Daily Dose

I run several days a week.  I should be seeing improvement right?  I see no improvement.  It seems I just run and get no better.  Maybe I am wasting my time?  Perhaps.  But what if I stopped all together?  I would soon notice a change as I quickly got out of shape.  Stairs would be harder to climb.  Walking about would become more laborious.  Sleep would be more irregular.  Bad moods more regular.  So, maybe it is not so much a matter of "not getting better."  It might be a matter of not getting worse.  That sounds like improvement to me.  I use the same approach with prayer.  I pray on a daily basis.  I am not getting holier.  Why bother?  Well, I could stop…and get a whole lot worse.

Religious Orders

Why is it that religious orders of men and women seem to connect so much better with the laity than does the diocesan priest?  Religious orders grow from the laity.  Monks are not ordained.  They are brothers.  Women religious are not ordained.  They are nuns  or sisters.  In Canon Law they are treated at times as laity.  They don't spend time in seminaries learning all about how to protect the Church from the secular world of sin.  They live or work in the secular world among the laity.  They never get far from their roots.  They spend no time getting "formed" into defenders of orthodoxy.  Religious orders are more likely grass root oriented to real life problems of people.  Religious orders have a "charism."  They exist for a particular purpose or mission.  Often they are founded to do some work that the hierarchy has neglected, such as educating poor women.

Stuck

The American Catholic Church is stuck in its Papal coverage.  When all the bishops agreed with the last two popes about "being tough" on doctrine and rules, every breath of the Pope was publicized.  We got used to hearing "what the pope says," about any issue.  When I was a boy, we rarely heard about the pope.  Now with the new Pope Francis, the Catholic media machine is still revved up about whatever the Pope says or does.  The problem for the American hierarchy is that they and the Pope are not on the same page.  These prelates do not have pastoral DNA.  To make the shift, and it will be cumbersome, we will hear such things as, "Throwing an olive branch to divorced."  What is that about?  An olive branch is a symbol of making peace.  It shows the attitude of one side, not the divorced, being at war with people who don't follow rules.  If we had simply lived out the fulness of the gospel, we would never have gotten into this mess in the first place.

The AA Model

Parishes would do well to model AA.  In AA someone comes in because they are desparate.  They want help to not die or lose everything they have.  The members of AA pour themselves out in service to this person, no questions asked.  They set the person on a spiritual path of recovery on several levels.  They walk with the person along the path. The person comes to many meetings.  Then one day, the person thinks things are fine and just stops coming, no goodbye, or thank you.  Time move on.  The person's life becomes a mess again.  They return, sheepishly, expecting some rejection or judgment.  The members who have been meeting regularly all this time, simply reach out in welcome, and again pour themselves out in service.  They act this way because it keeps themselves sober and on the spiritual path of a better life.  Think of a parish or church that acted this way.  People come to get something such as a church service, funeral, wedding, advice, daily sustenance or whatever.  If the parish helps and then the person leaves without even a goodbye or thank you, so what.  If it makes the helper a better person, holier in selfless service is this not a good thing?  If it makes you resentful, you might try the twelve steps of AA.  Just sayin

A Hammer

At one time or another, for some more frequently than others, we treat God as we would a hammer.  When we need a hammer, we really need a hammer.  But when we are finished with it, then we put it aside until we might need it again.  Sometimes we forget where we last stored it.  God is like a hammer.  When we want God, we really want God.  When we then get what we want or don't get what we want, then we put God aside until some future time.  If we don't get what we want, we more often get rid of God in our lives altogether.  What attracts me about God, is that God does not seem to mind such treatment.  God never rejects us or leaves us even though we often simply use God for our own agenda.  God is love.  A God-filled person acts in this same selfless manner.  Think of the parent who puts up with all kinds of stuff from selfish children.  The parishes get a bit upset that they are "used" at Christmas and ignored the rest of the year.  God just goes on being God, loving, not judging.

Ignore Jesus

Why do so many people want to get Jesus out of the Holiday season, which we call Christmas.  Well, Jesus seems to be about selfless love, giving rather than getting, letting go of stuff, such as power, control and even his life, being poor and caring for the poor.  That all bothers a lot of people.  That way of living, that view of humanity, is stupid to a lot of people.  Jesus would bother them.  Best to ignore him.

Typhoon Victims

The pope wants the Philippine Nuncio to spend this Christmas season with the victims of the typhoon.  This will be a stretch.  Realize that prelates are steeped in European Catholic culture.  That is how they got discovered in the first place, not working in some poor parish in the outback.  The European model is one of royalty.  Its history is one of majesty and splendor in keeping up with the nation building States of the rich and powerful.  Prelates generally don't do well amongst the poor.  Cameos for photo opts, yes, but not much more than that.