On Fowler's snares

I'm finding it impossible to move on from the last topic, namely:

Times change, and those that can't keep up will be swept away.

I am offended by this notion! I DO NOT want it to be true, and I'm pretty het up about it and all.

So what response does faith have to this? God's mercy has just got to be bigger than this, even when, sometimes, God is the one doing the sweeping away! God's mercy has got to be bigger!

Every morning in Lent the spotless Bride of Christ chants at the top of her lungs, in every time zone, the following responsory after the Little Chapter:

God himself will set me free, from the hunter's snare.
---God himself will set me free, from the hunter's snare.

From those who would trap me with lying words
---and from the hunter's snare.

Evening Prayer tonight includes these verses from Psalm 124:

Blessed be the Lord who did not give us
a prey to their teeth!
Our life, like a bird, has escaped
from the snare of the fowler.

Indeed the snare has been broken
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

So, however desperate it gets, and however wrathful even God sometimes may be, he still is the one who will snatch us from the jaws of death, who will catch us up when we have been swept away.

One day, soon, I will steal myself to reread St. Irenaeus work on the recapitulation, but 'til then, a sincere dependence on God's mercy cannot be the wrong thing.

On being caught up -- when one is not paying attention

I've been reading this totally non-threatening soft-cover called, Eccentric Circles, by Rebecca Lickiss and published by Ace in 2001. I've been reading a lot of non-threatening stuff this last year. Anyway while tripping through the sentences I was struck by this:

Times change, and those that can't keep up will be swept away.

It is not the first time I have read that sentence, or one of exact sentiment. What hit me as new was the next two lines:

He looked in dismay at the table. "I forgot the tablecloth."

Now, I'm not suggesting that this is a profound experience. But I was brought up short by it. I mean, is this guy going to be swept away because he forgot the tablecloth?

Times change, and those that can't keep up will be swept away. Such a practical and pragmatic observation. And in that sense probably true, or true enough.

But it is decidedly not true! OR, I very greatly want it to be untrue!

Right here, in this little narrative is where I wanted to plant some tight little quote from the liturgy, a pithy passage of scripture, or the butt end of one of the psalms that would knock the world over on its ass.

There are quotes like that. Perhaps the best is the shortest:

Jesus wept.

What I was able to find readily under hand, was more like the following:

from Psalm 136:

The first-born of the Egyptians he smote,
for his love endures for ever.
He brought Israel out from their midst,
for his love endures for ever;
arm outstretched, with power in his hand,
for his love endures for ever.

He divided the Red Sea in two,
for his love endures for ever;
he made Israel pass through the midst,
for his love endures for ever;
he flung Pharaoh and his force in the sea,
for his love endures for ever.

Through the desert his people he led,
for his love endures for ever.
Nations in their greatness he struck,
for his love endures for ever.
Kings in their splendor he slew,
for his love endures for ever.

Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for his love endures for ever;
and Og, the king of Bashan,
for his love endures for ever.

He let Israel inherit their land,
for his love endures for ever.
On his servant their land he bestowed,
for his love endures for ever.
He remembered us in our distress,
for his love endures for ever.

I would have loved to have been able to use (from Ps. 136):

It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures for ever;
and rescued us from our foes,
his steadfast love endures for ever.

See, no one gets swept away! God, himself remembers every body, every thing! His steadfast love endures forever, he rescues us from all our foes. . . But how could I use that verse, considering the rest of the psalm. How often have I chanted:

Nations in their greatness he struck,
Kings in their splendor he slew.
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og, the king of Bashan,
for his love endures for ever.
He let Israel inherit their land.
On his servant their land he bestowed,
for his love endures for ever.

For His love endures forever, but times seem to change, and there are those who seem to get swept away! What is our reliable answer to that? Certainly our answer lies somewhere in that short verse; Jesus wept. And also in the very short story from Matthew's Gospel (18:12):

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?

On the Witness of the martyrs

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.

from Psalm 116:

What shall I return to the LORD
for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,

I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.

O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving-maid.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
n the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD!

The Church remembers, today, the feast of St. Polycarp. He was the bishop of Smyrna, a disciple of St. John, the beloved Disciple and the teacher of St. Irenaeus of Lyon. We remember him, probably, because he was a martyr. In just his lifetime the Church moves from the Apostolic to the post-Apostolic age. Polycarp's life and teaching connected his community to the living preaching of Jesus and his disciples. With his death the special teaching of living eyewitnesses gave way to the inspired teaching of Bishops and the courageous witness of the martyrs. That teaching and witness continues to connect us to the living and teaching of Jesus.

