Lumen Fidei #21: God of Creativity

Wikipedia cites it as "God creating the cosmos (Bible Moralisee, French, 13th century)"

From #55: If it possesses a creative light for each new moment of history, it is because it sets every event in relationship to the origin and destiny of all things in the Father.

All things originate in God and all things are destined in God. Out of this fertile ground, creativity grows. God is not stagnate, He is active. You may have heard the quote, "God, to me, it seems, is a verb not a noun." (R. Buckminster Fuller) Like many popular quotes, there is some truth in it and some absurdity. That's beyond the point of this post however.

Creativity and the arts can be holy. Creating and viewing it can lead one to the Divine. As JPII said in his letter to artists:

None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.

And for the consumer, a quote from Francis Schaffer as quoted by Joe Carter at First Things:

The arts and the sciences do have a place in the Christian life—they are not peripheral. For a Christian, redeemed by the work of Christ and living within the norms of Scripture and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Lordship of Christ should include an interest in the arts. A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God—not just as tracts, but as things of beauty to the praise of God. An art work can be a doxology in itself.

The creation of art brings the artist closer to God and the consuming of art should bring the consumer closer to God's truth. This is all because all things come from God and all things will ultimately end in God. Art is an important part of this cycle.

This is part of a series of articles reflecting on quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical. To read more, visit here.

Swords to Plowshares

Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares, a sculpture by Evgeniy Vuchetich, given by the Soviet Union to the United Nations in 1959; my picture taken from UN grounds showing sculpture in front of the East River. Picture from commons.wikimedia.org

In days to come,The mountain of the LORD’s houseshall be established as the highest mountainand raised above the hills.All nations shall stream toward it.Many peoples shall come and say:“Come, let us go up to the LORD’s mountain,to the house of the God of Jacob,That he may instruct us in his ways,and we may walk in his paths.”For from Zion shall go forth instruction,and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.He shall judge between the nations,and set terms for many peoples.They shall beat their swords into plowsharesand their spears into pruning hooks;One nation shall not raise the sword against another,nor shall they train for war again. - Isaiah 2:2-4

For some reason, I always had the idea that God was the one who was going to come down and turn our "swords into plowshares" when this world comes to an end. But this morning during morning prayers, I had another idea.

In this passage, people go up to the LORD's mountain so that God can instruct them. After this instruction (and judgement), the people themselves turn their swords to plowshares. So...

Let's think about this for a moment. As we learn about God and follow His will, we find peace within ourselves. We know we're doing the right thing and we know we are on the right path. We are told that peace begins in ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Above is the song "Let there be peace on earth." Keep your comments to yourself. Yes, I hate most church songs popularized post-Vatican II. Not this one. Sue me.

So, maybe here is another point to all of this reading, studying, and catechizing. As we learn more about God, little by little this world will find peace.

The Church's Strange Relationship with Apocryphal Literature

Today is the feast day of Mary's parents, Sts. Joachim and Anne. Thinking of them reminds me of this icon I saw a while back in a blog post by Christopher West:

Source that TOB Institute credits

In the post, he talks about how this icon illustrates for him the beauty of chaste marital love. In this icon, you see the saints embracing and in the background is a bed. It is supposed to depict the great mystery which is Mary's Immaculate Conception.

What is that? Catholics believe that Mary, the virgin Mother of God, was conceived without original sin. Original sin is a stain that we are all born with from Adam and Eve's fall in the garden. Mary was conceived without this sin because she was destined to be the Mother of God. God cannot be in the presence of sin, so His earthly vessel, Mary, had to be without sin. This is also credited to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. As time is no barrier to God, Jesus' sacrifice made His mother's sinlessness possible. We are all redeemed through Christ including those who were born before He was.

Now, Joachim and Anne are not mentioned in the Bible. How do we know who they are? That is where this gets fun because I get to play Bible scholar again.

We are told in every other History Channel Bible special that the big, bad Catholic Church suppressed the wonderful literature found in the apocryphal gospels. This feast day is a prime example of how wrong that is.

Joachim and Anne's names and everything else we know about them comes from an apocryphal book. Yes, you read that correctly.

The book is called the Protoevangelium of James. "Protoevangelium" is just a fancy word for "pre-Gospel." The book is a "pre-Gospel" because most of it revolves around things that happened before Jesus' birth like the childhood of Mary and the events of Jesus' early life like running from Herod.

Ever seen a statue or a picture of St. Joseph holding a staff with a lily, like so?

