Posted on 08/26/2006 4:47:43 PM PDT by COBOL2Java
ATLANTA (CNS) -- When he ministered to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Divine Word Father Charles Smith found that his faith, instilled in him by loving parents despite the childhood pain of discrimination, enabled him to be Christ's representative even as the inmate verbally assaulted him.
"When I first came in (to see him) I thought 'God is the owner of my life,' and I went to him and he threw his feces on me and called me all types of names and said, 'You can't be a priest because I've never seen a you-know-what as a priest,'" Father Smith said Aug. 5. "The devil was messin' with me."
He made the comments in a workshop he led during the 2006 Interregional African-American Catholic Evangelization Conference, which was held Aug. 4-6 in Atlanta.
Other priests and Southern Baptist ministers had previously worked -- unsuccessfully -- with the man found guilty of bombing the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 and murdering the 168 people who died from the blast.
But Father Smith persevered in his ministry to McVeigh and the convicted murderer, who was a baptized Catholic, began to repent. "He did a lot of things, but in the end we had confession, reconciliation. In the end he asked me a question a lot of people ask me. He asked, 'Father Charles, can I still get to heaven?'"
The priest said he responded, "I am not your judge," but reminded McVeigh that he had told him, "You must submit your will and ask God for true forgiveness. ... You knew there were a lot of innocent people and children in that building."
McVeigh asked Father Smith to walk with him to his June 11, 2001, execution. "And the tears came running down. He was crying, I was crying because he did something that changed my life, too.
"As a man it's hard to ask but for him to ask for God's love and God's grace, that did something to me," he recalled, reflecting on how God's grace can transform even the worst evil.
As he walked with McVeigh, Father Smith remembered how, when he was a child, a porter in an Illinois train told his light-skinned parents that he couldn't serve their "wicked children," who had darker skin, and how Mississippi restaurants refused to serve them.
"I remember my mom and dad say, 'Just be patient. God is going to make a way. God is going to change you. God is going to rise, and you're going to be raised up. Your life will be redeemed and your people (will be).' ... I remembered all of that, being with Timothy McVeigh."
Father Smith and his brother, Divine Word Father Chester Smith, were the first black Catholic twins to be ordained priests. Both priests are in residence at St. Rita's Parish in Indianapolis.
In his workshop presentation, Father Charles Smith encouraged people to speak the truth in love and humility, never pressuring anyone to join the church and avoiding a superior attitude to anyone.
"I know if God can call two little black boys from the South Side of Chicago to live 16-17 years in an international religious order, to go around the world and to come back home to be with his people to teach and to preach and be free in the Spirit, I have nothing to fear," he said. "I'm not worried about what any man says. And my eyes are on the sparrow. God is with me, and I know God is with you and we shall be free forevermore."
He encouraged his audience to be bold but gentle as they speak up for what they believe is right, even if it's controversial. But "don't be afraid to use prophetic dialogue ... in teaching us how to live, ... in ministry, catechism, Bible study. Use what is there to speak the truth."
He prescribed for them "old-school spirituality" of morning, noon and evening private prayer, recalling how, when he was told as a youth that he couldn't learn and shouldn't go to college, his grandmother would say, "Child, you just pray and God will make a way." He went on to graduate from college as valedictorian.
"You are a child of God. If you give your all to God he'll give his all to you so we've got to be people of prayer," he said. "Pray for God's perfect timing in your life. He's going to give you the revelation that you need."
As for the article, why should it mention Purgatory if it didn't happen to come up? Or what if it did, and the reporter left it out because it would create controversy? I maintain skepticism towards all news accounts from whatever source, because every single time I've had anything to do with a story that hit the news, the media got most of the facts wrong.
So it's not "man, man, man" but God acting through man -- as He has from all ages. (After all, if the Holy Spirit is speaking through the prophets, there's man again. And God Himself became a man . . . there's man again. You just can't get away from it.
"As for the article, why should it mention Purgatory if it didn't happen to come up?"
Then why give a scripture which you believes supports it when it doesn't?
