Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Genealogy


The Gospel of Matthew has a genealogy for Jesus, where he came from in his lineage.  All of us have a genealogy that goes back to beginnings, even of human existence.  What genealogy means to me is that there is some evolutionary plan to each of us coming along as we do, and there will be others after us.  Not me of course, because I am a celibate priest.  Wait!  That's it?  I am the end?  My sister Maureen would probably say, "Good," because then there would be no more brats and pests just like me.  No one has called me uniquely gifted, so maybe it is good for my line the end.  Enough about me.  Overall, genealogy means that there is some evolutionary unfolding from the beginning, that brought each one of us to birth.  So when you think you are nothing, realize that you are part of something much greater and more connected than you think!  You are not random and meaningless.  We are necessary parts of a chain.  If I am the last link on my chain, maybe this is part of an overall process.  Think the Pope will change his mind about celibacy?

1 comment:

  1. Interesting observation: 1) in Asian cultures [e.g. Chinese] that value descendants to continue the blood line and family surname for posterity; an only male child makes for conflict between marriage vs religious vocation = me. 2) Priests in the Roman Church is way different from those with established married life of the 'high church' Protestant denominations and Orthodox traditions who come into the Roman Church w/ family intact; 3) widowed Roman Catholics; 4) Permanent Deacons of the Roman Church since Vatican II. So there is inconsistent theological sophistry in the 'celibacy discipline'.

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