Tag: Faith & Current Events

It is the Fourth of July and a day to reflect on Liberty, on Freedom. And yet many today have concerns that their freedom is being eroded by increasing and over-reaching governmental intrusion.

And, while as Catholics steeped in the moral vision of the Scriptures and Tradition we seek to balance individual rights and the common good, we do rightly have concerns that one of our most fundamental rights recognized in the very First Amendment is being threatened by an unprecedented mandate that we violate our consciences and surrender our religious liberty simply because the government demands it.

Note the language that the First Amendment “recognizes” our freedom to freely exercise our religion. For the State does not grant us this right, God does. It is among those rights the Declaration of Independence so nobly calls “unalienable” rights and says are endowed by our Creator.

Hence, in no way can our right to religious freedom be abridged simply because a president, a congress or a director of a government agency says so. They did not give us this liberty and they cannot take it away. We will not and cannot cede to man, what God has given.

And mind you, the HHS mandate is only the latest and boldest move of what has been a steady stream of threats eroding our religious liberty. These issues affect not only Catholics, but people of many religious backgrounds. However, the Catholic Church is particularly targeted and threatened because we have stood so vocally and firmly in opposition to many aspects of the cultural revolution in America such as Abortion, Embryonic Stem Cell research, euthanasia, the increasing “genocide” against the disabled via selective abortion and pernicious prenatal screening, the Gay rights agenda, Gay “marriage,” and so forth.

As the wider American culture continues to move away from Biblical teachings and Natural Law norms, our Catholic adherence to this age-old wisdom has come to be seen by many as obnoxious, and we are considered to be an influence which must be strongly withstood. Rather than understand our concerns as a principled stance rooted in Biblical norms that we cannot simply set aside, many, in the wider culture, have chosen to describe our stance as bigoted, reactionary, hateful, and broadly intolerant.

As such, many see the repudiation of our religious rights and liberty as “righteous” and as a vindication of their cultural agenda. But the rejoicing in some circles and the active attempt by some to suppress our religious liberty is short-sighted. For, if the Government can deny the liberty of one group, all groups are threatened. If the Government can attempt to legally force a large segment of the US population to act contrary to their conscience, no other segment is safe either.

The threat to religious liberty is both real and growing. To review the HHS Mandate issue note that, until now, federal law has never prevented Catholic institutions from providing for the needs of their employees with a health plan that is consistent with Catholic moral teachings. There were reasonable religious exemptions in place that have always been a respected tradition in the laws of this country as written.

However, under the  HHS mandates, virtually all Catholic hospitals, elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, and charitable organizations would be required to provide coverage for sterilization procedures and contraception, including drugs that may induce abortions, unless they stop hiring and stop serving non-Catholics. The HHS mandate will attempt to force Catholic organizations and individual Catholics either to violate their conscience or risk serious penalties and fines. We cannot and will not comply.

Those who want to turn this into a debate about contraception are missing the point and are being deceived. Because, if the government can seek to compel in these matters offensive to long-standing Catholic teaching,  it can just as easily come after what others consider sacred and right. Do not be deceived, this is about a serious threat to the First Amendment and to the religious liberty of all, not just Catholics, and not just the various churches, but against you, as an individual citizen as well. It is not just the Church that has religious liberty, YOU have religious liberty and no government or official has the right to prohibit the free exercise of your religious duties.

More than freedom of worship! Do not allow others to describe the First Amendment merely as the “freedom of worship.” It is far more. It is to able to freely exercise one’s religion. I am not a Catholic merely inside the church building. I am a Catholic at the supermarket, at the job, in the political arena, in the influence of public policy, and in the daily discourse that seeks to influence the thinking and behavior of my fellow citizens. We, as believers, have the same rights as any other citizens or groups to advocate and organize for causes and courses of action we see as helpful to this country. An essential part of the free exercise of our religious duty is to evangelize the culture and everyone who will listen. It is unacceptable to speak of religious liberty as merely the freedom to worship inside a Church building, it is far more.

