Music from my other site…for those times and ours, too. A desperate prayer.
Grace and peace to all of us…
dw
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Author: dw
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In Common
Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all [people] have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: all therefore enjoy an equal dignity.
Vaticana, Libreria Editrice. Catechism of the Catholic Church . United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Kindle Edition. Paragraph 1934
What we share in common exceeds, both in quantity and quality, what we hold as differences: it’s God-given.
Just like the peace that passes all understanding.
And the love that doesn’t fail.
And the joy the world can’t take away.
In common because offered to all at no expense to us, ultimate expense to Jesus.
Could we rid our hands and minds of our differences enough, just enough, to embrace what God has given us all?
Grace and peace to us all…
dw
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Those people
This same duty extends to those who think or act differently from us. The teaching of Christ goes so far as to require the forgiveness of offenses. He extends the commandment of love, which is that of the New Law, to all enemies. Liberation in the spirit of the Gospel is incompatible with hatred of one’s enemy as a person, but not with hatred of the evil that he does as an enemy.
Vaticana, Libreria Editrice. Catechism of the Catholic Church . United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Kindle Edition. Paragraph 1933
The catechism reminds us of what Jesus tells us He would do:
- make Himself a neighbor and actively serve those people who think or act differently from Him
- forgive those people who offend Him
- love those people who are his enemies
Do we choose to follow?
God in heaven, in your mercy, help us – those people – to follow.
Grace and peace to you
dw
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Even more urgent
The duty of making oneself a neighbor to others and actively serving them becomes even more urgent when it involves the disadvantaged, in whatever area this may be. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”
Vaticana, Libreria Editrice. Catechism of the Catholic Church . United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Kindle Edition. Paragraph 1932
You can’t legislate morality. Laws don’t change people’s hearts.
But a society can legislate compassionately. Doing so is even more urgent when it involves the disadvantaged.
If we legislate for the already-advantaged across the board except for one case (the unborn), where does that leave us?
If Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals support national policies that further disadvantage the already-disadvantaged;
and we try to justify ourselves by saying we legislated against abortion, woke-ness, and any non-straight lifestyle:
what do we expect to hear in response from the Son of Man, who was “hungry…thirsty…a stranger…naked…sick…in prison”?
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
Matthew 25:44,45. Bibles, Harper . NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (pp. 3021-3022). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, compassionate hearts, and understanding minds as we live “in the world” while not being “of the world”.
Grace and peace to you
dw
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Easter During COVID-19
[Revisited, irreverently reverent]
Oh God, this is the best Easter ever – no church!
I can’t bear the thought of going to church on Easter. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday…I’m all for it. I can happily be miserable. But Easter…can’t bear it.
Everyone miserable trying to muster a match for Easter expectations:
Smiling song leaders sweating bullets because they needed one more rehearsal and George, the only tenor who knows the music, is out with the flu, and Rodney, the visiting soloist, is rocking back and forth on the input to the bass amp. It’s popping like a pistol.
Clergy waving arms and wafting voices, straining with all their might to conjure the warm, joy-filled community-hug emotion slated for this day in the church calendar.
Parents, shooting for a color-coordinated, tidy, choreographed family photo before the Easter egg hunt, when the older kids scold the less older kids for not letting the little kids get the easy ones. (Why is everyone always miserably squinting in Easter photos?)
What could be more miserable than a day when a couple billion people are supposed to be happy and aren’t exactly sure why or how to comply?
The only thing they know for sure is that the reasons given are not sufficient.
They have known this since childhood.
Yes, what the clergy tell us makes theoretical sense, but the supporting data is hard to come by.
That is why the Easter bunny is trotted in, and cute little chicks, and fancy hats and handbags. If the reasons given aren’t sufficient, surely these extras will motivate enough positive response to get through the morning sufficiently buzzed.
Who said Easter is supposed to be happy, anyhow? How can it possibly be happy with frikin’ COVID-19 and North Korea and Syria and Mitch McConnell?
The first Easter wasn’t much better:
- the only God I could touch and be sure of just died and now I have hardly a clue what to do with this guy who appears out of nowhere
- this guy I don’t recognize, but then suddenly I do
- who lets me touch his hands and his side, but won’t let me hold onto him
- who eats fish but passes through closed doors
- who says he will be with me forever as he disappears forever in a cloud
- all the while telling me to spend my life convincing others to spend their lives convincing others to spend their lives convincing others…
This does not make for a happy day. This is a ‘Really? I mean, really?‘ day.
Easter slams the door on the notion any of us is getting out of this with our lives intact, either the way they are now or the way we’re fixin’ for them to be.
It means I can’t forget all about this nonsense and go back to fishing.
It means God is coming after us. Eternally. No escape.
Easter means I can’t ignore it when God asks, “Do you love me? Enough to follow me, sight unseen? To listen to the wind and act on what you hear? To wait when all say “Go” and go when all are waiting?”
Easter is God calling some 2 billion odd people to get out of the blasted boat and start walking to him on the water – for one and only one reason: “Do you love me, more than you love…whatever?”
Not a happy day at all. A swallow-hard, breathe-into-a-bag kind of day.
Oh God, Easter again. What am I going to do with You?
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