Unfathomable Love

The love of Christ! Such a precious theme! Of it, can we ever weary? Never! Its greatness, can we ever know? Never! Its plenitude, can we fully contain? Never! Its depths cannot be fathomed, its dimensions cannot be measured! It passes knowledge! All that Jesus did for His people was but the unfolding and expression of His love.

Traveling to Bethlehem — I see love incarnate!

Tracking His steps as He went about doing good — I see love laboring!

Visiting the house of Bethany — I see love sympathizing!

Standing by the grave of Lazarus — I see love weeping!

Entering the gloomy precincts of Gethsemane — I see love sorrowing!

Passing on to Calvary — I see love suffering, and bleeding, and expiring!

The whole scene of His life — is but an unfolding of the deep, and awesome, and precious mystery of redeeming love!

“May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should — how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully!” Ephesians 3:18-19
—Octavius Winslow

 

When Friend’s Turn to Enemies

When malice, or envy, or suspicion, or evil surmising exists, no established reputation, no lack of evidence of guilt can “tie the gall up in the slanderous
tongue.” By a long and holy life Job had given incontestable evidence of the purity of his character. His friends could bring no proof of his criminality in
anything. Yet they charged him with cruelty, avarice and hypocrisy. Such wickedness has not yet left the earth. It is no new or rare thing for the best men
to be charged with the basest plans, principles or practices. It will be so until grace shall reign through Jesus Christ over all hearts. A propensity to evil
thoughts and evil speeches is among the last faults of character from which even good men are delivered.

7. If friends accuse us falsely and act as enemies, let us not forget to pray for them. Job set us the example: Job 42:8. Enmities arising between old friends
are generally more violent than others. “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.”
Prov. 18:19. But we must not yield to passion. We must forgive and seek blessings on those who falsely accuse us and cruelly treat us. It was not until
Job prayed for his accusers that God turned his captivity. Let us never carry a load of malice in our hearts. It is worse than any evil we can suffer at the hand
of man.

8. When our characters are assailed, we are at liberty to use Christian measures to remove an evil report. It is then best to leave the whole matter in the hands of God. Lawsuits for character may be lawful and sometimes expedient. But when bad passions are excited, no character is so unspotted that malice will not spew out its venom against it. We may deny our guilt; we may call for evidence against us; we may bring evidence of innocence; but with men of heated imaginations and strong prejudices, evidence never has its just weight.

What is the grief of each one? Is it poverty, poor health, loss of reputation, loss of spiritual comfort? Whatever it is, take for an example of suffering
affliction Job, the narrative of whose trials was written for our comfort. Like him, let each one say of the Almighty, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in
him.” Job 13:15. Never was pious confidence in the Lord misplaced. Never did any trust in him and was confounded.
—William S Plumer ‘Job’s Trials and Mercies’

 

Luther’s Advice for Proud Preachers and Teachers

Martin Luther:

If, however, you feel and are inclined to think you have made it, flattering yourself with your own little books, teaching, or writing, because you have done it beautifully and preached excellently; if you are highly pleased when someone praises you in the presence of others; if you perhaps look for praise, and would sulk or quit what you are doing if you did not get it—if you are of that stripe, dear friend, then take yourself by the ears, and if you do this in the right way you will find a beautiful pair of big, long, shaggy donkey ears.

Then do not spare any expense! Decorate them with golden bells, so that people will be able to hear you wherever you go, point their fingers at you, and say, “See, see! There goes that clever beast, who can write such exquisite books and preach so remarkably well.” That very moment you will be blessed and blessed beyond measure in the kingdom of heaven. Yes, in that heaven where hellfire is ready for the devil and his angels.

—Martin Luther, LW 34:287-288.

HT: Timothy George, Reading Scripture with the Reformers, p. 164.

 

Ray Comfort’s “180″ Film on Hitler and Abortion

It’s nicely produced, its conclusion is definitely worth advocating, and some of its methods may be worth emulating. I pray that the Lord will use this film in some way to stop the holocaust of abortion in America and around the world.

I agree with pro-life apologist Scott Klusendorf, who evaluated the film from an apologetics-content standpoint, and concludes with this accolade:

Despite these concerns, the film is worth seeing and Comfort gets huge accolades for his courage in confronting abortion head-on. Say what you want, at least he’s doing something about it and for that I am immensely grateful. Before ripping him, his evangelical critics need to ask themselves what they are doing to stop the bloodshed. Are they taking this holocaust as seriously as Comfort does? I can only pray that one day they will.

