Bad time, the 1970s! Very bad!
A Darkness descended! Overnight, contraception, had become a way of life. From that catastrophe came an inevitable string of train wrecks: a single judicial decision by seven old men made abortion the law of the land. A surge of divorces, out-of-wedlock births, co-habitation, promiscuity. We had Nixon, a criminal president; and then Carter...decent, intelligent, religious...the exemplar of our debility before the Islamic explosion in Iran and the transformation of the DNC into the apparatus of Death. The Catholic Church in decline and confusion: decreases in vocations and Church attendance; a plague of clergy abuse of adolescent boys; bishops, clueless, take bad guidance from lawyers and psychologists and are gamed by the predators; Pope Paul VI, the hero of Humanae Vitae...refined, erudite, saintly, melancholic...is overwhelmed by waves of darkness around him. With a dark inevitability, there progressed the breakdown of the family and all mediating institutions of faith, community and solidarity, as the individual became increasingly atomized in the face of malignantly expansive corporations and state. Even as society polarized between winners and losers, the privileged and the deprived, the red and the blue.
Okay: not ALL was so dismal. We had Star Wars! Civil Rights attained a triumph as all major cultural institutions, even business, institutionally renounced racism. Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism flourished, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, to challenge fundamentalist Islam, a communism-in-decline and the now-decadent secular West. Lay renewal movements and new religious orders enlivened the Church. Pretty much all things human are a mix of the good and the bad; but I give this decade to Satan, by a decisive measure.
For me, the decade was wonderful!
Out of the gate, 1970, I courted and married (as fast as I could) beautiful Mary Lynn. Today, 50 years later, she is still my delightful companion and partner. By the end of the decade we were blessed with three of our seven children. With only $500 in the bank, we were able to buy a spacious fixer-up-er with the help of generous friends and family. We raised our family there and still live there with our son, his wife and their five children. I taught religion in Catholic schools for 5 years; happily worked a variety of jobs for about a year (load trucks, Ford motor plant, paint houses); then took a job at UPS where I worked for 25 years and made good money, as supervisor, to provide for our growing family.
One day I went to visit the Catholic Worker on the lower east side of NYC. I got to the neighborhood and saw a plain, poor, quiet, pleasant-looking old woman sitting on a chair. She blended seamlessly into the low-income neighborhood. "Can you direct me to the Catholic Worker?" I asked. "Right there" she answered. That was Dorothy Day.
We loved to go into NYC, see a movie, stop a book stores, get a bite to eat. Walking up 6th Avenue, around 12th Street, we came across a man lying on the street. We learned his name was Stephen Trip. I knelt down and talked to him: "Are you ok?" He seemed to like my voice. We spoke. He had overdosed and couldn't walk. We half-carried him to a hosptial nearby; they wouldn't see him. We did a very long walk to where he lived on the lower east side. He sobered as we walked and we became friends. It was a beautiful feeling holding him, walking with him, getting to know him. By the time we got to his house he was feeling better and he was our new best friend. I can never forget Stephen Trip!
One Saturday evening a student called to invite me to his house to meet Mother Theresa. "THE Mother Theresa?" I asked. She came to visit his parapelegic mother. When I was introduced as the sons's religion teacher she looked me steadily in the eye and said: "I hope you are teaching the right stuff!" I stood still, entirely mute, wondering with trepidation if I was teaching the right stuff. Mary Lynn came to my defense: "Mother Theresa you don't have to worry about him, he is teaching all the right Catholic stuff." Mother than advised be to obtain and use Fr. Hardon's Catechism: "Our sisters all use it. He gives what the Church teaches, no more no less." She looked at our one-year-old daughter in Mary Lynn's arms and wondered: "What will she become? Maybe a MC?" "What is a MC?" we asked. She laughed: "A mental case. No! I am kidding. A Missionary of Charity." Those words were, indeed, prophetic: that precious baby now...mother, teacher, wife, daughter, friend...is a missionary charity in her indescribably gentle, kind, lovely way.
For over a year, 1970, I lived in Manhatten, taught ESL in the South Bronx and then religion at Xavier Prep, and took courses at Union Theological and Woodstock as a mendicant theological student. Alone most of the time and sometimes lonely, I looked forward to see Mary Lynn on the weekend. But I did have three dear friends.
Gilbert Davidowitz. We shared an apartment: the deal was I paid 1/3 of the rent but left from 8 AM to 10 PM so Gilbert could study. An observant, pious Orthodox Jew. Fat, cute, affectionate. A serious, committed scholar of historical linguistics: bookish and intelligent. Severe anxiety! One day he got on an elevator with a strange man; he got bad vibes; he had to go home and stay in bed the rest of the day. One day he told me: "If you could know yourself, as a second party, you would really like you." We had mutual respect for each other's "thick" religions. We loved each other. He died young. I grieved him and that I didn't share a single acquaintance with him. That was a special friend!
George Lissandrello. My roommate from college seminary. Bright, funny, sardonic, sad, creative. Very Italian. I would go down to the lower East Side where he renovated antique furniture. He was part of a lively gay community there. This was the exact time when the Gay Movement burst on the scene. My gay-dar was so weak that I assumed he just happened to have all gay friends, until he confided in me. His friends like me and I them. They had an ambivalent fascination with the Catholic Church. They would ridicule things like bi-location or bodily incorruption, but they seemed to love it. One day George told me solemnly: "The gay life is a sad one." We sat in silence. It felt like a privileged revelation: only silence before such depth. George died of AIDS.
Tony Petrosky. An administrator at Puerto Rican Community Development Project where I taught ESL. A Puerto Rican hippy. Smart, gentle, kind, wise, musical. Long hair. Later, he told me he lived three years in a teepee on $5 a year. We roomed together for a while, near 50th Street and 8th Avenue NYC which was the red light district. I would pass maybe 20 prostitutes a night but never was propositioned even once. He would play his guitar and sing sweetly. It was something from heaven.
A neurotic, brilliant, affectionate Orthodox Jew; a tender, gifted Italian in the emergent gay community; a gentle Puerto Rican hippy. That was New York City, for me, in 1970!
Four gracious events changed me and structured the rest of my adult life.
1971-2 As I was courting and marrying, Providence gave me Fr. Joseph Whelan S.J. who taught, at Woodstock Jesuit Theologate, just moved to NYC, courses in Prayer and The Catholic Mystics. By far the best teacher I ever had; possibly the most saintly man I ever knew; he radiated serenity, intelligence, interior depth, and the inexpressible beauty of holiness. He taught me the "kneeling theology" of Balthasar: that genuine theology can only come out of a life of prayer, of closeness to God. He taught me that the great Catholic saints loved Christ in His Church, the actual, institutional, flawed, o-so-human Church. He gave muscle and meat to my Catholic faith that had become light-hearted and dizzy in the atmosphere of liberalism.
1973 I made a Cursillo. I met Jesus Christ as a real person and presence; as God and man; as my personal savior, Lord, and friend. Previous to this event I was steady in my sense of God's love, love for the liturgy, interest in theology, concern for the poor and social justice. But the cornerstone was not there: I had little sense of Jesus except as an exemplary man. But now, knowing Jesus Christ personally, the center was in place; and radiance from Him made all the other parts make sense. I became an Evangelical Catholic.
1973 Just a few months later, Mary Lynn (one day off her own life-changing Cursillo) and I attended a charismatic prayer meeting. The opening words were wonderful: "Sit back and relax. Take everything in: the songs, reading, messages, prayers. You don't have to do anything. God wants to do something special for you: give you His Holy Spirit." Wow! What a relief! To that point I suffered a persistent low-grade liberal guilt: a nagging feeling of failure in that I wasn't really helping the poor, not changing the system, not advancing the revolution. My faith was, in part, an oppressive superego that reminded me of my blessings and accused me of not doing enough. This Pentecostal Proclamation was the opposite: God was not expecting anything of me; He wanted ME to expect wonderful things from Him, the anointing of the Holy Spirit! And it came! After preparation and prayers for a New Pentecost I experienced the close, strong, affirming presence of the Holy Spirit...in praise, practical guidance, tongues, inspired reading of Scripture, fascination with the Pentecostal and Evangelical traditions, and a deepening of all my Catholic convictions and intuitions. I lost the shrill, restless and moralistic edginess of my activism. I felt serene and rested, as I yielded to the guidance of a strong, loving hand.
So, out of Cursillo and Charismatic Renewal we, together, converted, or reverted (?) to a stronger, deeper grip of our Catholic faith. Throwing away our poisonous (to a woman's body, to the marital bond, to the immortal soul, to the very fabric of society) birth control pills, we opened our marriage to receive, eventually, seven marvelous children. Additionally, we were able to raise them.... amidst whatever problems, failings, challenges... in an atmosphere of prayer, of nurture by the Church, with a sense of God present. Our singular, really spectacular blessings is that they are all, in their distinctive ways, passing on this legacy of faith.
1978. Pope John Paul II. Immediately I saw that this brilliant, valiant, holy, virile, inspiring man was our Moses who would lead us out of the Egypt of the 70s, into the new Millennium and a Culture of Life. This was our captain, our leader, our role model. Everything about his thought and life, especially his catechesis on the human person and body, was charming, encouraging and strengthening.
The remainder of my productive adult life I rejoiced as a part of the flock...guided by the good shepherd John Paul, and then his sidekick Pope Benedict. The broader world seemed to continue on its road to perdition, while a rot in the Church also persisted covertly. Weeds and wheat continue to grow together in the gardens of society and Church, and in each of our hearts. I will ever be grateful for the blessings we received in that decade that started now a half century ago.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Sunday, March 29, 2020
What's So Bad About Meat on Friday? (Part 3)
Eating meat on Friday is itself not morally problematic like adultery or murder. So, for a Catholic, it has to be religious or cultic. The word "religion" comes from "religio" which means the bonds that connect us with each other and God. All religions involve acts that are sacred and others that are wicked. Jews and Muslims abstain from pork. I don't understand why. Most ancient religions focus on "cleanliness." But the Catholic Church is not concerned with that. Then what is the meaning of abstaining from meat on Friday? Four themes come to mind.
1. Confession of sin. It is an act of penance whereby we admit that we have sinned; that we are sinners; that we are in need of God's forgiveness and help to avoid sin and become holy.
2. Remembrance and adoration of our crucified Jesus. We do it on Friday because Jesus died on Good Friday. So, every Friday we remember Him and this supreme act of love. We give thanks and love and praise.
3. Solidarity with all Catholics. We are all doing this together; we are not lonely, isolated individuals, but part of a family, the Church. It is a sign of belonging.
4. Obedience. Even if we can't give the reasons for the practice, we obey the Church which we trust. To be Catholic is to be a child, to be childlike but not childish, to be trusting, receptive, obedient; to be faithful and filial to God our Father, the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the influence of our Mother Mary, and the teachings of our mother the Church. It is not to be an autonomous, independent monad.
There are very few Church rules. Your freshman soccer team has more rules than the Catholic Church. One of the six current rules is to do some act of penance on Friday and to abstain from meat the Fridays of Lent. Perhaps 2 % of Catholics obey this rule. The other 98 % are sinning. Imagine the soccer coach who has six rules: come to practice on time, in a clean uniform, follow directions, keep all grades at D or better, do not be suspended for from school for behavior, do not be arrested for a felon. If 98% of his players flout these rules, will he (or she...sorry!) build a strong program? If he wants a serious team, he needs to suspend and even expel players who violate the rules. No?
Are those 98% of Catholics in a state of mortal sin? Unlikely. Almost all of them are ignorant of them. If they are asked, perhaps by a pious cousin: "What are you giving up on Fridays?" the question will be some form of Greek or Sanskrit. Is their ignorance "invincible" in that they could not have avoided it and therefore they are not culpable? Very hard to judge.
Let's imagine an ordinary guy; who practices his faith and understands it pretty well; who loves hamburgers. He is out with his buddies at a steakhouse on a Friday in lent. He is starving. The only non-meat on the menu is fish patties, which he hates. They have the most delicious bacon double cheeseburger in the world. He caves: orders and eats the burger. Is that a sin? Is it mortal? Definitely a sin. Pretty serious! Is it mortal? Hard to say. For sure he is weak: gluttony is one of his problems. But his motive, his intention was not directly to disrespect God Church or Jesus on the Cross or his communion with the Church. But that is what he did, objectively, even if it wasn't his intention. He was blinded by his hunger and gluttony. If he has a heart attack half-way through the burger, does he go to hell? Not if he repents. But what if it happens so quickly he cannot repent? Don't know. He is such a weak character that it was probably less than full consent of the will. But if I were him, I would err on the side of caution; consider it mortal; and confess it as soon as possible and absolutely not receive communion until it is confessed and absolve. And he needs a program of restrain and moderation.
But let's imagine a very intelligent, well-educated Catholic who is unburdened by serious emotional or mental troubles. He knows full well about the Friday practice and its meaning. So he quite calmly decides: I am NOT sorry for my sins, as a matter of fact I love them and hope to intensify them. I despise this Jesus and everything he stands for, including his disgusting death. I am me and me alone and want no part of the Church or any other community like that. I obey my own preferences only; no way I could obey the Church, of all things. In his resentment, isolation and suspicion, he is already in the state of sin. Yes, he is on his way to hell.
So: could people who ate meat on Friday be in hell? Could be! We just don't know! But the smart money in Vegas is following Pascal's wager: they are going for shrimp and lobster on Fridays in lent.
1. Confession of sin. It is an act of penance whereby we admit that we have sinned; that we are sinners; that we are in need of God's forgiveness and help to avoid sin and become holy.
