I Myself Am Also a Human Being

13 May 2012 1 Comment

by Sherry in Acts, Bible Essays, Dissent, Early Christianity, Easter, Holy Spirit, Jesus, John, Magisterium, Teaching, Theology Tags: , , , ,

Having settled all the immediate issues of moving to a new state, I decided that it was time to get to Mass. Here in Las Cruces, which is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, I figured I wouldn’t have much trouble finding an appropriate parish church. I settled on the Cathedral known as the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

But this is not about that, it merely sets the stage for the operation of the Holy Spirit. My experience with the Spirit, is that it usually surprises me. It pops up when I least expect it. I read the readings yesterday and was fairly certain that I would speak about Jesus’ radical statements in Jn 15: 9-17. In it Jesus sets a shocking standard–love others as GOD loves you. Since God loves with pure and complete unconditionality, it is far beyond the standard of loving others as we love ourselves.

But as I heard the first reading from Acts read this morning, I was struck by it in a way that had not been clear upon the first reading. It perhaps speaks to my ongoing tension with Mother Church–its determination to make decisions about who is and who is not welcome at the table of Christ.

In Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48:

When Peter entered, Cornelius met him
and, falling at his feet, paid him homage.
Peter, however, raised him up, saying,
“Get up. I myself am also a human being.”

Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,
“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.”

While Peter was still speaking these things,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.
The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter
were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit
should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.
Then Peter responded,
“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people,
who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?”
He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Most Christians would agree that Peter was given “custody” of the religious movement that Jesus instituted. He was the Lord’s most trusted disciple, the one, presumably that he shared the most with and taught in the fullest. Certainly the other disciples were privy to most of all this knowledge as well. The Gospels report, individually and collectively, those issues and teachings that they thought were the most important, those things Jesus stressed the most.

While the Gospel today reminds us that Jesus said that our love for each other must be radical and extreme–as God’s love for us is, still we learn that the disciples were often surprised and found themselves in disagreement on many issues as the fledgling church gathered itself and became a church in fact.

Peter of course, reminds the pagan centurion, Cornelius, that he, Peter is a mortal and not to be bowed to. Peter hears Cornelius’s story about how an angel told him to locate Peter and listen to him. When he has finished describing this vision, Peter realizes that God must speak to all nations, not just the Jewish one.

And when the Holy Spirit descends indiscriminately upon the Jewish followers and the Gentiles, he realizes and proclaims:

“Can anyone without the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?”

This is something apparently that had not occurred to Peter beforehand, and this is confirmed when we recall the arguments held between himself and the Jewish community and Paul and his new community of Gentiles. The question was, to what extent these Gentiles were required to take on the Jewish faith in order to be these new Christians.

So what is my point?

Peter and the other disciples, male and female had spent three years with the Lord. They had lived with him almost day and night. They had been privy to his every thought, his every expression. He explained the parables to them, he taught them as carefully and fully as he deemed necessary. No one could claim to know more than they.

And yet, they almost to a man and woman were not prepared to understand the breadth and depth of what Jesus taught. The fullest and deepest meaning still escaped them.

Are we to assume any more ability than they? Are we as Church, able to discern without error who is welcome at the Lord’s table?

As we are instructed to accept this or that teaching as “given”, as we are instructed not to discuss this or that rule, as we are instructed who is in sin and who is not, and how to be “reconciled”, should we not  question these limitations? For Jesus placed no limitations–love others in the radical unconditional way that God loves you. Make no distinctions, make no judgement–love period.

Peter, the disciple we trust without question to be the titular head of the Church, thereby living in perfect understanding of Jesus’ teachings, proved to not have that perfect understanding. Are our bishops and priests to be given more faith in truth than him?

Truly the Spirit seems to teach the lesson that every time you think you have loved enough, double, and triple it. Every time you think you have reached the goal, look toward the horizon and see Me beckoning you further.

God’s love is all-encompassing. Can we turn anyone away from the table except at our peril? I think not.

Amen. 

Related articles

Waffles Anyone?

