HARDY HAR HAR

“The fact that we have bodies is the oldest and most universal joke of all.”

No matter how I try to plug this in to a search engine it will not bring up the original context.  I have it in a journal that I keep and attributed it to C. S. Lewis.  This quote has always fascinated me maybe even more now because it is completely out of context and makes me wonder.  (Knowing him, it made such great sense in its proper place.)

Still it makes one think.  It can be taken in so many ways.  The ugliest, most deformed body in the world may also be the most beautiful soul in heaven (and visa versa.)  “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  The Shadow knows.  Bwahahaha”  I’m sure there will be some surprises at which we have a great guffaw.  

It also is humerious that this body which connects us to other people is also the very reason we need to connect.  We can hear, smell (eesh), see, taste (careful), and feel others.  We have wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to processes what we sense.  But it is all brought into our little space shuttle of sorts to figure out.  Do we ever get passed the “original solitude” about which St. John Paul II wrote about concerning Adam when he was alone in the Garden of Eden?  Even if we think we do, it is not unheard of to go through life thinking it is all figured out and we know those around us and then hearing from someone, “I never loved you,” or the infamous and often equally troublesome phrase, “I have always had a crush on you.”  If a joke is a sudden and unexpected turn of events, there’s one if ever there was one.

There is only One Who is fully with you inside your space shuttle of course.  That would be God.  But I have to believe that when we are resurrected and given new bodies that this glitch will be removed – that the way we are united is in the universal Body of Christ and all of the barriers that keep us apart will be the instruments of our unity.  Could it be this is why Scripture says that there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known or brought out into the open (Luke 8:17)?  The walls of the space shuttle will be gone and we will be fully with each other – not fully each other as other religions foresee, but with.

I think of those who think this world is all that there is.  What a lonely thought.  As much fun as this life can be, to think that this is all that there is – is disappointing.  Fountain of youth?  Immortality in this life?  No thank you.  I am enjoying it but I only want to do this once.  I’m counting on heaven and I’m counting on you being there with me.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: ONE SINGULAR SENSATION EVERY LITTLE STEP SHE TAKES

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium . . .

 

Let’s say you belong to a club – say the Slovenian Beneficent Society.  They purpose of the club is to raise funds and then give them to worthy causes.  Sounds simple enough.  There is a president, and the usual suspect of leaders – VP, secretary, treasurer, etc . . . and then there is the main body of the club.  It could be that the president and one of his cohorts starts making a lot of decisions concerning funds that the rest of the group has no say in.  The feel that they do not have power.  They come then to lose interest unless the president starts giving some if his power to the stake holders of the society.

 

That is understandable and is the type of view people have about the Church.

 

There was an article in the paper yesterday about a “controversial priest” who is coming to Cleveland to speak.  An equally controversial nun said of him, “he is about empowering the laity.”  This comes from the idea the “Church” is nothing but the local parish, diocese, and Rome.  But this is only a small part of “Church.”  Church is everything: it is you at your job, it is literature, it is movies, it is science, it is the billboard at the end of the block, it is your home, it is what’s playing on your TV, it is what you spend your spare time doing and your spare resources supporting.  Church is society – Church is culture – Church is everywhere we bring it.  Hierarchical Church is really a very small part of this.  Faith may inform what one should do in their bedroom, or at work, or when paying bills, but there is no priest standing over your shoulder telling you what to do.  He could tell you what perhaps you should be doing, but he has no power.  That the laity’s freedom, the arena in which they act as priest, prophet, and king. 

 

The point is this: unlike the Slovenian Beneficent Society, the totality of the society consists within the meeting of the society and the officers have usurped the power.  The rest of the group is powerless.  That a clergyman would run a parish and pray the sacraments does not make the laity powerless outside of that realm.  The Church is much bigger than that.  There is far too much to do.  It is really a very small part that clergy have any kind of control over if Church is properly understood.

 

By empowering the laity, what many people want is the clericalization of the laity and the laicizing of the clergy.  There is not to be a distinction in roles.  Neither should there seem to be more perceived “power” at the parish by the clergy than by anybody else.  (Of course NOBODY is suggesting the clergy then should share more in the direct “power” of determining what you do with you day . . .

