God loves you...and love is tough

Like 9.7 percent of the U.S. population, I am currently unemployed. Unlike many other people, I am blessed to be unemployed at a time when I don't have numerous dependents or outstanding debts. And I have the comfort of knowing that there is a plan, and someday, perhaps not until judgment day, someday, I will understand why.

However, if one more person tells me that "I just know God has big plans for you" or "Don't worry, everything's going to turn out great" or dismisses the thought that maybe God wants me to be unemployed, I might just go all St. Jerome on them (and I don't mean translating the Bible into Latin).

I don't doubt for an instant that God loves me. As Fr. John Corapi likes to say, "If you don't know about love, then you had better look at a crucifix fast."

But being a Christian does not mean that you are exempt from suffering.

Look at the saints. Hasn't their testimony been that the closer you get to Christ crucified, the more you suffer? Didn't Jesus say "take up your cross and follow me"? Doesn't the Bible mention something like "But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ..."

So please, folks, stop offering me empty assurances of earthly delights as a sign of God's love. Tell me that my financial instability is a gift, because it means I have to cling to Him. Tell me that I can offer up my mental anguish for the souls in purgatory. Tell me that things might not work out as I hope, that I might end up with a job I hate.

Just don't confuse God's will with what I might want. I have a hard enough time dealing with that on my own.

If you want to encourage me, tell me you're praying for me. It'll inspire me to do the same.

Can't we all just be Catholic?

For the record, I do understand that 'Catholic' means universal - which in and of itself implies a certain level of diversity. That's why we have so many religious orders, so many different schools of spirituality (like Carmelite, Dominican, Jesuit, etc, etc).

But unfortunately, it seems like that diversity has made the Mass - the summit of our Christian worship - divisive, which is not a good thing. At least not to me.

Once upon a time, Latin rite Catholics had unity. There was the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, prayed in Latin. Sure, it had the possibility for abuse; a priest could hurry through the prayers, etc, etc. But all Latin-rite Catholics - regardless of whether they identified with Franciscan spirituality or Augustinian - all came together on Sunday for united worship.

Today, that's not the case. We have Folk Masses, LifeTeen Masses, Charismatic Masses, regular Novus Ordo Masses and, thanks to the Moto Proprio, Extraordinary Form (i.e. Latin) Masses. Today, people want their personal spirituality to be reflected in the Mass, rather than have one type of Mass that all people can unite behind.

As a result, we have division and in-fighting and people who think they're holier or "more Catholic" because they speak in tongues or can recite the rosary in Latin or whatever.

I just don't think that we can continue on the way we are, with the teenagers at LifeTeen Mass on Sunday nights, the charismatics at their own Mass at noon, the traditionalists driving 45 minutes to find an EF Mass and the other folks either loving - or gritting their teeth - through yet another Marty Haugen tune.

Now, I've only been to three EF Masses in my life, all of them Low Masses. I'm not necessarily arguing for a wholesale reform of the reform. There are some things I really like about the Novus Ordo. But the EF was the Mass for over 500 years and a heck of a lot of saints turned out just fine...

Something's got to give. And even Pope Benedict (then Cardinal Ratzinger) might agree:

"Nevertheless I believe that in the long term the Roman church once again must have only one Roman rite. In practice, the existence of two official rites would be difficult for bishops and priests to ‘manage.’ The Roman rite of the future should be one, celebrated in Latin or in the vernacular, but completely in the tradition of the rite that was handed down to us. This could include some new elements that have been experienced as valid such as the new feasts, some new prefaces for Mass, an extended lectionary — with more choices than before, but not too many — a ‘oratio fidelium,’ that is, a fixed litany of intercessions that follow the ‘Oremus’ before the offertory, which is where it had been placed."

(from a letter to Heinz-Lothar Barth, a classics professor at the University of Bonn, Germany, in 2003)

Granted, I don't expect change overnight. That only confused and upset people in the post-Vatican II era. And I also think that a variety of spiritualities is a good thing - as long as the end result is not 4 different Masses and four different groups of people who don't worship together.

So I think change has to come, slowly but surely.

At least, that's my prayer today.

Servant of the Servants of God - and Comedian

It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.
--Blessed Pope John XXII

Charisms...and unemployment

So it occurred to me today, as I contemplate job hunting, that inherent in unemployment are the charisms, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Not all 24 of the most common charisms, of course. But enough to make you stop and go hmm.

