I just had a cool experience whilst praying the rosary.
I was praying the sorrowful mysteries, and when I got to the second mystery of the scourging, my mind drifted, as it usually does. Then out of nowhere came the question:
When have you scourged Christ?
My head whipped back, and I whispered out loud, "Whoooooa!"
I love those moments in prayer. This is God snapping His fingers, telling you to focus.
The sorrowful mysteries are probably my favourite to pray on. Any time I experience any type of prayful emotion, it is almost always when praying on those mysteries. I have felt intense and overwhelming sadness during those mysteries, usually God's sadness for the state of whomever or whatever I am praying for; and I have felt joy as well, which I interpret as God giving me hope in the midst of despair, for whomever or whatever I am praying for.
But of all the times I have prayed on the sorrowful mysteries, never have I placed myself in them as the one doing these horrible things to my Lord!
Obviously I have reflected on the image of putting a nail in Christ's hands every time we sin, etc., but usually when I pray on these mysteries, I think of the excruciating pain Christ went through for me. I have never put myself into the mystery as the one doing those things to Him.
That question really hit me: When have you scourged Christ?
If God lives in everyone, and the face of every person you encounter is the face of God, then everytime I am unloving toward another person, I am scourging Christ.
This isn't news. It isn't rocketscience, and it most certainly is not ground-breaking theology. We hear this message virtually every Sunday, and it has been stated for roughly 2000 years. Yet, we never really "get it" until we have these small epiphanies of our own, epiphanies of the same messages we constantly hear, but heard in the language of our own heart and soul.
It's strange when you experience this in prayer, because you write it out in english, and you "hear" it in english, yet the language itself is not felt in english. It is a language of your own. The whispers of your soul. The whispers of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, being spoken to YOU. This is what is being felt, and your brain immediately interprets this divine, interior feeling into tangible words.
Put yourself into the mysteries, and experience a new reality.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Entitlement and Fundamental Apologetics
There is a reality of evil that is being denied in our world today, and I even see it denied among the Christian community. For some strange reason, no one wants to talk about evil spirits, evil entities that exist in a world parallel to ours, permeating our reality every day. These are the spirits surrounding us, leading us away from God in subtle ways.
The devil is very crafty and creative. There is no one he will not attack and when he is trying to attack a good person, his attacks are subtle and masked as good. From my own experience, lived and observational, this attack can happen in two ways, among several others: entitlement and fundamental apologetics.
“Entitlement is a bastard” my spiritual director told me when I mentioned the word. It struck a nerve with him and he feels the same way about it as I do, but has felt it longer. Entitlement is a concept preached by the secular aspect of the world to those living in the world and of the world. To the Christian, it is the voice in your head whispering: “Come on, you deserve this. You are entitled to this. You’ve waited so long. God is always asking you to give of yourself, now it’s time you give yourself something”. It is what makes us unnecessarily hold onto anger, because we are entitled to that anger. A terrible injustice was committed against us, and it is our right, our entitlement to be angry, and hold onto it as long as possible, and hold things against people for as long as possible, to make them realise and regret their sins. The most practical example I can give is weddings. This concept of entitlement is weaved together with materialism, and what better way for Satan to attack our beautiful young Christian couples than to attack and poison their public expression of their love. Weddings used to be very simple because they were for God and the couple, and anyone who cared to share in the joy of the union. However, now, God seems to be forgotten, and weddings have become for other people, or solely about the couple getting married, not about the couple being united under God. God is being pushed away because a “religious wedding” is seen as lame, and the guests won’t understand it and so they won’t like it and will speak ill of your wedding. What was once a sacred ritual and sacrament has now been poisoned by materialism and entitlement. If a couple decides to have a very simple wedding, they are seen as weird, immature, and clearly not ready to be married. The more you spend on your “big day” is equated with how ready you are to be married. This line of thinking seems to ignore the fact that the more you spend on your wedding, the higher the chance of divorce. Now the couple is getting wrapped up in materialism, preparing for a party and not a marriage. They are getting caught up in material, inanimate things with no value, and if they ever want to have a more simple wedding, people jump all over them saying it isn’t “tasteful”, or it is “cheap”. Would it really be terrible for a couple to actually have a proper wedding, one that is about God and takes the focus off of the couple and the guests as much as possible? No, because I can guarantee you that these are the couples who will outlast all of the others, because they value that which is life-giving and not life-taking.