Real and subtle – Please understand that the threats to our religious Liberty are very real, but also, at times, subtle. For, beyond the HHS Mandate that is in the news,  much of the erosion is carried out in incremental ways, hidden in the deeper details of legislation, and emerging from strict interpretations of various judges. As such, it requires the Church and other religious organizations to fight on multiple fronts in a wearying number of, often arcane but very significant, legal minutia.

At some level, the erosion of religious liberty is happening simply due to the repeated quality of the multiple and hostile legal maneuvers. The Church and other religious entities may win an individual battle in one case, only to have to face multiple appeals and similar battles in other jurisdictions.

Keeping the faithful organized and alert, and having the legal and financial resources in place to meet every challenge is difficult, and this is part of the erosive technique of the extreme secularists.

Here are just some recent examples of the kinds of cases and issues that emerge:

1. In 2009 the Baltimore City Council passed a bill regulating the speech of pro-life pregnancy centers by requiring them to post a sign listing services they do not provide (abortion and contraception) or face a daily fine. Abortion clinics and other such pro-choice centers faced no similar requirement. (Montgomery County soon approved a similar regulation. The ordinance has been declared unconstitutional by a federal court but even though the Courts may overturn these sorts of laws, such legal actions place a huge time and financial burden on these charitable organizations and are a distraction from their mission.
2. 600 Catholic hospitals are finding themselves under increased scrutiny since they provide care in accordance with Catholic religious beliefs. The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the federal government to investigate Catholic hospitals for declining to provide abortion and emergency contraception. The ACLU alleges that Catholic hospitals are thus violating federal laws by adhering to their religious beliefs.
3. The District of Columbia Government informed Catholic Charities that it would no longer be an eligible foster care and adoption partner. since, as a Catholic organization, Catholic Charities was devoted to placing children in homes with both a mother and a father. Moreover, when District residents filed an appeal to bring the issue of marriage before voters, so that they could have a voice in the debate, their request was repeatedly denied by the D.C. Board of Elections.
   
4. Last November the same thing happened in Illinois. The Church there would have been required to provide adoption services to same-sex couples, based on a civil union law that had been passed. “The decision not to pursue further appeals was reached with great reluctance, but was necessitated by the fact that the State of Illinois made it financially impossible for Catholic agencies to continue to provide these services due to the legal cost of continuing the battle.
5. There has also been a growing trend of government intrusion into the institutional and administrative life of the Church. One of the most disturbing examples of this was in 2009, when a bill was introduced in the Connecticut legislature that would have allowed the state of Connecticut to mandate the structure and organization of Catholic parishes (and only Catholic parishes; it applied to no other denominations). The measure, which ultimately failed, would have removed many administrative and pastoral responsibilities from the pastor and placed them instead in the hands of committees whose membership was defined by the state legislature. Here too, though we won, that such an intrusive principle could see the light of day was disturbing and to fight it cost the Church and Catholics a huge amount of time and money.
   
6. Christians cannot speak publicly of their values? Medina Valley Independent School District, allows the class valedictorian to deliver a graduation address. The speech is written by the student and delivered in his or her own name as a personal reflection on what has helped them attain to their success and to give an encouraging word to fellow students. Last year, valedictorian, Angela Hildenbrand, a Bible-believing Christian, was valedictorian. Many knew that Angela would give thanks to God for blessing her work as a student, and that she might offer a prayer. Alleging that hearing a prayer would cause serious and irreparable harm, lawyers at “Americans United for the Separation of Church and State” (AUSCS) filed suit for an agnostic family. A federal judge….issued an order that no prayers could be offered, and also that Angela could not utter certain words in her speech, including the phrase “bow your heads” or the specific words “prayer” or “amen.” The reality is, the judge’s order, not a prayer Angela might offer in her speech, violated the First Amendment. A student is given the stage to speak about her values and priorities and to thank whomever she wishes for helping her succeed in school. Because she’s a private citizen (not a government agent), her speech is protected by the First Amendment Free Speech Clause. For government, (including a judge), to censor her private speech is unconstitutional. On June 4, the Fifth Circuit federal appeals court granted an emergency motion to reverse the district judge.
7. Grants denied on Religious Grounds – In 2008 the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts brought suit against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, seeking to eliminate a grant to programs that aid victims of human trafficking. Because Catholic programs don’t refer for abortions, the ACLU alleged that public support amounts to the establishment of religion. The Obama Justice Department defended the grant in court. But recently, HHS abruptly ended the funding.
8. And again – It is now standard procedure in the Obama administration to deny funding to some Catholic programs based solely on their pro-life beliefs. [4]
9. The latest and most pervasive threat is the New HHS law described above.

