 St. George - 15th Century icon from Novgorod April 23 is the feast of St. George. George was a Roman soldier in the third century, during the time of the Emperor Diocletian. He was from a Christian family and his father was an army officer. As a young man, he also entered the service of the Empire and rose to the rank of Tribune, enjoying a position of trust with the Emperor. When Diocletian turned against Christians and ordered the arrest of Christian soldiers, George went to him and protested the action. The Emperor was not swayed by George’s appeal and instead ordered him to renounce his Christian beliefs. George refused, was tortured and eventually was beheaded. Most of the stories of St. George are non-verifiable legends. At least some of them seem to be confusions with the stories of others named George or others who had similar positions or histories. The stories with which he is most often identified have him in the role of Dragon-slayer. They are found in many countries and cultures, even crossing religious lines between Christian and Muslim worlds. In most stories St. George slays the dragon. In some, he subdues the dragon. I like the idea of subduing the dragon. I first came across it when my sons were young and attending Waldorf school. For the Feast of Michaelmas, in September, the second graders performed a play in which St. Michael faces a dragon that has been terrorizing a village. The play has a character more like St. George who is supported by St. Michael. In this particular version of the story, the dragon is tamed and provides energy to run the mill so the villagers can grind the wheat they have grown to make flour for their bread. Dragons come in many sizes and shapes in stories from cultures all over the world. In China, dragons are respected and seen in a much more positive light than in Western European stories. In fact, when my first son was born, my Mother’s cousin who was a priest in Hong Kong sent a gift of a red dragon to us in celebration. The Dragon Wars stories of novelist Laurence Yep are some of my favorites. Written for middle school and older children, they present Chinese folklore in a very engaging way. Dragons are to be respected, held in awe and definitely not destroyed. Their presence and the gifts of passion and energy they bring are necessary for all of creation. I like to think of dragons in these more Chinese terms. Having been born in a “Year of the Dragon” myself, and being somewhat choleric in nature, I have had to come to terms with the passionate, powerful energy within myself that can burst out in good ways and in not-so-good ways. That “dragonish” energy can bring forth wonderful things. It can also blast potentially wonderful things to smithereens if released inappropriately. I’m sure sometimes God winces in dismay as a carefully set up pattern of events that would lead to something really good gets derailed by such blasts. (Not to say that God can’t still bring something good out of it, but it’s so much more bother!) So when I think of the feast of St. George and the stories of dragons slain or subdued or celebrated, I pray that the dragonish power within me - the Greek “dunamis” or power, potential, capacity – will be focused by the Holy Spirit for service of the Kingdom. I hope that will be your prayer as well. |
|
April 21 is the feast of St. Anselm of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church and the first scholastic philosopher of Christian theology. For Anselm faith and reason were not mutually exclusive. In fact, they went hand in hand. The following quote sets forth his approach to faith and its exploration. “Nor do I seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand. For this, too, I believe, that, unless I first believe, I shall not understand.” |
|
April 15 is the deadline for Americans who have received income from any source in the prior year to pay any taxes due on that income. Needless to say, it is not the favorite time of year for most people. Generally there is a certain amount of hullaballoo about the whole thing. People complain about how much is taken from their wages, how people who don’t work still get help from the government, that they never personally agreed to the taxation, that people should be responsible for taking care of themselves, that some other generation is not doing its share or being appropriately responsible finacially, and so forth. The list of complaints goes on and on. I’d like to offer a quick thought about the whole issue of taxation. I seem to recall stories from our Judeo-Christian tradition in which the question “Am I my brother’s keeper?” arise in one form or another. Again and again, the response from God has been, “Yes, you are.” From the earliest days of our tradition, through the Law and the prophets, to the days of Jesus and the early Church and up to the present day, we hear again and again, “We are all in this together.” We are to look out for each other. Yes, we are to do our best to take care of ourselves and those personally entrusted to us (spouses, parents, children, siblings), but we are also to take care of the widows and orphans among us (i.e., those who don’t have family or identity within the society). That means we are responsible for those who can’t work, even if they seem able-bodied, those who may not have proper legal documents allowing them to be here but who have had the misfortune to get sick or injured, those whose parents can’t earn enough to buy food, clothing, books, or health care for them, those elderly who have no children with whom they can live or who could afford to pay for shelter, food, and medical care for them, those for whom there is no job. Again, the list goes on and on. We also share responsibility to pay the cost of keeping our communities safe, our roads, buildings and bridges safe, our educational systems safe and effective, our environment healthy, and those whose work is to serve the larger community paid a decent living wage, with access