17 Jul 2011 7 Comments

by Sherry in Bible Essays, God, Holy Spirit, Matthew, Romans, Wisdom Tags: , , , , ,

Have you ever made waffles? No I don’t mean open the freezer and pop a couple of frozen discs into the toaster. I mean make up a batter and heat up the waffle iron. Real waffles, the kind your mother used to make?

One has to learn the art of waffling. It’s not the batter, any good cookbook will give you the simple recipe. No, the art is in the pouring. Too little and the waffle is deformed with incomplete edges. Too much, and batter drips out of the iron and makes an awful mess.

Just right? Ahh, now that is a thing to behold. You learn by doing. Pouring and then watching as the batter oozes and slides around the patterned nubs. When you have the right amount, it runs slowly like lava until it has covered the entire grid. Close the lid, and wait until it’s golden and you have perfection.

Today’s readings remind me of waffles.

Jesus relates a number of parables all of which have a common theme: that the Word infiltrates throughout the world.

The good seed grows up among the weeds and at harvest can be separated. The mustard seed grows, it fills out into branches and twigs and becomes a wonderful full shrub that can support and care for those who nest within its intricate structure. The yeast permeates the entire dough, leavening it all over time.

We learn that if we live as vital members of the Kingdom, we too permeate all of creation and leaven it for good.  Some of our “good works”, our “good neighborly” voice rubs off on those around us. Or as the Buddhist might say, good karma draws good karma.

We look at the world around us and there is little to be happy about. Governments worldwide fail miserably to serve their people. Our misbegotten practices, designed to satisfy our own greed has seemingly turned Mother Nature against us. People argue and war against each other over real or imagined wrongs, greed, fear, and other negative emotions. It is easy to believe that we are “going to hell in a handbasket” as the old saying suggests.

These parables give us comfort in remembering that that is not so. In the Hebrew Testament from Wisdom, we are reminded that God is always just, and when we emulate that justice, that mercy, and that forgiveness, we are most like God and we can be assured that we are seeping into the cracks of a broken world, working the magic that is love. We are joining together, uniting a fractured community and binding it together. We knit a network that provides hope and security to a frightened people.

Paul reminds us in Romans that we do not act alone, but that the Spirit of God is ever with us, perfecting our words and actions so that they are more than the woeful efforts of our individual desire. The Spirit residing within makes our words more loving, more gentle, more powerful. We reap a greater harvest than we perhaps can be aware of. We remember to trust that our meagre efforts will yield a hundredfold.

We are not alone as souls lost among the evil of our times. We are lighthouses providing the guiding light that calls home the frightened and tired sailor. We form an interconnected network that upholds and uplifts humanity to an ever-growing awareness of God’s center in us all. We are a thread in the tapestry that creates the perfection that really underlies all the mud we seem mired in.

Or we can be. If we remember.

Amen.

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Romans 8: 26-27
Matthew 13: 24-33

 

Just Ordinariness

12 Jun 2011 6 Comments

by Sherry in God, Holy Spirit, Pentecost Tags: , , , ,

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the official “birthday” of the Church.  And then we return to what is called, “ordinary” time. That seems an odd title doesn’t it? It suggests that we have been engaged in something important, and now we are returning to more mundane matters.

Perhaps in a sense that is true.

We have, ostensibly at least, been celebrating the Easter event for seven long weeks. I say ostensibly, because I imagine that after the last bite of Easter dinner was consumed, most thoughts began to turn to things of Spring and summer.

There were vegetable gardens to plan, flowers to plant, graduation festivities to prepare for. Summer vacations loomed in our moments of reverie as we went to work, cleaned house, and did all the usual duties of everyday living.

Suddenly, today we are struck with another Church “holiday”, that of Pentecost, and we, most of us that is, do a bit of “yeah yeah,” and return to plans for trips and long weekends at the lake or beach.

Is it strange that unlike Lent, which we seem more able to remain “in”, we cannot sustain the joy of Easter for much past that dinner? As much as we may love the Vigil Mass or the morning glory of Sunday, we pack away all our joy quickly and go about our business until the next “event.”

I’m not at all sure why that is. Perhaps it is the fact that in Lent we kind of know what to do. We give up things, we add things to do. We pray more, we limit ourselves in terms of pleasures. Post-Easter day dawns with no such instruction. We are freed from all the sacrifices of Lent, and have nothing to replace those things with. So we forget about it. Mostly.

