Still So Far To Grow

If one is a child, then having childish ways is normal and healthy.  Thinking with the mind of a child is what children should do; but as one grows, the thoughts, the process of thinking, and the questions posed should grow as well.  Childish ways become less appropriate.  They fit as poorly as would children's clothing.  If the growth is mere aging, the body size increases but the mind's lack of maturity arouses suspicions of retardation.

Because it seems to offer security, it is where so many become stalled.  The security is available at a high price, however, and in the realization there is anger and maybe even guilt about the response.

This occurs as well in our understanding of Church.  For whatever reason, our growth in understanding God can seem retarded.  While our bodies grew, and our intellect, reasoning as it relates to the religious aspect of being has not progressed too far beyond a childish level.  Because it fails to develop, because we do not or cannot question it, it remains less significant or may even deteriorate.

Were so little thought devoted to art, science, or philosophy, we would still see the world as something riding on a camel's back; humors and biles would be seen to course through our bodies; auguries and spells would be the rule.  We would be scratching images on walls and wondering how fire happened.  Strange how what we say is so important but remains so ill-developed, and no one seems to mind.

The Problem

The problem is poverty, but the answer may not be money.

Overeagerness

He is just too eager to agree that he is wrong, too inclined to adopt the view of his superiors, as though they actually were.  It is unfortunate since reliance on his own judgment could be more beneficial and accurate than vehement agreement about his own ineptness.

Love Beyond Words

Love does not always depend upon verbal communication.  Words do not always say what they should.  That is because they can't.

I Don't Know

Why do we have to have answers all of the time?  Are we so insecure or afraid?  What is wrong with saying:  I don't know.

Feeling Responsible

Feeling responsible does not mean that he is.  Only that he wants to be, that he wants to be in control.

When Better is Still Not Best

I do some things against my better judgment, realizing that better judgments are not always best.

Life in the Living of It

No one is born to die.  No one ever was, Jesus least of all.  Like everyone else, he was born to live, not merely an ephemeral spiritual life but a human life with all of the aspects that make it human.  It is that kind of life that he gives back to us.  As Bob Fox had said in his understanding of Jesus' participation with us, life is our mission or vocation.  It is our celebration, and life is chosen in the living of it.  It is not, nor ever was it meant to be, sorrowful, vindictive, or remorseful.  It is not devoid of flesh and blood, but is rather fashioned from it.  Life is humanity.  It is joy, love, peace and so many other things.  It has and is power and reality, the power and reality that is (not merely was) Jesus.

The Problem With Objectivity

He is able to distance himself from the pain of others, which makes him objective, but it is not the best of gifts.  If it helps him to understand, his objectivity intrudes upon his capacity to respond.

Discovering What We Know

When new things are discovered they do not seem so new, so startling, and we can wonder why it took so long to realize them, because it is realization rather than the creation of something entirely new.  It was there to be known.  We had it within our grasp but had to learn we could grasp it.  Newness does not come from what was never there, but from what was not yet recognized.

The Foolishness of Faith

The foolishness of which Paul speaks is not the same as ignoring reality.  The foolishness of faith is rather the acceptance of things such as violence, hatred, and pain.  But it is also realization that it can be changed, that what is need not be, that it can be better, that it can be as it was meant to be.

Burdens People Carry

Seeing some people I get a distinct impression they would be as happy if they didn't have to exist at all.

Without Words

So many things unsaid; so many things for which there are no words.

God as a Memory

What is the significance for people now of the fact that God once pitched his tent with theirs?  That was a long time ago and a lot had happened, or failed to happen, in between.  It may be his presence and actions are transtemporal, but that in itself does not seem to have any great significance at this moment unless we want it to, and sometimes not even then.

Consequences of Waiting

I kept saying don't look at it yet and wait a little longer, but it needs a name, or already has one, and the little longer was, I am afraid, over a long time ago.

Remaining Faithful

Jesus had to die because it is a human activity.  He had to die as he did because it is consequent upon his message.  To not die on the cross would have been denying the value of that message.  It was how he remained faithful to himself, to his Father and to the message.  It was not a question of expiation.  It is not what God requires.  He is not that offended to need that price paid.  It is his nature to forgive, to understand.

How God Speaks

God speaks in silence, and answers in what he does not say.

Burying Embarrassment

We buried a man today.  He wasn't really dead.  It's that we did not want him to exist anymore.  His memory was becoming an inconvenience.  It was embarrassing.  So he had to stop existing.  He never was.

The Sacredness of the Status Quo

Some phrases indicating the sacredness of the status quo include:  keeping the peace, maintaining order, preventing trouble, defending traditional values.  The same phrases can be used to justify violence

Conditions of Loneliness

One need not be alone to know loneliness.

The Louder He Shouts

He thinks the louder he shouts the sooner the problem will be resolved, and that as he becomes more infuriated all difficulty recedes into non-being.

Biding Time

If there is need to say something, must you always wait until it can be heard?

Sideline Questions

While life and death cavort in the center ring, less vital questions dance at the sides, clamoring for attention and immediate response.  They ask about lunch for the kids and do you want cable TV, where are you working today and we need a few things from the store.

Fishing No More

Peter said he was going fishing.  The rest said they would come along.  Then on the beach, they saw the Lord.  They came to shore and fished no more.  They had mistakenly thought that having been with him so long they could now go back to what they had done before.  What they had done, who they had been, were over and could not be again.

More Soul, Less Logic

It is possible to be too logical.  We can become analysts or examiners and nothing else, and so sacrifice understanding.  Without recognizing the poetic and mystical elements, and appreciation of them, analysis and examination have little value.  Words, ideas and even things need a soul, even if having one makes them a bit more ambiguous.  For example, I say poetic when I may not mean precisely that, although it expressed the sentiment I feel.

It may only partially express it, and even then may do so inadequately.  However, it speaks of more than meter and rhythm.  It means more than its definition, and to limit use to what the definition holds would be to rob the word, making us leave it unsaid.  Aside from the word is what it symbolizes, and that is unique to the one who speaks it.  When we become too logical, when we ask strict interpretation and rigid meaning, reality (as it really is) is lost, overwhelmed as its soul is buried under intellect and reason.

Time's Limitations

Time does not make some things better.

No Humanity Shortcuts

They were asking what is the least they could do and still be right, what could they avoid and still say they were good.  It is the wrong question.  There is no quantification, no shaving of the standard. It is asking how much can I dilute humanity and it still be there. Humanity is not what you limit but what you fulfill.  We are ethical because it completes us, and completion is the aim.  It is the filling out of our nature as human people.  To act in a reasonable and good way in each situation is no more than faithfulness to who we are.  That is what ought to motivate our response.  Not questions of what can be gotten away with, and less what will I get in reward.  It is a limitation on our value as people to act in anticipation or in response to pre-payment.  It is unworthy of who we are.

Words Instead of Action

It is not enough to be shocked, appalled, dismayed or even flabbergasted.  They are words trying to survive in place of action.

Children and Merit

Chris said God wants the best for his children, just as we do, and so that is what we should ask in our prayer.  Not the least, but the most.  What we deserve because of our relationship with him and aside from what we merit.  Children don't need to merit.

Change Without Changing

They expect to see change without changing.  They want everything to be new and better while remaining precisely the same.

Proving

Proving is not questioning since the answer (or supposed answer) is known (or thought to be known) beforehand.