I should confess at the front-end that I have mixed feelings about documentary-type films. On the one hand, when done well (here’s looking at you, Ken Burns!) they can be enormously entertaining and a vehicle for learning. On the other hand, you don’t have to be a film expert to know that the genre can be a conclusion in search of a film narrative (here’s looking at you, Michael Moore!). If you ask 100 people a question, it’s easy to edit it down to the 5 people who responded in the way that you wanted. And you can take those 5 people and edit their answers to advance the narrative even further. I say all of that by way of general principle, before diving into any specifics of this film and its editing.

Before even watching this film, it’s interesting to make an observation or two about the intense marketing that is being attempted with the hope that the video will go “viral.” The promotional materials imply that “8 people changed their mind about abortion in a manner of seconds.” Comfort himself told The Christian Post that he asked a question that was “so powerful that it not only changed the people’s minds about abortion, and made them do a 180 (degree turn in viewpoint), but it made them do a 180 when it comes to their own eternal salvation.” This suggests a silver-bullet, one-question approach to abortion and salvation, and I don’t think the actual film really bears this out. The promotional materials also refer to the film as being “award-winning,” but I haven’t been able to find thus far what “awards” it has won. [Update: I've been told now that the the film, when it was called "Hitler's Religion," won the bronze prize in the Religion/Spiritual category of the Telly Awards.] I think overselling a project like this actually tends to work with the public, but for me it creates a bit of suspicion from the get-go.

Comfort’s goal in this project is to change America by God’s grace. Listen to Comfort’s logical progression in the following quote—I added some brackets to identify the point—for how he thinks this film will change America:

We’d like to see this film go viral because [a] if you can change what a person believes about abortion [b] you are going to change the way they vote, and [c] that can change the direction of this nation and [d] this nation surely can be turned back to God. A lot of people have (already) said this will turn the nation back to God with His help.

The desire is commendable but naive, especially if it sees changing of voting patterns as the linchpin. In Comfort’s line of questioning in the film, that appears to be the end-goal.

The film begins with Comfort asking several people “Who was Adolf Hitler?” Most of the interviewees—at least the ones shown on film—don’t know who he is or what he did. At this point I suspect many who answered correctly were edited out. Nothing wrong with that I guess, but it sets up the film in a strange way as if no one in America remembers who Hitler was or what he did.

The ignorant respondents are contrasted with a couple of contemporary neo-Nazis who spew their hatred.

Comfort then runs a thought experiment: It’s 1939, you have a high-powered rifle, and you have Hitler in your sights. Would you pull the trigger? (Respondents—including a man whose family died in the Holocaust—say “yes.” This man goes on to say that he would have not only killed Hitler but all of his friends and all of his relatives!)

Comfort then asks: If it was 30 years earlier, would you have killed Hitler’s pregnant mother knowing what you know now? (Again respondents say “yes.”)

This was a strange part of the film for me. I don’t know how Comfort himself would answer those questions. I suspect he would advocate killing in both cases—but I don’t know for sure. I’m not sure if he is implying a utilitarian ethic on behalf of life, or if he is merely “priming the pump” to get these folks thinking ethically through moral dilemmas related to life. This line of reasoning is never developed and makes the film’s logic seem disjointed.

From here Comfort explains (rightly) that Hitler not only hated Judaism but also Christianity, and he briefly describes some of his horrific acts.

At this point we’re one-third of the way through the 33-minute film.

Now Comfort moves to his third thought experiment: It’s 1943, and a Nazi officer points a machine gun at you, forcing you to drive a bulldozer  toward 100 Jewish families who have been shot. Many of them are dead, but some are still alive. Driving the bulldozer forward would bury them alive. If you do what the Nazi says, he’ll let you live; if not, he’ll shoot you dead. Would you do it? (The response here is evenly mixed, yes and no.)

Now the fourth thought experiment: if the Nazi gave you a machine gun in the same situation, would you just finish them off? This would be more merciful, Comfort says. (Again the response is mixed.)

Comfort for the first time raises the issue of abortion. Observing that his interviewee seems to value human life, he asks what they think about it. Most responded that it’s a tricky situation.

