Crazy Catholic Question #17: Conflict

I pray and pray for my family and still we have so many conflicts and struggle to get along.  Where is God in all this?

This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family.  Mary, Jesus and Joseph come to mind when we think of a “Holy” family, especially during this Christmas season.  It is unlikely that in the wake of this month of non-stop holiday gatherings, weary from this intense season of interaction, that “Holy” would be the first word to roll off our tongues when talking about our own families though.  

Our families are much too dysfunctional, tense and fraught with conflict to be truly “Holy,” right?  We are convinced that that Jesus was misquoted.  Surely, he must have said "where two or more are gathered in my name, there's bound to be an argument!"   And yet our tradition insists that our families, our relationships, are the primary place of God’s activity in the world.  

Many of us have grown up with the notion that disagreements are failures. But nothing could be further from the truth.   Disagreements are inevitable.  It’s really not a question of IF conflict will arise, but WHEN.   As Pope Francis has been reminding us lately - frank, honest dialogue, especially on difficult subjects is essential to personal and communal growth; like resistant strength training – no pain no gain.

It is in and through our conflicts that we uncomfortably receive God’s grace and revelation and cultivate a deeper intimacy and true communion with one another.   God’s revelation is rarely discovered in isolation, and revelation in community can be painful, like putting a bunch of jagged rocks into a burlap bag and shaking them for 5, 10, 20, 50 years.  Through ‘rubbing each other wrong’ our jagged edges become smooth; we become well-rounded people.  We have insights we could never have achieved independently.

God is present and working with great intensity in our conflicts.  Our goal is to resolve disagreements in such a way that the relationship is stronger afterwards than it was before.  As the body of Christ, we are called to be a model of this process.    As tough, tricky, and emotionally draining as resolving conflict maybe, reconciliation is not an option, but an imperative for Jesus’ followers; it is the very heart of the paschal mystery.  The easy-outs of seclusion, individualism and indifference are the opposite of Jesus’ vision for our world. 

More and more I find myself dreading the moment when I’m at my kid’s school, the doctor’s office, or in line at the grocery store and the person I’m talking to finds out that I’m a minister and feels compelled, in what I sometimes sense is a feeble effort to disguise their criticism, to explain to me that he or she is “spiritual but not religious.”   This is often said in such a way that implies that they grasp some daring insight that we church-going simpletons have yet to discover.  

Quite frankly, I don’t find being privately, independently, “spiritual but not religious” very impressive.  There is nothing particularly challenging about that choice.

What I find heroic is doggedly doing this work in community, where other people might call you out on stuff and we are called to sacrifice a little bit of this or that for the good of all.  Our saints tell us that real spiritual growth and insight arrive more often through our arduous, energy-sapping work of lovingly resolving our disagreements than by throwing up our hands and resigning to pray in isolation. 

I admire people who hope in the communion of saints and who are brave enough (or perhaps stubborn enough), to believe that God is best encountered in a real human community and audacious enough to believe that in our life together we are surreptitiously building the kingdom of God, one challenging relationship at a time. 

Crazy Catholic Question #16: Christmas

I pray just fine at home. Why do I have to come to Church?

Well, frankly, you don’t have to come to church. Odds are you haven’t been to Mass in quite awhile and you have managed to survive…even thrive. You love and care for your friends and family, you pray, you give to your favorite charities, you recycle & vote. You are a good, compassionate person who works hard and likes to sleep in on Sunday. Or perhaps you are a parent of a bunch of little people who is weary of the struggle to get all your reluctant family members dressed and out the door only to end up spending half the Mass comforting or chasing your child in the vestibule which makes the whole effort seem rather futile. The more pointed question might be “Why go to Mass at all?” What is the value and gain of being here each week?

Personally, I think the onus to answer that question is on us. We (the community here at Christ the Redeemer) need to communicate the value of “hanging-your-hat” with us and why we believe that working and praying together is more effective and closer to Jesus’ dream for our world than operating individually. But, words can only take us so far...

See, the thing about the Sacraments and the experience of Christian community is that you can’t really explain them…or read about them. Explaining Eucharist or Communion is like trying to explain or put into words what a deep, long kiss is like. The metaphysics of a kiss sound strange and maybe even a little bit gross, but when you experience it firsthand there is no denying its beauty and power. So too with coming to Mass. It is an experience that slowly transforms us, but it’s not something easily put into words or something we can truly grasp the full significance of by reading or praying about it quietly, alone at home.