While the Age of the Apostles is long gone, the age of Martyrs, it seems, is with us still.

On February 12, 2005, Sr. Dorothy Stang, of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, was gunned to death by two assailants in the Amazonian rain forest, and so entered into the glorious company of Christ and his martyrs.

Sr. Dorothy had, for a number of years, lived and worked among the people of Anapu, Brazil defending them, their way of life, and their rain forest-home from encroaching loggers. At the time of her death, Sr. Dorothy was reading passages of the scripture to her assailants.

Who knows if she had the courage of the martyrs. At the age of 73, she did have the courage to live among the poor, far away from the comforts of home in Ohio, and she did share her life and faith there. It might not have taken courage to live there, maybe only gratitude, curiosity, generosity of heart. But, when the time came, she was at the other end of a hail of bullets; with courage, or without courage, she stood there against darkness and allowed Christ to triumph in her apparent weakness.

She may have been a very ordinary woman, just like any of us, and the staggering lesson we may be meant to learn in this horrible event, is that God's call to witness, may be very spur-of-the-moment and over in a flash. Sr. Dorothy lived a life of gratitude, informed by the life of Jesus and nourished by the psalms like the one quoted here. Maybe that is the only preparation any of us ever get for God's service.

Every one of us is precious to God. That is the real message of Sr. Dorothy's long ministry and sudden death. Let us thank God for the witness of the life and ministry of Sr. Dorothy, let us pray for her quiet repose, for the consolation of her sisters, family, and friends, and for the true needs of the people she loved and served in her last years. May God welcome her into His Mercy, and may she pray for us, there, until we join her in the Beatific Vision and the Feast of Heaven.

If it is good enough for the Queen's Navy. . .

According to an article in the, London Times, this morning:

The Royal Navy will begin to openly advertise for Gay recruits in an effort to help all gay service persons to see themselves as part of the service mainstream.

Well, that's a far better attitude than, "Don't ask, don't tell." I wonder what Bill Clinton will have to say about this.

On a Reading from the Second Epistle to Timothy

2 Timothy 1:8b-10:

Beloved:
Bear your share of hardship for the gospel
with the strength that comes from God.

He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel.

I am much moved by the use of the word bestowed in the second reading for the mass yesterday! In the recently defunct, also NAB, translation the term used was, held out to us.

Bestowed is a much stronger action than held out to us. Bestowed suggests completed action, while held out merely denotes an offer and is patient of an incomplete action. This is precisely where it would be good to be a gifted linguist. What does the text read. And, more important, how should we read the text.

The NRSV translation reads:

This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Held out to us, bestowed, was given. Ever stronger language to suggest that God's will and act to save is transcendent of our history; perhaps, even completed before we step out very far onto the stage! This language suggests that God's love, manifest in Israel, in the Church, is meant for all the world, every nation, every people, all of us. Meant, and perhaps more pointedly, revealed for all of us.

This year the reading suggests that God's saving action is meant for all the world. Next year Paul will focus more narrowly on the experience and promise of the Christian Community in the plan of Salvation. This year God's big design is proclaimed, and the surety given is the proclamation of the Gospel and the passion and resurrection of Christ.

This morning's Little Chapter from Exodus continues to underscore this for me:

Exodus 19: 4-6a:

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

As our lenten journey progresses lets us remember that what God has achieved in Christ we proclaim.

One of those Quizzes, who would have guessed?

According to the Quiz:

You are Lady Cordelia Flyte.
You are loving and loyal.
You're not a sentimental dowdy,
however: you have a lively sense of humor
and keen intellect.



I think that I'd rather be Kurt, but if I can't be Kurt, Lady Cordelia will do, nicely!

Every one of us wants to be understood, accepted, loved. All of us want to belong, even those of us who want to be king -of -hill want to belong. That's why they have all these quizzes. So that we can see who it is that we are like, Which Lord of the Rings character am I, what dog breed, what flower, what temperament. All of us want to know. Because if we knew what we were like, we might begin to know ourselves. We might be able to invest ourselves in that something understood by ourselves and by others. We won't have to be ourselves. No, I'm Cordelia Flyte! I'm 82% Southern! I'm Roman Catholic!

The truth is that we are far too mysterious for a quiz or an inventory to fathom. We really admit that when we take them, but they are amusing and seductive. So much easier to contemplate a handful of questionable-though verified-results than to confront the mystery that is each of us from the murky core to the outer-most layer of skin!