The other subtle attack I mentioned is fundamentalism and apologetics. Apologetics means to explain things (yes, I am aware of the irony in this statement), so for explain, one who is well versed in Church apologetics is good at explaining Church doctrine, what the Church believes. Apologetics in itself is not a bad thing, however, it is for a particular audience, mainly an academic one. It is certainly not meant for the emotional and defensive. From my experience, I notice that those who eat up apologetics the most are fundamentalists, because it lacks a sense of compassion and empathy. Lawyers are trained in apologetics, and that isn’t a stab at lawyers, it is saying that in apologetics, there is a lack of emotion because “these are the facts, it’s just business, and if you don’t like what you hear, well that’s too bad. Truth hurts”. Truth, however, doesn’t hurt. Truth is life-giving and sustaining. The delivery of truth, on the other hand, is what can and often does, hurt people. For fundamentalists, this is where I see evil spirits at play. I have a theory for why fundamentalists seem to be a big fan of apologetics, and it is this: I am doing my job in telling you the truth, and if you don’t like it, it’s your fault for being hard of heart and not listening to me. I am right, and you are wrong, and until you adhere to my view, the right view, you are at risk for going to hell. I have told you the truth, and you will not listen. That is not my fault if you ignore truth, therefore, I can now walk away guilt free. This is where I tend to disagree with pro-life fundamentalists, and those who deliver pro-life apologetics as their way of evangelising. Apologetics is not a legitimate form of evangelisation because it is not concerned with changing one’s heart or mind, it is concerned with making your opponent look stupid and ridiculous, and making them realise how much they don’t know about the issue at hand. For this reason, apologetics is not loving, and it is not evangelisation. Apologetics is emotionless. It certainly isn’t going to convert anyone, and will only result in getting people’s backs up. There is a popular phrase that states one must “know their audience”. If one is dealing with a crowd of upset and emotional people, how will apologetics help them? It is not a language they are able to understand given their state of mind, and rather than attempt to drag them up to your mindset, perhaps you should jump down to theirs and meet them on a personal level. And this is where the evil spirits attack us. They want to keep us away from meeting people on a personal level because that is the level to which one will encounter God.
Evil spirits are all around us, and we must be diligent in discerning them from good spirits, and recognise their movements within us. We cannot deny their existence, for in doing so, we are only giving them more power over our thoughts and actions.
My spiritual director told me an aboriginal story about a grandfather going out to the woods with his grandson. The grandson is excited by all the nature he sees around him, and is in awe when they come across a wolf. “Look Grandfather! It’s a wolf!” he cries with excitement. The Grandfather smiles and says “Yes, it is. Do you know that there are two wolves living inside your heart?” Puzzled, the grandson says, “Two wolves in my heart? Is that true?” The grandfather replies, “Yes, it is true. One is a good wolf, and one is a bad wolf. The good wolf brings peace, love, life and joy. The bad wolf is mean and deceptive and makes you do bad things. The two wolves are constantly fighting with one another.” The grandson pauses and thinks about this for a moment, and says to his grandfather, “But grandfather, if they are always fighting with one another inside my heart, how do I know which one is going to win?” The grandfather replies, “Whichever wolf you feed will be the wolf that wins.”
The devil is very crafty and creative. There is no one he will not attack and when he is trying to attack a good person, his attacks are subtle and masked as good. From my own experience, lived and observational, this attack can happen in two ways, among several others: entitlement and fundamental apologetics.
