And
AND THERE IS NO MAGICAL AUTOMATIC INSTITUTION/EDIFICE WIDE REMEDY for that phenomenon--regardless of what !!!!TRADITION!!!! suggests.
And
GOD AND GOD ALONE is pure and able enough to lead any group of yahoos constructively, righteously, productively.
For tonight's texts I'd like you to turn first to Genesis 50:20 and then to Exodus 14:14.
It seems a fact of nearly every human life, certainly of my own, that within me good and evil, life and death, are at war. This body has declined from the vigor it had 4 decades ago. This mind is not quite so acute. And while my moral discernment and intentions may have in some sens improved, still sin lies close at hand, and jostles my will so that all its efforts are awry.
And just to perceive this with any degree of constancy or perspicacity has taken years of study, service, and prayer AND the help of patient family and friends.
If I were fool enough to put my trust in men, well I'd have to be a very great fool indeed, because the man I know best is an unreliable sinner as well as being a bear of very little brain.
It is not in the Pope qua Joseph Ratzinger, or qua Karol However-you-spell-his-last-name in whom I trust.
Now that's not to say that I don't appreciate J2P2 as having an extraordinary theological and philosophical talent or BenXVI as being an intriguing thinker and impressive scholar. I just know that I also Like Heidegger and as near as I can tell he was a coward and a mean scoundrel.
SO my confidence in the Church and in all that tangle which I described is not in them but in what I take to be a promise to be with the Church. And that confidence is confirmed because God's track record seems to be to be that he works with the sinful aspirations and intentions of men to work his good and to save many lives. Through Joseph he demonstrates that even when evil is intended against Him, good can come through the working of His will.
There is no question that the "religious" impulse, after the flesh, is parlous. It has lead to the sacrifice of children at the feet of Molech, and the modern paganism of environmentalism, socialism, and personal libertinism still requires the life of children to sate its appetites.
And I imagine most of us, one way or another, have our own tales of religious leaders feeding their egos from the elan vital of their congregations. And this kind of thing is not confined to clergy. In families also "religion" makes a good cover for abuse, emotional and physical.
I don't think that that situation will improve between now and the eschaton. But I also don't think we need to get TOO exercised about it. And here's where the second text comes in.
It (too obviously, I fear) irritates the bejabbers out of me when what we teach is misrepresented. It wounds me a little when we are mocked and attacked, and it wounds me more when I return fire in the same way. But I am slowly learning not to worry too much about it.
Because I have a deep devotion to our Lady, some charge me with having an insufficient devotion to her Son. All I can do any more is regret the misunderstanding and laugh at it a little. I am sure all my devotions are inadequate and at least somewhat misdirected, that far to many of my prayers and intentions are directed NOT to God as He knows Himself to be, but to the construct of my imagining. But in the past I have found that before I got to do something at all well, I had to do it badly far more times than I'd like. And then, finally, doing it well was somehow granted to me.
SO when I read that awesome line from Exodus, I realize that even a forced passivity and stillness is not what "being still" really is about.
I will say my prayers, make my devotions, attempt the occasional good work, study when I can, and try when ever I catch myself being bored or fretful or grouchy to use that as a chance and an impetus to seek greater intimacy with God. IN other words, I will bumble along, rising, falling, attempting and failing, and whenever it occurs to me, offering all that comedy and melodrama to God.
Even when I don't really intend evil, my good intentions are weak and errant. Even my being still is crotchety, restless, and petulant. But God will fight for me, and in the strength and hope of the Victory that is already won, when evil was turned to good, I will remain confident that even the political tangle of the Catholic Church is not able to frustrate Him or hinder His intention to do me all the Good He can.
"He whose throne is in heaven is laughing." He sees all the priests who just by coincidence decide it's time to renew acquaintances at the Vatican just when a bishopric becomes vacant. He sees the creased brows and hears the snide remarks or unctuous advice given with complex motives. He can handle it. And I can trust Him.
Blah blah blah. I've been on the tractor and maybe got a touch of sun.
Interesting that you should mention “forced pasivity and stillness”
I have had occasions, on this forum, to perceive strains of quietism.
I wonder if I am mistaken or if my perception is close to truth.
Another one of your most wonderful prose pieces, MD.
Love it. Will save it to my RC Word file.
And, believe it, or not, I can own the vast vast majority of it as quite accurate to my own seDiments, too.
My main quibble not already articulated endlessly would be that I don’t think your good intentions are weak etc. but quite admirable and above average.
There was another self-deprecating slam that I didn’t think was near fitting either but I can’t quickly find it and my mind is a muddle from playing umpteen games of Chinese chess for about 6 hours today.
I appreciate much your spiritual trek and growth evidenced in this piece.
Thanks.
LUB