There is a little moran in all of us

Last night while surfing the web I cam across the above picture. I must admit that I laughed pretty damn hard when I saw it, but I quickly clicked on the next link. After I had stumbled through a couple more websites I clicked my browser’s back button until I saw the picture again. A thought had struck me, much like my friend in the picture, I am a moran too.

Yesterday in mass I was feeling particularly bad about some sins of mine. I felt like a total hypocrite and part of me wondered why I was even there. As we moved through the mass and the celebration of the Eucharist, however, I began to get it again. If we weren’t all sinners there wouldn’t have been any need for Christ’s sacrifice. I think maybe that is why we celebrate the Eucharist right near the end of mass. That celebration should remind us that as we go through our week and make the mistakes we invariably will, God loves us and God forgives.

Now, I know that is not an easy thing to believe, but the proof of it was right there hanging on the wall of the church. No, I’m not talking about the cross (although that works too), I am talking about a little statue and a stained glass window of St. Peter. Peter was the guy that Jesus said would be the very foundation of the church. Later, when things got tough, Peter denied Jesus three times. What is Jesus’ reaction to this? Forgiveness. As many times as Peter sinned against Him, Jesus forgave.

So, don’t feel so bad for being a moran. With all due respect, St. Peter was one too, and Jesus gave him the keys to the church.

RIP Benazir Bhutto

Yesterday’s assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto could set off shock waves that reverberate around the world. While she was not without her own political skeletons in the closet, she was the only person brave enough and smart enough to stand up to the current administration.

What makes the event even more troubling is the fact that the Pakistani Government had taken responsibility to provide her with the security she required.

“Her death in such a manner – when the government had taken responsibility for her security – tells a lot about the situation in Pakistan,” says Hassan Abbas, a Pakistan expert at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. “What is evident is a complete lack of command and control.”

Via

This “complete lack of command and control” becomes even scarier when you consider that Pakistan is in possession of its own cache of nuclear weapons.

Whatever the long term implications of this event are, I pray that Benazir Bhutto rests in peace. I pray for all the other people injured and killed in yesterday’s attack. I pray for their families and for all of those who feel that there is no hope.

Well said

Today a great light has come upon the earth”. The Light of Christ is the bearer of peace. At Midnight Mass, the Eucharistic liturgy begins with this very chant: “Today true peace has come down to us from heaven” (Entrance Antiphon). Indeed, it is only the “great” light manifested in Christ that can give “true” peace to men: that is why every generation is called to welcome it, to welcome the God who in Bethlehem became one of us.

But who is watching, in the night of doubt and uncertainty, with a vigilant, praying heart? Who is waiting for the dawn of the new day, keeping alight the flame of faith? Who has time to listen to his word and to become enfolded and entranced by his love? Yes! His message of peace is for everyone; he comes to offer himself to all people as sure hope for salvation

Finally, may the light of Christ, which comes to enlighten every human being, shine forth and bring consolation to those who live in the darkness of poverty, injustice and war; to those who are still denied their legitimate aspirations for a more secure existence, for health, education, stable employment, for fuller participation in civil and political responsibilities, free from oppression and protected from conditions that offend against human dignity.

On this day of peace, my thoughts turn especially to those places where the grim sound of arms continues to reverberate; to the tortured regions of Darfur, Somalia, the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia; to the whole of the Middle East – especially Iraq, Lebanon and the Holy Land; to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to the Balkans and to many other crisis situations that unfortunately are frequently forgotten. 

This is my earnest wish for you who are listening. A wish that grows into a humble and trustful prayer to the Child Jesus, that his light will dispel all darkness from your lives and fill you with love and peace. May the Lord, who has made his merciful face to shine in Christ, fill you with his happiness and make you messengers of his goodness. Happy Christmas!

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Merry Christmas to you and yours

Someone is getting coal in their stocking

Art Conrad has an issue with the commercialism of Christmas, and his protest has gone way beyond just shunning the malls or turning off his television. The Bremerton resident nailed Santa Claus to a 15-foot crucifix in front of his house.

“Santa has been perverted from who he started out to be,” Conrad said. “Now he’s the person being used by corporations to get us to buy more stuff.”

A photo of the crucified Santa adorns his Christmas cards, with the message “Santa died for your MasterCard.”

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A cup of cold water

The monk must always be conscious of the fact that without Christ, there would be no salvation, no happiness, no joy, because man would be irrevocably cut off from God, the source of all life and joy. He must realize, above all, how utterly useless is human effort to please God, without Christ. Man cannot save himself, no matter how heroic may be his sacrifices, without Christ. But on the contrary once the sacrifice of the cross is seen as our true salvation, then even the smallest act of charity becomes valuable in the sight of God – even a cup of cold water. From The Monastic Journey by Thomas Merton, page 39.

