JPII Generation

There is an older man at one church that I go to that always prays for young people as "we send them out into this culture". I can't remember exactly how he words it, but essentially he is praying that the youth will be somehow protected from this horrible culture that we live in and that somehow those that have gotten sucked in might get pulled back.  I commend his intent, but it makes me want to throw down in the middle of church and face off.

Here's want I want to say to him:

"Have you met this generation??  The JPII generation is a generation that is not defined by age so much as by a new understanding of the power of God.  We have met God, and we have fallen absolutely in love with Love Himself.  We came for healing and we found Life Himself.  We are not a generation that is trying to follow the rules against all odds.  We are a generation who has found Christ, and are trying to follow Him.  We lose battles all the time, but we are full of hope, because we know Who is going to win the war.  We are on fire, and we are living in a world that is dry and begging for the life we have found.  It will be a firestorm beyond what you can imagine.

"When you pray, you sound as if our only hope is to remain somehow untouched by this culture of death.  We have already been touched by it.  We have been shaped by it, the pain resides in each of our hearts in one way or another.  It is our reality.

"Do pray for this generation.  I thank you for your prayers; we need them.  But do not pray that we will remain separate from this culture.  We are exactly what this culture needs.  We will not only touch this culture; we will engage it full on.  We will reshape it.  By the grace of God, we will heal it."  

I don't think that this generation needs to look out for the culture so much as the culture needs to look out for us!

Psalm 1

The other night at Bible study, we discussed the Bible. (I know you come to this blog for profundity... Just trying to oblige!:)  To be honest, our current study is not exactly a Bible study, more of a book study, but the Bible does get brought up some.  This particular chapter was all about reading the Bible.  One verse that was quoted particularly caught my eye:

"Thy words were found, and I ate them, and they words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart..." (Jer. 15:16)

There was something about the idea of the total absorption of God's Word that caught at me.  I try to read my Bible.  Every morning I try to read it.  I don't always make that goal, but it is the goal that I have.  The problem is that often I allow my eyes to follow the words on the page to the pre-decided stopping point, then I check Bible reading off on my list for the day.  I look at the words on the page, but I'm not sure I see them very often.  I'm ashamed about the number of times that I go to Mass and have no idea what the reading was for the day.

We discussed the ways that we take in the Word of God, and the idea of trying to memorize some verses came up.

Umm, memorization?  I'm Catholic.  I don't do that! I don't even know how to memorize anything.  I might be able to beat some verses into my brain by rote...but it doesn't really fit the bill of eating the Word of God and having it become my joy and my delight.

The upshot is that a few of us decided that we are going to try to memorize Psalm 1, all 6 verses, before we meet again in 2 weeks.  Those of you that actually know how to memorize Bible verses: tips are appreciated!

I don't know how to memorize, but I can read.  I've been reading and loving this Psalm:

Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners, 

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree

planted by streams of water, 

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor the sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

I think I have some more to say about Psalm 1, but I'll save that for next time!

Jumping Ship

Today's Gospel was Peter walking on water.  I love that Gospel.  I love that Peter, one of Jesus' apostles, the one that He gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven, sank.  Sorry, Peter!  I love knowing that I'm not the only one.  Sometimes, even when I start out strongly, I still end up failing.

The priest gave a great little homily.  He said that he'd been to the Holy Land a number of times and has been out to the site of this miracle.  He told us how he'd closed his eyes to imagine the setting, imagine that he was on the boat in the storm, and that he sees Jesus walking towards him.  Then he tried to imagine getting out of the boat to walk toward Jesus.  He said that he could see himself throwing one leg over the edge of the boat.  It was the second leg that he had a hard time imagining!

I think about the places in my life where I'm holding back parts of myself from fully responding to God's call (for example...).  Sometimes I like to congratulate myself on what I've managed to do, while ignoring the part that I'm still not embracing.  Problem is, one leg over the boat is still on the boat.  

Here's praying for the grace for us all to jump ship! 

Your Cross

I was talking to one of my sisters a couple of weeks ago.  She has a lot on her plate right now with finishing school and contemplating trying to get a job in this job market.  She made a comment that is very typical of her.

"I know that God won't give me anything more than I can handle, and that He'll help me get through all of it."

Pause.