Then he asks if it’s a baby in the womb, or when the baby becomes a life. He takes the helpful tactic of making them flesh out their moral beliefs on abortion: Finish this sentence: It’s okay to kill a baby in the womb when ________. He also asks what justifies killing a baby in the womb.

To a respondent who says that she doesn’t know, Comfort rightly responds: If you had the opportunity to detonate a building and you weren’t sure there was human life inside, would you still blow it up?

For a young man who says it’s important to “give it some thought” before an abortion, Comfort asks if he sees that that’s like saying it’s important just to “give it some thought” before burying those Jews alive. (The respondent senses the contradiction.) A few more clips are shown where Comfort circles back to earlier answers: they would give their life to save the Jews but are okay with allowing a baby to die in the womb (which for some reason Comfort calls “the safest place on earth,” despite the statistics on non-elective abortion pregnancy loss).

On the answer of rape, Comfort again asks a good question: Why would you kill the baby for the crime of the father?

To another person Comfort asks when life begins. She doesn’t know, so he asks whether or not she thinks God knows. She thinks he does. Comfort then points out the sixth commandment: you shall not kill. Hitler declared Jews to be non-human, and that’s what you’re doing if you declare it’s not a baby until three months.

Comfort also make the Nazi Germany analogy in response to those who say abortion is okay but they don’t agree with it. It’s at this point that Comfort asks the respondent feeling the contradiction if he is changing his mind on abortion, and he says that yes, it’s definitely making him think.

Two other respondents see the problems when Comfort asks, “Abortion is okay when ______?” and say that abortion is now wrong. A third says he has a valid point.

Two-thirds of the way through the film now,  Comfort returns to Hitler’s view of the Ten Commandments as a segue to his method of evangelism. Unfortunately, the quote from Hitler at 23:23, while something Hitler might have said, is actually from a a novel. (Hitler’s views on Christianity are well-known and can be shown through actual quotes, as Erwin Lutzer demonstrated years ago.)

It’s at this point that Comfort transitions from abortion to his well-known method of evangelism. He asks folks a series of questions: Have you ever lied? (Yes.) What do you call someone who lies? (A liar.) He does the same with fornication and adultery of the heart, taking the Lord’s name in vain, stealing. He also asks if they are good enough to go to heaven, to stand before God on judgment. Most (though not all) suggest they are good enough, and he points out that by their own profession they are lying, thieving, blaspheming fornicators. The line of questioning helps the listener to confront the contradiction between sin and acceptance by a holy God. Comfort then says that Jesus paid the penalty for sins and that we must repent and put on Christ (not just look at Jesus like a parachute but actually put it on to save us).

It’s hard for me not to think here of D.L. Moody’s quip when his ministry methods were questioned: “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.” But I think it’s still worth pointing out for those who would like to utilize or adapt Comfort’s method of evangelism: perhaps the most important book to read here would be John Piper’s God Is the Gospel. I get nervous about evangelism results that are mainly motivated by and predicated on avoiding judgment and hell and not also seeing the beauty and glory and joy of Jesus Christ.

Here are my simple big-picture take-aways from the film:

Comfort’s end-goals are commendable and necessary: seeing the logic and horror of abortion and seeing the need for salvation from judgment (even if the latter is relatively one-sided).Comfort models courage and the power of asking questions. He wisely seeks to make his respondents defend their moral claims. Comfort asks some good questions (especially on rape and in response to those who don’t know if it’s a life in the womb). But he also asks some bad questions: I still don’t know why you’d ask about using a high-powered rife to kill Mrs. Hitler and abort her son! As evangelicals and as Americans we have been conditioned to get excited about silver-bullet approaches. But there’s no “one question”—despite the buzz—that will turn someone from pro-choice to pro-life in “seconds.” The same is true with regard to salvation.The conversations in the film are essentially one-way: Comfort asks all the questions, they have to defend their beliefs. This probably works better with man-on-the-street interviews—especially with a microphone and a camera—than in actual conversations and especially in relationships. Again, there’s certainly nothing wrong with doing this. But I think we should be realistic in seeing that asking good questions is a transferable tactic—the “silver-bullet” interview-style dialogue probably is not.I’m concerned that the way in which Comfort backs someone into the corner morally and logically may be good for reaching quick decisions, but I’m not sure it really equips them to understand the ultimate issues, especially when they are confronted with an intelligent pro-abortion advocate. I think that the tactics developed by Greg Koukl and Scott Klusendorf—which may not produce as many ostensible 180's—will produce more lasting fruit.To quote Klusendorf again: “Thank you, Ray Comfort. I’m thankful you care enough about abortion to do something about it. I’m grateful for the resources you personally invested to make the film. I’m glad you take abortion seriously.” Amen. I am virtually certain the film will not change our country. But if the Lord uses it to change some minds and hearts—and thereby save some lives—it will all be worth it.