Author Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber points out that when Jesus said “where two or more are gathered in my name I am with you” it wasn’t because he was some kind of diva who needed a guaranteed minimum audience before showing up. Rather it means that God is to be found in our relationships and in the way we hold each other up in the faith in tough times and even sometimes in our conflicts and struggles. From the very beginning, faith has always been a team sport. And maybe that is because there are some things about ourselves, God and life that we simply cannot learn on our own, but need to be part of a community to discover.

If your experience of Mass here this Christmas has in anyway touched on a faint but rather persistent longing you have been aware of lately, and you suspect that this longing may be “of God,” we want to heartily invite you to come pray with us again. If you have been away for a long while, no worries, we all have gaps here and there. None of us are ever “behind” in our spiritual lives. We are exactly where God intends us to be. We will all be richer for your presence. (Bonus: We offer great childcare during Mass and tasty and plentiful donuts after Mass, and having three kids myself, I know the power and enticement of ‘the donut’ for the kiddos!)

We are offering an informal “Welcome” presentation after Mass on Sunday, Jan. 4th at 12:15pm (childcare provided) for those of you kicking around the idea of reconnecting. We will offer a very brief overview of our CTR theology and vision of what we think “being” church to one another looks like and we would very much like to hear what we can do to make your time with us meaningful and lasting. We can also answer any questions you may have about getting your kids “caught up” on all the sacraments, etc.

I write this little “Crazy Catholic Question” article for the bulletin each week, so please consider submitting a question of your own! There are no topics that are off-limits or questions too scandalous to ask. If you would like to browse my fledging blog please visit crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.

I sincerely hope you and your family enjoy the rest of this holy season. Without exception, your ideas, good-spirit and unique theological point of view are valued and very welcome here.

Merry Christmas,
Lisa Brown,
Director of Religious Education/Office of Family Ministry, dre@ctredeemer.org

#15: Relatives to church?

How can I get my relatives to come to church? Well, frankly, we can’t.  We have no control over the choices our adult relatives make and the more we push, the more likely they are to pull away.  But we are not powerless either…

During Advent we ponder the mystery of the Incarnation.  We believe that, in Jesus, God came to be with us right here in our history and is still alive and living with us now, gathering a community, the Body of Christ, to transform the world with the love that he embodied. 

Fr. Ron Rolheiser points out that when we say that we are "the Body of Christ" it is not an exaggeration or a metaphor.  Our scriptures do not say "we represent" or "replace" or "symbolize" Jesus, they just say "We ARE the body of Christ."  The incarnation is not something that happened long ago, but rather continues in us right at this moment.  A story…

There was a woman who, in the midst of great suffering, wanders into her empty church, sits down, closes her eyes and fervently prays, “God, I am in great pain and I need to know you are with me.  I know I’m not supposed to ask for miracles or signs, but I’m at the end of my rope.  Please, I beg of you, give me a sign of your presence.”

And she keeps repeating this last line, “Please, I need a sign of your presence.”  She waits a long while, eyes closed tight, and all of a sudden she feels a hand on her shoulder!  Her stomach flips and for a moment she is paralyzed.  Could it be that God is actually touching her shoulder as a sign of support?!?

She slowly turns and sees behind her one of her friends.  The woman can’t hide her disappointment.  Her friend says, “You seem distressed, can I help you in anyway?”  The woman explains how she thought her friend was God touching her on the shoulder, and her friend asks “But, what hand did you think God would use?”

St. Theresa of Avila writes:Christ has no body now but yours,No hands, no feet, on earth but yours.Yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world.Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good.Your are the hands with which He blesses all the world.Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Fr. Rolheiser says “We all have relatives and friends who don’t come to Mass with us anymore.  They have been hurt or feel unaccepted and we pray for them, but we also do much more.   If our touch is Christ’s touch, then by loving and forgiving our alienated friends and relatives, in so far as they receive love and forgiveness from us, they are receiving love and forgiveness from God. 

Not unlike the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed from 11 years of sickness, WE are the hem of Jesus’ garment for others, connecting them to the body of Christ. 

Maybe your child no longer goes to church, no longer prays, no longer respects your faith and is openly agnostic or atheistic. What can you do?

You can continue to pray for them and live out your own faith, hoping that your example will have power where your words are ineffectual. But you can do even more.
You can continue to love and embrace them and insofar as they receive that love and forgiveness from you, they are receiving love and forgiveness from God!  Since you are part of the Body of Christ, when you love them Christ is loving them.

