Being Pastoral

I heard that a reporter once asked the late Pope John Paul II what his favorite scripture verse was, to whom he immediately replied, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John Paul II was an amazing man; I have gotten the priviledge of seeing him twice. Although I am not normally very emotional, almost everytime he spoke, or glanced up from his notes during a speech, I was just about moved to tears. He was such a reflection of our Father in heaven, such a vessel of God's immense love, that seeing him those few times had truly solidified my relationship with God.

"You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free." It's interesting to hear this scripture verse in contrast to the current trends of society. The trends that say we cannot know truth and that truth is subjective to each person's experiences. People seem to have definitively stated the relativity of truth while being ignorant of the fact that their very own objections to objective truth is, in fact, objectively stated. It seems to me that their argument is intended to point the finger against the Catholic church and its stand for the truth. It is worth noting that everytime a Pope has spoken against particular decisions that society makes, and outlines concequences that will follow their actions, no matter how loud the "free-thinkers" mock the "archaic" and "out of touch" Popes, every single one of the Popes' predictions come into fruition.

Be that as it may, that is not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is people, within the Church, denying, watering-down, or ignoring particular truths for the sake of "being pastoral." Namely: inclusive language.

Sure, when scripture mentions words like "brothers" and "men," it more than often refers to both genders. However, when it comes to referring to God, we cannot assume that it really means, "gods" or "goddesses" or even "her." On this point, our liberty as creative thinkers needs to respect the Author's rights. Who is the author of sacred scripture? The Holy Spirit, aka: God.

A popular argument for gender-inclusive language regarding the Divine is that scripture was written by males, for males; hence, the countless references to God revealing himself as "Father" and spoken of with male pronouns. This includes Jesus' declaration that we ought to pray to God as "Father" during his discourse on a hill (the sermon on the mount).

Thier argument, however, presents many problems. First of all, the idea that scripture is a constrution by men for men, is in direct contrast with the doctrine of the inerrancy of scripture. In a nutshell, the doctrine states that when scripture is read within its proper context and in light of Church teachings (the traditons from the fathers of the Church), it is without error. It is important to note that the Bible is not a grammer or a science textbook, so don't get any strange ideas about telling your teacher that he is wrong simply because he teaches something that isn't mentioned in the Bible (like evolution). This doctrine is based on the premise that the Holy Spirit himself is the author of the sacred texts; that he inspired the writers to write whatever He wanted in the scriptures. So, ther is nothing in the scriptures that God did not want in them. Hence the problem of sexism. Why would God be condoning anything that is contrary to His Law of love? Therefore, I would say that an argument that states that the Bible is laced with sexism (i.e. written by men, for men), is more of an argument against the inerrancy of scripture and Christianity in general (due to its many scriptural roots).

Now, I want whomever is reading this to know that I am merely summing up the doctrine, for a thorough examination of what the Catholic Church teaches on the inerrancy of scripture, check out some of the links that I have listed on the right-hand side. Some of them are easier to read/understand than others so, pick whichever suits you best.

On being a man

I do not understand why some men seem to think that John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are the epitome of what it means to be a "man??" Sure, "the man with no name" is a cool character, but that's about it: a character.

I'll tell you what gets me started on this everytime I see it - and it annoys the heck out of me!!

Whenever I get started on some sort of labourious activity with some other guy, not every guy, but enough of them to piss me off, he seems to think that speaking gruff, grunting, looking grim, and even working aggressively (as if the job isn't going to get done without him) is the way to prove that you're a man. Another test of thier "man-hood" seems to be the habit of using short sentences and speaking abruptly when they are working with another man. It almost seems that if they could compare thier "extremety" with other men, they would. I wonder if they have ever realized that it's not the size of thier "part" that counts, but how they move. They seem to forget that being an upstanding man has more to do with such ideals as "virtue" and "integrity" than with which "leg" they're standing on.

As a Catholic, I am compelled to admire the lives and attitudes of such men as St. Francis Xavier and St. Joseph, who were not afraid to work hard, stand strong, and stay true to what is pure and just, while they were threatened with adversity. Above all, they were not afraid to love without limits, admit their weaknesses, forgive others, and allow themselves to be considered last among men if it meant glorifying God in their service.

Above all, Jesus - the source of all that we cherish as central to our humanity - the true man, the one with a name. He knew what He was about, He knew what He wanted, and He knew what it meant to be a man. He healed and nourished countless people with His boundless love, and He spoke the truth, no matter how difficult it was for Him to speak, or for us to hear. He continues to meet each person in their broken and frail humanity, and invite them to transform thier lives into something that is life-giving and freeing.

The more we model our lives around the caricatures of society, the more we will find ourselves seeking our true identity, and looking for whatever will make us happy, in a relentless and unsatisfied search. In the immortal words of the late Pope John Paul II, "by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves" (Faith and Reason, 1998).

What are we going to do? Will we be nameless men and wander about on dusty trails, in an unforgiving search for man-hood? Or will we make an attempt to meet Jesus our Christ -- who is not only a model for masculinity, but also its source.

