Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

I was thinking the other day about my own "personal experiences of God's power." Nothing astonishing, I hasten to say, no visions or wonders, not even anything inexplicable in natural terms. It occurred to me, though, that explicating experiences in natural terms is a right daft way of living my life. Look, I told myself, I believe that God loves me. If I can believe something as ridiculous as that, why can't I believe that something I subjectively experience as His love for me objectively is His love for me? If my wife makes me my favorite breakfast, I'll freely say it's because she loves me. I don't say, "Sure, she loves me and all, but why would she make me my favorite breakfast just because of that? It's probably just a coincidence." Shall I be like the man on the desert island who prays, "Dear God, please send a ship to rescue me -- oh, never mind, there's one now."? Or shall I instead trust in God, particularly in His presence and involvement in my life, even at the risk of -- what? Seeing God present and involved in my life? - Tom of Disputations

Perhaps the reason converts from Protestantism expect to an experience tantamount to be being blinded by a great light and knocked off a donkey is that they have been taught, whether consciously or unconsciously, to pattern their Christianity after St. Paul's life. (Well, his epistles are closest thing we have to a practical instruction manual. That must be a big deal for anyone who holds to sola Scriptura.) Cradle Catholics are far more Petrine: there is no dramatic light and heavenly voice, just Someone we've known for years--Someone we've grown prosaically used to--suddenly turning to us and casually asking, "And you . . . who do you say that I Am?" - Sancta Sanctis

It always concerns me when an issue [i.e. clericalism] is presented as something to be solved. [Russell] Shaw’s image of the sick man, as clear and expressive as it is, does not serve this particular issue well. Clericalism will always be with us. It can never be “solved.” Trying to “solve” it can only feed the frenzy of anti-clericalism. It is better to identify its characteristics and seek to lessen them, in a word, contain them. - commenter on "Inside Catholic"

[Thomas] Merton’s dedication to the prayer of the Hours and the normal work of Gethsemani fits in to the basics of such exercise; his prayer was regular, his eating regular, his work regular, his fasting regular, all within the confines of the ordered liturgical year. His spiritual life was well-ordered by his community, and so he didn’t fall into the excesses of heart in which many of us more independently-minded Christians will often wind up...So why did he go to the hermitage?... It has been said of Gethsemani that after the community decides you’re a good fit and accepts you, it works you over. Gethsemani changes you, and often, you’re no longer right for it. I’d say that it’s God that does the changing, but the principle remains the same: something of the experience is transformative, and the difficulty is in remaining in your place when you’ve been cut to a new shape. For Thomas Merton, the key, the solution, was to disengage from the community while remaining a part of it by physically separating himself from the main body, and taking new work...I’m inclined to think he overacted in isolating himself from his community. There, while capable, perhaps, of better prayer, he was more able to let his mind wander around his many books, and in a short period flirted with dozens of ideologies and ideas. In withdrawing from the monastery, he may have assumed a strength he didn’t yet possess. Merton’s writing has always had, to me, a tinge of arrogance. I don’t say this in contempt, as I confess that I’m a pretty arrogant guy myself, and he grew increasingly insular and incomprehensible and disconnected in his work in that hermitage. He began writing, in a sense, only to himself. It’s like the philosophy of art for art’s sake, which early 20th century literary and art critic Malcolm Cowley derides as useless and without referent to real life. - found here, via Amy Welborn

The disciples think they've finally figured Jesus out...and they say with one voice: "Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God."...Jesus [replies]: "Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone." He doesn't say the disciples don't believe that He came from God. He warns them that their newly-minted belief in His origins does not yet amount to faith in Him personally. They have not yet worked through the implications of their profession; they aren't quite ready to declare boldly, "What will separate us from the love of Christ?" Well, they're ready to declare it. They aren't ready to live it. Still, Jesus loved them to the end. He did not belittle them for their immature declaration of belief, but directed them beyond declarations to Himself: "I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world." He neither demands nor expects the disciples to take courage that night. He might have commanded them to stay with Him...but is that the discipleship God became man to obtain? - Tom of Disputations

Our separation of economy from the home is part of a long fragmentation process. ... We have separated everything from everything else. We have accomplished this by separating everything from the home. Feminism has separated women from the home. Capitalism has separated men from the home. Socialism has separated education from the home. Manufacturing has separated craftsmanship from the home. The news and entertainment industry has separated originality and creativity from the home, rendering us into passive and malleable consumers rather than active citizens. - Dale Ahlquist via Jim Curley of "Bethune Catholic"

Few cradle Catholics approach Catholicism as a favourite hobby. For us it is often as invisible, and necessary, and taken for granted, as the air we breathe. Our local customs, our swear words, and our lack of enthusiasm often shock new, fresh, dazzled converts. But despite our lackadaisical air and our many sins, the words of the Mass and the grace of baptism still course through our veins. - Still Seraphic, via Sancta Sanctis

Parts of Europe are wondering how to deal with Muslim fundamentalists while their very governments are caving in to demands for Sharia law, the removal of St George’s Cross from British prisons, and offering welfare to immigrants who want to turn England, Holland and France into a Muslim state. It seems that like US liberals, members of the EU see America as a bigger threat to freedom and modernity than the bearded men who want to turn the calendar back to 950. Mention this to any good, decent American lib and they’ll nod and add, “But have you seen Jesus Camp?” The documentary is the scariest argument for liberals who equate American fundamentalists with Muslim terrorists. Apparently speaking in tongues and trying to teach evolution is the same as celebrating a plane load of terrorists who asked that no women attend their funerals. Moral equivalency much? Is modern culture worth saving is the question. According to some, even asking this makes you a nationalist or a Nazi. - phil of "Please Hold Your Applause"

[G.K. Chesterton] is well-known for pointing out that there are two ways to reach one's home: the first is to stay put and the second is to go all the way around the world until one arrives back at where one started from. Martin Luther went on such a quest; so did John Calvin, John Knox, and all the other Protestant founders. On them lay the strange grace of resembling Our Lord in having no place to lay their heads. Such a quest is bigger than any one man, and it is no surprise that none of them completed it in his lifetime. It is their sons and daughters who, by the hundreds, are completing the circumnavigation of Christendom. Yet it may take hundreds of years before the quest fulfills itself and all our separated brethren complete the journey home. What is to separate this kind of searching from natural periods of doubt which assail individual cradle Catholics and which are often agonising to overcome? We can do that without ever leaving home. Protestantism is the same natural doubt on a grand--even epic--scale. Who is to say that our separated brethren aren't closer than either party would like to admit? "Home" has a wider, wilder landscape than most of us recognise, especially when we had that other strange grace of resembling Our Lord by being brought out of Egypt and then never leaving home again. - Enbrethiliel & Antony of SS