At the beginning of a New Year, please take these threats seriously. The extreme secularists presume they can simply wear us down by their repeated and numerous legal maneuverings. And, frankly, they may be right, unless people like you and me are vigilant and unflinching in supporting the Church as she battles these attacks.

And don’t be too sanguine about how we should be willing to endure persecution. We should, but that does not mean we simply surrender our Constitutional rights at the door and let secularists, and proponents of the cultural revolution isolate us. We have every Constitutional right that any American does and we cannot simply let the Church be silenced by either ignoring the problem or minimizing it.

There is an important Battle underway. Where do you stand? What will you do? To quote Martin Luther King Jr., “My daddy always said, ‘If you find a good fight, get in it.'” Well this is a good fight, a necessary fight. Get in it.

Here is the Parable of the Kosher Deli:

The title of this Post is the refrain of the responsorial Psalm of Mass for Monday of this week. It is a provocative antiphon to say the least.

Given the difficulties that continue on the East Coast and the Midwest in the aftermath of Friday night’s remarkable storm (a mini hurricane, really), the readings of Monday’s Mass really spoke to how forgetful we can be regarding our fragility. Millions remain “powerless” in the midst of sweltering heat and electric companies say it may be the end of the week before power is restored. Yes, human “power” (aka electricity) is sorely lacking and all the kings horses and all the kings men are currently unable to deliver help.

Disclaimer – I write this as one unaffected by the power outages and I “coolly” reflect on these matters in air conditioned comfort. But fully half my parishioners are not so lucky and cannot even run a fan to get relief. It is they who must experience our frailty while I merely comment on it. I tip my hat to those who show patience in this current unpleasantness.

The readings today however give us an important teaching that is worth pondering.

The first reading today from Amos, while largely a warning from God that he will punish his unrepentant people, also speaks eloquently to the fact that even what we usually consider “mighty” cannot stand before the far mightier powers we call nature and, and neither can they stand before the Lord God:

Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong man shall not retain his strength; The warrior shall not save his life, nor the bowman stand his ground; The swift of foot shall not escape, nor the horseman save his life. And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the LORD (Amos 2:14-16)

I quoting this, I do not suggest personal sin is the cause of Friday’s storm or of the current suffering in its aftermath by some. It is true, collectively, we ALL have enough pride to fuel a worldwide storm. But here I quote the passage simply as a reminder of how even what we call great and powerful (our technology and military might) is actually very fragile.

Fragile! Almost every process, function and comfort, in our homes depends on a thin little wire bringing electricity into our homes, and another thin little wire bringing and sending information. Cut these little cords and modern life as we know it goes back to the stone age. And, unlike our even recent ancestors who knew how to make a go of it without these umbilical cords, we are quite helpless. Most of us don’t even know how to cook over an open fire, let alone build one. Two thin and fragile wires, it all rests on that. Cut that cord and the mighty and modern word “flees naked on that day.”

And, not only are our individual lives fragile, but so is what we call civilization. When power outages are widespread (this one is spotty) there is often social unrest to include looting and riots. Social order breaks down very quickly in such circumstances, and we discover that civilization is a thinner veneer than we imagined.

