Last year, Pope Francis created a pretty huge buzz by telling the world that Catholics had become too obsessed with various issues, and that the Church needed to be a home for all. Lots of the media ran with it in one direction, speculating on the Pope being a liberal reformer, lots of other folks ran the other direction with posts, articles, etc. outlining 'what the Pope really meant'. This won't be either, because I don't think the Pope has any plans to change the foundation of the Church, nor do I think he said anything except what he actually meant, and I'm nowhere near qualified to speak for him. This post is just a little idea that came to me today in a PD session about evangelization in the Church.
At the beginning of Fr. Baron's series on the New Evangelization, there is a little bit about Christ being the light unto the nations, and the Church being the carrier of that light... a torchbearer if you will. We also explored a little bit of evangelization being about sharing our own light with the world as a way of inviting and building bridges, spreading joy through our faith. To paraphrase, we are called to share our light to guide others along the path to Christ.
My little idea was this: As Catholics, in a world that doesn't see eye to eye on a lot of issues, and where there are a lot of things we disagree with and fight against as evil, we want to shine our light directly onto that darkness. I think the idea is to illuminate it and try to fix it. I'm going to compare that to getting obsessed with issues. In good conscience, with the compassionate goal of protecting the innocent, speaking for the voiceless, etc, we focus a beam into a dark corner. The problem that Pope Francis is pointing out, is that anyone in that corner is gonna be kind of cranky because someone is shining a light in their eyes. It's annoying, and probably not helpful most of the time. You know the feeling, it's not a good one. I worked in an underground mine on a contract, and knew a foreman who got so ticked at a worker constantly shining his lamp in people's eyes, that the foreman smashed it with a wrench while it was still on the guy's head. It's that obnoxious.
What Pope Francis is asking Catholics to do is take the light out of the dark corner for a little bit, shine it on the road that leads to Christ. In the real world this looks like building relationships with people and being contagiously joyful. As a very wise nun told me once, if we are happy about being Catholic, we need to tell it to our faces and smile a lot more about it. Without shining our lights on joy, love, and how awesome our faith is, then all we are doing is blinding the people looking at us from the other end of the beam, so they can't see the awesome stuff we have to share.
Pope Francis wasn't telling us to ignore the things we disagree with, he was telling us to turn our light around and point it at the love of God and the joy of faith, so everyone can actually see.
Thoughts on matters of faith, education, and whatever else sparks my interest.
Friday, 10 January 2014
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
In joyful waiting
Okay, week three of Advent - the time of year when all the priests man up and wear pink!
So, the spot in the garage is clean and empty, I'm making sure it stays that way, the sale is advertised, it's Wednesday, and Canadian Tire opens Thursday at nine. I have to work, so I can't go until lunch. I'm excited to finally fill this space in the garage with the most manly of toys... er, I mean tools, it's almost here... I can smell the oil of the compressor pump, and hear it roar when I plug it. The sale is almost here. I feel like... well like a kid on Christmas morning, who knows he's getting a Nintendo (Christmas, 1989). That's the joy of Advent... Christmas is almost here, and we are about to celebrate the greatest gift, the amazing moment, and the incredible sacrifices. Even if we aren't believers, we are celebrating love, which is the greatest thing we have, and most of us take the time to show it through charity, which is so much an expression of love the two are practically synonyms. The joy of waiting is so awesome it makes you wanna dance around like you have to pee.
That feeling is Gaudete Sunday.
*NB - the brevity of today's post is in response to my friend Aibert, who as far as I know may be the only reader, and mentioned that he wished there was a summary of my posts so he had time to read them. Here ya go Aib! Thanks for the feedback.
So, the spot in the garage is clean and empty, I'm making sure it stays that way, the sale is advertised, it's Wednesday, and Canadian Tire opens Thursday at nine. I have to work, so I can't go until lunch. I'm excited to finally fill this space in the garage with the most manly of toys... er, I mean tools, it's almost here... I can smell the oil of the compressor pump, and hear it roar when I plug it. The sale is almost here. I feel like... well like a kid on Christmas morning, who knows he's getting a Nintendo (Christmas, 1989). That's the joy of Advent... Christmas is almost here, and we are about to celebrate the greatest gift, the amazing moment, and the incredible sacrifices. Even if we aren't believers, we are celebrating love, which is the greatest thing we have, and most of us take the time to show it through charity, which is so much an expression of love the two are practically synonyms. The joy of waiting is so awesome it makes you wanna dance around like you have to pee.
That feeling is Gaudete Sunday.
*NB - the brevity of today's post is in response to my friend Aibert, who as far as I know may be the only reader, and mentioned that he wished there was a summary of my posts so he had time to read them. Here ya go Aib! Thanks for the feedback.
