Waiting for Godot to Leave

Four years ago I was very naive. In 2010 when I began blogging seriously and using Facebook regularly I actually thought that reasoned arguments could happen on the internet.  Now, of course, I know better. The Torture Debate was the first issue I engaged at the time.  The Torture Enthusiasts, who since they Dissent from Church Teaching I will henceforth call Dissenters (though clear terminology makes them furious - see below), were using this approach ... They denied that the Church forbid Torture, or else they claimed that Church teaching forbidding Torture in any and all circumstances was not Magisterial or was still in flux. They claimed that the act they were defending (in this case waterboarding) was not in fact Torture. I later discovered that this handy template is the only one that's used by right wing Dissenters on all their precious issues.  Just fill in the blank and you're good to go.  And go and go and go.  If you're a Dissent...

Fellow Sinner, are you struggling with sins that you just can't give up?  Force of habit is a strong thing, but you yourself know that habit is not the whole story, that you enjoy sinning.  Of course you do.  We all do.  Why else would we sin if it weren't somehow fun or rewarding to us?  You may realize intellectually that your sin harms you in the long run, but you calculate that the immediate pay off is better than the long term pay out.  That sounds a bit harsh, but it's really true.  There is a kind of calculation going on here. Alice Boyes writes ... Change Happens When You're Ready? We often hear "Change will happen when you're ready". In my more than 20 years of experience [as a psychologist], I've come to understand that "ready"--or the tipping point of change--often means 'when the consequences of our behavior outweigh the value of that behavior to us'. In other words, when the pay out (consequence) becomes greater tha...

There is a part of the Bible that has always embarrassed me. It's that part in Genesis ( Gen. 30:37-42 ) where Jacob has a claim on spotted goats and sheep, and he tricks the livestock into producing mottled offspring by placing spotted posts in front of them when they're mating.  That has always embarrassed me, since genetics doesn't work that way, and it seemed Scripture was being undermined a bit here. But I've been driving a lot lately ( I'm in Duluth, Minnesota all this week ), listening to David Higbee's Scripture Studies .   David points out that the meaning of that story is that Jacob congratulates himself for being clever (as usual), while obviously the mottled offspring are entirely God's work.  It's not Jacob's accomplishment; it's God's blessing. We shield ourselves from the pain and awe of existence by telling ourselves how clever we are and by using our wiles to gimmick situations.  But we are entirely dependent on His Div...

The single biggest threat to "serious Christians" or "Devout Catholics" is this. We really think our "walk with Christ" makes us better than all those other folk who are not walking with Christ, but who are simply wandering about and bumping into things. Take for example, two women. One is very religious and makes frequent devotions and is certain that she is never in the wrong - because, well for one thing she's so darned and deliberately Good.  Another has fallen from the faith - and from other things - promiscuous, a bit of a mess on the inside, has been around the block once or twice and is probably even now somewhere in the alley trying to find her way home. You'll find when the Trial comes, that the first can not be trusted.  But the second will die for you.  And, really, for Him.

About this time last year, I wrote about folks who Can't Care, Don't Care, or Won't Care, and I bragged about how I take my business ventures less personally than I used to. Well, that was a hollow boast. I take everything personally. I don't think there's any other way to be an artist, a poet, an actor, a writer - or to live life in an engaged and engaging way.  I really don't think there's any other way to be an authentic Christian and to avoid the trap of Unreality in our daily lives and in our worship. Thus, life usually hurts.  And anything to do with the Church - or even with my fellow Catholics - really really hurts, because hypocrisy abounds, in my heart and in theirs.  For part of the sting is realizing how many people fit into the aforementioned DON'T CARE category - even when it comes to loving God and their neighbor.  And so, it's the same old story.  There are lots of folks around who make a show of their faith, but who ...