 courtesy Knights of Columbus | Let's raise a figurative glass (though it is noon somewhere) to St. Thomas More! If he's not the only lawyer in Heaven, it would definitely have to be an exclusive group. One would think the temptation to perform jesuitical jujitsu in order to avoid a beheading would be nearly overwhelming but the saint did not succumb. |
One great advantage of God having come to earth is that it helps us discount whatever negativity we feel. If we look at the problem of evil, or natural disasters for instance, we know that Christ knew of them and it didn’t alter his love for the Father. We know that even personal suffering didn’t alter that equation either (i.e. the Cross). We know that he read and inhaled the Old Testament and there was nothing in it that shook his faith. He had no problem reconciling the difficult passages therein. There was no Marcion disconnect between the Old & his own teachings that would form the basis of the New. There is great comfort in all of that.
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It’s a time of madness. The summer equinox. The heat has come and it is so humid that walking outside is like walking into a wall. I am full of deep yearnings and not just for sex. No I have a yearning to write, "write like the wind". There are moments of beauty in unexpected moments. Driving to work today I was floored by the undulating hills of clover next to Neil Avenue. There was the grace note of a tall dark blue flower against the background of this happy flowering pink/purple clover. And it feels like being indoors is a crime against nature. Ol' Jim Curley & Jeff Culbreath are saying their told-ya-so's. It seems a crime not to notice, but summer will go along without us whether the lightning bugs are appreciated and the hammock is bowed and the hummingbirds are spotted. The days already begin to shorten. Early summer is shot through with wistfulness. What part does nostalgia play in the Christian’s life? The bible is not friendly towards it (look at Lot’s wife). What part does sentiment play?
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An odd thing about blogging is the disproportionality it tends to encourage. I pray much for an ex-Catholic blogger who has become a Mormon. Why? I don’t even know her. How odd is that? How odd that I pray for her more than I do some of my own in-laws and family members?
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The great challenge is to bravely note other people’s blind spots and not feel a crisis of confidence concerning how gaping your own might be. You can't know your blind spot else it wouldn't be called 'blind'. You must go forward in a Pickett’s Charge, unafraid of being wrong. Reading of fallen evangelists like Jim Bakker discombobulates me because it shows how short-lasting the Scriptural imperatives adhere to us. James writes in his epistle that we forget who we are, and that is so. The spiritual evaporates quickly without prayer and the gospel.
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I go to an ultra-orthodox parish downtown a lot. There are long lines for Confession and more devotions that you can shake a stick at. And the sermon is often one concerning the besetting sin of the orthodox: self-righteousness. And I had to laugh because - get this - during one of those sermons I'm thinking, "it's good that at an orthodox parish we hear about self-righteousness. I wonder whether at the liberal parish down the street they're hearing about sin and heterdoxy." and I imagined not, that that's the difference between the orthodox and the heterodox. You simply can't make it up. I felt self-righteous during a sermon about self-righteousness!
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I saw one of the Episcopalian ministers identify herself on her blog profile as an ENFS or whatever those Myers-Briggs initials are. I sometimes think about what would happen if Jesus say about Myers-Briggs. Would he give a pass to introverts? Would “feeler” types be given a doctrinal pass since logic might not be their forte? Would “judgers” be less judged on judging? Maybe, but that's also what grace is for.
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Regarding the Episcopalian madness, I do feel sorry that St. Paul's passage about marrying if you would otherwise be given over to lust can't apply to homosexuals. Which is why they are called to be saints. But the amazing way in which the liberals in that church have demanded their own way reminds one of what Josef Pieper wrote decades ago:
There seems nowadays some strong imperative to conduct ourselves as though eros really were a kind of absolute authority. There are those who feel that they are right, are carrying out a kind of religious duty "in the service of eros" - even though they may be deceiving a spouse, betraying a friend, abusing hospitality, destroying the happiness of others, or abandoning their own children. Then everything appears as a "sacrifice" painfully offered upon the altar of love.__
So what else is in the hopper? Let me look in the discontinued items bin. (Please make shuffling noise.) Oh yes. Don't tell Steven Riddle, because he could change this in a heartbeat by adding thousands of books to his librarything collection, but the current standings as far as books we share in common with Amy Welborn goes: TSO (40), sriddle (34), TLSouthard (31), scipio (29) where TLSouthard is MamaT of "Summa Mamas" fame and Scipio is he who blogs here. Of course, it's not a competition so please no wagering.
What else from the bargain bin? Here's something from Right Angle blog Ohioans may be interested in concerning gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland's view of religion.
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