Source

That comes from the same book. At one point, it tells the story of how St. Joseph came to be betrothed to Mary. The story goes that St. Joseph and other widowers brought their staffs to the temple. St. Joseph's staff bloomed, indicating that he was the one chosen by God to take Mary as his wife.

So it seems that the Church didn't suppress the apocryphal gospels at all, but incorporated some of their legends into it's rich treasury.

So, how was the New Testament established if it wasn't some judgement pontificated from on high? (Pun completely intentional.)

It was an organic process over the first few centuries of Christianity. As Christianity grew, groups of Christians used a wide variety of texts based on what the group's views were and whatever was available in their time and place. Over time, it became apparent that if Christianity was to survive, they needed some kind of standard. They used a variety of standards to determine what would eventually become part of the New Testament canon:

1) There were several books that were widely used by most groups. Those books were mostly shoe-ins.

2) Preference was given to books that contained stories told by the apostles themselves.

3) Also, they stuck to books that were similar. Books that contained bizarre stories or doctrine not found anywhere else were thrown out.

But no books were suppressed. Over the first 4 centuries when these decisions were being made, Christianity itself was being suppressed and persecuted. No one Christian group had the power or the visibility to suppress another.

When Christianity did become institutionalized, certain groups that used these writings were suppressed, but the writings themselves were not.

In short, it wasn't ever about power, but about the need for standardization. But that isn't what we're taught because it isn't neat and tidy. It's much easier to blame the Church. Anything organic is messy and takes a lot longer to explain.

Lumen Fidei #8: So Mote It Be!

From #23: He is the same God that Isaiah will later call, twice in one verse, the God who is Amen, "the God of truth" (cf. Is 65:16), the enduring foundation of covenant fidelity.

Welcome to another interfaith lesson from your favorite convert! So, what does "amen" mean? "So be it." What does "So mote it be" mean? "So be it."

What is "So mote it be"? It the traditional ending of prayers that was used by the Freemasons and has been adopted by Neo-Pagans.

Thought to ponder: "Witches" and Christians end their prayers in the same way.*

I want to speculate on what deeper truth this similarity could point to. What does this say about God?

The quote above talks about God as "the enduring foundation of covenant fidelity."

God's covenant with Abraham

Oftentimes, we pray because we're asking for something. It really doesn't matter what religion you follow. If you believe in a deity, you're going to ask that deity for something.

God's covenant with His people was and still is a covenant of trust. The people follow and trust in God. God stays with and favors His people.

It takes a lot of trust to ask for something and consider it done. "So be it," isn't a request. It's a statement.

We are supposed to trust in God and God is completely worthy of that trust.

* I put "witches" in quotation marks because I know some followers who are insulted by that term. I used it because that is the term that most outsiders know them by.

This is part of a series of reflections on quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. For the other parts, go here.

Lumen Fidei #7: An Absent God is not a God

Cool CD cover.

From #17: Our culture has lost its sense of God's tangible presence and activity in the world. We think that God is to be found in the beyond, on another level of reality, far removed from our everyday relationships. But if this were the case, if God could not act in the world, his love would not be truly powerful, truly real, and thus not even true, a love capable of delivering the bliss that it promises.

Our Bible tells the story of people's relationship with God. Everywhere along the way from Genesis to Revelation, God intervenes on the behalf of humanity by doing thing like: saving the Israelites from slavery, helping the Israelites conquer the promised land, giving the Maccabees strength to rebel from Rome, and coming in the form of man to save us from sin and death.

But God's intervention in our lives isn't just something of history. He still intervenes every. single. day.

If you envision God as some old man in the sky who watches us intently and waits until we die to either reward us or punish us, you're not envisioning God, you're envisioning a cosmic Santa Claus.

A God who only exists out there in some netherworld who is vaguely defined and has an undefinable relationship to humanity is not the Christian God and might as well not exist at all. What use is He? How can we know He exists? What difference does His existence make?

What would be the point to religion? If we can't define God and God has no tangible relationship to us, why should we care?

But we do care. At least 90% of us in the US believe that God exists.

The Bible tells us that God is Love (1 John 4:8). We know that love exists because we love our family and friends. We endlessly seek love. God intervenes in our lives every day through those we love and those we don't particularly like.

In the quote above, Mr. Rogers is looking for love/God in the midst of tragedy. He's looking for hope through the helpers.

Our God is not some being in the sky. He's as close to us as our own family, as our very selves. That is the only God worth knowing, the only God that has any relevance. The clock-maker God is no God at all.

This is part of a series looking at quotes from Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. For the other parts, go here.

