One of the simplest, and most vital of the spiritual activities is Discernment... It is also the most misunderstood and over mystified. Discernment, simply put is learning what is like or unlike between two things.
If I was to Discern whether or not my vocation was like that of a priests, in or outside of an order, I must first learn about myself, and second about that vocation. I must then way the parts of that vocation that are like myself and unlike myself, and finally to decide whether or not the two are similar enough to be compatible.
Many people object to this understanding because they are looking for a pseudo-mystical experience out of the lives of the Saints. They want God to come down from heaven and tell them what to do. So they sit with their mind blank and wait for revelation. God, however, only reveals Himself since He, Himself, is Truth and not I, then one will most likely not receive answers from divine revelation about which way their own path should go. Further only a true contemplative can sit in real quiet, contemplate and move closer to God... It is a practiced thing and not an easy one for humans to even understand, much less master. All the contemplative monks and friars that we read about will all state that they only have the briefest hint of a glimpse at this state where the soul meets God, and all work for lifetimes to attain it... Even if only for a few seconds.
There are some saints whom God has seen fit to intervene with directly like St. Faustina and Blessed Mother Theresa. All the saints know, though how to discern. They know how to look into themselves, find the self that God created, take it out examine it and compare it to areas of the world... Not to hold that self on high as better then the world, but to find their place in it. Does the square peg think it's better then the round hole because it does not fit the mold? Or can it only truly be happy in a square hole?
Discernment is simple, but not easy because, one has to learn at great cost about the self which God has created. Through prayer, scripture, reading and study of holy men, women and their writings we find out more about ourselves and how we have been made, then the loving, but completely incomprehensible God. We only understand what we do about God because as His creation He is reflected in us. Once we know the self that God has made, in His image, we are more ready and able to find him in the world.
Being able to discern not only helps us find the spots where we fit but also helps us to find spiritual gifts in others that enable us to work together in God's kingdom. Who is greater St. Francis or St. Dominic? Blessed Mother Theresa or Pope John Paul? St. Peter or St. Paul? Foolish debates each and everyone because as history proves those Saints work better together! Each has his or her own vocation. Knowing and understanding how to discern gives us great freedom from jealousy and envy. I, having great analytical ability only envy the athlete because I have been taught to do so by a system that prides itself on athletes. In the kingdom of God the athlete and the analytic stand together in God's glory.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Favor vs. Retribution
Take any single event, let's start with a car's engine.
The engine may or may not start each time I try to start it. If it starts then God is merciful and I am in his favor, if it doesn't then the Devil is attacking me. Let's say the engine doesn't start and it causes me to miss some event I think of as important. If I see positive results come out of that missed meeting that I feel most certainly that I am under attack by the devil... Conversely if something bad happens at the meeting then I take that as evidence that God spared me. Finally there are those that, belief in God or no belief in God, say that it is just the way of the world and that these things happen...
So I contemplate all these things around this single instance... And this is what I feel.
God does not affect physical things, except by moving the hearts of man kind. Maybe God calls me to order and maintain my car, maybe he hardens my heart against it... Who is to say? But the opposing side desires us to attribute supernatural powers to everything so that anything can be believed as a sign of his power. For the reasoning follows that if there was a bad event that God saved me from then the badness must have been of the devil and God saw fit to save me from the evil terrible force. As if God is like the French underground in an World War II movie. Powerful but working in secret to thwart the mega powerful villain. This is not so.
God calls my heart to accept with patience and charity and event that occurs from losing a shoe to being martyred. It is my choice to conform to His will, and thus change the course of my life. He calls but we must hear and follow... God cares little, I feel about business meetings, timeliness, car engines, and so much more about how we behave and act as a result. He will give us strength and patience to overcome obstacles and the wisdom to see which hurdles we set for ourselves were unsafe or dangerous.
The opposing side wishes us to believe that God has so little faith and love for us that God, himself must directly interact with physical things to keep us from following what the opposing side wants us to believe is unyielding and unavoidable temptation. Partly because he wants us to defend against the physical things that we *judge* to be sinful so that we spend all our time effort and energy defending against physical things and spending no time placing barriers on the actual place of conflict and that is the spirit. The opposing side is so good at his job of twisting and bending truth that while a man on the exterior may be feeding the poor and conforming to chastity, but on the interior might be a slave to his own pride and vanity about the good works he is doing. He might be so much a slave to these things that he believes with every jesture and movement he is earning ( and sometimes already earned ) a place at the side of Christ.
Christ has told us that he has already prepared a place for us... We just have to go there. He laid out the roadmap, and leaves us to our own to follow that roadmap. He cheers on our every spiritual growth no matter how small, and jumps for joy when that growth flows into the physical and mental world... But our physical success or failure means little. We will always sometimes succeed and sometimes fail and through every chance Christ is standing with us and will help us learn and grow from either outcome. The opposing side however is there too telling us that Christ has already spoken to us in the outcome of the situation and there is no need for further consultation because the evidence is plainly visible in the material world.
The engine may or may not start each time I try to start it. If it starts then God is merciful and I am in his favor, if it doesn't then the Devil is attacking me. Let's say the engine doesn't start and it causes me to miss some event I think of as important. If I see positive results come out of that missed meeting that I feel most certainly that I am under attack by the devil... Conversely if something bad happens at the meeting then I take that as evidence that God spared me. Finally there are those that, belief in God or no belief in God, say that it is just the way of the world and that these things happen...
So I contemplate all these things around this single instance... And this is what I feel.
God does not affect physical things, except by moving the hearts of man kind. Maybe God calls me to order and maintain my car, maybe he hardens my heart against it... Who is to say? But the opposing side desires us to attribute supernatural powers to everything so that anything can be believed as a sign of his power. For the reasoning follows that if there was a bad event that God saved me from then the badness must have been of the devil and God saw fit to save me from the evil terrible force. As if God is like the French underground in an World War II movie. Powerful but working in secret to thwart the mega powerful villain. This is not so.
God calls my heart to accept with patience and charity and event that occurs from losing a shoe to being martyred. It is my choice to conform to His will, and thus change the course of my life. He calls but we must hear and follow... God cares little, I feel about business meetings, timeliness, car engines, and so much more about how we behave and act as a result. He will give us strength and patience to overcome obstacles and the wisdom to see which hurdles we set for ourselves were unsafe or dangerous.
The opposing side wishes us to believe that God has so little faith and love for us that God, himself must directly interact with physical things to keep us from following what the opposing side wants us to believe is unyielding and unavoidable temptation. Partly because he wants us to defend against the physical things that we *judge* to be sinful so that we spend all our time effort and energy defending against physical things and spending no time placing barriers on the actual place of conflict and that is the spirit. The opposing side is so good at his job of twisting and bending truth that while a man on the exterior may be feeding the poor and conforming to chastity, but on the interior might be a slave to his own pride and vanity about the good works he is doing. He might be so much a slave to these things that he believes with every jesture and movement he is earning ( and sometimes already earned ) a place at the side of Christ.
Christ has told us that he has already prepared a place for us... We just have to go there. He laid out the roadmap, and leaves us to our own to follow that roadmap. He cheers on our every spiritual growth no matter how small, and jumps for joy when that growth flows into the physical and mental world... But our physical success or failure means little. We will always sometimes succeed and sometimes fail and through every chance Christ is standing with us and will help us learn and grow from either outcome. The opposing side however is there too telling us that Christ has already spoken to us in the outcome of the situation and there is no need for further consultation because the evidence is plainly visible in the material world.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Absolutes, Devotion, and the Eucharist...
I am a Catholic and I am devoted to God;
If I press that devotion to an absolute, then the very first thing I must do is love God above all. If I love God with all my heart then I am already doing what, I as a Catholic believe to be the greatest commandment. I believe it from two sources, in the first case Christ, whom I believe to be God and Man in a union we *best* describe as this Son of God, states it is first. I believe it also rationally, if I believe in a God and that God is the source and creator of all then my love with a thankful heart should flow back to him.
The second thing that I must do is love my neighbor as myself. There is a lot of semantic games people play with this basic concept but we all know what is meant here. We all desire to be loved and accepted so that is what we must do... Even a nonconformist such as myself wants to be accepted and not persecuted because I do things differently. Christ states this law as second to that first and again it is rationally verifiable.
