It shakes our faith in God when we see bad things happening to good people. Where was God in the devastating San Bruno blast recently? Where was God last week when a group of Afghan children, innocently foraging for food in a field, were wiped out by a U.S. unmanned drone attack? According to an Associated Press report released today, only 2% of the rubble from the Haiti earthquake of nine months ago has been removed, and only $686 million of the internationally promised $8.75 billion has arrived in that most Catholic of countries. Such lack of response from the international community shakes the faith of us all. With evils so profound taking place we wonder if God has created a monster. It's a great case for atheism.
The prophet Habakkuk's complaint in this Sunday's first reading, 'How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen,' sums up the frustration of believers. God responded to the prophet's lament, telling him to 'Write down the vision...for the vision still has its time...and will not disappoint.' Is he talking about God's vision of the world, his providence over creation, God's vision of time? Since our limited hearts and minds cannot enjoy God's vision of things, are we condemned to unending disappointment and despair in the midst of life's ongoing tragedies? How do we begin to appreciate God's vision?
God's time and our sense of time are two different realities. An adult's sense of time is not like a child's sense of time. When a child wants something, she wants it NOW, and becomes frustrated when Mom or Dad says she can't have it until tomorrow or next week. That's a semi-useful analogy of how it is between God and ourselves. While the analogy doesn't wipe away our frustration, it challenges us to deepen our faith. Read or pray the first few verses of Psalm 90: 'A thousand years in your eyes are like yesterday come and gone.' To those first Christians who were feeling frustrated at the non-return of Christ, St. Peter had this to say: 'With the Lord one day is like a thousand years...' (2 Peter 3:8).
'Increase our faith,' said the Apostles in response to Jesus' warning them about bad things that will come to pass. Increase our faith! What a powerful prayer, especially in time of darkness. Nobody feels they have enough faith. What is the faith for which the Apostles were asking? 'If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you,' replied the Lord.
Faith is power. It lifts us up out of our child's sense of time, from our small vision of things, and connects us to God's vision and power. God is the power-source creating all that exists. St. Augustine commented in his Confessions that to have no faith is to be 'caved in on yourself.' Lack of faith condemns us to live in the tiny cramped confines of what we see and know and control. Faith liberates us to live outside the box - risking, venturing, and believing the impossible.
How do we dispose ourselves to increase our faith? We need to move from our individual self-centeredness, from seeking success and the approval of those around us, and become more centered on God. To live in faith is to re-center my life. A lively faith should promote in me a sense of inner freedom and detachment from the good things of life. Faith frees me up to let God's life and power flow through me to others. Faith is the link between the power of God and our world. 'Have faith in God,' said Jesus, 'Whoever says to this mountain, "Be lifted up and thrown into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him' - Mark 11:22-23.
Back in the sixties, Martin Luther King Jr. faced down the most powerful forces of his time in this country. He faced down the frightening hostility of those who opposed him. He was constantly taunted, even having bricks and bottles thrown at him. At age 25 he re-centered his life, detached himself from approval and disapproval, and faced the fact that he would be assassinated. It's clear from his letters and diary entries that he knew for certain that a bullet was waiting for him. He was only 39 when the fatal shot was fired. Faith gave him the power to transform American life.
PASTOR EMERITUS
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A MOST INTERESTING STORY
A MOST INTERESTING STORY
One January day in 2007, morning commuters passing through the L'Enfant Plaza subway station in Washington, D.C. were, without publicity, treated to a free mini-concert performed by violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, who played for approximately 45 minutes, performing six classical pieces on his handcrafted 1713 Stradivarius violin for which he reportedly paid $3.5 million. The performance was orchestrated as a social experiment by The Washington Post.
Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the scene: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed at the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Do you have time for the poor? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?
Three days earlier Bell had played to a full house at Boston's Symphony Hall, where fairly good stats went for $100. But on this day he collected just $32.17 for his efforts, contributed by a mere 27 of the 1,097 passing travelers. Only seven people stopped to listen, and just one of them recognized the performer.
'Get up and get out, my friend, for this day is bursting with moments.' This unlikely sentiment from Oscar Wilde speaks to today. We spend so much time glued to Blackberry, I phone and IPod that we too often miss the 'moment,' fail to notice what's right in front of us. Shakespeare's complaint in his day was that 'getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.' The parable in today's gospel, so artfully told, is about what happens when we are too distracted to notice.
