Catholic – Page 3 – The Future is Open

April 29, 2020

Three years later

Three years ago I joined thousands of others at the Climate March in Washington DC. Our small group of Franciscans joined other groups. We had overnighted at Silver Spring, Maryland and rode the metro to near the Smithsonian Institute. Then we made our way to St. Dominic Church which is near the mall. We gathered with other Franciscan Friars from Holy Name Province and then had Mass. Then we gathered in front of the church with others who like us would join the thousands of marchers who had come from all over the country.

It was a great day of solidarity. I remember getting interviewed by a Catholic radio station. It was a very warm day. I remember perspiring profusely and being spiritually and emotionally drained at the end of our march. I remember joining a group of Houghton College students who were part of Young Evangelicals for Climate Action at the end of the march to rest on the ellipse.

We never imagined then that less than three years later we’d be quarantined and locked down in a global pandemic perhaps caused and certainly exacerbated by climate change.

April 20, 2020

Under His Wings

I found myself walking near my favorite pond again tonight. I’m fortunate to live nearby and it’s very calm and peaceful here. There are nearby woods and trails and generally an area that invites solitude and reflection. Tonight while approaching the pond I spotted a bald eagle sitting atop one of the many tall trees that surround the pond. It’s the first bald eagle I’ve seen in the wild. I didn’t get very close before he took off and flew north to a more secluded area. I wish I would have been quicker and gotten a picture of him. Seeing the eagle reminded me of Michael Joncas’ hymn, “On Eagles Wings,” which is one of my favorites. Michael’s hymn is beautiful and is based on Psalm 91. I’ve thought of the song often in this pandemic. I hope you enjoy it.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ^[I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
Psalm 91:1-6

April 19, 2020

I get it now

“What Christianity requires now, especially in view of developments in science, is not “no God,” as scientific naturalists propose, but a “new God,” as Teilhard provocatively announces”

— From Teilhard to Omega: Co-creating an Unfinished Universe by Ilia Delio, OSF

Up until now I’ve been trying to reconcile what Teilhard and Ilia have written with the old cosmology. But today the scales fell from my eyes. God is evolving and so is the universe. It makes perfect sense. The Garden of Eden never existed or not as the idyllic we have made it. I’ve known for some time that the Bible is full of wisdom stories. I’ve heard fundamentalists exclaim that the word of God is inerrant and that the Bible is to be taken literally. But after reading Leviticus one soon realizes that no one in their right mind would dream of observing some of what is written there. The dietary laws may have made perfect sense when they were written but not anymore.

The treatment of women is just plain backward and fundamentalists today perpetuate such practices because they are looking backward and trying to put new wine in old wineskins. We live in an evolving world where the role of women and men are changing. Religion and in my own case Roman Catholicism is too rigid. It must be redefined or it will become a minor sect. Priests must be allowed to marry. Women must be ordained. I am reminded frequently of Karl Rahner’s quote, “In the days ahead, you will either be a mystic or nothing at all.”

What does this new God look like? How are we called to live?

April 16, 2020

The Spirit of the Lord

“Jesus called his disciples to create a new transformed Earth, a kindom of equality and inclusivity, where all men and women could live together in justice, mercy, and peace. His consciousness of the whole evoked a genuine revolution in cosmic and social relations.”

— A Hunger for Wholeness: Soul, Space, and Transcendence by Ilia Delio, OSF

Contrast this spirit with what we are witnessing around us each day as those on the margins suffer most from the Covid-19 pandemic. This is just one more example of why we don’t deserve to be called a Christian nation or even a moral nation. To their credit many of our states and nation’s governors are doing their best to bridge the gap. Nonetheless folks are falling through the cracks in a nation where money is valued more than people. The paycheck protection program is one more shining example of how our leaders bail out Wall Street and stick it to Main Street. The funding is already depleted. Contrast our own national priorities with those other nations around the globe who are putting their citizens first.

Some politicians are calling for the establishment of universal basic income for all citizens. Not surprisingly some say this would incentivize the less fortunate to stay home and not seek work. These politicians have lifetime pensions which are their own universal basic income and not the $2,000 dollars a month that’s being proposed but salary and benefits in excess of $174,000 per year.