The Good Samaritan Today

In light of yesterday's gospel reading, I think we need a reminder of the good Samaritan stories of today.

First, there is the old woman in China living in poverty saving the babies she finds in the trash.

And, also in China, another poor woman trying to help a child who has been run over.

Here's a list of another 10 modern day good Samaritans.

Here's a video of people who returned lost money and valuables.

And here is the story of a Good Conductor who helped a young man get to say goodbye to his dying mother (warning: the story does contain a lot of British slang).

Source

I'm noticing an overall trend in these good Samaritan stories that I'd like to briefly point out.

The good Samaritan is almost always a poor person.

People living in poverty get a bad rap nowadays with stereotypes like the welfare queen or the wino. We need reminders that when we're talking about poverty, we're talking about real people. The stereotypes are just that, stereotypes. They have little if anything to do with reality. We're all human beings. We have a lot more in common than we have differences.

Some statistics to ponder.

Lumen Fidei #6: "Make Straight in the Wasteland a Highway for Our God!"

John the Baptist

From #13: Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our history.

 I have a pretty colorful history. When I was younger, I hung out with a different crowd. Goths, potheads, you name it! I never participated in any drinking or drugs, but I was close to people who did. We were the outsiders at school. By my senior year, we joked that I was the "mother" of the outsiders. I did have quite the protective, mama-bear attitude going around with my friends.

I would not win any prize for having the most colorful history, though. Many saints have more colorful histories than I: St. Ignatius of Loyola- the ambitious soldier, St. Francis of Assisi- the spoiled pretty boy, St. Augustine of Hippo- wine, women, and song.

God still makes radical changes in everyday lives. I've met one man who was a part of a motorcycle gang with all the worst that that can entail: drugs, crime, and hedonism. He found Jesus after having a stroke and radically changed his life.

God truly makes straight the crooked lines of our history. I remember my first time in Eucharistic Adoration. I had the overwhelming feeling that everything I've ever done, every event in my life was orchestrated to get me to that place in that moment. I felt like I had known all of the people in that chapel forever, even though I had never met them before in my life. As little sense as it has ever made to me, I truly feel I was made to be a Catholic. This is where I belong.

This is part six of a series looking at quotes from Pope Francis' encyclical Lumen Fidei. The others can be found here.

Lumen Fidei #3: Created by Love, for Love

From # 11: For Abraham, faith in God sheds light on the depths of his being, it enables him to acknowledge the wellspring of goodness at the origin of all things and to realize that his life is not the product of non-being or chance, but the fruit of a personal call and a personal love.

1 John 4:8 says, "Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love." We are told in the Catechism:

293      Scripture and Tradition never cease to teach and celebrate this fundamental truth: “The world was made for the glory of God.”134 St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things “not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it,”135 for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness: “Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand.”...

Everything was created simply because God loves. Everything from the grass, to the fish, to the duck-billed platypus, to every single individual human being. Love needs to create. Love cannot be static. It has to move, grow, and create.

We were made out of love for love.

We are all, every single one of us, without exception...

They actually sell this print on Etsy

You are not chance, you are not a product of random processes, you are handmade with love.

This is the third reflection in a series looking at Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. To read the others, visit here.

Lumen Fidei #2: Jesus is My Homeboy

From #8: Faith is our response to a world which engages us personally, to a "Thou" who calls us by name.

When we pray using "thee" and "thou," we always feel so formal. I've heard people complain about certain translations of the Bible, namely the KJV, because it has so many "thee"s and "thou"s. No one speaks like that anymore.

And it is probably because no one speaks like that anymore that we've forgotten its original usage. "Thou" is actually informal. It was used in ancient times to denote familiarity, sometimes even disrespect.

So, God is a "'Thou' who calls us by name." Our relationship with God isn't supposed to be cold and formal. It's supposed to be intimate. God is our friend.

In prayer, instead of worrying about saying a memorized prayer correctly, we need to talk to God like He's our friend, like He's in the room with us.

Because God is not only a friend, He's more than a friend. He cares and loves about us more than we could ever possibly understand. He knows what is on our hearts and minds before we even tell him. But He still would like to hear it from our lips. We need to be in a relationship with Him.

And as Catholics, we have a whole host of other holy people to have a relationship with as well.

Source.

This is part 2 in a series looking at quotes that struck me in Pope Francis' first encyclical. Here is a link to the other posts.

What is up with Psalm 149?