The responsorial psalm says, Remember this you who never think of God, and, I would add: Remember this you who think that, in your own power, your strength lies. And these two lines are also good and powerful reminders also for us who do think of God, but do not often remember that this seemingly powerful world with all its glories is fragile: For this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Cor 7:29-30)

Yes, in an instant, in the rush of a wind, it’s promises and power all collapse.

An old song says, “In times like these you need a savior…” Only the Lord can help us set our heart and our hopes in that place where true and lasting joys are. Reminders like this storm can help, but only Jesus can truly convert our hearts and focus us on the lasting things of God and heaven.

An old hymn says: On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, And the verses go on to add:

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

And perhaps a final admonition from Scripture:

But as for man, his days are like the grass or as of the flower of the field. The wind blows and he is gone, and his place never sees him again. But from everlasting to everlasting is the Lord’s love for those that fear him. (Psalm 103:15-17)

Some years ago a scripture professor asked: “Do you know what the biggest obstacle is in understanding Scripture?”

Now since we were doing graduate level Scripture study, a few of us opined that it was the lack of the knowledge of Greek or Hebrew. Or perhaps it was that people today do not know the culture of Jesus’ time, or have not studied the historical-critical method (that answer usually got us extra points in Scripture class back in those days). Other students opined that fundamentalism was the biggest problem (another answer sure to gain points back then).

“No” said the professor. “Our biggest problem in understanding Scripture is our sin.”

Could it be that simple? Surely the woeful lack of catechesis, and the general ignorance of Scripture is the reason!

No, it is our sin. For if we were pure in heart we would seek truth, love Scripture, and the study of the faith. No one would have to drag us to Mass, and staying alert during the readings, sermon and prayers would be little effort, since some one we loved, the Lord, was speaking. We would prefer the beauty of God’s truth to the empty and vain trends of the world, and error would repulse and trouble us. Ignorance and lack of learning would not be an issue, for we would say with Blessed Job: Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12).

If we were pure in heart we would not wince at the moral teaching of the Scripture and rashly and rebelliously reject it as unrealistic and outdated. Instead we would weep for our sins and rejoice in the truth with the words of Baruch: Happy are we. O Israel, for what pleases God is known to us (Baruch 4:4)!

If we were pure in heart, our minds would connect so many dots, for we would lovingly remember that God had said similar things in other passages. We would see how grace and love and mercy were like threads connecting the whole of Scripture and Tradition. We would see victory even in apparent defeat, providence on every page, and wisdom in every paradox. We would see the whole of the Old Testament as a preparation for Jesus, the whole of the New Testament as the fulfillment of that was promised, and more. Love would enlighten every page of Scripture and Tradition, and that very light would scatter the darkness of worldly errors and selfish interpretations.

Yes, is quite simple in the end, our sin is our biggest obstacle in understanding God’s word. Sin leads to senseless, foolish and darkened minds.

Greek is good, parsing Hebrew verbs, a worthy matter. But seeking a purer heart opens doors that exegetical methods can only knock on. Learning is surely good and required, especially if it looks to the heavens, but only pure love can pierce the veil.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God (Matt 5:9).

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children (Matt 11:25)

Here is a funny video that reminds us that things are sometimes simpler than they first appear.

It is a simple historical fact that the Church has always baptized infants. Even our earliest documents speak of the practice. For example the Apostolic Tradition written about 215 A.D. has this to say:

The children shall be baptized first. All of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer. If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, or someone else from their family. (Apostolic Tradition # 21)

Scripture too confirms that infants should be baptized if you do the math. For example

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:15-17 NIV)

So the Kingdom of God belongs to the little Children (in Greek brephe indicating little Children still held in the arms, babes). And yet elsewhere Jesus also reminds that it is necessary to be baptized in order to enter the Kingdom of God:

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5 NIV)

If the Kingdom of God belongs to little children and we are taught that we cannot inherit it without baptism then it follows that Baptizing infants is necessary and that to fail to do so is a hindering of the little children which Jesus forbade his apostles to do.