The reality of HELL

I often find myself viewing the life of some fallen-away friend as sorrowful and painful to watch. I often think about how strong in the faith they once were - preaching to hundreds of teens and adults about the desparate need for a conversion. I often think about their potential to reach thousands more, if only they were able to have stayed on the "straight and narrow." I often find myself concerned for the eternal safety of their soul. However, I am sure that the devil uses these situations as diversions from the reality of hell in my own life.
I need to realize that if the circumstances were just a little bit different, I would be in the exact same position. Moreover, I am distracted from the fact that every single day I make choices that move me one step closer to living a similar lifestyle. The only thing that is keeping me from falling away is the mercy and compassion of our Father in heaven. It is His mercy that sustains me and keeps my feet from stumbling on my rocky path. It is His compassion that understands my weaknesses and lifts me up when I fall. But what I would really like to know is ... why me? What have I ever done to deserve such a wonderful gift? Day in and day out I make choices that slap Him in the face, choices that pierce the heart of Jesus as he is stretched out on a tree for all of my sins. Yet He still urges me on, He still sheds light onto my path and shows me where I could stumble and keeps me from it. But, why me and not them??
Maybe the answer is that He does the very same for them. Maybe they fell too far into the despair of guilt that they feel as if the unending mercy of God can't reach them? I don't know. What I do know is that the reality of hell is something that I must always keep in mind. I need to realize that, as I view their lives, my life could easily be heading in the same direction.
Therefore, I ought to pray for the compassion of our Father to be branded upon my heart. I ought to pray that I would be able to look at their lives with love and mercy instead of arrogance and pity. I ought to pray that my life would be embedded within the cross of Christ so that they could see His mercy and hope for it beyond their comprehension. I ought to pray that when they meet me, they would have an encounter with Jesus Christ - the God they seek as they dream of happiness.

Virtue

You know, I began this particular article in one of thoes pious mindsets in which I felt as if I was the only one thinking these thoughts, or that I was the person who is going to be read the most and somehow change society by how professional, attractive, and "inspirational" my blogs are. I mean, talk about self-delusional bull-shit!! But, that's how our ego works sometimes ("it's all about me!!"). The truth is, I love virtue. I think it's one of those things that God strengthens and renews in our fight against the evil in our world.

So what is "virtue" then? Does it mean that the virtuous man walks about all spiffed-up, giving flowers to ladies as he opens doors for them? Or is it about giving up our seat for someone who seems to need it most? On the contrary, I would say that "virtue" seems to have very little to do with our actions, but everything to do with our hearts - our secret motives, or the desires that drive us. Of course there are virtuous actions, such as the theological or cardinal virtues, but these acts can only bloom out of a heart that is rooted in prayer.

So you want to be truly virtuous and not just "nice"? Get back to God. Get back to the heart of worship. Submit to the loving tenderness of the divine life of Christ. Ask Him to permeate your being so that it would be in a state of constant conversion, a state that understands that we must decrease and He must increase. Without allowing God to rule in our hearts, our actions would only be "nice" as opposed to earth-shattering. You want to change the world? Change your life.

worship

You know, the more I think of it, worship must be selfless. It must move away from the carefree musings of campfire songs and into a realm of brokenness, abandonment, and blessing. "Brokenness" as we accept our weakness and allow ourselves to become naked before the Lord and not clothed with pious actions or words that make us seem perfect and holy; "abandonment" as we enter His courts as little children and expect that God wants to heal, nurture, and use us; "blessing" as we realize that worship is not about me, but my brothers and sisters praising our Father with me. As we embrace worship for what it ought to be, it will become a selfless and dynamic act of praise.

Conversion

Although I was raised within the Catholic Church, it wasn't until the summer of 1996 that God actually became real. I don't know why He chose that summer. I mean, it wasn't as if I never heard of Him. I went to summer camp, attended most of my religion classes, knew the priest, was a part of our church's youth group for a while, so why the summer of '96 and not sooner? Actually, there are three major events that lead up to the moment of my filial abandonment into His life. I will separate them into three different posts - just because a long, drawn-out story gets kinda boring to read after a while.

The first story happened when I was around four years old. I saw Him. Jesus entered into my life in a very profound way. My brother had just died of cancer a few months before, and we were visiting some friends of ours when Jesus decided to go for a walk.

There I was, playing with my toys, my mom was praying the rosary upstairs, when I looked at the end of the driveway and saw Jesus with my brother. They were just walking and smiling. I quickly told my mom - who informed me of the importance of going outside with my shoes on - and I ran out to meet them. By the time I ran to the end of the driveway, they were gone.

This moment has resonated throughout my life. Everytime I wanted to do something that was sinful, there was that image: Jesus on a Sunda stroll (a face to my ever-nagging concience). I would tell people the story; it inspired me to read the bible to my fellow elementary school students and to some of my friends.

High school hit and when I got involved in the "party scene" this image/vision, or whatever you want to call it, became my ticket past St. Peter's gate - just in case I happend to die or something. I saw it as my ticket because, for some reason, I thought that if I were to ever walk into the great judgment hall of God, I would be okay because He did that for me. My reasoning was that I could keep doing whatever I wanted since I was "right" with God.

That was how I lived my developing life. Presumming that God was going to let me into His kingdom simply because He went on a Sunday stroll, where I happened to be playing. As if heaven was a place for everybody - the people who hate God, the people who don't care about Him, and the people who continuously ignore His presence. In my mind, just as in the minds of the forementioned persons, there was no hell only heaven.

The thing is, and here's what was so foolish about my assumtion, why would God force me - or anyone for that matter - to do something that I didn't even want to do in the first place? Did He create robots - things, without any free will, that blindly (and without any choice of thier own) responded to electrical impulses to guide them? Or are we merely puppets? Is there nothing within our human nature that is good, or loving, or free? If we were just puppets then "love" or "goodness" would bear just as much weight as our primal instincts - in other words, tugs from the puppet cord.

Back to the question at hand: "free will" vs. "automatic entrance into heaven." A huge issue. If we truly do possess this strange gift of free will, then God cannot force us to do anything that we wouldn't normally want Him to do - like being close to Him. Why would He force me to be with Him if it is contrary to what I would have chosen in any given moment? What is heaven other then being close with our Creator and His love? Maybe a more relvent question is, what is hell other than a total separation from God and His love? So much for my presumption.