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Advent week 2
Alright, so last week I committed myself to an awkward (embrace the awkward!) comparison of advent to the purchase of the manliest of garage tools, an air compressor. So, here we are, week 2, and it's time to continue milking this one for all it's worth.
Last week I wrote about needing to do a little purge of the junk in the garage to make room for the compressor, and compared it to purging our conscience through reconciliation at the beginning of advent (I'm not gonna lie, I kept the pickaxe... WHO WOULDN'T!). Now I have this beautiful space in my workshop, ready for the compressor to come in and fill it. Here's the problem, empty space gets filled fast. I'll give you an example. I cleaned off the workbench to be able to tune some skis. It was so nice and clean, and empty. Within 20 minutes, I swear it was messier than before. Tools, clothes, food, an old sink I found in the alley, some empty brass from my rifle... you name it, it was on the bench, cluttering my formerly, and gloriously clean space.
I can't speak for everyone, but that is kind of a theme for my life, space is never left empty. Free time? New hobby. Clean shelf? New toy. Clean space in the garage? New clutter! I think it's common enough that we fill our empty space.
This is a bit of a problem, but an even bigger opportunity after receiving the sacrament of reconciliation. After we purge all the garbage from our hearts, we have an empty space. The challenge is that there is no shortage of stuff that we can fill it with. The opportunity is that we can fill it with something awesome. It's not good enough to just clear that space out, we need to make sure it stays that way, as best we can. We need to fill the space with something that will hold it open for us, to allow God's grace to fully occupy it, and prevent the clutter of sin. I know for me, that thing is prayer. Advent is a time for increased prayer, to invite God into our lives. It's something I'm admittedly bad at doing regularly. My relationship with prayer is a lot like my relationship with the gym. I want to go, I want the benefits, I have good intentions, I feel good when I do it, but for some reason I don't make it as often as I should. Advent has a nice reminder built in though. The advent wreath is a daily reminder of the season, and a call to fill that empty space with prayer, in preparation for the celebration of Christmas.
So, what are you filling your nice, clean, empty space with?
Last week I wrote about needing to do a little purge of the junk in the garage to make room for the compressor, and compared it to purging our conscience through reconciliation at the beginning of advent (I'm not gonna lie, I kept the pickaxe... WHO WOULDN'T!). Now I have this beautiful space in my workshop, ready for the compressor to come in and fill it. Here's the problem, empty space gets filled fast. I'll give you an example. I cleaned off the workbench to be able to tune some skis. It was so nice and clean, and empty. Within 20 minutes, I swear it was messier than before. Tools, clothes, food, an old sink I found in the alley, some empty brass from my rifle... you name it, it was on the bench, cluttering my formerly, and gloriously clean space.
I can't speak for everyone, but that is kind of a theme for my life, space is never left empty. Free time? New hobby. Clean shelf? New toy. Clean space in the garage? New clutter! I think it's common enough that we fill our empty space.
This is a bit of a problem, but an even bigger opportunity after receiving the sacrament of reconciliation. After we purge all the garbage from our hearts, we have an empty space. The challenge is that there is no shortage of stuff that we can fill it with. The opportunity is that we can fill it with something awesome. It's not good enough to just clear that space out, we need to make sure it stays that way, as best we can. We need to fill the space with something that will hold it open for us, to allow God's grace to fully occupy it, and prevent the clutter of sin. I know for me, that thing is prayer. Advent is a time for increased prayer, to invite God into our lives. It's something I'm admittedly bad at doing regularly. My relationship with prayer is a lot like my relationship with the gym. I want to go, I want the benefits, I have good intentions, I feel good when I do it, but for some reason I don't make it as often as I should. Advent has a nice reminder built in though. The advent wreath is a daily reminder of the season, and a call to fill that empty space with prayer, in preparation for the celebration of Christmas.
So, what are you filling your nice, clean, empty space with?
Monday, 2 December 2013
The advent compressor
Okay, it seems kind of wrong to have a Catholic blog, and not have some advent postings. The trouble is, what else does someone say? Colm has a good one up:
http://projectym.com/blog/dinosaurs-tinkerbell-jesus/
Swords of truth has a Homily on the First week of advent:
http://swordsoftruth.com/2013/11/30/joy-in-everyday-apocalypses-homily-by-fr-nathan/
Let's face it, most blogs will cover it, and it's hard to say things that aren't already said. I mean, Advent, get ready for Christmas, go to confession, prepare your heart, be charitable... check, check, check, and check.