Psalm 139: 12-13:

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

We belong, not to ourselves, but to God who made us. And God alone knows us fully, and loves us. We are like God when we attempt to know ourselves as God knows us, and our neighbors. And to love.

Our resilient littleness can get in the way of this knowing and this love. Perhaps while we are busy, this Lent, with prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we can try to outgrow some of this littleness.


What Brideshead Revisited character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla.

On the Real Presence

CNS NEWS BRIEFS Feb-16-2005: Avery Cardinal Dulles, speaking at Fordham University reminded the gathered guests that the teaching of the Council of Trent on the Real Presence remains the normative teaching of the Church.

On the Common Value of Education

My favorite Responsory in the entire breviary appears during Lent:

God himself will set me free, from the hunters snare.
From those who would trap me with lying words
---and from the hunter's snare.

Education is one of God's most potent means to set us free from the Hunter's snare. Independent, rational, critical thinking supported by history, culture, poetry, science is liberating.

John Haldane writing in, The Scotsman, mourns the sad deconstruction of the Scots tradition of education. The article is a fine warning. Early and over specialization may not really equip human hearts and minds for the broad requirements of living a full and contributory life.

The last sentence really caught my attention:

. . . remembering the primary purpose of universities is as places where serious knowledge is shared as common wealth, not hoarded as personal trophy, or melted down into trinkets.

In support of the Eucharistc nature of Christ's Church

What well catechized daughter or son of the Church would not recognize the essential role played by the Eucharist in the life of every Christian? If we are indeed, as St. Augustine teaches, an Easter People, are we not also and exactly a people of the Eucharist, partakers and members in the Body of Christ?

The National Council of Priests of Australia, in their remarkable proposal for the Lineamenta for the coming meeting of the World Synod of Bishops, take the role and centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church--The People of God--seriously. They suggest that, if we wish to remain who we are, an essentially Eucharistic people, then the church must address the growing shortage of priests with some vigor.

If it is true that there is one priest for every 2400-2500 Catholics in the world today, and that the number of "Catholics" continues to grow, while the number of priests does not, we really are in serious trouble. I cannot imagine being unable to attend the Eucharist on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. I cannot be sure that a once or twice yearly opportunity would hold much attraction, either. Some things--even terribly important things--become irrelevant when they are not available. Absence does not always make the heart grow fonder, as many thousands will attest in another context.

Our very reverend, wise, and deeply well-beloved Pastors--undoubted successors of the Apostles, all--will probably feel most free to suggest that the remedy to this plight is a manifest confidence in the Holy Spirit and a renewed commitment on our part to pray for vocations!

And, of course, I agree!

We should all pray for vocations, but perhaps we should also pray that these vocations we're praying for be fully recognized, welcomed, nurtured, and supported. There are Gay boys out there, and some married boys out there, and maybe, just maybe some women out there who may feel God's call to the sacerdotal priesthood. And, we desperately need them. If the many are called, just how are we doing the choosing?

I'm personally uncomfortable with the idea of a married priesthood. Most priests of my acquaintance are just a little eccentric, well at least more than some of the time. I love them terribly. Even so, I can't imagine them, broadly speaking as a class, being much improved should they come with wives or boyfriends as part of their standard equipment, not to mention the assorted accumulation of under-supervised juvenile delinquents roaming about, setting fires in the Sacristy or hocking the Parish Plate for the odd line or two. As it now stands, their cats and dogs are quite enough for most parish communities to handle. But this is just my prejudice, and I will one day grow old and die! (possibly, not soon enough!)

The Eucharist is probably more important than the priesthood, which may be merely an important means to an essential end. (If that last bit was heresy, I retract it right now, honestly!) But, soberly, God has vouchsafed to the Church, the People of God, great latitude to deal with these situations:


Matthew 18:18:

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Let us hope the we, the People of God, moved by the might of His Spirit, may act responsibly in this matter.

Seeking the Redeemer

The good news of our redemption is often lost, or should I say overshadowed, by considerations of the consequences of living the life of the redeemed. Yet the redemption is the REAL news of the Good News that is the Gospel. Each of us may fail from time to time, in our attempts at living the life of the redeemed, but our redemption is the work and the gift of the Redeemer, not something that we ever merit by ourselves. This is well underscored by the Little Chapter from Sext this morning:

Isaiah 44:22:

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Psalm 119:176 bears witness to this, also from Sext today:

I am lost like a sheep; seek your servant
for I remember your commands.