"Is it wrong to wish that He'd help a little less so He'd have to let up a bit?"

~~~

I found this quote by St. Francis de Sales today.  It was something that I needed to hear, and I thought I would share.

Your Cross

The everlasting God has, in His wisdom, foreseen from eternity the cross He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart.

The cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms, and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you.

He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

~~~

A couple of thoughts on that.  One is that there are times that the cross will be too big for us.  I remember my aunt talking about her struggle with depression.  She ended up in the hospital because of it, and felt betrayed by God because He promises not to let the crosses become more than we can handle.  She held on to her faith despite her hurt, and I really respect her for that.  

I think that God's definition of "handle" is different than mine.  I want to be able to handle something with grace, dignity and courage.  That's handling it, and handling it with style.  Instead, in my case anyway, there is complaining, some sulking, begging for Him to make the pain stop, and flat out ugly crying.  I know God is with me all the time, but it's the moments of brokenness where I really meet God.  You want to meet God?  He's in the midst of that ugly cry.  Copious amounts of snot don't scare Him in the slightest.  

Handling a cross doesn't mean being able to carry it one arm while you jog with ease to the finish line, with no more than a few muscle aches to show for it.  It means blood, sweat and tears. It means dragging it along with every ounce of strength that you have.  It means that strength giving out, leaving you to fall flat on your face, not knowing how you will get up again... and not even being sure that you want to.  It means you will need help to finish, both from God and from fellow man. It means pain and brokenness.

In the middle of the worst of the pain, there is nothing to do but live with it and hold onto God.  He doesn't make the pain go away, but meeting Him there makes it worth it.

In the Image and Likeness of God

If we are created in the image and likeness of God, and specifically if we are created as male and female in the image and likeness of God, and if God is love, then what does that say about sex?

It says that Puritans and hedonists need to take a whole new look at the subject.

There is a tendency to think that when we are in church, the only way to talk about sex is to talk about the do's and don't's.  Do when you are married and with your spouse.  Everything else is bad.  Why is it bad?  Well, the Bible says not to do it, so don't do it.  What more do you need?  I have to be honest.  I need a lot more than that.  If I didn't have some kind of answer to the why, my life as a single person would be a lot different.  I can intellectually acknowledge that what the Bible says is true and right, but that doesn't get me through lonely days and nights.  More on that later.  The point is, sex is much more relevant to our search for God than we would like to imagine.  In religious circles, we still sometimes feel that sex is "dirty" or "base" or something.

Hedonists also have to take a new look.  They are right in saying that sex is good, but they are wrong in saying that they can define sex any way they want.  As long as it gives pleasure and everyone involved is consenting, it's okay.  If we are created as male and female, and if that creation is a revelation of the image and likeness of God, then sex is bigger than us.  We don't get to define it.  On the days that diesel is cheaper than unleaded, I can't decide that I prefer to run my car on diesel.  I can put diesel in the tank, but it will ruin my car.  In the same way, I am physically able to try to define love and sex as whatever makes me happy and feel good, but if I try to fill up this deep desire in my heart with that, I will cause destruction to the very core of my being.  Because I was not made to run on counterfeits.  I was made to run on true love.

What is true love?  I'm single, and in many ways, that probably leaves me with a little bit of a fairy tale definition of love.  Sunshiny, happy, rainbow feelings that cannot be denied nor overcome by any of the problems of life.  At least, that's how I see people trying to define love.  That's how they know that it's not real love; when the feelings run out.  I think that true love is grittier than that.  I think that it takes those knocks and it is precisely when the feelings run out that it is the strongest.

I think that true love is free.  I think that each Person of the Trinity gives their love freely and fully to each other.  I think of God's true love for us is manifested in His freely choosing to come to earth for no other reason than for our salvation.  I think that true love among all people is only when it is freely offered with no coercion, whether that be love among friends, relatives, spouses, whatever.  And I think that sex only truly expresses love when it is given freely from each person to the other.

I think that true love is total.  Can you imagine God holding anything back?  He clearly didn't.  He committed His only begotten Son.  Jesus gave up His life for us, and no suffering was too much in His search for us.  Sex is a total commitment.  It means holding nothing back.  It means giving your very life to another.  Not just at the moment of sex, but in every moment of life.  It doesn't mean until divorce, or until something better comes along.  It means until death do us part.  It's not just a lofty goal.  It is part of the true meaning of sex, the way that sex can reveal God.

I think that true love is faithful.  If true love is total, it must be faithful.  You can only totally give yourself to one other person at a time.  When I think of the faithful love of God, I love the images in Hosea.  God presents Himself as a faithful husband, because He is.  God is always faithful to His promises and love for us, even when we are not faithful in return.