The rich man never noticed Lazarus wallowing in poverty only a few feet from him. He dined 'in excelsis' and alone every day, cut off from the world around him. We are made to connect with others. We lose the heart and soul of our humanity when we fail to do so.
That's what happened to the rich man. It was only from the 'netherworld,' the condition of heartlessness and soullessness, he spotted Lazarus. Too late. He had crossed the line from the world of heart and humanity.
While enjoying my cell phone and my laptop, I know how difficult it is to be present to ourselves, to those around me, and to the beauty of creation, in our distracting world, where electronic multitasking seems to be cool. I have witnessed people leave church, a sacred place and a sacred moment, to take a call. Were the other 1070 passersby too preoccupied with an electronic gadget that morning to notice the young musician in the D.C. subway station? I hesitate to assume that they, like the rich man of the parable, were on their way to losing their heart and soul, as well as being on their way to work.
I am reminded of a phrase from St. Benedict way back in the 6th century: 'Listen with the ear of your heart.' The flip side of listening is respect, a primary human value. Awareness is about presence. It's about clearing the clutter of life and surrendering to what spiritual writers call the 'naked now.' There's something sacramental about being present to the present moment. Devoid of the noisy traffic of life, we set ourselves up to become aware of God - and other people's needs.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, 'I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.' The rich man in the gospel was on the road to losing his humanity, heart and soul. God was at his door, in Lazarus, but nobody was at home. Joshua Bell is playing somewhere, always. Do we notice?
"Clear mornings bring the mountains to my doorstep.
Calm nights give the rivers their say.
Some evenings the wind puts its hand on my shoulders.
I stop thinking; I leave what I'm doing
And I go the soul's way."
(Irish poet John Moriarty)
Pastor Emeritus
One January day in 2007, morning commuters passing through the L'Enfant Plaza subway station in Washington, D.C. were, without publicity, treated to a free mini-concert performed by violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, who played for approximately 45 minutes, performing six classical pieces on his handcrafted 1713 Stradivarius violin for which he reportedly paid $3.5 million. The performance was orchestrated as a social experiment by The Washington Post.
Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the scene: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed at the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Do you have time for the poor? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?
Three days earlier Bell had played to a full house at Boston's Symphony Hall, where fairly good stats went for $100. But on this day he collected just $32.17 for his efforts, contributed by a mere 27 of the 1,097 passing travelers. Only seven people stopped to listen, and just one of them recognized the performer.
'Get up and get out, my friend, for this day is bursting with moments.' This unlikely sentiment from Oscar Wilde speaks to today. We spend so much time glued to Blackberry, I phone and IPod that we too often miss the 'moment,' fail to notice what's right in front of us. Shakespeare's complaint in his day was that 'getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.' The parable in today's gospel, so artfully told, is about what happens when we are too distracted to notice.
The rich man never noticed Lazarus wallowing in poverty only a few feet from him. He dined 'in excelsis' and alone every day, cut off from the world around him. We are made to connect with others. We lose the heart and soul of our humanity when we fail to do so.
That's what happened to the rich man. It was only from the 'netherworld,' the condition of heartlessness and soullessness, he spotted Lazarus. Too late. He had crossed the line from the world of heart and humanity.
While enjoying my cell phone and my laptop, I know how difficult it is to be present to ourselves, to those around me, and to the beauty of creation, in our distracting world, where electronic multitasking seems to be cool. I have witnessed people leave church, a sacred place and a sacred moment, to take a call. Were the other 1070 passersby too preoccupied with an electronic gadget that morning to notice the young musician in the D.C. subway station? I hesitate to assume that they, like the rich man of the parable, were on their way to losing their heart and soul, as well as being on their way to work.
I am reminded of a phrase from St. Benedict way back in the 6th century: 'Listen with the ear of your heart.' The flip side of listening is respect, a primary human value. Awareness is about presence. It's about clearing the clutter of life and surrendering to what spiritual writers call the 'naked now.' There's something sacramental about being present to the present moment. Devoid of the noisy traffic of life, we set ourselves up to become aware of God - and other people's needs.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, 'I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.' The rich man in the gospel was on the road to losing his humanity, heart and soul. God was at his door, in Lazarus, but nobody was at home. Joshua Bell is playing somewhere, always. Do we notice?