So both Tradition and Scripture affirm the practice of baptizing infants. Strange then that some among the Protestants (not all) should criticize us for this practice. Even stranger that the Baptists are usually be the ones to do so. You’d think with a name like “Baptist” they’d be more into baptism. (Truth be told, most of the other Protestant denominations do baptize infants). It is primarily Baptists and some Evangelicals who refuse the practice.

Part of the reason for this is that they seem to water down (pardon the pun) the fuller meaning of baptism, no longer seeing it as washing away sins and conferring righteousness per se. Rather they seem to see it more as a symbol of faith already received when they said the sinners prayer and accepted Christ as their savior. No time here to argue the full logic of their position and why it falls short of a biblical and Traditional understanding of Baptism.

But, for those of us who do continue the ancient and biblical practice of baptizing infants, the practice says some very wonderful things about the gratuity of salvation and the goodness of God. Consider these points:

1. The baptism of infants is a powerful testimony to the absolute gratuity (gift) of salvation. Infants have achieved nothing, have not worked, have not done anything to “merit” salvation. The Catechism puts it this way: The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant baptism. (CCC # 1250) The Church is clear, salvation cannot be earned or merited, and infant baptism teaches that most clearly. Salvation is pure gift.

How strange and ironic that some of the very denominations which claim that Catholics teach salvation by works (we do not) also refuse to baptize infants. They claim that a certain age of maturity is required so that the person understands what they are doing. But this sounds like achievement. That the child must meet some requirement seems like a work, or the attainment of some meritorious status wherein one is now old enough to “qualify” for baptism and salvation. “Qualifications….Achievement (of age)….Requirements….it all sounds like what they accuse us of: namely works and merit.

To be clear then, the Catholic understanding of the gratuity of salvation is far more radical than many non-Catholics understand. We baptize infants who are not capable of meriting, attaining or earning.

2. The Baptism of infants also powerfully attests to the fact that the beauty of holiness and righteousness is available to everyone regardless of age. To be baptized means to be washed. Washed of what? Original Sin. At first this seems like a downer, “Are you saying my baby has sin?” Yep. All of us inherit Original Sin from Adam and Eve. We are born into a state of alienation from God that is caused by sin. The Scriptures are clear: [S]in entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned (Rom 5:12). So even infants are in need of the saving touch of God.

Now why would we wish to delay this salvation and resulting holiness for 7 to 12 years? The Catechism says this, Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by Original Sin, children also have need of new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and be brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God….The Church and parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer baptism shortly after birth. (CCC # 1250).

St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage in the 3rd Century was asked if it was OK to wait to the 8th day to baptize since baptism had replaced circumcision. He responded with a strong no: But in respect of the case of the infants, which you say ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, and that the law of ancient circumcision should be regarded, so that you think that one who is just born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day We [the bishops] all thought very differently in our council. For in this course which you thought was to be taken, no one agreed; but we all rather judge that the mercy and grace of God is not to be refused to any one born of man. (Epist# 58).

So then, here is the beauty, that infants are summoned to receive the precious gift of holiness and righteousness and that they are summoned to a right relationship with God by having their sin purged and holiness infused. Infants are called to this dignity and should not be denied it. With this done, some of the holiest and most innocent days of our lives may well be our first years. Then as the will begins to manifest and reason begins to dawn the grace of holiness gives us extra strength to fight against the sinful world that looms.

3. The Baptism of Infants also attests to the fact that faith is gift for every stage of development– To be baptized is to receive the gift of faith. It is baptism that gives the true faith. Even with adults, true faith does not come until baptism. Prior to that there is a kind of prevenient faith, but it is not the Theological Virtue of Faith.

Now faith is not only an intellectual assent to revealed doctrine. It is that but it is more. To have faith is also be be in a righteous and trusting relationship with God. An infant relates to his parents long before he speaks or his rational mind is fully formed. He trusts his parents and depends on them. It is the same with God. The infant trusts and depends of God and is in a right relationship with God. With his parents, this relationship of trust leads the infant to begin to speak and understand as he grows. Here too it is the same with God. As his mind awakens the infant’s faith grows. It will continue to grow until the day he dies (hopefully) as an old man.

