It isn't easy to work in the marketplace of ideas. Sometimes I envision myself as the guy who helps people load their groceries in the car, or who stocks the shelves. On several breaks from the seminary, I worked at a local supermarket chain. One summer my major project was to help replace the shelving all around the store--that was more helpful for me than some of my classes!
Jennifer Fulwiler of the National Catholic Register writes about the pitfalls of an interminably open mind with respect to religion--the equivalent of carrying groceries in a bag with a hole in it. After a while you're thankful for plastic bottles.
Open-and-Shut
Ut scribantur sermones mei (Job 19:23). Contents reflect my opinion, although Church teaching happens to be my opinion as well. Wherever there appears to be conflict, defer to the Church.
Showing posts with label 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Show all posts
23 July 2012
21 July 2012
Mors et Vita Duello Conflixere Mirando*
We cannot help but note the tragedy that
has beset our land: the Friday morning shooting near Denver that claimed the
lives of a dozen and wounded over 50 more. How disturbing it is that cold, calculated
violence continues to percolate in people’s hearts, until something like this happens. We
beg our Savior’s infinite compassion upon all parties, especially the victims
and their families.
Understandably we may bristle at the thought that either of these events could be used for political purposes. Perhaps there’s a hint of opportunism behind my current interest. I ask God to purify me of unworthy motives so that my postings can nourish His holy people with the Word of Life and Love. This is one of those moments where, if I were to remain silent, the very keys of my computer would cry out.
The Father of mercies continues to love this world beset with sin and its dreadful consequences. Once and for all He spoke His Word of Truth and Love, His incarnate Son. Saint Paul reminded the Ephesians that Jesus has broken down the walls that have kept people unaware of and at odds with each other, roadblocks to human dignity. Through His passion and death, Christ has already cleared the Way; yet all of us, to varying degrees and in various situations, haven’t gotten the Message. And so we wander around, from expert to expert, from website to website, convincing ourselves that nothing is wrong while frantically searching for the solution to our every ill.
Yes, “not all who wander are lost,” but the God of all consolation has appointed a Shepherd to channel our wayward desires and instincts for His glory and our neighbor’s good. He has established a Church that directs people to infinite Truth, Goodness, and Love. Christ's peaceful Gift-of-Self remains the answer to all violence, whether it is unleashed in city streets or cozy suburbs, movie theatres or abortion clinics. Perhaps the most prevalent aggression occurs in the mind that resists instruction in truth and the will that resists discipline for goodness. No wonder the Good Shepherd’s first response to the crowd was to teach them many things. It seems that we can be taught only when we’re at our weakest and hungriest.
Where does this formation happen? Traditionally we have pointed to our churches as formation locales, but the Internet has become a most effective supplement. I am a student in this formation program as much as the patient reader. I think of our parish of Holy Guardian Angels: although we are in a key location on a major thoroughfare, close to several arterial highways in the County of Berks, nonetheless we are a “deserted place.” Our parish is an optimal place for disciples to gather: neither for entertainment nor for protest, but for wisdom and power and generosity.
*"Death and Life have clashed in a miraculous duel"; from the sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes
Perhaps you have heard about another
death that took place on Friday morning.
Near Indianapolis, a driver accidentally struck a college student by the
name of Andrew Moore. Andrew was
participating in a cross-country pro-life demonstration, and was also spending that
time to discern whether God might be calling him to be a priest. We likewise ask the
Lord of life to console and strengthen Andrew’s survivors.
Understandably we may bristle at the thought that either of these events could be used for political purposes. Perhaps there’s a hint of opportunism behind my current interest. I ask God to purify me of unworthy motives so that my postings can nourish His holy people with the Word of Life and Love. This is one of those moments where, if I were to remain silent, the very keys of my computer would cry out.
The Father of mercies continues to love this world beset with sin and its dreadful consequences. Once and for all He spoke His Word of Truth and Love, His incarnate Son. Saint Paul reminded the Ephesians that Jesus has broken down the walls that have kept people unaware of and at odds with each other, roadblocks to human dignity. Through His passion and death, Christ has already cleared the Way; yet all of us, to varying degrees and in various situations, haven’t gotten the Message. And so we wander around, from expert to expert, from website to website, convincing ourselves that nothing is wrong while frantically searching for the solution to our every ill.
Yes, “not all who wander are lost,” but the God of all consolation has appointed a Shepherd to channel our wayward desires and instincts for His glory and our neighbor’s good. He has established a Church that directs people to infinite Truth, Goodness, and Love. Christ's peaceful Gift-of-Self remains the answer to all violence, whether it is unleashed in city streets or cozy suburbs, movie theatres or abortion clinics. Perhaps the most prevalent aggression occurs in the mind that resists instruction in truth and the will that resists discipline for goodness. No wonder the Good Shepherd’s first response to the crowd was to teach them many things. It seems that we can be taught only when we’re at our weakest and hungriest.
Where does this formation happen? Traditionally we have pointed to our churches as formation locales, but the Internet has become a most effective supplement. I am a student in this formation program as much as the patient reader. I think of our parish of Holy Guardian Angels: although we are in a key location on a major thoroughfare, close to several arterial highways in the County of Berks, nonetheless we are a “deserted place.” Our parish is an optimal place for disciples to gather: neither for entertainment nor for protest, but for wisdom and power and generosity.
*"Death and Life have clashed in a miraculous duel"; from the sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes
Acknowledgments to blogger Omar Gutierrez of CatholicVote.org for unwittingly providing the lead on this reflection. He cites The Star Press of Indiana for local coverage of Mr. Moore's death.
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