Friday, April 5, 2013

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: FANTASIZING ABOUT REALITY

 (Continuing Lumen Gentium)

Why are shows such as Game of Thrones (despite the acres of skin that is shows – really – I think I can get the point without so much detail – I’m a celibate, not dense) or Harry Potter so popular?  There is something about sacrificing for some greater good.  There is something about being born of noble birth or attaining a noble position.  To quote Shakespeare, “Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”  (Twelfth Night.)  It is a great fantasy right?  The Church says it is not a fantasy but a reality.  It is just difficult to see in this life.
 
(Paragraph 11)  We (you) are incorporated into a kingly, prophetic, and priestly family through baptism.  In it you are reborn and are now sons and daughters of The King.  This life is brought into operation through the power of the sacraments and through the exercise of virtue.  And unlike many royal families, the object is not to insulate and protect ourselves from upstarts who want to infiltrate the family but to boldly go out and announce to others the story and how they may be a part of it.  Dissimilar from earthly royal families we do not gain strength and distinction from exclusivity but through a great invitation to all to go through the initiation and the living of the life of this “people set apart.”
 
Our greatest unity comes about when each of us, performing our own role, participate in the Eucharistic liturgy.  In Penance we reconcile this great family.  In the anointing of the sick we pray for healing and encourage our ill brothers and sisters to redemptive suffering.  Those with Holy Orders strengthen the family for their labors and married persons live out radically the unity that we are to achieve with each other, encouraging each other to holiness, and build up the body of the Church with their young.  With so many witnesses, so many different states, we are called to build each other up toward perfection as our Father is perfect.

 

(Wow.  What a paragraph.)

1 comment:

MaryofSharon said...

That IS quite a paragraph.

I'm in the middle of writing an e-mail to a young musical, theatrical non-Catholic friend who I thought would appreciate your appreciation of the arts and beauty in the Church. He is very serious about joining the Catholic Church in part because of his growing appreciation of the beauty and significance of the liturgy, so I was about to add a link to your blog to the e-mail.

And there is that paragraph! It pretty much sums who we are and what we do as Catholics! Hope he stops by your blog.