That faith accompanies us through every stage of our life and develops as we do is essential to its nature. An infant needs faith no less than an old man. An infant benefits from faith no less than a teenager or an adult.

To argue as some Protestants do that you have to be a certain age before faith can exist, hardly seems to respect the progressive nature of faith which is able to bless EVERY stage of our human journey.

I have some very vivid memories of my experience of God prior to seven years of age and I will say that God was very powerfully present to me in my early years, in many ways even more so than now, when my mind sometimes “gets in the way.”

Another post too long. Forgive me dear reader. But please spread the word. Too many Catholics are waiting months, even years to have their children baptized. Precious time is lost by this laxity.

Infant Baptism speaks powerfully of the love that God has for everyone he has created and of his desire to have everyone in a right and saving relationship with Him. Surely baptism alone isn’t enough. The child must be raised in the faith. It is the nature of faith that it grows by hearing and seeing. Children must have faith given at baptism but that faith must be explained and unwrapped like a precious gift for them. Don’t delay. Get started early and teach your child the faith they have received every day.

At the bottom of this post is an older video from CBS news that indicates that if you have or use a digital copier, everything you have copied on it going back years is stored on a hard drive in the copier. The drive is evidently so large in them that they can store over 20,000 documents and hundreds of thousands of pages.

Hence if you have ever photocopied personal materials containing social security numbers, checking info, personal data, etc, it is on that hard drive. The CBS news crew showed how easy it is to remove the hard drive and download its contents. It’s a stunning little segment if you never saw it, and I recommend you watch it and share it with 500 of your closest friends.

When we come to privacy there are a number of problems. In particular privacy is a problem in two senses.

The first is the usual sense that many of us are experiencing something of an erosion in the privacy we have come to expect. Our data is out there in cyberspace and can too easily be intercepted by the nosy and the criminal. GPS devices help track our whereabouts, Internet browsing habits are retained at search engines, “cookies” in our computer also track our habits. YouTube faithfully records our viewing habits and do our cable boxes. And, as you can see in the video below, just about everything we have ever copied on any copier built after 2002 is dutifully recorded and kept. Why I am not sure, but it’s there for the viewing.

In many ways our life is an open book. In some ways having our info out there is a convenience. In other ways we are alarmed and suspicious. But in this sense privacy has become a problem. There is less and less of it each day. And don’t even get me started about those full body scanners on the way at airports.

There is a second sense however in which I use the the phrase the “Problem of Privacy.” In a very important way we must remember that there has never been anything private about our life to God. He sees everything. He is the searcher of minds and hearts. The Book of Hebrews says that to him everything lies naked and exposed (Heb 4:13). No thought, deliberation or action of ours is hidden from God.

One of the problems of the modern age is that we are too easily forgetful of the fact that God witnesses everything we do. In school settings I have often reminded students pretending they had done nothing wrong: “Now be careful! God is watching and he knows everything you do. He also knows if you are lying to me! You might get away with something with me but you won’t avoid God!” But it is not only children who need to be reminded of this. Yes, God sees and knows everything we think and do. In this sense there is no privacy. God is watching. Deep down we know but our weak minds forget. And when we do remember our crafty minds try to reinvent God by saying dumb things like, “God doesn’t mind” or “God understands” or “God will not punish.”

So, absolute privacy is an illusion. We may well be able to carve out some privacy from one another and well we should. But we should not seek privacy from God nor can we. There is something increasingly medicinal about practicing the presence of God. The more we experience that God is present and watching the more we accept him on his own terms and do not try to reinvent him, them more we do this the more our behavior can be reformed. A little salutary fear can be medicinal while we wait for the more perfect motive of love to drive out sin.

And, frankly too, acknowledging that not only is God watching but others are too can also have some good effects. We may not approve of their ability to see us, but in the end it can help to remember that they do. A few examples might help illustrate what I mean.

