MOVE ONE SPACE, MOVE ONE SPACE

Has humankind advanced?

 

It depends upon that which you are measuring.

 

Scientifically are we advanced?  By leaps and bounds.  Morally, ethically, civilly have we improved?  There is much to debate.

 

The 19^th and 20^th century are often considered the bloodiest ever.  I remember hearing in grade school the evil Romans used to toss their deformed babies over a cliff.  Today we regularly end the life of our perfectly healthy children in the womb.  But that we still have a strong call for abortions in the first place is a sign that things are terribly wrong. 

 

I used to chuckle superiorly about the silly pioneers who used to throw their trash right out of their windows surrounding themselves in filth.  But we pollute ourselves no less and in fact much more.  Genocide still occurs. One third of the world is dying from hunger while another third dies from over eating.  The Christian Church (a place of unity in Christ) is fractured and we can no longer enter Canada, our friendly neighbor to the north, without a passport and a purpose.  (I went recently just to pop over and see the falls and MAYBE spend the night.  Wrong answer.  I was detained at the boarder for an hour.  Our friendly neighbor is now the grumpy guy with the cane who wants you to stay off of his lawn.)

 

This is not to depress but to point out something important.  Our progress as a species should not be based upon the tricks that we can do.  It should be about where our minds and hearts as a people are.  Until we advance in love, peace, and unity, we haven’t really advanced at all.  We have simply learned new tricks and made ourselves feel better.

 

That is the importance of our faith.  Every week we remind ourselves of this and strive to be better, to fess up when we mess up, and do our best to make amends.  To remind ourselves that it is not enough to be able to do new tricks but to stop and think if the new trick is worth doing.  Medical advances don’t mean much if it is not accompanied by compassion.  We can’t save someone we think “worth it” while tossing those we don’t want over a cliff.  There is no advancement there. 

 

Even more basically: it reminds us that there IS something toward which we may progress.  If this is all an accident of moving particles, then there is no real goal to reach.  But we say that there is an ideal on which to keep our eye.  This is our hope for a better more advanced world.

WHO ARE YOU WHEN A MACHINE TAKES YOUR JOB?

So . . .

 

Let’s assume that yesterday’s video was mostly on the spot.  For almost 50% of everybody working now there will not be a job in the foreseeable future because there will be a machine and/or computer that will do the job more quickly, more accurately, more abundantly, less expensively, and untiringly.  Where does that leave you Mr. and Mrs. Wrong Side of the 50% line?

 

We gain so much of our self understanding and our self worth by having something to do.  Questions about this usually are at the top of the list when speaking with somebody you just met and you are looking for ways to connect. 

 

“So, what do you do for a living?”

 

We are worthy because we are useful it seems.  Those who’s right to live are most in jeopardy in society are those who can’t “do.”  For example, yesterday’s post of Mr. Dawkins who stated that it is immoral for women who have a Down Syndrome Baby not to abort.  Why?  Because, in his eyes, they are not useful.  And so it is with the elderly, persons with disabilities, with diminished brain capacity, who are yet to be born . . .  These people are in danger of not being useful enough for society. 

 

Now dump into the mix all those who are, through no fault of their own, now unemployable.  (Scary if you were already on this list and now there is a huge group of people dumped on top of you pushing even further down.)  It seems to me that there is going to be crisis of dignity.  Who am I?  How do I find my self worth?  What does it mean to be human?  How do I matter?

 

I think it will be the Catholic Church in particular who will come to the aid of mankind.  Though we do talk about the dignity of work, we are not defined by our work nor do we find our dignity because we can and do work.

 

When are you no longer responsible for loving a person?  Everybody loves a baby.  We say that a baby is adopted into the family of God at baptism.  Is that when they become lovable?  Of course not.  Is it at birth?  Some would argue so.  How about when the baby is still in the womb?  The matter gets murky for some here.  Yet we read in Scripture, “Before you were knit together in your mother’s womb I knew you.”  We were known and loved even before our conception extending our dignity back to creation.  So what about at the other end?  Do we become less the children of God as we become less able bodied?  The rich and poor, the able and the disabled, the young and the old have been given a place to go.  Each retains their dignity as a human being because they are destined for eternal life.  We were loved since the beginning of time and for all time.  The work that you do here will all pass away.  Our thoughts no matter how brilliant will be forgotten.  Some day our solar system will simply cease to be.  What of all that work you did?  “Vanity of vanities says Qoheleth!”  The only redeeming part of work is that it assists you and others into heaven. 