We feel, I suspect, faintly guilty on Pentecost, because we have not been actively “preparing” in some way for the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit. Truth is, of course, we all have received that already, and we know it. The day is only to celebrate that gift, and hopefully renew in us that desire to do something with that gift as we were meant to.

So I suspect we do take Pentecost to heart–we listen to the homilies offered and think about how we can use our gift more effectively in the world. We think about it, as I said. But, ordinary time is upon us, and we quickly file away our good intentions and get onto the things of summer.

This time, ordinary time, is not ordinary at all in fact. It represents the reality of Christian life–it is mundane, it is every day. It is not exciting or filled with special dinners, or extraordinary masses and pageantry. It is where most of Christianity is lived out, in the trenches, where troubles occur, solutions are sought, accommodations are made, and realities are lived with.

It is in essence, the time when faith is usually most tested, for it is all just so ordinary. No tongues of fire, no voices from heaven, no perfect pastoral words hushing our minds and letting our souls explore eternity. The washer broke, spilling gallons of soapy water over the floor, and the plumber can’t be there until tomorrow. Maggie broke her arm and is crabby because her cast itches, and fairly nothing will appease her. David didn’t get the promotion he was hinted at, and is taking it out on the hedges and doesn’t want to talk about it.

Find God in all that, somehow, and keep on keeping your mind upon the Mass and upon the mystery of the Assumption as you intone another Hail Mary. That is ordinary–that is where we are asked to find God’s grace, love and upholding.

Ordinary time is the dirty time, of trusting in a God who isn’t so apparent, isn’t so exciting any more. It’s the hard work of growing faith in an atmosphere that is not providing you cues to help you along. It’s definitely a more “do it yourself” kind of time.

That God is all in that mess is true enough, but we have to dig Him out from under our disappointments, angers, frustrations, and fears. And that is what makes God so truly extraordinary. Because God  is  there, and when we realize that, we realize that He has always been there, always will be, and we leap forward once again on our great journey to union. Each reminder brings us a bit closer, reassures us a bit more, and makes the next bout with trouble easier to face.

So, as we enter this ordinary time once more, let us take a moment to just relax in our knowing, thanking God for being there for us, now and always. Rest in the loving embrace of grace.

Amen.

Related articles

Of Jesus

12 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment

by Sherry in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Kahlil Gibran, Lent, Spiritual Growth Tags: , , , , ,

“You would have me speak of Jesus, but how can I lure the passion-song of the world into a hollowed reed?

In every aspect of the day Jesus was aware of the Father. He beheld Him in the clouds and in the shadows of the clouds that pass over the earth. He saw the Father’s face reflected in the quiet pools, and the faint print of His feet upon the sand; and He often closed His eyes to gaze into the Holy Eyes.

The night spoke to Him with the voice of the Father, and in solitude He heard the angel of the Lord calling to Him. And when He stilled Himself to sleep He heard the whispering of the heavens in His dreams.

He was often happy with us, and He would call us brothers.

Behold, He who was the first Word called us brothers, though we were but syllables uttered yesterday.

You ask why I call Him the first Word.

Listen and I will answer.

In the beginning God moved in space, and out of his measureless stirring the earth was born and the seasons thereof.

Then God moved again, and life streamed forth, and the longing of life sought the height and the depth and would have more of itself.

Then God spoke, and His words were man, and man was a spirit begotten by God’s Spirit.

And when God spoke thus, the Christ was His first Word and that Word was perfect; and when Jesus of Nazareth came to the world the first Word was uttered unto us and the sound was made flesh and blood.

Jesus the Anointed was the first Word of God uttered into man, even as if an apple tree in an orchard should bud and blossom a day before the other trees. And in God’s orchard that day was an æon.

We are all sons and daughters of the Most High, but the Anointed One was His first-born, who dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, and He walked among us and we beheld Him.

All this I say that you may understand not only in the mind but rather in the spirit. The mind weighs and measures but it is the spirit that reaches the heart of life and embraces the secret; and the seed of the spirit is deathless.