So, in that light, I am making what has to be one of the most contrived literary stretches in modern history: How advent is like buying an air compressor.
I recently bought an air compressor. I don't know why, it was on sale and I got a great deal... there is something about an air compressor that makes every guy with a garage want one, maybe it's the tools that make that cool sound, maybe it's goofing around with it, maybe it's the satisfaction of using it to blow the dust off the work bench, maybe it's feeling like a badass with a nail gun. Who knows.
Now, in this analogy, the arrival of the compressor will represent the coming of Christ. No seriously, stop laughing. See the thing is, I have no room in the garage for one (it's an 8 gallon puppy, so it takes up some space). Between motorcycle jacks (I don't have a motorcycle anymore), old boat hulls, a bag of almost kind of dirt you can imagine (they make a lot of kinds of dirt) flower pots, a sink I found in the alley, and a lot of other strange and wonderful things, there just isn't room.
Our lives are like that, we pick up 'junk' (I swear honey, it's not junk, I use that stuff all the time!), and fill the empty spaces in our lives with it. If we don't prepare for an important arrival, there isn't a place for it to fit. So for the first week of advent, it's time to 'purge' the garage. In getting ready to buy the compressor (okay, so I got it and it was living in the back of the car), I had to do some purging. It involved going through all the 'junk', and finding the things I didn't use, didn't need, had too much of, or were plain old garbage. It's an amazingly refreshing experience sorting through old stuff, and purging the crap. It really does feel great. I get to look at old hardware store purchases and leftover packaging, feel embarrassed that I spent money on something totally unnecessary (At the time the pickaxe seemed really useful), then get rid of it either by throwing away/recycling the garbage, or passing it on to someone who can actually use it.
For the first week of advent we need to do a personal purge. I'm stoked that our diocese is offering reconciliation every Wednesday for advent. An examination of conscience and good confession, as tough as they are, are so refreshing and liberating... they make new room within us to fill with more important things.
There you go, week one nicely wrapped up. Stay tuned for week 2, and dealing with the empty space!
http://projectym.com/blog/dinosaurs-tinkerbell-jesus/
Swords of truth has a Homily on the First week of advent:
http://swordsoftruth.com/2013/11/30/joy-in-everyday-apocalypses-homily-by-fr-nathan/
Let's face it, most blogs will cover it, and it's hard to say things that aren't already said. I mean, Advent, get ready for Christmas, go to confession, prepare your heart, be charitable... check, check, check, and check.
So, in that light, I am making what has to be one of the most contrived literary stretches in modern history: How advent is like buying an air compressor.
I recently bought an air compressor. I don't know why, it was on sale and I got a great deal... there is something about an air compressor that makes every guy with a garage want one, maybe it's the tools that make that cool sound, maybe it's goofing around with it, maybe it's the satisfaction of using it to blow the dust off the work bench, maybe it's feeling like a badass with a nail gun. Who knows.
Now, in this analogy, the arrival of the compressor will represent the coming of Christ. No seriously, stop laughing. See the thing is, I have no room in the garage for one (it's an 8 gallon puppy, so it takes up some space). Between motorcycle jacks (I don't have a motorcycle anymore), old boat hulls, a bag of almost kind of dirt you can imagine (they make a lot of kinds of dirt) flower pots, a sink I found in the alley, and a lot of other strange and wonderful things, there just isn't room.
Our lives are like that, we pick up 'junk' (I swear honey, it's not junk, I use that stuff all the time!), and fill the empty spaces in our lives with it. If we don't prepare for an important arrival, there isn't a place for it to fit. So for the first week of advent, it's time to 'purge' the garage. In getting ready to buy the compressor (okay, so I got it and it was living in the back of the car), I had to do some purging. It involved going through all the 'junk', and finding the things I didn't use, didn't need, had too much of, or were plain old garbage. It's an amazingly refreshing experience sorting through old stuff, and purging the crap. It really does feel great. I get to look at old hardware store purchases and leftover packaging, feel embarrassed that I spent money on something totally unnecessary (At the time the pickaxe seemed really useful), then get rid of it either by throwing away/recycling the garbage, or passing it on to someone who can actually use it.
For the first week of advent we need to do a personal purge. I'm stoked that our diocese is offering reconciliation every Wednesday for advent. An examination of conscience and good confession, as tough as they are, are so refreshing and liberating... they make new room within us to fill with more important things.
There you go, week one nicely wrapped up. Stay tuned for week 2, and dealing with the empty space!
