Saturday news summary.
The readings from Mass.
The readings from today’s Mass seemed to me to be a news summary of the past weeks events and developments. I realize this is a highly personal understanding however - in other words, it is just my take on today’s lectio.
Unity and peace.
The opening prayer for the feast of St. Irenaeus immediately impressed me as one reason why this day was chosen by the Holy Father as a deadline for the SSPX to agree to the conditions offered for reconciliation.
“Father, you called St. Irenaeus to uphold your truth and bring peace to your Church. By his prayers renew us in faith and love that we may always be intent on fostering unity and peace.”
Of course, we all know by now the great devotion to the early Fathers Pope Benedict XVI has, so it seems to me reasonable to assume this may be one reason why this day was chosen. (Just thinking out loud here.)
Does God in His Providence ever chastise his people for their good?
I’m convinced that unconsciously, many American Catholics have been tainted by the “prosperity gospel” that has infected American Christianity since the days of Kathryn Kuhlman and Jim and Tammy Baker, fast forward to the mega churches of today. (Don’t forget the gospel according to Oprah either, with her doctrine of the “law of attraction” - you always get what you want.) I say this because the very idea of sacrifice, penance, suffering, or even chastisement seems to have vanished in “popular Catholicism”. Yet the first reading from Lamentations does not speak about prosperity at all.
“The Lord has consumed without pity all the dwellings of Jacob; He has torn down in his anger the fortresses of daughter Judah; He has brought to the ground in dishonor her king and her princes.” - Lamentations 2:2
“Priest and prophet forage in a land they know not.”
So why does God permit bad things to happen to good people? If they were evil, or indulged in sinful ways, why didn’t He intervene to correct them? Why would He permit misfortune and setbacks to punish them? Of course, no one has to believe He cares either way. But then again, today’s first reading suggests to me that sometimes Our Lord does indeed permit evil as a means of correction or at least “discipline” as St. Paul teaches. Others might call it chastisement or punishment, as indicated by the prophet in Lamentations:
“Your prophets had for you false and specious visions; They did not lay bare your guilt, to avert your fate; They beheld for you in vision false and misleading portents.” - Lamentations 2
As always - these things are for the proper authorities to interpret and analyze, are they not? But as the famous philosopher Judy Tenuta always said, “It could happen!”
“O God, search me and know me…”
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Editor’s note: Going forward on this blog, I will try to insert light-hearted photos and smiley faces to appease those who may be offended by my posts; those who think I’m too serious and focused upon Church teaching, or think I take myself too seriously, or think I’m mean and hateful, or who think I think I am some type of Church authority, and whatever else that offends dissident souls. Jesus was nice. ;)
June 28th, 2008 at 10:22 am
I think God can use the bad things in our lives to draw us closer to Him. However it is important to distinguish between “punishment” and “consequences”. So often the ones who bear the consequences of sins aren’t the ones who committed them. Then there are natural disasters and accidents, which afflict both the just and the unjust; they appear to be simply the consequences of living in a fallen world. The important thing is to turn to God as His children for help in all our afflictions.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Beautiful explanation Melody. Thanks very much.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
God always has a good come out of a bad. It is up to us to find the good and that’s sometimes very hard to do. That is why faith is a gift to be cherished…..
June 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Gee Whillikers, finally after the thousands of images you have posted on our multitudinous blogs, you finally have posted one of my true love, Judy T., the apostle of unbridled optimism. “It could happen!”
I’m finally beginning to like you, Terry. I was just faking before.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
On a more serious not regarding bad things happening to good people.
If God intervened at times when evil things approach, why would we ever seek out or need family or friends?
People aren’t very good at saying “I love you.” And those who hear those words, don’t always appreciate them.
But watching a family of twenty or so at the bedside of a dying grandfather who had sacrificed all of his life for his wife, his children and grandchildren, and his neighbor, teaches that love is fostered through adversity, not plenty.
If Jesus had not suffered so incredibly on the cross for us, I suspect the power of Christianity would not nearly be what it is.
June 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I always just expect the worst - that way the bad never seems quite so bad.
You can quote me on that. LOL!
June 29th, 2008 at 12:10 am
“I always just expect the worst - that way the bad never seems quite so bad.”
I kind of live that way too. I wonder if it’s the result of being a very sensitive child living in a really dysfunctional family. You’re somewhat crushed before the game even begins.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Suz - I think that is the reason in my casee as well.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I don’t think it is pessimism to expect the worst - human nature is fallen and wounded. If we think mistakenly that people are inherently “good” and expect this to manifest then we will be sorely disappointed. It is realistic to understand that our fallen natures call us to be quarrelsome, obnoxious, and sinful towards our neighbors and to ourselves. Without prevenient grace we cannot have even the slightest inspiration to do good and reject evil. By cooperating with grace we are healed. But our concupiscential natures drag us away from the affirmative answer to grace and towards sin. Thus, the expectation that the worst will happen is not unwarranted. The fact that evil does not always happen is miraculous and the act of God upon the world through grace, even in the smallest good.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Who said anything about pessimism?
An abused child knows a lot about fallen nature and concupiscense; too much so I’m afraid. They experience evil incarnate on their bodies and within their minds and emotions. What they don’t have is language for what they are experiencing on a very deep level.
Sin has a mystical component to it. Surely, God is the only being who knows how to bring good out of this evil.
I consider it a gift (most of the time)to have just a tiny bit of understanding/experience of how Jesus might have felt when he was being beaten, spit on, ridiculed and betrayed.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Hi ,Mr.Leo, I perfer pessimism, because I have no where to fall ,and I can only go up. Now that conflicts with the power of positive thinking group. Maybe I should be more like that group.They are a perky more jolly bunch.I wonder which group has better outcomes?
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:17 pm
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