“Entitlement is a bastard” my spiritual director told me when I mentioned the word. It struck a nerve with him and he feels the same way about it as I do, but has felt it longer. Entitlement is a concept preached by the secular aspect of the world to those living in the world and of the world. To the Christian, it is the voice in your head whispering: “Come on, you deserve this. You are entitled to this. You’ve waited so long. God is always asking you to give of yourself, now it’s time you give yourself something”. It is what makes us unnecessarily hold onto anger, because we are entitled to that anger. A terrible injustice was committed against us, and it is our right, our entitlement to be angry, and hold onto it as long as possible, and hold things against people for as long as possible, to make them realise and regret their sins. The most practical example I can give is weddings. This concept of entitlement is weaved together with materialism, and what better way for Satan to attack our beautiful young Christian couples than to attack and poison their public expression of their love. Weddings used to be very simple because they were for God and the couple, and anyone who cared to share in the joy of the union. However, now, God seems to be forgotten, and weddings have become for other people, or solely about the couple getting married, not about the couple being united under God. God is being pushed away because a “religious wedding” is seen as lame, and the guests won’t understand it and so they won’t like it and will speak ill of your wedding. What was once a sacred ritual and sacrament has now been poisoned by materialism and entitlement. If a couple decides to have a very simple wedding, they are seen as weird, immature, and clearly not ready to be married. The more you spend on your “big day” is equated with how ready you are to be married. This line of thinking seems to ignore the fact that the more you spend on your wedding, the higher the chance of divorce. Now the couple is getting wrapped up in materialism, preparing for a party and not a marriage. They are getting caught up in material, inanimate things with no value, and if they ever want to have a more simple wedding, people jump all over them saying it isn’t “tasteful”, or it is “cheap”. Would it really be terrible for a couple to actually have a proper wedding, one that is about God and takes the focus off of the couple and the guests as much as possible? No, because I can guarantee you that these are the couples who will outlast all of the others, because they value that which is life-giving and not life-taking.
The other subtle attack I mentioned is fundamentalism and apologetics. Apologetics means to explain things (yes, I am aware of the irony in this statement), so for explain, one who is well versed in Church apologetics is good at explaining Church doctrine, what the Church believes. Apologetics in itself is not a bad thing, however, it is for a particular audience, mainly an academic one. It is certainly not meant for the emotional and defensive. From my experience, I notice that those who eat up apologetics the most are fundamentalists, because it lacks a sense of compassion and empathy. Lawyers are trained in apologetics, and that isn’t a stab at lawyers, it is saying that in apologetics, there is a lack of emotion because “these are the facts, it’s just business, and if you don’t like what you hear, well that’s too bad. Truth hurts”. Truth, however, doesn’t hurt. Truth is life-giving and sustaining. The delivery of truth, on the other hand, is what can and often does, hurt people. For fundamentalists, this is where I see evil spirits at play. I have a theory for why fundamentalists seem to be a big fan of apologetics, and it is this: I am doing my job in telling you the truth, and if you don’t like it, it’s your fault for being hard of heart and not listening to me. I am right, and you are wrong, and until you adhere to my view, the right view, you are at risk for going to hell. I have told you the truth, and you will not listen. That is not my fault if you ignore truth, therefore, I can now walk away guilt free. This is where I tend to disagree with pro-life fundamentalists, and those who deliver pro-life apologetics as their way of evangelising. Apologetics is not a legitimate form of evangelisation because it is not concerned with changing one’s heart or mind, it is concerned with making your opponent look stupid and ridiculous, and making them realise how much they don’t know about the issue at hand. For this reason, apologetics is not loving, and it is not evangelisation. Apologetics is emotionless. It certainly isn’t going to convert anyone, and will only result in getting people’s backs up. There is a popular phrase that states one must “know their audience”. If one is dealing with a crowd of upset and emotional people, how will apologetics help them? It is not a language they are able to understand given their state of mind, and rather than attempt to drag them up to your mindset, perhaps you should jump down to theirs and meet them on a personal level. And this is where the evil spirits attack us. They want to keep us away from meeting people on a personal level because that is the level to which one will encounter God.
Evil spirits are all around us, and we must be diligent in discerning them from good spirits, and recognise their movements within us. We cannot deny their existence, for in doing so, we are only giving them more power over our thoughts and actions.
My spiritual director told me an aboriginal story about a grandfather going out to the woods with his grandson. The grandson is excited by all the nature he sees around him, and is in awe when they come across a wolf. “Look Grandfather! It’s a wolf!” he cries with excitement. The Grandfather smiles and says “Yes, it is. Do you know that there are two wolves living inside your heart?” Puzzled, the grandson says, “Two wolves in my heart? Is that true?” The grandfather replies, “Yes, it is true. One is a good wolf, and one is a bad wolf. The good wolf brings peace, love, life and joy. The bad wolf is mean and deceptive and makes you do bad things. The two wolves are constantly fighting with one another.” The grandson pauses and thinks about this for a moment, and says to his grandfather, “But grandfather, if they are always fighting with one another inside my heart, how do I know which one is going to win?” The grandfather replies, “Whichever wolf you feed will be the wolf that wins.”