to health care and time off to renew their spirits and raise their families. Some of us have been blessed with more resources. Some of us receive money for work done by others (parents, grandparents, etc.). Some have investments that provide income without the necessity of doing any physical or mental labor. Some have barely enough income to keep simple shelter overhead and food on the table. Some have enough for a comfortable lifestyle, without much left for the frills. Whoever we are, whatever our circumstances, we are all responsible for each other. We’re all in this together. So let’s pray for the grace to be willing to give of what we have. Some will receive more than they have paid in taxes as a refund this year. Believe me, when that happens to an ordinary family, they really need the money. They haven’t had a great year financially. It’s truly a gift from God to have enough income to have to pay taxes. There are so many deductions from taxable income, so many credits to help families and business owners, that if we still owe some tax, generally speaking, we have been blessed. It doesn’t always feel that way, but in the big picture, we have been blessed. So today, as we send in our checks and our forms, let’s ask a blessing for ourselves and each other, a blessing for our country and our world, and a word of thanks to the Lord for the rich blessings of opportunity, environment and loving community that we have received. |
 Richard Rohr, OFM Recently I’ve been listening to Fr. Richard Rohr’s three CD set, Exploring and Experiencing The Naked Now, a recording of two webcasts in which he talks about his work on non-dual thinking and the insights of the contemplative/mystic tradition of Christianity. Rohr’s work provides a fine background for the last couple of weeks of Lent and moving into Easter. A central insight of Rohr’s work is that non-dualistic thinking is central to experiencing the mystery of Christ and the Trinity. God is One, yet we know God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The contrast boggles the mind when we try to explain, define or otherwise pin down the mystery. Our minds, trained to make logical distinctions and put all we experience into categories of “this/not that,” find it hard to deal with the “yes/and” of combining such seemingly irreconcilable statements. Nevertheless, Jesus calls us into the mystery and teaches through example, images and stories that seem to contradict each other. In one place, for example, he says that his followers are to turn the other cheek when someone strikes them. In another, he counsels that it’s time to take swords along to the place where he and is friends planned to spend the night. At yet another, he turns over the tables of the money-changers in the temple and drives them out. Then when the chips are down, he heals the ear of the servant of the High Priest in the Garden of Gethsemane and goes to his death without offering resistance. So which is it? Non-violent always or Violent sometimes? Do we simply choose one meaning – the one that suits what we want to do – or are we supposed to try to make some logical sense of the contrasting statements/actions or must we somehow live in the mystery, without needing to explain it logically. And if we do that, won’t we be seen as somehow immature and childish? Rohr suggests that a return to the contemplative mindset is essential in the long-run. It is the ultimate goal of the spiritual life. Union with God, a return to the non-duality of the Garden of Eden, is the final goal of our lives and quest. We start non-dualistically as infants and small children. We move away from non-dualism around the age of reason and begin to be able to separate from God, make wrong choices, and, dare I say it, to sin. We learn what is right and what is wrong. We learn to make distinctions. Then we think we’ve got it all set for the rest of our lives. But we’re right smack dab in the middle of a dualistic world and mindset. So everything gets phrased in terms of win/lose or “limited good” (a concept from anthropology) – what is good for you will take something from me. We forget, or perhaps haven’t consciously experienced, that God’s love comes to us like water flowing through a pipeline or electricity flowing down a wire. As long as there’s no blockage, it just keeps coming. The critical thing is to keep the pipe open, the transmission line unbroken. But that gets scary. The “what ifs” start raising their ugly heads. And we fight against anyone or anything that seems to threaten the way things are now, even if it’s not ideal. And so we block the flow, partially or totally. Rohr argues that the only way we can move beyond dualism in our thinking and again enter non-dualistic reality is through the path of great love or the path of great suffering. In both situations, the normal ways of coping or experiencing reality fall away. We don’t have the energy to block the flow. We’re too deeply in the joy or sorrow. “Everything’s coming up roses …” as the song says. Or, alternatively, we cry out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Where are you when I need you God? In either condition, we are open to experience the wonder of God’s love and compassion without trying to (or even being capable of) splitting it into dualistic compartments or categories. The experiences are too overwhelming, too all encompasing, too intense to allow for separation and dualism. And then we can grow in wisdom. And we experience redemption – a return to union with our God – set free from the normal ties that hold us bound in worry of losing our “secure” duality. Meanwhile, “back at the farm,” the troubles and tragedies of world events continue through Holy Week. A small group of people are arrested for plotting to kill a police officer and then kill more officers at his funeral, all in the name of Christ. What madness is this? Bombs explode in crowded places around the world, in the name of God. What madness is that? How can religious