Recently, we've had a few opportunities to pray with Psalm 149 in Morning Prayer. I always find that Psalm kind of jarring. We start with "singing a new song" and we end up being "honored" to kill and imprison a lot a people.

Source

My inner wanna-be Bible scholar told me it has to be about the exile and I was right. First, let's look at the Psalm:

Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its maker,
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp.

For the Lord takes delight in his people.
He crowns the poor with salvation.
Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips
and a two-edged sword in their hand,

to deal out vengeance to the nations
and punishment on all the peoples;
to bind their kings in chains
and their nobles in fetters of iron;
to carry out the sentence pre-ordained;
this honor is for all his faithful.

Yes, we recite the whole Psalm in Morning Prayer. It's a short one. Here's where I get confused:



This awful little hymn (pardon the use of the HOLY NAME, by the way) is a cheery little number that was used all the freakin' time at my last parish. To think that this song is followed by blood shed is kind of crazy.

Yesterday, I bought my new favorite book

It's commentary on Psalm 149 is illuminating

An exilic or post-exilic psalm, depending on whether the event envisioned has already taken place or is yet to come. The event is God's deliverance of His people from exile and their restoration to Judah. The psalm envisions a reversal whereby Israel is the victor and its enemies the vanquished. The threefold repetition of the faithful emphasizes loyalty to God.

This gives us some essential clues as to what we are supposed to get out of this Psalm. As the Israelite were in exile, so are we in exile in a foreign land. Our true home is Heaven (Philippians 3:20) so we are, in a sense, exiles waiting to return.

In a Christian reading of the Psalm, this reversal is of the righteous and the unrepentant sinner. As the righteous now suffers, they will be vindicated. As many unrepentant sinners now live comfortable lives, they will be punished.

No, we are not supposed to rejoice in the pain of our enemies (Matthew 5:44). The end of this psalm is supposed to bother us if we are truly trying to imitate Jesus. It is part of our job on earth to  help make sure that other people make it to Heaven (Matthew 5:19). We don't want others to be put into chains. That's a normal, good response to this psalm. This psalm should lead us to prayer for those who aren't following God's will.

St. Gertrude the Great, pray for us

Sacrifice of Praise?

Last Friday, at weekday Mass, Psalm 116 was used. In that Psalm, verse 17 goes as such:

I will offer a sacrifice of praise

and call on the name of the LORD.

 "Sacrifice of praise"? What the heck is that supposed to mean?

It seems contradictory to me. We praise God when we remember all of the blessings He has given us. So, what does sacrifice have to do with that? When I think sacrifice, I think of Lent. What does this mean?

That is when going to the footnotes is helpful. When I look at this verse in my Bible, it references me back to Leviticus 7:12. It says:

 If someone offers it for thanksgiving, that person shall offer it with unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes made of bran flour mixed with oil and well kneaded.

The whole passage is giving instructions on how to do a sacrifice in thanksgiving. It sounds remarkably like the Eucharist mainly because it involves unleavened bread.

Wait a sec, Eucharist? Do you know what that word means? Eucharist is Greek for "thanksgiving." We use that word mainly because in the Last Supper narratives, it says that Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread. So, in a sense, the Eucharist is a "sacrifice of praise."

And there that troublesome phrase appears again in Hebrews 13:15. In context:

The bodies of the animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, to consecrate the people by his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach that he bore. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come. Through him [then] let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind. -Hebrews 13:11-16

Our entire lives are to be a sacrifice of praise because Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for us. We are supposed to live moral lives and care for the least of us. That is what a "sacrifice of praise" means.

What about times when a "sacrifice of praise" is hard to do? Here is a good article I found while researching this post that has helpful advice for those who find it difficult to offer one.

Here is a good Gospel song on the topic:

Music Soothes the Baby's Soul

When I saw this article the other day, I wasn't that terribly surprised. James seemed to like music well before he was born. Even now, especially in the car, he'll get upset if there isn't some kind of music playing.

Picture from the article because that baby is too cute.

The article mentions two benefits to the music that I think are worth noting.

1. Music reminds the baby of the womb. Before he or she was born, all sounds were muted and blurry. It was like listening underwater. Music and some nature sounds (like whales) is the closest we can come to imitating those sounds. And I wonder how long this memory lasts. I know of adults that prefer to sleep in a dark room with music playing softly. It's food for thought.
2. It is used as a bonding experience for the parent and child. The parent, seeing such a small person hooked up to all sorts of machines and monitors, is understandably nervous about touching their own child. Then they feel bad about it, because they're not touching their own child. This gives parents a chance to relieve that tension by giving them a chance to comfort their child without touch.