Monday, 18 November 2013
The Digital Catholic
I've had a post sitting in the draft box for a while on memes, in particular snarky ones. I've been sitting on it because I'm not super happy with it, and I don't want this to turn into a laundry list of complaints about things I see on the internet (fighting snarky with critical doesn't seem to work so good). However, Colm Leyne (one of the links over on the right), posted a couple of great thoughts that got my gears turning on it again:
http://colmscommonplace.tumblr.com/post/67189313915/futurechurch
And
http://projectym.com/blog/catholic-jerks-are-just-jerks/
Read them both! They are nice, simple, and awesome.
I still can't get my other post to work for me, but the idea of not being a jerk in our faith, or in general, is one that I hold dearly, and if I were to sum up my thoughts on things like Catholic memes, it's don't be a jerk online. That got me thinking more about digital citizenship (something I studied a bit on over the summer at school) and Catholicism. So, without wasting more words, I present the Gruntled Catholic's guide to Catholic Digital Citizenship
1) When you evangelize online, do it the same way you would in real life.
I'm not cool, I don't pretend or try to be, so I'm not going to try and build a cool online persona. I'm not going to 'take it to the streets' (see, not cool) with my Facebook profile. I don't go door to door asking people if they've found Christ, so I'm not going to spam Facebook with nonstop posts in the hopes my non-Catholic friends read them and suddenly see the light.
I do tend to straddle a handful of different worlds and am often in fairly in depth conversations with people I'm close to, so I'm going to do that online where I have the opportunity to, and try to raise the level of online discourse. I'm a decent writer, at least from an academic point of view, a strong systemic thinker, and in general, a big picture guy, so I'm writing a blog where I can do that. I'm a musician, so I'm going to share music and thoughts on music. Most of all, I want my faith to be about joy in the real world, so I'm going to try and be joyful online whenever I can (I didn't say I'm good at it, just that it's important to me). Find the way to take your own self, and build that online so you are true to yourself
2) You only have one self. Make sure it's the same person online and offline
I like wandering in comment forums, and there's a phenomenon out there called being a keyboard commando. People tend to feel power when they write from behind a username, or profile. They can get preachy, definite, aggressive, and black and white about everything. I can count the number of people I know in real life who are like that on two hands, but online they are everywhere (myself included sometimes). If it's not okay to be snarky, condescending, judgmental, or insulting in person, why do we think it's okay online, especially with our faith (see articles re: don't be a jerk). When we disagree in person, we can do it respectfully, and without resorting to ad hominem attacks or using sarcastic humour to try and humiliate the ones we disagree with, so why do we think it's okay to fire personal attacks or post sarcastic memes about people and ideas when we disagree online? Ask yourself this: If I were to do/say this in real life, to someone I loved, would I be confessing it later? If the answer is yes, then why would you do it online?
3) You can't leverage relationships you don't have
It's easy to burn bridges online. It's easy to confuse a Facebook 'friend' with a real one, and cross lines we wouldn't in real life. I've alienated people online by treating them poorly, in a way only a close friend would usually forgive. It's powerfully easy to wreck a distant relationship online with a few wrong words. However, because of the vast amount of things we share online, it's also a tremendously powerful relationship building too. Before social networking was even a thing, I built a very strong connection to a friend in Texas I'd never actually met in person (linked through a common friend in Calgary). The conversations we had via email brought us close, and we leaned on each other through some tough times. With social media, the ability to do that has increased tenfold. We know how important it is to build relationships when we want to share the Love of Christ, so we owe it ourselves and our faith to be careful, active, and faithful to building strong relationships in the online world.
4) Be a truth seeker
This one might be a pet peeve of mine, but I have trouble seeing how we can be seen as people who possess the Truth when we can't get our facts straight. I cringe every time I see a Catholic friend post something that is anti-science, or ignorant of science, spread an internet rumor, or even share a 'Costco is going to give you $450' post on Facebook without fact checking first. I decided to stop being the fact police online a while ago, because it wasn't exactly uplifting or productive, but seriously, if we are the people who constantly evangelize for a super-vitamin or new diet that will cure everything, posts links to debunked studies that are anti-vaccination, tie ideas we don't agree with or understand to left wing (or right wing, although I don't see that as much) political conspiracies, or share everything that looks like a chain letter, then it's hard to give much weight to anything else we say. Catholics have a responsibility to be critical thinkers, to use things like the scientific method to expand our knowledge, to know the spirit and letter of the laws of our faith, to trust true expertise, and to seek out dissenting voices to our own thoughts, so that we can reflect on them, grow our faith and wisdom, and the faith and wisdom of others. Otherwise, if we are 'those people' online (as described above), we are violating the first three things, and not really accomplishing much more than increasing division.
