Catching Up With the World

It's been a while since I've posted anything on the blog. My only excuse is the busyness of life and, paradoxically, the need to step away occasionally from that very busyness. I have tried to force some holes into my schedule, to liberate myself from the unimportant but loud demands that I create or allow others to force on me. Quite simply, I need some daily leisure time just to think and relax and savor this wonderful gift of life. After all, being is good!

Part of this effort includes taking a different approach to the blog. Once this blog becomes a burden, it will have defeated it's very purpose, the celebration of life. If writing a few words and sharing some thoughts with others helps me to appreciate and deepen my understanding of our being, well then, I'll post those thoughts. But I will try to resist the tendency to feel obligated to make regular posts. I will simply post them as they come.

Today, for instance, I am saddened by the recent death of Charles Colson. Known by most for his role in the Watergate scandal as one of President Nixon's "hatchet men", a role which sent him to prison, Chuck Colson's later life of repentance and service to the "least" of God's children has been largely ignored by the mainstream media.

After his release from prison Colson could have accepted any number of high-paying positions, but chose instead to found Prison Fellowship, a ministry devoted to serving the men and women locked away in our dysfunctional "corrections" systems. An Evangelical Christian, Colson was often at odds with many of the Christian right because of his rejection of political power as a means to reform the nation's moral order. Colson considered political power illusory and relied instead on the gospel mandate calling on each Christian to see Jesus Christ in others. He personified the challenge of Hebrews 13:3 -- "Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body." Colson had indeed shared their imprisonment and was ever mindful of that fact.

In 1994 Colson, along with Fr. Richard John Newhaus and others, also formed Evangelicals and Catholics Together, an ecumenical organization of those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. While those involved don't ignore their differences, they focus primarily on that which unites them. Here's an excerpt from their foundational document:

"As Evangelicals and Catholics, we pray that our unity in the love of Christ will become ever more evident as a sign to the world of God’s reconciling power. Our communal and ecclesial separations are deep and long standing. We acknowledge that we do not know the schedule nor do we know the way to the greater visible unity for which we hope. We do know that existing patterns of distrustful polemic and conflict are not the way. We do know that God who has brought us into communion with himself through Christ intends that we also be in communion with one another. We do know that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14) and as we are drawn closer to him-walking in that way, obeying that truth, living that life-we are drawn closer to one another."

As you might imagine, Colson's active involvement in this organization brought him into conflict with many fundamentalist Christians who apparently believe the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon and the pope is little more than an antichrist. But these criticisms didn't seem to bother him as he went about his ministry of helping others in Jesus' name.

I never met Chuck Colson, although years ago I owned a car -- a huge Ford station wagon -- that had once belonged to his mother. How's that for a connection?

We will miss him, a man who devoted his life to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Perk up, folks. Enjoy life. Being is good!

On Sunday when I step up to the ambo to proclaim the Gospel and preach I look out at the congregation and am amazed by what I see: hundreds of faces looking, for the most part, indifferent. In fact, far too many look downright grumpy. It happens every week, so I shouldn't be amazed...but I am, and saddened as well. Here they are, participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and being given the remarkable opportunity to be nourished by God's Word and by His Body and Blood at His table. And it's an opportunity you and I can seize every day of the week. Should it not be a time of unsurpassed joy, a joy one would expect to see reflected in the faces of those who experience it? That it apparently isn't makes me wonder what in their lives makes these people happy. What is it that brings joy to them? Perhaps nothing.

As I mulled this over, I recalled a video someone shared with me a few months ago. It's totally secular, not at all religious, but it certainly beings a smile to the faces of those who watch it. And its message is pretty simple: life is a wonderful gift. Just being alive is truly good, and we should enjoy what God has given us, where He has put us, who He has called to share their lives with us.

Just in case you're not one of the over one million people who have viewed this video (below), go ahead and watch it. It's brief. And even if you've watched it before, watch it again. It might just cheer you up.

And then, when you attend Mass this weekend, and the priest or deacon stands before you to proclaim the Gospel, you just might let your face reflect what you're about to hear. The Gospel, after all, is the Good News of Jesus Christ, not the bad news. And don't forget, God does want you to be happy.

Welcome to "Being Is Good"

Well, now... here I am doing something I swore I'd never do: start my own blog. It's not like I don't have enough to do without the added pressure of regularly posting my thoughts on a website for all to see, assuming "all" (or a tiny percentage thereof) are actually interested. But then something happened...a catalyst of sorts. Let me explain.

I live in a Florida retirement community...a very large one. And, like me, most of our parishioners are also retired. Demographically, then, our parishioners are older and relatively affluent. Anyway, this past Sunday, as I was chatting with a parishioner after Mass, he said something symptomatic of what I believe to be today's most common spiritual error. He claimed that retirement had been very difficult for him. He'd had an "important executive position with a major corporation" and it was hard for him to adjust to doing "almost nothing."

I asked if he'd spent any time thinking deeply about this apparent problem of his, and if so, had he drawn any conclusions. He replied that he didn't need to think about it; the problem was clear: "I used to be important, but now I'm not. I used to do important things but now I don't." He then added, "It's OK. I'll get used to it."

Now the usual response to such comments is to encourage the person to volunteer one or two days a week...you know, "Get involved in parish ministry! Become and usher, a catechist, a minister to the sick. Help out at the soup kitchen or the food pantry or hospice...but do something! Channel all that unused energy into something that will help you and help others."

This certainly isn't bad advice, but it really doesn't address the core problem. Although these ministries and volunteer activities are valuable, I can assure you that, at least in the mind of this parishioner, they will never match the importance of his pre-retirement job. They will always pale in comparison.

The reason is simple; and it relates to that most common spiritual error I alluded to above. This is the error of believing that our work -- and by this I mean our human work -- defines us, that the things we do to earn a living here on earth are the most important things we do.

How common is it? So common that it's a real challenge to find someone who doesn't believe it. And, sadly, this includes most Christians. Do you want proof? Just ask a parent, any parent, about his hopes for his children. The answer will likely relate to their worldly happiness and success: that they'll do well in school, or get into a good college, or marry "well", or enter a prestigious profession, or achieve fame, or simply make lots of money. The problem with centering one's life on such hopes is that, even in their realization, they never satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart. And as my parishioner friend has discovered in his retirement discontent, at some point worldly achievements become nothing more than memories. But more importantly, a life focused on worldly success cannot focus on its true end, the end for which that life was created. Man cannot serve two masters.

God didn't create us to achieve worldly success in this short earthly existence; he created us for a life of eternal happiness with Him. This doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy this life. On the contrary. Life is meant to be savored and enjoyed in all its diverse abundance. Because life is good! Being is good!

This was brought home to me some years ago while attending a reception aimed at establishing ties between a Catholic college and the local business community. As I mingled self-consciously, I overheard a professor of English ask a nearby businessman, "And what do you do?" Without a moment's hesitation, the businessman replied, "I enjoy being." What a marvelous answer! I only wish I had heard the professor's response. But based on those three words, I suspect that if I had asked that businessman to relate his hopes for his children, he would have answered, "My hope for my children is that they get to heaven."

And so, that's what I'll be writing about...enjoying the gift of being (except when I write about something else) and helping God help us achieve salvation.

God's peace...