If we do not do these things first and do *both* of these things first, how can we approach the Eucharist? It is meaningless to try to approach Christ as a brother unseen if we cannot love those brothers we see. God's mercy is infinite as well as his love, but if we cannot find him in the obvious places of this earth ( namely each other ) then what hope have we of finding him once we become separated from this life and existence.
Further if there is a religion, any religion, like mine, that has a concept of God ( for how can the mind of a man contain the total infinite God ) and that God is the creator of *all* then how can anyone justify damaging or hating *any* part of what that God has created. God may destroy anything that he has created, this is not in dispute, but he does not hate any of it.
How can he? If God "hated" anything would it not simply cease to be? How can the will of God form anything imperfectly? So if anything God "hates" never existed, then one must logically deduce that everything left is loved by him... Because we have free will we can choose away from him and he can become displeased... But every parent is disappointed and hurt by a child from time to time but an one say that a loving parent can ever hate their child?
So then how can anyone justify hate? How can someone hate in the name of God?
If I press that devotion to an absolute, then the very first thing I must do is love God above all. If I love God with all my heart then I am already doing what, I as a Catholic believe to be the greatest commandment. I believe it from two sources, in the first case Christ, whom I believe to be God and Man in a union we *best* describe as this Son of God, states it is first. I believe it also rationally, if I believe in a God and that God is the source and creator of all then my love with a thankful heart should flow back to him.
The second thing that I must do is love my neighbor as myself. There is a lot of semantic games people play with this basic concept but we all know what is meant here. We all desire to be loved and accepted so that is what we must do... Even a nonconformist such as myself wants to be accepted and not persecuted because I do things differently. Christ states this law as second to that first and again it is rationally verifiable.
If we do not do these things first and do *both* of these things first, how can we approach the Eucharist? It is meaningless to try to approach Christ as a brother unseen if we cannot love those brothers we see. God's mercy is infinite as well as his love, but if we cannot find him in the obvious places of this earth ( namely each other ) then what hope have we of finding him once we become separated from this life and existence.
Further if there is a religion, any religion, like mine, that has a concept of God ( for how can the mind of a man contain the total infinite God ) and that God is the creator of *all* then how can anyone justify damaging or hating *any* part of what that God has created. God may destroy anything that he has created, this is not in dispute, but he does not hate any of it.
How can he? If God "hated" anything would it not simply cease to be? How can the will of God form anything imperfectly? So if anything God "hates" never existed, then one must logically deduce that everything left is loved by him... Because we have free will we can choose away from him and he can become displeased... But every parent is disappointed and hurt by a child from time to time but an one say that a loving parent can ever hate their child?
So then how can anyone justify hate? How can someone hate in the name of God?
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Focus and Fear
Do we make it to God and Heaven because of the things we do?
Or might we make it there in spite of all that we do because God is merciful?
What can one do in this world that will win heaven?
What finite act or finite number of finite acts can win an infinite Heaven?
The good book reads all is vainity, and it is true.
What can one man do, accept what he allows God to do through him?
If it is God working through him then how can anyone boast of a good work that he has done?
How can any man set himself up as better then another or more holy then another?
We are not dispicable, or filthy... we were made by God.
We are not without value... we were made by God.
We simply lack any comprehensive ability of Him...
...we believe in our secret hearts that we are really in control
...and if we believe in God in any degree...
...we believe that we control God...
...like a TV with a remote control...
...but He bears it and still loves us...
...not as a lofty king on high but as the artist loves his art...
...His art is a part of Him, and He a part of it...
When you look around you see both how far away we are from Him...
...but also how far we have come.
We are good and imperfect at the same time...
So the trick is not to focus on a glorious task that will "win" us heavenly reward... The vocation is to focus on the "heart" He gave us and do what is asked with out reward... To respond as the paintbrush, paint and canvas respond... quiet simple compliance.
Help me be paint to the painter.
Or might we make it there in spite of all that we do because God is merciful?
What can one do in this world that will win heaven?
What finite act or finite number of finite acts can win an infinite Heaven?
The good book reads all is vainity, and it is true.
What can one man do, accept what he allows God to do through him?
If it is God working through him then how can anyone boast of a good work that he has done?
How can any man set himself up as better then another or more holy then another?
We are not dispicable, or filthy... we were made by God.
We are not without value... we were made by God.
We simply lack any comprehensive ability of Him...
...we believe in our secret hearts that we are really in control
...and if we believe in God in any degree...
...we believe that we control God...
...like a TV with a remote control...
...but He bears it and still loves us...
...not as a lofty king on high but as the artist loves his art...
...His art is a part of Him, and He a part of it...
When you look around you see both how far away we are from Him...
...but also how far we have come.
We are good and imperfect at the same time...
So the trick is not to focus on a glorious task that will "win" us heavenly reward... The vocation is to focus on the "heart" He gave us and do what is asked with out reward... To respond as the paintbrush, paint and canvas respond... quiet simple compliance.
Help me be paint to the painter.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Another thought.
Oh what a troublesome creature is man,
Who sets cites to burn, he built with his hand.
All the time talking about honor and right,
While intimidating children with military might.
He wars for Family, and God high above,
missing His obvious message of love.
Oh God forgive us, we know not what we do!
Who sets cites to burn, he built with his hand.
All the time talking about honor and right,
While intimidating children with military might.
He wars for Family, and God high above,
missing His obvious message of love.
Oh God forgive us, we know not what we do!
Which God?
At the pinacle of all doctrine and law, for my as Catholic, are the two greatest commandments. Love God above all and your neighbor as yourself. The God of my heart, that calls me to work his will, gives me directions that fit this ideal. The voice that calls me to fear, to guard against, to isolate from, is not of God. God calls us to unity, period. This is demonstrable at every level of society from two friends on the phone to the United Nations.
I may not agree with everyone on the planet, but I do attempt to understand their point of view... This doesn't mean I write a script in my head to portray them however I feel like. I observe, think, and attempt to see the world as others see it. I fail, as anyone will becuase we cannot forget our own experience, but making the attempt is important.
Everything that is happening in the world today stems from an inability of people trying to see others views. That and everyone has to be "right" or "righteous". The only way in the world I can be truly "right" is for now one else to exist in this world, or be able to experience the world as God does.
Before we try to figure out which world religion has the right set of doctrine or beliefs why don't we try to realize those first to commandments... since most religons can agree to them.
I may not agree with everyone on the planet, but I do attempt to understand their point of view... This doesn't mean I write a script in my head to portray them however I feel like. I observe, think, and attempt to see the world as others see it. I fail, as anyone will becuase we cannot forget our own experience, but making the attempt is important.
Everything that is happening in the world today stems from an inability of people trying to see others views. That and everyone has to be "right" or "righteous". The only way in the world I can be truly "right" is for now one else to exist in this world, or be able to experience the world as God does.
Before we try to figure out which world religion has the right set of doctrine or beliefs why don't we try to realize those first to commandments... since most religons can agree to them.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
All is vanity...
The Lord says "Do not judge", and I try, humbly, to obey.
The Lord says "Do not condemn", and I try, humbly, to obey.
The Lord says "Love your enemy and do good to those who hurt you",
and I try, humbly, to obey.
The wisdom of men is folly and the folly of God is wise. This I hear and understand.
Things do not happen according to my will but to God's and in this I am glad.
...but I am human and not good enough to not be hurt by those who judge and condemn me.
...I am human and not good enough not to be hurt when my supposed enemy, calls me friend but continues to disregard me.
How can they continue to be mislead by the true enemy when I see you standing so clearly before them?
How can they choose to dwell in bitterness and deal in venom when so much love is trying to get free?
God grant me the strength to do your will, and if not the ability to control my emotions, then at least help me not be controlled by them.
For when my heart is set aflame with indignation it is no longer open to your spirit.
When me eyes are filled with tears, I cannot see your light.
When my ears are deafened by complaint and protest I cannot hear your word.
I am weak and foolish, so easily led astray... help me to be as strong as you require.
Renew your tired servant so that he might continue to stumble along the path you have set for him.
The Lord says "Do not condemn", and I try, humbly, to obey.
The Lord says "Love your enemy and do good to those who hurt you",
and I try, humbly, to obey.