 

There is a man that I met about whom I wrote once before who owns a car lot.  “You know what I do for a living?” he once asked.  Sell cars was not the answer.  “I provide an opportunity for people to work so that they can raise their families in security.  That is what I do for a living.”  My chiropractor sees his job as helping others (particularly priests) minister and do their jobs better.  It is not simply about making money or being famous both birds with wings.

 

At the end of time, you as a human being will still exists and in fact, be fulfilling the role for which you were designed which shall bring you fulfillment and joy.  “Not so machines, not so.  For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind.”  No matter how clever a machine will be, it has no purpose in life but to serve man.  When it becomes useless it is not immoral to shut it down because it has not dignity other than how it can serve us.  Or when the universe come to an end, all machines will simply cease to exist.  All of its labor pointless.  There will be no one to remember, appreciate, record, or welcome it into a new existence.

 

That is not the case for you.  Your dignity is in that you were designed to be loved, you are loved, and you will be welcomed lovingly into that place where being human makes most sense – even more so than here whether you were considered worthy or not on earth.  Mr. Dawkins would have you believe you are not worth more than a how good a machine you are.  One universe is livable even if we can’t work, the other unbearable, violent, brutish, and short.

 

It is this belief we have as Catholics that makes us stand virtually alone as a body in fighting for the rights of the unborn.  In the future, it may be this belief that tells people who are no longer able to work that they are still lovable, worthwhile human beings because they were made so by a Father who loves them and is preparing place for them.

SAVE THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

There were two concerts this past weekend, in the park across the street from the parish.  The first one on Friday night was a big band concert with a live, local band.  The band leader would introduce the song, the band would pick up their instruments and play.  At the end of a particularly good solo the audience would clap.  Though there may have been some talking, most of the attention of the audience was directed toward the stage.  At the end of the piece, the audience would show their appreciation by clapping varying by how much they enjoyed it.  A soloist might be reintroduced, “That was Skip Johnson on the saxophone,” and the audience would clap again.

Saturday night was a Gospel Celebration “concert.”  Instead of a music director there was a DJ.  Instead of human beings with instruments, there was a CD playing with (very loud) speakers.  When the music played people talked over it.  At the end nobody clapped, nobody received recognition, even the DJ had difficulty making herself heard over the talking, and then went on to the next song by a different musical organization on a different CD by a different recording label.

 

Even in art we are moving further and further away from the human experience.  From self-serve gas stations, to automated phone “help lines”, to shopping on line, we need actual human contact less and less and less.  And as we need other less, we appreciate them less when we do see them.  (Ugh!  I know that clerk is going to come over here and ask me if I need any help.  I wish he would leave me alone!)  Similarly, as we surround ourselves with virtual art, (posters, recordings, catalogue statuettes,) we appreciate true art less when we experience it.  (Can’t this polka band play some Metallica?  If it were a DJ he could just pop it in.)

 

The Church, when she is her best self, eschews this virtual experience of art.  Recordings are not permitted at the Mass where the Godly and the truly human experience are to meet in their rawest forms.  Recorded music (which, like prints of art and reproductions of statuary) has its place, but is a tragedy and a failing when used during those times in which we are to demonstrate our most human selves.  It is like watching Mass on T.V. or texting your spouse a happy 50^th anniversary.  Epic failure.

 

What happens when all of our art is virtual – when we only have recorded music, posters, and plastic, mass produced sculptures?  We lose touch with the human spark of inspiration, spontaneous innovation, individualization that spawns localization.  Art becomes fashion and as bland as the culinary landscape has become – McDonalds from sea to shining sea.  It becomes as silly as buying a souvenir designed, manufactured, and sent from China (and where the proceeds will go) to remember your trip to Ireland. 

 

The tide can change.  All it takes is people to do something.  Support the arts.  Participate in the arts.  Go to a play.  Introduce your children to arts and teach them how to experience it.  When you see a street musician put some money in the case and if they are good, give them more.  STOP and listen to them for a moment.  When buying a souvenir, consider looking for something actually made in the place that you visited.  (Yes, it will cost a little more.)  When looking for something to go on that wall, consider getting something a human being has created – go to the local arts and crafts fair or artist’s shop.  It is riskier and it is Okay to make a mistake but in the meantime you’ve supported the arts.  If you can, hire a trio instead of a DJ.  Donate (every little bit helps) to a local school of arts, or museum, or theater, or organ project, or ballet, orchestra, opera, or city arts program.  Go listen to concert, even it is for free by the city.  Get as close to the human experience as possible.  Make possible the culture for art to flourish when and as you can.  Do your part to keep us human.