people believe that the creator of all of us and of all of the wonders of the universe could want us to be killing each other? And how could we dare to think we do it in his name, by his authorization? How can Christians be terrorists, as Leonard Pitts notes in a recent column? Is our God really so helpless or so impotent that he could condone such action, such dualistic us/them action? Jesus went to the cross rather than try to force God’s hand to free his nation from the Romans by inciting a rebellion, as some would have liked. He went to the cross rather than deny the truth that God is more interested in the way we treat each other than in the sacrifices we bring to the altar. He went to the cross rather than run away and deny that he had experienced a very special relationship with his Father, one that the Father wants to share with the rest of us too. And redemption came out of that great passionate love and suffering. Easter came to all the world and our separation from God came to a resounding end. May each of us move forward in this Easter season in joy and trust, building on the faith of our younger years and beginning to enter into the world of contemplation, of not dividing the “real” from the “ideal,” of really believing the Good News, that love is all that really matters, and love will make all the suffering lead to the peace and deep, deep joy of the children of God. |
 The Resurrection of Lazarus - Byzantine icon - 14th-15th century As we move more deeply into Holy Week, I find myself still reflecting on the reading from the Gospel of John that is used in the liturgies for the Scrutinies as part of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults – the story of the raising of Lazarus. In our parish, we celebrate the Scrutinies as a community, with all invited to examine our own lives for areas of thirst, blindness, and death within us. Generally during the week following the third scrutiny, area parishes schedule Reconcilation services in preparation for Holy Week and Easter. The three weeks of RCIA celebrations are a good preparation for Reconciliation. But back to the story of Lazarus. Our celebrant and homilist on the third Sunday this year was a visitor who had been pastor of our parish many years earlier. I always look forward to hearing new insights from him and I often remember homilies from those earlier years as well. This year he explained that the name Lazarus could be roughly translated as “God to the Rescue.” It comes from the Hebrew name, Eleazar, which is translated “God has helped.” In both the story of the raising of Lazarus and the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, God comes to the rescue of an individual in great need. The raising of Lazarus is one of the great signs in John’s telling of the Good News to lead us to faith in Jesus. Another point that always strikes me in the story of the raising of Lazarus is the order Jesus gives the bystanders when Lazarus comes out of the tomb. He tells them, “Unbind him and set him free.” Lazarus can’t do it himself. And we can’t do it for ourselves. We are each tied up by so many expectations, fears, patterns of behavior, traditions, and so forth that it can be next to impossible to try something new or to discover deeper levels of meaning or being in our lives. Going away to another community or to college can be a way that an individual becomes freed to experiment and learn who he or she is or wants to become. But not everyone has that opportunity. And for the majority of our lives, we live in communities where we are known, with people/family/friends who know us and expect certain behaviors and responses from us. Because of this each of us needs our family and friends to unbind us and set us free, just as Lazarus needed his community to set him free to live again. In the Gospel of John, Lazarus is a “type” of the Christian disciple. He is the “everyman” character who represents all of us. We are all the ones whom God has rescued. We are all the ones freed and instructed to set the other free. During this Holy Week, as we prepare for the Easter mysteries, plumbing the depths of sadness and rising to the peaks of joy in our liturgies, may we all be ready, like Lazarus, for God to come to our rescue, for our family and friends to set us free, and in turn to be the ones ready and willing to give that same gift to those with whom we share our lives. |
|
Religious education/faith formation is a critical part of the mission of the Church. Another term for it is evangelization. As faithful followers of Jesus, we are all called to share our faith and experience of God’s love with those around us. We begin with our families and reach out from there to our friends, fellow believers and society in general. Beginning in 1962, the Diocese of Los Angeles has had regular formal gatherings to provide on-going education and support for catechists and others involved in ministry within the parish communities. By 1970, the location of the gathering, now called the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) Congress, was moved to the Anaheim Convention Center. ”Congress” has taken place there annually since that time. The first youth rally ocurred in 1971. ”Youth Day” today draws approximately 20,000 teens from across the United States for a day of prayer, workshops, music and fellowship. The name of the gathering changed in 1973 to its current “Religious Education Congress.” Most people just call it “Congress.” Congress is the largest gathering of Catholics in the United States, drawing participants from all over the country and visitors from around the world. It’s a three day extravaganza, with liturgies, workshops, musical programs, Reconciliation opportunities, prayer and meditation spaces and exhibitor booths where nationally recognized vendors present their resources for use in teaching, liturgy and personal growth. Entering the Exibition Hall is like going to the County Fair, but all exhibits are focused on resources