The wisdom of men is folly and the folly of God is wise. This I hear and understand.
Things do not happen according to my will but to God's and in this I am glad.
...but I am human and not good enough to not be hurt by those who judge and condemn me.
...I am human and not good enough not to be hurt when my supposed enemy, calls me friend but continues to disregard me.
How can they continue to be mislead by the true enemy when I see you standing so clearly before them?
How can they choose to dwell in bitterness and deal in venom when so much love is trying to get free?
God grant me the strength to do your will, and if not the ability to control my emotions, then at least help me not be controlled by them.
For when my heart is set aflame with indignation it is no longer open to your spirit.
When me eyes are filled with tears, I cannot see your light.
When my ears are deafened by complaint and protest I cannot hear your word.
I am weak and foolish, so easily led astray... help me to be as strong as you require.
Renew your tired servant so that he might continue to stumble along the path you have set for him.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Clemency for the Wicked
Jas 5:1-6 - Ps 49:14-15ab, 15cd-16, 17-18, 19-20 - Mk 9:41-50
God is very specific and very harsh. When it comes to transgression against Himself, God seems to be more lenient then He is with those who causes the weak to stray and the persecutes the defenseless. Beware though, today the Trinity warns against storing up treasure on Earth. For those who see themselves as weak, must be careful when they see those who were enemies made to suffer.
Suffering in the context of Earth is an Earthly treasure! Who is it that makes your enemies to suffer? Not the loving and merciful Lord of Hosts who gives all men and women every opportunity in this life to repent of their ways. It is the work of the enemy that makes people to suffer for remember always that we are all Christ's on this Earth. After this life there is room to be separate, but while here it cannot be so.
The work of the enemy is always apparent in suffering with one exception. When God wills to work a conversion of heart, and the once wicked truly sees the works they have wrought it does hurt. It is the hurt of healing... It is the pain of cleansing an infection... Not the wailing of despair.
So be weary those who are persecuted! As Christ says better to pluck out your eye and be blind rather then be tempted to revel in seeing the misery of another. Better to be deaf then to hear the wailing of your earthly enemies in suffer and become pridefull that God has justified you. God justifies by love and compassion... Not fire and death. God heals the heart of the earthly enemies so that that might be called in union together with Him.
Pray for your enemies and do good to those who hurt you... Especially if you see that they are getting what you feel they deserve. Lighten their burdens... Console them through their pain... And then maybe God will see you poor in spirit, and maybe then might we begin to earn. Even in the tiniest degree all that the Father has allotted to us.
God is very specific and very harsh. When it comes to transgression against Himself, God seems to be more lenient then He is with those who causes the weak to stray and the persecutes the defenseless. Beware though, today the Trinity warns against storing up treasure on Earth. For those who see themselves as weak, must be careful when they see those who were enemies made to suffer.
Suffering in the context of Earth is an Earthly treasure! Who is it that makes your enemies to suffer? Not the loving and merciful Lord of Hosts who gives all men and women every opportunity in this life to repent of their ways. It is the work of the enemy that makes people to suffer for remember always that we are all Christ's on this Earth. After this life there is room to be separate, but while here it cannot be so.
The work of the enemy is always apparent in suffering with one exception. When God wills to work a conversion of heart, and the once wicked truly sees the works they have wrought it does hurt. It is the hurt of healing... It is the pain of cleansing an infection... Not the wailing of despair.
So be weary those who are persecuted! As Christ says better to pluck out your eye and be blind rather then be tempted to revel in seeing the misery of another. Better to be deaf then to hear the wailing of your earthly enemies in suffer and become pridefull that God has justified you. God justifies by love and compassion... Not fire and death. God heals the heart of the earthly enemies so that that might be called in union together with Him.
Pray for your enemies and do good to those who hurt you... Especially if you see that they are getting what you feel they deserve. Lighten their burdens... Console them through their pain... And then maybe God will see you poor in spirit, and maybe then might we begin to earn. Even in the tiniest degree all that the Father has allotted to us.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Poverty
What is poverty? Moreover what is the poverty with which God is concerned? I believe he is concerned with our physical well being only so far as it does not distract us in one direction or the other... Meaning that we do not devote our lives to providing for the physical but also not being so hungry that we can no longer recognize God because our very minds don't have the fuel to make the connection. However rich or poor God is indifferent to the amount of material we collect, but is highly interested in what we do with that material.
For example, the widow who gave the last of her money, Christ was not moved to provide for her but yet allowed her to voluntarily give all of her material resources to God. I believe this was because he was well aware of the strength of her spirit, she was rich in the spirit of God. Yet, Christ lavished vast amounts of compassion and time on the tax collectors who were very rich in material but very poor in the spirit of God.
So I ask now who is the poor in America? Most of the material poor I have met are rich with reserves in spirit for they understand, in heart, the phrase there but for the grace of God go I. Even if they do not attend regular services or prescribe to a particular belief system, I have seen a poor family take in an even poorer individual without hesitation. Yet in my dealings with parishes I have met many who are willing to give from their surplus to charity and devote surplus time to goals they believe to be worth while, but will walk past in judgment one of God's children who is poor in some way, much like the Judge or Priest in the story of the good
Samaritan.
I believe that there is a poverty among the well to do in our society. I believe that there is a great emptiness in the spiritual stomach of a large portion of Americans. Why else do they spend so much time in pursuit of extremes? What people claim as addiction, and make no mistake I understand the implications of chemical and physical addiction, is an attempt to fill the void in the soul. Of course it turns into habit and later serious addiction, but it starts with a "wanting to feel alive." At least that is what I hear from most of the people I have dealt with in addictions. The rest come from an attempt to find solace from one kind of a pain or another. In both cases I submit that they are really seeking God. Why then do they turn to some physical thing instead of to scripture?
It is because of those who in the day of Christ would be the Pharisees and Elders, Christ warned of. It is because of the hypocrites and the falsely pious, that these poor rich people lose their way. These morally righteous, when they teach the supposed law of God, start with the belief in their own superiority, thier own righteousness and call it god. They find some extreme sense of false devotion and call it belief. They take a personal crusade and call it righteousness. It is no wonder that good, and intelligent people can no longer find God, because His holy name has been used in vain to persecute those who sin.
These morally righteous, these pious charlatans, claim that God is the answer to all things. God is the answer to all things, but what they mean is "devotion to God, as I am devoted to Him, is the answer... the goodness I exude because I am so totally devoted to God is the answer." They do not believe in the God of Abraham, the Spirit, the Father and the Son. They believe in their own image of a god, which if it could be seen would look strangely like them. They believe in a god that can be cajoled, whose favor can be won from and his will, subverted to their own.
God, the true God, is not this. The will of the God of all cannot be controlled or stopped. It is unrelenting and ever moving toward His kingdom. We can either move with it or against it.
These self-righteous are truly the least in God's kingdom, and therefore most deserving of our love and compassion. We must learn to love the self-righteous and fill the shallow. We must help them both to know the God of all, the God of love.
We can only do this by following God's law and keeping His commandments. We must treat them as gently and lovingly as we ourselves would want to be treated if we became lost and blind, at all times keeping God first and foremost in our minds. This is what the phrase "God is the answer means." This is what the answer entails. If we do this, no matter how hard it gets then we will find all that we seek. For if we, with the help and grace of God, solve the spiritual poverty problem, then the material poverty will simply cease to be.
For example, the widow who gave the last of her money, Christ was not moved to provide for her but yet allowed her to voluntarily give all of her material resources to God. I believe this was because he was well aware of the strength of her spirit, she was rich in the spirit of God. Yet, Christ lavished vast amounts of compassion and time on the tax collectors who were very rich in material but very poor in the spirit of God.
So I ask now who is the poor in America? Most of the material poor I have met are rich with reserves in spirit for they understand, in heart, the phrase there but for the grace of God go I. Even if they do not attend regular services or prescribe to a particular belief system, I have seen a poor family take in an even poorer individual without hesitation. Yet in my dealings with parishes I have met many who are willing to give from their surplus to charity and devote surplus time to goals they believe to be worth while, but will walk past in judgment one of God's children who is poor in some way, much like the Judge or Priest in the story of the good
Samaritan.
