God knows all about you ...

“Do not be surprised if you fall every day and do not surrender. Stand your ground bravely and you may be sure that your guardian angel will respect your endurance. A fresh, warm wound is easier to heal than those that are old, neglected, and festering, and that need extensive treatment, surgery, bandaging and cauterization. Long neglect can render many of them incurable. However, all things are possible with God (cf. Mt. 19:26).” St. John Climacus

Lent with style ...

Stylite style...

St. Alypius, Stylite

St. David and Simeon

Stylite tower in Jordan.

The reason this type of extreme asceticism died out is that monks didn't want be put on a pedestal.

ba-da-bing!

Henry Louis Gates ... for Lent.

PBS' "Africa's Great Civilizations"

If you get a chance to watch this, I encourage you to do so.  I love this guy - ever since Obama had him over for a beer with the cop who arrested him.  If it wasn't for Gates, I would never have been able to know the depth of my internal racism... I know, sounds like I've been brainwashed, but it's true.  I've always believed I wasn't really racist - but thanks (in part) to Gates and his excellent scholarship - I'm serious - I was able to recognize what I'd call an internalized cultural racism and prejudice towards black people who were more 'hip-hop' culturally.  (Not sure what the PC term would be.)  More importantly, Gates' work has given me a much greater respect and esteem for African peoples and their heritage.

That sounds a bit over the top I suppose, but I'm really grateful to him and media which gave him a voice outside of the academic realm.

My appreciation of African culture has been limited.  For instance, I've always been fascinated by Ethiopian culture and Orthodoxy, my first introduction was through their iconography and monasticism, yet the rest of African culture I was interested in only grabbed my attention from an European perspective, as it related to the missionary efforts of the Catholic Church.  I ignored the exploitation colonialism which exploited African natural resources and people.  Therefore, this PBS series by Gates is very informative.

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
   releasing those bound unjustly...

During the night, I reflected on the sad state of humanity - wondering how we can do this to one another, century after century; how could God tolerate it?  We ask those questions over and over throughout history, saying 'never again'!  Yet we ignore the horrible crimes committed against indigenous peoples of every nation.  We think God will intervene to punish or put an end to the atrocities associated with abortion, but he has allowed humanity to slaughter and kill, to exclude and subject entire nations, not only in Africa, but around the world.

Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.

Tell my people their wickedness,
   and the house of Jacob their sins...


Every day online you read someone on Facebook, or on their blog, bitching about Trump or the Pope, catching every single little (or big)  faux pas or misspeak.  Like we are so morally superior or correct about what is to be done or what should be corrected.  Over and over, repeated day in and day out, this harping on this or that - how can we even know the depth of our hypocrisy when our contempt for others blinds us?

"Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?"

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! - IS 58:1-9A

I know people do not like Gates and disagree with his historical research and conclusions, even the question of racism may be more complex and politically defined than many of us understand - so one needs to be alert to false narratives which claim everyone and all of Western culture is hopelessly racist.  Nevertheless, I appreciate the work of Henry Louis Gates and find it an important POV on African history.  So there.

Unrelented Lent ...

Late yesterday I went to Mass at my parish.

I arrived early to pray.  The religious ed sister was rehearsing the child readers, the choir was practicing, and there was a lot of activity.  Normally I take that in stride, but yesterday it was like the rug was pulled out from under me spiritually.  I was crushed in spirit.  I prayed my rosary as best I could - respecting and accepting what was happening, all the time struggling against the temptation to leave, to just walk out.

By the time Mass started, the church was packed. I was surprised.  The children who did the readings did so very well - it wasn't a performance, they sounded like angels proclaiming the Word of God.  I felt completely immersed in the 'assembly' if you will - I felt I was truly a part of the congregation, repenting, seeking God's mercy, praying, worshiping, and so on.  After all the temptations not to be there, I felt I was in the heart of the Church.  Nothing outside could separate me from that experience.  It was unique.

Later in the evening, my temptations returned.  I recalled that something like this happened to me once before, and I fell away from the spiritual exercises and observances of my spiritual life.  At the time, I had been disappointed to learn a few spiritual persons whom I looked up to changed their lives, left their religious lives, and so on.  The effect was devastating to me at the time, these people were my spiritual guides and mentors in those days so soon after my return to the sacraments.  It was like I too lost the faith.

I felt that way yesterday.  It seemed to me I felt, or was in the same state as those Catholics who are fed up with those cardinals and bishops and theologians who appear to be teaching in error.  I wondered if this sudden loss of certitude and stability was perhaps similar to the experience of St. Therese when she felt herself to be seated at the table of sinners, sharing the lot of unbelievers ... hence my reference to the 'attraction of nihilism' in my post yesterday.

Long story short, I was praying through these thoughts when I concluded I needed to embrace that emptiness - while not leaving, not excusing myself from the 'heart of the Church' - the assembly, the parish.  I wish I had a better way to express that understanding - because there was something very profound about it.

Give up the Church for Lent.

I was thinking of attempting to write something 'deep' about this intuition, but then this morning, I came upon David Mills article in Aleteia - Give Up the Church For Lent.  He expresses the very same sentiments I was attempting to articulate.  An excerpt:

Hence my suggestion for Lent: Give up the Church. Not the Church as she comes to you, in the Mass, confession, adoration, prayer, devotion, and calendar, in the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and the saints, and in her spiritual and theological works. I mean the Church as you see her when you see her from outside, as a thing, particularly as a battlefield or a political object, as a competition between good guys and bad guys.

We only have so much time and so much energy. We can only sustain so much indignation and outrage, and the time and energy we spend being upset is time and energy we drain from our interests and callings. Being upset is rarely fruitful and most often a waste of time and energies of which we are stewards. We need to use our time and energy better than many of us do.

Your feelings about the goings on in the Knights of Malta, or Cardinal Burke’s assignments, or the famous footnote in Amoris Laetitia and the Dubia, or the pope’s addresses, or the American bishops’ declarations on immigration, or Fr. James Martin, or whose feet are washed on Holy Thursday, or the extraordinary form, or church music, don’t matter. They don’t affect anything, especially not the decisions of the people who decide these things. Francis does not eagerly scan your Facebook page for instructions. Neither does Cardinal Burke.

Give up the Church for Lent. Don’t read the usual controversial websites. Don’t open the email messages from the friend who’s always sending stories of scandal and offense. Skim through Facebook and Twitter and skip over the items tempting you to jump into battle, and definitely don’t click on the links. - Aleteia

Works for me.

[I'm still keeping comments closed, which cuts down on internet time since I won't be checking for comments or email alerts.  How contemplative, huh?]

That's right - throw the bishop out with the bathwater.

  

Cocomotion ... Cardinal Coccopalmerio

I blame Cardinal Coccopalmerio.

I was going to do a post about some of his statements - before doing so I looked for a song for the post - Cocomotion.  Old disco.  I got distracted ...

I don't like what Cardinal Coccopalmerio says.  I don't like what a few other prelates are saying either.  

I don't understand what is going on in the Vatican.  

It is very unsettling, disturbing, and I must admit that I am scandalized.  

I see it as a temptation.  So I must pray.  

I don't think there is any Catholic online who knows what is happening.  Not one.  There is not one to help me.  Not one.

I'm closing comments.

Priest, prophet, forage in a land they know not.

I said in my alarm;

'no man can be trusted'

all have gone astray,

there is not a good man left -

there is no one who does good,

no, not even one. 

Song for this post here.