And true love is fruitful.  Love is life.  Can you imagine any other life for the Trinity than love? God is Love, and this love is life itself.  The true love of Christ on the cross ended death for us and brought life to the world.  True love brings forth new life.  And I would say that real sex, the kind of sex that we all really want, has to be open to life.  Not just some of the time, but all of the time.  It doesn't mean that it always has to bring forth physical life (like having sex during infertile times, or people that have fertility problems), but it means being open to it at all times.  But don't dismiss how powerful a child is in this whole picture.  Remember that our God is often more concrete than we are.  As Scott Hahn likes to say, when the two become one flesh, nine months later you will need a name.

Notice that none of those earmarks of true love have anything to do with feelings. Obviously feelings are very important, but they are not what makes it true love.  Rather than looking at feelings to drive true love, I think we need to have true love, even when it's difficult, drive the feelings.

I would say that sex is a very powerful sign of love.  If you ignore the signs (like puritanism) you're going to have a very hard time recognizing where you're going.  If you distort the signs or point them in other directions (redefining sex for our own purposes), you're going to be heading the wrong direction.  And there are some dangerous places when you get off the path.

Right.  So maybe I have talked about all that before.  Eh, well.  What are blogs for if not for blathering on about the same stuff over and over again?    

I Love People

Today I loved the fact that my bosses continue to strive for excellence both in business and how they care about their employees.

I love that I drove past a 15 passenger van full of men in business suits wearing Santa hats.  

No joke.

I would like to know the story behind that one.

I love the little old lady that walks her cat at the assisted living facility.

I love the four-year-old at the daycare where my sister works.  He couldn't get into his milk carton and whined to her about it.  She gently prompted him to ask for help by saying, "And what do we do about that?"  He rapidly grabbed a fork and stabbed the milk carton, sending milk everywhere.  Well, I guess he got the milk out, right?

I love the guy in the town where I work that putters around in his electric wheelchair.  He stops to ask everyone "Has anyone told you you're beautiful today?  Because you are."  

He is, too.  You should see his smile.

Today I love the people.  

I could live without paperwork, though!

How God Is too Ordinary and too Extraordinary

I think God is much more of a concrete thinker than we are.  We have a lot of grand ideas in the abstract.  God's ideas are much grander than ours, but sometimes I think they catch us completely by surprise because they are so concrete, and sometimes seem so ordinary.

I think of the Jews waiting for the Messiah. They imagined a great and powerful king.  What they saw instead was a man.  An ordinary man, the son of a carpenter and his wife.  A man who lived among them much like any man would.  Some came to recognize the astounding truth about this man that went far beyond their wildest imaginations about the Messiah.  I always have some sympathy for those that didn't recognize Him, though.  Outwardly He was so much less than they expected, and in reality He was beyond their wildest expectations.  I mean, they knew that the Messiah would be a great man, but did they realize that He would be God? They knew the Messiah would be establishing a kingdom, but did they realize it wasn't some political kingdom, but the kingdom of heaven for all eternity?

What about the miracles?  I have already told you that I have sort of an abstract idea about miracles.  I have this feeling that they should come out of nowhere and be explainable by nothing.  Yet I do believe that God often works His miracles through other people.  I may not like to call them miracles, but sometimes they are.

The sacraments.  Now there's an example of a God who thinks more concretely than I do.  God can give the grace of Christ crucified any way He wants.  I think that He certainly does give His grace to us at all times and in all ways, but I also believe that He gives His grace to us in a special way through the sacraments.  By the work of the Holy Spirit, we are born again of water and the Holy Spirit.  Could our re-birth really come about through the use of ordinary water?  Could the forgiveness of our sins come through the priest?  Could bread become Jesus' very flesh?

I don't know about you, but when I think of "spiritual" moments, somehow I make them much more abstract in theory.  Maybe I think that they could be connected to concrete realities in a secondary way, but not in such a primary way.

Now let me ask you this.  Did you ever stop to think about Genesis 1:27?

"So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them."

We are made in the image and likeness of God.  God created us exactly the way He wanted us.  We are not just spirits, and we are not souls trapped in bodies.  We are people with a body and soul.  It is not just our soul that is created in the image of God.  Our bodies are an essential part of the image.  Our masculinity and femininity are an essential part of the image.  Our bodies, with all their flaws and imperfections, BO, extra hair where it doesn't belong, baldness, bulges, flatness, weird noises and all, is an essential part of the revelation of God to those who will take the time to see it.

Praise God for JPII, who shared this vision with the world.