I believe that there is a poverty among the well to do in our society. I believe that there is a great emptiness in the spiritual stomach of a large portion of Americans. Why else do they spend so much time in pursuit of extremes? What people claim as addiction, and make no mistake I understand the implications of chemical and physical addiction, is an attempt to fill the void in the soul. Of course it turns into habit and later serious addiction, but it starts with a "wanting to feel alive." At least that is what I hear from most of the people I have dealt with in addictions. The rest come from an attempt to find solace from one kind of a pain or another. In both cases I submit that they are really seeking God. Why then do they turn to some physical thing instead of to scripture?
It is because of those who in the day of Christ would be the Pharisees and Elders, Christ warned of. It is because of the hypocrites and the falsely pious, that these poor rich people lose their way. These morally righteous, when they teach the supposed law of God, start with the belief in their own superiority, thier own righteousness and call it god. They find some extreme sense of false devotion and call it belief. They take a personal crusade and call it righteousness. It is no wonder that good, and intelligent people can no longer find God, because His holy name has been used in vain to persecute those who sin.
These morally righteous, these pious charlatans, claim that God is the answer to all things. God is the answer to all things, but what they mean is "devotion to God, as I am devoted to Him, is the answer... the goodness I exude because I am so totally devoted to God is the answer." They do not believe in the God of Abraham, the Spirit, the Father and the Son. They believe in their own image of a god, which if it could be seen would look strangely like them. They believe in a god that can be cajoled, whose favor can be won from and his will, subverted to their own.
God, the true God, is not this. The will of the God of all cannot be controlled or stopped. It is unrelenting and ever moving toward His kingdom. We can either move with it or against it.
These self-righteous are truly the least in God's kingdom, and therefore most deserving of our love and compassion. We must learn to love the self-righteous and fill the shallow. We must help them both to know the God of all, the God of love.
We can only do this by following God's law and keeping His commandments. We must treat them as gently and lovingly as we ourselves would want to be treated if we became lost and blind, at all times keeping God first and foremost in our minds. This is what the phrase "God is the answer means." This is what the answer entails. If we do this, no matter how hard it gets then we will find all that we seek. For if we, with the help and grace of God, solve the spiritual poverty problem, then the material poverty will simply cease to be.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Reflections on the Devil and Time
[ Please note that these are just ramblings of an uneducated man and should not in any way be taken to represent official teachings of the Catholic Church. These are merely my reflections. ]
It is, I believe, the voice of the counter influence that tried to tempt Christ away from His path in Gethsemanie, as he had tried in the desert. It was at that point, the point of the anticipation, before Christ's own betrayal, pain, humiliation and death that the case of the opposing side could make it's strongest case to the human God. We believe that Christ was fully human and fully God and both have the ability to choose, yet it is His human side that can be given to fear or taken by passion, or can agonize in a Garden.
The other side of light is cunning, the antithesis not of God but of perhaps the strongest of the angels, Michael to make the metaphor. He has the knowledge and abilities of the angels at his command, just as the archangel "commands" the "armies" of Heaven on God's behalf. He, the darkened angel, lacks however the ultimate knowledge of God, which does not make him as stupid or obvious as he would have us believe.
The "war" has been fought and is already over, in one sense... God won, Christ died. The "gates" of heaven are opened and His "kingdom" is being realized. The moves have been made the board is set, what is undetermined is who fights on what side... Since time "unfolds" we must play out the game and choose up sides. I am not speaking of choosing a religion, there is either movement towards God's will or against it. If we are voluntarily conformed to God's will then we fit and we can "find" our "way" to Gods "kingdom", because "shaped" in the way God's will is "shaped" it is like us and we are like it.
Consider for a moment the goal of the other side... Their goal is a mystery to me. We have to assume that seeing the "face" of God they have some comprehension of God's might, how could they conceivably hope to stand against it. Obviously they could not. If, however, the "dispute" was over God becoming man, and on one side were those who believed in God's will, which includes love of man and those opposed to the idea of God lowering himself and thereby being opposed to God's will then one starts to get a picture of perhaps a purpose...
Suppose time is like a sheet of paper, running from one side to the other. Now suppose you place a dot in the exact center of the paper and fold the paper ( like a flower holding the dot in the center ). All points on the page would now be seen to run towards that one point. Consider too that both factions are not literally, or should I say, linearly bound to time itself. Say that focal point was Christ then all sides would work at the paper as a whole. Then the ideology of the opposing side starts to make sense, the less man conforms to God's will, universally speaking, the harder it becomes on Christ to make it through Gethsemanie. Assuming that Christ had even a glimpse of what the future would hold, he knowingly makes the decision each time the course of events is played out... Say if the multiple universes theory was true and that every decision that could be played out was in all dimensions except that in that one moment Christ in all the universes never once turns aside. Such an event, even if it were only a nanosecond long would be a "hitch" in all things, it would quite literally be the focal point of the universe... And given the relative nature of time what if there is other life and all the other planets are visited by Christ in one form or another at that same relative time, then all histories would be shaped by that same event.
God must pass the trial as material form every time, taking on all the burdens of all the weaknesses of all creation and each of the million billion times, because God must be unchanging, must make the sacrifice each time willingly knowing the shape of history of the rest of the universe, one might conceive that an angel or two might actually believe enough that out of one of those times Christ could be swayed from the ultimate act of altruism that His death was. Especially considering because of God's infinite nature, all of space time itself, would be available to use against Christ in the garden, and the knowledge that He must endure it not once, but on every world in every reality. Then the moral philosophy of the Devil makes some sense. I think about that idea, and the phrase as was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, and I think, what if Christ is in the garden of Gethsemanie for all of existence ( and of course outside of it because He is God eternal as well ).
Of course it is entirely possible that I am too science fiction fantasy minded to really make interesting theological argument.
It is, I believe, the voice of the counter influence that tried to tempt Christ away from His path in Gethsemanie, as he had tried in the desert. It was at that point, the point of the anticipation, before Christ's own betrayal, pain, humiliation and death that the case of the opposing side could make it's strongest case to the human God. We believe that Christ was fully human and fully God and both have the ability to choose, yet it is His human side that can be given to fear or taken by passion, or can agonize in a Garden.
The other side of light is cunning, the antithesis not of God but of perhaps the strongest of the angels, Michael to make the metaphor. He has the knowledge and abilities of the angels at his command, just as the archangel "commands" the "armies" of Heaven on God's behalf. He, the darkened angel, lacks however the ultimate knowledge of God, which does not make him as stupid or obvious as he would have us believe.
The "war" has been fought and is already over, in one sense... God won, Christ died. The "gates" of heaven are opened and His "kingdom" is being realized. The moves have been made the board is set, what is undetermined is who fights on what side... Since time "unfolds" we must play out the game and choose up sides. I am not speaking of choosing a religion, there is either movement towards God's will or against it. If we are voluntarily conformed to God's will then we fit and we can "find" our "way" to Gods "kingdom", because "shaped" in the way God's will is "shaped" it is like us and we are like it.
Consider for a moment the goal of the other side... Their goal is a mystery to me. We have to assume that seeing the "face" of God they have some comprehension of God's might, how could they conceivably hope to stand against it. Obviously they could not. If, however, the "dispute" was over God becoming man, and on one side were those who believed in God's will, which includes love of man and those opposed to the idea of God lowering himself and thereby being opposed to God's will then one starts to get a picture of perhaps a purpose...
Suppose time is like a sheet of paper, running from one side to the other. Now suppose you place a dot in the exact center of the paper and fold the paper ( like a flower holding the dot in the center ). All points on the page would now be seen to run towards that one point. Consider too that both factions are not literally, or should I say, linearly bound to time itself. Say that focal point was Christ then all sides would work at the paper as a whole. Then the ideology of the opposing side starts to make sense, the less man conforms to God's will, universally speaking, the harder it becomes on Christ to make it through Gethsemanie. Assuming that Christ had even a glimpse of what the future would hold, he knowingly makes the decision each time the course of events is played out... Say if the multiple universes theory was true and that every decision that could be played out was in all dimensions except that in that one moment Christ in all the universes never once turns aside. Such an event, even if it were only a nanosecond long would be a "hitch" in all things, it would quite literally be the focal point of the universe... And given the relative nature of time what if there is other life and all the other planets are visited by Christ in one form or another at that same relative time, then all histories would be shaped by that same event.