Like poverty, for instance. I am getting more broke by the day. :)

Writing: hence this blog, and of course, cover letters.

Service: I'm interning for a Catholic organization.

Knowledge: I have tons of time to read, browse the internet, etc.

Celibacy: I can't afford to get married unless I have a job.

Faith: You've got to trust in the Lord, even - especially - when the going gets tough.

And finally, intercessory prayer: thanks to the knowledge charism, I now know that Sts. Cajetan and Joseph (pray for us!) are the patron saints of job-seekers.

Thanks be to God, from whom all blessings flow.

Now back to the cover letters...

And the tides begin to turn

Just like the rest of you, I too am disconcerted with the state of affairs today. For example, the Obama's "health care" program, which will lead to more abortion and euthanasia. The government's refusal to let Belmont Abbey College be Catholic. The women religious who are annoyed that the Vatican wants them to act like, well, religious women.

But there is hope:

This picture illustrates the groundbreaking of the Priory of Our Lady of Ephesus, the future home of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, with His Excellency Robert W. Finn, Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph.

And, there was that fantastic piece in the New York Times recently, noting that the traditional orders are growing...

Yes, there's reason for hope.

And not the kind that Obama tries to peddle.

Festival season is upon us

I have plenty of fond childhood memories of our annual parish festival, always held towards the end of the summer. There would be good food - because hey, Catholics love to eat - some rides, some games, a chance to win a car - usually a Mustang - and of course, some blackjack and beer for the adults.

What's not to love?

Of course, I have a few friends who can't quite relate. Which made me realize something else: Catholics hold festivals. Protestants tithe.

Wouldn't it be cool if we did both - hold the annual festival AND never have to hear another homily on the roof fund?

Quote of the Day

"Every Consecrated Host is made to burn Itself up with love in a human heart."

- St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars (and today's patron saint AND the inspiration for the Year of the Priest , which make him pretty awesome.)

Macs vs. Pc

I admit, Macs and I have never had a friendly relationship.

Oh, we've tried working it out. I've spent hours in their company, hoping that perhaps continued exposure would lead to greater understanding.

It's failed. My mind just does not think in AppleSpeak.

But I think I've figured out why:

I'm Catholic, and Macs are Protestant.

Sure, that flies in the face of what Umberto Eco wrote years ago. However, I think I can make a pretty compelling argument, without even going into the old the-operating-system-makes-just-about-as-much-sense-to-me-as-Calvinism argument:

1. PCs - particularly those equipped with Vista - require constant examination of conscience. No once clicked, always clicked here!

2. Macs are better for graphics and video production. The average Catholic would be horrified if their pastor began using Powerpoint and illustrating his homily with short video clips. Such technology is normal for many in the evangelical church culture. I rest my case.

3. Macs tend to be one step ahead of Microsoft. As Stuff Catholics Like pointed out, Catholics prefer to be one step behind.

4. The right-click button. Until 2005, Macs only had one button. But Apple has realized the error of its ways - kind of makes me think of the emerging church, a newer Protestant movement that recognizes the value of icons, incense and contemplative spirituality - things that many Protestants eschew, or even fear.

5. Macs are cool - and they're good at being cool. The Catholic Church is a lot of things - as the Ironic Catholic put it in her top 100 Reasons to be Catholic:

" 7. We're not emergent: we're eternal.
6. We're not progressive: we're prophetic.
5. We're not old-fashioned: we're rooted.
4. We're not liberal: we love our neighbor.
3. We're not conservative: we look to God alone.
2. We're not entertained: we've received the peace of Christ.
1. ...and we're just getting started, baby."

But cool we ain't. Just look at the state of our music. We don't sing anything in church that you'd hear on the radio over the weekend. Compare that to the worship bands popular in megachurches today.

I'm just sayin'.

6. Mac owners tend to be very, very proud of the fact of their Macbooks, and maybe just the teeniest bit condescending towards those of us who can't understand why. Although that could hurt my argument, since Flannery O'Connor did write that "Smugness is the Great Catholic Sin." Mea culpa.

Perhaps I should just point out that the state of Catholic-Protestant relations in my neck of the woods seems to indicate that smugness, condescension and bewilderment are issues nearly as big as the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And that's the fault of both groups.
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I thought about going for 7, since that is a holy number after all. But 6 - the number of imperfection, of fallen man - seems more appropriate, since the division between Catholics and Protestants is a scandal, after all, and way more annoying than those Mac key commands.

Which usually make me want to scream at least six times a day.