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday Reflection
Greetings!
The first reading really makes me think of the importance of praying for our priests. It tells us about how people rushed to the apostles, who were performing miracles. These were the first Christian priests! Acting in persona Christi, as our priests today do. We need to pray for our priests, and for their strength.
The Gospel reminds us that Jesus brings us peace amidst fear. Any kind of fear that we may have, Jesus is standing before us, offering us His peace, and wants us to go out and give that same peace to those around us. Especially during this difficult time with the Church...we need to proclaim that we still have something worth rejoicing over. We are all imperfect beings trying to serve a perfect God.
Pax Christi.
The first reading really makes me think of the importance of praying for our priests. It tells us about how people rushed to the apostles, who were performing miracles. These were the first Christian priests! Acting in persona Christi, as our priests today do. We need to pray for our priests, and for their strength.
The Gospel reminds us that Jesus brings us peace amidst fear. Any kind of fear that we may have, Jesus is standing before us, offering us His peace, and wants us to go out and give that same peace to those around us. Especially during this difficult time with the Church...we need to proclaim that we still have something worth rejoicing over. We are all imperfect beings trying to serve a perfect God.
Pax Christi.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Easter Blessings
Happy Easter!!! The Lord is risen! Woot!
One of my best friends became Catholic last night, and she is still bouncing off the walls with excitement, lol.
The Archbishop gave a fantastic homily last night. Asking why we are here, and why we are Catholic. He basically said the Catholic Church is full of imperfect humans trying to serve a perfect God, and occasionally, because we are human, the Church puts out a lot of stupid statements. He says we need to ask ourselves the tough questions of the Church. "And if we don't, the media will do it for us". On Wednesday night at the Chrism Mass, he said to the congregation "We need to ask ourselves in these hard times if we're going to jump ship (leave the Church). Well, I don't know about you, but I can't swim. So I'm going to cling to the boat of Peter". For this statement, he received a standing ovation. I wasn't there, but I hear it was pretty epic.
So here we are at the beginning of the Easter season, celebrating the resurrected Lord. Jesus conquered death and sin, and so when it seems like the Church may be dying, we can pray it will be resurrected too. Amazing things happen with prayer. In the midst of all the crap, we still have a powerful reason to celebrate. Let us celebrate, and put our prayers together.
This is the year of the priest. We need to love and support our priests, the good ones out there. This is not a lost cause.
Our Lord already won this battle for us, which is why we need to pray with confidence. I pray you all have a wonderful Easter. Just remember that Easter isn't just today. It's an entire season. Let's be joyful, and share our love and joy with others.
Pax Christi.
One of my best friends became Catholic last night, and she is still bouncing off the walls with excitement, lol.
The Archbishop gave a fantastic homily last night. Asking why we are here, and why we are Catholic. He basically said the Catholic Church is full of imperfect humans trying to serve a perfect God, and occasionally, because we are human, the Church puts out a lot of stupid statements. He says we need to ask ourselves the tough questions of the Church. "And if we don't, the media will do it for us". On Wednesday night at the Chrism Mass, he said to the congregation "We need to ask ourselves in these hard times if we're going to jump ship (leave the Church). Well, I don't know about you, but I can't swim. So I'm going to cling to the boat of Peter". For this statement, he received a standing ovation. I wasn't there, but I hear it was pretty epic.
So here we are at the beginning of the Easter season, celebrating the resurrected Lord. Jesus conquered death and sin, and so when it seems like the Church may be dying, we can pray it will be resurrected too. Amazing things happen with prayer. In the midst of all the crap, we still have a powerful reason to celebrate. Let us celebrate, and put our prayers together.
This is the year of the priest. We need to love and support our priests, the good ones out there. This is not a lost cause.
Our Lord already won this battle for us, which is why we need to pray with confidence. I pray you all have a wonderful Easter. Just remember that Easter isn't just today. It's an entire season. Let's be joyful, and share our love and joy with others.
Pax Christi.
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