 

Granted . . . clergy has, at time, overstepped their boundaries and have been too dictatorial at the parish to the parish’s harm.  Conversely, parishes have been declericalized at times to the opposite problem.  But what paragraph 32 of Lumen Gentium is trying to say is that we are all one.  Nobody is more powerful in the Church (meaning the whole Church – not just institutional Church) than the other.  We are equals but with different roles and each of us are endowed with roles and responsibilities in each.  We are each equally gifted with grace toward salvation.  There is only one People of God springing from one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one common dignity, one common vocation toward sanctity, one salvation, one hope, one call to charity.

 

True, when human beings enter the equation, this delicate balance can and does go out of whack, sometimes terribly so, but it the calling – what Christ gave us to work with.  It is our goal and our ideal.  It is what it is to be Catholic, Christian, and a part of the One, Holy, and Apostolic Church.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: I'D LIKE TO BUY THE WORLD A SUGAR FREE, LOW FAT, SODIUM FREE BOTTLE OF LOVE IN A RECYCLABLE CONTAINER

There are certain advertising gimmicks that make me uncomfortable.  A local hospital had a campaign in which it invited the community to “believe” in them; the word “believe” appearing all over their advertisements.  I don’t “believe in” my hospital, I trust, respect, and am thankful for my hospital, but I don’t “believe in” it other than my belief that it exists even when I am home and don’t physically see it.

 

Years ago Coca-Cola (for those who are old enough to remember the commercial - *ahem*) wanted to unite the world with the “real thing;” Coke.  This happy little product would unite all the peoples of mankind in “a home furnished with love.”  Really?  I mean, that’s nice and all, but will a sugar drink for which they charge an outrageous price and is a contributor to so much obesity and illness unite the world in perfect harmony?

 

Well, as it turns out, God wants in on this market too.  (Lumen Gentium 12)  God establishes His Church that we might believe in Him and to be home to gather all the peoples of the world into one body as the “new people of God.”  This is the meaning of the world Catholic.  It means “universal.”  This is a faith for all people, all times, and all places.  (Our local Catholic newspaper has the coolest name in the world, The Catholic Universe Bulletin – which could be understood as the universal universe.  LOL.  Take that Unitarian Universalists.)

 

But though it is open to all people, we are not called to be all the same.  All peoples, their resources, their customs, their abilities, “in so far as they are good” are embraced and fostered by the Church.  This is one of the reasons she is patroness of the arts, for example.  She takes the arts of all peoples and purifies them toward the good and holy.  We don’t all have to be Caravaggios, but we are all called to truth and beauty. 

 

So in this universal house, fed and nourished by the true “Real Thing,” is the dwelling of people who resemble those of every nation, custom, and race.  In this house are also people of every calling – in differenting duties – to help build up the body.  This weekend the Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  “Vocation” does not simply mean priestly and religious vocations – but for those who have chosen marriage and those who have chosen to remain single for the glory of God and the benefit of their brothers and sisters.  And every one of these lifestyles need prayer.  And they are all dear and necessary to the life of the Church.

 

There are even different traditions within the Church that still point toward unity.  The Roman Catholic Church is not the only Catholic Church in the world.  There are also all of the Eastern Catholic Churches that are in union with pope.  We need not all practice the exact same way, but we do need to be in unity of belief.  To this unity, all people are called as the foundation of peace.  Radical Christianity does not involve bombs, it points toward radical peace, unity, and love.

 

It’s the Real Thing. 

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: I LIKE WEDNESDAYS SO I DECREE TODAY IS WEDNESDAY

(Continuing Lumen Gentium)

 

There is a lot of brouhaha in certain circles about the Church’s teaching concerning the infallibility of the pope.  It usually stems from a grave misunderstanding of this teaching as though if the pope should wake up today (Friday) and declare it to be Tuesday, we would have to accept it as fact.  Nay, nay.  (Neigh, neigh)

 

That being said he is not the only one endowed with this incredible gift.  As a matter of fact the pope’s ability to be infallible is partly based on your ability to believe infallibly.  Here’s how it works:

 

12.  The Body of Christ (of which you are in vital part) is anointed by Christ at the time of baptism.  One of the offices into which you were anointed is that of prophet.  In this, the body as a whole “cannot err in matters of belief.”  From bishop to the newest initiated person, the Church (as a whole) is also infallible when it comes to matters of faith and morals.