The wind may blow and then cease, and the sea shall swell and then weary, but the heart of life is a sphere quiet and serene, and the star that shines therein is fixed for evermore.

                                                                “John the Beloved Disciple”, from Jesus the Son of Man by Kahlil Gibran.

Can You See?

03 Apr 2011 4 Comments

by Sherry in 1Samuel, Ephesians, God, Holy Spirit, John, Lent, Sin Tags: , , , ,

Today’s Gospel reading is chapter 9 of John: the cure of the man born blind. This, so typical of John is a meaty story, filled with fruitful teaching. There are layers and circles of wisdom to be gleaned from it.

At the beginning, the issue is framed:  Who sinned, the man or his parents? For in that society, one who is deformed or physically at odds with the norm, is by definition a sinner. God causes such affliction and it is only to be determined who is at fault, the parents or the man himself.

Jesus, of course, sets them all straight at the outset. Neither have sinned, God has created him thus for a purpose and of course the purpose is now coming forth.

As a “defined sinner” the blind man was reduced to begging for alms. He was barred from the Temple, there was no way he could be ritually cleansed. He was therefore, probably largely untaught, illiterate, and without any standing whatsoever in his community. He depended on the charity of passersby.

Yet, after his sight is returned through the actions of Jesus, a phenomenal thing happens. He is brought before the Pharisees and questioned. When he relates Jesus’ actions, they refuse to believe it, summoning his parents, who can only corroborate that he is indeed their formerly blind from birth son.

They question the man again. And he realizes that they are being stubborn as they begin to abuse him when he will not retract his explanations. The blind man discourses:

That is just what is so amazing! You don’t know where he comes from and he has opened my eyes!  We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but God does listen to people who are devout and do his will. Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of someone born blind; if this man were not from God, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

And they retort in anger:

“Are you trying to teach us, and you a sinner through and through ever since you were born!” And they ejected him.

Indeed. The illiterate, shunned man teaches the great students of the Torah! Indeed God chooses who will speak for him, and he chooses the most unlikely of people.

This makes it clear why the reading from Samuel is included in this day’s scriptural array. [1Samuel 16:6-13] Samuel goes in search of the one whom God has chosen to rule over Israel. When Samuel thinks that Eliab would be a fine ruler, God says:

“Take no notice of his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him; God does not see as human beings see; they look at appearances but Yahweh looks at the heart.” [1Sam 16: 6-7]

And Paul informs the congregation in Ephesus that they too, through the power of the Holy Spirit, are “children of light”, for like the man born blind, they are now capable of goodness and uprightness and truth. [Eph 5:8-9]

The grace of the Spirit, offered graciously by our God, enables us to speak with truth. We need not be of great estate, of great learning. We need only be willing to open our hearts and minds to the indwelling God and allow him to use us as the instruments of his love.

Can you see?

Amen.

Related Articles

Created Good?

29 Mar 2011 2 Comments

by Sherry in God, Holy Spirit, Joel, Lent, Spiritual Growth, Theology Tags: , , ,

photo by Carl J. Santoro

Return to me with your whole heart

   with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
    and return to the Lord, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
    slow to anger, rich in kindness,
    and relenting in punishment. [Joel 2:12-13]

This is typical fare of Lent. It is traditionally thought of as a great time of penance. We reflect upon our sins as humans, and ask forgiveness. We are mortified by the sacrifice Jesus made, and we make amends as we can, and promise to do better.

I consider this to be “old school” thinking in a sense. It is based upon a model of God as vengeful upon those who turn from love and grace offered. It is based upon a human model in reality. It is how we think God should act. Punish the guilty, reward the good. It is our way.

Much is made of the original sin of Adam and Eve. It has led to the unforgivable teaching that we are born in sin. What an awful idea. This suggests of course, that what God created was not in fact good, but so deeply flawed, that with the first two humans, in an idyllic setting, humanity was unable to keep from its evil impulse.

Surely one cannot accept that an omnipotent God can be guilty of such error. But just as surely God could create “perfectly” in the sense of creating the creature to perfectly worship and obey to the nth degree. So is this not error?

I think not. God could create robots, but what would be the point in that? Surely God needs no worship,  and endless bowing and scraping must at best become tedious.