We always have lots of money to bail out Wall Street or start another war but nothing for the poor souls in our midst. These are the folks who call themselves conservative and cloak their greed in patriotism and pseudo-religious trappings.

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Matthew 15:8

April 16, 2020

Blessed by design

“He did not hold to original sin by a single couple and instead opted for the notion of the primacy of Christ formed by the Franciscan theologian Duns Scotus. Scotus held that God’s love could not be undermined by a defect in creation such as original sin. Rather, from all eternity, God willed a creature to grace and glory so that whether or not sin ever entered into creation, Christ would have come. God is love and Christ is first in God’s intention to love; the whole creation is structured on the incarnation.”

— A Hunger for Wholeness, A: Soul, Space, and Transcendence by Delio, Ilia, OSF
https://a.co/imHKkhr

I’m enjoying another book by Ilia Delio and the quote which was about Teilhard de Chardin, succinctly explains something I heard Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM say in a homily nearly twenty years ago. I remember sitting in the chapel at Mt. Irenaeus at the time I heard it. It just made sense. The idea that God would create a universe with an intentional flaw that would require the death of his son to redeem never made any sense as an adult. Many years later I learned that the doctrine of original sin was a creation of St. Augustine. How many times have you heard well meaning religious folks tell you that you were damned if you didn’t accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. I remember a discussion with a local pastor about that topic. I said to the guy, “What about the apostles? What about the unborn?” The chap made an exception for the unborn and infants and that’s when I knew that the doctrine was flawed.

Most of my adult life I’ve thought that the reason for the incarnation was to show us how to live. Love your neighbor. Do good to those who harm you. Take care of the poor and the rest of the gospel message should be the real focus. Reducing Jesus to merely a sacrificial atonement for sin is a disservice to his earthly ministry. The Sermon on the Mount, The Beatitudes and Matthew 25:31-46 are the most meaningful for me and always have been.

April 15, 2020

Hope for today

I just finished reading Ilia Delio’s book which I reviewed previously and there are a treasure trove of ideas and quotes in the book but one that stood out for me is the following.

“On the whole, I find that younger generations want to help make the world a better place. Many Gen Z-ers express a desire for a just and sustainable world and are concerned about world poverty and hunger. They have an inclination toward catholicity without realizing it, expressed for them as a desire for inclusive, ecological, and planetary life. These concerns are not necessarily driven by institutional religion but by an inner sense of belonging to a whole.”

— Birth of a Dancing Star: My Journey from Cradle Catholic to Cyborg Christian by Ilia Delio

Young people aren’t burdened by the tired old labels that boomers are. What concerns them is creation and the care of it. They’ve frequently been referred to as the nones because they have no religion but they do have this inner sense of belonging to the whole. They see the world as interdependent.

April 13, 2020

The Pandemic Mirror – Omega Center

I’ve been reading Sister Ilia Delio’s Memoir, Birth of a Dancing Star, the last few days and in looking at her community blog for Omega Center I came upon this article called, The Pandemic Mirror. It’s an invitation to think differently about our lives and especially in light of the Corona virus. I encourage you to read this essay and to give some thought to living in the moment. As she says, “eternity dwells in every breath.”

Source: The Pandemic Mirror – Omega Center

April 11, 2020

Let all corners of the earth be glad

So begins the vigil service on Holy Saturday in most Roman Catholic churches. For most of the last twenty years I have joined dozens of others at Mount Irenaeus for the Easter Vigil service. It is one of my favorite liturgies in the church year. It is full of readings that remind of the creation story. One of those reading is from Genesis.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
while a mighty wind swept over the waters.Then God said,
“Let there be light,” and there was light.
God saw how good the light was.
God then separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”
Thus evening came, and morning followed—the first day.
Genesis 1

This year will be different and I’ll miss the liturgy and the fellowship afterward over hot cocoa and lots of other goodies at the House of Peace. There are memories and I am grateful to be in good health in the midst of this pandemic.

Tonight as I finished my walk I turned to take a picture of the setting sun and was rewarded with a beautiful image.