God must pass the trial as material form every time, taking on all the burdens of all the weaknesses of all creation and each of the million billion times, because God must be unchanging, must make the sacrifice each time willingly knowing the shape of history of the rest of the universe, one might conceive that an angel or two might actually believe enough that out of one of those times Christ could be swayed from the ultimate act of altruism that His death was. Especially considering because of God's infinite nature, all of space time itself, would be available to use against Christ in the garden, and the knowledge that He must endure it not once, but on every world in every reality. Then the moral philosophy of the Devil makes some sense. I think about that idea, and the phrase as was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, and I think, what if Christ is in the garden of Gethsemanie for all of existence ( and of course outside of it because He is God eternal as well ).
Of course it is entirely possible that I am too science fiction fantasy minded to really make interesting theological argument.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Reflective Quote
"[The cause of the deciever] is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do [God's] will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."
-- Screwtape Letters, Letter 8, C.S. Lewis
I submit this quote, and suggest it to your memory. This is not a quote of hope or joy, but of determination. The standard it sets is not one of "what God can do for me" but "how can I continue to serve even when all is silent and unyeilding."
It is important not just to read the quotes that give glory and joy to God, but also that acknowledge the sturggle of human existance... and once acknowledged continues to call towards goodness, even when all seems dark and corrupt.
-- Screwtape Letters, Letter 8, C.S. Lewis
I submit this quote, and suggest it to your memory. This is not a quote of hope or joy, but of determination. The standard it sets is not one of "what God can do for me" but "how can I continue to serve even when all is silent and unyeilding."
It is important not just to read the quotes that give glory and joy to God, but also that acknowledge the sturggle of human existance... and once acknowledged continues to call towards goodness, even when all seems dark and corrupt.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Depth
1 Kgs 10:1-10 - Ps 37:5-6, 30-31, 39-40 - Mk 7:14-23
It is not the wealth of the world that defiles, but greed. It is not pornography that defiles, but lust. Yet, we rarely hold ourselves accountable... as if all the alcohol, porn, drugs, guns and money vanished tomorrow sin and vice would go right along with them. We must reclaim our own chastity, our own conformity to Christ and stop crusading. We must learn to love and then maybe we might learn wisdom and peace...
It is not the wealth of the world that defiles, but greed. It is not pornography that defiles, but lust. Yet, we rarely hold ourselves accountable... as if all the alcohol, porn, drugs, guns and money vanished tomorrow sin and vice would go right along with them. We must reclaim our own chastity, our own conformity to Christ and stop crusading. We must learn to love and then maybe we might learn wisdom and peace...
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The Blindness of Pride
1 Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30 - Ps 84:3, 4, 5 and 10, 11 - Mk 7:1-13
Today I have achieved perfect sympathy with the Pharisees. It is entirely possible to do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. It is entirely possible to strengthen the tendancy of devotional action while all the time straying further from God.
How often do we try to help people in the direction we want them to go instead of the direction God has set for them. We claim it is out of love and compassion for them and believe it, but it is really gratification of ourselves and justification of our own actions we seek. If I did this to find God and I make someone else follow them same path then obviously I was right to do what I did.
A common theme among theologians is that there is no one path to God or His will and that each person must encounter God of their own accord.
Yet, we persist in thinking ourown way is the best. I am no less.
Today I have achieved perfect sympathy with the Pharisees. It is entirely possible to do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. It is entirely possible to strengthen the tendancy of devotional action while all the time straying further from God.
How often do we try to help people in the direction we want them to go instead of the direction God has set for them. We claim it is out of love and compassion for them and believe it, but it is really gratification of ourselves and justification of our own actions we seek. If I did this to find God and I make someone else follow them same path then obviously I was right to do what I did.
A common theme among theologians is that there is no one path to God or His will and that each person must encounter God of their own accord.
Yet, we persist in thinking ourown way is the best. I am no less.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Mystery vs. Familiarity
1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13 - Ps 132:6-7, 8-10 - Mk 6:53-56
Where is the dwelling place of Christ? We can he go to find rest? The multitudes come and continue to come and he continues to give, untiring, unceasing to the limits of his human strength and then some. Who brings food for him? Who tries to heal him?
Surley if he is human he must have wounds, would his feet not blister and tire after staying on them all day? Would he at not least be hungry?
Or do we imagine that Christ was not really human and just healed himself whenever he needed? Do we imagine that Christ was only God "playing" at being human? Do we imagine that when the whips of the romans bit his flesh that God magically made him endure more then a man could handle?
Where was Christ's Solomon to build him a magnificant temple? Would Christ have allowed or asked for Solomon to build him a temple? What kind of a temple would Christ have built? Would it have gold and silver and beautiful crystal? Would it have expensive statues and high ceilings? Would it have elaborate sound and lighting systems? Would it look like your own parish? If not, then for whom is your temple built?
Where is the dwelling place of Christ? We can he go to find rest? The multitudes come and continue to come and he continues to give, untiring, unceasing to the limits of his human strength and then some. Who brings food for him? Who tries to heal him?
Surley if he is human he must have wounds, would his feet not blister and tire after staying on them all day? Would he at not least be hungry?
Or do we imagine that Christ was not really human and just healed himself whenever he needed? Do we imagine that Christ was only God "playing" at being human? Do we imagine that when the whips of the romans bit his flesh that God magically made him endure more then a man could handle?
Where was Christ's Solomon to build him a magnificant temple? Would Christ have allowed or asked for Solomon to build him a temple? What kind of a temple would Christ have built? Would it have gold and silver and beautiful crystal? Would it have expensive statues and high ceilings? Would it have elaborate sound and lighting systems? Would it look like your own parish? If not, then for whom is your temple built?
Monday, January 30, 2006
God, the Absolute
2 Sm 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13 - Ps 3:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 - Mk 5:1-20
The readings today interest me greatly. In one case you have David, one of God's chosen who fell into sin, forgiven by God was spared. David's punishment, which God forsaw, came at the hands of people who could not forgive. Then you have another example of the demon(s) Legion who entreated Christ for mercy and was shown mercy. God is merciful even unto those who hate and dispise him, who utterly work against him.
It is the heart of the human world which causes the suffering and retribution. It is the heart of humankind that laughs at the misfortune of another saying: "You who were sinful have reaped what you have sown." Yet, when they fall on hard times it is the devil or his minions at work to torment them because the eye of the enemy sees their righteousness.
So I ask when the psalmist writes: "O Lord, rise up and save me!" from whom, really, is he asking to be saved?
The readings today interest me greatly. In one case you have David, one of God's chosen who fell into sin, forgiven by God was spared. David's punishment, which God forsaw, came at the hands of people who could not forgive. Then you have another example of the demon(s) Legion who entreated Christ for mercy and was shown mercy. God is merciful even unto those who hate and dispise him, who utterly work against him.
It is the heart of the human world which causes the suffering and retribution. It is the heart of humankind that laughs at the misfortune of another saying: "You who were sinful have reaped what you have sown." Yet, when they fall on hard times it is the devil or his minions at work to torment them because the eye of the enemy sees their righteousness.
So I ask when the psalmist writes: "O Lord, rise up and save me!" from whom, really, is he asking to be saved?
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Conversion, 2 points
Acts 22:3-16 - Acts 9:1-22 - Ps 117:1bc, 2 - Mk 16:15-18
Like Paul, we all feel like we've had the horse knocked out from under us. Many of us feel like we are blind and wandering around in the dark. It is difficult to spread the Good News blindfolded... but is it a question of success or simply to try?
Like Paul, we all feel like we've had the horse knocked out from under us. Many of us feel like we are blind and wandering around in the dark. It is difficult to spread the Good News blindfolded... but is it a question of success or simply to try?
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
A Blind Eye
1 Sm 17:32-33, 37, 40-51 - Ps 144:1b, 2, 9-10 - Mk 3:1-6
What was it that wounded the Pharisees? What hurt or pain had they suffered that so blinded them to who Christ was? The reactions of the Pharisees seem to be irrational. What counsel did they keep when they were away from Christ and therefore not recorded in the Gospel?
