Yesterday I noticed that I had a cold. I probably caught it working at the soup kitchen on tuesday; I often catch little infections there. It doesn't bother me too much; in fact sometimes I think these little illnesses can be blessings that help me to come back to basic mindfulness. We notice ourselves when something is wrong!
Sickness, death, misfortune, all of these are the daily intrusion of un-meaning into our existence. They remind us of the starting point of all existential theological reflection: there is something wrong with the world; things don't seem to be the way they are supposed to be.
Somehow, mysteriously, we perceive the givens and obvious things of life as wrong and unfair; it's somehow not right that people are born into suffering, that "bad things happen to good people," that they abandon us by dying. But this only goes to show that our human consciousness is somehow geared to something beyond the given and the obvious, to a perfection and eternity that we desire. And this is the root of eros and the beginning of what we mean by "God."
June 30, 2006
June 28, 2006
True and Perfect Joy
Check out this new Franciscan blog: True and Perfect Joy looks like it will be enlightening and thoughtful.
Compatibility
Lately I've seen a lot of TV ads for eharmony. They claim to be able to put you in a good relationship based on mutual compatibility. Never mind that, many times, we are more charmed by the people with whom we're not compatible, or who are bad for us.
Or, for better or worse, often our compatibilities are pathological. My need to help matches your fear of taking care of yourself. Your unwillingness to take responsibility for your life matches my demand for control, etc. Sometimes we call this kind of thing "ministry," but then again, it's often easy to use religion to gloss over unhealthy dynamics.
Nevertheless, compatibility is critical. St. Irenaeus, whose memory we celebrate today, knew all about it. His Against Heresies is a brilliant text, and worth reading. He begins a theological reflection on the "economies" of God. This is to say that he tries to give an account of God through how God works on our behalf. Thus he comes to an account of the Incarnation:
The Word of God which dwelt in man was made Son of man to accustom man to perceive God and to accustom God to dwell in man, according to the good pleasure of the Father. (Adversus Haereses II:19:3)
A short statement but a deep one. God the Father is a love so generous and self-diffusing that he wishes to share even the divine life with us. His Word becomes one of us in order to establish a permanent affinity or compatibility between human and divine. The infinite distance between God's greatness and our littleness is overcome in Jesus Christ. Human and divine become compatible.
Or, for better or worse, often our compatibilities are pathological. My need to help matches your fear of taking care of yourself. Your unwillingness to take responsibility for your life matches my demand for control, etc. Sometimes we call this kind of thing "ministry," but then again, it's often easy to use religion to gloss over unhealthy dynamics.
Nevertheless, compatibility is critical. St. Irenaeus, whose memory we celebrate today, knew all about it. His Against Heresies is a brilliant text, and worth reading. He begins a theological reflection on the "economies" of God. This is to say that he tries to give an account of God through how God works on our behalf. Thus he comes to an account of the Incarnation:
The Word of God which dwelt in man was made Son of man to accustom man to perceive God and to accustom God to dwell in man, according to the good pleasure of the Father. (Adversus Haereses II:19:3)
A short statement but a deep one. God the Father is a love so generous and self-diffusing that he wishes to share even the divine life with us. His Word becomes one of us in order to establish a permanent affinity or compatibility between human and divine. The infinite distance between God's greatness and our littleness is overcome in Jesus Christ. Human and divine become compatible.
June 27, 2006
Cell Phones
So far I've been able to resist this cultural transformation, but I know the day is coming when I'll have to get a cell phone. Luckily for me, it's still considered slightly sketchy for a friar to have one.
It certainly seems convenient to be able to reach people and be reached on the go. On the other hand, it makes me sad when I constantly see people blabbing on the phone while ignoring the children they have in tow. I was on a shopping trip with another friar when he decided he needed to have a half-hour conversation on his cell phone, leaving me to communicate about possible purchases through gestures and facial expressions. On the subway, where people used to read or sleep, we are now introduced to everyone's private business.
It's definitely a transformation. You notice it in the movies, how people didn't always have cell phones.
When I was a chaplain in a psychiatric unit one of the head psychiatrists once remarked that he though the invention of the cell phone had done more than anything else to lessen the public stigma of schizophrenia. It used to be that someone walking down the street talking to themselves was odd and frightening. Now everybody's doing it.
