JMJ. Today's my birthday. I'm 63 years old, by the grace of God. Oh, and I'm retiring from my job as an endoscopy nurse of 37 years. Life has been a roller coaster ride. Figuratively. From the most exhilarating of heights to abysmal lows, I've experienced it all. Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back to her old life. Me, I've been much luckier.
A helmsman aboard ship, in endeavouring to steer a straight course, will not only rely on the compass before him but will occasionally look aft to gauge the straightness of his ship's wake. So it's been with me. Whenever I find myself languishing in a valley I look back and am always surprised by how far the Lord has brought me. At one time I thought that this progrees was the result of my own good planning but I was shown that it was His work (and His alone) which has brought me to where I am today.
Where is that, you ask? One day closer to Jesus, I answer. Though why He wants me, I'll never know. Amen.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
"What Price a Soul?"
JMJ. Well, the good guys got the bad guy. The REALLY bad guy--Osama bin Laden. The headlines in the Cleveland "Plain Dealer" fairly crowed in triumph that "the wicked witch is dead." I admit to having very mixed emotions.
When I was younger the world was far more black and white than it is now. The shades of grey on almost all ethical questions seem to outnumber the sands by the seas. I know I haven't changed; where have they come from? I once whole-heartedly supported the death penalty. Not anymore. Why, you ask? Good question. Here's the only answer I've been able to come up with in my heart.
I was raised Presbyterian. Most of my adult life, though, was spent as a pagan searching for the truth. Truth with a capital T. So I was not always the paragon of virtue I am today. And there's the rub. For years I danced blindly at the edge of a deep precipice, totally unaware of the mortal danger I was in. Some wonderful soul prayed for my conversion, I'm sure. The Blessed Mother nudged me in the ribs, and I realised that Her Son had been knocking at the door of my heart for years.
Not only have I embraced His Church--HIS Church, mind you--but I've embraced the entire concommitant culture of life that goes along with it. I even went so far as to have a Mass said for Bin-Laden's conversion, having heard on a Catholic CD that Christ told us to pray for our enemies. So, am I happy that the leader of the enemy bent on our destruction has been eliminated? Of course. Hopefully, his death will result in the saving of many. But I can't help but think that at some point he might have repented and his soul might be saved. It's really tough to rejoice over the death of someone you've had a Mass offered for, let me tell you.
Maybe his soul is safe, I don't know; only God knows for sure. After all, much stranger things have happened. I'm the proof of that!
When I was younger the world was far more black and white than it is now. The shades of grey on almost all ethical questions seem to outnumber the sands by the seas. I know I haven't changed; where have they come from? I once whole-heartedly supported the death penalty. Not anymore. Why, you ask? Good question. Here's the only answer I've been able to come up with in my heart.
I was raised Presbyterian. Most of my adult life, though, was spent as a pagan searching for the truth. Truth with a capital T. So I was not always the paragon of virtue I am today. And there's the rub. For years I danced blindly at the edge of a deep precipice, totally unaware of the mortal danger I was in. Some wonderful soul prayed for my conversion, I'm sure. The Blessed Mother nudged me in the ribs, and I realised that Her Son had been knocking at the door of my heart for years.
Not only have I embraced His Church--HIS Church, mind you--but I've embraced the entire concommitant culture of life that goes along with it. I even went so far as to have a Mass said for Bin-Laden's conversion, having heard on a Catholic CD that Christ told us to pray for our enemies. So, am I happy that the leader of the enemy bent on our destruction has been eliminated? Of course. Hopefully, his death will result in the saving of many. But I can't help but think that at some point he might have repented and his soul might be saved. It's really tough to rejoice over the death of someone you've had a Mass offered for, let me tell you.
Maybe his soul is safe, I don't know; only God knows for sure. After all, much stranger things have happened. I'm the proof of that!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
"Puzzled"
JMJ. My wife and I were Amway distributors for a number of years--good products, good business. One of the many things we learnt at training sessions was that "whenever you stick your head up above the crowd, someone is going to throw tomatoes at it." Good lesson in Amway, good lesson in Catholicism. Only one Christian denomination has been around for the whole shooting match and as such it's the one most apt to be the target for tomato-slingers.
Protestants of one stripe or another are always taking potshots at us for any of a myriad of reasons. Take the crucifix for example. "Why do you people have Jesus on the cross--don't you know that He's not there anymore?" Well, as I've said elsewhere, St. Paul says, "We teach Christ and Him crucified." Or, "why do you folks worship statues?" "Why do you kneel before pictures?" Well, statues and pictures tell stories visually and help us focus our prayers.
"Why do Catholics worship Mary?" Again, we don't worship anyone but God. We honour the Blessed Mother. (Doesn't it just seem sensible to honour the Woman whom Christ honoured, too? After all, we just imitate Him.) "And what about the Rosary? Why do you pray that--it's not in the Bible. Well, neither is the word trinity... Now it's my turn.
Why do you Protestants worship the Bible? Why do you claim it's the only revelation of God? I mean, we read the Bible, too, and every day at Mass the Word of God is proclaimed to us, far more religiously (pardon the pun) than at Protestant worship services. The answer's very simple, really. The Christian church exists for one reason only--to help us get to heaven. We do this by cooperating with the sanctification of our souls by God.
Anything that helps in this respect is to the good. Praying the Rosary helps us meditate on Christ's life and ministry. Asking the saints for their intercession on our behalf is no different than asking a friend to put in a good word for us with the boss. Wearing a scapular reminds us in a scratchy way of what we should be focusing our prayer life on. Seeing Christ on His cross reminds us in the most visceral way of what His death really entailed.
Now, can you attain salvation without all these things? Sure, but why make it difficult? If following a map helps you arrive at a destination you've never visited before, would YOU throw it away and blindly drive off into the sunset? Neither would I.
Protestants of one stripe or another are always taking potshots at us for any of a myriad of reasons. Take the crucifix for example. "Why do you people have Jesus on the cross--don't you know that He's not there anymore?" Well, as I've said elsewhere, St. Paul says, "We teach Christ and Him crucified." Or, "why do you folks worship statues?" "Why do you kneel before pictures?" Well, statues and pictures tell stories visually and help us focus our prayers.
"Why do Catholics worship Mary?" Again, we don't worship anyone but God. We honour the Blessed Mother. (Doesn't it just seem sensible to honour the Woman whom Christ honoured, too? After all, we just imitate Him.) "And what about the Rosary? Why do you pray that--it's not in the Bible. Well, neither is the word trinity... Now it's my turn.
Why do you Protestants worship the Bible? Why do you claim it's the only revelation of God? I mean, we read the Bible, too, and every day at Mass the Word of God is proclaimed to us, far more religiously (pardon the pun) than at Protestant worship services. The answer's very simple, really. The Christian church exists for one reason only--to help us get to heaven. We do this by cooperating with the sanctification of our souls by God.
Anything that helps in this respect is to the good. Praying the Rosary helps us meditate on Christ's life and ministry. Asking the saints for their intercession on our behalf is no different than asking a friend to put in a good word for us with the boss. Wearing a scapular reminds us in a scratchy way of what we should be focusing our prayer life on. Seeing Christ on His cross reminds us in the most visceral way of what His death really entailed.
Now, can you attain salvation without all these things? Sure, but why make it difficult? If following a map helps you arrive at a destination you've never visited before, would YOU throw it away and blindly drive off into the sunset? Neither would I.
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