2. Remembrance and adoration of our crucified Jesus. We do it on Friday because Jesus died on Good Friday. So, every Friday we remember Him and this supreme act of love. We give thanks and love and praise.
3. Solidarity with all Catholics. We are all doing this together; we are not lonely, isolated individuals, but part of a family, the Church. It is a sign of belonging.
4. Obedience. Even if we can't give the reasons for the practice, we obey the Church which we trust. To be Catholic is to be a child, to be childlike but not childish, to be trusting, receptive, obedient; to be faithful and filial to God our Father, the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the influence of our Mother Mary, and the teachings of our mother the Church. It is not to be an autonomous, independent monad.
There are very few Church rules. Your freshman soccer team has more rules than the Catholic Church. One of the six current rules is to do some act of penance on Friday and to abstain from meat the Fridays of Lent. Perhaps 2 % of Catholics obey this rule. The other 98 % are sinning. Imagine the soccer coach who has six rules: come to practice on time, in a clean uniform, follow directions, keep all grades at D or better, do not be suspended for from school for behavior, do not be arrested for a felon. If 98% of his players flout these rules, will he (or she...sorry!) build a strong program? If he wants a serious team, he needs to suspend and even expel players who violate the rules. No?
Are those 98% of Catholics in a state of mortal sin? Unlikely. Almost all of them are ignorant of them. If they are asked, perhaps by a pious cousin: "What are you giving up on Fridays?" the question will be some form of Greek or Sanskrit. Is their ignorance "invincible" in that they could not have avoided it and therefore they are not culpable? Very hard to judge.
Let's imagine an ordinary guy; who practices his faith and understands it pretty well; who loves hamburgers. He is out with his buddies at a steakhouse on a Friday in lent. He is starving. The only non-meat on the menu is fish patties, which he hates. They have the most delicious bacon double cheeseburger in the world. He caves: orders and eats the burger. Is that a sin? Is it mortal? Definitely a sin. Pretty serious! Is it mortal? Hard to say. For sure he is weak: gluttony is one of his problems. But his motive, his intention was not directly to disrespect God Church or Jesus on the Cross or his communion with the Church. But that is what he did, objectively, even if it wasn't his intention. He was blinded by his hunger and gluttony. If he has a heart attack half-way through the burger, does he go to hell? Not if he repents. But what if it happens so quickly he cannot repent? Don't know. He is such a weak character that it was probably less than full consent of the will. But if I were him, I would err on the side of caution; consider it mortal; and confess it as soon as possible and absolutely not receive communion until it is confessed and absolve. And he needs a program of restrain and moderation.
But let's imagine a very intelligent, well-educated Catholic who is unburdened by serious emotional or mental troubles. He knows full well about the Friday practice and its meaning. So he quite calmly decides: I am NOT sorry for my sins, as a matter of fact I love them and hope to intensify them. I despise this Jesus and everything he stands for, including his disgusting death. I am me and me alone and want no part of the Church or any other community like that. I obey my own preferences only; no way I could obey the Church, of all things. In his resentment, isolation and suspicion, he is already in the state of sin. Yes, he is on his way to hell.
So: could people who ate meat on Friday be in hell? Could be! We just don't know! But the smart money in Vegas is following Pascal's wager: they are going for shrimp and lobster on Fridays in lent.
What is Mortal Sin? (Part 2)
Mortal sin is a free, deliberate choice for a grave evil and thus a rejection of God and His love. For sin to be mortal there are three requirements: grave, deliberate, free.
Grave. A mortal sin must be serious, substantial, deep. Stealing $1,000 from Bill Gates, not mortal. Stealing $1,000 from a poor family in danger of starvation, mortal.
Deliberate. It is an intelligent, premeditated action, not done impulsively without clear intention. Most homicides are crimes of passion: lover's quarrel, bar fight, jealous rage, severe fear and anxiety. Such acts are always grave in nature; but many may not be truly mortal in that they are not intended deliberately. A planned murder, entailing a hit-man and a plan of action, on the other hand, would be deliberate and mortal.
Full consent of the will. It must be a free, fully-willed action. This is related to the prior condition of deliberation. It entails that there is freedom from coercion, exterior or interior. If the rapist holds a gun to the head of a mother's child and threatens to shoot unless she provides him pleasure, her compliance is clearly coerced; there is not full consent of the will. Sexual sins are always grave in matter because they involve the creation of new life and the profound personal intimacy allowable only to spouses; but sexual sins are also almost always embedded in a dense network of anxieties, loneliness, desperation, passion, addiction, confusion and compulsions of all natures. For that reason, the Catholic Church has always been quick to forgive sins of the flesh.
This last condition, interior freedom and full consent of the will, opens up a boundless chasm of puzzlement and wonder for the psychologically sensitive. Virtually all our acts are limited by ignorance, social pressure, bad information, emotional wounds, psychological imbalance and cognitive limitations. It is a good question if we ever make an entirely free decision. Yet, we know that we have freedom; we have choice; we are not entirely determined like a ball thrown into the air which must to up and then come down. Even those afflicted with addictions, who confess they are powerless over whatever the substance or action, confess this freely with a sense of freedom in acknowledging need and seeking help. Paradoxically, the confession of powerlessness is itself an act of freedom. This is a great Mystery: our freedom. Jesus from the cross prayed: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." They don't understand the gravity of this evil act! So much of our behavior is blinded by the fog of anxiety, loneliness, compulsion, confusion and ignorance. And yet, we are free. We are responsible. We are not entirely determined. It is not possible for any of us to really judge the culpability...of others...but even of ourselves. But if we do evil we are endowed with a conscience that knows good from evil and we have the freedom to confess, amend, and change our ways. We are at once free (spirits with intellect and will) and bounded by our fallibility and flesh. We are "angimals": with free angelic spirits and material, natural bodies. We are responsible for what we do and who we become.
And so, a truly free and deliberate choice for a grave evil can be a mortal sin. If one does not repent, it places one in a state of mortal sin, separation from God, isolation and hell here and now in this life.
Can eating meat on Friday qualify as grave? See next blog.
Grave. A mortal sin must be serious, substantial, deep. Stealing $1,000 from Bill Gates, not mortal. Stealing $1,000 from a poor family in danger of starvation, mortal.
Deliberate. It is an intelligent, premeditated action, not done impulsively without clear intention. Most homicides are crimes of passion: lover's quarrel, bar fight, jealous rage, severe fear and anxiety. Such acts are always grave in nature; but many may not be truly mortal in that they are not intended deliberately. A planned murder, entailing a hit-man and a plan of action, on the other hand, would be deliberate and mortal.
Full consent of the will. It must be a free, fully-willed action. This is related to the prior condition of deliberation. It entails that there is freedom from coercion, exterior or interior. If the rapist holds a gun to the head of a mother's child and threatens to shoot unless she provides him pleasure, her compliance is clearly coerced; there is not full consent of the will. Sexual sins are always grave in matter because they involve the creation of new life and the profound personal intimacy allowable only to spouses; but sexual sins are also almost always embedded in a dense network of anxieties, loneliness, desperation, passion, addiction, confusion and compulsions of all natures. For that reason, the Catholic Church has always been quick to forgive sins of the flesh.
This last condition, interior freedom and full consent of the will, opens up a boundless chasm of puzzlement and wonder for the psychologically sensitive. Virtually all our acts are limited by ignorance, social pressure, bad information, emotional wounds, psychological imbalance and cognitive limitations. It is a good question if we ever make an entirely free decision. Yet, we know that we have freedom; we have choice; we are not entirely determined like a ball thrown into the air which must to up and then come down. Even those afflicted with addictions, who confess they are powerless over whatever the substance or action, confess this freely with a sense of freedom in acknowledging need and seeking help. Paradoxically, the confession of powerlessness is itself an act of freedom. This is a great Mystery: our freedom. Jesus from the cross prayed: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." They don't understand the gravity of this evil act! So much of our behavior is blinded by the fog of anxiety, loneliness, compulsion, confusion and ignorance. And yet, we are free. We are responsible. We are not entirely determined. It is not possible for any of us to really judge the culpability...of others...but even of ourselves. But if we do evil we are endowed with a conscience that knows good from evil and we have the freedom to confess, amend, and change our ways. We are at once free (spirits with intellect and will) and bounded by our fallibility and flesh. We are "angimals": with free angelic spirits and material, natural bodies. We are responsible for what we do and who we become.
And so, a truly free and deliberate choice for a grave evil can be a mortal sin. If one does not repent, it places one in a state of mortal sin, separation from God, isolation and hell here and now in this life.
Can eating meat on Friday qualify as grave? See next blog.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Are the People Who Ate Meat on Friday, Back in the Day, in Hell? (Part 1, Hell)
Serious question deserves a serious answer. A Catholic response follows.
Short answer: We don't know. On this, the Church is agnostic. It has not been revealed to us. Our beliefs spring from the revelation we have received. But we don't know what we don't know. It would be presumption for one to say "No one is in hell for eating meat on Friday" or "Definitely people are in hell for eating meat on Friday."
Long answer is more complicated. Using old-fashioned catechism format, we will address three issue in three short essays: hell, mortal sin, and what is the big deal about meat on Friday?"
Is there a hell? Yes. This is revealed to us: there is a hell. Currently the debate on this has been revived as some argue that an all-loving, all-powerful God will bring everyone to heaven and could never leave any of us beloveds in hell for eternity. The problem with this view is: Freedom. If we all go to heaven, necessarily because of God's goodness, we really have no freedom. God did make us to be happy with Him forever in heaven but he offers this as a gift, which we are free to accept or reject. Another problem: presumption. If we convince ourselves that God mercifully will bring all of us to heaven, we have an incentive to indulge ourselves. So, hell is a correlate of our freedom and a requirement for our motivation to do good.
Is hell populated? We don't know. We are agnostic on this. It hasn't been revealed. That there is a hell, as a possibility for each of us, does not mean necessarily that it is populated. One impeccably orthodox Catholic theologian (Balthasar) argues that we dare hope for the salvation of every single soul. This makes sense. It is not given to us to know that any specific person is in hell: not Judas nor Hitler nor Stalin. We know specific people who are in heaven, since we receive two scientifically certified miracles as signs from heaven so we know to pray to them. Not so with hell. These days lots of people assume we are pretty much all going to heaven. This is the sin of presumption, and can lead to hell. Daughter of a deceased mobster spoke of her father and the cousin who testified against him: "Dad is at a better place now. But I will make sure that rat gets what he would have from my father." The theological logic here is weak. A hundred years ago the assumption was that few went to heaven and many to hell; today that assumption is inverted. A fine theologian (Dulles) says it is good that we not know the population of hell, great or small: if we knew it was great we would despair, if we knew it was little we would presume...the two great sins against faith.
What is hell? We really don't know much. A lot of agnosticism here. We don't know what we don't know. No one has returned from hell to tell us. It is the loss of God and of all love; it is emptiness, loneliness, hopelessness. As heaven begins here on earth, in our communion of love with God and others, so hell begins here in this life, in the refusal of trust and love, in isolation and despair. The image of fire is metaphoric, not literal: the immaterial soul, separated from the body at death, cannot suffer physical fire. I myself am tempted to a soft "annihilism" which would hold that the evil person pretty much ceases to exist. This, however, contradicts the Church's teaching that we are created with an immortal soul, which continues to exist after our earthly life. I find it impossible to imagine an eternal hell. That doesn't mean there isn't one.
If I could, I would modify Church teaching on an immortal soul. The Church got this concept from Greek philosophy, especially that of Plato. The strongest biblical idea is different: resurrection from the dead, rather than innate immortality. In other words, most of scripture would suggest that we are mortal, that we really die, but that Jesus was resurrected from death, and raised into eternal life. I would like to think we are created, not with an immortal soul, but with a mortal soul that has the possibility for receiving, from God, eternal life. In that case, the just receive eternal life and the unjust evaporate. But that is not what the Church teaches; only what I would like to believe. I defer, of course, to Church as Mother and Teacher.
How do we choose heaven or hell? Especially those never really exposed to the faith? We really don't know. This is a mystery of God. But somehow each person exercises freedom in the choice for the good or the bad: to assist the suffering, to forgive those who offend, to amend wrongs we do, and so forth.
My favorite theory that is neither affirmed nor denied by the Church: at the very moment of death, Christ appears to each of us; shows his wounds and suffering; the reality that he went to the deepest depths of suffering, the bottom of hell itself, to save us. He offers us eternal salvation: if we accept his Mercy, be sorry for our sins, and forgive those who have hurt us. The decision is ours, heaven or hell.
Summary: God's offers each of us an eternity of love with Him and a community of love. However it is for us to freely accept; the other option is to refuse heaven in favor of hell, a final isolation and loneliness.
More to come on next blog: Mortal Sin, which puts us in hell.
Short answer: We don't know. On this, the Church is agnostic. It has not been revealed to us. Our beliefs spring from the revelation we have received. But we don't know what we don't know. It would be presumption for one to say "No one is in hell for eating meat on Friday" or "Definitely people are in hell for eating meat on Friday."
Long answer is more complicated. Using old-fashioned catechism format, we will address three issue in three short essays: hell, mortal sin, and what is the big deal about meat on Friday?"
Is there a hell? Yes. This is revealed to us: there is a hell. Currently the debate on this has been revived as some argue that an all-loving, all-powerful God will bring everyone to heaven and could never leave any of us beloveds in hell for eternity. The problem with this view is: Freedom. If we all go to heaven, necessarily because of God's goodness, we really have no freedom. God did make us to be happy with Him forever in heaven but he offers this as a gift, which we are free to accept or reject. Another problem: presumption. If we convince ourselves that God mercifully will bring all of us to heaven, we have an incentive to indulge ourselves. So, hell is a correlate of our freedom and a requirement for our motivation to do good.
Is hell populated? We don't know. We are agnostic on this. It hasn't been revealed. That there is a hell, as a possibility for each of us, does not mean necessarily that it is populated. One impeccably orthodox Catholic theologian (Balthasar) argues that we dare hope for the salvation of every single soul. This makes sense. It is not given to us to know that any specific person is in hell: not Judas nor Hitler nor Stalin. We know specific people who are in heaven, since we receive two scientifically certified miracles as signs from heaven so we know to pray to them. Not so with hell. These days lots of people assume we are pretty much all going to heaven. This is the sin of presumption, and can lead to hell. Daughter of a deceased mobster spoke of her father and the cousin who testified against him: "Dad is at a better place now. But I will make sure that rat gets what he would have from my father." The theological logic here is weak. A hundred years ago the assumption was that few went to heaven and many to hell; today that assumption is inverted. A fine theologian (Dulles) says it is good that we not know the population of hell, great or small: if we knew it was great we would despair, if we knew it was little we would presume...the two great sins against faith.
What is hell? We really don't know much. A lot of agnosticism here. We don't know what we don't know. No one has returned from hell to tell us. It is the loss of God and of all love; it is emptiness, loneliness, hopelessness. As heaven begins here on earth, in our communion of love with God and others, so hell begins here in this life, in the refusal of trust and love, in isolation and despair. The image of fire is metaphoric, not literal: the immaterial soul, separated from the body at death, cannot suffer physical fire. I myself am tempted to a soft "annihilism" which would hold that the evil person pretty much ceases to exist. This, however, contradicts the Church's teaching that we are created with an immortal soul, which continues to exist after our earthly life. I find it impossible to imagine an eternal hell. That doesn't mean there isn't one.
If I could, I would modify Church teaching on an immortal soul. The Church got this concept from Greek philosophy, especially that of Plato. The strongest biblical idea is different: resurrection from the dead, rather than innate immortality. In other words, most of scripture would suggest that we are mortal, that we really die, but that Jesus was resurrected from death, and raised into eternal life. I would like to think we are created, not with an immortal soul, but with a mortal soul that has the possibility for receiving, from God, eternal life. In that case, the just receive eternal life and the unjust evaporate. But that is not what the Church teaches; only what I would like to believe. I defer, of course, to Church as Mother and Teacher.
How do we choose heaven or hell? Especially those never really exposed to the faith? We really don't know. This is a mystery of God. But somehow each person exercises freedom in the choice for the good or the bad: to assist the suffering, to forgive those who offend, to amend wrongs we do, and so forth.
My favorite theory that is neither affirmed nor denied by the Church: at the very moment of death, Christ appears to each of us; shows his wounds and suffering; the reality that he went to the deepest depths of suffering, the bottom of hell itself, to save us. He offers us eternal salvation: if we accept his Mercy, be sorry for our sins, and forgive those who have hurt us. The decision is ours, heaven or hell.
Summary: God's offers each of us an eternity of love with Him and a community of love. However it is for us to freely accept; the other option is to refuse heaven in favor of hell, a final isolation and loneliness.
More to come on next blog: Mortal Sin, which puts us in hell.
Friday, March 27, 2020
My Summer of 1968
1968. What a time to be 21 years old! Assassinations, demonstrations, civil rights, the war, Humanae Vitae and the outbreak of the Great Cold Catholic Civil War; a culture and a Church exploding in conflict, confusion, and breakneck change. With my friends, I was blessed to absorb it all from the safety of a college seminary: no drugs, sex or demonstrations; rather, wholesome semi-monastic routines of study, prayer, manual labor, silence and recreational sports. Lots of reading, thinking, conversation and arguments. Decisive for my intellectual development were two philosophy courses with Fr. McGinn MM: Medieval Culture and 19th Century Philosophy. McGinn convinced me that 20th century philosophy was just a series of footnotes on the brilliant 19th century thinkers: Communism and Liberation Theology were already there in Marx, post-modernism in Nietzsche, Liberal Christianity in Schleiermacher, the Darwinian mega-myth in Charles himself, and the Catholic response in Newman. Enchanted by the Great Catholic Synthesis of the 13th century, I wished I could have lived in that time, as a knight, an architect, a monk, a serf, or especially a disciple of Thomas himself. Reading his great interpreters, Gilson and Maritain, I marveled how his thought far surpassed his 19th century competitors in clarity, splendor, depth and inspiration. My core Catholic convictions were strengthened, and my immunity to the toxins of modern and post-modern thought enhanced.
My summer of 1968 is four short stories.
Cuernavaca. The best climate in the world: mild, dry, breezy, mountainous. At the time, an excellent Spanish language institute and think tank of Ivan Illich: bursting with intellectual energy, excitement, argument. I was fascinated by his ultra-radical (entirely utopian) critique of everything modern and his deep, traditional if eccentric Catholicism. This nicely channeled my adolescent rebellion in a way that fortified my faith convictions, in an idiosyncratic manner. In Spanish class, in groups of three students for each instructor, we were directed to focus on the lips and emulate the pronunciation. My teacher, Maria, must have just dropped down from heaven: soft, sweet, gentle, ravishingly feminine and lovely in every way. For three hours I was in a euphoric state; like I regressed to 6 months old and was enjoying the heavenly gaze of my mother. She was probably married and I was a conscientious seminarian so she was not, for me, a romantic option. She was simply a beatific vision. The male instructors were all expert Lotharios whose singular goal each season was to score with a North American beauty, preferably a blonde. When they heard how I loved to read they gathered around me and asked: "What do you like more: girls or books?" I considered seriously for a moment and then answered definitively: "Books." They laughed hilariously. One day, walking down a dark country road at a fast pace I walked right into a horse. The horse didn't mind. Every morning, in the Mexican home I stayed, I was awoken at 7 AM by a to-die-for-cute 5-year-old Juanito who wiggled my big toe, since my 6'3'' frame was bigger than the bed, and said softly "Levantate Mateo!" It was like waking up in heaven.
Yucatan. I spent time wandering around Yucatan with Maryknoller Fr. Wincell, a charming, down-to-earth, light and lively, warm-hearted, humble and holy priest. Sometimes we would take a donkey over the mountains to Indian villages entirely untouched my "civilization." At mass, Father delivered a 3-minute homily in Spanish; a magnificent native catechist delivered a 45 minute translation in the dialect with a passion, intensity and focus that would have put Billy Graham to shame. At the Mexican towns, along the railroad or highway it was different: small group of Spanish-speaking families who share my generic middle class culture. While Father spoke to folks about marriages, baptisms and such, I noticed that I would be surrounded by 15 to 20 young women, actually all the young women. I clearly was a celebrity. I was terribly uncomfortable: very girl-shy, I spoke very little Spanish. Anything I said drew laughs from the girls. They got a huge kick out of me. I didn't know what to make of it. They would push one particular girl towards me. They were awfully attractive. Later, Fr. Winchell explained the sociology to me: with less than 100 families and almost no jobs in town, the boys all left for the city to find work, leaving behind a group of young women without potential mates. My arrival, with a priest at that, was a big event. Too bad I wasn't able to enjoy my celebrity status at the time!
Isla de Las Mujeres. The worst day of my life. On my way home, I stopped at this vacation island. I was alone and lonely. With no money I couldn't get a decent meal or a few gin-and-tonics. The heat was unbearable and unavoidable. I wandered around desperate for company, or a diversion, or shade or a drink or a meal.. I could only think of The Stranger by Camus. What was I experiencing? Not sadness. Probably not clinical depression. No suicidal thoughts as I lacked the energy for such. I want to call it desolation. Empty...everything felt dry, hot, empty, meaningless, hopeless. Maybe I had been reading too much Camus and existential philosophy: dread onto death! A nurse would probably say I was tired, homesick, hungry and dehydrated. I returned home to normality. I never returned to that hellish limbo, thank God!
Kansas Student Government Conference. Towards the end of the summer, I went with my friend Dan Maguire to the Student Government Conference in Kansas. Radical SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) Tom Hayden told us that they were going to tear down the city of Chicago and the Democratic Convention with protests. I remember thinking: "Who does this suave, cocky guy think he is that he can tear down a major city and a national convention?" Guess what: he did just that! Those were the times.
1968 was the defining year of our era. It was not the riots, the war, the turbulence. Wars, recessions and depressions, pandemics...they come and they go. Something different, far deeper happened then. A cultural, moral, spiritual inversion...or perversion. The Revolution: a disconnect from tradition; the rejection of authority and really of the Fatherhood of God; the contraceptive sterilization of sexuality; the tearing of eros away from conjugal intimacy, fidelity, fecundity; the deconstruction of masculinity, femininity, filiality, paternity, maternity, spousality and chastity; and just three years later, with a logic of ironclad inevitability, the judicial declaration of a holocaust on the unborn. This Culture War shows no signs of abating: it will be fought by my children's children and their children. The sides are well matched: we traditionalists have the spiritual resources...sacramental efficacy, magisterial infallibility, charismatic energy and irrepressibility...of the Church; but our opponent, the liberal elite, has control of a previously inconceivable apparatus of technology, media, education, and political coercion. It is a mighty combat!
I credit my guardian angel with doing a terrific job in 1968 and especially that summer: keeping me under the influence of the likes of St. Thomas, Gilson, Maritain and Illich; and in the delightful company of precious Juanito, lovely Maria, charming Fr. Winchell and my good buddy Danny.
My summer of 1968 is four short stories.
Cuernavaca. The best climate in the world: mild, dry, breezy, mountainous. At the time, an excellent Spanish language institute and think tank of Ivan Illich: bursting with intellectual energy, excitement, argument. I was fascinated by his ultra-radical (entirely utopian) critique of everything modern and his deep, traditional if eccentric Catholicism. This nicely channeled my adolescent rebellion in a way that fortified my faith convictions, in an idiosyncratic manner. In Spanish class, in groups of three students for each instructor, we were directed to focus on the lips and emulate the pronunciation. My teacher, Maria, must have just dropped down from heaven: soft, sweet, gentle, ravishingly feminine and lovely in every way. For three hours I was in a euphoric state; like I regressed to 6 months old and was enjoying the heavenly gaze of my mother. She was probably married and I was a conscientious seminarian so she was not, for me, a romantic option. She was simply a beatific vision. The male instructors were all expert Lotharios whose singular goal each season was to score with a North American beauty, preferably a blonde. When they heard how I loved to read they gathered around me and asked: "What do you like more: girls or books?" I considered seriously for a moment and then answered definitively: "Books." They laughed hilariously. One day, walking down a dark country road at a fast pace I walked right into a horse. The horse didn't mind. Every morning, in the Mexican home I stayed, I was awoken at 7 AM by a to-die-for-cute 5-year-old Juanito who wiggled my big toe, since my 6'3'' frame was bigger than the bed, and said softly "Levantate Mateo!" It was like waking up in heaven.
Yucatan. I spent time wandering around Yucatan with Maryknoller Fr. Wincell, a charming, down-to-earth, light and lively, warm-hearted, humble and holy priest. Sometimes we would take a donkey over the mountains to Indian villages entirely untouched my "civilization." At mass, Father delivered a 3-minute homily in Spanish; a magnificent native catechist delivered a 45 minute translation in the dialect with a passion, intensity and focus that would have put Billy Graham to shame. At the Mexican towns, along the railroad or highway it was different: small group of Spanish-speaking families who share my generic middle class culture. While Father spoke to folks about marriages, baptisms and such, I noticed that I would be surrounded by 15 to 20 young women, actually all the young women. I clearly was a celebrity. I was terribly uncomfortable: very girl-shy, I spoke very little Spanish. Anything I said drew laughs from the girls. They got a huge kick out of me. I didn't know what to make of it. They would push one particular girl towards me. They were awfully attractive. Later, Fr. Winchell explained the sociology to me: with less than 100 families and almost no jobs in town, the boys all left for the city to find work, leaving behind a group of young women without potential mates. My arrival, with a priest at that, was a big event. Too bad I wasn't able to enjoy my celebrity status at the time!
Isla de Las Mujeres. The worst day of my life. On my way home, I stopped at this vacation island. I was alone and lonely. With no money I couldn't get a decent meal or a few gin-and-tonics. The heat was unbearable and unavoidable. I wandered around desperate for company, or a diversion, or shade or a drink or a meal.. I could only think of The Stranger by Camus. What was I experiencing? Not sadness. Probably not clinical depression. No suicidal thoughts as I lacked the energy for such. I want to call it desolation. Empty...everything felt dry, hot, empty, meaningless, hopeless. Maybe I had been reading too much Camus and existential philosophy: dread onto death! A nurse would probably say I was tired, homesick, hungry and dehydrated. I returned home to normality. I never returned to that hellish limbo, thank God!
Kansas Student Government Conference. Towards the end of the summer, I went with my friend Dan Maguire to the Student Government Conference in Kansas. Radical SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) Tom Hayden told us that they were going to tear down the city of Chicago and the Democratic Convention with protests. I remember thinking: "Who does this suave, cocky guy think he is that he can tear down a major city and a national convention?" Guess what: he did just that! Those were the times.
