we will be celebrating the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary. Not only is it a nice breather in the middle of Lent, but it is a day we commemorate the incredible human father of Jesus.

In her litanies, the Church recalls Joseph as being “Most Chaste” and the “Terror of Demons.”

I can’t think of any other invocations more timely than those two. In an age in which so many of us, both men and women, are enslaved by diabolical assaults on the virtue of chastity, St. Joseph is a most gracious patron.

Perhaps the worst of the assaults is in the form of internet pornography. If you want to see just how bad the numbers are, you can check them out HERE. It truly is diabolical, and it is ruining families, communities, and the Church.

So what exactly is Club 3-19?

Every day, at 3:19pm set your alarm, either on your phone or watch, to go off. When it goes off, say these two little prayers:

“St. Joseph, Terror of Demons, pray for us.”

“St. Joseph, Most Chaste, pray for us.”

That’s it – two little prayers at 3:19pm every day. Why 3-19? St. Joseph’s Day is March 19 (3-19).

It could help to save your soul, and also that of the whole world.

So, set your alarm, and join Club 3-19!

Please, also invite your friends and family to do the same!

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!

B. Isenbarger fraternity, Healing, Holiness

“Bro! You’re bleeding from the jugular!

So, we’ve had this blog for about a month now, and you may be wondering who we all are. To start, we are much more than simply a group of guys who came together to write a few blog posts. This blog is merely an outlet for our fraternal life together and our life of prayer. Through it we hope to bring the light of Christ which we have experienced into a rather dark world. 

When this whole Fraternity began, we all seemed to have recognized our own brokenness and woundedness.  We also saw the brokenness and woundedness throughout the universal Church. Ultimately, this led us to a couple conclusions.

First, by ourselves we are totally insufficient. Because the priesthood is greater than one individual mortal, it cannot be undertaken as a personal project. It must be rooted in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ which is shared in by the priests of His Church. So, the more in which the fraternal life is shared among His priests – the more His priesthood is active in its fullness. 

Secondly, it is only in our brothers that we can clearly see our own woundedness and find healing. I think about soldiers in battle. Because of the idealism of youth, the adrenaline of action, and the scourge of pride, it is very possible for an individual to overlook his own mortal wounds. In a real way, soldiers need each other to say:

“Bro, you’re bleeding from the jugular!”

As can be imagined with a man bleeding from his neck, he is on the verge of losing consciousness, and already knocking on death’s door. His thinking becomes cloudy and his vision is severely impaired.

And so it is with us. 

Simply because of our mortal condition, all of us have experienced the most severe wound – that of original sin. It has caused us to be filled with our own egos, to choose pleasure over virtue, and even to refuse the mercy of God who seeks to bind up our bleeding jugulars.

But in the environment of true Christian fraternity, it becomes possible for a brother in Christ to bring us back to consciousness and our immediate need for the Divine Physician. When a community is established on the primacy of love and the mutual desire for integral wholeness, it becomes possible to point out the weaknesses and wounds of a brother – not for the purpose of condemnation and shame – but for the purpose of restoration and healing. 

So, who are we?

A few guys no different than the rest of humanity since Adam. Fortunately, we know there is a Physician who has never lost a patient who was faithful to His directives. Sometimes, though, we know the treatment options are painful and would rather be avoided. 

That’s why he gave us brothers – to keep us close to the Physician and on the treatment plan – even when we can’t see straight or are oblivious to the blood of our egoism gushing from our jugular.