"Clear mornings bring the mountains to my doorstep.
Calm nights give the rivers their say.
Some evenings the wind puts its hand on my shoulders.
I stop thinking; I leave what I'm doing
And I go the soul's way."
(Irish poet John Moriarty)
Pastor Emeritus
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
OBSERVE, JUDGE, ACT
Reflection on the Gospel of the Dishonest Steward
September 19, 2010
More than twenty years ago, a good friend from grade school, Steve, suffered a major heart attack. Steve liked to eat all the wrong things, drink all the wrong drinks, and was overweight. A lover of his ease and his pint, Steve rarely took any exercise. Whenever he did, he compensated almost immediately be taking a long nap and going to the pub for a few pints of Guinness. He was gregarious and good fun; the life and soul of any party. His job as a professional photographer for a newspaper took him all over Ireland and into the popular watering holes of every city, town and country village. Steve made friends with the rich and famous; national celebrities of sports and entertainment were his companions. In spite of his lifestyle, he provided well for his family in a fashionable Dublin suburb.
One morning around four, Steve woke up sweating profusely and with a violent pain his chest. His wife, Mary, rushed him to a nearby hospital where he almost died. Bypass surgery was performed during which he suffered a stroke. For a week, it looked like the end of the road for the 48-year old Steve. A wonderful physiotherapist went to work on him almost immediately, and within four months he was back on his feet, working again, and living a normal life. This very major health crisis and a family intervention finally brought my friend to his senses. As a result, he joined a health and nutrition program, and never looked back.
I would like to draw a parallel between what happened to this man and what happened to the dishonest steward in today's gospel, and then see what the gospel may have to say to us. The steward was caught with his hand in the till. He had been reckless with his master's property and was fired. Faced with being out on the street as a beggar, he indulged in further dishonesty by misleading his master as to how much his clients owed him. Here's the strangest twist in the story. His master finds something to praise in him for being resourceful enough to fend for himself when the wheels came off his world.
Steve's world collapsed with his heart attack and subsequent stroke. In recovery, he had the wisdom to look at his lifestyle, decided to make some changes, and joined an effective nutrition and health program. He came to the painful conclusion that he could not serve two masters, be healthy and continue as live as he did before his near fatal coronary. So he looked fearlessly at the harm his previous lifestyle did to him. He came to understand that his future depended on making some major lifestyle changes. Finally, he found the courage to make a break with the past and join an effective nutrition and health club.
What has the gospel to say to us, 'the children of light?' Three things. First, we need to see clearly in the light of Christ our relationship with God. Second, we should identify any changes in behavior that need to happen. And lastly, we need to make the changes, resetting the direction of our lives accordingly.
PASTOR EMERITUS
September 19, 2010
More than twenty years ago, a good friend from grade school, Steve, suffered a major heart attack. Steve liked to eat all the wrong things, drink all the wrong drinks, and was overweight. A lover of his ease and his pint, Steve rarely took any exercise. Whenever he did, he compensated almost immediately be taking a long nap and going to the pub for a few pints of Guinness. He was gregarious and good fun; the life and soul of any party. His job as a professional photographer for a newspaper took him all over Ireland and into the popular watering holes of every city, town and country village. Steve made friends with the rich and famous; national celebrities of sports and entertainment were his companions. In spite of his lifestyle, he provided well for his family in a fashionable Dublin suburb.
One morning around four, Steve woke up sweating profusely and with a violent pain his chest. His wife, Mary, rushed him to a nearby hospital where he almost died. Bypass surgery was performed during which he suffered a stroke. For a week, it looked like the end of the road for the 48-year old Steve. A wonderful physiotherapist went to work on him almost immediately, and within four months he was back on his feet, working again, and living a normal life. This very major health crisis and a family intervention finally brought my friend to his senses. As a result, he joined a health and nutrition program, and never looked back.
I would like to draw a parallel between what happened to this man and what happened to the dishonest steward in today's gospel, and then see what the gospel may have to say to us. The steward was caught with his hand in the till. He had been reckless with his master's property and was fired. Faced with being out on the street as a beggar, he indulged in further dishonesty by misleading his master as to how much his clients owed him. Here's the strangest twist in the story. His master finds something to praise in him for being resourceful enough to fend for himself when the wheels came off his world.