WORTH SHAKING A SPEAR AT

This week I am in Stratford for the Shakespeare Festival. There is something uplifting about Shakespeare that you don’t get watching television reruns. On the other hand there is nothing deadlier than Shakespeare done poorly. Shakespeare is not the stuff for children. Yet if we did not have our children see it or perform it, there would rarely be an adult who appreciates it or is able to perform it.

Actually that might be to the liking of some who, as adults, find Shakespeare daunting or even boring. Like symphonies at first they must often be endured until the ear, the eye, and the mind understand what it is they are perceiving. It is like a foreign language that is at first painful to listen to for so much effort is needed to try to understand what is being said. But once mastery begins there is so much joy in understanding the language, in unlocking the joys of Shakespeare, of hearing what tuned ears have come to appreciate in concerts. The more one listens, the more one understands. The more one understands, the more that is gained from listening. The more one ascends, less appreciated are the more rudimentary joys of one’s baser self and there is no going back. It would be turning in your steak for Nerds.

Mass is not too far from this. It is not meant for children’s enjoyment. At first it is endured. To the attendee that desires to train his soul to hear the depths of the Mass one’s appreciation soars. To the one who throws heart and soul into the Eucharist the more there is to gain. The deeper one studies the all that is contained in this great work of God and man, the more one’s soul finds joy in receiving Him so and will find no other comfort like it in this world.

Thus do great things grow within a man, becoming part of him, elevating him, and in the end ruining him for lesser things.

YOU WILL BE TREATED WITH DIGNITY AND LIKE IT MISTER!

I used to work backstage in theater quite a bit before entering the seminary. Every once in a while someone would want to come backstage to meet one of the actors with whom they fell in love during the course of the evening. They would come to the door with bright eyes, shallow breathing, and deep passion. There were many occasions that I would try to dissuade them from seeking the idol of their dreams. “Go home with fantasy of the person you fell in love with,” I might say. Ah, but passion is often times not to be reasoned with and it takes no hints. So, giving in to the pressure of ardent begging their dream was fetched for them.

Quite often the person so fetched and the character portrayed on the stage were quite different people. One might be serious, strong, and brave on stage and the flighty, loud, and free from normal constraints of behavior off. So there was the inevitable crest falling of the face and the brave effort to still smile and have some spirit of flattery for the actor a that moment ago they were willing to stake the rest of the life in marriage with but now just wish to go home.

Though they had spent two hours with the person, they met a fantasy. They may know what the person who played the role looked like but they did not know the person. They did not love a person, they loved an illusion.

That is part of the problem – sin of you will – of pornography. It is not that too much of the person is exposed to you it is that that not enough of the person is. Here we find the difference between love (Scriptural love) and lust. Love seeks to give and lust seeks to take. In porn, an image of a person is taken completely apart from the soul and mind of the person, manipulated, and used to for our own personal means having nothing to do with what might be good for the other person.

“But they volunteer for it!” it might be said, “and get a paycheck! Where’s the harm?” The harm is wide reaching. Just because somebody chooses to degrade themselves does not make it alright for a Christian to participate in the degradation. (Because somebody wants to kill themselves or have an abortion or otherwise degrade themselves does not make Christian support of it Okay.) Next is our training of ourselves that there are certain persons, times, and places in which I might treat another human being without all of the dignity God wishes them to have. (A person who is nice to you but not nice to the waiter is not a nice person.) And lastly, even viewing “free porn” shows the producers of such soul rot that there is a market for such things and keeps the production in high gear and available to our children, the next generation of users.

“So, if you do not like it, turn it off.” It would be a swell thing if everyone could here confessions for a year. The seemingly easy mandate, “So turn it off,” would be exposed for the clap trap that it is. There is no freedom in porn – not for the producers, not for the “actors”, and definitely not for the viewers who wish terribly to be away from it forever.

The call is to love real people, appreciate real people, and extend dignity to all persons regardless of their desire to be respected, loved, and treated with dignity.

YOU ARE A PRINCE FROM THE DAY OF YOUR BIRTH

You are smart, good looking and you have lots of cool things. You have sway among your peers and can do so much with what God gave you. And most importantly people look up to you and think you are cool.

Unfortunately none of that matters much. You are important in a much deeper and lasting way. If your self-esteem is built on these sandy beeches your castle will eventually fall for they will all fail you. They are air that inflates the balloon that ever so slowly (or in some cases quickly) escapes out into the atmosphere and dissipates.