For the Christian parent, this can take on an added dimension. As St Augustine wrote, "He who sings prays twice." We are told in Scripture to,

And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another [in] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.- Ephesians 5:18-20

Being born so early and living to see another day, the parents already have plenty to sing about, "Sing praise to him, play music; proclaim all his wondrous deeds!" (Psalm 105:2) And the child doesn't care what you sound like, they only care to hear mom and dad's voices because those were the sounds they heard the most in the womb.

So this study shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but it should be a reminder to everyone of the importance of music in the baby's life.

Note to reader: Sorry I haven't written much lately. My internship has really heated up and I was finishing work on a website I'm helping start. The website is called YOUCATholic.com and as the name suggests, it is using the YOUCAT to teach the faith. It should be going on line today and I encourage you to check it out.

Praying Through, Not To, Mary

Praying mantis praying through, not to, Mary. I didn't know they were Catholic.

This is one area that Catholic and non-Catholics get tripped up on all of the time. What is it with Catholics and Mary?

The most realistic picture of Mary I've ever found

Mary is the mother of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I think that all Christians can agree with that. Mary carried Jesus in her womb, gave birth to Him, raised Him and was one of His closest followers. I would hope that all of that is pretty straight-forward.

Catholics have a thing about saints. We have a ton of them.

I mean, a ton of them.

 

 

Like, a whole lot of them.

Nobody has bothered counting them, there are so many. Best estimates are somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000. And being canonized doesn't mean that you then get to go to heaven. It means that the Catholic Church recognizes by your life, works, and miracles in your name that you are already there. We know there are more saints than are formally recognized by the Church.

Now, I start by talking about the saints because Mary is a saint. She is considered to be the highest and most perfect of the saints, but she's still a saint. Now, what makes her so much better than the other saints?

First of all, there must've been something about her that made God choose her to bear His Son. Catholics believe that Mary was born without the stain of original sin. Original sin is a stain that we all get from our first parents Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God in the garden. We believe that she must've been sinless because she carried God in her womb and God cannot co-exist with sin.

Then we observe human nature. All good kids honor their mothers, right? And Jesus must've been the best kid of all, right? So. we know Mary is in heaven and as the mother of God, we figure she's pretty close to the throne.

Through the centuries, the Church has held Mary up as a role model for all the faithful. We see her willingness to have Jesus (Luke 1:26-38). We hear about her pondering things in her heart (Luke 2:19). We wish we had the openness to Jesus that Mary had and the ability to ponder Jesus' deeds and sayings like she did.

Praying through a saint is like asking your best friend to pray for you. We figure these saints are in heaven and they can talk to God directly about our needs. Mary is considered the closest of the saints, so she is given the most respect and attention from the Church. That is the best summary of an answer that I can give.  

We call her the Queen of Heaven because that's what we figure she is.

 She did give birth to Jesus, after all.



Those Guys Must Be Drunk: Reflection for Pentecost Sunday

The first reading this Sunday is from the Acts of the Apostles. In my humble opinion, I think we cut it off too short. If we go a few more verses:

They were all astounded and bewildered, and said to one another, “What does this mean?” But others said, scoffing, “They have had too much new wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, “You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words. These people are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning." -Acts 2:2-15

It's little details like this that makes the Bible human for me. I just imagine myself in the crowd at the Pentecost, hearing these guys from Galilee speaking in many different tongues. The first thing that would pop in my head would be, "Those guys must be drunk." And then I put myself in Peter's shoes and one of the first things I'd say in my own defense would be, "It's too early in the morning for any of us to be drunk."

Source

Other stories where the humanity of the people in the Bible shine through include:

• Pretty much any story featuring Peter. Our first Pope was very human, from offering to walk on water and failing, to promising not to deny Jesus, then doing it three times only hours later.
• Mary's response when finding Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:48). "What are you doing, son? Your father and I have been worried sick!"
• On a more serious note, Joseph's initial plans to dismiss Mary (Matthew 1:19). That would be a very normal response in that time period when your betrothed is found pregnant.

Surprising Facts about Breast Feeding in Africa

When I got pregnant with James, my husband asked me if I was going to breast-feed. I didn't know how to answer. All the children in my family were formula-fed. I guess I just kinda assumed I'd formula-feed too. That's when my husband informed me that we were going to breast-feed because that's how a lot of our conversations go. Ask question then give order. If you're reading this: I love ya, babe.