1. Internet Porn – As a confessor, the sin of Internet pornography has increasingly found its way into the confessions I hear. One of the things I try to remind penitents of is the fact that when they are on the Internet they are out in public, with a name tag on. All their browsing habits are stored both on their own computers and out at the sites they visit and the browsing engines they use. If they think they are merely in the privacy of their own room they ought to think again. Personally, this knowledge keeps me far away from bad sites of any kind on the Internet. There is a kind of salutary fear in knowing that I am out in public when on-line.
2. The same is true for cable TV. Those boxes send data about what I watch and how long, back to the Cable company. My browsing and viewing habits are known to those who might wish to find them. Frankly it keeps me out of trouble. I hope other virtues do as well, but remembering that I am in public is very helpful.
3. Likewise for e-mail and other forms of Internet communication such as face book and blogging. Once you press send, or publish, you’ve just made history. The contents of what you have said are out there to stay. You may delete it, but it will stay as data on servers for as long as the sun shall shine. Be very careful what you say, for no matter how private you may think it is, it is not. You are always in earshot of some server which loves to keep your data. What you type in the darkness will be brought to light and what you post in secret will shouted from the housetop. Here too I am assisted by this fact. I may not like that what I send or post is ultimately public. But in the end it makes me careful about what I say or type.
4. Accountability has also been a help in my life. As a priest I think it is important to live a rather transparent life. I almost never just slip away from the rectory. I always tell someone on the staff where I am going, at least generally, and when I expect to return. I am a public figure. Sure I have some privacy up in my rectory suite, but over all, I make it a rule to account for my whereabouts. I also usually wear my clerical attire as I go about (except on a day off). There are surely times when I expect the rectory to be a private home (after 9pm) but here too, I live with three other priests and though we have our separate apartments, the communal quality of the rectory also provides a salutary kind of accountability in terms of personal behavior.

What I am ultimately saying is that too much demand for privacy can also be a problem. In the end the Lord intends for us to live in community, where we are accountable to others. Some degree of accountability and transparency is helpful and necessary for us.

It is clear that there are significant problems with the erosion of our privacy today. We ought to continue to insist that proper boundaries should be respected.

However we should also remember that some demands for privacy are unrealistic. At some level we simply need to accept that the being online is the same as being in public with your name tag on. That’s just the way it is, so behave yourself.

Finding the proper balance between our public and private lives can be difficult. Surely privacy is to be insisted upon in many cases. But it is also true that overly expansive assumptions of privacy are neither possible nor always healthy. Being in public will always be a necessary part of our life and being aware when we are in public is important. You are in public right now because you are on-line.

Before you comment take a few minutes to watch this video. And never sell your copier again without insisting that you be able to destroy the hard drive. This report was a real eye-opener and will make me wary of how and when I copy confidential documents and personal information.

Words, while a precious human capacity, also get in the way of reality. But how can we live without them? At some level we must allow for a deeper level of language to help us in sorting out reality. Something that helps us to form a mental picture. And for this, since words are often a necessary mediator, we turn to metaphors, and stories.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common. A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar, in terms of the familiar. The word is  from the Greek metapherein meaning “to transfer,” or, more literally,  “to carry something beyond.” from meta (beyond) + pherein (to bear or carry).

So a metaphor seeks to capture something deeper by comparing something less definable to something else that is more easily grasped. In the metaphor, “All the world’s a stage” Shakespeare takes a large and deep concept (the world, or life) and frames it in the context of something more manageable, a stage. This is not to exhaust the meaning of “life” or “the world,” but to capture some truth about them and highlight it for understanding.

Stories communicate what is complex and to some degree, inexpressible, or hard to see by relating memorable experiences that disclose truth. Good stories often communicate many complex truths at once. The best stories use surprise, irony, conflict or some quirky combination of all them to convey truth and wisdom memorably.

As such, these words, stories, and metaphors are often deeply paradoxical, for, at the deeper level of things, is found a unity often hard to see on the surface. And at these deeper levels things often shift, surprise and amuse us. Not everything in life is as it first appears, and God does not easily fit into our little boxes. Stories and metaphors thus open windows onto wider vistas, and deeper mysteries.