A (not so) virgin birth

I wonder if I am the only one who has noticed the irony of the Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy story that has broken in the last few days? Here we are, getting ready to celebrate the virgin birth of our Lord, and scandal erupts over the news that an underage, unwed girl is pregnant. Obviously the two situations are as different as they are the same, but I can’t help but feel that this happening now isn’t an accident, at least not in a spiritual sense.

The Spears family typify everything that is wrong with our cult of personality. Britney is constant fodder for the paparazzi and the tabloids. She has failed as a mother and as a performer, her behavior grows ever more erratic, and many signs point towards drug abuse. Her young sister Jamie is hardly a blip on the radar screen of celebrity worship. Sooner or later though, that was destined to change. Their mother refuses to parent either of them in any meaningful way and in reality it seems that she is more interested in profiting from her girls than guiding them.

All of these things point to a scandalous way of life, a perfect companion for this time of year. Christmas is as scandalous as it gets. An unwed teen gives birth to her Son in a manger. This is no ordinary Son though, this child is the very Son of God sent here to pay the price for our sins. No longer can man to look to his good deeds to reconcile himself to God, believing in God’s plan of salvation is the key.

Could it be that Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy is being used by God to remind us that there are some things more important than the cult of personality? Or maybe God is using it to show us that Christmas is about more than spending as much money as possible. What it is really about is God’s deep, passionate love for mankind. A love that sprang from the scandalous pregnancy of an unwed teen.

The theology of missing the point

I’ve been greatly blessed in my religious life. I’ve enjoyed a sense of closeness and friendship with God, so close that I have felt the very presence of Jesus next to me. I have also enjoyed moments of inspiration. Some of these moments of inspiration were captured for posterity in posts on this blog. I believe that the things written in some of these posts were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Sadly, other times I abused this relationship and succeeded in missing the point.

I don’t know if it comes from being a little bit crazy or if its that I have a big ego, but some of the conclusions I have arrived at in the past have been fueled more by me then they have been by God. Basically, I guess what it comes down to is that some of the things I have written about Biblical interpretation and the historicity of certain Biblical texts have been inspired by my swollen head and not the Godhead.

This is a very humbling post to write, and frankly I didn’t want to. I am ashamed of some of the things I have said but I’m not ready to give up. The idea is that we will all make mistakes as we travel the road of faith and as long as we come back to the root then we will, ultimately, travel the correct route.

I still believe in social justice. I believe that all people are created in the image of God. I guess I just need to understand how to integrate all of my beliefs together with the truth of scripture.

Haunting

UNICEF’s 2007 picture of the year (click the thumbnail for a larger version). By the way, the guy that eleven year old girl is sitting with is not her dad.

Probably not the man for the job

The governor was especially happy that morning about an impending endorsement he expected (and received the following day) from Tim LaHaye, the author of the apocalyptic ‘‘Left Behind’’ series of novels. ‘‘Left Behind’’ is wildly popular among evangelicals, who have bought more than 65 million copies, making LaHaye a very rich man and one of the few writers who is also a major philanthropist. Recently he donated a hockey rink to Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, although some members of the faculty there deride ‘‘Left Behind’’ as science fiction. Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, has no such reservations. He considers the ‘‘Left Behind’’ books, in which the world comes to a violent end as Jesus triumphs over Satan, a ‘‘compelling story written for nontheologians.’’Huckabee’s affability and populist economic and social views have sometimes been misinterpreted as a moderate brand of evangelical Christianity. In fact, as he wrote in his book ‘‘Character Makes a Difference,’’ he considers liberalism to be a cancer on Christianity. Huckabee is an admirer of the late Jerry Falwell (whose son, Jerry Jr., recently endorsed his candidacy) and subscribes wholeheartedly to the principles of the Moral Majority. He also affirms the Baptist Faith and Message statement: ‘‘The Holy Bible . . . has truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.’’Huckabee says he believes that the next president of the United States will have to lead Western civilization in a worldwide conflict with radical Islam. For a man with that kind of ambition, he has not been particularly well briefed. On Dec. 4, for instance, he was asked about the National Intelligence Estimate released the day before, which found that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Huckabee said that he hadn’t seen it, though it had been the top news story in the country, maybe the world, for the previous 24 hours.Full story

I don’t have any problem with Mike Huckabee holding the beliefs he does. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, even if I disagree with much of his policy positions. What I do have a problem with is the sentence I highlighted in bold above. When someone goes into a position of power with these kind of ideas, they tend to morph into a self-fulfilling prophecy. We are coming to the end of a two term president who thinks this way, do we really need one more?