Like the author of this article, I thought that breast-feeding would be a no-brainer in third-world countries. Heck, money is one of the main reasons why I agreed to breast-feed here in the US. So, I was surprised when I read that 1.4 million babies are dying annually because of poor education in regards to breast-feeding.

In some countries, women are waiting for breast-milk to mature before giving it to their babies, denying them the health benefits of the colostrum. In their defense, the colostrum does look nasty and it doesn't look like it would do the baby any good, but it's actually very important for the baby's health. They even said in my breast-feeding class that if your baby gets nothing else, try to make sure your baby gets the colostrum. Some breast-feeding is better than no breast-feeding at all.

One of the things that struck me the most though was the practice of giving the baby a mixture made from water and ink from a Koran verse for protection. Well, my Bible says too, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3) Apparently, however, the Koran specifically states that you are supposed to breast-feed for the
first two years.

I can understand the importance of tradition. I'm sure some of these women in the third-world would find it odd that I had a priest pour water over my infant's head. I have to applaud UNICEF for aggressively trying to solve this problem. As the article said:

There are babies suffering and dying because they don’t get enough to eat, yet the best nutrition for them is inches away at all times.  

Really sobering when you think about it.

Theodicy, Morality and the Sparrow

I read an article by a fallen away Catholic explaining why he has left the Church. While a colleague of mine at Ignitum Today wrote a post directly responding to him, I took it upon myself to read The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. In the article, he directly refers to the book as being instrumental in him finally taking the plunge to leave his childhood faith.

Spoiler alert: This book tells the story of the first Jesuit mission to an alien planet. Everyone on earth gets excited when we hear radio signals from a nearby world. While plans for a trip get lost in committee in all the various governmental bodies on earth, the Jesuits quickly get their stuff together and are the first to arrive on the new planet. It helps that they are spurned on by one priest in particular who thinks that it is his mission from God to make this trip.

In a couple of years, however, this trip goes completely to hell. All of the explorers except for the aforementioned priest are killed. Innumerable alien children are killed indirectly due to the explorers' actions. The priest is sold into sex slavery and he ends up accidentally killing an alien child who had become his closest friend. (And that's just the tip of the iceberg.)

The priest in The Sparrow has a lot more reason to sue God than this guy.

This story is a blunt exploration into theodicy. Theodicy is the attempt to rectify the existence of evil with the existence of a good and powerful God. In my opinion, the book leaves the question wide open. The priest ends feeling like he had been "seduced and raped by God." He feels as if God led him to this place, leading to the horrible deaths of many people and aliens, especially children. He feels as if it was God's will that the alien men rape him. He cannot rectify his belief in God with what he went through but, in the end, he wants to try. His fellow Jesuits want to help him in any way they can.

Toward the end of the book (pg. 401), two priests are discussing his experience. One of them explains to the other the idea of the "clock-maker God."

The other priest responds, "So, God just leaves?"

"No. He watches. He rejoices. He weeps. He observes the moral drama of human life and gives meaning to it by caring passionately about us, and remembering."

The other priest quotes Matthew 10:29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them fall to the ground outside your Father's care."

"But the sparrow still falls."

 

But The Sparrow Still Falls

That is a very poetic way at looking at the issue of theodicy. God cares about us all individually, but bad things still happen. Surprisingly, this is not what the article writer, B. Sarmiento, was struck by.

The character that the fallen away Catholic most relates to is one of the older women in the group of explorers. In a conversation with the priest, she explains that she doesn't need God in order to do good. As the article says:

But that war soon ended. As the saying goes, everything passes. It ended when I found Maria Doria Russell’s “The Sparrow,” a book with a science fiction theme, about a Jesuit who lost his faith because of a tragic event in his life. A character in the book, Anne—a middle-aged American doctor in a Brazilian slum doing work for the poor, an atheist—really got my attention. In one scene, she says in effect: Just because you don’t believe in a god doesn’t mean you can’t do good.

It was as if a light bulb switched on in my head. And suddenly I was thinking: Do good for the sake of doing good, and not because you’re afraid of ending up in some hell.

First of all, Anne isn't an atheist. As her husband characterizes her, "She's a Catholic when you get her drunk enough." She believes in God, but God is not a huge deal to her.

Otherwise, Sarmiento's summary is accurate. After a long day adapting to life with an alien culture on an alien world, she shoots the breeze with the main character priest. They discuss all too briefly whether or not you can live a moral life without God before moving on to other topics.

It is entirely possible to live a moral life without God. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about "natural law." There are moral rules, like for instance murdering an innocent person, that can be reached purely through reason and experience. You don't divine revelation to tell you how to be a descent human being.