With this background in mind, consider a few stories and metaphors. There is a wide collection of such stories from both the Rabbinic tradition and the Desert Fathers. The saints too supply us with much. Pardon the random nature of the following selections, I have drawn them from various sources, but many come from The Spirituality of Imperfection: Story Telling and the Search for Meaning. In these summer months, it makes some sense to share some of these stories and metaphors with you as they are a rich source of the magnificent and mysterious reality called life.

In these selections, I want to largely let them speak for themselves. I will limit myself to brief comments in red.

1. When the disciples of the Rabbi Baal Shem Tov asked him how to know whether or celebrated scholar whom they proposed to visit was a true wise man he answered: “Ask him to advise you what to do to keep unholy thoughts from disturbing you in your prayers and studies. If he gives you advice, then you will know that he belongs to those are of no account.“

For not all things admit of a solution and God sometimes permits things to test us and asks us to live with difficulties. Were there a solution to such a problem as distractions and temptations, spiritual teachers would long ago have given it. Thus those who claim some insight into this common and human problem are of little account.

2. When the Rabbi Bunam was asked why the first of the Ten Commandments speaks of God bringing us out of the land of Egypt, rather than of God creating the heavens and the earth, the Rabbi explained: “Heaven on earth!?” Then man might have said ‘Heaven! That is all too much for me!'” So God said to man, “I am the one who fished you out of the mud. Now come here and listen to me.“

For we often relate first to more earthly things, than higher spiritual matters.

3. A woman sought out a confessor of long experience. In the confession she recounted the behaviors that troubled her. She then began to detail how these behaviors seemed somehow connected with her experience of having grown up in an alcoholic home. At that point the grizzled veteran confessor reached out, and gently patting her hand, asked: “My dear do you want forgiveness or an explanation?“

For some confuse confession and spirituality with therapy. Therapy offers explanations, Confession offers and true spirituality seeks mercy and forgiveness.

4. Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends everything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees. – St. Gregory of Nyssa

For too often our certitude is rooted not in God or in true faith, but in our own thoughts, and these thoughts become idols, and we become ideologues. But wonder is able to fall to its knees in humility and gratitude. Wonder opens us to all God has done, ideology closes us too easily in ourselves and our own limited thoughts.

5. The philosopher Diogenes was sitting on a curb stone, eating bread and lentils for his supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus to Diogenes, “If you would learn to be subservient to the king, you would not have to live on lentils.” Said Diogenes in reply, learn to live on lentils, and you will not have to cultivate the king.

And this is an analogy to our serving of this world and of our consequent slavery to it.

6. A man of piety complained to Baal Shem Tov, saying “I have labored hard and long in the service of the Lord, and yet I am little improved. I’m still an ordinary, ignorant person.” The rabbi answered, “You have gained the realization that you are ordinary and ignorant, and this in itself is a worthy accomplishment.“

For humility, reverence for the truth about ourselves, is the door.

7. One day some disciples of Abba Besarian ceased talking in embarrassment when he entered the house of study. He asked them what they were talking about. They said, “We were saying how afraid we are that the evil urge will pursue us.” “Don’t worry,” he replied “You have not gotten high enough for it to pursue you. For the time being you are still pursuing it.“

For too often and quickly we assess the cause of our ill to be the devil, when, more truly, it is our own flesh.

8. The priest put this question to a class of children: “If all the good people in the world were red, and all the bad people were green, what color would you be? A young girl thought hard for a moment, then her face brightened, and she replied, “I’d be streaky!“

For, we are all a mixed bag, neither wholly good, nor wholly bad. The journey from evil to good is not yet complete. God alone is wholly good.

9. For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven; it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. – St. Therese of Lisieux

For too often we make of prayer a complicated thing.

Please feel free to add your own insights into these sayings. I hope to post more of these in the near future.

Here are some more sayings most of which ring true: