The Importance of Joy in the Spriitual Life

Writer H.L. Mencken described Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” And G.K. Chesterton once famously remarked about puritans:

"In America, they have a feast to celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims. Here in England, we should have a feast to celebrate their departure. "

Those fears of religious faith haunt secular people even to this day, and I think in some sense they haunt the religious believer as well. Here's the saddest part of the whole story for both the non believer and the believer, its not true. Here's a passage from the book of isiah about heaven, but also about the Kingdom of God in man's soul now,

"On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from all faces;"

St. Teresa of Avila famously commented, "Lord save us from sour faced saints," All the great saints knew that the devil is so angry about a joyful soul, because a joyful soul has great trust in God. We're called to give up on Gossip, pettiness, envy, anger. We are not called to give up on fun, and in fact fun can help us in the spiritual life, because it keeps tempations at bay. Think about it, when were sad or stressed, those are the moments when we can fall into sin the easiest.

So go out and enjoy life, and have fun, do you think God created this massive world of unbelievable beauty so that we should not enjoy it?

Grateful for the Pope

Sorry for not posting in a while, but the New York Times woke me up this morning with their constant mis-reading of Pope Benedict the 16th. I wanted to quickly weigh in on the Pope's comments on condoms, because it says something about the hope and love in this man's heart. You might be asking what does the Pope's statement on condom's have to do with hope and love? The answer is everything, and that is what the world is missing within this debate.

The question for the Pope was on condoms for the prevention of Aids? Here's the Pope's answer-
There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.

Here's where the hope and love comes in, the first thing I thought when I read this was, the Pope believes there's even hope for a male prostitute. In some sense, could you fall any lower in the world away from your dignity of a child of God than becoming a male prostitute?, but there's hope for conversion even for a male prostitute.

All the Pope is saying is that Prostitution is such a grave evil, so beyond the pale, that a condom is not even a part of the moral equation. Its almost silly, can you imagine two prostitutes, saying, "lets stop, the Pope has said that condoms are evil," But if a prostitute used a condom, it is an awakening in his heart to some goodness, he is basically saying, "I don't want to harm this person any further, I don't want to sicken this person with aids," Its the beginning of conscience to think those things. Lastly the Pope makes it clear that the only answer to the Aids crises is a humanization of sex. Sex is not a drug, it is literally a life giving, and life creating act. To reduce it to mere pleasure is a real catastrophe, and sad, here's the Pope,"

"This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being. "

What a great country

As the results from yesterday's election was rolling in last night, and pundits discussed what it all meant, the thing that was going through my mind was, "what a great country," The balance of powers is a beautiful thing. I don't like this blog to be political, but I was very happy last night for two reasons that relate to the Faith. 1.) The amount of pro-life candidates who won was incredibly hopeful, and 2.) The debt and size of government is a moral issue.

Every society has to decide how much taxation is too much, and when you reach the tipping point, then the next questions becomes, where do we spend it. We don't have a revenue problem in America, we actually have a very healthy revenue with a $14 trillion economy. So where should we spend the revenue that is coming in. When you reach a point that you are going into debt, that is when you start hurting the very engine that feeds the $14 trillion. That is not fair. Like any family or group, there comes a time when you have to go into debt for an emergency, and maybe we reached that point with the economy in 08', but in the fix, you have to make sure you feed the horse that is pulling the carriage. People ask me all the time, as a Christian, don't you feel obligated that people have health care, and the answer is certainly yes, in fact, I want people to have health care, housing, cloths, food, all of the basic necessities.

The greatest way to lift the largest amount of people out of poverty, is a vibrant economy. St. Paul says, "let those who will not work, not eat," St. Paul knew that there was people in the society of his time that could not work, because they were sick, or handicapped. But he also knew that if you could work, than work was a good for man, and that if you could work, you should work.

We have to remember what pays for those services, and its our work. That is why I think Bill Clinton was so successful with Welfare reform, making work a condition of welfare. It is compassionate to live in reality, and we were made to use our creative gifts for work. We have to do the things that make our economy strong, so that we can pay for the necessary things in society. Going into debt only saddlebags a very healthy horse.

The 2 Dreams from "No Country for Old Men"

I can't say I would recommend either the book or the movie, because they are both very violent. But I have an affinity for Cormac McCarthey's book's because of the amazing talent this man has, he is an artist, and the spiritual depth is always very present. But it needs to be stated that his books are dark, and the movie's from the books are dark. But I don't think he uses violence for the sake of violence, he is using it as a tool to make a point.

I wanted to focus on the 2 dreams at the end of the book and the end of the movie, because I think there extremely powerful. The first dream is very small, but carries huge importance, "he met his father in town, and he gave me some money, but I lost it," His father passed onto him a tradition of goodness, but he lost it. We have to take authentic tradition, and build our life upon it, because much of the wisdom has been hard one, but if we don't, we will repeat all the same mistakes of the past. Within the Catholic Church there is literally a gold mine of saints, sinners, doctrine, art, liturgy, you name it, and we can learn from all of it.

The second dream is the most clear hint of the books intent, his father is riding his horse in the snow, the cold, and the dark, and he is going ahead of him to fix a fire. The world in this book is very dark, and clearly our own world is very dark, but what the sheriff finally learns is his fathers key message, that you can't spend your time worry about how dark the world is, you need to spend your time and energy "fix in a fire, in all that cold, and all that dark," That is really our mission, to reflect God's goodness and to be a part of God's goodness and beauty in the world.

Every time we do good for others, we are fix en that fire in the dark. That is why I love the "green card" of Alcoholics Anonymous so much, because they offer as one of the cures for alcoholism, to do 3 hidden acts of charity everyday. The clear implication is to get the focus off ourselves and onto other people, these small acts move the foundation of the world, and we are spending our energy in the right way, "fix en that fire in the dark".