To take it a step further, the goal of Christians is to do good for the sake of doing good. We aren't supposed to do good out of fear of Hell. In Catholicism, that's called imperfect contrition. Doing good because you don't want to go to hell is a good enough reason, but it is not the best. The best is to do good out of love for God and neighbor; to do the right thing because it's the right thing. It pains me to see how poorly catechized Sarmiento was in this respect.

The Sparrow is a very good book. I would caution readers, however, that the end gets very graphic and disturbed me greatly as the killing and raping is described in detail. It is interesting in its exploration of theodicy and in its social commentary. I would recommend it, but not to the faint of heart.

The Old Order Has Passed Away: Reflection of the Fifth Sunday of Easter

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away. -Revelation 21:4

A major component of my internship with Spiritual Care at the hospital was to have some kind of ritual to "enter in with the patient and their family." I had a hard time coming up with one. For one thing, I was in the ER so sometimes I didn't really have much time between visits and I definitely had no privacy to have a ritual. For another, except for things like the Rosary, I really didn't have a prayer life. The Rosary, even just a decade, was too long for a pre-pastoral visit ritual. Usually, I was lucky just to remind myself of the patient's name and what their presenting condition was.

About halfway through the semester, after being asked a half dozen times to get a ritual, I settled upon memorizing Bible passages. Every evening I'd pack an index card on which I'd have a passage written and between visits I'd work on memorization. This quote from Revelation, found in the second reading this week, was one of the quotes I used.

Source

Someday all of this is going to end. The mother mourning her dead child will hold that child again in God's kingdom. The person with the debilitating, fatal illness will finally feel healthy and whole again. The person born with a severe mental disability will be able to sit down and chat with you. Whatever is bothering you will finally be resolved.

While I wouldn't necessarily share this quote in a pastoral visit, it does give me comfort when I see so much suffering in the world. The person you're visiting might not be able to see that far into the future. Caught up in their pain, they just want their lives to go back to normal now. They don't care about some future world, they want relief now. I think we've all been there. As a part of the staff, I have more of an outsider view. From the outside, it's easier to take the longer view. It's easier to remember as I'm driving home that this is not forever.

This too shall end.

The old order. The society in which disease runs rampant. In which people go broke paying medical bills. In which uninsured can't get care until it's too late. In which car accidents happen. In which people shoot one another. This old order will pass away. Then God Himself will wipe the tears from all of our eyes and we will no longer suffer.

And in the meantime, we got cat pictures!

3 Christian Images for the Boston Marathon Bombings + 1

Anyone who has read this blog for very long knows that I think long and hard before I say anything about major news stories. I decided to cover this story using the same concept I used with the Newtown shooting, but I had a much harder time coming up with images. I could see the faults in every image that came to mind. So, please, know that I do not intend to be offensive in any of these.

1. The Good Samaritan

Speaking as someone who watched it all unfold on the news, I was among those struck by the sheer number of people who ran toward the blasts instead of away. By now, we've all seen those iconic photographs of people pushing wheelchairs and caring for the injured. One of the things that touched me most was the stories of runners running to the hospital to give blood. I think the longest I've ever run in my life was a mile. I can't imagine how tired these people were, but they literally went the extra mile and gave a pint of their own blood.

2. Paul's Running Metaphor 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

There are runners and spectators that are not going to walk, much less run, again due to injuries. Amputees and others are looking at long, hard therapy to return their lives to some semblance of normal. They need our prayers to support them through all of the work they have to do. They, in turn, will serve as an inspiration for those who watch them fight against the odds. They will truly be embodying the kind of discipline that Paul describes in this post. The last thing any of them need to be worrying about is the massive medical bills that will be coming from this. You can donate here.

3. "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith" 2 Timothy 4:7 

There were three fatalities. All three were way too young to die, especially the 8-year-old. He had just had his First Communion. Our prayers are also with them and their families. I really have nothing else to say.

 

+ 1 "Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart." Hebrew 4:12

 I saw on a number of news outlets the dead Boston bombing suspect said that the Bible was a "cheap copy of the Koran" and that it was used to justify the US invading the Middle East. It is very disrespectful to say disparaging remarks about another faith's holy book. The Bible is very important to me and to many other people in the United States, just like the Koran was important to him. We need to stop attacking one another's faith. (That also goes for the idiots who burned a copy of the Koran and who said the Koran should be flushed!)

Jesus: "The Original Hipster"

The priest in this interview with the Huffington Post really knocks it out of the park.