5) Be a creative generator
The internet is a true marvel of technology. When you stop to think that we literally have almost the entirety of human knowledge and creativity at our fingertips, on demand, for almost free, it's mind blowing. There is so much amazing stuff on the internet, like this, or this (or anything else by ZeFrank, sad dog diary will make you laugh out loud!), or this!
So much of the internet is amazing and amusing (every above could probably take you on a multi-hour journey to some branch of the internet you haven't climbed yet) that it's easy to be a consumer. But we are all so gifted by God, and we are called to share and grow our talents. The internet has so much awesome culture, and somewhere between 1/6 and 1/7 of the world is Catholic. We should be contributing a massive amount of awesome to the internet, whether it's academic and wordy (yay me!), artistic and creative, critical and constructive, or just plain fun and funny. Life is too precious, and your gifts are too awesome to waste too much time and wall space on platitudes and sharing what other people have done (some is good, don't get me wrong). Share your work on your wall, share your gifts with the internet.
6) If your faith makes you joyful, tell it to your digital face
I met a nun once who gave me that quip about vocations. She was addressing the seemingly dour or angry image that a lot of religious have, but I think it's true about our faith all the time. I don't mean falsely cheerful, I mean genuinely joyful. Watch this or this and tell me it doesn't make you smile even a little. We want to be around joyful people, and with the reach of the internet there is so much opportunity to share joy. Hillaire Belloc said "Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,there’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I’ve always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!" I know I would rather be part of the Church that Belloc describes, than one who's members favor snarky memes over dancing monks!
http://colmscommonplace.tumblr.com/post/67189313915/futurechurch
And
http://projectym.com/blog/catholic-jerks-are-just-jerks/
Read them both! They are nice, simple, and awesome.
I still can't get my other post to work for me, but the idea of not being a jerk in our faith, or in general, is one that I hold dearly, and if I were to sum up my thoughts on things like Catholic memes, it's don't be a jerk online. That got me thinking more about digital citizenship (something I studied a bit on over the summer at school) and Catholicism. So, without wasting more words, I present the Gruntled Catholic's guide to Catholic Digital Citizenship
1) When you evangelize online, do it the same way you would in real life.
I'm not cool, I don't pretend or try to be, so I'm not going to try and build a cool online persona. I'm not going to 'take it to the streets' (see, not cool) with my Facebook profile. I don't go door to door asking people if they've found Christ, so I'm not going to spam Facebook with nonstop posts in the hopes my non-Catholic friends read them and suddenly see the light.
I do tend to straddle a handful of different worlds and am often in fairly in depth conversations with people I'm close to, so I'm going to do that online where I have the opportunity to, and try to raise the level of online discourse. I'm a decent writer, at least from an academic point of view, a strong systemic thinker, and in general, a big picture guy, so I'm writing a blog where I can do that. I'm a musician, so I'm going to share music and thoughts on music. Most of all, I want my faith to be about joy in the real world, so I'm going to try and be joyful online whenever I can (I didn't say I'm good at it, just that it's important to me). Find the way to take your own self, and build that online so you are true to yourself
2) You only have one self. Make sure it's the same person online and offline
I like wandering in comment forums, and there's a phenomenon out there called being a keyboard commando. People tend to feel power when they write from behind a username, or profile. They can get preachy, definite, aggressive, and black and white about everything. I can count the number of people I know in real life who are like that on two hands, but online they are everywhere (myself included sometimes). If it's not okay to be snarky, condescending, judgmental, or insulting in person, why do we think it's okay online, especially with our faith (see articles re: don't be a jerk). When we disagree in person, we can do it respectfully, and without resorting to ad hominem attacks or using sarcastic humour to try and humiliate the ones we disagree with, so why do we think it's okay to fire personal attacks or post sarcastic memes about people and ideas when we disagree online? Ask yourself this: If I were to do/say this in real life, to someone I loved, would I be confessing it later? If the answer is yes, then why would you do it online?
3) You can't leverage relationships you don't have
It's easy to burn bridges online. It's easy to confuse a Facebook 'friend' with a real one, and cross lines we wouldn't in real life. I've alienated people online by treating them poorly, in a way only a close friend would usually forgive. It's powerfully easy to wreck a distant relationship online with a few wrong words. However, because of the vast amount of things we share online, it's also a tremendously powerful relationship building too. Before social networking was even a thing, I built a very strong connection to a friend in Texas I'd never actually met in person (linked through a common friend in Calgary). The conversations we had via email brought us close, and we leaned on each other through some tough times. With social media, the ability to do that has increased tenfold. We know how important it is to build relationships when we want to share the Love of Christ, so we owe it ourselves and our faith to be careful, active, and faithful to building strong relationships in the online world.