for liturgy, faith development and personal spiritual growth. Workshop presentors, authors, musicians and artists are there as well, ready and waiting to meet all who come by their booths. I feel like the proverbial “kid in a candy store” when I’m there. This year’s theme is “Incredible Abundance.” Liturgies and workshops are offered in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Booths in the hallways will showcase the many ethnic groups and languages of Catholics in the archdiocese. A variety of styles and themes of liturgy will occur throughout the course of Congress. The concluding Mass will be multi-lingual, including English, Spanish and Vietnamese, with a interpreter signing for the hearing impaired. Cardinal Mahoney has preached in English, Spanish and English Sign Language in the past and I expect he’ll do so again this year. Speaking of Cardinal Mahoney, he’s a great fan of the internet and will be on-line himself, answering questions in a chat room on Friday from 11:15 - 12:00 pm. You can submit a question in advance at: http://www.recongress.org/question.htm or check in personally through the Tech Center link on the Congress home page: www.recongress.org. I’ve only been able to attend Congress twice, but for many years I’ve enjoyed listening to tapes and CDs of the presentations that my parish has purchased for our parish library. This year, I’m again unable to attend personally, but I’ll be able to listen in on the ”doings” via my computer. Selected events from Congress will be streamed live at www.RECongress.org/LIVE beginning Friday morning at 8:00 am PDT. I’ll be there! Hope you will too! |
|
 Meister Eckhart The Hope of Loving Meister Eckhart |
|
This recipe comes courtesy of my daughter-in-law, Lisa Dorr-Pozos. We had it for dinner the other night and it was delicious. It can easily be made with vegetable broth and the meat isn’t needed at all. Garnish with shredded cabbage or other greens if you like. Serve with bread or tortillas. Lisa’s Spicy Black Bean Soup 1 pound dried black beans *Substitute vegetable broth and omit kielbasa for a vegetarian version Rinse beans and put in a pot with enough water to cover. Add a palm full of salt and a couple of dashes of hot sauce. Bring to a boil and let sit off-heat, covered, for one hour. Drain water and add fresh water (salted again) and simmer on the stove or in a slow cooker until tender (about 2 more hours) In a Dutch oven, drizzle bottom with olive oil and sauté onion, carrots and celery until onion is translucent. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, and oregano, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper, and sauté until fragrant. More spices can be added later, to taste. |
|
“Let us be like a genuine and fruitful branch of the vine, which is Christ, accepting him in our lives the way he gives himself to us: as truth, which must be spoken; as life, which must be lived; as light, which must shine out; as love, which must be loved; as a way, which must be trodden; as joy, which must be communicated; as peace, which must be radiated; as sacrifice, which must be offered in our families, to our closest neighbors, and to those who live far away.” Mother Teresa As quoted in Heart of Joy: The Transforming Power of Self-Giving, by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado (Servant Publications, July 1987) |
|
When I was growing up, one of the questions always asked when two people began dating was, “Is she/he Catholic?” It was quite rightly assumed that differences in religion within a marriage could be a major source of stress and potentially lead to break-up of the marriage. In those days, we were just barely past the time that “mixed marriages” took place at the rectory or in the vestibule, and the non-Catholic partner had to promise to raise the children Catholic before a marriage could be blessed. Presumably, sharing the bonds of a common religion would serve to strengthen the marriage. Imagine my surprise, then, when I married a Catholic man of Mexican ancestry and discovered that we were divided by the bonds of a common religion. Many aspects of his cultural experience of Catholicism were different from the Irish-German Catholic experience of my childhood. (And no, the German Catholic side were not converts. They had been Catholic for centuries.) Things we found that differed ranged from the relative importance of certain feast days (those of Our Lady were never to be missed) to questions as “serious” as Friday abstinence (could one eat gravy served on potatoes at a restaurant on a Lenten Friday?). Fortunately, we were both graduate students in Anthropology and had a vocabulary with which to discuss and appreciate the cultural differences over which we were tripping. Feasts of Our Lady are extremely important in Hispanic culture and, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, she is trusted to handle any and all problems that arise. Friday abstinence from meat has been somewhat optional within Spanish speaking culture since the time of the Crusades. The male head of household had the prerogative to excuse the family from following the rule of abstinence. So the question of gravy on potatoes was moot! Simply a minor cultural difference in the experience of faith and definitely not something requiring confession. (Further research done in the course of writing this post indicates that meat based gravy was never actually prohibited, but general understanding of the rules within my culture of origin excluded it.) This all came to mind again in the past couple of weeks. One of our daughter’s classmates is also Catholic, from a somewhat more traditional family than ours. On Ash Wednesday, the friend ruefully confessed that she had already forgotten and had a piece of candy that day. She had intended to give up candy for Lent. As it turned out, she had also forgotten (or perhaps never realized) that Ash Wednesday is a day of abstinence. She had packed a wonderful turkey sandwich for lunch that