On Saturday I walked to church and listened to a podcast. The thing in the podcast that struck me the most was just how powerful a motivator fear can be. Having already read the mass readings, which address fear and other things, and I began to think about fear in our time. It is not all that different than fear in any other time; it just seems worse because we are bombarded with so much information.
So what are we afraid of? Continue reading
Tenderness or severity? What will we choose?
What will we choose today? Tenderness? Severity? We seem to believe that severity is the go to for keeping law and order, but I’m not sure it is all that simple. Many of us profess to follow the Prince of Peace. Severity did not seem to be his thing and here we all are, 2000 years later, still worshiping a man who was hung like a shameful thief on a cross. He never resisted, he did not fight back, he did not choose severity – even when it was chosen for him.Knowing that death was coming for him, Jesus responded to violence by saying
What will we choose today? Especially we who follow Christ? Will we “show them” who is in charge, whoever them may be… Black people, Muslims, fill in the blank, there are many “thems.” For some, out of madness and rage, out of destruction, “them” are the police. More death does not bring forth life, it brings forth only more pain, sorrow, anger, and ultimately, even more death.
What will we choose today? Will we blame all of “them” and hold ourselves unaccountable when in fact we all have a role in what is happening? Will we clasp our hands in prayer and pray for a new president to “fix” things? Will we keep saying “if there were no blacksgaysmuslimsdemocratssocialistsimmigrants then we would be ok?”
What will we choose today? And what will be on our heart as we take our last breath, whenever that may be? Will we be glad that we spent more time wallowing in despair or spouting anger? Will we be glad that we used all the power given to us by God to keep order? Or will we regret that severity won the day, leaving tenderness in the dust? Discernment is of the highest order, when we consider each moment of our own precious lives, and of the precious lives of others.
What will we choose today? Why wait for death to find out? What will we choose?
Hello readers – I have a question for you. Are any of you Catholics who support Donald Trump? I am not asking this in order to bash you and break you, I am honestly curious. If I get some good and legitimate replies, I will write more about this. Honestly, it is beyond my understanding, but I’m asking to learn more.
In order to avoid comment wars, I will ask you to comment in order to get your reply, but know that I will not publish any of the comments. Your email addresses show up for me, so I may send you a note for clarification.
If you know someone who has found a way to reconcile their Catholic faith and Trump, please pass this along to them. As I said, I do not get it, but I have questions and I do not want to fight. There is a Facebook page called Catholics for Donald Trump, but I am not sure I would trust that as a resource. There does not appear to be any group with a website; well not just yet anyway.
Please know that your confidentiality is assured unless you wish to be revealed should I write further about this topic. Thanks.
PS – People who do not love Trump, I know you do not love him. Please bear with me here!
“Why haven’t you written something on your blog about Pope Francis and Donald Trump? As the Catholic blogger for the Times Union, don’t you have a responsibility to write about these things?” The question arrived in the form of an email from an acquaintance and took me by surprise.
As it happens, I am not the only Catholic blogger on the Religion/Beliefs corner of the TU blog platform. My friend, former grad school classmate Walter Ayers is present in that space as well. And I do not bear any responsibility to do anything. It goes like this – the paper asked if I would blog on their platform four years ago and I agreed. If I stop blogging, the newspaper police burst through my door and drag me before my “blog boss” Michael Huber, who is the Interactive Audience Manager for the paper. In fact, I have so few obligations, I keep this platform up, my “home” space, and the newspaper blog is a mirror.
That reply to my acquaintance generated another question. “Don’t you care about what is happening?” Oh I do, trust me – I Continue reading
There Will Be Bread 
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