4) Be a truth seeker
This one might be a pet peeve of mine, but I have trouble seeing how we can be seen as people who possess the Truth when we can't get our facts straight. I cringe every time I see a Catholic friend post something that is anti-science, or ignorant of science, spread an internet rumor, or even share a 'Costco is going to give you $450' post on Facebook without fact checking first. I decided to stop being the fact police online a while ago, because it wasn't exactly uplifting or productive, but seriously, if we are the people who constantly evangelize for a super-vitamin or new diet that will cure everything, posts links to debunked studies that are anti-vaccination, tie ideas we don't agree with or understand to left wing (or right wing, although I don't see that as much) political conspiracies, or share everything that looks like a chain letter, then it's hard to give much weight to anything else we say. Catholics have a responsibility to be critical thinkers, to use things like the scientific method to expand our knowledge, to know the spirit and letter of the laws of our faith, to trust true expertise, and to seek out dissenting voices to our own thoughts, so that we can reflect on them, grow our faith and wisdom, and the faith and wisdom of others. Otherwise, if we are 'those people' online (as described above), we are violating the first three things, and not really accomplishing much more than increasing division.
5) Be a creative generator
The internet is a true marvel of technology. When you stop to think that we literally have almost the entirety of human knowledge and creativity at our fingertips, on demand, for almost free, it's mind blowing. There is so much amazing stuff on the internet, like this, or this (or anything else by ZeFrank, sad dog diary will make you laugh out loud!), or this!
So much of the internet is amazing and amusing (every above could probably take you on a multi-hour journey to some branch of the internet you haven't climbed yet) that it's easy to be a consumer. But we are all so gifted by God, and we are called to share and grow our talents. The internet has so much awesome culture, and somewhere between 1/6 and 1/7 of the world is Catholic. We should be contributing a massive amount of awesome to the internet, whether it's academic and wordy (yay me!), artistic and creative, critical and constructive, or just plain fun and funny. Life is too precious, and your gifts are too awesome to waste too much time and wall space on platitudes and sharing what other people have done (some is good, don't get me wrong). Share your work on your wall, share your gifts with the internet.
6) If your faith makes you joyful, tell it to your digital face
I met a nun once who gave me that quip about vocations. She was addressing the seemingly dour or angry image that a lot of religious have, but I think it's true about our faith all the time. I don't mean falsely cheerful, I mean genuinely joyful. Watch this or this and tell me it doesn't make you smile even a little. We want to be around joyful people, and with the reach of the internet there is so much opportunity to share joy. Hillaire Belloc said "Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,there’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I’ve always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!" I know I would rather be part of the Church that Belloc describes, than one who's members favor snarky memes over dancing monks!
Monday, 11 November 2013
Remember them all
This week celebrity dragon, Brett Wilson, got the online news world all excited by being critical of the white poppy movement. Actually, let me rephrase that, he got a bunch of followers excited by calling anyone who disagreed with him a moronic a**hole, and justified his 'argument' by saying that the white poppy is co-opting a symbol of remembrance for political purposes, and that we can support peace while still honouring veterans. Of course, if you look a little deeper, really Brett Wilson is just so addicted to attention that he was willing to use today as a way to draw attention to himself, but I'm not sure we should expect more from our culture of celebrity. I would like to thank him though, because before this week, I didn't know about the white poppy, and I did a little homework on it because I wanted to know what it actually meant.
The white poppy was created as a symbol back in the 1930's (thus is not a symbol co-opted by modern pacifists), by a women's co-op after WW I. Many of the women were war widows, or lost their sons in the first world war. Many of them were angry, because they were promised their loved ones were fighting a war to end all wars, and were left with broken homes and families. They saw the drive towards more war, and wanted to make a statement. The white poppy was born as a call to peace. Over the years the white poppy also evolved to be a symbol of the sacrifices civilians made, including those who lost their lives either in service to the wars, or as innocent casualties. The white poppy honours the women who sacrificed their health, and sometimes their lives, working in dangerous factories building munitions (read about the 'canary girls' if you want to know what it was like for these women). It honours the children who grew up in homes with no father, or with the fear and trauma that come from the mental and emotional toll the war took on the men who returned home. The white poppy honours the 1.5 million children killed in WWII. It honours the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killed in atomic bomb blasts, and those cursed to live with the aftermath of those attacks. The white poppy honours the scientists who gave their health and their lives developing them, sincerely believing they could save millions of lives in their actions, and then having to live with the consequences.