Thomas Merton said that once an arrogant man believed he was humble that he would be hard to reach. Is this where the pharisees were? Is this not where we are from time to time?
There are those that might think, after reading this and my other postings that I am down on being human. There are those that think I am saying that God and religion are harsh things that belittle us and make us small... This is not the case at all.
We are a fantastic people with so much potential, but we, like the pharisees have a blindness. Where the pharisees were blind to Christ we are blind to Christ in each other. Our own interest will allow us the conciet of comprehending Christ in ourselves, but it is almost alwas easier to see the good in ourselves then in another. ( Except when we want them to do something for us. ) Everyday however one does not have to go very far to see the effects of selfishness in the world. Take the simple task of driving. For whatever reason our roads have become a place of self-interested mayhem. Nobody gives anybody half a chance. People are constantly cut off, honk at and worse. The streets are full of impatience and anger... So thick you can taste it in the air.
It is this self centered focus I believe that put the pharisees where they were, eventually leads Saul and David to their down falls, and keeps everyone separated. People are more interested in how they appear to others than being friends. People are more interested in their lives than the lives of others. If all we do is gauged only by what we gain then it will not be long before our schools, churches, markets, and homes will be in much the same condition as our roads. It has already begun.
We each stand as David facing our own self centered interest in the form of Goliath. Do we take our sling and charge, or drop our rocks and run? I know that I have done my fair share of running and will do so in the future. God knows this and still loves me, but when I manage to defeat my self interest, even for a short while, it makes him happy. Each time the monster goes down, he is easier to defeat... but each time I give in he becomes stronger.
What was it that wounded the Pharisees? What hurt or pain had they suffered that so blinded them to who Christ was? The reactions of the Pharisees seem to be irrational. What counsel did they keep when they were away from Christ and therefore not recorded in the Gospel?
Thomas Merton said that once an arrogant man believed he was humble that he would be hard to reach. Is this where the pharisees were? Is this not where we are from time to time?
There are those that might think, after reading this and my other postings that I am down on being human. There are those that think I am saying that God and religion are harsh things that belittle us and make us small... This is not the case at all.
We are a fantastic people with so much potential, but we, like the pharisees have a blindness. Where the pharisees were blind to Christ we are blind to Christ in each other. Our own interest will allow us the conciet of comprehending Christ in ourselves, but it is almost alwas easier to see the good in ourselves then in another. ( Except when we want them to do something for us. ) Everyday however one does not have to go very far to see the effects of selfishness in the world. Take the simple task of driving. For whatever reason our roads have become a place of self-interested mayhem. Nobody gives anybody half a chance. People are constantly cut off, honk at and worse. The streets are full of impatience and anger... So thick you can taste it in the air.
It is this self centered focus I believe that put the pharisees where they were, eventually leads Saul and David to their down falls, and keeps everyone separated. People are more interested in how they appear to others than being friends. People are more interested in their lives than the lives of others. If all we do is gauged only by what we gain then it will not be long before our schools, churches, markets, and homes will be in much the same condition as our roads. It has already begun.
We each stand as David facing our own self centered interest in the form of Goliath. Do we take our sling and charge, or drop our rocks and run? I know that I have done my fair share of running and will do so in the future. God knows this and still loves me, but when I manage to defeat my self interest, even for a short while, it makes him happy. Each time the monster goes down, he is easier to defeat... but each time I give in he becomes stronger.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Book covers and Blinders
1 Sm 16:1-13 - Ps 89:20, 21-22, 27-28 - Mk 2:23-28
Consider Saul. Appointed by God at the request of the Hebrews. A request that God warned the Hebrews about. God picked Saul knowing he would be the kind of king he prophisized. Is this an example of self fulfilling prophesy? What would have become of Saul had he not been anointed by Samuel? Does God raise up a king just to prove a point? Granted Saul had remarkable features but would he have been happier as a farmer? Does God pick us so that we play to our weaknesses?
One might say that Saul could have chosen better, but yet God knew he would not. Therefore God must have known that the Hebrews would act as they did. Today God chooses David, is he again setting up a simple man for a fall. True David accomplished great things, but did God not know when he chose David that he would ultimately betray Uriah?
The answer is of course He knew. He did not compel these events, but he knew how they would turn out, and conversely knowing all, he knew what would happen if those men had not been where He called them to be. No one can guess what David would be without Saul, where the Hebrews would be without David. It goes back to Job's moment of despair when he asks God why and God replies where were you when I founded the earth?
It makes the harshest kind of sense. God understands all time and space in a single instant, and applies himself throughout time in an instant as if Michelangelo could have painted all his works in a single brush stroke. WE unfold history minute to minute, but to God it has happened, will happen and is happening now. We can but judge the temporal fact of the lives of these men through our own narrow perception. The will of God cannot be denied, it matters not whether the world believes or disbelieves it still unfolds as the painter paints. Will it be a work that brings Him joy or pain, is what we determine.
You may think that I overstate our place in the world, but if God did not desire us then the universe makes little sense. Christ says as much today the Sabbath was created for man not man for the Sabbath... Think of the implications of that single statement. The "holy day" whatever or however you imagine it was a gift by God for us. Not as a steadfast rule that the pious could break over the heads of the unworthy for that holy day is not controlled by man. It is a celebration that once seen one cannot help but join. Our understanding of it in this life is like a man participating in a feast by satellite. We get but only the palest meager understanding of what the Sabbath is. All of our law and tradition at this moment in history amounts to so many leaves in a breeze. What we understand today will be swept away in time by revelation by God, as it has been and continues to be. The apolstles standing with Christ were closer to the Sabbath then any man or woman before or since.
The lesson of today is one of humility. We cannot judge God. God could tell Samuel who he would pick and what that person would do, but Samuel standing there looking at David had no idea what this simple Shepard would become. Just as a meek woman from Nazareth had no idea what the path of her son would be. Are we going to be like the pharisees and presume the wisdom of God or like Mary whose humble acceptance of God's will despite the slander she knew she would incur in her day and the suspicion with which she is treated even now. I say to you if God is pleased with this existence he has created, then truly it was Mary who put the smile on his face. Not us weak, foolish and presumptuous fools, driven by this world of substance, who think in our hearts we can understand God, and of this I am no less guilty. In fact, I would wager a guess that few could achieve the levels of arrogance I have built up around myself over the years.
Consider Saul. Appointed by God at the request of the Hebrews. A request that God warned the Hebrews about. God picked Saul knowing he would be the kind of king he prophisized. Is this an example of self fulfilling prophesy? What would have become of Saul had he not been anointed by Samuel? Does God raise up a king just to prove a point? Granted Saul had remarkable features but would he have been happier as a farmer? Does God pick us so that we play to our weaknesses?
One might say that Saul could have chosen better, but yet God knew he would not. Therefore God must have known that the Hebrews would act as they did. Today God chooses David, is he again setting up a simple man for a fall. True David accomplished great things, but did God not know when he chose David that he would ultimately betray Uriah?
The answer is of course He knew. He did not compel these events, but he knew how they would turn out, and conversely knowing all, he knew what would happen if those men had not been where He called them to be. No one can guess what David would be without Saul, where the Hebrews would be without David. It goes back to Job's moment of despair when he asks God why and God replies where were you when I founded the earth?
It makes the harshest kind of sense. God understands all time and space in a single instant, and applies himself throughout time in an instant as if Michelangelo could have painted all his works in a single brush stroke. WE unfold history minute to minute, but to God it has happened, will happen and is happening now. We can but judge the temporal fact of the lives of these men through our own narrow perception. The will of God cannot be denied, it matters not whether the world believes or disbelieves it still unfolds as the painter paints. Will it be a work that brings Him joy or pain, is what we determine.
You may think that I overstate our place in the world, but if God did not desire us then the universe makes little sense. Christ says as much today the Sabbath was created for man not man for the Sabbath... Think of the implications of that single statement. The "holy day" whatever or however you imagine it was a gift by God for us. Not as a steadfast rule that the pious could break over the heads of the unworthy for that holy day is not controlled by man. It is a celebration that once seen one cannot help but join. Our understanding of it in this life is like a man participating in a feast by satellite. We get but only the palest meager understanding of what the Sabbath is. All of our law and tradition at this moment in history amounts to so many leaves in a breeze. What we understand today will be swept away in time by revelation by God, as it has been and continues to be. The apolstles standing with Christ were closer to the Sabbath then any man or woman before or since.