The Powerful Message of Hoosiers

Every October 15th I have a tradition that I've passed on to my kids to watch the movie Hoosiers. October 15th is the official start of the college basketball season, and I've been doing this since my freshman year of high school. I used to just love the basketball element of the movie, which is terrific. The story of an incredible underdog that goes on to win the Indiana State championship. Recently, the other elements of the movie have really grabbed me, and there's two major theme's that run through the movie, which are huge!

1.) Forgiveness and a Second Chance- The movie chronicles a successful college basketball coach Norman Dale, who actually won a Division 1 national championship, but during a game was so angry with a player, that he hit him closed fist to the jaw. He was fired and banned from ever coaching college basketball again. He is given a second chance by a Christian head master in Indiana, at a small farm school. His conversion could have stopped there, but he continues the blessing by giving everyone that he comes into contact a second chance. The disrespectful players, the teachers and parents who can't stand him, and most dramatically, the second chance of Scooter, played unbelievably by Dennis Hopper (Everytime I watch it, I always say to my wife, this guy is an acting genius). I have said many times on this blog the quote from George Foreman, "Foregiveness is the thin line that holds the world together," There are so many blessings that God is ready to pour out if we foregive.

2.) Focus on the Bigger Picture- A couple weeks back I quoted the Orthodox monk from the Vanity Fair Article, "The smart man accepts, the idiot insists,", or said much better by Jesus, "Focus on the Kingdom of God, and all things will be added besides,". Norman Dale was given a second chance, and the rest of the time he simply focuses in on doing the next right thing. If we do the next right thing, God will take care of the big picture. Its difficult when we want to win in the short-term by sacrificing our morals, but this is where Faith and Trust come in, the times we want to push back, we have to give it over to God and Trust.

Fasting from Technology

I was given a great idea from First Things Magazine, to fast from all technology on Sunday's each week. So I tried it from 5:00 pm on Saturday to Monday morning, and I have to say that it was an incredible blessing. It let me focus on rest, when your checking your text's and your e-mails through out the day, your not completely resting.

Technology can be an incredible gift, I always think of the road system of the early Roman Empire, which allowed St Paul to travel freely and spread the gospel far and wide. When used as a tool, technology can be a huge blessing for spreading the gospel, and bringing people together. But it can also become an idol. Here is a quote from the Lord of the Rings on the Ring by Bilbo, see how much it resembles the way we view Smart Phones, and computers.

"Now that it comes to it, I don't like parting with it at all, I may say, and I don't really see why I should. Why do you want me to? he asked, "It would be a relief in a way not to be bothered with it, It has been growing on my mind recently, sometimes I've felt it like an eye looking at me, and I am always wanting to put it on and disappear, don't you know, or wondering if its safe, and pulling it out to be sure. I tried to lock it up, but I found I couldn't rest without it in my pocket. I don't know why, but I can't seem to make up my mind,"

That was a word for word quote from the Lord of the Rings. I didn't change anything. The words that jumped out at me, were, "I was always wanting to put it on and disappear". That is the main point, that technology has accomplished bringing worlds together, but in some ways it has made us grow apart from the people closest to us, because instead of engaging around a table, or becoming a better conversationalist, we can go to our nearest computer or smart phone, and disappear like Bilbo. The problem for Bilbo, Gollum and Frodo, if you use the ring too much, you lose your ability to be a hobbit. If a human disappears through technology too much, they lose their humanity.

My wife and I were laughing so hard the other night, when two high school kids were walking up the street, and they were both texting while they walked, not talking to each other, so I called out, "are you texting each other," It seems At&t stole my joke, in a recent commercial a couple over dinner texts each other instead of talking to each other.

The whole point is to make sure that technology never becomes an idol, that we use it as a tool, and one good way to secure against this, is just to turn it off from time to time, which for me, will continue to be on Sunday's.

The Beauty of Modesty

A Missionary priest that I'm friends with told me a story of riding a bus in the country of Nicaragua. When he boarded the bus in the country, the women were dressed so modestly that he was overcome by their beauty, to the point were he actually desired to give up his seat on the bus, he wanted to protect them. Then as they entered the city, a group of women poured onto the bus, and he felt an incredible desire to guard his eye's, because these women were dressed so immodestly. He was struck that these women all looked alike, they had almost the exact same features, but the first group led him to want to protect, they inspired manly virtues in him, while the second group inspired fear in him, and probably lust in many of the other men from the bus. Whether intentional or not, the dress brought out the worst desires of the men involved, while the first group brought out the best in all the men involved.

I thought about this while watching the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Rear Window with Grace Kelly, and then right after the movie, my wife and I finished the movie, we watched the end of the tv show "Dancing with the Stars,". During the movie, I watched one of the most physically beautiful women ever for two hours, and her dress was so modest and dignified that it led me to a good place, it gave me the desire to protect. I even commented on this to my wife during the film, that her dignity let me focus on her actual acting, her craft.

Then we watched the interviewer for Dancing with the Stars, and I had the exact opposite desire, it was fear, for her dignity and for my own. Grace Kelly was a lot more physically beautiful, but never for a moment was I afraid of her beauty. Modesty in culture is a good thing, but were afraid to speak about it, because we don't want to sound repressive or prudish. But its true, and its not only true for the men involved. Its true because the dignity of woman is important.

A lot has been made in our culture that men should grow up, and start seeing women properly, that if men lust after a women dressed immodestly, then he should have a change of heart, and see women's true beauty. This is all good, men should constantly strive to see women as God intended, but the more that women can do to lead men to the proper place, the better, for every one's dignity involved.