1968 was the defining year of our era. It was not the riots, the war, the turbulence. Wars, recessions and depressions, pandemics...they come and they go. Something different, far deeper happened then. A cultural, moral, spiritual inversion...or perversion. The Revolution: a disconnect from tradition; the rejection of authority and really of the Fatherhood of God; the contraceptive sterilization of sexuality; the tearing of eros away from conjugal intimacy, fidelity, fecundity; the deconstruction of masculinity, femininity, filiality, paternity, maternity, spousality and chastity; and just three years later, with a logic of ironclad inevitability, the judicial declaration of a holocaust on the unborn. This Culture War shows no signs of abating: it will be fought by my children's children and their children. The sides are well matched: we traditionalists have the spiritual resources...sacramental efficacy, magisterial infallibility, charismatic energy and irrepressibility...of the Church; but our opponent, the liberal elite, has control of a previously inconceivable apparatus of technology, media, education, and political coercion. It is a mighty combat!
I credit my guardian angel with doing a terrific job in 1968 and especially that summer: keeping me under the influence of the likes of St. Thomas, Gilson, Maritain and Illich; and in the delightful company of precious Juanito, lovely Maria, charming Fr. Winchell and my good buddy Danny.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
"You Are a Nothing; You Are a Nobody!"
1967, my sophomore year at Maryknoll College Seminary, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, I was receiving my evaluation from Fr. Jack Halbert MM. Looking at me intensely, intently he continued: "What is it with you? You are not a leader, not a problem, not an athlete, not a joker, not the popular guy! You are a nobody! A nothing." He continued: "What about your father? What does he do? Is he a nothing like you?"
Periodically in the seminary we received an "evaluation" from a priest that delivered the consensus of the faculty on our progress toward the priesthood: Were we on track? In danger of being let go? Any problems to be addressed?
Fr. Halbert was a marvelous priest: intelligent, competent, energetic, passionate. A real leader of men! At the top of my "Top Ten Best Men I Have Known." He was not cozy and pleasant with us, more like a drill sergeant: brutally candid, demanding, fierce. Years later, after he served the poor and suffering in violence-torn ElSalvador and led the Maryknoll Society, I caught him on Bill Buckley's Firing Line with Michael Novak. Novak, with Buckley's approval, was singing the praises of capitalism and free markets. Halbert was probably expected to counter with liberation theology and anti-American-capitalism arguments. He did no such thing. Calmly he said: "I appreciate experts and scholars like yourself, Michael, who study these systems and theories. I have no such expertise. All I can tell you is what I experience among the suffering in ElSalvador." I was SO proud of him!
I have always recalled that evaluation event with gratitude and happiness: it came at a formative time and was one of the best man-to-man encounters in my life. On rare occasions when I have shared it, people are horrified that he was SO not-nice. The funny thing, is that even at that moment I remember enjoying it. I was not humiliated, discouraged, sad or mad. I felt honored and engaged.
Why was that? I see a number of reasons:
1. I was getting attention. It is nice to get attention, even if it is negative. Clearly he cared enough and thought enough of me to tell me that I came across as a Nothing. Generally we were not close to our priest teachers; they kept a certain emotional distance and rarely acted like mentors; this was different!
2. Implicitly he was calling me to step out, man up, and be a Somebody. He wouldn't be saying this if he didn't think I was capable of more than I was showing.
3. I knew he was right: though high school and into college I was, socially, a wall flower: quiet, insecure, timid. The truth, even when it is harsh, is refreshing and remedial.
4. When he asked about my father I swelled with pride: "No, my father is not a nobody at all. He is a union organizer for the UAW. He is a leader of men." As I said that, I thought to myself: "Given such a great father, there has to be something good in me. I can't be completely a Nobody."
5. With the guys it was a big joke and even a source of pride to get a bad evaluation. Brendan Fullam was told they envisioned him pushing a fruit cart somewhere in NYC. Greg Towle was told some of the priests became frightened when they looked across our chapel-in-the-round at his tough, gangster-type mug. So, one part of my mind was celebrating: wait till the guys here this one; nobody has gotten this bad an evaluation, that I am a nothing!
6. There was somebody who thought I was a something: a faculty member but not a priest. The librarian was an insightful, bookish, self-educated, fascinating married man with a large, squared up face, as tough as that of Greg, befitting the ex-Marine, ex-boxer that he was. He could be the inspiration for a Jason-Bourne-type-hero: virile and tough, bookish and insightful, loyal husband and father, inspired by the Gospel but seemingly agnostic: more masculine, interesting version of Albert Camus. He had befriended me and taken me under his wing. Pat Williams was much too smart to befriend a nobody.
7. Stimulated by my librarian, ex-pugilist mentor, my bookish, thoughtful mind was by that time exhilarated by earthquake of change then exploding in our culture and especially our Church. I was on a steady, persistent intellectual "high"...all in the quiet, wholesome oasis of a seminary. I was happy with my position in life; being seen as a nobody did not unsettle me.
8. I already had a number of good friends: when someone you like and respect likes and respects you, you can't entirely be a nobody.
9. True enough: at the age of 19, I was a nobody in the big world and the smaller world of that college seminary. But in the small world from which I hailed, I was far from a nobody: my mom and dad and brothers and sisters and extended family and small circle of friends valued me. I really knew I was a somebody.
10. My prayer life, quiet and modest, was to that point encouraged by seminary routines. Anyone with a connection with God's love cannot really be a nobody.
Fr. Halbert was a strong masculine influence on me; and on many. A tremendous man, priest, missioner! May he rest in peace!
Periodically in the seminary we received an "evaluation" from a priest that delivered the consensus of the faculty on our progress toward the priesthood: Were we on track? In danger of being let go? Any problems to be addressed?
Fr. Halbert was a marvelous priest: intelligent, competent, energetic, passionate. A real leader of men! At the top of my "Top Ten Best Men I Have Known." He was not cozy and pleasant with us, more like a drill sergeant: brutally candid, demanding, fierce. Years later, after he served the poor and suffering in violence-torn ElSalvador and led the Maryknoll Society, I caught him on Bill Buckley's Firing Line with Michael Novak. Novak, with Buckley's approval, was singing the praises of capitalism and free markets. Halbert was probably expected to counter with liberation theology and anti-American-capitalism arguments. He did no such thing. Calmly he said: "I appreciate experts and scholars like yourself, Michael, who study these systems and theories. I have no such expertise. All I can tell you is what I experience among the suffering in ElSalvador." I was SO proud of him!
I have always recalled that evaluation event with gratitude and happiness: it came at a formative time and was one of the best man-to-man encounters in my life. On rare occasions when I have shared it, people are horrified that he was SO not-nice. The funny thing, is that even at that moment I remember enjoying it. I was not humiliated, discouraged, sad or mad. I felt honored and engaged.
Why was that? I see a number of reasons:
1. I was getting attention. It is nice to get attention, even if it is negative. Clearly he cared enough and thought enough of me to tell me that I came across as a Nothing. Generally we were not close to our priest teachers; they kept a certain emotional distance and rarely acted like mentors; this was different!
2. Implicitly he was calling me to step out, man up, and be a Somebody. He wouldn't be saying this if he didn't think I was capable of more than I was showing.
3. I knew he was right: though high school and into college I was, socially, a wall flower: quiet, insecure, timid. The truth, even when it is harsh, is refreshing and remedial.
4. When he asked about my father I swelled with pride: "No, my father is not a nobody at all. He is a union organizer for the UAW. He is a leader of men." As I said that, I thought to myself: "Given such a great father, there has to be something good in me. I can't be completely a Nobody."
5. With the guys it was a big joke and even a source of pride to get a bad evaluation. Brendan Fullam was told they envisioned him pushing a fruit cart somewhere in NYC. Greg Towle was told some of the priests became frightened when they looked across our chapel-in-the-round at his tough, gangster-type mug. So, one part of my mind was celebrating: wait till the guys here this one; nobody has gotten this bad an evaluation, that I am a nothing!
6. There was somebody who thought I was a something: a faculty member but not a priest. The librarian was an insightful, bookish, self-educated, fascinating married man with a large, squared up face, as tough as that of Greg, befitting the ex-Marine, ex-boxer that he was. He could be the inspiration for a Jason-Bourne-type-hero: virile and tough, bookish and insightful, loyal husband and father, inspired by the Gospel but seemingly agnostic: more masculine, interesting version of Albert Camus. He had befriended me and taken me under his wing. Pat Williams was much too smart to befriend a nobody.
7. Stimulated by my librarian, ex-pugilist mentor, my bookish, thoughtful mind was by that time exhilarated by earthquake of change then exploding in our culture and especially our Church. I was on a steady, persistent intellectual "high"...all in the quiet, wholesome oasis of a seminary. I was happy with my position in life; being seen as a nobody did not unsettle me.
8. I already had a number of good friends: when someone you like and respect likes and respects you, you can't entirely be a nobody.
9. True enough: at the age of 19, I was a nobody in the big world and the smaller world of that college seminary. But in the small world from which I hailed, I was far from a nobody: my mom and dad and brothers and sisters and extended family and small circle of friends valued me. I really knew I was a somebody.
10. My prayer life, quiet and modest, was to that point encouraged by seminary routines. Anyone with a connection with God's love cannot really be a nobody.
Fr. Halbert was a strong masculine influence on me; and on many. A tremendous man, priest, missioner! May he rest in peace!
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Most Under-Rated Feast Day
So easy to answer! The Annunciation, which is today, as I write, March 25, nine months before Christmas. Yes, Christmas is important; but not as important as Easter; but I always looked to Pentecost as most under-rated and important. Stupid me! Imagine: the entirety of heaven and earth is waiting for her response; the Angel delivers the proposal from heaven; the prophets and patriarchs; the limbo of the just; and the entirety of human history have all been waiting for precisely this moment. ALL of the future of humanity and the created universe hangs upon her answer. She is free, entirely undetermined, without a trace of coercion or pressure, serene, composed, deliberate, simple. And she says: " I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your will." All, All, All hung upon her singular decision. Hers was THE decisive choice in human history. Nothing even remotely compares in grandeur and gravity. With her Yes, God descended among us; God married humanity in the womb of the virgin and the person of Jesus; and the rest is history. There is a certain inevitability to the rest of Salvation History: Jesus grew, was born, grew up, enacted his mission of healing, teaching, delivering from evil, calling together his apostles; died and was buried and rose; ascended and sent us His Spirit. But He is Jesus and He was going to prevail. Not so definite was the decision of the maiden. Her response was entirely human; everything Jesus does is human and divine. He really is different. She is not. She is absolutely one of us. And her decision was for all of us.
I would compare it to the spousal drama, a romance between a bride and groom: when is the decisive moment: the wedding? the consummation? the first child? No, the decisive moment is when he proposes and she says yes! That moment changes EVERYTHING! From that second, they belong to each other. Clearly, the legal, public, sacramental consent sanctifies and seals this decision. But in their hearts and in their union the promise is already given. Their entire share life and history unfold from there. It is the decisive event of their love. And so it is with the Annunciation. Mary's life; the life of the Trinity; our communal life; and each of our particular lives play out in the light of one quiet, modest, calm decision of a young woman over two thousand years ago.
I would compare it to the spousal drama, a romance between a bride and groom: when is the decisive moment: the wedding? the consummation? the first child? No, the decisive moment is when he proposes and she says yes! That moment changes EVERYTHING! From that second, they belong to each other. Clearly, the legal, public, sacramental consent sanctifies and seals this decision. But in their hearts and in their union the promise is already given. Their entire share life and history unfold from there. It is the decisive event of their love. And so it is with the Annunciation. Mary's life; the life of the Trinity; our communal life; and each of our particular lives play out in the light of one quiet, modest, calm decision of a young woman over two thousand years ago.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
How a Man Loves a Woman; How a Man is Loved by a Woman
What follows is my own story, perhaps reflective of my own particularities and eccentricities, but as an Aristotelian, I believe in "forms" like masculinity and femininity; and I suspect my story is not atypical or peculiar.
LOVE is a form, has an interior simplicity and identity in all its expressions, but each love is absolutely specific and unique. I am the same Lover in all my loves, but each love configures itself to the particular beloved, as well as our contextual, relational, historical position towards each other. I love each son and daughter, brother and sister, superior or subordinate or friend in an utterly unique way. But I would argue that there are identifiable forms of love: paternal or maternal, spousal, filial, and such.
Love is always an approval, a delight in, and a care for the beloved. Each love is concrete and limited, even as it is global, expansive, inclusive and infinite. Each specific love is a distinctive mixture of the multiple ingredients.
What follows does not include sexual and romantic-emotional attraction. In themselves, neither of them are love, which opens always to the beloved. In themselves they are expressions of one's own needs and passions. They are lower level analogues of love. They are in themselves entirely wholesome and natural (when not distorted by sin) in their right place. They are able to accompany genuine love and enrich it in both the spousal (consummated) expression or non-spousal (sacrificial) manifestations.
A MAN'S LOVE FOR A WOMAN
What predominates in my many loves for many women are:
1. Delight. Exquisite joy and happiness in the very preciousness, loveliness and charm of the beloved. It is associated with otherness: I delight far more in the beauty, goodness and truth of my daughters than I do in that of my sons, who are so similar, so familiar, so close to me. My daughters are so different, so strange, so charming, so fascinating, so admirable. Delight characterizes all loves but it predominates in that of father for daughter, as well as groom for bride, and all masculine loves for the feminine.
