In homilies and retreats, we sometimes hear that we are already perfect, that God is already pleased with us, and likes us just as we are. Perhaps these speakers grew up watching Fred Rogers on television, but we are no longer small children in need of comfort only, but adults in need of both sustenance and growth. Certainly, God may be pleased with some of us, as we are pleased when we pass a familiar point on the road that indicates we are getting closer to home. But some of us are on the right road, and some are not. To those on the right road, the Scriptures say “”beware of corruption, stay on the road.”” To those off the road, “”get on the road before it is too late.”” To tell people they are fine, as a blanket statement to a thousand at once, is to call Christ a liar. The argument might be that our perfection was achieved by the cross and resurrection, and we no longer need to hear warnings and correction, but this is not Catholic, and it is not human. We are not yet complete and humans change constantly: we call it aging. We grow complacent at times and need to wake up; we go astray at times and need correction. Jesus gives us a wake-up call and our leaders hit the snooze button.
At the same time, God does love us just as we are, because He loves us — period. This love provides defense against discouragement, comfort when we fail, and incentive to rise up to try again. Some voices claim this love means we have no reason to exert ourselves, and there is no heroic effort to be made, yet when we read about the Saints we see heroic effort, and past writers have told us that to live an ordinary life well takes extraordinary effort. Perhaps this is why we read about the disciples falling asleep while Jesus prayed? And perhaps Samuel Beckett was thinking of this when he wrote Waiting for Godot:

A reader asked for this, so here we are. Given that the Ten Commandments are specific actions and the Seven Deadly Sins are attitudes, we have a matrix, below. Later, we will try to detail each connection, but that will take some time. This is a first try at connecting the two lists.

What do people really want?

In the movie, The Dark Knight, Gordon and Batman agree to create a lie so that people can have things the way they want them, the way they think it should be. Harvey Dent is called a White Knight, and he looks the part. He has the right role in society for law enforcement, he is handsome, has wealthy fundraisers, says the right things, and fits the public’s idea of a savior.

Do we want to feel good or do we want the truth? When Jesus began to preach, it was clear he was different and he spoke with authority. But the people wanted him to be an earthly king and fight the battles they chose. They wanted freedom from Rome, but not from sin, and so they chose Barabbas. Even more, they chose the ruling party over a new way of life that has still never been embraced. As Morpheus said in The Matrix, most people are so used to the system that they do not want to escape. Instead, they will fight to protect it.

And so humanity has created an illusion, while rejecting the reality. For some, embracing the reality will result in great worldly loss. For others, it will bring freedom for the first time, but only with time and difficulty. It begins with a choice.

To be committed to reality, we must embrace the idea that we do not create it. If this is not frightening, we do not understand the choice. To leave our illusions is to leave an illusion of safety as well, that things are as we wish they were. That we can trust those we trust, that friends are friends and those we dismiss are always wrong. If we strive to know the truth, it is not only difficult but dangerous, and everything becomes unfamiliar and we must learn how to live all over again.

Here is a trailer for a movie out that explores the theme of humanity, Surrogates.

It is often said in the Bible that God punishes the wicked, and this is something that people often cite as unfair and a reason to avoid religions that believe it. Does God punish the wicked for not living up to His standards, or does everyone simply get what they want? We call the results of these sins consquences

 

 

 

 

 
What is sloth.  Not the animal.  The sin?

So I know that the numbers don’t matter, but what about “”Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…””?

We just received an e-mail asking us to sign a petition against a movie named “”Antichrist.”” From early reviews, it appears to be another ultra-gory horror film in the line of others like Hostel and Saw. Apparently, this is what people want to see, or at least enough that the producer expects to profit by it. But they profit more if we help publicize it. Of course, a real Christian does not want to give their money to it, and neither does a devout Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Sufi, etc. But let’s ignore this one. They hoped to get us to provide controversy by the title, but it is the same as a lot of other movies and not worth the trouble. Here is the petition text:

You won’t believe Hollywood’s latest assault on our tender and impressionable children: It’s a movie called ANTICHRIST coming out this month (October). This sexually graphic movie contains mutilations and dark perversions along with a wicked worldview.

And we are working hard to make sure that it receives the NC-17 rating it deserves and not an R by the Motion Picture Associates of America (MPAA). Sign the Petition to force the MPAA to be accountable.