The diocese of Brooklyn has developed a new ad campaign that has people talking. In as series of ads, they try to reach young adults who aren't coming to church. They are releasing ads specifically aimed at parents, joggers, and people of different ethnicities. And hipsters? The ad campaign is called "All faces. Everyday understanding" and it is doing it's job at getting people's attention.

So, what do you think about this ad campaign? Is it appropriate to talk about Jesus like this? Was Jesus really a hipster?

I think that this campaign is absolutely brilliant in that it is getting everyone talking, especially the very group the Church is looking for. The Huffington Post is talking about it. Gawker is talking about it. Salon is talking about it. The Observer is covering it. Opposing Viewpoints is covering it. Yeah, not all of the reviews are positive, but it's got their attention.

It is also appropriating a meme that has been used and abused for years.

I'm all for anyone taking back something that is used to mock them and twisting it into their own. Way to stick it to...well...whoever you're sticking it to.

The priest in the above video makes the valid point that every culture that Christianity has come in contact with has made Christ into their own image. What ever is considered beautiful and good in your culture, you apply rightly or wrongly to Christ. That's the reason why this Middle-Eastern man is often depicted here in the west as a good looking Caucasian with blue eyes.

 At least the Bible miniseries gave him brown eyes

But, just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make it right. So, is it right? Jesus came into our world as a Middle Eastern Jew around the year 4 BCE. Is it okay to depict him as anything else? Well, unlike St. Paul, we don't have a detailed description of what Jesus looked like. That's not any excuse. Forensic scientists have been trying to work around that. And this "hipster" label isn't really talking about His looks anyway. It's about His beliefs and we have plenty of literature and 2000 years of Tradition to tell us about those.

Urban Dictionary defines "hipster" as:

Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter...Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses.

Jesus was certainly counter-cultural. Let's take two prime examples:

• The woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11)- An angry crowd comes to Jesus with to ask him if it is okay to stone a woman caught committing the sin of adultery. After making them stew for a moment as he wrote something on the ground, he dared that "whoever among you that is without sin can cast the first stone." This is in direct contradiction of the rules and practices of the time. Now, he doesn't let the woman go scot-free, he tells her to sin no more. But he does save her life. And notice something else about the story. It's only the woman who was going to be stoned for adultery. The last time I checked: it takes two people to have sex. Where was the man? I like to think that this played a role in Jesus' judgment of the case.

• The question of divorce (Matthew 19:3-9 and Mark 10:2-12)- Jesus is asked if divorce is permissible. Jesus says, essentially, that it shouldn't be. His questioners argue that they believe it is permissible because Moses said so. Jesus responds saying that it was only because of their "hardness of heart" that God has allowed it to occur. Again, very counter-cultural and very pro-woman. The wife usually got the raw end of the deal in divorces because they were seen as their husband's property and they typically didn't have anything of their own. So women abandoned in divorce would often have to resort to begging or prostitution simply to stay alive. So, in addition to affirming that "what God has put together, let no man put asunder," he's also, once again, protecting women.

Now we wade into the murky waters of progressivism. As I have argued before, I truly Catholic outlook would not jive with either the Republicans or the Democrats. I don't think Jesus would fully support either one.

Like our new Pope, Jesus seems to have been a doctrinal hard-ass who loved the underdog and the outcast. If you don't believe me, see his teaching on divorce above. His questioners bring up Moses, Jesus points them all to Genesis. Jesus is trying to point them all to the very beginning, how God made everything before any man, even the venerable Moses, had any say. You can't get more conservative than that.

That seems kind of counter-cultural in and of itself. Going down the street, you see people wearing their identities on their tee-shirts. The United States is becoming ever more divided into our respective camps. People proudly announce their labels from the rooftops. To refuse to be put into a box is against the norm.

While Jesus might not have necessarily agreed with all that the current progressive movement stands for, he was completely counter-cultural.

• He was completely against hyper-consumerism (Matthew 21:12-13).

• He followed God regardless of anything people said (Mark 12:14-17).

• He would feel at home with the bohemians (Luke 9:58).

• Jesus made ironic statements and used sarcasm (examples include Matthew 19:23-26 [camel through eye of needle], Matthew 7:3 [plank in your own eye], John 1:46-47 [Jesus being snarky to Nathanael], and Luke 14:16-24 [the really lame excuses the wedding fest guests give for not showing up]).  

Yeah, I think Jesus could be considered a "hipster" as long as you are lenient on your definition of "progressive."