 

Responding to the “Do You Really Want to Go to Leviticus?” Argument

Michael Horton responds to a clever open letter to Laura Schlesinger, who appeals to Leviticus 18:22 for why she believes homosexuality is an abomination. Here were the satirical questions:

Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness – Lev15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

 

What Was It Like to Hear Luther Lecture?

A student of Luther’s described his teacher, who used a more succinct style in the classroom than he did in his writings:

He was a man of middle stature, with a voice which combined sharpness and softness; it was soft in tone, sharp in the enunciation of syllables, words, and sentences. He spoke neither too quickly nor too slowly, but at an even pace, without hesitation, and very clearly, and in such fitting order that each part flowed naturally out of what went before. He did not expound each part in large labyrinths of words, but first the individual words, then the sentences, so that one could see how the content of the exposition arose, and flowed out of the text itself. . . . For this is how he took it from a book of essential matter which he had himself prepared, so that he had his lecture material always ready to hand—conclusions, digressions, moral philosophy and also antitheses: and so his lectures never contained anything that was not pithy or relevant. And, to say something about the spirit of the man: if even the fiercest enemies of the gospel had been among his hearers, they would have confessed from the force of what they heard, that they had witnessed, not a man, but a spirit, for he could not teach such amazing things from himself, but only from the influence of some good or evil spirit.”

Source: H. Boehmer—H. Bornkamm, Der junge Luther (Hamburg, 1939), p. 367, as translated by Gordon Rupp in Luther’s Progress to the Diet of Worms, 1521 (Wilcox and Follett, 1951), p. 44; cited in Wilhelm Pauck’s introduction to Luther: Lectures on Romans, Library of Christian Classics (Westminster John Knox, 1961), pp. lxi-lxii.

The Better Part: Fr. John Bartunek Shares Our Journey

“We’re all contradictory.  We all have the potential for great good and the potential for great sin — that’s the human condition.”

Gayle recently spoke with Father John Bartunek, a priest in the order of the Legion of Christ, a religious congregation.  Father Bartunek is the author of several books, including Inside the Passion: An Insider’s Look at the Passion of the Christ, and The Better Part: A Christ Centered Resource for Personal Prayer.  Fr. Bartunek received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Stanford University in 1990, graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. After college, he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the Legionaries of Christ. Fr. Bartunek has since received degrees in philosophy and theology, worked in youth and college ministries, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003.  You can learn more about Father Bartunek here.

Click here to listen to our twenty-five minute discussion or read the transcript below.

Gayle Trotter: This is Gayle Trotter, today I’m speaking with Father John Bartunek, a priest in the Legionaries of Christ and the author of several books, including an insider’s view of Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ. Thank you so much for speaking with me today, Father Bartunek.

Fr. John Bartunek: It’s my pleasure. Great to be with you.

GT: Father, can you explain the contradiction of Mel Gibson and his film? How do we have such a spiritually deep and powerful movie as The Passion of Christ from someone whose personal story is so complicated and, many would say, less than exemplary.

JB: I think his own story, his own contradiction or challenges, his own journey, is really similar to all of our journeys because we’re all contradictory. We all have the potential for great good and the potential for great sin — that’s the human condition. I think in his case it’s been magnified for the public eye because he’s such a celebrity, such a public figure. And also sometimes I think that people who have been given great gifts in the area of creativity have a greater spiritual sensitivity, and they can even be more vulnerable when it comes to the spiritual warfare that every Christian is undergoing. So I think we all fight the spiritual battle, and unfortunately Mel has had to fight it in the public eye and that’s really exaggerated the bad parts but also maybe even the good parts. So I pray for him every day and I don’t think the good that his work has done should be ignored just because of the struggles he’s been having.