Here’s why NC-17 rating is so critical:

• An R rated movie easily makes its way to the cinema in your local neighborhood. Thankfully, many local cinemas still won’t show the movie if it’s NC-17.

• An R rated movie stands a chance to make more money than NC-17 and this will only encourage some producers in Hollywood to make more vile movies like this.

• And most importantly, children under 17 cannot get into movies with an NC-17 rating, unlike R rated movies, which admit them.

 Wicked worldview? Just about every movie contains this. Please, please, just leave this movie to die and go to DVD, as it was destined to do. There is no reason to give the enemy free publicity.

 

 

 

 

Ardent Desire for God

“”Zeal for your house consumes me”” – Psalm 69:9, John 2:16-17

“”It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way. “” – Proverbs 19:2

Zeal and Zealots

Zeal, according to the dictionary is an ardent interest or desire. It doesn’t say what the object of the desire is. But the virtue of Zeal only has God as the object. Anything else is a waste, or even dangerous, because we can make gods of lesser things, and this nearly always ends in disaster. This is the case for zealots: they have created some idea and then pursue this shadow of themselves fanatically. Spiritually, the worst thing for a human being is to create a “”God-image”” in their head and then pursue it madly like a dog chasing its tail. It is an excuse for the worst crimes and atrocities, with an apparently clear conscience. Once a false God has been created in the mind, the human vices are amplified and rationalized, with the worst possible results: evil is done but God is blamed.

Some of the modern fear of Zeal comes from a rational distrust based on observation. We need very little persuading to believe the zealot is really pursuing God, because it provides such a convenient excuse for our laziness.

The Lord’s Name in Vain

The Commandment says not to take the Lord’s Name in vain, and we usually think of swearing, but it also applies here. When we take our own ideas, rooted in our vices, and declare them to be the will of God, we violate the Commandment. It is truly blasphemous to say, “”God wants me to be rich.”” It may be the will of God, but it is a safer assumption, given such an idea, to think it is we who will it, not God. In general, our desires for worldly success originate in us, not in God. To anoint our desires is to invest them with the dignity and authority of God. A healthy distrust of oneself is important in spiritual matters: if we stand to gain in a material way, we should doubt whether a course is truly the will of God.

True Zeal

True Zeal is informed. As the proverb says, knowledge is crucial to Zeal. Our visions and intuitions can lie, and we can filter out any knowledge that conflicts with our desires, but knowing God through prayer, Scripture, good counsel and fellowship is the best defense we have against ourselves. Obtaining knowledge is so easy in our modern world, easier than ever before, but avoiding it is just as easy. There are plenty of preachers, motivational speakers and self-help books to keep us delusional, and so few honest friends willing to risk a friendship for our sake. Many excellent and ancient books are available on the Internet, but few take the time to study them.

To prevent self-deception and misdirected zeal, there is no better corrective than the Gospels. Given the number of zealots who claim a Gospel basis for their actions, this may seem surprising, but there is a common thread to them all: they claim an ability (or right) to interpret the Bible in their own way.

For example, there are people who believe the pursuit of wealth is a divine command, but a brief reading of the Gospel should show otherwise: Jesus was poor, he said so. And nowhere in the New Testament are we counseled to chase after wealth, in fact, we are told the opposite. We are never told to use violence, but the Ku Klux Klan (and others) have claimed to be “”Bible-believing”” Christians while killing and terrorizing so many. Clearly, Jesus taught peace, so how can people kill in his name? Other examples include using Bible verses to justify cheating, cruelty, lies, bad marriages, divorce and adultery. The Gospel speaks against each one of these, clearly and without any room for doubt.

A good starting point for informed Zeal is to read the Gospels. Then read them again. Repeat until they are nearly memorized. “”What Would Jesus Do?”” is not a good guide unless we know Jesus well through the Gospels.

Some will say, “”But I know Jesus without reading the Gospels. He speaks to my heart. A priest told me this is better than the Gospels.”” There is no answer for such a person but the Judgement. Anyone who seriously thinks they have this kind of arrangement is seriously disturbed, possibly to the point of being mentally ill. And any priest or other spiritual leader who promotes this half-baked thinking is not fit for spiritual guidance. Jesus went to great pains (literally) to establish the Church in a certain way, and he never promised “”personal revelations”” that lead people away from what he did in his ministry. Claiming visions is a way of avoiding correction by a kind of spiritual intimidation. We are expected to accept even the most stupid or blatantly self-serving pronouncements because the person claims a vision, and forget St. Paul’s admonition, “”Test every spirit.””