2. Tender Affection and Care. This is love of the strong for the suffering or vulnerable. This predominates in maternal love, as for the infant, and paternal love. It characterizes male love for female because the man is normally larger and stronger in the primal, physical way. This becomes even more pronounced in the man's love for his wife and child in their shared vulnerability and need. This paternal or fraternal (older brother) love ennobles raw, potentially explosive and violent male energies and moves them into gentle but fierce protectiveness.
3. Admiration. In contrast with, but not contradictory of tender affection, this love gazes with reverence and veneration on the goodness, the worth, the strength of the beloved. This humbles and inspires us before what is truly holy, noble, and worthy. It is the heart of filial love for mother and father; or the respect we render all authority; and quintessentially of our love for God that becomes praise and worship. By a miraculous, mysterious paradox, a man's love for a woman combines tenderness for her vulnerability (out of his own strength) and reverence for her goodness and strength (including an awareness of his own neediness.)
4. Companionship, Partnership, Friendship. Here love takes on a deeper equality, a symmetry between the lovers as they see stand, shoulder to shoulder, and embark together on a shared mission, a purpose that transcends even their own love for each other: their children, their extended families, their shared or specific missions, their life of prayer and holiness. Here we see that authentic love, between lover and beloved, opens always out to an infinite horizon of Good/Truth/Beauty beyond, even as it takes very specific and concrete form...as this child, this work, this family.
HOW A MAN IS LOVED BY A WOMAN
I have no access to the interior of a woman's love for a man; but I can describe how it feels to be loved by a woman. What is most apparent is:
1. Trust. To be trusted by a woman is the most amazing and joyous thing in the world. I think that we are, both the man and the woman, implicitly aware that the man is stronger and the woman vulnerable. This is simply the natural order: like the mother is stronger and the infant weaker. So, the love between man and woman must build upon the tenderness of the man, which ennobles his strength and energy, and the trust of the woman. The trust of a woman gives great honor to the man and elicits all that is noble in him: a desire to give care, protection and service and even an eagerness to give his blood and his life if that is required.
2. Admiration. This is the same admiration that the woman receives from a man, although it focuses on different dimensions in different degrees. This is close to trust which requires that the woman see in the man both strength and goodness, so that she can depend upon him, surrender herself into his arms, and bear their children in serenity and confidence. In this there is a symmetry between the two loves.
3. Companionship, Partnership, Friendship. This mirrors that of the man. Again, there is an equality, a togetherness, a looking out beyond themselves to their children, families, and communities. Man and woman both crave, in their depths, a partnership in the boundless ocean of the good, the true, the beautiful. The female focus is more intently on the care of the young, sick, weak and elderly; the male looks more passionately out into the world beyond. So, more frequently the bride will support the mission of her man. But the contrary can also happen, where a husband supports an extraordinary project of his wife.
4. Maternal Tenderness. A woman's heart is irrepressibly compassionate and nurturing. A man, as strong and noble as he may become, is still vulnerable, needy and weak. So, there are times and ways in which the fiercest warrior is comforted and healed by his bride. Here we see a marvelously harmonious dance whereby the two lovers move in and out of roles: now he is strong, and then he becomes weak and she is strong. I give this maternal tenderness, in the heart of the woman, less priority than I do the paternal affection in the man, because the woman has a certain constitutional "littleness" and her own care for the needy puts her in need of protection by the stronger one.
It is an awesome and wonderful thing, to consider the love between man and woman!
LOVE is a form, has an interior simplicity and identity in all its expressions, but each love is absolutely specific and unique. I am the same Lover in all my loves, but each love configures itself to the particular beloved, as well as our contextual, relational, historical position towards each other. I love each son and daughter, brother and sister, superior or subordinate or friend in an utterly unique way. But I would argue that there are identifiable forms of love: paternal or maternal, spousal, filial, and such.
Love is always an approval, a delight in, and a care for the beloved. Each love is concrete and limited, even as it is global, expansive, inclusive and infinite. Each specific love is a distinctive mixture of the multiple ingredients.
What follows does not include sexual and romantic-emotional attraction. In themselves, neither of them are love, which opens always to the beloved. In themselves they are expressions of one's own needs and passions. They are lower level analogues of love. They are in themselves entirely wholesome and natural (when not distorted by sin) in their right place. They are able to accompany genuine love and enrich it in both the spousal (consummated) expression or non-spousal (sacrificial) manifestations.
A MAN'S LOVE FOR A WOMAN
What predominates in my many loves for many women are:
1. Delight. Exquisite joy and happiness in the very preciousness, loveliness and charm of the beloved. It is associated with otherness: I delight far more in the beauty, goodness and truth of my daughters than I do in that of my sons, who are so similar, so familiar, so close to me. My daughters are so different, so strange, so charming, so fascinating, so admirable. Delight characterizes all loves but it predominates in that of father for daughter, as well as groom for bride, and all masculine loves for the feminine.
2. Tender Affection and Care. This is love of the strong for the suffering or vulnerable. This predominates in maternal love, as for the infant, and paternal love. It characterizes male love for female because the man is normally larger and stronger in the primal, physical way. This becomes even more pronounced in the man's love for his wife and child in their shared vulnerability and need. This paternal or fraternal (older brother) love ennobles raw, potentially explosive and violent male energies and moves them into gentle but fierce protectiveness.
3. Admiration. In contrast with, but not contradictory of tender affection, this love gazes with reverence and veneration on the goodness, the worth, the strength of the beloved. This humbles and inspires us before what is truly holy, noble, and worthy. It is the heart of filial love for mother and father; or the respect we render all authority; and quintessentially of our love for God that becomes praise and worship. By a miraculous, mysterious paradox, a man's love for a woman combines tenderness for her vulnerability (out of his own strength) and reverence for her goodness and strength (including an awareness of his own neediness.)
4. Companionship, Partnership, Friendship. Here love takes on a deeper equality, a symmetry between the lovers as they see stand, shoulder to shoulder, and embark together on a shared mission, a purpose that transcends even their own love for each other: their children, their extended families, their shared or specific missions, their life of prayer and holiness. Here we see that authentic love, between lover and beloved, opens always out to an infinite horizon of Good/Truth/Beauty beyond, even as it takes very specific and concrete form...as this child, this work, this family.
HOW A MAN IS LOVED BY A WOMAN
I have no access to the interior of a woman's love for a man; but I can describe how it feels to be loved by a woman. What is most apparent is:
1. Trust. To be trusted by a woman is the most amazing and joyous thing in the world. I think that we are, both the man and the woman, implicitly aware that the man is stronger and the woman vulnerable. This is simply the natural order: like the mother is stronger and the infant weaker. So, the love between man and woman must build upon the tenderness of the man, which ennobles his strength and energy, and the trust of the woman. The trust of a woman gives great honor to the man and elicits all that is noble in him: a desire to give care, protection and service and even an eagerness to give his blood and his life if that is required.
2. Admiration. This is the same admiration that the woman receives from a man, although it focuses on different dimensions in different degrees. This is close to trust which requires that the woman see in the man both strength and goodness, so that she can depend upon him, surrender herself into his arms, and bear their children in serenity and confidence. In this there is a symmetry between the two loves.
3. Companionship, Partnership, Friendship. This mirrors that of the man. Again, there is an equality, a togetherness, a looking out beyond themselves to their children, families, and communities. Man and woman both crave, in their depths, a partnership in the boundless ocean of the good, the true, the beautiful. The female focus is more intently on the care of the young, sick, weak and elderly; the male looks more passionately out into the world beyond. So, more frequently the bride will support the mission of her man. But the contrary can also happen, where a husband supports an extraordinary project of his wife.
4. Maternal Tenderness. A woman's heart is irrepressibly compassionate and nurturing. A man, as strong and noble as he may become, is still vulnerable, needy and weak. So, there are times and ways in which the fiercest warrior is comforted and healed by his bride. Here we see a marvelously harmonious dance whereby the two lovers move in and out of roles: now he is strong, and then he becomes weak and she is strong. I give this maternal tenderness, in the heart of the woman, less priority than I do the paternal affection in the man, because the woman has a certain constitutional "littleness" and her own care for the needy puts her in need of protection by the stronger one.
It is an awesome and wonderful thing, to consider the love between man and woman!
Monday, March 23, 2020
The Virile Virtues: Fortitude, Chastity, Humility
For a male, the achievement of fortitude, chastity and humility is a life-or-death issue. On the one hand, it is an achievement because he himself must choose, struggle, bleed, fail, and conquer in mortal combat. In another way, it is not only his own achievement because he is dependent upon the influence of good women, the encouragement of good mentors, and the support of good brothers. It is not so for the female. Her's is another path altogether. Consider blood: the vehicle and symbol of life itself. The male, like Jesus on the cross or the hero in battle, must spill his blood in combat. The woman, by strongest contrast, passes blood as a fluid expression of her organic, fecund femininity. The male must carry and die on his own cross; the woman, like Mary at Calvary, dies the death of compassion as she suffers with the one she loves. These three virtues are absolutely essential for the flourishing of genuine virility.
1. Fortitude is what constitutes masculinity. That is, strength and courage as tender, gentle, protective, trustworthy and sacrificial. This does not come naturally. True, there is a certain physical strength: some men are tough, fierce, aggressive by nature; others sensitive, meek and timid by nature. This is not insignificant, but is a primitive, low, crude type of strength. That instinctive strength or weakness is merely the raw material for genuine fortitude: the tough guy must learn to be tender, kind, protective. The sensitive guy must learn to overcome his fear and compensate with greater emotional, moral and spiritual courage. Both have a long road to walk. This virtue also includes magnanimity: greatness, expansiveness, generosity of spirit; the impulse to think, decide and act with largeness of vision.
2. Chastity is essential because the man is destined to tender and honor the woman, her children, the weak, and all that is precious, holy, true and good. But his voracious sexual appetites, his merciless egotism, his insecurity, and his explosive rage...all drive him to dominate, possess and devour the woman, in her very vulnerability, and all that is precious which he is destined to protect. This is a monumental battle!
3. Humility is arguably the most important because the masculine mission is to represent that which is greater than himself: the Fatherhood of God, Truth, good order, accountability, tradition, authority and the Good. He needs always to point beyond himself to something greater: like John the Baptist pointed to Jesus. Toxic masculinity as arrogance and narcissism is a darkness that blocks the light of the True and the Good and the Beautiful, rather than communicating it.
In one sense, masculinity is a lonely path that each man must walk alone; in a deeper way, however, we are bound to each other and we all have a stake in each man's virile virtue. And so, each of us men benefits from the influence, prayer, correction, and encouragement of good men and women.
1. Fortitude is what constitutes masculinity. That is, strength and courage as tender, gentle, protective, trustworthy and sacrificial. This does not come naturally. True, there is a certain physical strength: some men are tough, fierce, aggressive by nature; others sensitive, meek and timid by nature. This is not insignificant, but is a primitive, low, crude type of strength. That instinctive strength or weakness is merely the raw material for genuine fortitude: the tough guy must learn to be tender, kind, protective. The sensitive guy must learn to overcome his fear and compensate with greater emotional, moral and spiritual courage. Both have a long road to walk. This virtue also includes magnanimity: greatness, expansiveness, generosity of spirit; the impulse to think, decide and act with largeness of vision.
2. Chastity is essential because the man is destined to tender and honor the woman, her children, the weak, and all that is precious, holy, true and good. But his voracious sexual appetites, his merciless egotism, his insecurity, and his explosive rage...all drive him to dominate, possess and devour the woman, in her very vulnerability, and all that is precious which he is destined to protect. This is a monumental battle!
3. Humility is arguably the most important because the masculine mission is to represent that which is greater than himself: the Fatherhood of God, Truth, good order, accountability, tradition, authority and the Good. He needs always to point beyond himself to something greater: like John the Baptist pointed to Jesus. Toxic masculinity as arrogance and narcissism is a darkness that blocks the light of the True and the Good and the Beautiful, rather than communicating it.
In one sense, masculinity is a lonely path that each man must walk alone; in a deeper way, however, we are bound to each other and we all have a stake in each man's virile virtue. And so, each of us men benefits from the influence, prayer, correction, and encouragement of good men and women.
Friday, March 20, 2020
Disordered, Toxic Masculinity
If masculinity is gentle strength, then the defects in it will regard first strength and then gentleness. So, my observation is that defective, disordered, toxic virility takes these forms:
1. Weakness. The opposite of virility, fortitude, energy, nobility, heroism...is to be feeble, impotent, indecisive, timid, sterile, defensive and fearful. To become a strong man, a boy needs an itinerary of formation in which he competes, achieves, fails, cooperates and is mentored, disciplined, and above all encouraged. Above all encouraged! A developing boy needs to be strengthened within himself by the affirmation of his mentors and peers. Our culture, over the last 50 years, has systematically and viciously dismantled all such rituals of passage. So, we are suffering a pandemic of enfeebled men: it is not really their fault.
2. Violence. On the other extreme, the testosterone-fueled energy and brute strength of many men...when not mentored, ordered, directed...can explode viciously, violating those around, especially women, children and the weak. And so, we see the abuse of women, particularly, in many ways all over the world.
3. Lust. Lust is completely different from wholesome sexual desire and attraction, which has about it a tenderness, a reverence, a courtesy, and a nobility. Lust makes the other an object to be misused. Lust is a regression into infantile compulsions about escape, comfort, enclosure. Lust is emasculating and degrading. Lust, since the sexual revolution 50 years ago, has exploded in a pandemic of porn addiction and is rarely mentioned in education, media or even Church.