I believe God created life to evolve into sentience and with the imprint of divine grace capable of seeking and finding its Creator.  This is indeed creation that is GOOD, and one that is, generation by generation, century by century, working its way both individually and collectively toward that perfect unity.

How wonderful is this process. How wonderful to be on this journey of enlightenment. We are in God’s image because we have that imprint of his Spirit within us.

Lent provides us that reminder to be conscious of the journey, to go within with renewed vigor and enthusiasm, as we seek our source, our authenticity, our God.

Amen.

 

It Really is Your Choice

13 Feb 2011 3 Comments

by Sherry in Bible Essays, Corinthians, Divorce, Ecclesiasticus, Genesis, God, Holy Spirit, Marriage, Matthew Tags: , , , , ,

I’m not a good poker player.

Technically I’m a great poker player. I can compute odds with ease in my head, and I never lost a penny playing poker in the long  run. But I suck, because I am emotionally unfit for the game.

Translation: I get very mad when other people play stupidly.

I’ve asked God to help me stop this behavior. Lots of people ask God for help. And they tend to use the phrase, “I cannot do it without your help Lord, but only your help will give me the strength.” Or words to that effect.

Well, suddenly when I was saying those words, it came to me: (God spoke to me as I see it), “NO! You have all you need to stop your anger. I AM you. I am here to love you no matter what. I witness your failures. But YOU choose how to behave.”

Well, you can say what you will about my “encounter” of course. But it seems to me that in reading the Mass for today, I maybe got the message correctly.

Ecclesiasticus 15:16-21
2Corinthians 2:6-10
Matthew 5:17-37

Ben Sira states:

“If you wish, you can keep the commandments, to behave faithfully is within your power.” (emphasis mine)

Paul states:

(The hidden wisdom of God) “. . .are the things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God.”

And Jesus says in Matthew:

“For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”

What is being said here?

Ecclesiasticus seems most straightforward. Remember the words of Genesis:

God created man in the image of himself,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them. (Gen 1: 27)

Now, I have never taken this to mean that we are like God in a physical sense. Rather, being sentient, I believe it means that our minds work as God’s does. B follows A, and 2+ 2 = 4. While we have limits to the capacity of our minds, we see the universe as God sees it. Thus we can communicate.

Thus to me, having the power, means I have all the requisite mind to discern good and evil. I don’t need any collection of writings (however much they aid me from not having to duplicate work) for within myself, I know right from wrong.

Further along in the reading from Ecclesiasticus Ben Sira continues:

He has set fire and water before you;  put out your hand to whichever you prefer. Man has life and death before him; whichever a man likes better will be given him.

Indeed, choose the fire if you wish, but don’t blame God if you get burned.

Paul of course, is explaining that the Spirit of God naturally guides us to the depths of God meaning I believe that we can easily discern what God wants from us: to do good. We need no special education or teaching from wise men and women. This is never to say that such things are not useful, in making our tasks easier, but they are not necessary to our being good people. Being good is natural to sentient beings created in the image (mind) of their Creator.

What to make of all the wise sayings of Jesus in Matthew? Well, some churches, mine included, seem to think that these are special “rules of the road.” Thus Catholics are “supposedly” forbidden divorce, since Jesus, taken literally does seem to say that. Some take the “taking of oaths” quite literally.

But I don’t think this laundry list of dos and don’ts is what Jesus had in mind.

Recall the quoted part: if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes. . .

What were they noted for?

Specifically they were noted for studying the laws of Torah so minutely that they had created a million little laws, nitpicking the teachings to death. This and that were clean, unclean, not to be done on this day or that.

Jesus here is saying is that if you do that, you are missing the real virtue of the law, the real depth of meaning. Jesus illustrates with some of those deeper meanings, not as “new” laws, but meaning that you will discern right and wrong, truth and falsity if you look within at the point of the commandments. What is God asking of us?

Jesus completes the Law by bringing the message of love and compassion and caring for each other. Remember he taught that our first commandment was to love God, and then to love our neighbors. All the law is summed up in these two things. As one rabbi said, all else in the Torah is commentary.

