January 2018 - Shepherd of Faith

Lamentations: Jerusalem abandoned and disgraced

Defend us in battle!

Jerusalem, abandoned and disgraced – the title of Lamentations Chapter 1.

How lonely she is now, the once crowded city! Widowed is she who was mistress over nations; The princess among the provinces has been made a toiling slave, Bitterly she weeps at night, tears upon her cheeks, with not one to console her of all her dear ones. Her friends have all betrayed her and become her enemies.

This is what I opened my Bible to on the first day of my retreat several weeks ago. This verse obviously speaks of loneliness and desertion. In fact, it is speaking of Jerusalem after its siege and destruction. But how does it apply to our world today? My thoughts immediately went to the abandonment of the Church by so many. “Been made a toiling slave” reminded me of how today’s Church is expected to compromise it’s precepts and moral teachings in order to increase its numbers – in order to accommodate and become attractive to those on the “outside.”

How sad is it? The Church is expected to change the way it thinks and operates but we, as individuals, are not. Is that fair? I think not. So “she weeps bitterly and no one is willing to console her.” “Her friends have all betrayed her” – the lukewarm, the fallen away. They have become her enemies – they are enemies because they choose to be of the world, they criticize, they convince others to fall away or they misinform and refuse to become more knowledgeable. They refuse to hear and live the Truth.

The challenges we face as a Church are enormous and at times can be discouraging. I teach religious education and am often the only source of faith formation for my students. Unfortunately, if I take my ministry “too seriously” (which of course, I do), I am met with resistance. Some even refuse to do anything extra, including taking their children to church on Sunday. Often I arrive to teach with great joy and expectation in my heart and leave heartbroken for various reasons. Sometimes I feel like giving up, I wonder if I should continue teaching. Week in and week out I am in conflict, but something tells me I need to stick it out. Some mornings I am brought to tears, feeling defeated and then I’m reminded of how Jesus must have felt while in agony in the garden and I say to myself: Suck it up, buttercup, it’s part of the journey!

Fast forward to Evening prayer on the same day of my retreat. I found hope in the reading. For those of you whose children have fallen away, this should give you some hope as well. It comes from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, specifically 12:15 – If the foot would say “because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.” Then Verse 12:18 – but, as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as He chose!

Why hope? Because 1 Corinthians tells us we are ALL necessary parts of a whole. Each part has its job to do for the Kingdom. No one is “any less a part.” I took this to mean that even the fallen away, even those who challenge our purpose have a part to play for God’s kingdom. For example: My students and their families make me a better disciple. They are helping me hone out the virtues God so desperately wants me to possess. As a result of my interaction with them I desire to study more. I work extra hard to think of ways to witness that are still obedient to the teaching of the Church and yet attractive to them and others. My relationship with the Lord is getting deeper. In and through that depth others will come to know and love the Lord.

The same holds true for those parents who struggle with the reality that they fought so hard to raise their children in the faith and lost the battle. You may have lost the battle but you are winning the WAR! Your children have contributed to your spiritual growth. Through your own introspection you too have become a better disciple of Christ. You’ve taken the time to take stock of your actions – where you’ve gone wrong and what you’ve done right. You are now a better WARRIOR because of it!

We are all where we need to be on the journey. Our God is the God who created the universe and all that dwells there. Do you really believe He doesn’t know enough to strategically place us where He needs us most at any given moment?

Trust my friends! Be grateful for everything. The Divine plan is just that………………DIVINE! God bless you!

St. John Chrysostom

Religion: Where have we gone wrong? I contemplate this question as I lament the state of humanity’s relationship with God. So here it goes. Let me just preface this by saying I don’t profess to be a theologian, I’m just writing what came to my heart this morning.

This past Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to spend a few hours at my mom’s house with family. Even though I had other plans, I made it a point to stop in. I knew my niece and her husband, whom I haven’t seen in several years, would be there. While I love my niece very much, there has been a bit of tension (or should I say I “perceive” a bit of tension) between us since she professed to be atheist. In the past I have always felt a need to “argue” my point or simply disagree with whatever she and her husband have to say. This time was different. I would like to think it was different because I’m different. I would hope that I’m more peaceful – more spiritually mature, if you will.

Before I arrived at Mom’s, I made a conscious decision to be happy, peaceful and engaging. Thanks be to God, that’s just what I was and I had a good time. Of course, during our conversation, my niece’s husband attempted to engage me in conversation about religion. However, like a thought during contemplation, I let the bait pass. A part of me feels like I lost an opportunity to discredit his thoughts. Another part of me understood that any argument I could make was a lost cause at that time. Nothing is impossible with God, so I pray often for conversion.

What struck me and stayed with me after the conversation was his comment that we don’t need religion to be moral. He prefaced that comment by stating that he attended Catholic school his entire life, as if that was authority enough to make his comment credible law.