GT: Father, you did not come from a religious household. Would you agree that American culture is so infused with Christianity that you couldn’t resist becoming a Christian?

JB: [laughs] That’s an interesting question. No, I remember when I became a Christian, and it was a very intimate and personal encounter with Jesus Christ and the ambient of faith — him speaking to my heart. It was a very conscious decision to become his follower so I don’t think that it was just falling into where society was going or wherever a particular group was going. And, frankly, I know plenty of people who live in the same culture and are not following Christ, are not his disciples so I don’t think it’s an automatic thing. I think God always respects us. Obviously a culture can help or hinder our search for God, and I think we’re in a period now in American culture where the popular culture, anyway, is definitely hindering it, especially because it encourages so much immorality. It’s taken away respect for moral integrity and moral norms.

GT: I understand that your parents divorced when you were a child. Do you have any spiritual advice for kids who are currently experiencing the divorce of their parents?

JB: Absolutely. I think that children who are experiencing the divorce of their parents or whose parents are recently divorced really need to look to God as a father and to the blessed Virgin Mary as a mother if they are Catholic. God’s spiritual fatherhood — he is the source of every family. And his love doesn’t depend on circumstances and doesn’t get tired and doesn’t wear out and it’s real. And that can be an anchor and a foundation for a very fruitful life and a very meaningful life, even if your own family life isn’t ideal or has even completely fallen apart.

GT: That’s very encouraging. When you were in college, you spent some time in Italy soaking up the magnificent art and architecture. How did this affect you spiritually?

JB: My time in Europe and Italy and also in Poland and exposure to that magnificent, as you say, Catholic culture as expressed in the art and the architecture and even the liturgies had a profound effect on my spiritual life. It actually activated a whole sector of my own soul that I had never known existed. From the exposure to that kind of profound beauty that is explicitly linked to the Christian faith, I felt like I was waking up, spiritually. I felt like there was a whole new world to discover. A whole new path to go down to come closer to Jesus Christ that no one had ever even told me about and that God was leading me down. The art and the architecture — the elements of that profound Christian culture which had been developed through the centuries by men and women of faith — it spoke to me very deeply. It spoke to me very deeply and began to tell me that I was part of a bigger story. That the church — God’s family — wasn’t just my little church in my neighborhood. No, it was a much bigger story and there was more that God wanted to tell me and more that he wanted to show me and more than he wanted me to do. So it was a turning point in my life. It really was.

GT: Would you say that it was the time in your life when your faith really came alive for you?

JB: No, I would say my faith came alive when I was 13, and I started going to an evangelical Christian church. I went for about six months without really believing anything. And then there I first heard God speaking to my heart and I became a follower of Jesus. So that was the beginning — that’s where it started. What happened when I went to Italy was my particular vocation, my particular calling began to come over the horizon: my calling to the priesthood. To give my life, entirely, to serve God and his people in the church. That’s what came out of my year in Italy and in Poland and that immersion in that Catholic culture.

GT: How did you make that final decision to actually become a priest?

JB: The final moment of decision came after a long journey, as you can imagine, which began there in Italy. Then I finished college and I continued studying the Catholic faith because I had some doubts about the Catholic church. I had some misunderstandings, as well, about their teachings. So I worked through those. I didn’t want to pretend that I didn’t have those. So I met regularly with a priest for a couple years until I worked through those, and then I really became convinced that this is the church that Jesus had started and that he was calling me to attend to that church, and I wanted to become a priest right away. And it was funny, when I was confirmed in the Catholic church, the priest I had been meeting with told me, “Well, maybe you should wait. You don’t want to confuse your call to be Catholic with a call to be a priest. You know, one step at a time. Take it easy.” So at that point I left my teaching job. After college I had started a job teaching. And I went to Chicago and started a career in the entertainment industry, which is where I always thought I would go. That was kind of my long-term career goal. I’d always dreamed about making movies about historical subjects — writing and maybe directing. So I moved to Chicago and began doing that, and then the idea of the priesthood just wouldn’t go away. It was like a sunrise: It just kept getting brighter and brighter and brighter. And it’s funny, when that priest advised me to wait before joining the seminary, I decided, “Maybe that’s a sign from God that I’m not supposed to be a priest,” so I started to date again and actually met a wonderful woman and we had a very beautiful dating relationship. It was kind of like the perfect match. It was that relationship that was the final indicator to me that I at least had to try the seminary — that I really felt God was calling me. Because I actually loved that woman truly and sincerely; it was a more mature love than I’d ever had with anyone I’d dated before. And I knew that, because I loved her, she deserved a husband who could give himself entirely to her, be a true husband, die for her, live for her. And in my heart, when I looked into my heart, there was part of my heart — the deepest part — that I couldn’t give to her because I felt like God was asking me to give it to him. And so that to me was a profound insight into my own vocation to the priesthood.

GT: Do you think the priest who advised you was right in giving that original advice so that you could come to the place where you understood that?

JB: Oh, I don’t know. I think it worked out okay, but I don’t know if I would give the same advice to a young man in my position at that time. As we mentioned at the beginning, I really believe that in society, in the culture, there’s always a kind of spiritual battle going on and we can’t be naïve. When God comes and asks us something, when we delay, we give more room for the enemy of our soul to stir things up and confuse things.

GT: If someone is interested in being a priest, how would he learn more about it?

JB: The first step, an easy step, is a great website called vocation.com which a few of us put together a few years ago, and it continues to reach out to thousands of young people who are thinking about the priesthood and also religious life. So there are a lot of testimonies there and there are some things, like a guideline. If you feel that God is calling you, you need to respond. And that doesn’t mean that you need to join the seminary today, but you need to put yourself in a position where you can hear and heed God as he guides you along. That means daily prayer. That means finding someone who can give you some good advice, a spiritual mentor. It means beginning to take the steps to visit young men who are in the seminary. To talk with priests who you trust about their experiences in the priesthood. Instead of just sitting in your bedroom and going over it in your own mind, taking concrete steps is the best way to give the Holy Spirit room to really guide you.

GT: You mentioned that you started out as a professional actor before you became a priest. Did your training and experiences as an actor help you at all in your priestly duties?

JB: I think so. It’s hard to measure exactly. I’d been acting since I was five years old in the theater so it had always been part of my life — drama and theater. I think that it helped developed two things that have been helpful in the priesthood. One is a sensitivity or a capacity to listen, a sensitivity to the needs of others. In theater acting, you really form a bond with the other actors. To bring something alive, you have to form an emotional sensitivity and a capacity to really listen to what others are saying so you can make real on stage the exchanges that people are making. So that’s one thing and as a priest you really have to know how to listen. To know how to listen and to know how to determine what’s behind what’s being said, especially when you’re giving spiritual guidance, when you’re hearing confessions. And then the second thing is, obviously being on stage for many years made me comfortable in front of an audience. And in a sense, when you have to preach a homily or a retreat or when you’re giving a conference as a priest, there are similarities. You are in front of a congregation, which is like an audience, so I think it’s helped me to be able to do that more effectively.

GT: You shared that with Pope John Paul II, too, right?

JB: That’s right, although his theater was a little bit different.

GT: What inspired you to write The Better Part?

JB: The Better Part is a book designed to help people of today pray better and get to know Christ in a personal way. It’s so funny; the two books that I’ve written and that have done pretty well, neither one was my idea. The Better Part was an assignment I received. I’m a member of a religious order which has priests working throughout the world, giving retreats and giving a lot of one-on-one spiritual guidance to lay men and women. That’s the core of what we do in our order. A couple years ago there was a general sentiment among a lot of members of my order throughout the world that there was a need for some new resources that could help lay people today grow in their prayer life. They all saw that the Holy Spirit was leading these lay men and women to a deeper life of prayer, but the resources available to help them were older resources and didn’t really connect with the needs that they have in today’s world which is so digitalized and media-saturated and has so many challenges. So I got an email from my superior asking me to come up with something that could help people do that. So my vow of obedience was enacted, it triggered in there, and I started working on The Better Part.

GT: And what is the source of the title, The Better Part?