Steve's world collapsed with his heart attack and subsequent stroke. In recovery, he had the wisdom to look at his lifestyle, decided to make some changes, and joined an effective nutrition and health program. He came to the painful conclusion that he could not serve two masters, be healthy and continue as live as he did before his near fatal coronary. So he looked fearlessly at the harm his previous lifestyle did to him. He came to understand that his future depended on making some major lifestyle changes. Finally, he found the courage to make a break with the past and join an effective nutrition and health club.
What has the gospel to say to us, 'the children of light?' Three things. First, we need to see clearly in the light of Christ our relationship with God. Second, we should identify any changes in behavior that need to happen. And lastly, we need to make the changes, resetting the direction of our lives accordingly.
PASTOR EMERITUS
Friday, September 10, 2010
GO FIGURE
GO FIGURE
Gospel reflection for September 12th 2010
It's hard to figure God out. In Luke's version of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus lays out for his followers a near impossible program: 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you...offer the other cheek.....then your reward will be great.' In today's gospel we find a very different Jesus; one who 'welcomes sinners and eats with them,' telling them in the process how unbelievably merciful and forgiving God is to sinners. So, why 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect' if God's favor is going to shine on the just and the unjust alike? Go figure!
In Jesus' time, righteous people, those who observed the law of Moses, stayed far away from sinners. No self-respecting Jew would be seen dead in the home of a sinner. So, how come Jesus consorts with sinners? What is going on? Is he is trying to say something by his actions? Our human way is to stay close to those who are holy and godly, and to distance ourselves from those who are not. That is not God's way of looking at things. God doesn't react to us in that way. We project our reactions onto God. We expect God to react as we do, to reward the good and punish the wicked. The Pharisees expected Jesus to dine with the righteous and shun the sinner. Why didn't he? Go figure!
That great Englishman of letters and master of paradox, G.K. Chesterton, once described a paradox as 'a truth standing on its head trying to draw attention to itself.' Jesus tells three terrific stories in today's gospel that turn our ideas about God upside down. The first is an unlikely story of a shepherd who would abandon his sheep, his sole means of livelihood, to the tender mercies of a cruel desert, and go off in search of one idiot sheep that gets lost somewhere. No shepherd in his right mind would risk his livelihood in that way. But that's who our God is! Go figure!
The next is another unlikely story. It's about an eccentric woman who loses a penny, turns her whole house upside down in search of it and, having found it, throws a party for the whole neighborhood. The cost of the party would have far outweighed the value of the penny. Were you ever invited to a party for a lost penny that was found? Maybe for a thousand dollars that was found, but not for a measly poor man's penny. The woman was nut-so! But that's our God in a nutshell! Again, go figure!
The third is the well-known parable of the father who had two sons, one righteous and the other a sinner. The sinner son has nothing whatsoever going for him. There's nothing admirable about him. He is a loser from beginning to end. The righteous son is our kind of boy: the dutiful son who stayed by his father's side and served him into old age. Guess who gets the big party? And guess who gets overlooked? From our perspective, their father was out of his right mind. And he is supposed to be an image of our God??? Now, go figure!
God's ways are not our ways. Our way is the way of tit for tat; I do you a favor and, in return, you do one for me. You do a job for me and I pay you accordingly. That's the world in which we have been formed. But it's not the way of God's kingdom. God's way is the way of the foolish shepherd, the crazy woman, and the father who was out of his mind. Go figure!
PASTOR EMERITUS
Gospel reflection for September 12th 2010
It's hard to figure God out. In Luke's version of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus lays out for his followers a near impossible program: 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you...offer the other cheek.....then your reward will be great.' In today's gospel we find a very different Jesus; one who 'welcomes sinners and eats with them,' telling them in the process how unbelievably merciful and forgiving God is to sinners. So, why 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect' if God's favor is going to shine on the just and the unjust alike? Go figure!
In Jesus' time, righteous people, those who observed the law of Moses, stayed far away from sinners. No self-respecting Jew would be seen dead in the home of a sinner. So, how come Jesus consorts with sinners? What is going on? Is he is trying to say something by his actions? Our human way is to stay close to those who are holy and godly, and to distance ourselves from those who are not. That is not God's way of looking at things. God doesn't react to us in that way. We project our reactions onto God. We expect God to react as we do, to reward the good and punish the wicked. The Pharisees expected Jesus to dine with the righteous and shun the sinner. Why didn't he? Go figure!
