SABBATH: St Josemaria Escriva Or How Surrender Is Might
A World of Strife
Lately, DREADNOUGHT has had the privilege of reading emails from troubled Catholics all over the world. I've also spoken at length with non-Catholics who believe the Church a force for oppression in the world. Of course, many of these people are homosexuals. Even outside my personal experience, it seems there is a spike in heterodox behaviour.
A Great Passing, Greatly Watched
Of course, much of this relates to the fact that John Paul the Great's death pushed the Church firmly into the spotlight. Sexual abuse scandals in the US and the ever increasing coverage of Christmas and Easter liturgies in the mainstream media have also led to a sustained period of exposure. The Catholic Church is a cultural phenomenon in the Western world in a way that is almost unprecedented, certainly unforeseeable ten years ago, when religion was considered a no-sell.
Opportunists
Into the spotlight have stepped an oddball assortment of serious complainants (the abused and their families) and serious cranks (the female ordination crowd). A media already receptive to Catholic issues will pick up almost any story and repeat it. Sometimes, as is particularly obvious on the BBC in Britain and in the pages of the New York Times and New Yorker, almost anyone is considered a valid spokeman on Church issues and often the more 'liberal' the commentator the better.
Poked by the Dark
Into this mess steps the Catholic with a quiet faith and a sure trust in the goodness of the Church. It is tough to be a Catholic in an increasingly inquisitive and frequently hostile secular world.
Witness the Light
The only response DREADNOUGHT makes, the only response open to any of us, is complete surrender. In radical humility, taking on the poverty of spirit the saints have owned before us, we can say to such people, 'we are sorry, that miserable institution you describe sounds truly horrid. No man can give himself to such a malevolent thing'.
Hold Fast to What is True
Just as quickly, however, we must add, 'but you're not talking about my Church!' Pope Benedict XVI once responded to the claim that 'the truth about man and God often seems sad and hard' with this stunning statement:
God is Here
DREADNOUGHT has said before and I say again, God never leaves us. St Josemaria Escriva said the same thing better, Catholics should be holy in everything they do, they should not pretend God disappears regularly. It is wrong to think God cannot be found in some places like the workplace. Even in the middle of a sex club, cock in hand downloading porn or halfway through an abortion we have direct and sure access to God. We can always change our minds and alter the course of our lives. How can we fail to speak with Him, how can we ignore the transcendent, omnipresent One? Catholicism is not a sad, hard faith, it is a breathtaking exercise in love, no matter what I have done, no matter when, or how - God is longing for my return.
You are Beloved
This is because God is love. Those who claim Catholicism is a poor thing miss this fact. Certainly there have been bad Catholics, evil Popes and terrific historical wrongs (I often think a prayer of repentence could be added to the Divine Office to atone for Catholic treatment of Jews in history) but these events represent individuals' failure to be truly Catholic. By definition hate is incompatible with love and hate-filled acts - whether pogroms or gay-bashings, abortions or hateful rejections of the Church's timeless teachings - are incompatible with Catholicism. By doing such things man disinherits himself from his birthright, he dirties the things God makes new in Christ. He might call himself a Catholic, but he is nothing of the kind.
This Stands Firm Forever
Finally, to homosexual Catholics in particular, but to all those who have once been Catholic and feel they can no longer remain, know that the decisions we make today echo in eternity.
The Upshot
Nothing. There can only be simple silence, punctuated sometimes by the hushed prayers of a creature who sees a love he cannot understand, but which sings to him and lifts his heart to freedom. It is not given to Catholics to rant and fight, rather we are given surrender. When we put off our selfishness, when at last we defeat the 'fat relentless ego', we come to know something of the God Who put off His divinity to die on a tree. Despite the warped hierarchy of this world we come to act in a manner that makes the Creator's sense: we learn at last how surrender is might.