day. When apprised of the fact, she looked at the sandwich, declared, “Well, it would be a shame to waste it,” and ate her entire lunch. When I was their age, the poor sandwich would have been returned to its wrapper and taken home for another day, or perhaps even thrown away. Some might have chastised the young woman for breaking a Church rule and eating the sandwich. She probably would have felt the need to confess her sin. Blessedly, she does not seem to have such worries today. So a few questions arise. How do rules fit into our experience of faith? Why even have rules of fast and abstinence if they aren’t going to be taken extremely seriously? How can religious rules be applied to one group of people and not another? That’s not fair! Aren’t there more important things to worry about than what people eat and when? Should religions have rules at all? In looking at religion and behaviors associated with religion, Clifford Geertz‘ insight, in “Religion as a Cultural System,” that religion serves both as a model of society and a model for society provides a useful platform for analysis. Religions all around the world have codes of behavior — expectations of how people will act and for what reasons they will act as they do. These codes are normally posited to be the will of the deity. Generally, they uphold the social structure of the society and provide the rationale for the way social interactions occur. The song, “Tradition,” from the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, is an excellent example of the structuring of such social expectations and the recourse to God as their source. This works pretty well when the religion in question is a small, localized one with a limited number of adherents. With groups that are larger and spread out over a larger geographic area, modifications begin to be seen. As Christianity spread out through the Roman Empire, accomodations were made to make it more understandable to peoples with different geographical, economic and cultural realities. If evergreen boughs are a symbol of everlasting life in a culture, for example, it’s a short jump to include them as symbols in Christian settings as well. But if evergreens mean nothing in a culture, they will often mean nothing in liturgical settings either. For this reason we are careful what we include in liturgy that must of its nature be open to be experienced cross-culturally. The underlying reason for a practice is also important in analysis of how that practice plays out in the lived experience of a people. If the underlying reason is that there must be atonement for one’s failings, a penitential reason, then denying oneself something good but not necessary for life is often valued. If growth in self discipline is an underlying reason, again, denying oneself something makes sense. If one’s salvation from a nearly eternal cycle of birth and rebirth requires attaining perfection or enlightenment in this life, such practices again make sense. If the reason is that we choose to enter into a time and process of transformation of who we are so that we can be more open to meet our God when He comes, then it again makes sense. Most religions and “spiritual” movements or quests require their adherents to make sacrifices during certain seasons or as part of their daily life. There is a recognition that we are not perfect and we do not live in a perfect world. It takes work to make things better and to become better persons. We only grow through difficult experiences, not when all is easy. So times of prayer and fasting and giving alms are commonly found. The trick in all of this is to keep things in perspective. What is a more serious offense, eating meat on Friday, for example, or betraying a friend? Is it more offensive to God and the community to miss Mass on Sunday because guests arrived unexpectedly or to turn away the guests because one has to get to church? Should we look to larger issues of how we use resources locally and globally in planning the forms our fasting and almsgiving will take? How do our religious beliefs lead us to act in our communities and countries? How do we weigh the relative importance of the wide variety of issues that must be addressed by our representatives when we decide who will represent us in government? Can people of good will take different positions and still be part of our community? It seems to me that all of these questions and more are reflected in the simple decisions we make about things like abstaining from meat on Friday or wasting the food that has been prepared for us. Some things are simply matters of traditional practice and can vary from place to place or family to family. Others are fundamental issues that go to the heart of our relationship with God and creation. Nevertheless, we must be gentle with each other in addressing them. God does not go around bashing people over the head and we must not either. If our religious beliefs and practices do act as models of the societies in which we live and models for what those societies should be like, and in my experience they do, then let’s be careful to use them to shape a society in which God’s “little ones” are protected and supported, people are free to ask questions, think for themselves, and grow in wisdom, age and grace, and the resources we have been given can be used wisely to benefit all of God’s creatures, human as well as non-human. Just as my husband and I found we were divided by the bonds of a common religion, humans are divided by the bonds of our common human habit of designing social systems to meet the environment in which we find ourselves and the perception of reality that goes with and shapes those systems that we design. Only by accepting each other in love, giving up the attempt to change the other into our own image and culture, and laughing a lot as we go along can we be transformed so we are ready to meet the Lord who comes to us telling stories and trusting in His Father’s bounty and love to sustain Him. |