To those who feel that there is no moral compass without a inerrant book to guide you, I can only say, then you have missed the point of the book. For plenty of the writers alluded to the fact that it is “written in our hearts.”

Blessings. AMEN.

Be the New Creation

09 Jan 2011 2 Comments

by Sherry in Acts, God, Holy Spirit, Isaiah, Jesus, Matthew, Social Justice, Theology Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

 Is 42:1-4, 6-7
Ps 29: 1-2, 3-4, 9-10
Acts 10: 34-38
Mt 3: 13-17
 

 Somehow on this day of deep sadness in our country, it seems most appropriate. God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to behold.

Yesterday, a sick young man perpetrated an unspeakable act upon us, resulting in the death of six and the serious wounding of ten others. We know not yet if they will all recover. People, who just happened to be in a seemingly innocuous place, were struck down by bullets. A mother and father lost their 9-year-old. A judge, just fresh from morning mass, suddenly is gone.

What can we, what must we, learn from such a tragedy? Words matter. They matter so much more than we can ever know. We don’t usually mean the harshness which they sometimes imply, the dangerous rhetoric they evoke, yet we are today reminded that in the hands of the mentally ill, they can set off a firestorm, by their use.

Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. (Is 42: 1-4, 6-7)

The Church declares and believes that this is a reference to Jesus, a prophesy of the future coming from the prophet Isaiah. Whether that is true or not is not important. For the words speak to each of us, reminding us that truth and justice come via peaceful, quiet, relentless standing up for what is right. It requires no shouting, no violence. Truth and justice have a strength and security all their own, empowered by the Spirit.

Like Jesus, we too are called upon in these dangerous times to forgo dangerous and incendiary rhetoric. We are called upon to speak truth to power and to stand steady and unfailing for justice. We need not utter a word. We must only stand as silent witness to injustice and inequality.

We need not bruise the reed, nor quench the light of life in anyone to do this. Through our birth and baptism we have breathed in the Spirit, the Spirit of love and peace which speaks for us, as us.

God has taken us by the hand and through his son Jesus, shown us the way. He has made straight our path to righteousness. We follow by example.

In the reading from Acts, Peter says:

“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.

God shows no partiality. His love is unbounded, immeasurable. We are all, sinner and saint alike, made by the One, perfect in creation. This means that this poor demented young man is as much loved by God as the 9-year-old victim. Both are victims of our senseless game of  hate mongering and scoring political points. We as surely made the young shooter a victim when we teased him with our vile speech, and used words of violence to make analogous points. We touched off a series of incoherent thoughts that resulted in his picking up a gun and heading out to achieve his confused ends.

We are acceptable by God for use to the right ends to the degree that we follow his example through his Son, acting always with love and compassion. We are still loved, no matter what, but God can not work in us when we are consumed with not-love, much as Jesus could work no miracles in some towns in Galilee because there was no faith.

In the Gospel, Matthew places these words upon the Lord’s lips:

“Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us
to fulfill all righteousness.”

Here, John has protested that it is he that should be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around. Jesus comforts him and tells him to do as he has asked.

“Allow it now.” We cry out, “No, God, don’t allow us to harm each other like this!” But God in perfect wisdom, comforts us, and “allows it now.” Why?

I’m tempted to say the usual thing–we cannot know God’s ways, but only trust. Yet this is never good enough.

There is a tipping point that we as humans must reach. A sufficient number of us, enough to sway our neighbors, our community, our nation, our world. We must each find enough rage and helplessness at the events of yesterday that we are ready to step up and stand up for justice and what is right. It is “fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” We must do this. God calls.

Will we answer?

Related Articles

On What Pathway?

22 Oct 2010 2 Comments

by Sherry in Benedict XVI, Catholicism, College of Cardinals, Dissent, Holy Spirit, John Paul II, Popes, Social Justice, Theology Tags: , , , , , ,

I recall gab fests at the convent with another hopeful yet-to-be novice late at night. We would be there for a weekend retreat, and would stay up late talking about the subject we most loved–God, Jesus, and OUR church. We were both converts and we were SOOOO Catholic.

Of course we had no idea that our exuberance was typical of the convert. We relished crossing every T and dotting every I. We were seriously chagrined that habits were no longer in fashion. We oohed and ahhed at “authentic relics” preserved in the chapel.