Part of the wonder of the incarnation is the astonishing fact that we can do for each other what Jesus did for us!  Our love and forgiveness are the cords that connect our loved ones to God, to salvation, and to the community of saints, even when they are no longer walking the path of explicit faith.”

#14: Suicide

Can someone who is a victim of suicide have a Catholic funeral and be buried in a Catholic cemetery?

Next Sunday marks the 7th anniversary of a dear friend of mine’s death. My friend Evelina was a victim of suicide. At the time of her death I was consumed with guilt, thinking that as a trusted friend and minister I could have somehow saved her life if I would have just done a little more, been more attentive and present. Had I been a better listener…maybe…what if?

Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes once a year on the topic of suicide and I remember his column being absolute balm to my soul that year we lost Evelina. This time of year suicide seems to touch too many of our lives, so below are some quotes and paraphrasing of Fr. Ron’s comforting, wise words. (FYI: his columns are archived and available on his website at www.ronrolheiser.com.)

Suicide is the most misunderstood of all diseases. Suicide is a disease that takes people out of life against their will. It is the emotional equivalent of a heart attack. We tend to think that since suicide is self-inflicted that somehow it is a choice; voluntary and avoidable in a way that physical illness or accidents are not. For most suicides, this isn’t true. Suicide is a fatal emotional breakdown, an emotional stroke, emotional cancer – not something the victim chooses. The act that ended their lives was not a freely chosen one. They did not “kill themselves” out of arrogance or ego, like Hitler…they were a victim of a deadly illness, so there is no sin to be forgiven.

Having been born in the late 60’s in the wake of Vatican II, I find it unthinkable that in earlier times, people would have been denied funeral rites and even burial in a Church cemetery after such a tragedy. I can’t imagine how this cruel practice compounded the already unbearable pain of family and friends suffering the loss of their loved one. Thankfully, mercifully, justly our Canon Law no longer lists suicide as an impediment to funeral rites or church burial. Please, spread the word! We Catholics have come to our senses!

“Suicide is an illness not a sin. Nobody calmly decides to commit suicide and burden his or her loved ones with that death any more than anyone calmly decides to die of cancer. The victim of suicide (in all but rare cases) is a trapped person, caught up in a fiery, private chaos that has its roots both in his or her emotions and in his or her bio-chemistry. Suicide is a desperate attempt to end unendurable pain, akin to one throwing oneself through a window because one’s clothing is on fire.”

We need not worry about the eternal salvation of a suicide victim, believing (as we used to) that suicide is always an act of ultimate despair for which we are culpable. God is infinitely more understanding and merciful than we are and God’s hands are infinitely safer and more gentle than our own. We need not doubt for a second that those we have lost to suicide are in God’s strong and full embrace.

SPECIAL NOTE: For those among us who may be called to provide the initial help to someone showing symptoms of mental illness or a mental health crisis, Common Ground offers an AMAZING “Mental Health First Aid” training program (www.commongroundhelps.org). With enough interest we could hold a training day right here at CTR. The hope is that this kind of training would become as common place as CPR and Medical First Aid training and certification. Please be in touch if you feel God calling you to this important and urgent ministry.

#13: John the Baptist

Do biblical prophets tell the future?  Is there a reason John the Baptist is so prominently featured in our Advent readings?  

John the Baptist reminds me of that classic John Shea line: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.”  This gruff, gaunt,  “in-your-face” “call em as you see em” prophet dressed in a ragged camel hair, reeking of bug breath and the poverty of desert discipline isn’t exactly the cozy Christmas character we might expect at this time of year. 

He isn’t the subject of our cheery ceramic decorations or pre-lit lawn ornaments.  You won’t find him featured in heart-warming holiday films or as a sugar cookie figure.  And though he visits us in the scriptures each Advent, you won’t receive any Hallmark cards depicting him in your mailbox this season.  Can you imagine?  “Greetings from our house to yours!  Our thoughts of you are best expressed in the words of John the Baptist:  ‘Repent!  You brood of vipers!’…. Merry Christmas from the Browns."

So often when we hear the word “prophet,” images of soothsayers with a crystal ball come to mind.  But that image is light years away from what it means to be a prophet in the biblical sense.   A prophet is simply someone who points out things we may miss or overlook; someone who, in his or her words and actions, calls people to pay attention to God in our midst.  