That great Englishman of letters and master of paradox, G.K. Chesterton, once described a paradox as 'a truth standing on its head trying to draw attention to itself.' Jesus tells three terrific stories in today's gospel that turn our ideas about God upside down. The first is an unlikely story of a shepherd who would abandon his sheep, his sole means of livelihood, to the tender mercies of a cruel desert, and go off in search of one idiot sheep that gets lost somewhere. No shepherd in his right mind would risk his livelihood in that way. But that's who our God is! Go figure!
The next is another unlikely story. It's about an eccentric woman who loses a penny, turns her whole house upside down in search of it and, having found it, throws a party for the whole neighborhood. The cost of the party would have far outweighed the value of the penny. Were you ever invited to a party for a lost penny that was found? Maybe for a thousand dollars that was found, but not for a measly poor man's penny. The woman was nut-so! But that's our God in a nutshell! Again, go figure!
The third is the well-known parable of the father who had two sons, one righteous and the other a sinner. The sinner son has nothing whatsoever going for him. There's nothing admirable about him. He is a loser from beginning to end. The righteous son is our kind of boy: the dutiful son who stayed by his father's side and served him into old age. Guess who gets the big party? And guess who gets overlooked? From our perspective, their father was out of his right mind. And he is supposed to be an image of our God??? Now, go figure!
God's ways are not our ways. Our way is the way of tit for tat; I do you a favor and, in return, you do one for me. You do a job for me and I pay you accordingly. That's the world in which we have been formed. But it's not the way of God's kingdom. God's way is the way of the foolish shepherd, the crazy woman, and the father who was out of his mind. Go figure!
PASTOR EMERITUS
Thursday, September 9, 2010
THE NINTH ANNIVERSARY
September 9, 2010
THE NINTH ANNIVERSARY
'It is plain that many of Park51's opponents are motivated by deep-seated Islamophobia', concluded the cover story in a recent issue of TIME magazine about plans for an Islamic center near Ground Zero in Manhattan. Islamophobia. I stared open mouthed at the word for a few moments and listened to the 'background music,' so to speak.
According to a recent survey by the 'Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life,' only three in every ten Americans think positively of Islam. Where do the other seven stand? More than a quarter century of parish work in San Francisco tells me that Catholics in general are not well informed about their religion. They know the tenets, but are lost when it comes to figuring out the meaning of those tenets. Ignorance breeds suspicion and prejudice.
Time was not very long ago when Catholics were widely held in similar distain in this country. Such prejudice was the born of ignorance of Catholicism. There is a similar ignorance abroad in America today about Islam. Just as America somehow got beyond its prejudice toward Catholics (and Jews), let's pray and hope it will come to see Islam in a healthier light.
The dastardly terrorist attacks of nine years ago have seared our memories. They will live on in the American psyche for decades to come. Extremists will use them to stir up suspicion, fear and hatred - often a projection of their own inner darkness. How easily we succumb to irrational fear is personified in the invitation by a Protestant evangelical pastor in Florida to a feast of Koran burnings this September 11th.
Is Islam the enemy? Or is the enemy our own fear-filled ignorance? Where do YOU stand?
PASTOR EMERITUS
THE NINTH ANNIVERSARY
'It is plain that many of Park51's opponents are motivated by deep-seated Islamophobia', concluded the cover story in a recent issue of TIME magazine about plans for an Islamic center near Ground Zero in Manhattan. Islamophobia. I stared open mouthed at the word for a few moments and listened to the 'background music,' so to speak.
According to a recent survey by the 'Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life,' only three in every ten Americans think positively of Islam. Where do the other seven stand? More than a quarter century of parish work in San Francisco tells me that Catholics in general are not well informed about their religion. They know the tenets, but are lost when it comes to figuring out the meaning of those tenets. Ignorance breeds suspicion and prejudice.
Time was not very long ago when Catholics were widely held in similar distain in this country. Such prejudice was the born of ignorance of Catholicism. There is a similar ignorance abroad in America today about Islam. Just as America somehow got beyond its prejudice toward Catholics (and Jews), let's pray and hope it will come to see Islam in a healthier light.