It is not hard to understand how I came to love stained glass and vaulted ceilings, things uncommon in most Catholic churches build from the 60′s on.

Yet, thankfully, we grow in wisdom and knowledge, and I came to see that Vatican II was not the “thing” that took away all my awesome Catholic “accoutrements” but was in fact a much-needed renewal. It opened the doors to rethinking and re-seeing  tradition, scripture, and the Church’s relationship to the world. It called the Church to examine most carefully that reason was not perhaps the danger it was thought. Mind and reason are too gifts from our God.

Fr. Richard McBrien has an article at NCR about what happened post Vatican II. The long Pontificate of John Paul II has had  a severe impact on the Church, and frankly, one that will continue for many years to come it appears.  I cannot speak to other areas of the world, but surely the push-pull in the American church is dramatic. One need only read the comments at NCR on any of its articles to see the line drawn between the “progressives” and the “traditionalists.”

McBrien points out, and polling would seem to confirm that most Catholics don’t adhere to many of the Church’s more conservative stances, certainly on contraception, and homosexuality, and even on things like abortion. He points out further than JPII has worked assiduously to undo what his predecessors had started to implement–the true heart of Vatican II. Instead he appointed cardinal after cardinal with the apparent objective of enlarging the cadre of like-minded thinkers like himself.

It came as no surprise that Benedict XVI has carried on in the tradition of JPII. He was not called the Pope’s “rottweiler” for nothing during the JPII years.

Benedict has appointed some twenty-four new Cardinals. Among them are two Americans, Archbishop Burke, as of late Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, and before as Archbishop of the archdiocese of St. Louis, and Archbishop Wuerl of Washington DC. This brings Benedict’s appointments to a total of 15, and raises the Italian presence from 17% to 20%, interesting in itself when a full 2/3 of all Catholics reside in countries south of the equator. They make up only 1/3 of the College.

Raymond Burke is best known for his anti-Obama, pro-choice stance from which he has denounced any number of Catholic politicians for their pro-choice voting (they all claiming that their faith is NOT properly in the mix when voting for their constituencies) and his claim that he would deny communion to such people should they wander into his church on any given Sunday. Worse, Burke claimed that Edward M. Kennedy should have been denied a Catholic funeral.

John Allen, Jr., of NCR points out that while there are no liberals in the appointments, not all are arch conservative either.  Truthfully Wuerl can best be described as a centrist. He contends that B16 seems mostly concerned with following tradition in his methodology and in re-Italianizing the College.

All this suggests to me, that it’s as Allen points out, business as usual. There seems to be no real recognition that the sex abuse issues are not going away, and must be dealt with some measure of openness and firmness as of yet not seen. There is no discussion it seems of the appalling lack of seeming awareness of what is driving so many Catholics from the Church. There is nothing like a real discussion of issues of homosexuality or women’s ordination. All such attempts are met with an iron wall of silence and pointing to “existing dogma” on the subject.

I have no crystal ball. I have no clue what will happen to the Church in general or the American church specifically. But it may be the JPII will go down as the leader of the demise of the Church as we know it. The breach between the small group of men at the top and the huge congregation of the faithful below continues to grow. One wonders how long, before it shatters a glorious centerpiece of  Christendom.

Related Articles

Will There Be Any Faith On Earth?

22 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment

by Sherry in Biblical Study, Catholic Tradition, Catholicism, Dissent, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Magisterium, Social Justice, Theology Tags: , , , , ,

“But when the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8)

Indeed, what a question. It asks the seminal question to all of us, and for me synthesized a number of things I read, making me wonder, just what is faith?

What does it mean to be faithful?

NCR in an article entitled, The Had-it Catholics” suggests that once you account for immigrants, the American Roman Catholic Church is bleeding followers at the same rate that all the mainline Protestant denominations are. And the reasons have surprisingly little to do with child abuse and contraception. They have more to do with marriage and divorce rules, homosexuality teachings, and ordination of women. We can discuss any of those issues, but what caught my eye was a fairly common comment that is made against “dissenters.”