Lately, DREADNOUGHT has had the privilege of reading emails from troubled Catholics all over the world. I've also spoken at length with non-Catholics who believe the Church a force for oppression in the world. Of course, many of these people are homosexuals. Even outside my personal experience, it seems there is a spike in heterodox behaviour.
A Great Passing, Greatly Watched
Of course, much of this relates to the fact that John Paul the Great's death pushed the Church firmly into the spotlight. Sexual abuse scandals in the US and the ever increasing coverage of Christmas and Easter liturgies in the mainstream media have also led to a sustained period of exposure. The Catholic Church is a cultural phenomenon in the Western world in a way that is almost unprecedented, certainly unforeseeable ten years ago, when religion was considered a no-sell.
Opportunists
Into the spotlight have stepped an oddball assortment of serious complainants (the abused and their families) and serious cranks (the female ordination crowd). A media already receptive to Catholic issues will pick up almost any story and repeat it. Sometimes, as is particularly obvious on the BBC in Britain and in the pages of the New York Times and New Yorker, almost anyone is considered a valid spokeman on Church issues and often the more 'liberal' the commentator the better.
Poked by the Dark
Into this mess steps the Catholic with a quiet faith and a sure trust in the goodness of the Church. It is tough to be a Catholic in an increasingly inquisitive and frequently hostile secular world.
Witness the Light
The only response DREADNOUGHT makes, the only response open to any of us, is complete surrender. In radical humility, taking on the poverty of spirit the saints have owned before us, we can say to such people, 'we are sorry, that miserable institution you describe sounds truly horrid. No man can give himself to such a malevolent thing'.
Hold Fast to What is True
Just as quickly, however, we must add, 'but you're not talking about my Church!' Pope Benedict XVI once responded to the claim that 'the truth about man and God often seems sad and hard' with this stunning statement:
"I proclaim to you a great joy. God is here, you are beloved, and this stands firm forever."Indeed, this is the constant refrain of this Pope and of all good Popes throughout history. It is the singular hymn of the Church, mouthed breathlessly by 1.1 billion people on earth and countless more in the afterlife.
God is Here
DREADNOUGHT has said before and I say again, God never leaves us. St Josemaria Escriva said the same thing better, Catholics should be holy in everything they do, they should not pretend God disappears regularly. It is wrong to think God cannot be found in some places like the workplace. Even in the middle of a sex club, cock in hand downloading porn or halfway through an abortion we have direct and sure access to God. We can always change our minds and alter the course of our lives. How can we fail to speak with Him, how can we ignore the transcendent, omnipresent One? Catholicism is not a sad, hard faith, it is a breathtaking exercise in love, no matter what I have done, no matter when, or how - God is longing for my return.
You are Beloved
This is because God is love. Those who claim Catholicism is a poor thing miss this fact. Certainly there have been bad Catholics, evil Popes and terrific historical wrongs (I often think a prayer of repentence could be added to the Divine Office to atone for Catholic treatment of Jews in history) but these events represent individuals' failure to be truly Catholic. By definition hate is incompatible with love and hate-filled acts - whether pogroms or gay-bashings, abortions or hateful rejections of the Church's timeless teachings - are incompatible with Catholicism. By doing such things man disinherits himself from his birthright, he dirties the things God makes new in Christ. He might call himself a Catholic, but he is nothing of the kind.
This Stands Firm Forever
Finally, to homosexual Catholics in particular, but to all those who have once been Catholic and feel they can no longer remain, know that the decisions we make today echo in eternity.
The Upshot
Nothing. There can only be simple silence, punctuated sometimes by the hushed prayers of a creature who sees a love he cannot understand, but which sings to him and lifts his heart to freedom. It is not given to Catholics to rant and fight, rather we are given surrender. When we put off our selfishness, when at last we defeat the 'fat relentless ego', we come to know something of the God Who put off His divinity to die on a tree. Despite the warped hierarchy of this world we come to act in a manner that makes the Creator's sense: we learn at last how surrender is might.
by DREADNOUGHT at 7:40:00 PM
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