Others will say, “”But some visions are true!”” Yes, you are right, but what are the marks of the true visions? Visionaries never really benefit much from their visions. They are thought insane, examined, doubted, called possessed, impoverished, and often die young. Their fame is seldom great until after death. Miracles nearly always accompany true visions, and conversions always do. True visions never tell us what we want to hear, in fact they usually destroy the earthly life of the visionary and deny them the simple comforts we take for granted, like a bit of peace and quiet, family life and anonymity. But this is digression.

True Zeal has God for its object, not a “”God-image””. Because we cannot know God completely in this life, there is a certain caution necessay in Zeal, and not a few “”safeties””. Zeal should drive us to take the obviously right paths with great vigor: patience, gentleness, the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, prayer, self discipline, sacrifice and above all, selfless love. Strangely, doubt and uncertainty can help purify and direct Zeal, by focusing on the one thing we know for sure: “”God is love””.

For Continued Reading

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2302, also 2262, 2286

“”Mere Christianity,”” by C.S. Lewis (also, “”The Screwtape Letters””)

“”The Little Flowers of St. Francis”” (Franciscans are often reminded to use time well)

Confidence in Abundant Riches

“”But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.'”” – Psalm 31:14

Faith is Trust. Trust in God should yield great confidence, especially as time passes and this trust is proven to be well founded. Sadly, our trust in God is often in matters of money but not in the weightier areas of power, reputation, or the hazy area of “”success””. Those with confidence in God can give and give with no fear of running out, not just in terms of financial charity, but in all charitable matters. Remember that the word “”charity”” means “”love””. It comes from a Greek word, , that means love, grace, gratitude and beauty.

The Generosity of Power

If we are confident in God’s ability to care for us, and to eventually bring us to Glory, we do not need to control every situation and/or person but ourselves. The confident Christian is ready to share power or relinquish it, although legitimate responsibility cannot be discarded. As supervisors, we allow room for employees’ initiative, even for bad choices and errors. Because we believe in free will, we want to give others enough room to make good choices, and not “”micromanage””. Under management, we obey reasonable demands with joy and self-abandonment, confident that we will lose nothing in the context of eternity.

As parents and teachers, we can free the young from overly restrictive rules, and not demand that they see everything as we do. We can look for opportunities for them to make decisions and determine their immediate course, coaching and supporting them. Our confidence and lack of fear can permit a bit of “”creative chaos”” in the home and classroom.

In marriage and relationships, it means the deference of Ephesians 5:21. We can be sure as we give in to the other that we will lose nothing in the long run. We can share responsibility, success and failure alike.

By letting go of the desire for control and predictability, we are more free and we also free those around us.

The Generosity of Credit

One thing sure to bother many of us is when someone else gets credit we think we deserve. Whether or not we really deserve it is not a matter of generosity, but how we deal with “”misplaced”” credit is. For many, credit equals success, and to share it or fail to claim it is a problem for the ego. On the other hand, we can create situations where others will get the credit, and let them enjoy success. This is a sacrifice, but look at the example we’ve been given: Jesus came and did the great work of salvation, but lets others take credit for “”converting”” people. As he said, “”others have done the work, and you have come into their gain.”” Giving credit to others who deserve it is a simple matter of truth and justice, but allowing others to claim it wrongly is humility. Yes, it isn’t truthful, but can anyone imagine Jesus worrying over earthly glories? If we deserve credit, we can be sure to receive it at the Judgement. But if we give it away now, perhaps some of our well-deserved blame will go with it.

The Generosity of Time

This is almost funny, in a sad way. Nearly all of us have the illusion that “”my time is my own.”” It isn’t. Everything belongs to God, and He is very generous with time. We are given a good deal of it, and expected to make a return. When we say we don’t have time for reading Scripture, or volunteering, or for children, we are telling a lie. We all waste time. If we used all the wasted time in a fruitful way, we would be far more effective. The first step to being generous with time is to acknowledge that our time is not our own, it is a gift from God. And it was meant to be shared.

For Continued Reading

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2536

“”Mere Christianity,”” by C.S. Lewis

“”New Seeds of Contemplation,”” by Thomas Merton

“”The Little Flowers of St. Francis””