The dastardly terrorist attacks of nine years ago have seared our memories. They will live on in the American psyche for decades to come. Extremists will use them to stir up suspicion, fear and hatred - often a projection of their own inner darkness. How easily we succumb to irrational fear is personified in the invitation by a Protestant evangelical pastor in Florida to a feast of Koran burnings this September 11th.
Is Islam the enemy? Or is the enemy our own fear-filled ignorance? Where do YOU stand?
PASTOR EMERITUS
EAT PRAY LOVE (The Movie)
September 9th
EAT PRAY LOVE (The Movie)
A number of people have asked me about this book/movie, and Julia Roberts was a guest of David Letterman recently. The movie, based on the book, is the story of a middle aged woman, Liz, well played by Julia Roberts, in search of fulfillment, love, herself....God. In a sense, it's everyone's story. Liz is coming off a marriage breakdown, mostly of her own doing, which triggers a mid-life crisis. She is depressed, listless and out of touch with her humanity. Unable to sleep, while wandering the house in the middle of the night she goes down on her knees and prays with real sincerity, 'O God, I'm lost. Tell me what to do.'
Taking a year off a job that was going nowhere, she sets out on a spiritual adventure that would take her to Italy, India and Bali. The vivacity of Rome and Naples, the parties and the people, the wine, pasta and gelato, put her in touch once again with her humanity. Her erstwhile despondency having evaporated, she is now ready to focus on the spiritual side of her quest, and heads for India.
She spends the next four months in a Calcutta ashram, giving herself to the great practices of Hinduism; prayer, chanting, silence and meditation. Coming to the end of her time there, she makes the following statement: 'God is in me - as me.' The first part of that is real Christianity; the second part is pantheism, a confusion between God and the self. We believe that God dwells in us. However, to say that God is in me 'as me,' is to say that God is me, is my 'self.' It collapses God into my limited, finite self. It makes an idol of the ego, leaving no room for change or growth. Pure narcissism. I wonder if the popularity of Hindu prayer techniques has to do with our contemporary narcissistic preoccupation with the 'self.'
Arriving in Bali, she finds a medicine man whom she had met on a previous visit, and feels ready to absorb his life's wisdom and secrets. She is hoping to find in Bali the balance between eating (Italy) and praying (India). One day, she is accidentally knocked off her bicycle by a dashing factory owner played by Javier Bardem. After much soul-searching and a final visit to the medicine man, she discovers in this enchanting Brazilian the balance she had been seeking, namely, love.
The movie is insightful about the mysterious fear which prevents people from reaching out to others in love, especially if they have been hurt in the past. It's a story of working through fear to an elevated level of love. St. John says in his First Letter that 'perfect love casts out fear.' I was disappointed that there was no attempt throughout the movie to tap into the powerful contemplative wisdom of the Catholic tradition, one of our best kept secrets. It showed Julia Roberts doing everything in Rome except visiting a church, talking to the two nuns with whom she shared a street bench, or to the priest she passed alone in a narrow alley. In the midst of a near break-up shouting match with Javier Bardem, she screams, 'I don't have to love you to love myself!' Apart from one grand and generous gesture, the spiritual focus of her search is her self. God is at the center of Christian spirituality as its organizing energy principle. The focus of authentic Christian spirituality is mission, forgetting one's self and going out to others.
PASTOR EMERITUS
EAT PRAY LOVE (The Movie)
A number of people have asked me about this book/movie, and Julia Roberts was a guest of David Letterman recently. The movie, based on the book, is the story of a middle aged woman, Liz, well played by Julia Roberts, in search of fulfillment, love, herself....God. In a sense, it's everyone's story. Liz is coming off a marriage breakdown, mostly of her own doing, which triggers a mid-life crisis. She is depressed, listless and out of touch with her humanity. Unable to sleep, while wandering the house in the middle of the night she goes down on her knees and prays with real sincerity, 'O God, I'm lost. Tell me what to do.'
Taking a year off a job that was going nowhere, she sets out on a spiritual adventure that would take her to Italy, India and Bali. The vivacity of Rome and Naples, the parties and the people, the wine, pasta and gelato, put her in touch once again with her humanity. Her erstwhile despondency having evaporated, she is now ready to focus on the spiritual side of her quest, and heads for India.