The lesson of today is one of humility. We cannot judge God. God could tell Samuel who he would pick and what that person would do, but Samuel standing there looking at David had no idea what this simple Shepard would become. Just as a meek woman from Nazareth had no idea what the path of her son would be. Are we going to be like the pharisees and presume the wisdom of God or like Mary whose humble acceptance of God's will despite the slander she knew she would incur in her day and the suspicion with which she is treated even now. I say to you if God is pleased with this existence he has created, then truly it was Mary who put the smile on his face. Not us weak, foolish and presumptuous fools, driven by this world of substance, who think in our hearts we can understand God, and of this I am no less guilty. In fact, I would wager a guess that few could achieve the levels of arrogance I have built up around myself over the years.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Pride and Prejudice... Revisited.
1 Sm 15:16-23 - Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23 - Mk 2:18-22
Today's readings are all about blindness. What was Saul's crime really? He presumed to know better then God. He chose to do as he felt best not as God commanded. The pharisees treated Christ in much the same way. They presumed to know what God wanted from the situation, citing as did Saul, tradition and law before God's will.
How often do we find ourselves in the same situation though? Advising someone with the desires of our hearts? Urging someone to do something because it's what we want? This is no different, and whose voice is at the center of it?
There is a voice that speaks to us and tells us how to use law and tradition for our own gains, and it does not come from the Lord. This is the voice that tells us it is ok to bend a law in our favor because we are righteous, but when someone we dislike bends the same law we are first to call them on it. Most of us don't even realze we do it, that is how deep the voice speaks to us.
Again I say to anyone reading this, if you think yourselves above the darker characters in the Gospel stories then you have little understanding of what Christ teaches. No one in these stories was evil at heart. I feel deeply that each man or woman was striving to do good, but simply had been driven inwards by the opposing side. God draws us out, and the opposing force draws us in. God calls us to consider others first and the other side calls us to consider ourselves first.
Today's readings are all about blindness. What was Saul's crime really? He presumed to know better then God. He chose to do as he felt best not as God commanded. The pharisees treated Christ in much the same way. They presumed to know what God wanted from the situation, citing as did Saul, tradition and law before God's will.
How often do we find ourselves in the same situation though? Advising someone with the desires of our hearts? Urging someone to do something because it's what we want? This is no different, and whose voice is at the center of it?
There is a voice that speaks to us and tells us how to use law and tradition for our own gains, and it does not come from the Lord. This is the voice that tells us it is ok to bend a law in our favor because we are righteous, but when someone we dislike bends the same law we are first to call them on it. Most of us don't even realze we do it, that is how deep the voice speaks to us.
Again I say to anyone reading this, if you think yourselves above the darker characters in the Gospel stories then you have little understanding of what Christ teaches. No one in these stories was evil at heart. I feel deeply that each man or woman was striving to do good, but simply had been driven inwards by the opposing side. God draws us out, and the opposing force draws us in. God calls us to consider others first and the other side calls us to consider ourselves first.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Judgment, Christ and the Cross
1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1 - Ps 21:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 - Mk 2:13-17
I am presently working on some video montages and power point slides for the formation sessions at my parish this weekend. The point of the exercise is to show the impact of the media on our lives and as one would expect almost the whole presentation is geared towards how bad things are. Neglecting of course any of the positive effect of the media and treating it as some vile brood of evil men who seek to corrupt and destroy the world.
I think the Gospel message today should absolutely be read and heeded. Christ came for the sinners... He came for the oversexed, overdosed, confused masses who seek to fill the ever expanding void they feel as part of the human condition with the love and light of God. It is interesting to note that the high and mighty righteous who held those scantily clad adulterers, money obsessed businessmen and people possessed by demons of their own making in such contempt are the ones who feared Christ most and so led by their fear instead of by love put Him on the cross. It was the weak, weary, destitute, and bankrupt in the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical that embraced Christ. They washed his feet with their tears and died them with their hair while the righteous of the age stood on and mocked.
Saul being chosen today keeps well along this theme. God chose Saul directly because that's what the elders wanted. He chose Saul because the elders wanted a king like Saul. While Saul did some good, he eventually falls pray to the same corruptions and weaknesses that drove the elders to entreat God for a king in the first place. They wanted a warrior king anointed by God to lead them to earthly glory and they got what they asked for. Christ was the king God chose for us and when He fought daily and bodily for love, peace and the will of the Father the elders because fearful and killed him.
Now go and watch TV, surf the Net, listen to the radio and see if it is your fear that leads you to contempt and disdain to your fellow sinners or love that leads to to compassion and understanding of your brother's and sister's confusion and pain.
For every bad decision made, behind it is a wounded heart.
I am presently working on some video montages and power point slides for the formation sessions at my parish this weekend. The point of the exercise is to show the impact of the media on our lives and as one would expect almost the whole presentation is geared towards how bad things are. Neglecting of course any of the positive effect of the media and treating it as some vile brood of evil men who seek to corrupt and destroy the world.
I think the Gospel message today should absolutely be read and heeded. Christ came for the sinners... He came for the oversexed, overdosed, confused masses who seek to fill the ever expanding void they feel as part of the human condition with the love and light of God. It is interesting to note that the high and mighty righteous who held those scantily clad adulterers, money obsessed businessmen and people possessed by demons of their own making in such contempt are the ones who feared Christ most and so led by their fear instead of by love put Him on the cross. It was the weak, weary, destitute, and bankrupt in the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical that embraced Christ. They washed his feet with their tears and died them with their hair while the righteous of the age stood on and mocked.
Saul being chosen today keeps well along this theme. God chose Saul directly because that's what the elders wanted. He chose Saul because the elders wanted a king like Saul. While Saul did some good, he eventually falls pray to the same corruptions and weaknesses that drove the elders to entreat God for a king in the first place. They wanted a warrior king anointed by God to lead them to earthly glory and they got what they asked for. Christ was the king God chose for us and when He fought daily and bodily for love, peace and the will of the Father the elders because fearful and killed him.
Now go and watch TV, surf the Net, listen to the radio and see if it is your fear that leads you to contempt and disdain to your fellow sinners or love that leads to to compassion and understanding of your brother's and sister's confusion and pain.
For every bad decision made, behind it is a wounded heart.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Generations in conflict...
1 Sm 8:4-7, 10-22a - Ps 89:16-17, 18-19 - Mk 2:1-12
When I look at both the first reading and the Gospel one thing strikes me. The Israelites elders go to Samuel to appoint a king, and desire to do so even after Samuel warns them about what will happen. God states that it is not Samuel that the people reject, but God as their unseen king. The Israelites elders insist upon having a king, so God tells Samuel to appoint one.
The Gospel speaks today directly of Christ's authority not over people but sin itself. Christ in absolute authority forgives the sins a paralyzed man. People are literally crowding Jesus out of his home, something in them is obviously drawn to this authority. However there are still those in the crowd, scribes and elders of the community, who question Jesus's authority.
The elder generation tends to get locked into a pattern of protecting the people at large, yet their position of earthly authority cuts them off from the very people they wish to serve. Is it the doom of all authority when placed upon the head of a person for them to become haughty and forget the very reasons they took office in the first place. So poignantly portrayed in the Gospel that when Christ comes with demonstrable acts of God's authority the community elders are so wrapped up in their job as protectors and guardians of truth that they fail to see what the common man so readily embraces.
Before though, like generations past it is easy scapegoat the society elders and hold them responsible for all the world's problems. Let us first discuss why they are so wrapped up in this desire to protect. The non-elder portions of society, contrary to popular press do have a habit of making mistakes and getting caught up in movements that experience has taught elders to avoid. The real question is how does the younger generation learn from the elder class but yet keep the elders open to new experience and ideas? How do the elders keep from becoming blinded by experience and success?
We tend to think of the pharisees and scribes as evil or stupid because they couldn't see what was so obvious to us, but how obvious is His authority to us really? Do we still not gauge success in terms of money or at least consider money first when changing jobs or when some event has an impact on our economy? How many of us give up a momentary present pleasure for a "treasure stored in heaven"?
