The Threads Come Together

Over the past few days of surfing my regular sites on the internet there have been a number of stories that stood out because in one way or another they tied together. So let me begin by gathering the threads.

First there was a homily given by Pope Francis on November 7th where “Pope Francis urged the faithful against living as lukewarm pagans who are merely Christian in name, for these are ‘enemies of the Cross.'”

Next is the 2014 Erasmus Lecture given by Archbishop Chaput that I saw mentioned by last months speaker at our chapter meeting Joan Watson. One of these days I’ll have to track down all of these lectures available online as the 1988 lecture by then Cardinal Ratzinger was particularly thought provoking. Archbishop Chaput’s lecture is titled “Strangers in a Strange Land” and can be found in video and pdf formats. The entire article is worth reading and here a few pull quotes:

… in Catholic terms, Christianity is worthless as a leaven
in society unless people actually believe in Jesus Christ, follow the Gospel, love the Church and
act like real disciples with passion and purpose. If they don’t, then religion is just another form
of self-medicating. And that essentially sums up the way too many people in my generation
have lived out their baptism.

If we ignore the poor, we will go to hell. If we blind
ourselves to their suffering, we will go to hell. If we do nothing to ease their burdens; then we
will go to hell. Ignoring the needs of the poor among us is the surest way to dig a chasm of
heartlessness between ourselves and God, and ourselves and our neighbors.

We need parishes that are real antidotes to loneliness; real sources of mutual support, counseling,
sharing and friendship – not just garrisons devoted to servicing the baptized pagan.

Today there was a story by the Catholic News Agency with Robert Cardinal Sarah reminding us that “charity is very linked with the proclamation of the Gospel, and doing charity is not only giving food, giving material things, but giving God too. Because the main lack of man is not having God.”

Also today there was a report at the US Catholic Bishop’s conference on the attitude of Catholic’s in the pews to Church doctrine. Get Religion has good commentary on how this leads back to what has become the default religious belief in America of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD). The five main tenants are:

1. “A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.”
2. “God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.”
3. “The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.”
4. “God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.”
5. “Good people go to heaven when they die.”

Not exactly the deposit of faith handed down by the Apostles. Fr. Longenecker has a pretty decent take on MTD and modern American Christianity.

And so after these quotes and links where are we left? Personally I’m scared. I see far too much of myself being described. The antidote is to meditate on God and the proper due He is owed. We use many terms to describe the Persons of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Brother, Wisdom, Lord, King. These terms shed truth, but only partial truth. We simply cannot comprehend God. He is further above us than we are above ants. As Father and King He is owed our love and respect, by divine right He is owed so much more than we can give, by the love He has shown us He is owed even more.  Beginning to think about God in such a way the mind shies away. He is too much and we are so small. The image of the burning bush comes to mind. The all consuming fire that is never consumed. Part of me longs to throw myself into the fire and hopefully like St. Ignatius give off the scent of burning bread. Of course I cannot do it with my own strength, and I am too weak and cowardly to rely on His. Day by day I will try to inch toward the fire and pray that God converts my pagan heart.