She spends the next four months in a Calcutta ashram, giving herself to the great practices of Hinduism; prayer, chanting, silence and meditation. Coming to the end of her time there, she makes the following statement: 'God is in me - as me.' The first part of that is real Christianity; the second part is pantheism, a confusion between God and the self. We believe that God dwells in us. However, to say that God is in me 'as me,' is to say that God is me, is my 'self.' It collapses God into my limited, finite self. It makes an idol of the ego, leaving no room for change or growth. Pure narcissism. I wonder if the popularity of Hindu prayer techniques has to do with our contemporary narcissistic preoccupation with the 'self.'
Arriving in Bali, she finds a medicine man whom she had met on a previous visit, and feels ready to absorb his life's wisdom and secrets. She is hoping to find in Bali the balance between eating (Italy) and praying (India). One day, she is accidentally knocked off her bicycle by a dashing factory owner played by Javier Bardem. After much soul-searching and a final visit to the medicine man, she discovers in this enchanting Brazilian the balance she had been seeking, namely, love.
The movie is insightful about the mysterious fear which prevents people from reaching out to others in love, especially if they have been hurt in the past. It's a story of working through fear to an elevated level of love. St. John says in his First Letter that 'perfect love casts out fear.' I was disappointed that there was no attempt throughout the movie to tap into the powerful contemplative wisdom of the Catholic tradition, one of our best kept secrets. It showed Julia Roberts doing everything in Rome except visiting a church, talking to the two nuns with whom she shared a street bench, or to the priest she passed alone in a narrow alley. In the midst of a near break-up shouting match with Javier Bardem, she screams, 'I don't have to love you to love myself!' Apart from one grand and generous gesture, the spiritual focus of her search is her self. God is at the center of Christian spirituality as its organizing energy principle. The focus of authentic Christian spirituality is mission, forgetting one's self and going out to others.
PASTOR EMERITUS
Friday, September 3, 2010
9/11 AND RELIGIOUS TRIBALISM
September 3rd 2010
9/11 AND RELIGIOUS TRIBALISM
As the ninth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, there appears to be a fly in the ointment of healing, namely, the proposal to build a Muslim community center and mosque a few blocks away from the sacrosanct Ground Zero.
I don’t like much of the conservative Christian attitude to the plan. Sarah Palin, an evangelical Protestant, and Newt Gingrich, a new and conservative Catholic, make no bones of their opposition to the project. Bryan Fisher of the conservative American Family Association claims that ‘permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the U.S…..’ ‘Each Islamic mosque,’ he says, ‘is dedicated to overthrow the American government.’ Believe it or not, there is an evangelical Church in Florida promoting the public burning of the Koran this coming Saturday, September 11th. I wonder if they think every Moslem has horns, and imagine they see smoke emanating from every Muslim ear?
Here are a few sobering facts. According to recent Pew Research Center and Gallup polls, American Muslims are the most radically diverse group in the U.S., being made up of Whites, Hispanics, Sub-Saharan Africans, Iranians, Europeans, Central Asians and more. Only 40% of them say they pray in a mosque once a week, a percentage similar to American Christians who claim to go to church once a week. One third American Muslims say they seldom if ever go to a mosque.
According to Michael Gerson, an op-ed columnist at The Washington Post and a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, there may be as many interpretations of the Koran as there are Muslims. He says, ‘The debates within Islam on the nature and application of sharia law, for example, are at least as complex as the debates among Christian theologians on the nature of social justice. And the political application of Islam differs so greatly…. that it defies easy summary.’
So where is all this suspicion coming from? Apart from ignorance of the facts about Muslims, which plays a large part of it, Gerson would have us take note of what he describes as ‘religious tribalism.’
He distinguishes between two kinds of Christianity. One sees religion as a source of tribal identity while the other sees it as an assertion of human worth and dignity that goes above and beyond tribe and nation. One is tribal and nationalistic, the other is faith and God based. From this point of view, the history of Christianity, especially and tragically in Europe, is the story of a struggle between these two elements, faith and territory. In the European Middle Ages, conquering Catholic kings and emperors mandated their subjects to be baptized. Ironically, the vast majority of the peasant people of medieval Europe, though baptized, had no clue about Christianity. This began when the emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the empire in 313 AD, and continued throughout Europe up to the French Revolution.
