If you’re not exploring, you’re not growing.
We will do a better job of following Christ when we don’t constantly compare ourselves to others. If you’re caught up in that dreaded habit, just stop it already. In Christ, God loves us, God accepts us, God helps us, and God forgives us when we act like dumbasses. So the trick is for us to be real with God so he can be real with us. When we approach God with humility, he will approach us with compassion. Every time. Seriously, stop trying to be somebody else. (see Galatians 6:4)
In the 1980s, I was a fan of punk rock, alt rock, and new wave. I was an early fan of the band Big Country. Today I stumbled upon this Japanese cover of the song “In a Big Country”. Check it out (link). It’s just too dang fun. Here’s the original.
“All the persons of faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us.” —Eugene Peterson
“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.” —Harlan Ellison
I don’t keep up with what the Pope says each day. Sure, I love the Pope and honor him. I pray for the Pope, as all Catholics do. I read encyclicals and other official documents promulgated by the Pope. I know that, as always, papal authority is necessary for the continued unity of the Universal Church, and I thank the Lord for setting up his Church that way.
But no Catholic is required to wait breathlessly to hear every opinion uttered by the Pope. I mean, if you’re obsessed, go ahead and do that. The point is that, as a Catholic, you’re not required to get all worked up about the latest out-of-context papal soundbites or the superficial comments from the talking heads on TV or the predictable reactions from the social media “influencers”. And the truth is, based Catholics don’t get worked up about that stuff at all (if they even notice). We just shrug and get on with the things that really matter. You know, like doing the laundry.
Is it just me, or are places like monasteries and Wyoming starting to make a lot more sense?
God is unpredictable. Always. He will not be pinned down or boxed in. Our Christian experience will start to become real when we finally accept the fact and move on.
I’m one of those short-term pessimists, but I’m a long-term optimist.
“Beauty fades, dumb is forever.” —Judge Judy Sheindlin
I’ve been watching some videos about the decline of the “Megachurch Movement” in America. Maybe this decline is actually happening, maybe not. Either way, I’m surprised the movement has lasted this long, since its performative nature is so obvious.
If you’re a Christian who has bought into an entertainment version of what the Christian life entails, then you really need to start reading the Bible more closely and more broadly. That’s the thing about the Bible: It won’t let you buy into feel-good Christian hype forever. Rather, the Bible will relentlessly squeeze that kind of thinking right out of you.
Ninety-five percent of our religious motivation is self-serving. That’s true for me. That’s true for you. We just need to realize that the other five percent is where God is actually at work in us. God intends to take that five percent and increase it, even if it’s just by a few points, even if it takes years. God is fiercely patient. Us, not so much.
I was just talking to a relative who was received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. He was all excited about this. He told me a little bit about his methodical examination of Catholicism, and how this led to his choosing to become a Catholic. He also told me that he is eager to continue his exploration of Catholic faith and practice. I mean, he was so dang joyful about all this.
I was reminded of my own “journey” into the Catholic Church, which happened so many years ago. I’m a bit envious of him, to tell the truth. Why? Because I remember what it was like—that portal into a new world of experience, that almost child-like anticipation of more to come, that recognition of a fresh beginning, that sense of coming home at last, that new understanding of just about everything, that sense of discovering real purpose and meaning, that upgraded sense of being loved by God, and that realization that the world does make sense after all. Oh, yes, I remember.
“If our Christianity never brushes up against the supernatural, never disrupts our categories, never makes our lives look even a little bit strange, then maybe the problem isn’t that God went silent. Maybe the problem is that we’ve stayed at a safe distance.” —Dane Cannavo
“He, the Life of all, our Lord and Savior, did not arrange the manner of his own death lest he should seem to be afraid of some other kind. No. He accepted and bore upon the cross a death inflicted by others, and those others his special enemies, a death which to them was supremely terrible and by no means to be faced; and he did this in order that, by destroying even this death, he might himself be believed to be the Life, and the power of death be recognized as finally annulled. A marvelous and mighty paradox has thus occurred, for the death which they thought to inflict on him as dishonor and disgrace has become the glorious monument of death’s defeat.” —St Athanasius
Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox disagree with each other as siblings. They play in the same yard.
Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox disagree with the various Protestant sects as second cousins. They play in yards that are separated by a thousand miles.
“The perfection of brotherly love lies in the love of one’s enemies. We can find no greater inspiration for this than grateful remembrance of the wonderful patience of Christ. He who is more fair than all the sons of men offered his fair face to be spat upon by sinful men; he allowed those eyes that rule the universe to be blindfolded by wicked men; he bared his back to the scourges; he submitted that head which strikes terror in principalities and powers to the sharpness of the thorns; he gave himself up to be mocked and reviled, and at the end endured the cross, the nails, the lance, the gall, the vinegar, remaining always gentle, meek and full of peace.” —St Aelred
We often hear people complain that there is too much chaos in the world and that God should do something about it. I wonder what the world looks like to God, who sees it all from the vantage point of the universe as a whole, and also from the vantage point of timelessness? We’re also told that God sees into the heart of every person. What does he see when he looks into our hearts? The seedbed of all the world’s chaos perhaps?