The thought on the readings today is not about how silly the Israelite elders of Samuel were or how blind the Hebrew scribes of Jesus's time were but how blind are we today? How much do we take for granted that we will recognize Christ when He comes? Will you recognize Him when He approaches you today clothed in the trappings of the least of this world? God is the present and real king of all at this very moment, not in the future or fullness of time, nor at the end of our lives, but right this very minute. So before we condemn quickly the elders of old or even today let us learn from them, so that we may elders of God's kingdom someday, then we might be able to forever sing the goodness of the Lord.
When I look at both the first reading and the Gospel one thing strikes me. The Israelites elders go to Samuel to appoint a king, and desire to do so even after Samuel warns them about what will happen. God states that it is not Samuel that the people reject, but God as their unseen king. The Israelites elders insist upon having a king, so God tells Samuel to appoint one.
The Gospel speaks today directly of Christ's authority not over people but sin itself. Christ in absolute authority forgives the sins a paralyzed man. People are literally crowding Jesus out of his home, something in them is obviously drawn to this authority. However there are still those in the crowd, scribes and elders of the community, who question Jesus's authority.
The elder generation tends to get locked into a pattern of protecting the people at large, yet their position of earthly authority cuts them off from the very people they wish to serve. Is it the doom of all authority when placed upon the head of a person for them to become haughty and forget the very reasons they took office in the first place. So poignantly portrayed in the Gospel that when Christ comes with demonstrable acts of God's authority the community elders are so wrapped up in their job as protectors and guardians of truth that they fail to see what the common man so readily embraces.
Before though, like generations past it is easy scapegoat the society elders and hold them responsible for all the world's problems. Let us first discuss why they are so wrapped up in this desire to protect. The non-elder portions of society, contrary to popular press do have a habit of making mistakes and getting caught up in movements that experience has taught elders to avoid. The real question is how does the younger generation learn from the elder class but yet keep the elders open to new experience and ideas? How do the elders keep from becoming blinded by experience and success?
We tend to think of the pharisees and scribes as evil or stupid because they couldn't see what was so obvious to us, but how obvious is His authority to us really? Do we still not gauge success in terms of money or at least consider money first when changing jobs or when some event has an impact on our economy? How many of us give up a momentary present pleasure for a "treasure stored in heaven"?
The thought on the readings today is not about how silly the Israelite elders of Samuel were or how blind the Hebrew scribes of Jesus's time were but how blind are we today? How much do we take for granted that we will recognize Christ when He comes? Will you recognize Him when He approaches you today clothed in the trappings of the least of this world? God is the present and real king of all at this very moment, not in the future or fullness of time, nor at the end of our lives, but right this very minute. So before we condemn quickly the elders of old or even today let us learn from them, so that we may elders of God's kingdom someday, then we might be able to forever sing the goodness of the Lord.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Day of Defeat...
1 Sm 4:1-11 - Ps 44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25 - Mk 1:40-45
Isreal is defeated today. By this point in scripture Isreal had been doing whatever they pleased and only in a time of defeat do they call on God... not in a voice of humility, but of arrogance. As if God was a weapon they could pull out and use. The ark only has the signifigance that God gives it, without his grace it is just a pretty box. Today Eli's sons fell to the Philistines swords just as the rest of Isreal did. It is interesting to note the Philistines. The Philistines did not believe in God, but did not believe because God had not yet been revealed to them. However, they had heard of his works and were fearful and redoubled their efforts. They respected the power of God and were victorious. The responsorial psalm is downbeat to match the place of Isreal after this battle.
Christ in the gospel has hard times. Everyone I have heard interpret this story interpets it differently then I understand it to be. They say that Christ tells the leper to keep his miracle secret, knowing that he will tell all. However, I strongly do not agree. That would put Christ in the deception category, and sets a precedent that God asks us to do what he knows we cannot. I think this story gives us insight into God's role in the world. Our obedience or disobediance can make the God's task easier or hard. His will, much like Christ's mission, will be done but it makes things very much harder for God in the mean time. After this point in the gospel we will hear about how Christ is so surrounded by people that he cannot even eat in peace. Are the people being selfish or worshiping who they know to be as God. Do they cluster around him in awe or do they try to see what they can get from him. Are they trying to use him as their ancestors used the ark? and are they still not defeated?
C.S. Lewis tells us in the Screwtape Tape letters that God will not be used as a convience, as a stamp that will bring about worldly success. God's plan and will are his own we must conform to him, not the other way around.
Isreal is defeated today. By this point in scripture Isreal had been doing whatever they pleased and only in a time of defeat do they call on God... not in a voice of humility, but of arrogance. As if God was a weapon they could pull out and use. The ark only has the signifigance that God gives it, without his grace it is just a pretty box. Today Eli's sons fell to the Philistines swords just as the rest of Isreal did. It is interesting to note the Philistines. The Philistines did not believe in God, but did not believe because God had not yet been revealed to them. However, they had heard of his works and were fearful and redoubled their efforts. They respected the power of God and were victorious. The responsorial psalm is downbeat to match the place of Isreal after this battle.
Christ in the gospel has hard times. Everyone I have heard interpret this story interpets it differently then I understand it to be. They say that Christ tells the leper to keep his miracle secret, knowing that he will tell all. However, I strongly do not agree. That would put Christ in the deception category, and sets a precedent that God asks us to do what he knows we cannot. I think this story gives us insight into God's role in the world. Our obedience or disobediance can make the God's task easier or hard. His will, much like Christ's mission, will be done but it makes things very much harder for God in the mean time. After this point in the gospel we will hear about how Christ is so surrounded by people that he cannot even eat in peace. Are the people being selfish or worshiping who they know to be as God. Do they cluster around him in awe or do they try to see what they can get from him. Are they trying to use him as their ancestors used the ark? and are they still not defeated?
C.S. Lewis tells us in the Screwtape Tape letters that God will not be used as a convience, as a stamp that will bring about worldly success. God's plan and will are his own we must conform to him, not the other way around.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Reflections on the Readings
1 Sm 3:1-10, 19-20 - Ps 40:2 and 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 - Mk 1:29-39
The readings today deal with the call of God and chosing to conform to His will. The responsorial psalm today speaks very much to me; "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will." I feel like Samuel most days, without an Eli. I hear the voice sometimes, but I lack the wisdom to discern from where it comes. Christ, in today's Gospel, demonstrates his clarity of purpose and understanding of what it was he is supposed to do.
Uncertian as I am, I long for that kind of clarity. God would have to have infinite patience with me for the number of times a day I ask; "Am I doing it right? Is this the direction you want me to go?" This is especially poingiant at the moment because of my current work situation. I am working with a great group of guys for an excellent purpose. Everything fits and meshes well together, except for one minor detail... funding. I know that Christ tells us to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours" ( Mt 6:33 ) as he discusses the flowers of the field and the bird of the sky. It's difficult to be true to this though in the face of all those who say "God helps those who help themselves."
Of course this last is not actually a lesson from scripture. In fact, from today's reading one might infer that God helps those who come to do his will... His will almost always calls us to act for the good of someone else and not ourselves. Might this be a possible pointer to what is and what is not the will of God?
The readings today deal with the call of God and chosing to conform to His will. The responsorial psalm today speaks very much to me; "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will." I feel like Samuel most days, without an Eli. I hear the voice sometimes, but I lack the wisdom to discern from where it comes. Christ, in today's Gospel, demonstrates his clarity of purpose and understanding of what it was he is supposed to do.
Uncertian as I am, I long for that kind of clarity. God would have to have infinite patience with me for the number of times a day I ask; "Am I doing it right? Is this the direction you want me to go?" This is especially poingiant at the moment because of my current work situation. I am working with a great group of guys for an excellent purpose. Everything fits and meshes well together, except for one minor detail... funding. I know that Christ tells us to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours" ( Mt 6:33 ) as he discusses the flowers of the field and the bird of the sky. It's difficult to be true to this though in the face of all those who say "God helps those who help themselves."
Of course this last is not actually a lesson from scripture. In fact, from today's reading one might infer that God helps those who come to do his will... His will almost always calls us to act for the good of someone else and not ourselves. Might this be a possible pointer to what is and what is not the will of God?
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