When Church Strife Makes You Worry About Your Witness

Original Images from Pixabay. (There are two.)

In the last couple of months, we have had some significant conflict among our church-going friends and their families. I don't want to go into detail here, but these events have been a big deal. They have been a big deal in my life, in my husband's life, in the lives of all of our family... but we've been very careful about sharing them with friends.

Why is that?

In a word: scandal.

Priests: Real People --- Real People: Priests

30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Hebrews 5:1-6, but definitely read the other readings for context.

Newsflash, guys: Did you know that priests are real people? People that eat pizza, and like football, and even have families with weirdo kid brothers and evil sisters.

Reformation Sunday... Day of Prayer for Christian Unity?

In Daniel’s Small Church, there are a great many people who inexplicably feel the need to celebrate “Reformation Sunday”. In case you didn’t know, it’s this weekend (the last Sunday in October).

For the life of me, I cannot cipher out why people think this is an occasion to celebrate. A run-down of what happened:

Between the Old and New Covenants

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Hebrews 2:9-11. I would suggest beginning at verse 5 - that's where the link goes. Be sure to read the other readings for context - this reflection will not make sense without them!

On description, Daniel indicated that he thought this was a “how it happened to speak to me” type of reflection. Read with that in mind!

Sometimes the Villain Gets One Right

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from James 3:16-4:3. I suggest reading the other readings as well, for context. It’s lectionary # 134, if you’re reading from a hard copy.

There is a Native American Fable - or maybe an adage - about a boy who talks to his grandfather about two dogs fighting inside of him. One is a good dog, who represents virtues, and the other is an evil dog, who represents vices. The boy asks his grandfather which dog will win, to which the old man replied, “the one you feed.”

If We Do Show Partiality

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Original Image from Pixabay.

This Sunday, the second reading will be from James 2:1-5. Be sure to read the other readings, for better context. It’s Lectionary # 128, if you’re reading from a hard copy.

Partiality is a hard thing to avoid. We all have preferences. We are partial to people who have similar interests and opinions to our own, and we naturally prefer to be around them, and we tend to take their parts in arguments.

Is this necessarily the kind of partiality that James is calling problematic?

The Church: The Bride of Christ

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Image from Pixabay.

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Ephesians 5:21-32. I’d strongly encourage you to also read the other readings, if you can - it’s Lectionary #122, if you’re reading from a hard copy.

Ephesians 5 is one of the chapters of the bible that has been rendered most uncomfortable for our modern ears by the sexual revolution. The idea that a woman owes her husband obedience, simply because she is female, grates on our ears like nails on a chalk board. And that's all we hear. We shut down. Nothing else gets through after that.

Certainly there is something to God's design for the human family - and it is here in this chapter, but there is more to this section than that.

The Benedict Option: What We Should Do Instead

Last week, I discussed what is becoming known as “The Benedict Option”, why it’s attractive to some (myself included), and why I don’t think it’s an appropriate option for the Catholic Church.

The question of what should we do instead is a hard one to fully answer, largely because there are a lot of components to it, but we certainly can’t keep banging our heads against a wall like we have been. It leads to the kind of emotional exhaustion that led me to abandon Facebook entirely for over six months.

Something I heard on Catholic Answers recently really touched me. They were taking questions about the SCOTUS marriage decision and where we go from here, and the guest mentioned as part of an answer that before we do anything else, we first have a morale problem to handle.

I immediately knew this woman couldn’t be wrong - because I know that what I have experienced is first and foremost a morale problem.

I don’t think I can fully address the morale problem itself, as I am neither a spiritual director, nor a professional counselor. If you’re frustrated and angry, and really struggling emotionally or spiritually, I would suggest seeing a spiritual or mental health professional to help you dig out of the hole you’ve found yourself in, then I have a few practical suggestions to help keep this from happening again, in addition to whatever they suggest for you.

Unique in the World

 

Original photo from Pixabay.

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from Ephesians 1:3-14. I also suggest reading the other readings, but for the first reading, begin at 7:10.

In this section from the beginning of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives thanks for the blessings received from God in the community of the Ephesians, and in the Christian community at large.

God made us to be holy before him, to be adopted by him, he’s give us forgiveness of our sins, and given us rich graces by which we are able to do his will in an unfriendly world, he’s revealed to us his will, and given us knowledge of his plan for us.

The Benedict Option: It's Attractive, but We Shouldn't Do It!

Original Photo from Pixabay.

I’ve seen a few posts in the not-too-distant past regarding something called “The Benedict Option.” I was intrigued by the the idea, and I did some reading.