The Church fought for political and territorial power, often with its popes leading armies and ordering armed crusades with a view to eliminating Jews and Muslims, and calling inquisitions to eliminate heretics and dissidents within the fold. This kind of religious tribalism was a major focus of the Church for far too many centuries. Modern Christianity, especially conservative Catholicism, has inherited a residue of this ‘territorial’ mentality. We are not alone in this. Judaism and Islam have it even more so.
The Second Vatican Council offered a view of the world that was authentically Christian but non-tribal: Christians are to push not so much their own traditions and dogmas on people but use its creed to serve a view of human dignity and universal rights taught by the gospel. Christianity insists that human worth and dignity transcend tribe and nation. Christianity is not there for its own sake but for the good of all human kind. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, to quote the words of Jesus Christ in the gospel.
Catholics who know their history are in no position to burn copies of the Koran. We have a sad history of religious tribalism. When we witness the violent side of Islam, we should know it’s time for us to draw in our horns and not use our creed and traditions to promote the darkness and violence of religious intolerance. An eye for an eye and whole world will eventually be blind!
PASTOR EMERITUS
9/11 AND RELIGIOUS TRIBALISM
As the ninth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, there appears to be a fly in the ointment of healing, namely, the proposal to build a Muslim community center and mosque a few blocks away from the sacrosanct Ground Zero.
I don’t like much of the conservative Christian attitude to the plan. Sarah Palin, an evangelical Protestant, and Newt Gingrich, a new and conservative Catholic, make no bones of their opposition to the project. Bryan Fisher of the conservative American Family Association claims that ‘permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the U.S…..’ ‘Each Islamic mosque,’ he says, ‘is dedicated to overthrow the American government.’ Believe it or not, there is an evangelical Church in Florida promoting the public burning of the Koran this coming Saturday, September 11th. I wonder if they think every Moslem has horns, and imagine they see smoke emanating from every Muslim ear?
Here are a few sobering facts. According to recent Pew Research Center and Gallup polls, American Muslims are the most radically diverse group in the U.S., being made up of Whites, Hispanics, Sub-Saharan Africans, Iranians, Europeans, Central Asians and more. Only 40% of them say they pray in a mosque once a week, a percentage similar to American Christians who claim to go to church once a week. One third American Muslims say they seldom if ever go to a mosque.
According to Michael Gerson, an op-ed columnist at The Washington Post and a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, there may be as many interpretations of the Koran as there are Muslims. He says, ‘The debates within Islam on the nature and application of sharia law, for example, are at least as complex as the debates among Christian theologians on the nature of social justice. And the political application of Islam differs so greatly…. that it defies easy summary.’
So where is all this suspicion coming from? Apart from ignorance of the facts about Muslims, which plays a large part of it, Gerson would have us take note of what he describes as ‘religious tribalism.’
He distinguishes between two kinds of Christianity. One sees religion as a source of tribal identity while the other sees it as an assertion of human worth and dignity that goes above and beyond tribe and nation. One is tribal and nationalistic, the other is faith and God based. From this point of view, the history of Christianity, especially and tragically in Europe, is the story of a struggle between these two elements, faith and territory. In the European Middle Ages, conquering Catholic kings and emperors mandated their subjects to be baptized. Ironically, the vast majority of the peasant people of medieval Europe, though baptized, had no clue about Christianity. This began when the emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the empire in 313 AD, and continued throughout Europe up to the French Revolution.
The Church fought for political and territorial power, often with its popes leading armies and ordering armed crusades with a view to eliminating Jews and Muslims, and calling inquisitions to eliminate heretics and dissidents within the fold. This kind of religious tribalism was a major focus of the Church for far too many centuries. Modern Christianity, especially conservative Catholicism, has inherited a residue of this ‘territorial’ mentality. We are not alone in this. Judaism and Islam have it even more so.
The Second Vatican Council offered a view of the world that was authentically Christian but non-tribal: Christians are to push not so much their own traditions and dogmas on people but use its creed to serve a view of human dignity and universal rights taught by the gospel. Christianity insists that human worth and dignity transcend tribe and nation. Christianity is not there for its own sake but for the good of all human kind. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, to quote the words of Jesus Christ in the gospel.
Catholics who know their history are in no position to burn copies of the Koran. We have a sad history of religious tribalism. When we witness the violent side of Islam, we should know it’s time for us to draw in our horns and not use our creed and traditions to promote the darkness and violence of religious intolerance. An eye for an eye and whole world will eventually be blind!
PASTOR EMERITUS
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