It's hard to find statistics on how many men and women were killed in the wars in non-military roles. The best I could dig up were that there were about 7 million civilians killed in world war I, and 55 million killed in world war II (that's actually double the number of military deaths). Equally disturbing, it is estimated that up to 12 million women were raped by soldiers during world war II, with as many as a million children being born as a result, the mothers being branded whores by the enemy, and often their own country as well.
This remembrance day, I was struck by a line in a video at a service I attended, where a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan proclaimed he was serving, so his children wouldn't have to. That's why the millions in world war I, and then II volunteered too. I pray that in another generation, I don't see a video of his son or daughter saying the same thing.
So make room for both poppies. The red remembers the veterans who served (that's the official meaning by the Canadian Legion), and the white remembers everyone else. Both are a call to end war, because that's really the only way we can fully honour the sacrifice of all the soldiers and civilians who fought, worked, suffered, and died for peace.
To quote the political and Christian rocker, Larry Norman:
"Do we really think the only way to bring about the peace is to sacrifice our children and kill all our enemies?"
I remember, and I believe in peace. Bring all the soldiers home... everywhere... forever.
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
I'm so not a science person
No, the title isn't accurate for me... my poor students if that were true! However, it's something I hear pretty often. When people ask what I teach, or when the conversation rolls around to something involving math or science, it's virtually inevitable that someone well actively, and obviously check out, usually exclaiming 'I'm not a math person', or 'I'm not a science person'. Usually it is said with pride, often with nods of approval from other 'not science people'.
I have a problem with this.
Now, I don't expect everyone to be a mathematician, or a scientist or engineer. I don't expect everyone to love these topics, follow them in their free time, and laugh at geeky pi jokes. I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea (or slice of pi, haha!). However, we live in a world where numeracy is vital, and where virtually everything we use or do relies on some pretty advanced science. We live in a world where charlatans peddle fear and profit of the scientific ignorance of others, and lack of ability to read and understand some pretty basic science leads to things like children dying because their parents are afraid of vaccines, and rubber bands with a sticker on them sell for $40 because they are 'ionic power' bracelets. You can live in this world as 'not a science person', but your experience is going to be less than full at best, and you will be vulnerable in your ignorance.
Okay, so who cares... what is the point of this post? I've been a science geek my whole life, and will continue to be long after geek chic is a thing, long after people think that posting pictures from I ******* love science makes them a science person... truthfully it's not that big a deal to me if this area of interest is popular. Actually, I'm just using it all as a long winded analogy that begins with a bit of a confession:
I'm not a huge Adoration person (it's a Roman Catholic thing for anyone reading this who isn't Catholic). It's not that I disagree with it, or that I don't 'get' it. I understand the reasoning behind it, I see it as a really high form of prayer, and truth be told I'm a little envious when I talk to someone with a huge connection to it. I've been to it many times, I've purposefully gone from time to time, I've spent time in that form of prayer... I've just never had the draw or experience other people do. I believe with my whole heart in the Eucharist, and have had powerful experiences at Mass. The times I've fallen away it is never long before I miss it and feel strongly pulled to go back. It's not that I'm somehow opposed to the tradition either. I find meaning in the Rosary, love a chanted litany, and St. Patrick's Breastplate is one of my favourite prayers.
This is the challenge of our faith. We are Catholic, which means universal. One of the things I believe that means is that we are universal in the ways God speaks to us. I am rarely more deeply in prayer than when I am on a journey up a mountain, deep in a rarely explored river canyon, or facing a challenging and adventurous set of rapids ahead. Much of that experience and the reflection after is meditative and contemplative for me. I know others meet with God in very different ways, through adoration, through traditional prayers, through charismatic prayer, through service, through contemplative prayer, through lectio divina or visio divina, through intellectual study, etc. In other words, just as our world is a complex interweaving of math and science, literature, art, social interaction etc., our faith is a complex interweaving of sacraments, spiritual disciplines, traditions, knowledge, emotion, and too many kinds of prayer to count. To limit ourselves to be the spiritual equivalent of 'not a science person' is to put ourselves in the dark, ignorant of a rich world and vulnerable in our ignorance.
The challenge here is twofold. The first is to be open to God's presence in others. This is hard, because when someone's spiritual practice is much different than our own (if you ever want to witness an example of this observe how much I stand out at a charismatic renewal service!), it can be hard to accept that as them communicating with God (with the caveat that we are talking about purposeful, active communication, not an excuse for passivity or laziness). The second, and I see it as much more important, is to work hard to become more and more universal ourselves. Every form of prayer, every discipline and activity, is an opportunity. I firmly believe it is an important job of Catholics to be open to all the kinds in the Church. For someone like me, that means going to adoration anyway, and not letting myself not be an adoration person. I don't know if/when that time will reveal something to me, or when the opportunity to pray that way will be important. It prevents fickleness robbing us from opportunities to build community and spend time in our faith and time in prayer, and it helps us be in community. I haven't seen adoration in the way that many others do, but when I try to look at it through their eyes, it brings be closer to them and to God.