It certainly seems convenient to be able to reach people and be reached on the go. On the other hand, it makes me sad when I constantly see people blabbing on the phone while ignoring the children they have in tow. I was on a shopping trip with another friar when he decided he needed to have a half-hour conversation on his cell phone, leaving me to communicate about possible purchases through gestures and facial expressions. On the subway, where people used to read or sleep, we are now introduced to everyone's private business.
It's definitely a transformation. You notice it in the movies, how people didn't always have cell phones.
When I was a chaplain in a psychiatric unit one of the head psychiatrists once remarked that he though the invention of the cell phone had done more than anything else to lessen the public stigma of schizophrenia. It used to be that someone walking down the street talking to themselves was odd and frightening. Now everybody's doing it.
June 26, 2006
June 25, 2006
Nature
In today's gospel, Jesus sleeps in the boat while a storm threatens to sink it. His disciples wake him and ask whether he cares about the danger to their lives. He rebukes the storm and then his disciples for their lack of faith.
Often we experience nature as an adversary. Though our technology helps us exploit nature, often to our great benefit, creation always comes back to remind us of our powerlessness before storms and other natural disasters. We pay for our exploitation of nature by inventing new curses for ourselves: global warming, new and dangerous diseases, existential alienation from our own creaturehood.
That nature should be our adversary is part of the mystery of original sin. By the curse of Genesis 3 we have to fight against the rest of creation for our survival. One aspect of the redeemed world inaugurated in the life of Jesus Christ is the restoration of our relationship to the rest of creation.
The desert mothers and fathers used to believe that one sign of a saint would be his ability to live in harmony with all manner of dangerous animals, with nothing to fear from them. Original harmony and innocence came before original sin, and this is the proper state of thing restored in the saints.
Often we experience nature as an adversary. Though our technology helps us exploit nature, often to our great benefit, creation always comes back to remind us of our powerlessness before storms and other natural disasters. We pay for our exploitation of nature by inventing new curses for ourselves: global warming, new and dangerous diseases, existential alienation from our own creaturehood.
That nature should be our adversary is part of the mystery of original sin. By the curse of Genesis 3 we have to fight against the rest of creation for our survival. One aspect of the redeemed world inaugurated in the life of Jesus Christ is the restoration of our relationship to the rest of creation.
The desert mothers and fathers used to believe that one sign of a saint would be his ability to live in harmony with all manner of dangerous animals, with nothing to fear from them. Original harmony and innocence came before original sin, and this is the proper state of thing restored in the saints.
June 22, 2006
Code Language
Sorry I didn't get to post yet today; for the early part of the day I was impressed into service as brother gardener's assistant.
Last night I was caught watching EWTN; I belong to a mainstream left-of-center North American religious community, so such a thing is considered misbehavior. On the show, three young Dominican sisters were being interviewed, from this community I think.
They were talking about sisters and catholic education, and a kid from the audience asked them if there were more sisters than secular teachers in their school. Sister replied that they would have more sister teachers, but that most in her community were in formation. "Formation," is, of course, the program of probation, training, education and revisable commitment one goes through upon entering religious life.
Sister's comment raised a pet peeve for my brother friar. He said, "we need to stop using jargon and code language; how is a little kid supposed to know what 'formation' means?" In a way he's right; code language and professional jargon encase power and privileged knowledge. For religious who are supposed to excel and humility, such things are certainly unbecoming.
On the other hand, if we were working to restore a catholic culture, would such things still have to be code language? If religious didn't insist on being invisible by wearing secular clothes, living alone, and working secular jobs, maybe the world of religious life could again be part of the ordinary catholic consciousness.
Last night I was caught watching EWTN; I belong to a mainstream left-of-center North American religious community, so such a thing is considered misbehavior. On the show, three young Dominican sisters were being interviewed, from this community I think.
They were talking about sisters and catholic education, and a kid from the audience asked them if there were more sisters than secular teachers in their school. Sister replied that they would have more sister teachers, but that most in her community were in formation. "Formation," is, of course, the program of probation, training, education and revisable commitment one goes through upon entering religious life.
Sister's comment raised a pet peeve for my brother friar. He said, "we need to stop using jargon and code language; how is a little kid supposed to know what 'formation' means?" In a way he's right; code language and professional jargon encase power and privileged knowledge. For religious who are supposed to excel and humility, such things are certainly unbecoming.
On the other hand, if we were working to restore a catholic culture, would such things still have to be code language? If religious didn't insist on being invisible by wearing secular clothes, living alone, and working secular jobs, maybe the world of religious life could again be part of the ordinary catholic consciousness.
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