The reason I bring this up now is I recently watched a video on Facebook. It was of an atheist ranting about why he’s made it his life’s work to disprove God’s existence. His argument, after citing all the things wrong with religious fundamentalism, was basically the same as my niece’s husband. I have to admit, my knee jerk comment was “misinformed idiot.” Not my proudest moment.

“Okay God”, I said to myself. “You want me to think about this, you want me to be ready next time.” So I thought about it more this morning. First of all, if a child can go to Catholic school their entire life and only come away with “we need religion to lead moral lives” then someone dropped the ball. If individuals are becoming atheists because of Christian fundamentalists and their literal interpretation of Scripture, then fellow Christians, you need to take another approach. The list goes on and on.

As I thought about the comment this morning, I realized that the atheists were right – we don’t need “religion” to make us moral, but we DO need GOD! Let me explain. Scripture tells us that we are all born with Original Sin – born with the effects of the sins of our ancestors. At the same time, we are made in the image and likeness of God.

Think about it: If we are made in the image and likeness of God, then it should follow that we are inherently good and moral from the start. Therefore, we don’t need religion to make us moral, but we do need God. That being said, let’s not underestimate the importance of religion in our lives. Religion has a huge role to play in our spiritual lives. It should serve as a guidepost to a deeper union with our Creator. Church/religion is made to teach us ways to connect with God. Hopefully, through that deeper connection with God we build a deeper connection with humanity and with all of God’s creation.

I understand that there are many people in the world who don’t practice their faith and many who are atheists. No doubt most of these people are “good” people. We all have good inside us as God’s children (but you see, God MUST exist in order for this to be true!) I know from my own personal experience that religion and my resultant deeper union with God has made me a better, more loving and charitable person. Religion has led me to people and places I could never have gone on my own. A healthy religion helps lead us closer to God in order to make us better versions of ourselves.

As I finish writing this post and move on with my prayerful reading this morning, I come across this meditation. Timely for sure.

The Living Word of God

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Fundamentalism is a growing phenomenon, not only in Islam and other religions, but within Christianity as well. Fundamentalism refuses to listen to the deep levels of mythic, metaphorical, and mystical meaning. It is obsessed with literalism and exclusion.

The egoic need for clarity and certitude leads fundamentalists to use sacred writings in a mechanical, closed-ended, and quite authoritarian manner. The ego rarely asks real questions and mostly gives quick answers. This invariably leaves ego-driven, fundamentalist minds and groups utterly trapped in their own cultural moment in history. Thus they miss the Gospel’s liberating message along with the deepest challenges and consolations of Scripture.

There is an especially telling passage in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus becomes angry with his disciples, who are unable to understand his clearly metaphorical language. He tells them to watch out for “the leaven” of the Pharisees and “the leaven” of Herod. Taking him literally, they began looking quizzically at one another because they did not have any bread (see Mark 8:14-16). Is Herod Bread a new brand that they had not heard about? Is Pharisee pumpernickel something to be avoided?

I can imagine Jesus responding with a bit of impatience and frustration: “Do you think I am talking about bread? You’re still not using your heads, are you? You still don’t get the point, do you? Though you have ears, you still don’t hear; though you have eyes, you still don’t see!” (see Mark 8:17-18). They do not yet know that the only way to talk about transcendent things is through metaphor! But early stage religious people are invariably literalists, and not yet poets and mystics. It takes inner experience of the Holy, and your own attempts to describe it, to finally move you toward a necessary reliance upon symbolic language.

Jesus consistently uses stories and images to describe spiritual things. Religion has always needed the language of metaphor, simile, symbol, and analogy to point to the Reign of God. Note how frequently Jesus begins teaching with the phrase: “The Kingdom of God is like. . . .” There is no other way to speak of the ineffable. Against conventional wisdom, this simple, seemingly childlike approach actually demands more of us—not just more of our thinking mind, but more of our heart and body’s attunement. Maybe that is why we so consistently avoid sacred story in favor of mere mechanical readings that we can limit and control.

The final and full Word of God is that spiritual authority lies not just in ancient texts but in the living Christ of history, church, community, creation, and our own experience confirming its truth. The mystery is “Christ among you, your hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27)—this is the living Bible! Keep one foot in both camps—the historical text and the present moment—and in your fullest moments you will find yourself also saying “it is like. . . .” Words are fingers pointing to the moon, but words are never the moon itself. Not knowing this has kept much religion infantile, arrogant, and even dangerous.

-Richard Rohr, cac.org

Words are fingers pointing to the moon, religion is a finger pointing to the Creator. Words are never the moon itself, religion is never God itself! Some way, somehow we’ve lost our way. Scripture was never meant to be taken literally and religion was never meant to replace God. Religion and God are not interchangeable. Religion is imperfect, while God is perfect! Atheists are arguing about the problems with religion and submitting them as proof that God doesn’t exist. Apples and oranges?