The year of faith is almost done, and there is an opportunity in this last month of it. Spend some time becoming the spiritual equivalent of 'a science person'. In other words, take an opportunity to purposefully stretch yourself into some area of your faith that is dusty or undeveloped. Become more of a 'science person' in faith by delving into the prayer that has always seemed distant or remote to you. To put it more succinctly, I'll help you haul yourself up a frozen mountain if you take me to adoration.
I have a problem with this.
Now, I don't expect everyone to be a mathematician, or a scientist or engineer. I don't expect everyone to love these topics, follow them in their free time, and laugh at geeky pi jokes. I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea (or slice of pi, haha!). However, we live in a world where numeracy is vital, and where virtually everything we use or do relies on some pretty advanced science. We live in a world where charlatans peddle fear and profit of the scientific ignorance of others, and lack of ability to read and understand some pretty basic science leads to things like children dying because their parents are afraid of vaccines, and rubber bands with a sticker on them sell for $40 because they are 'ionic power' bracelets. You can live in this world as 'not a science person', but your experience is going to be less than full at best, and you will be vulnerable in your ignorance.
Okay, so who cares... what is the point of this post? I've been a science geek my whole life, and will continue to be long after geek chic is a thing, long after people think that posting pictures from I ******* love science makes them a science person... truthfully it's not that big a deal to me if this area of interest is popular. Actually, I'm just using it all as a long winded analogy that begins with a bit of a confession:
I'm not a huge Adoration person (it's a Roman Catholic thing for anyone reading this who isn't Catholic). It's not that I disagree with it, or that I don't 'get' it. I understand the reasoning behind it, I see it as a really high form of prayer, and truth be told I'm a little envious when I talk to someone with a huge connection to it. I've been to it many times, I've purposefully gone from time to time, I've spent time in that form of prayer... I've just never had the draw or experience other people do. I believe with my whole heart in the Eucharist, and have had powerful experiences at Mass. The times I've fallen away it is never long before I miss it and feel strongly pulled to go back. It's not that I'm somehow opposed to the tradition either. I find meaning in the Rosary, love a chanted litany, and St. Patrick's Breastplate is one of my favourite prayers.
This is the challenge of our faith. We are Catholic, which means universal. One of the things I believe that means is that we are universal in the ways God speaks to us. I am rarely more deeply in prayer than when I am on a journey up a mountain, deep in a rarely explored river canyon, or facing a challenging and adventurous set of rapids ahead. Much of that experience and the reflection after is meditative and contemplative for me. I know others meet with God in very different ways, through adoration, through traditional prayers, through charismatic prayer, through service, through contemplative prayer, through lectio divina or visio divina, through intellectual study, etc. In other words, just as our world is a complex interweaving of math and science, literature, art, social interaction etc., our faith is a complex interweaving of sacraments, spiritual disciplines, traditions, knowledge, emotion, and too many kinds of prayer to count. To limit ourselves to be the spiritual equivalent of 'not a science person' is to put ourselves in the dark, ignorant of a rich world and vulnerable in our ignorance.
The challenge here is twofold. The first is to be open to God's presence in others. This is hard, because when someone's spiritual practice is much different than our own (if you ever want to witness an example of this observe how much I stand out at a charismatic renewal service!), it can be hard to accept that as them communicating with God (with the caveat that we are talking about purposeful, active communication, not an excuse for passivity or laziness). The second, and I see it as much more important, is to work hard to become more and more universal ourselves. Every form of prayer, every discipline and activity, is an opportunity. I firmly believe it is an important job of Catholics to be open to all the kinds in the Church. For someone like me, that means going to adoration anyway, and not letting myself not be an adoration person. I don't know if/when that time will reveal something to me, or when the opportunity to pray that way will be important. It prevents fickleness robbing us from opportunities to build community and spend time in our faith and time in prayer, and it helps us be in community. I haven't seen adoration in the way that many others do, but when I try to look at it through their eyes, it brings be closer to them and to God.
The year of faith is almost done, and there is an opportunity in this last month of it. Spend some time becoming the spiritual equivalent of 'a science person'. In other words, take an opportunity to purposefully stretch yourself into some area of your faith that is dusty or undeveloped. Become more of a 'science person' in faith by delving into the prayer that has always seemed distant or remote to you. To put it more succinctly, I'll help you haul yourself up a frozen mountain if you take me to adoration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)