Exactly, see post 28.
I was responding to SuzyQuzy's post re Purgatory, and a question in response to that post. Not the article.
"God gave the Keys to Peter and promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church that he put into Peter's care."
I disagree. I believe that scripture says that Peter was the first to confess that JC was God. It wasn't Peter who was the foundation of the Church but Jesus.
Are you saying you disagree with that poster?
No, I agree with SuzyQuzy.
"Simple parallel reading shows that Christ was referring to Peter, not to Himself."
"It was not Peter, the man, who would be the foundation, for, as we have said, petra is feminine, and must refer to a feminine noun expressed or implied. That noun could hardly be any other than homologia, which means a confession; and it was Peter's confession that was the subject of the Father's revelation and the Son's confirmation."
Quoted from The Companion Bible.
There are several early scholars who agree with this, they being: the origen's Commentary AD 186-253, which is older than any extant Greek manuscript. Also Augustine in A.D. 378 and Jerome in A.D. 305.
It's not off topic at all. Thanks for filling in the very, very important details!
McVeigh's "Christianity" is constantly being cited by Islamofascists apologists as "proof" that all religions have fascists -- apparently Father Smith and the approaching execution date got McVeigh to focus his mind.
From everything I've read McVeigh made it clear: he had rejected religious beliefs -- I remember one quote. He said that if it turned out that religion was real he'd adopt to it in the afterlife otherwise. . . .
Thank you so much for that clarification!!
I'm afraid your author doesn't really understand Greek grammar, or else he is running one of his rabbit trails (Bullinger had a burr under his saddle about a number of theological issues.) In this case, looking for the nearest feminine noun (in another sentence) is not a sound grammatical argument. Greek nouns don't have to agree in gender in a parallel construction - think! otherwise you could only place in parallel nouns which happened to be of the same gender. And gender (other than obvious things like men and women) is random in Greek and not always what you would expect.
Moreover, Christ could not call Peter a feminine name, which would create all sorts of other interpretive problems. One of the goofier contemporary translations tried to express this grammar by saying "You're Rocky - "
Christ wasn't calling Peter a feminine name. Christ was referring to the Church in the feminine.
So it is safe to assume you do not follow Christ's teaching to hate the sin but love the sinner?
When we pray the Lord's Prayer as Jesus told us to, we say: "...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..." An awesome and fearsome request when you think it through. Are you hoping to be as unforgiven as you would have wanted McVeigh unforgiven?
No, the 1 Corinthians 3 passage does not have to do with repentance. It has to do with God evaluating the works of His believers to establish their reward. As noted in the passage, some of the believer's works are worthless - these are characterized as wood, hay and stubble which will be burnt up when His test is applied to them. Other works though will survive when tested by fire. These are characterized as being silver, gold and precious stones. As noted in verse 15 though, this has nothing to do with whether the person is saved or whether they will make it to heaven in the afterlife. It only has to do with the reward he/she receives there as a result of their works here on planet earth.
See my post 57 concerning what 1 Corinthians 3 means. Read the whole chapter to get the context and you will see. Where are you getting the idea that 'suffering' is referred to here?
Revelation 21:27 tells us that "nothing unclean shall enter" into Heaven.
Right you are .... but your conclusion that 'for others it will take more time' (meaning purgatory) is horribly wrong. The correct answer is found in many places in the New Testament. John 3:16 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' (this says that the one who believes doesn't perish but has everlasting life FROM THE MOMENT OF BELIEF IN CHRIST.And How about this story in Luke 23 when the two thieves were on the cross with Christ? 39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Notice, Christ said TODAY.... there was no purgatory for a man who even admitted that he was a thief and deserved to die. If this is the case for a criminal, why would it be any different for anyone else>
This would constitute a "baptism of blood". It was also before the Pentecost and the establishment of the regular Sacraments and forms of the Church.
Now here is what my Bible says about how one gets to heaven......it's not what mankind can do but what Christ has already done. All one needs to do is repent and believe (be born again) and Christ will blot out the sins.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Acts 3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.