 

But suppose today we found a way to unite Catholics around the world to change a certain belief, say on same sex marriage.  Would that mean then that the teaching may change because of the infallibility of the body?  No, not when the entire body is taken into account in what G. K. Chesterton gave the moniker, “The Democracy of the Dead.”  All those who have gone before us, from Apostles, to early Church Fathers, to the saints, from the lowliest to loftiest of believers in every age have a say in what we believe.  Unlike most (all?) of the Protestant Churches which may take a vote today and change a long standing teaching, we have a history, a body, a great army of believers in heaving who have a vote and with whom we must reconcile.

 

Part of the ability of a pope speaking infallibly (which is an extremely rare thing indeed) is that whatever the teaching is he is proclaiming is accepted by the Church – both the Church of the ages (meaning it is in line with what is already held – it does not contradict) as well as the sensus fidei or sense of the people today.  Hence the pope did not just decide one day the dogmatic teaching on the Immaculate Conception – it went through much research, study, and prayer – the Catholic world was consulted, and then it was proclaimed and the sense of the faithful tested. 

 

That is part of the problem with getting the Catholic Church to change her teaching on what constitutes marriage.  Another Church can take a vote so that at least their branch in the United States has decided God doesn’t mind the change.  If the pope were to announce infallibly tomorrow that the teaching was changed, breaking with the Democracy of the Dead as well as the majority of Catholics in the world today – he could proclaim it all he wants, it would not be infallible.

 

To carry on His work God anoints all of us and gives us all a role in the sanctification of the world.  It is not just the work of the ordained through the sacraments, we all have a role and all of the roles are needed no matter if you happen to think it is lofty or lowly.  Either way they are all essential to God’s plan making all of them lofty.

THE HAND THAT WALKED AWAY

If one buys the idea of Christ founding a Church and that Church is the 2000-year-old Catholic Church, one must also buy the idea of being part of the Body of Christ. Far from a mere symbolic statement, Catholics believe that corporately we become the Body of Christ with Christ Himself as the head. Therefore it is entirely impossible to step outside of the body and remain a member of it. Just like the foot may not say, “Look at that hand playing cards! I am not part of that body,” a person cannot say, “Look at (the Vatican, the bishops, those Catholics, whatever), that is not MY Catholic Church. I am certainly not a part of that.”

We cannot be a member of the parts we like and not the parts we do not like. The unity of the body demands otherwise. “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.” (1 Cor. 12;26) We do not get to enjoy the agreeable parts and disassociate ourselves in the more difficult.

Too often some men and women of faith treat issues of belief as late night radio talk shows treat sports and politics, criticizing and demonizing anyone who does not agree with their particular way of thinking. Matters of faith (and this post is limited to matters of faith and morals as taught by the Church and not an individual's actions) are not so negotiable for the Catholic. There is revelation of truth with which we must contend. Teachings are not “teaching of the Vatican” but our teachings (Thanks Mrs. T) for they are in keeping with Scripture and Tradition. And unlike politics and sports, matters of faith have been given Divine assurances. Christ promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. If the Church does fail, we have more to concern ourselves for then Christ’s entire message is put into doubt. (Therefore, the Catholic who believes that the Church has seriously erred in official teaching on faith and morals has, in the realm of ideas anyway, done away with the Church.)

Does this mean that Catholics are then to shut off their brains and simply obey? Far from it. In fact, the situation is quite the opposite. If one knows truth, it is a force with which one must deal and rectify with the dealings in the world and that requires great action and thought. If one knows the law of physics, one is not stupid or manipulated if one adjusts his teachings, actions, and beliefs to conform to the truth of physics. As a matter of fact we might think them a bit odd not to conform in this way. Likewise if the man or woman of faith knows a matter of faith and morals to be true, they use their freedom and their intelligence to correctly live that truth in the world.

Of course, there may be qualms about how a particular truth is being put into action, but that does not deny the validity of the truth nor does it give one permission to step away from the unity and relationship established by Christ.

If I were all powerful (and I am not) the Church would look much different than it does today (and I think many people would be shocked) but it is not about me or my personal desires, it is about being members of the Body of Christ in the Church He founded. Everything else is a sign that a person of faith is holding on to something inferior far too tightly.