• The Benedict Option: Why the Religious Right is Considering an All-out Withdrawal from Politics By Damon Linker @  The Week
• Is it Time To Hunker Down? by Fr. Dwight Longeneceker @ Standing on my Head
• French Religious History and the New American Intégrisme by David Sessions @ Patrol
• Benedict Option by Rod Dreher @ The American Conservative

What is "The Benedict Option"?

As I understand it, the Benedict Option is to withdraw from politics, just like St. Benedict did when he came to Rome, found its morality crumbling before its ultimate collapse, and established the first monasteries.

It’s mostly a response by some members of the so-called “religious right” to the realization that they might no longer represent the way most Americans think about matters of morality (the “moral majority”), because the country’s morality has “crumbled” just as Rome’s did.

This is only a partial characterization, but these were the details that stood out to me. It means that we would focus our evangelistic eyes inward only, and don’t worry about everywhere else.

Opposition from Within

Original photo from Pixabay.

 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This Sunday, the second reading will be from 2 Cor 12:7-10. I’d also strongly recommend the other readings.

God warns Ezekiel in the first reading of opposition in Israel, on account of the Israelites being a rebellious and obstinate people.

In the Gospel, Christ himself encounters resistance in his hometown, which hindered the propagation of the Gospel.

And Paul encounters problem people of his own. There are lots of valid interpretations on what this “thorn in the flesh” was. According to one of my footnotes, it is a similar expression to the English, “A thorn in my side”, which we often use to refer to obnoxious, persistent, and frustrating people.

At Home in the Lord

This Sunday, the second reading will be from 2 Corinthians 5:6-10. I strongly suggest reading from verse 1, for context, as well as the other readings for this week. It’s lectionary # 92, if you’re reading from a hard copy.

Life is short, right? So short, in fact that Paul describes our bodies, the most permanent things that any of us experience in our lives as a tent - an imminently temporary dwelling. Most of us are accustomed to using tents for… no more than a week at a time, right? So, the analogy of our bodies being like tents is very jarring to us.

Different Gifts for Service

Pentecost Sunday

This Sunday, the second reading will be from 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13. It would also be a good idea to read Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 and John 20:19-23 (The lectionary gives a choice of readings for the 2nd reading and Gospel, I took the first one of each.)

In Baptism, we are brought into the Church, the body of Christ. And we are not all baptized into the Church so that we can be exactly alike.

In fact, it is necessary that we are different from each other. The Holy Spirit gives different kinds of spiritual gifts to each of us - and not only spiritual gifts, but all kinds of gifts. We have received different kinds of skills for different kinds of service - but these all come from God, and they are given to us for some benefit.

The Most Important Thing to do in Marital Interfaith Dialogue

Daniel and I were married in the Catholic Church, but only I am Catholic. He is a Presbyterian of the PCA variety. Our marriage works, in part, because our churches’ values are the same. Even though their doctrines differ in some very significant ways, practice is nearly indistinguishable in everyday life.

Every few months, we have one of those serious religious conversations in which we each learn a great deal about what the other does (or doesn’t) believe about a given subject. They tend to be mostly about doctrine, rather than practice.

One of my posts from a few weeks ago sparked one of those conversations. I will make a post outlining that discussion and its repercussions, but this is not that post.

I want to emphasize that these are not fights. They are serious conversations. No voices are raised, and we are careful not to hurt one another’s feelings.

Some of these are more productive than others.

Pray the Rosary for Peace in the Middle East

Last night, I felt a call by the Holy Spirit to prayer, and I wanted to share what happened, and invite you to join me in praying the Rosary - just whenever you have time, as often as you can - for Peace in the Middle East.

I was on my way home from Adult Faith Formation class last night, and had been listening to the news on Catholic Community Radio.

In the study, we had covered the origins of Islam and its effects on previously Christian lands. We also covered the coercive policies that existed in the lands they conquered. We talked briefly about the burdensome taxes, the unreasonable laws that were enacted to "convince" people that it was not possible to remain Christian where they were. We talked about how in Islam, there was from the very beginning a "House of Believers"(Islam) and a "House of War" (Everyone Else).

I thought about the culture battles that it has become necessary to fight in the west, all of which I read about in the National Catholic Register, and other mainstream news sources. There are plenty of other culture battles that I could link to, given the time to look up an appropriate article.

As I was driving, there was an article on the radio about the recent suicide attacks in Pakistan that killed 15 and injured several dozen more.

I hate that these ISIS militants are getting the kind of platform that they are and that it seems like nobody is doing anything about it, and like I can't help. I almost turned the radio off.