The closest a biblical prophet will come to “foretelling the future” is when they simply read the signs of the times and proclaim the obvious results of current behavior, not unlike someone saying “If you smoke cigarettes you are likely to get sick” or “If you keep eating all that cheese cake this holiday season you are going to resemble Santa Claus in more ways than just his generous spirit.”  A prophet, in the biblical sense, is someone with common sense and great courage who is not afraid to point out the obvious, even if it’s an unpopular observation (mind you, this is not to say you should tell Aunt Sally to lay off the cheesecake…).

John the Baptist may seem bizarre to us.  Some may even say he is profoundly off-his-rocker.    Safe to say he is not the vision of religious propriety.  He is an unlikely prophet; an unexpected instrument for God’s voice….But so are we.  And so is the story we are bid to keep alive. 

Every faithful Jewish believer, including all Jesus’ disciples, fully expected that God’s kingdom would come in the traditional display of power and glory; the ancient version of ‘shock and awe.’   But instead God came in the weakness and vulnerability of an infant…and then in the end did not strike back but rather loved and prayed for us as we put him through unimaginable violence on the cross.  Very unexpected. 

Perhaps John’s bizarre ways are our cue to keep our eyes and ears attentive to the unusual ways God is still acting and present…and perhaps the unusual things God is calling us to do and become.  We are God’s ongoing and sometimes rather “odd” incarnation. 

So John the Baptist is really a perfect companion for us during Advent.  His “strangeness” and the urgency of his message startle us.  “Reform your lives!  Prepare the way for God!  Make straight your paths!  Envision anew!  Take time to reflect on your priorities.  Think about how your actions reflect your values!   What if this is your last Christmas?   Do you want to spend it racing around from store to store, stressed out and harried?  Is that what really matters to you?  Repent! 

John is a man who lived what he preached, a prophet whose integrity & zeal demands a hearing and haunts us in our complacency.  God’s voice in one wild package….

Send your CCQ to dre@ctredeemer.org

#12: Original Sin

I don’t understand how babies can be considered sinful.   What is our Catholic understanding of original sin? 

We believe that human beings are a fundamentally good creation and sin is anything that keeps us from communion with God, others and our true selves; anything that distances us from God's mercy or causes alienation.   But, how can we possibly imagine our perfect newborn babies as carrying this "original sin"?

Our understanding of Sin, Grace, Redemption, is called Soteriology and is a rich field of study that is never really ‘complete.’   But here is one understanding of sin for your consideration…

Theologian Donald Goergen proposes four “stages” of sin.  In the first stage (Victimization), we are victims of our circumstances and surroundings because we are we are born a good creation into a troubled and sinful world.   Just like the old saying "you are what you eat," similarly each person is a product of his/her environment; an environment that we can't escape.   No one can choose to be born somewhere else, like Mars or the moon.  We all are born into this global culture and are a product of what we see, hear, taste, touch and feel.  It is this stage that most closely defines what we mean when we speak of 'original sin.’  It simply means each of us was born into this world…

In the second stage (Internalization) we begin to internalize that which we are learning, for good or for bad.  Eventually, we begin to believe what we inherit.  All the bad patterns and damaging beliefs (and the good ones) of our parents, families and the pervading culture become our own.  If our families and culture are plagued with things like shame, pride, consumerism, racism, sexism, addictions, we are much more likely to inherit these characteristics ourselves. 

In the third stage (Manifestation) we begin to manifest what we have internalized.  What we believe ultimately makes its way into our behavior.  At this stage we begin exhibiting outwards signs of our internal, inherited reality.  We begin to BE that which we have been molded into by our families and cultures.

It's important to note, that at this stage we may not even be aware that our behavior is sinful because it is all we know; it’s what we have been taught.  Nonetheless we have become contributors to the disorder in the world; we are products and now propagators of the sin that is present in our world.

Only the fourth level can be called “personal, conscious sin" and it is most certainly an adult experience.   At this stage we become aware that what we have inherited is less than acceptable and that we, with our sinful behavior, are contributing to the sin that permeates our world.

As St. Paul says we finally realize that rather than "practicing what I {would} like to {do,} I am doing the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15)  But, by now, it’s often too late to overcome by our own willpower all that has been engrained in us; our patterns are all but cemented in place.  So, by the time we become aware of our sinfulness, we are already captives of it; we are addicts, in a sense.  And this is when we know we need the grace of God to live.    