4. Disgust for Femininity. The developing adolescent psyche is competitive, analytic, abstract, isolated, logical, deductive, distanced, hierarchical, binary and aggressive. By strongest contrast, the female psyche is cooperative, synthetic, embodied, relational, intuitive, inductive, compassionate, democratic, inclusive, and receptive. In the best case scenario, the young man, already well loved by mother and sisters, befriends the young woman; falls in love; comes to cherish and admire her; and to value her way which perfectly completes and complements his own. But, in this imperfect world, the immature, insecure male brain (even of those in their 70s and 80s) is singularly unprepared to understand and cherish the female brain. He will see her as weak, illogical, overly emotional, and indecisive. He will even despise her, in her very femininity.
5. Egotism. The male ego, of its nature and even at its best, is isolated, autonomous, fragile, brittle, non-porous and prone to malignant expansion. If not properly nurtured by wise maternal love and not mentored by prudent paternal love, this ego moves fiercely into arrogance, narcissism, defensiveness and aggression.
Consider the agony of the insecure, immature young man: he is lonely, insecure and defensive; largely bereft of paternal encouragement; overwhelmed by sexual, romantic longing; prone to explosions of rage; and disparaging of the very femininity he desires. This is a perfect storm!
When we combine any of these four, we have a poisonous cocktail: a man, weak within, who vents his anger on the femininity he despises even as he objectifies her for his own pleasure. This is the cool aid that has been served up by the Cultural Revolution, that has been devoured by Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Roger Aisles and so many others. It is a sad story!
1. Weakness. The opposite of virility, fortitude, energy, nobility, heroism...is to be feeble, impotent, indecisive, timid, sterile, defensive and fearful. To become a strong man, a boy needs an itinerary of formation in which he competes, achieves, fails, cooperates and is mentored, disciplined, and above all encouraged. Above all encouraged! A developing boy needs to be strengthened within himself by the affirmation of his mentors and peers. Our culture, over the last 50 years, has systematically and viciously dismantled all such rituals of passage. So, we are suffering a pandemic of enfeebled men: it is not really their fault.
2. Violence. On the other extreme, the testosterone-fueled energy and brute strength of many men...when not mentored, ordered, directed...can explode viciously, violating those around, especially women, children and the weak. And so, we see the abuse of women, particularly, in many ways all over the world.
3. Lust. Lust is completely different from wholesome sexual desire and attraction, which has about it a tenderness, a reverence, a courtesy, and a nobility. Lust makes the other an object to be misused. Lust is a regression into infantile compulsions about escape, comfort, enclosure. Lust is emasculating and degrading. Lust, since the sexual revolution 50 years ago, has exploded in a pandemic of porn addiction and is rarely mentioned in education, media or even Church.
4. Disgust for Femininity. The developing adolescent psyche is competitive, analytic, abstract, isolated, logical, deductive, distanced, hierarchical, binary and aggressive. By strongest contrast, the female psyche is cooperative, synthetic, embodied, relational, intuitive, inductive, compassionate, democratic, inclusive, and receptive. In the best case scenario, the young man, already well loved by mother and sisters, befriends the young woman; falls in love; comes to cherish and admire her; and to value her way which perfectly completes and complements his own. But, in this imperfect world, the immature, insecure male brain (even of those in their 70s and 80s) is singularly unprepared to understand and cherish the female brain. He will see her as weak, illogical, overly emotional, and indecisive. He will even despise her, in her very femininity.
5. Egotism. The male ego, of its nature and even at its best, is isolated, autonomous, fragile, brittle, non-porous and prone to malignant expansion. If not properly nurtured by wise maternal love and not mentored by prudent paternal love, this ego moves fiercely into arrogance, narcissism, defensiveness and aggression.
Consider the agony of the insecure, immature young man: he is lonely, insecure and defensive; largely bereft of paternal encouragement; overwhelmed by sexual, romantic longing; prone to explosions of rage; and disparaging of the very femininity he desires. This is a perfect storm!
When we combine any of these four, we have a poisonous cocktail: a man, weak within, who vents his anger on the femininity he despises even as he objectifies her for his own pleasure. This is the cool aid that has been served up by the Cultural Revolution, that has been devoured by Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Roger Aisles and so many others. It is a sad story!
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Wounded Femininity
As director of boarding homes for women I have observed these wounds:
1. Anxiety. By far the most pervasive, profound and destructive consequence of the violation and neglect of women is anxiety. Unlike fear which is focused and targeted (e.g. I am afraid of being attacked, of failure, of rejection), anxiety is dispersed, global, generalized and without an identifiable cause. The feminine nature...organically, emotionally, spiritually, and every which way...is open, welcoming and receptive and therefore vulnerable to hostile intrusion. If not properly protected and sheltered by father and then husband (or surrogates) she is threatened in a manner that is inclusive, universal, penetrating. So, we see panic attacks. We see hysteria, a distinctively feminine condition, a dark, toxic even fatal potentiality for femininity. Such is the contradiction of womanliness since it directly attacks the woman's mission: to surrender, in trust, to Love and then radiate that Love as serenity, joy, generosity and grace.
2. Shame. Quiet, hidden, camouflaged and anonymous, shame is toxic in an even more profound, penetrating manner. Guilt, by contrast, is regret about a specific wrong-doing and so, like fear, has a precise object: I am sorry I hit you. It is easily resolved: repent, ask for forgiveness, make amends, firmly resolve not to repeat the act. Shame, like anxiety, is inclusive, global; resistant to cure; and settles like a dark storm giving an interior sense of being disapproved, unworthy, even repulsive. Even deeper, if less obvious, than anxiety, it attacks a woman at her core: her heart, soul and intellect that should rest joyfully and serenely in awareness of her inherent loveliness and dignity. It is not resolved by an act of contrition. Giving feelings of being unlovable, disgusting, and rejected, shame steals the very soul of a woman. Even worse, it can be hidden and not recognized by its victim.
3. Self-Hatred. Shame, covertly, can lead a woman to despise herself in her very femininity. This takes many shapes: negative body self-image, cutting, substance abuse, and promiscuity. Anorexia and other eating disorders seem to be a very specific attack against the female body: deliberately starving and killing it. It can take a machismo form as the woman mimics male comportment, often at its worst: foul language, aggressiveness, achievement-obsession, licentiousness, desire for power and egotism. Jealousy and envy are also expressions of self-hatred.
4. Love Addiction. A girl denied paternal affection and affirmation may crave masculine love and so give herself away, cheaply and promiscuously, and open herself to further abuse. Lust addiction is more prevalent among men but love craving is common to women. The entire glamour, entertainment, celebrity, and plastic surgery markets all cater to and inflame this wound.
5. Resentment. Wounded by masculine violence or neglect, it is unavoidable that women resent men. Much (not all) of the feminist movement of the last 50 years is thus motivated, as it emulates the very male pathology that wounded it.
6. Control. Since Eve grabbed for the fruit, women are tempted to control things. This directly contradicts their vocation to surrender in trust, to receive gratefully and joyfully. The wicked queen or the evil stepmother is a vivid image of woman turned vicious and threatening.
7. Suspicion. After the Fall, the posture inherent to femininity, that of trust and reception, has largely been replaced by suspicion, fear and defensiveness. This can express itself in aggression or timidity.
We Catholics honor the seven sorrows of Mary. Similarly, these, I suggest, are the seven sorrows or wounds I have observed of so many women. Consideration of them may move us men to the tenderness and reverence women deserve.
1. Anxiety. By far the most pervasive, profound and destructive consequence of the violation and neglect of women is anxiety. Unlike fear which is focused and targeted (e.g. I am afraid of being attacked, of failure, of rejection), anxiety is dispersed, global, generalized and without an identifiable cause. The feminine nature...organically, emotionally, spiritually, and every which way...is open, welcoming and receptive and therefore vulnerable to hostile intrusion. If not properly protected and sheltered by father and then husband (or surrogates) she is threatened in a manner that is inclusive, universal, penetrating. So, we see panic attacks. We see hysteria, a distinctively feminine condition, a dark, toxic even fatal potentiality for femininity. Such is the contradiction of womanliness since it directly attacks the woman's mission: to surrender, in trust, to Love and then radiate that Love as serenity, joy, generosity and grace.
2. Shame. Quiet, hidden, camouflaged and anonymous, shame is toxic in an even more profound, penetrating manner. Guilt, by contrast, is regret about a specific wrong-doing and so, like fear, has a precise object: I am sorry I hit you. It is easily resolved: repent, ask for forgiveness, make amends, firmly resolve not to repeat the act. Shame, like anxiety, is inclusive, global; resistant to cure; and settles like a dark storm giving an interior sense of being disapproved, unworthy, even repulsive. Even deeper, if less obvious, than anxiety, it attacks a woman at her core: her heart, soul and intellect that should rest joyfully and serenely in awareness of her inherent loveliness and dignity. It is not resolved by an act of contrition. Giving feelings of being unlovable, disgusting, and rejected, shame steals the very soul of a woman. Even worse, it can be hidden and not recognized by its victim.
3. Self-Hatred. Shame, covertly, can lead a woman to despise herself in her very femininity. This takes many shapes: negative body self-image, cutting, substance abuse, and promiscuity. Anorexia and other eating disorders seem to be a very specific attack against the female body: deliberately starving and killing it. It can take a machismo form as the woman mimics male comportment, often at its worst: foul language, aggressiveness, achievement-obsession, licentiousness, desire for power and egotism. Jealousy and envy are also expressions of self-hatred.
4. Love Addiction. A girl denied paternal affection and affirmation may crave masculine love and so give herself away, cheaply and promiscuously, and open herself to further abuse. Lust addiction is more prevalent among men but love craving is common to women. The entire glamour, entertainment, celebrity, and plastic surgery markets all cater to and inflame this wound.
5. Resentment. Wounded by masculine violence or neglect, it is unavoidable that women resent men. Much (not all) of the feminist movement of the last 50 years is thus motivated, as it emulates the very male pathology that wounded it.
6. Control. Since Eve grabbed for the fruit, women are tempted to control things. This directly contradicts their vocation to surrender in trust, to receive gratefully and joyfully. The wicked queen or the evil stepmother is a vivid image of woman turned vicious and threatening.
7. Suspicion. After the Fall, the posture inherent to femininity, that of trust and reception, has largely been replaced by suspicion, fear and defensiveness. This can express itself in aggression or timidity.
We Catholics honor the seven sorrows of Mary. Similarly, these, I suggest, are the seven sorrows or wounds I have observed of so many women. Consideration of them may move us men to the tenderness and reverence women deserve.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
What is Masculinity?
This is a GREAT question!
As an insider, I can speak to this. Of course what follows is entirely autobiographical and confessional! Like femininity, virility is a Mystery that cannot be adequately described or defined; so I offer glimpses in the way of epigrams.
Masculinity is:
- One mode of the bi-polar conjugal Mystery imagined from all time as the sublime created image of the inner Trinitarian Event of Love.
- Gentle strength; as femininity is strong gentleness.
- Deeply and tragically in crisis in the wake of the Cultural Revolution whose diabolical ambition was to devastate the Conjugal Mystery...femininity, masculinity, intimacy, fidelity and fecundity.
- A facing, an attraction, a movement towards the Feminine...in a desire that is desperate, excruciating, maddening; in awe and fascination; in befuddlement; in tenderness; in reverence; in fortitude and heroism; in humility; in extravagant Joy and gratitude.
- A journey from maternal enclosure, safety and comfort; through the painful oedipal passage; into identification with Father; and fraternal camaraderie; through bloody combat and competition; in the achievement of identity; and the intimacy of romantic agony and spousal ecstasy; to be possessed by a mission and adventure; in conjugal partnership; and paternity; and ordination as a patriarch; into wisdom, serenity and gratitude.
- Loneliness. The male is lonely, in contrast to the female who remains bonded and intimate with mother, sisters, friends, daughters, the elderly and sick. Adam, lonely and without a companion, received Eve as "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh;" but that ecstatic intimacy was destroyed by the Fall; and he returned to isolation. This autonomy is his destiny as founder of a family, as image of the Father: his relatedness is always within a prior isolation; as woman's isolation is always within a prior relatedness.
- A task, a mission, an achievement and finally a coronation. This contrasts with femininity which is an endowment: received, serene, effortless, abundant, diffusive, gracious, perfect, overflowing. The male must struggle, suffer, bleed, fight, fail, convert, surrender...all as initiation in to his Role as Representative of a Higher Power ( primarily God, but also justice, authority, tradition, truth.)
(Anecdote: my son who serves in the military told me he always loved to wear a uniform. Instinctively he understood his call to represent something so much greater than himself. And so, little boys never tire of dressing as knights, police, superheroes, etc.) By sharpest contrast, woman does not represent anything and has no role to play...it is for her to be her splendid self. She is her own value: integral, harmonious, radiant, abundant and perfect.
- Fragmented, dissonant, erratic, cowardly and violent...virility, destined to represent that which is Holy and Good and True, needs first and foremost and absolutely to be vested in humility, consciousness of its own misery and unworthiness in face of the sacred task it is given.
- Proud, it must become humble; lustful, it must become chaste; timid, insecure and cowardly, it must become courageous; harsh, it must become gentle and tender. It is in need of supernatural help!
- Protection and provision for mother-with-child, the poor and the weak, good order and the Common Good, Tradition and Truth.
- Reverent before the Holy, especially as presented in women; tender before the fragile, precious, vulnerable and suffering; passionate in mission, challenge, adventure; serene and confident in the face of danger and turmoil.