As we make our way to the celebration of Easter, during these journey days of Lent, we do well to bear in mind that, while we strive to overcome our sins, failings, littleness, it is the redeemer, who seeking us, will find us. It is Jesus who calls us to the feast.

A New Year

It is springtime in Berkeley. Just about everywhere the trees are in full bud and many are in flower. The rains seem behind us, more or less, and the days are crisp and clear. My favorite time of year. Everything is new, even the semester.

It is also the beginning of lent, a good anglo-saxon word for spring. Another season of renewal, of prepararion for the Feast of the Resurrection.

So, today, Ash Wednesday is all about renewal, and about the preparation for renewal.

Many of us at GTU wore red today, to mark the celebration of Chinese New Year. Our Bishop, Allen, relaxed the fasting regulations to provide for appropriate celebration of the day.

In the book of the Revelations, God is heard to say from his throne, "Behold I make all things new."

Springtime, Lent, New Year, its exciting that all of this happens at the same time in real-time this year. The Feast we are preparing to celebrate through our long lenten discipline is one of universal renewal. The Death and REsuurection of Jesus begins a process that will undo all our littleness and failings.

This year, as we journey through Lent to Easter, let us remember that God makes all things new, even us.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Cruising revisited

I've been reading, Someone You Know, by Gary Zebrun. This passage caught my attention:

The drivers were men, and they arrived alone and walked on paths through the scrub leading to the rocky cliff and wooden bridge over the chasm. Many left the paths, as I'd done a few times, for a small clearing where others were waiting. No one knew anyone when he arrived, and no one wanted to know anyone when he left.

It seems a well observed description of Cruising. No one knew anyone when he arrived, and no one wanted to know anyone when he left --the conflicting truth and not-the-truth of that sentence struck me.

George Michael once had to explain himself to some hapless interviewer like Regis Philbin, or Matt Lauer, or perhaps that Ryan Seacrest guy. Describing away his little indiscretion for the American Mainstream, he made the claim that Cruising, for the Gay Male, was not about necessity, but about something more mysterious, something, sub textually speaking, that the hapless het world just can't get--so let's just leave it at that.

I think that Gary Zebrun captures the moment well. And I do not think that it is beyond the grasp, really, of any of our population, Gay, Straight, or dead.

Cruising, in whatever flavor, is at the heart of every man and every woman. And, it is absolutely about necessity, about the longings of the heart, the body. It might be a vestige of the basic hunter/gatherer in us all. It might be a skewed example of that restlessness St. Augustine speaks of when he says: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."

The Little Chapter from Galatians this morning speaks, obliquely, to this issue for me. St. Paul suggests that in the depths of my being God is within me, living in me, loving me, calling me to communion with himself. Rather than the anonymity of that forest clearing, God desires to be known in each of us, for each of us. Being known may be risky behavior, but being unknown is far worse.

Galatians 2:19b-20

I have been crucified with Christ, and the life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me. I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

A Question of Nuance

Jesus Christ is the heart of all Christian Theology, but nuance and the art of nuance is an essential component of the doing of all Theology. The Hebrew scriptures, the Gospels, and St. Paul are rife with nuance. The earliest best-seller of Systematic Theology was not called, Sic et Non, for no reason. Nuance is the bread and butter of theologians, and also the bain of their existence. John Allen, in his weekly NCR column, The Word From Rome, writes this week about the difficulty the Church faces whenever one of her members attempts to make public statements of any kind. In our black and white (not only in the media) world, the value of nuance is lost to the sensational, or spectacular. The following quote helps to illustrate this reality. Read the whole article. Apparently, even the Pope gets censored in translation.

"We cannot tell a classroom of 16-year-olds they should use condoms. But if we are dealing with someone or a situation in which persons are clearly going to act in harmful ways, a prostitute who is going to continue her activities, then one might say, Stop. But if you are not going to, at least do this. Sex outside marriage already breaks the sixth commandment", Luño said; "unprotected sex outside marriage risks breaking the fifth commandment too, thou shalt not kill".

We do well to remember that the Church has received an ideal to uphold, teach, encourage. An ideal that may form an essential part of the revelation of the Divine plan. Then, we must remember that there is the reality in which real-time individuals live, strive, fail, succeed. . . But deeper than that is the greater reality of God's mercy. We do not have to achieve perfection to be welcome at the feast of heaven.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and Grace those fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear, the hour I first believed.