My Dad is in a nursing home now. He is healthy as a horse. As a matter of fact he got into a fight with another gentleman recently. When the nursing home called they said, “If it is any consolation, your father took him down.” His problem is his memory. Or lack of it.

It is getting progressively worse. This past week he asked me if he had a son named John. I raised my hand. “You?” he asked with some surprise. “Yep.” “Is there another one?” he asked, “I could have sworn there was another one.” Ah well . . . two sons named John. That would be interesting.

So he has no memory anymore and can no longer figure out the simplest of tasks. Once far more fit than me or any of my friends he is now putting on weight and the effects of being on this earth for almost 90 years are showing on him. He has gone through most of his estate to pay for his care. His peers still drop by to see him but he barely remembers them and no longer is cock of the walk.

If we were to rate his dignity and worth by worldly standards I am afraid there would be people who would scratch their heads and say, “Why bother?” In fact they do. Actually persons who do not meet at least some of the above criteria are in general considered less than other human beings and quite often mistreated or ignored and too often just plane done way with.

Thus people who are very ill, or very old, or noticeably mentally or physically challenged, or who committed a crime, or who are very poor, or who are our enemy, or unwanted in the womb, or are from the latest ethnic background deemed unfashionable, being a bother and seemingly cumbersome are subtly eased out of lime light to drift blissfully into oblivion from our sense of those deserving absolute justice.

Fortunately these are not the criteria that give us dignity; that give us that worth upon which we should build our self-esteem. There is only one thing that makes you infinitely worthy of life, love, and respect, only one lasting thing that will never fade, one sure thing upon which we should anchor our self-esteem. And it is this: That the all-powerful God chose you to be His son or daughter. That He who does not need you chose you out of pure gift and love. From the womb before the dawn He begot you, yearns for you, waits for you. He was even willing to die for you and gives Himself to you fully still, everyday if you wish Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Of course if you have talent and abilities, use them. If God gave you looks and advantages employ them. If you have influence or resources don’t be ashamed of them. Use all these things for His glory. But though useful to us, to a great extent these are window dressings. There is nothing more important than taking worth in being a child of God.

And it will only be then that you realize the world is full of brothers and sisters (even if we don’t always get a long) and come to comprehend their great worth and dignity. For in the end we all go to the grave and power, looks, influence, and gold will all be left behind and we will stand before the throne and all that will matter is if we chose back our Father who chose us as His children. It is then that true worth and dignity will shine forth like the noonday sun. That is why my Dad is still worthy of care and love and respect. That is why you are.

JUST ANOTHER BOMB THREAT

Finals week at my alma mater approximately fifteen year ago and another building is closed. Why? “Oh, someone called in a bomb threat,” my friend says with a rather “ho-hum” attitude. “Probably wasn’t ready for his final,” and we rolled our eyes.

In a less desirable part of town a student is robbed and shot. Just another crime. The University responded by putting emergency phones up.

What is different about today? We take bomb threats much more seriously. A gun on campus and a disgruntled student can mean more than a robbery, it can mean thirty dead. Why?

Perhaps it has to do with the cheapening of human life. If you can make one life less valuable, all life becomes less valuable. We kill “those evil people in that country,” we kill some of our criminals, will assist suicide, we abort millions of people sometimes for just not being the right kind of person or as healthy as we would like, through pornography we can learn to treat persons as objects to do with as we will, advertising not only skews what is valuable about us as human beings but humans are also used as objects to sell, and thanks to the myth of safe sex and faulty contraception that often does not prevent births nor prevents illness and/or death, we at least have the illusion that we can use a person sexually and walk away without any consequences or responsibilities AND WE ARE TAUGHT THAT THESE ARE THINGS NOT TO FEEL GUILTY ABOUT. Then why are we surprised when someone solves their problems with guns and death? There is no longer the strong community taboo against even thinking of such methods. If you take all of this into account, Cho’s statements make horribly logical sense. He simply took our secular societal view to its logical end, an end which sees human life as something to be used and death as an answer to problems. Why is anyone shocked?

Perhaps it is a good sign however that on the front page of the PD right next to “A KILLER SPEAKS” is a much smaller headline, “Ban on abortion method upheld,” as many see this form of abortion as far too close to infanticide. Interesting also that it did not say (as it usually does) “Abortion foes win victory” or “Blow for women’s rights.” Is there a possibility that we have seen we have come to far?