- Vastly inferior to the feminine in inherent dignity, graciousness, integrity, generosity, resiliency...the masculine urgently needs the support of fatherly mentoring, fraternal camaraderie, and above all heavenly graces. With femininity surpassing so in affectivity, resiliency, spirituality, integrity, dignity, loveliness-lovableness-loving-ness, any wholesome society must be patriarchical, properly understood, as cultural environment that encourages and honors men in their representational mission.
- At its ontological and spiritual depth, virility is itself created, and therefore receptive, and therefore feminine. As the Son, within the Trinity, is Reception...complete, absolute, infinite...of the Father...and then response. And so, virility to become true and strong, must first be receptive...of life, love, grace, and all the gifts flowing from our Creator. Out of this filial trust and reception, masculinity becomes paternal, courageous, humble, pure, and generous.
As an insider, I can speak to this. Of course what follows is entirely autobiographical and confessional! Like femininity, virility is a Mystery that cannot be adequately described or defined; so I offer glimpses in the way of epigrams.
Masculinity is:
- One mode of the bi-polar conjugal Mystery imagined from all time as the sublime created image of the inner Trinitarian Event of Love.
- Gentle strength; as femininity is strong gentleness.
- Deeply and tragically in crisis in the wake of the Cultural Revolution whose diabolical ambition was to devastate the Conjugal Mystery...femininity, masculinity, intimacy, fidelity and fecundity.
- A facing, an attraction, a movement towards the Feminine...in a desire that is desperate, excruciating, maddening; in awe and fascination; in befuddlement; in tenderness; in reverence; in fortitude and heroism; in humility; in extravagant Joy and gratitude.
- A journey from maternal enclosure, safety and comfort; through the painful oedipal passage; into identification with Father; and fraternal camaraderie; through bloody combat and competition; in the achievement of identity; and the intimacy of romantic agony and spousal ecstasy; to be possessed by a mission and adventure; in conjugal partnership; and paternity; and ordination as a patriarch; into wisdom, serenity and gratitude.
- Loneliness. The male is lonely, in contrast to the female who remains bonded and intimate with mother, sisters, friends, daughters, the elderly and sick. Adam, lonely and without a companion, received Eve as "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh;" but that ecstatic intimacy was destroyed by the Fall; and he returned to isolation. This autonomy is his destiny as founder of a family, as image of the Father: his relatedness is always within a prior isolation; as woman's isolation is always within a prior relatedness.
- A task, a mission, an achievement and finally a coronation. This contrasts with femininity which is an endowment: received, serene, effortless, abundant, diffusive, gracious, perfect, overflowing. The male must struggle, suffer, bleed, fight, fail, convert, surrender...all as initiation in to his Role as Representative of a Higher Power ( primarily God, but also justice, authority, tradition, truth.)
(Anecdote: my son who serves in the military told me he always loved to wear a uniform. Instinctively he understood his call to represent something so much greater than himself. And so, little boys never tire of dressing as knights, police, superheroes, etc.) By sharpest contrast, woman does not represent anything and has no role to play...it is for her to be her splendid self. She is her own value: integral, harmonious, radiant, abundant and perfect.
- Fragmented, dissonant, erratic, cowardly and violent...virility, destined to represent that which is Holy and Good and True, needs first and foremost and absolutely to be vested in humility, consciousness of its own misery and unworthiness in face of the sacred task it is given.
- Proud, it must become humble; lustful, it must become chaste; timid, insecure and cowardly, it must become courageous; harsh, it must become gentle and tender. It is in need of supernatural help!
- Protection and provision for mother-with-child, the poor and the weak, good order and the Common Good, Tradition and Truth.
- Reverent before the Holy, especially as presented in women; tender before the fragile, precious, vulnerable and suffering; passionate in mission, challenge, adventure; serene and confident in the face of danger and turmoil.
- Vastly inferior to the feminine in inherent dignity, graciousness, integrity, generosity, resiliency...the masculine urgently needs the support of fatherly mentoring, fraternal camaraderie, and above all heavenly graces. With femininity surpassing so in affectivity, resiliency, spirituality, integrity, dignity, loveliness-lovableness-loving-ness, any wholesome society must be patriarchical, properly understood, as cultural environment that encourages and honors men in their representational mission.
- At its ontological and spiritual depth, virility is itself created, and therefore receptive, and therefore feminine. As the Son, within the Trinity, is Reception...complete, absolute, infinite...of the Father...and then response. And so, virility to become true and strong, must first be receptive...of life, love, grace, and all the gifts flowing from our Creator. Out of this filial trust and reception, masculinity becomes paternal, courageous, humble, pure, and generous.
What is Femininity?
This is a GREAT question!
Modernity would say there is no such thing, would reduce it to a cultural construct, a personal preference, or a superficial personal accident (like a big nose, slim waist, small lips) of an androgynous, neutered individual. It would deny that there is an inner reality, or form, or gestalt, or soul that is femininity. Indeed, perhaps the most diabolical, disastrous consequence of the 1960's Cultural Revolution was the destruction of the spousal masculine/feminine Mystery. Masculinity, in its fragility, is now a train wreck! Femininity...resilient, fluid, organic, integrated, irrepressible...is in much better shape despite the vicious attacks upon it. It has about it a mysterious immunity, almost an invulnerability: drug addicted and sexually trafficked women often retain a resurgent maternity, dignity, and integrity. We know that our Blessed Mother, by virtue of her Immaculate Conception and Assumption, was preserved free of sin, evil, death, and corruption. It seems that by some marvelous analogy women in general share analogically in this privilege.
As a man who has been well loved, by many tremendous women, and an ardent admirer of women, I am singularly equipped to address this question, from a masculine perspective.
It is a daunting task: to describe femininity tends to fall into reductive stereotypes (nurturing, compassionate, etc.) that offend; to define it is impossible because it is itself a prime reality (like being, life, love, truth, beauty) which must be intuitively grasped rather than analyzed. Yet if it is real it is intelligible and can be spoken of meaningfully. Let's try!
Femininity is:
- A mystery...profound, dense, incomprehensible, unapproachable...a distinctive commingling of the Good and the True that incarnates and radiates an indescribable charm, warmth, and splendor.
- Creation at its apex as Reception...of life, of love, of the other as beloved.
- Receptivity...openness, sensitivity, welcome, affirmation...of the Other that bears fruit from the Other.
- A strong gentleness, as Masculinity is a gentle strength.
- Faces Masculinity, like the right hand faces the left, in a manner that is reciprocal, complementary, asymmetrical, dramatic.
- A flourishing garden...enclosed, protected, fragrant, fruitful, inviting.
- Attractive, enchanting, fascinating...as it awakens masculine delight, longing, fascination, tenderness, heroism, sacrifice and reverence.
- Welcoming, into its depths, of all that is worthy, true, noble...as it diffuses, from its depth, loveliness, hope, and joy.
- An overflowing font...for the sick, sad and dying; for family and friends; for spouse...of serenity, comfort, healing and safety.
- A fluid movement from filial trust to bridal conjugality to fecund maternity.
- A dance...fluid, rhythmic, organic, thrilling, vivacious...of all that is within and without.
- Rest, peace, perfection, immanence, synthesis, integrity...to Masculinity's ambition, combat, transcendence, analysis, fragmentation.
- Communion, intimacy, companionship in adventure, journey, mission.
- Partnership, with Masculinity...equality of dignity...but with surpassing integrity, identity, and dignity...even with deference, not to men, but to the higher goods masculinity represents including the fatherhood of God, and the authority of truth, justice and tradition.
- Engagement with competition, combat, achievement, governance, analysis, decisiveness, heroism...but all out a deeper reservoir of peace, rest and perfection.
Words fail! It is for us to gaze in awe, delight, tenderness and veneration. And be inspired in gentle strength, purity of heart, nobility of spirit.
Modernity would say there is no such thing, would reduce it to a cultural construct, a personal preference, or a superficial personal accident (like a big nose, slim waist, small lips) of an androgynous, neutered individual. It would deny that there is an inner reality, or form, or gestalt, or soul that is femininity. Indeed, perhaps the most diabolical, disastrous consequence of the 1960's Cultural Revolution was the destruction of the spousal masculine/feminine Mystery. Masculinity, in its fragility, is now a train wreck! Femininity...resilient, fluid, organic, integrated, irrepressible...is in much better shape despite the vicious attacks upon it. It has about it a mysterious immunity, almost an invulnerability: drug addicted and sexually trafficked women often retain a resurgent maternity, dignity, and integrity. We know that our Blessed Mother, by virtue of her Immaculate Conception and Assumption, was preserved free of sin, evil, death, and corruption. It seems that by some marvelous analogy women in general share analogically in this privilege.
As a man who has been well loved, by many tremendous women, and an ardent admirer of women, I am singularly equipped to address this question, from a masculine perspective.
It is a daunting task: to describe femininity tends to fall into reductive stereotypes (nurturing, compassionate, etc.) that offend; to define it is impossible because it is itself a prime reality (like being, life, love, truth, beauty) which must be intuitively grasped rather than analyzed. Yet if it is real it is intelligible and can be spoken of meaningfully. Let's try!
Femininity is:
- A mystery...profound, dense, incomprehensible, unapproachable...a distinctive commingling of the Good and the True that incarnates and radiates an indescribable charm, warmth, and splendor.
- Creation at its apex as Reception...of life, of love, of the other as beloved.
- Receptivity...openness, sensitivity, welcome, affirmation...of the Other that bears fruit from the Other.
- A strong gentleness, as Masculinity is a gentle strength.
- Faces Masculinity, like the right hand faces the left, in a manner that is reciprocal, complementary, asymmetrical, dramatic.
- A flourishing garden...enclosed, protected, fragrant, fruitful, inviting.
- Attractive, enchanting, fascinating...as it awakens masculine delight, longing, fascination, tenderness, heroism, sacrifice and reverence.
- Welcoming, into its depths, of all that is worthy, true, noble...as it diffuses, from its depth, loveliness, hope, and joy.
- An overflowing font...for the sick, sad and dying; for family and friends; for spouse...of serenity, comfort, healing and safety.
- A fluid movement from filial trust to bridal conjugality to fecund maternity.
- A dance...fluid, rhythmic, organic, thrilling, vivacious...of all that is within and without.
- Rest, peace, perfection, immanence, synthesis, integrity...to Masculinity's ambition, combat, transcendence, analysis, fragmentation.
- Communion, intimacy, companionship in adventure, journey, mission.
- Partnership, with Masculinity...equality of dignity...but with surpassing integrity, identity, and dignity...even with deference, not to men, but to the higher goods masculinity represents including the fatherhood of God, and the authority of truth, justice and tradition.
- Engagement with competition, combat, achievement, governance, analysis, decisiveness, heroism...but all out a deeper reservoir of peace, rest and perfection.
Words fail! It is for us to gaze in awe, delight, tenderness and veneration. And be inspired in gentle strength, purity of heart, nobility of spirit.
Monday, March 16, 2020
Why Are Women So Beautiful?
This is a great question!
We cannot answer it with any certitude. It is a great Mystery! The greatest Mystery of Creation. I myself have often wondered if He lost control, overdid it and forfeited self-control and rationality in a moment of ecstasy when He first imagined Womanly Loveliness.
Any answer must be humble, tentative, questioning. My own suggestions are from the perspective of a male, with all the myopia and bias that entails. And yet, they are not hopelessly subjective as they draw from reason, revelation and deep Catholic intuitions.
A "woke" mentality would see in this talk of feminine loveliness a shield for the usual predatory, domineering, lustful male psyche. That is exactly right: since Adam tasted the fruit, we men have failed to give women the reverence and tenderness due. On behalf of all men I enter our plea: Guilty as Charged! But that can't be the all of it!
An evolutionary biologist will see in womanly attractiveness an arbitrary series of random mutations and survival of the fittest. This logic, along with the entire science, is abysmally trite, reductionist, monotonous and utterly devoid of charm, splendor, hope, or delight. If I were a Darwinian I would have killed myself about 50 years ago!
Let's be clear: by "Beauty" I do mean the radiant smile, the harmonious face, the dizzying-and-breath-taking-and-heart-piercing eyes, the form at once petite, vigorous, resilient, fecund, proportioned, curvy, luminous, serene, and charming...and so much more: the elegance, demeanor, trust, humility, patience, generosity, receptivity, charm, wisdom, tranquility, posture, mystery, humor, dignity...(adjectives and nouns both fail me)! By "Beauty" we mean here the radiance from the depths of the Good and the True!
So, here are some possibilities:
- Woman, the last, the epitome and the masterpiece of Creation, was designed so He could delight in her. God endlessly and infinitely is in Delight; that is what He does; and He has every right to do so however He pleases.
- In His generosity, He wanted to share this delight...with men, children, the elderly and sick, the wise and the disabled. Think of a wedding: father is walking up the aisle with daughter, he is exuberant with joy in her beauty; the groom is surging with Joy; all eyes are on the bride; many, including grown and sober men, are tearing up. Creation is at its pinnacle! (Aside: if I get to heaven I do not expect a hundred brown-eyed virgins; but I do hope for constant, always-available reruns of movies of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Maureen O'Hara, Sophia Loren and Brigid Bardot!)
- In planning Creation, the Trinity agreed they wanted one creature to mirror, sublimely, their own Divine Splendor and to be, already on earth, a premonition of Heaven: that is Woman.
- In abundant goodness, He wanted every child, normally, to spend the first year on earth (give or take) in the euphoria of a warm embrace, a comforting breast, and the gaze of a beatific face.