We believe Jesus conquered sin through his life and death and bestowed on us the great, gratuitous gift of God's grace which makes us whole and restores us to our best selves as God intended us to be.  Though we may always struggle with sin, given our surroundings, we know that there is no sin that is bigger than God's love and mercy.   Phew….

#11: Purgatory

Do Catholics still believe in Purgatory?

Purgatory is not a popular idea these days, but that probably has more to do with hellfire images from movies and Dante’s Inferno than our Catholic teaching on the subject. 

We Catholics believe that human beings are fundamentally good.  (Note: This is a dramatically different belief than some of our Protestant brothers and sisters who hold that human beings are fundamentally sinful…these two very different starting points impact much of the theology that follows!).

But we Catholics aren’t naïve to sin either.  We recognize the death-dealing realities of war, violence, and greed.  We define sin as anything that keeps us from communion with God, others and our true selves; anything that distances us from God's mercy.  In a word, sin is alienation.

So we believe that Purgatory is simply a time of purification after we die for us to close the gap, to eliminate the alienation that our choices to sin have created.  For truly, who among us, should we, God forbid, get hit by a MacTruck this afternoon would feel completely ready and prepared to meet God?  Maybe a handful among us at best…

Purgatory isn’t necessarily a “place” it’s just something we experience that might happen for all of us in an instant…who knows?  Not our US Catholic Bishops who say, “It is impossible for us to imagine what purgatory is. Our tradition describes it as a purifying fire; an image that recalls that perfect love is achieved by gradual and painful spiritual detachment from selfishness and self-centeredness.”

So, all of us could use a little purification in the end, no?  And for those of us who have turned away from God in a profound way, purgatory is an essential time of grace; an opportunity for us to recognize God’s great love for us perhaps for the very first time.  And because the closer we are to the light the more we are able to see our own imperfections, purgatory is one last opportunity to genuinely repent and accept God's forgiveness. 

Fr. James Martin, S.J. says “We pray for those in purgatory. Now this doesn't make sense to many people, even to some Catholics. But here's how I like to think about that:  We’re all part of the great Communion of Saints and death doesn’t end that bond.  So as part of that communion, that community, we pray for those who are in purgatory. We ask God to help them open their hearts to God's mercy.

In short, we all sin. We are all reluctant to admit that we are wrong, and we all need grace to accept God's mercy. How much more will we need all those things after we have died. So we all need help. And as part of the communion of the saints, with prayer we can help those who have gone before us.”

Here is our “official” Catholic stance from the Catechism (1030-1031):

All who die in God’s grace & friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.

So, Purgatory simply recognizes that we are not perfect and do not automatically merit heaven without making some type of amends for our bad choices.

However, we also trust implicitly that God’s mercy is infinitely greater than any sin we could ever commit. Our faith in a loving God assures us that we are not so evil as to merit eternal separation from God (hell) either.

#10: Fundamentalism

I have a friend who attends a “non-denominational” Christian church who says that Catholics don’t believe in the literal, infallible and inerrant truth of the Bible.  Is this true?

Well, your friend is both right and wrong.   It sounds like your pal supports a fundamentalist approach to our scriptures which declares verbal inerrancy, infallibility, and literal truth of the Bible in every detail.   In this the words of the Bible are believed to be plain and simple:  their meaning is self-evident and does not need to be interpreted.   All that is required is that it be read in faith, with prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

Now, if we take this to mean that anyone asking for an accurate interpretation will be given one without any research necessary, then the multiplicity of interpretations, even among fundamentalists themselves, should give people a gnawing sense that the Holy Spirit is not doing its job very effectively. 

We run into all sorts of problems when we read the Bible literally, that is, without trying to interpret its meaning.  Noted Catholic Scripture scholar Fr. Eugene Laverdiere once said “Fundamentalism is not a particular interpretation of the Bible, but rather the lack of any interpretation.”

As Catholics we do not adhere to the literal truth of all the words in the Bible, because we don’t believe that all of them were meant to be understood literally.  There are several literary forms other than chronological, scientific history represented in the bible: prose, poetry, religious history, prophesy, apocalyptic, fiction, myth, etc. and in each case we must know this literary genre to understand the meaning correctly, just as we would do with any other piece of literature.   There are people who spend their whole lives researching whether or not a man can live three days in the belly of the whale, entirely missing the profound spiritual truth found in the allegorical story about Jonah.

The church states that the Bible is "humankind's experience of God" written down.  We recognize that there was a long, complex process from the original inspiration to the written words found in the Bible today and if we are going to discover the meaning of our ancient sacred texts we need to be as informed as possible of their context, literary form, and the author’s historical situation and original intention.   

The church states that:

• Revelation is first and foremost God revealing God’s self in human history, and Jesus is the high point of this revelation of God to human beings. 
• Only secondarily is revelation to be understood as the written expression of and witness to God's revealing of God’s self. 

In other words, our faith is in a living God not slavish adherence to words on a page. 

So, in short, we DO believe scripture to be the "inspired" and “inerrant” revelation of God to which human beings have given expression and witnessed to in words.  Scripture is not apart from tradition but rather a privileged moment within our tradition, for truly it is the Church which gave us the Bible, and not the Bible which gave us the Church.

Our Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation from 1965 reads, "Since God speaks in sacred scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of sacred scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words.”

The bible may indeed hold all truths, but not everything in the bible is “literally true” in our modern understanding of the word.

#9: Twins

Do you have many questions submitted each week that you choose from?
Nope. In fact nobody submitted a question for me this week, so with all the discussion about resurrection lately in our scripture readings and our recent celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, I thought this little parable (one of my favorites) might be a meaningful submission for this week’s column. It presents an interesting twist to ponder…

Once upon a time, a set of twins were conceived in the same womb. Weeks passed, and the twins developed. As their awareness grew, they laughed for joy, “Isn’t it great that we were conceived? Isn’t it great to be alive?” Together the twins explored their world. When they found their mother’s cord that gave them life they sang for joy, “How great is our mother’s love that she shares her own life with us.”

As the weeks stretched into months the twins noticed how much each was changing. “What does this mean?” asked the one. “It means that our stay in this world is drawing to an end,” said the other. “But I don’t want to go,” said the one. “I want to stay here always.” “We have no choice,” said the other, “but maybe there is life after birth!” “But how can it be?” responded the one. “Don’t we shed our life cord? How is life possible without it? Besides, we have seen evidence that others were here before us and none of them have returned to tell us that there is life after birth.”

And so the one fell into deep despair saying, “If conception ends with birth, what is the purpose of life in the womb? It is meaningless! Maybe there is no mother at all.”

“But there has to be,” protested the other. “How else did we get here? How do we remain alive?” “Have you ever seen our mother?” said the one. “Maybe she lives in our minds. Maybe we made her up because the idea made us feel good.” Thus, while one raved and despaired, the other resigned himself to birth. He placed his hands in the trust of the mother.

Hours passed into days and days fell into weeks, and it came time….both knew that their birth was at hand and both feared what they did not know.

And as the one was the first to be conceived, so he was the first to be born. The other followed after. They cried as they were born into the light. They coughed up fluid, and they gasped the dry air; and when they were sure that they had been born, they opened their eyes and they found themselves cradled in the warm love of the mother. They lay open-mouthed, awestruck at the beauty of the mother that they never could have imagined.” (Author anonymous)

#8: Resurrection

What is our understanding of the phrase, "...the resurrection of the body," in our creed?

Welp, I guess my “warm-up questions” are now over! Resurrection. Wowza! A big mystery indeed. Here are my 600 little words on this mighty subject for what they are worth. Providentially, we will touching on this topic at our next “Fermenting Faith” gathering on Thursday, Nov. 6th at 7PM. I’m sure we will all be appreciating a little wine that night when we are trying to wrap our heads around the baffling mystery of the bodily resurrection. (All are welcome. Childcare provided. Drop on by.)

The Gospels assure us that, like Jesus’ birth, the resurrection was physical. Jesus’ tomb was empty, people could touch him, he ate food, he was not a ghost. The full nature of his physical body is a mystery, but in some real way the apostles related to the risen Jesus in a physical manner.

“To believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, the whole of the Christian creed in a single line, is to believe that at the center of things there is a power who is Lord of the universe and fully in charge, irrespective of falling civilizations, the apparent triumph of chaos over order, and the presence of death itself. The earliest Christians used to have only a single line to their creed: Jesus is Lord. For them, that said enough. It said everything. It said that at the center of all things there is a gracious, personal God, and that this God is powerful enough and loving enough to underwrite everything.” (Ron Rolheiser)

Jesus knew this truth. In his darkest moment, when everyone was turning on him and he knew that his brutal, lonely death was imminent, he still prayed in the garden, “Father, all things are possible for you.” By all human standards, Jesus knew he was going to die a failure, and he was deeply troubled by this reality, but yet he never lost his hope in God.

#7: Prayer

I used to really enjoy prayer, but now I find it so dry and boring.  What happened?  Am I doing something wrong? 

I find it comforting that almost every saint confesses to having had a strong aversion to prayer at sometime in their life.  Even St. Teresa of Avila, known as our patron saint of prayer, after an initial deep fervor experienced 18 years of absolute boredom.  She said that sometimes she would have rather scrubbed the bathroom floor than spend a half an hour in silent prayer!   But even though she spent most of her life in the throes of the desert with only a trickle of consolation keeping her faith life alive, she still declares emphatically, “Believe me – and do not let anyone deceive you by showing you a road other than that of prayer.”  She said when it comes to prayer, we must be determined…in fact, we must be determined to be determined and allow nothing to derail us or discourage us from our determination to pray.

Mother Theresa’s journals, to the surprise of many people, recently revealed the same experience of dryness.  She says she had some sixty years of feelings of emptiness and desolation in prayer.   The pattern that we discover about prayer when we study the great saints and mystics, is that “prayer is easy only for beginners and for those who are already saints, but during all the long years in between its hard work.” (Rolheiser)  The “dark night of the soul” is a reality for most, if not all believers at one time or another.

So, if we find our prayer to be dry more often than not, we should take heart…we are in mighty good company. 

#6: Money

Why do we talk about money in church so often?

The short answer to this question is because Jesus talked about money often. Our relationship with wealth is without question one of, if not, THE most predominant subjects found in our scriptures and a central topic in most other mainline religions as well. There are over 2,400 verses in the Bible concerning finances. Jesus talked about money more than anything else except the Kingdom of God. Over half of Jesus' parables and 1 of every 7 verses in the Gospel of Luke talk about money or wealth. So, it's obviously important to our living out our faith and therefore more than fair game to talk about in church. In fact, we would be remiss if we didn't.

However, tithing is really not about money at all. God doesn't need our money. ALL things belong to God. All that we have and own is just on lend for a few years. Tithing is an issue of trust.

#5: Sign of the Cross

When did the sign of the cross originate? What does it mean? What is the significance of tracing little crosses on our forehead, lips and heart just before the Gospel is read at Mass? 

The practice of tracing the sign of the cross (right hand to forehead, heart, left and then right shoulder, sometime accompanied by the words “In the name of the Father, Son & the Holy Spirit, Amen”) is most prominent in the Roman Catholic Church (that would be us) but is also practiced in the Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Episcopalian churches.

The history of the sign of the cross goes back as far as Tertullian, an early church father who lived between A.D. 160 and 220. Tertullian wrote, "In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting off our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, in doing whatever occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross."

Originally, it was just a small cross traced with the thumb on the forehead. We don’t really know exactly when the practice changed to the full upper-body version, but we do know that the switch had occurred by the eleventh century A.D., because A Prayer Book commissioned by King Henry instructs to "mark with the holy cross the four sides of the body."

The sign of the cross can mean many things...

#4, part 2: Eucharistic Prayer

Could you explain what's going on theologically during the Eucharistic prayer? 

A friend of mine was recently telling a story about her college age son. I knew that she and her family had drifted from the church for a variety of reasons…some of them pretty good. Some of us may be wrestling with similar reasons ourselves. At one point in her story, as a sideline filler, she said very nonchalantly “and well, of course my Son doesn’t believe in Jesus.” 

I remember this comment because she really made belief in Jesus sound so passe’…so “last week.” She and her son, in her words are “spiritual, but not religious.” People who believe in God but not Jesus as God.

Now I’m all for a mature respect for people’s experience and beliefs. It is right and good that we seek and foster all that is common among the great religious traditions and promote what unites us not what divides. But, it got me thinking, what is so distinctive about being Christian anyway? Not in a judgmental, circle-the-wagons, exclusionary kind of way, but rather, concretely, how would the way I look at things and understand my purpose in life change if I didn’t believe in Jesus.

#4: Eucharistic Prayer

Could you explain what's going on theologically during the Eucharistic prayer? I have a grasp of the rest of the Mass, but I feel like there's a lot of depth to that section that I’m missing…

I remember one time when my daughter was about 8 years old she said to me, with no intention of malice, "Mom, there is nothing I don't like more than going to church." At first I was really upset, feeling like I was a total failure as a Mom, as a Minister, etc. But then I started to ask her some questions. "Tell me, do you like the donuts?" and she answered "Well, YEAH! Of course I love the donuts!" Then I asked "Do you like seeing your friends at church?" And she thought for a moment and said "Yes, I do like seeing my friends...MOST of them anyway." I nodded and appreciated her candor on that one. "Do you like going with all your friends to listen to the stories from the bible during Liturgy of the Word?" "Yes, I like that too...and I REALLY like when I get to read!" she said with excitement. I continued my inquiry. "Do you like the music?" And she said "Yes, I love hearing the instruments and I really like to sing." So, puzzled, I asked, "Well, I'm having trouble understanding...what part of Mass DON'T you like?" And she said with a big sigh of exhaustion "It's that LONG PART IN THE MIDDLE!"

On further questioning, the part that she didn't enjoy was in fact our Eucharistic prayer  - and I suspect she is not alone. Many adults (including myself) have been known to wander to our grocery lists during that "long part in the middle" because we hear it each week and it may even strike our modern ears as a bit cryptic or dated. It’s human to drift now and then in our prayer, but sometimes when we are “in the zone” and really listen to the beautiful words of this, our most treasured ancient prayer, it’s pretty amazing….

#3: A registration meeting? Again?

Why do I have to attend a registration meeting EVERY year (for 1^st-5^th grade), even if I have had other children through the program?  Don’t you realize how crazy, busy this time of year is?!?!

I was talking to a couple parents at our Parish Picnic a couple weeks ago and they expressed frustration about having to attend a registration meeting every year.  And I get that.  And we may very well make on-line registration available next year.  HOWEVER, we will always do our best to gather parents for this annual meeting.  Here is our thinking on the matter….

First, I want to say loud and clear that this one-hour registration meeting each year is NOT our effort to make your life more difficult.  I have three kids and I get it…life IS busy.   I think balance is an evil myth made to make parents feel guilty.  All our families are stretched, and for nothing more than TIME!  Our intent is not to coerce parents to attend but rather to have at least one opportunity (one-hour) each year to meet with parents face-to-face so we can strategize how to best work together in bringing the faith to our kids.  

Truth be told, parents are BY FAR (BY THE LONGEST SHOT IMAGINABLE) the primary catechists  of our CTR children.  Coming from 16 years of University Ministry, let me tell you not one college student who was involved didn’t have at least one parent who talked with them about his/her own personal faith life…NOT…ONE.   

#2: John 3:16 - For God so loved the world

“For God so loved the world…” that he demanded his Son be put to death to save us from our sin…Huh? 

We Catholics aren’t traditionally known for our astonishing ability to quote chapter and verse from the Bible.  However, most of us know John 3:16 pretty well (even if its only because we see the signs held up at football games and such).  The verse we hear in our scriptures today is an important one…AND probably one of the most misinterpretted verses in the history of Christomdom. 

Fr. Francis McCabe in his brilliant book God Matters states “If God will not forgive us until his Son has been tortured to death for us then God is a lot less forgiving than even we are sometimes.  If a society feels itself somehow compensated for its loss by the satisfaction of watching the sufferings of a criminal, then society is being vengeful in a pretty infantile way…and if God is satisfied and compensated for sin by the suffering of mankind in Christ, he must be even more infantile.  It is indeed true that we could not afford to pay our damages to God but it is also true that such payment could not be needed for plainly God cannot be damaged by my sin.”  Truly, how could we ever trust such a despotic God?

#1: Why Gather in 2 or 3?

Why does Jesus say he will be with us when “2 or 3 of us gather” – isn’t God present when I pray alone too? 

None of us can come to God on our own, all by ourselves.   Today Jesus stresses the deep significance of community and the importance of effective conflict resolution for all those who wish to follow him and understand what he so passionately wishes to share with us about God and the nature of God’s kingdom.   Of course God is with us when we pray as an individual, but something essential to our growth as believers happens in community that is a non-negotiable component of our faith.  But why?

First, as Michael Himes so brilliantly points out in his fabulous 90-page, power-packed, itty-bitty book entitled The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to Catholicism “Christianity is not a series of conclusions that any one of us could have reached by simply sitting down and thinking about them very seriously and carefully for a long time.  Christianity is a report, a Gospel, ‘good news’ that requires that someone bring the news to us.”  The first reason that community is intrinsic to Christianity is that we need to hear the news from someone else.

Secondly, have you ever heard the quote from Merton that says something like “A tree gives glory to God by being a tree…in being what God means it to be?”  Well, so too us.