JB: The Better Part is a line from Luke chapter 10, when Martha and Mary are having Jesus and his apostles over for dinner and Mary, the younger sister, is sitting in the living room where Jesus is talking with his apostles and she’s just at his feet, drinking up every word he says. And Martha is in the kitchen and the dining room setting the table and getting everything ready and she’s doing all the work. And she gets fed up with her sister Mary so she comes up to Jesus and says, “Lord, can’t you tell Mary to help me out a little bit? I’m doing all this by myself.” And our Lord looks at Martha and says, “Martha, Martha, you’re worried and are fretting over many things but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.” So the better part is always to give first place to God and his activity, so that our activity flows from God’s love working in our hearts and from our knowledge of God’s will and that’s really what prayer is all about. Prayer is all about anchoring our lives in God, giving him the first place, and allowing our lives to be a response to discovering God’s love. So we thought it would be a great title to a book that helps people in their personal prayer.

GT: You write about many types of prayer. What type of prayer do you prefer?

JB: That’s an interesting question. I see the three main types of prayer going together. Vocal prayer, which is where you use someone else’s words, like when you pray the Our Father. Liturgical prayer, which is when you pray together as the family of God, when we go to mass, for instance. And then personal prayer, when you’re just one-on-one with God. I think they all go together. They’re all necessary, they’re all a part and they all have their individual purpose and benefits. But I think the keystone or the real piece that makes all three of those work well is your personal prayer, your personal God time every day, where you’re talking to God in the quiet of your own heart, about what’s important to him and what’s important to you. I try never to miss that. And when I do that then my ability to pray during mass is better. Then my ability to pray the vocal prayers — that for instance in my order when we pray together as a community — is better, because the Catechism teaches us that fundamentally prayer is a relationship, not an item on a to-do list. And so you need to have alone time with God where you reflect on his word and you allow his word to seep into your heart and to enlighten your mind and that is where you tune in to God’s mission for your life and the adventure he wants to lead you on. So that would be my preferred type, I think.

GT: All Christians at some point in their lives deal with doubt. Have you experienced doubt and how did you overcome it?

JB: Doubt is an interesting term. There’s actually a theological weight to that term. I would say I’ve experienced difficulties. A lot of difficulties. Challenges, moments of confusion, moments of weakness, moments of frustration, or even sometimes seasons of frustration. But I can’t say that I’ve ever doubted — since I became a believer — I can’t say that I’ve doubted that God exists. I can’t say that. But there have definitely been difficulties, times when it’s been hard to accept God’s love for me, for instance, or hard to do what he’s asking me. And how did I respond to that? I got on my knees and I prayed for strength. And you just pray for strength and you renew your commitment to Jesus. He’s trustworthy, and we learn that he’s trustworthy the more that we pray, the more that we do that personal prayer, that meditative prayer, that’s how we truly learn that he’s trustworthy. So then when the difficulties come, when darkness comes, as Psalm 23 says, “Even though I shall walk through a valley as dark as death, I shall not fear,” because he is by my side. And “As long as he is with us, who can be against us?” as Saint Paul says. So that’s how I deal with it — I just get on my knees and pray and then focus very much on what I know God wants me to do right now. And sometimes it’s so simple as, “Well, now it’s my turn to do the dishes.” So that’s what God wants me to do now. I can do that. And then the next thing, and then the next thing. I love Matthew chapter six, verse 34, where our Lord says, “Do not fret about tomorrow, let tomorrow fret over its own cares, for today, today’s troubles are enough.” And in times of difficulty I go back to that verse over and over again. I’m just going to focus on what you want me to do today, Lord, and leave the rest in your hands.

GT: So would you say that that’s your favorite Bible verse that gives you strength during hard times?

JB: That’s one of them. It depends on my mood.

GT: Do you have another one that you’d like to share with our listeners?

JB: I love that one and I love the one that comes right before it as well which is, “Set your hearts on his kingdom first and his righteousness and all these other things will be given to you as well.” It’s just putting God first, putting Jesus first, and surrendering that need that we all have because of original sin to kind of build a personal kingdom where we think we can control everything and create heaven on earth. And surrendering that need and shutting out and following wherever God leads every day. And that verse — both those verses — really help remind me. Although that verse from Jeremiah where our Lord says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you.” That’s a powerful verse as well and I think I go back to that almost every year during my yearly retreat just because it shows that in the end, everything goes down to the fact that God loves each one of us personally and that is the bottom line. So I really do love that verse as well.

GT: Thank you so much, Father, for sharing your life with us so that we can be encouraged by what you have shared with us.

JB: You’re very welcome.