- Pierced by longing, the male is destined to leave mother and father, embark on a journey of combat and danger, earn the love of his Beloved, embrace her in intimacy and fidelity and exclusivity and fruitfulness and sacrifice, form a communion of never-ending-love, share an adventure and mission together, and bring forth beautiful new children.
- Otherwise sober, decent, rational, self-controlled men become insane, frenzied, and desperate with desire so that they fall to their knees, miserable in their loneliness before such Beauty, and they cry out for Mercy and help from heaven.
- Inspired with tenderness and reverence before such Beauty-Goodness-Truth, we men sublimate our aggressive and desirous impulses and are ennobled to be serene, pure, courageous, humble, generous.
- The male ego...fractured and fragile with arrogance and pride...finds itself restored to peace and health when as it is loved by a good woman and renders her tenderness in her delicacy and reverence in her surpassing integrity, dignity, graciousness, compassion and generosity.
- Every women is destined at some point to become aware of her infused Beauty and Goodness and Truth and so rejoice with Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior, for He has looked with favor upon his lowly handmaid."
- The angels in heaven were destined to enjoy forever the feminine splendor of Mary as their Queen. It is a shame that Lucifer and his crowd were too proud to go along with the plan!
That is just one man's opinion!
We cannot answer it with any certitude. It is a great Mystery! The greatest Mystery of Creation. I myself have often wondered if He lost control, overdid it and forfeited self-control and rationality in a moment of ecstasy when He first imagined Womanly Loveliness.
Any answer must be humble, tentative, questioning. My own suggestions are from the perspective of a male, with all the myopia and bias that entails. And yet, they are not hopelessly subjective as they draw from reason, revelation and deep Catholic intuitions.
A "woke" mentality would see in this talk of feminine loveliness a shield for the usual predatory, domineering, lustful male psyche. That is exactly right: since Adam tasted the fruit, we men have failed to give women the reverence and tenderness due. On behalf of all men I enter our plea: Guilty as Charged! But that can't be the all of it!
An evolutionary biologist will see in womanly attractiveness an arbitrary series of random mutations and survival of the fittest. This logic, along with the entire science, is abysmally trite, reductionist, monotonous and utterly devoid of charm, splendor, hope, or delight. If I were a Darwinian I would have killed myself about 50 years ago!
Let's be clear: by "Beauty" I do mean the radiant smile, the harmonious face, the dizzying-and-breath-taking-and-heart-piercing eyes, the form at once petite, vigorous, resilient, fecund, proportioned, curvy, luminous, serene, and charming...and so much more: the elegance, demeanor, trust, humility, patience, generosity, receptivity, charm, wisdom, tranquility, posture, mystery, humor, dignity...(adjectives and nouns both fail me)! By "Beauty" we mean here the radiance from the depths of the Good and the True!
So, here are some possibilities:
- Woman, the last, the epitome and the masterpiece of Creation, was designed so He could delight in her. God endlessly and infinitely is in Delight; that is what He does; and He has every right to do so however He pleases.
- In His generosity, He wanted to share this delight...with men, children, the elderly and sick, the wise and the disabled. Think of a wedding: father is walking up the aisle with daughter, he is exuberant with joy in her beauty; the groom is surging with Joy; all eyes are on the bride; many, including grown and sober men, are tearing up. Creation is at its pinnacle! (Aside: if I get to heaven I do not expect a hundred brown-eyed virgins; but I do hope for constant, always-available reruns of movies of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Maureen O'Hara, Sophia Loren and Brigid Bardot!)
- In planning Creation, the Trinity agreed they wanted one creature to mirror, sublimely, their own Divine Splendor and to be, already on earth, a premonition of Heaven: that is Woman.
- In abundant goodness, He wanted every child, normally, to spend the first year on earth (give or take) in the euphoria of a warm embrace, a comforting breast, and the gaze of a beatific face.
- Pierced by longing, the male is destined to leave mother and father, embark on a journey of combat and danger, earn the love of his Beloved, embrace her in intimacy and fidelity and exclusivity and fruitfulness and sacrifice, form a communion of never-ending-love, share an adventure and mission together, and bring forth beautiful new children.
- Otherwise sober, decent, rational, self-controlled men become insane, frenzied, and desperate with desire so that they fall to their knees, miserable in their loneliness before such Beauty, and they cry out for Mercy and help from heaven.
- Inspired with tenderness and reverence before such Beauty-Goodness-Truth, we men sublimate our aggressive and desirous impulses and are ennobled to be serene, pure, courageous, humble, generous.
- The male ego...fractured and fragile with arrogance and pride...finds itself restored to peace and health when as it is loved by a good woman and renders her tenderness in her delicacy and reverence in her surpassing integrity, dignity, graciousness, compassion and generosity.
- Every women is destined at some point to become aware of her infused Beauty and Goodness and Truth and so rejoice with Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior, for He has looked with favor upon his lowly handmaid."
- The angels in heaven were destined to enjoy forever the feminine splendor of Mary as their Queen. It is a shame that Lucifer and his crowd were too proud to go along with the plan!
That is just one man's opinion!
Saturday, March 14, 2020
What's Good About the Coronavirus Pandemic?
You've got to: accentuate the positive;
Eliminate the negative;
Latch onto the affirmative;
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between! Bing Crosby Song
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-sz-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=sz&p=accentuate+the+positive+song#id=14&vid=9b5ebe50a0c345464e6ca07462af4312&action=click
I wouldn't worry about that! Paca
I have heard people rant and rave and bellow
That we're done and we might as well be dead,
But I'm only a cockeyed optimist
And I can't get it into my head. Cockeyed Optimist, South Pacific, Rogers and Hammerstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao4gKsFpqys
Do not be afraid. 2003 University of Notre Dame Valedictory Address echoing St. John Paul echoing Jesus
Looking at the positive, the "half-full," is a wholesome habit. This is not to be unrealistic; not to ignore or even minimize the gravity and suffering of the situation. Our faith especially encourages us: that God "makes all things work for the good of those who love him;" that the permissive (contrast to the direct) will of God allows evil only to bring forth more good; and that God's ever-new marvelous works always elicit, even at the darkest times, our gratitude and praise. Such thinking is an antidote to the ultra-mega-uber-pandemic of anxiety that is worse than the flu itself! So, here's some of the best things about this virus:
1. Republicans and Democrats, president and governors and mayors are all cooperating beautifully to contain this threat. Such unity was unimaginable even a few weeks ago! We are enjoying, at least for the moment, a national unity that emerges only in the face of a colossal threat: Let's Celebrate!
2. The private and public sector, business and government, are also working together in a way that transcends the normal competition (as for example, should medical coverage be taken over by the state and thus eliminate private insurance?) This too will pass but will leave a residual memory that state and business can get along!
3. The virus is striking our country at a good time: just as the warm weather is approaching. It is unclear how vulnerable it is to heat, but the probability is that this seasonal change will help us.
4. We are blessed to have such sophisticated science that has significant, if limited, understanding of how it spreads and how to combat it.
5. Our economy has a marvelous resiliency to it: while the stock market has tanked, we are confident that when the virus passes it will rebound.
6. The troubling trends of globalization, which have provoked the Trump-Brexit phenomena and the movement towards nationalism and localism, are counteracted by the need to contain and protect. There is a positive dimension to this. Even as there has been cooperation between nations.
7. Families, parents and children, will have time together, hopefully some of it quality time, as schools close and parents wean themselves from careerist, work-aholic compulsions to care for their own.
8. More time for quiet, conversation at home, prayer, reading, relaxation and peace.
9. It is truly marvelous that the young are not vulnerable to the worst symptoms of the virus.
10. Regarding the elderly: average age of deaths is 80 years to my knowledge. To be honest: the militant euthanasia movement is a witness to the fact that some of us are living too long: dependent upon advanced technology, even in a comatose state, or lingering for months while suffering with no hope of recovery. I understand the demand for euthanasia by those who lack faith: they cannot defeat death but they want to control death and suffering. But the earlier demise of some of our octogenarians and novogenarians may be merciful in that it spares them that end-of-life suffering.
11. The inexorable, inevitable, necessary, oppressive and even totalitarian nature of our technocratic, bureaucratic society is suddenly undermined by a microscopic virus. Hallelujah! The alleged progressive movement of history (Darwinian evolution or Hegelian dialectic) is stopped in its steps! Nothing in history is determined! Chance, Surprise, Randomness, Eventfulness, Drama and Freedom have risen! Hallelujah! (Happily, I am out of the closet as an anarchist...follower of Ivan Illich, Jacques Ellul, Wendell Berry, Dorothy Day, the David Schindlers and others...with a deep suspicion of the entire system, despite all its good aspects!)
12. The Benedict Option, the distancing from the impersonal mega-mechanisms of our society (state, global business, academy, political parties, entertainment, internet, etc.) in order to strengthen local communities of family, faith, friendship and fruitfulness is given a boost by the virus.
13. Catholics, suddenly deprived of our Sunday Eucharist, may develop ("absence makes the heart grow fonder") a deep, passionate longing for our Lord in this sacrament (which remains available in daily mass in our Archdiocese of Newark.)
14. We are all reminded that all our expertise and sophistication leaves us "out of control" in the face of death, random natural events, finitude and contingency. This can be, for some, an invitation to trust and surrender, in serenity, to a Higher Power!
And so, let us relax, give thanks, and enjoy this sabbath and all the new gifts it brings!
Eliminate the negative;
Latch onto the affirmative;
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between! Bing Crosby Song
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-sz-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=sz&p=accentuate+the+positive+song#id=14&vid=9b5ebe50a0c345464e6ca07462af4312&action=click
I wouldn't worry about that! Paca
I have heard people rant and rave and bellow
That we're done and we might as well be dead,
But I'm only a cockeyed optimist
And I can't get it into my head. Cockeyed Optimist, South Pacific, Rogers and Hammerstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao4gKsFpqys
Do not be afraid. 2003 University of Notre Dame Valedictory Address echoing St. John Paul echoing Jesus
Looking at the positive, the "half-full," is a wholesome habit. This is not to be unrealistic; not to ignore or even minimize the gravity and suffering of the situation. Our faith especially encourages us: that God "makes all things work for the good of those who love him;" that the permissive (contrast to the direct) will of God allows evil only to bring forth more good; and that God's ever-new marvelous works always elicit, even at the darkest times, our gratitude and praise. Such thinking is an antidote to the ultra-mega-uber-pandemic of anxiety that is worse than the flu itself! So, here's some of the best things about this virus:
1. Republicans and Democrats, president and governors and mayors are all cooperating beautifully to contain this threat. Such unity was unimaginable even a few weeks ago! We are enjoying, at least for the moment, a national unity that emerges only in the face of a colossal threat: Let's Celebrate!
2. The private and public sector, business and government, are also working together in a way that transcends the normal competition (as for example, should medical coverage be taken over by the state and thus eliminate private insurance?) This too will pass but will leave a residual memory that state and business can get along!
3. The virus is striking our country at a good time: just as the warm weather is approaching. It is unclear how vulnerable it is to heat, but the probability is that this seasonal change will help us.
4. We are blessed to have such sophisticated science that has significant, if limited, understanding of how it spreads and how to combat it.
5. Our economy has a marvelous resiliency to it: while the stock market has tanked, we are confident that when the virus passes it will rebound.
6. The troubling trends of globalization, which have provoked the Trump-Brexit phenomena and the movement towards nationalism and localism, are counteracted by the need to contain and protect. There is a positive dimension to this. Even as there has been cooperation between nations.
7. Families, parents and children, will have time together, hopefully some of it quality time, as schools close and parents wean themselves from careerist, work-aholic compulsions to care for their own.
8. More time for quiet, conversation at home, prayer, reading, relaxation and peace.
9. It is truly marvelous that the young are not vulnerable to the worst symptoms of the virus.
10. Regarding the elderly: average age of deaths is 80 years to my knowledge. To be honest: the militant euthanasia movement is a witness to the fact that some of us are living too long: dependent upon advanced technology, even in a comatose state, or lingering for months while suffering with no hope of recovery. I understand the demand for euthanasia by those who lack faith: they cannot defeat death but they want to control death and suffering. But the earlier demise of some of our octogenarians and novogenarians may be merciful in that it spares them that end-of-life suffering.
11. The inexorable, inevitable, necessary, oppressive and even totalitarian nature of our technocratic, bureaucratic society is suddenly undermined by a microscopic virus. Hallelujah! The alleged progressive movement of history (Darwinian evolution or Hegelian dialectic) is stopped in its steps! Nothing in history is determined! Chance, Surprise, Randomness, Eventfulness, Drama and Freedom have risen! Hallelujah! (Happily, I am out of the closet as an anarchist...follower of Ivan Illich, Jacques Ellul, Wendell Berry, Dorothy Day, the David Schindlers and others...with a deep suspicion of the entire system, despite all its good aspects!)
12. The Benedict Option, the distancing from the impersonal mega-mechanisms of our society (state, global business, academy, political parties, entertainment, internet, etc.) in order to strengthen local communities of family, faith, friendship and fruitfulness is given a boost by the virus.
13. Catholics, suddenly deprived of our Sunday Eucharist, may develop ("absence makes the heart grow fonder") a deep, passionate longing for our Lord in this sacrament (which remains available in daily mass in our Archdiocese of Newark.)
14. We are all reminded that all our expertise and sophistication leaves us "out of control" in the face of death, random natural events, finitude and contingency. This can be, for some, an invitation to trust and surrender, in serenity, to a Higher Power!
And so, let us relax, give thanks, and enjoy this sabbath and all the new gifts it brings!
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