It basically goes like this: If we have no settled doctrine to rely on, then we have nothing but what is the fashion of the day. I can as easily reject your “preferential option for the poor” as you reject church teaching on homosexuality. Where does it stop? To be Catholic is the accept this repository of faith as your foundation. No one is keeping you here.

This presupposes I would argue, that there is such a repository of faith that is sacrosanct as it were. Untouched in its basics since the resurrection at least, only added to as we come into a “fuller” understanding of truth. And many believe this is correct–they argue that there is perfect truth, unalterable, and knowable as such by everyone.

I daresay that every generation has thought it had the truth. Yet, civilization progresses over the eons and what was normative in 1350 C.E. is not necessarily so today in terms of moral behavior.

It denies as well, it seems to me, that the Holy Spirit works ever in the human race to help it, individually and collectively to understand who and what they are and what their life is to be. To suggest that even when majorities of faithful Catholics disagree with the Magisterium they are wrong by definition, is to deny that the Holy Spirit is active in the hearts and minds of each of us.

It is to deny, moreover, the value of the gift of intellect, or reason also gifted to us. Are we not to learn from the our pasts and to extrapolate anew, more inclusive morals for our future? Are we not to draw into sanctity all life as a higher level of love? All because such things were not contemplated in the past?

A few days ago, Enlightened Catholicism posted a report of a letter sent out  by Archbishop Vigneron, to the Archdiocese of Detroit. It warned that all clergy and laity were prohibited from attending a meeting of The American Catholic Council scheduled to be held next year in Detroit. The Archbishop claims the groups beliefs are contrary to Catholic “Faith” and are contrary to the “spirit of Vatican II.”  He said we should “shun efforts which threaten unity.”

Again we get the presumed “never-changing faith” claim. Does not the Archbishop know that this is not true? Moreover has he learned no lessons from the past?

Father Frederick J. Cwiekowski, in his book, The Beginnings of the Church, explained how modernism was condemned by the Inquisition, turned Holy Office in 1908. Modernism, meaning the use of modern methods of biblical exegesis such as form, text, redaction, and other forms of criticism. The determinations made by such methods were condemned.

Some of the claims of this new methodology were:

  • The Gospels were not historical but teaching testimonials, interpretations by the evangelist of what Jesus said and taught.
  • None of the evangelists were eye-witnesses, (Matthew and John) had been so taught)
  • It questioned Christ’s anticipation of the emergent church.
  • It questioned whether the apostles in fact knew of Christ’s deity before the resurrection.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission in the years 1905-1915 declared all these things in error and heretical. Such conclusions were bolstered by the encyclical On the Doctrines of the Modernists by Pius X, and again in Spiritus Paraclitus by Benedict XV in 1920.

Slowly things turned around after that, however, More openness was allowed and it was declared that such prohibitions only applied to faith and morals issues, in 1955. At the beginning of Vatican II, a working document, “On the Sources of Revelation” was issued to the bishops. Fully 60% rejected it, and although not the 2/3 required, John XXIII, sent it back for further work. When it was issued with Pius VI’s approval, the PBC, Instruction on the Historical Truth of the Bible,  contained the following:

  • The evangelists were witnesses not historians
  • There is evidence they did not understand that Jesus was divine until after his resurrection. The apostles passed down what Jesus truly said and did, but it was later interpreted to the needs  of the listeners of the Gospels.
  • None of the evangelists were apostles and they adapted and synthesized the information at hand to the situation of the emergent church.

These became incorporated into the final document, the 1965, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, (art. 19).

There is no truth to the claim that once dogma always dogma.

So what is faith?

It seems to me, that faith, and being faithful is to be a constant student of what is taught by the Church and constantly to study what is being learned about the bible and its theological underpinnings. It is constant searching for truth, always following heart and mind, with careful and deep reflection.

 It seems to me that we are all called to this work. It is simply not faithful to simply rely on an institution, no matter how revered as the sole determiner of all things moral and right. We, as Catholics, as Christians are obligated to seek truth ourselves.

Indeed, I do  think there will be faith on Earth, Lord, as long as good people of strong believe ever seek to apply the issues of the day to the tenor of your teaching.

Previous Older Entries

Blog Stats

  • 46,884 hits
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 150 other followers