• Blog
  • Archive
  • The Grand Retablo
  • Bio/Contact
  • Menu

Rector Emeritus

Rector Emeritus
  • Blog
  • Archive
  • The Grand Retablo
  • Bio/Contact
Blog RSS
Taliban.jpg

Reflection for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 28, 2021

Jesus responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
    This people honors me with their lips,
        but their hearts are far from me;
    in vain do they worship me,
        teaching as doctrines human precepts.

You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” 

With the recent fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, religious fundamentalism and its insidious intolerance is once again in the news.  True religious belief invariably manifests itself in broadening the ‘tent’ of God’s mercy and love.  False religious belief invariably reflects more about human pathologies than having anything to do with the God of light and love. 

Down through the centuries, religious intolerance has marred and disfigured the true face of the living and eternal God, whether it was the Pharisees at the time of Jesus or our latter-day religious zealots who “kill in the name of God.” 

We would be naïve if we were to believe that such backward thinking is solely relegated to the caves of Afghanistan.  We need only peruse social media today to sadly realize that such attitudes are alive and well in our own country as its cancer metastasizes and attempts to strangle the meaning of true religion. 

True religion manifests itself in the fruit of God’s Spirit: peace, patience, loving-kindness, a non-judgmental heart, forbearance and forgiveness and integrity.  False religion glories in hypocrisy and in teaching as doctrines human precepts. 

The antidote to religious fundamentalism and the hypocrisy that it nurtures is the virtue of humility.  All that we are and have come from the loving hands of a gracious God, from whom all blessings flow.  True religious sentiments are grounded in the humble recognition that, together with all our sisters and brothers in the human family, we stand in awe and reverence before the God of unfailing goodness and unconditional love.  God is not made in our image, but we are fashioned in God’s divine image and are called to reflect that holy presence to the world.  Let us pray for that grace this day and every day of our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prev / Next

msgr. Arthur a. holquin, s.t.L.

Msgr. Art was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1974 for service in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Shortly after the creation of the new Diocese of Orange in 1976, he completed post-graduate work at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, obtaining an S.T.L. in Sacramental Theology and an M.A. in Religious Studies. He has served the Diocese in a number of ministerial capacities:  Director for the Office of Worship, Director for the Office of Evangelization, Rector of Holy Family Cathedral and finally, Pastor and Rector of Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano. In 2009 he contracted a rare neurological condition (Primary Lateral Sclerosis) that gradually impacted his walking and speech. In 2014 he was named Rector Emeritus of the Basilica parish. Msgr. Art’s favorite quotation is from Blessed Henry Cardinal Newman: To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.


Featured Posts

Featured
IMG_2447.JPG
Jul 20, 2019
Reflections on the Dedication of Christ Cathedral
Jul 20, 2019
Jul 20, 2019
fullsizeoutput_2955.jpeg
Jul 15, 2019
From Crystal to Christ - A Guide to the Nation's newest Cathedral
Jul 15, 2019
Jul 15, 2019
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_8e3.jpg
Mar 19, 2018
Progress Report on Christ Cathedral Renovation
Mar 19, 2018
Mar 19, 2018
Life is about Change
Mar 19, 2017
Life is about Change
Mar 19, 2017
Mar 19, 2017