Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

I am flattered and humbled to have been asked to participate in Sunday Snippets.  So, here goes with my initial post!

By way of context, my blog, On Jacob's Ladder, is a record of my thoughts and reflections as I try to read the Bible start to finish during 2013.  Here and there, there are posts about other things that are going on.  For example, my family vacation to Paris was the recent topic of a few posts.  

This past week, I have been working my way through 
1 Samuel. Although most would consider it the story of Samuel and David, I have been captivated by Saul--a fascinating, flawed man whose life reads like a Shakespearean tragedy.

1 Samuel 13-15

1 Samuel 16-19

1 Samuel 20-24
1 Samuel 25-28

1 Samuel 29-31

In addition, I was asked to write a personal reflection on Matthew Kelly's book, Rediscover Catholicism.  The book impacted me greatly, as it brought me face to face with a challenge regarding my own accountability for being the change I want to see in the Church and in the world.

Rediscover Catholicism--A Personal Reflection

Have a great week!

Rediscover Catholicism--A Personal Reflection

I was recently asked to write a reflection for a parish publication. The book is Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly. I thought I would share it here.
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Matthew Kelly’s Rediscover Catholicism is aptly named, as it is a book that calls us to rediscover the hunger within ourselves for truth, for love, for God.  If we respond to this call of rediscovery, Kelly contends, we will become who God created us to be--the very best version of ourselves.  As we allow ourselves to be transformed, we will, in turn, transform the Church and, beyond that, the whole world.  For me, the core challenge of Rediscover Catholicism is a deeply personal one.  Reading it was a very moving, and in some ways unsettling, experience. 

Early in the book, Kelly recounts an anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most admired men of the twentieth century.  Known to be a regular reader of the New Testament; Gandhi once was asked why he had not himself become a Christian. Gandhi replied, “If I had ever met one, I would have become one.”  Kelly writes of his reaction to Gandhi’s words that they speak to him “ with a clarity that pierces my heart.”  I could not agree more.  They struck me like a hard slap in the face.

Many years ago, I latched on to the idea that if every Catholic in the world acted as God calls us to act for just the next ten minutes, the entire world would be converted to Jesus.  This formulation had the “value” of placing responsibility elsewhere.  Gandhi’s words brought the challenge embedded in my hopeful fantasy right back to my doorstep.  Perhaps if I were the person God calls me to be—that He created me to be—for just ten minutes, the ripple effects would transform the whole world.  If this is true for me (and for you), then each of us has a profound mission.

Kelly spends many pages discussing the state of the Church today, both the positives and negatives.  He doesn’t pull punches.  He takes aim at the ways that society—and, at times, our own Church--makes it more difficult for us to make room in our lives for God, and to find our way back to Him.  But it would be a mistake to dwell on those aspects of the book, for Kelly’s message is that you and I can overcome or transform those obstacles.

Do I wonder why fewer Catholics go to Church every Sunday?  Why fewer participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Why few people say the Rosary or pray the Liturgy of the Hours?  I could try blame television or the Internet or the quality of sermons or the discomfort of face-to-face confessionals.  But for me the lesson of Kelly’s book—the personal aspect of his challenge--is that the “fault” is mine.  Take Sunday Mass as an example.  If I were to make a greater effort—by preparing myself in advance, participating enthusiastically, actively listening for God’s message to me each Sunday—I would get more out of the Mass.  In turn, my life would gradually be transformed by the grace I would find there.  This would spill into the rest of my life and others would notice.  They’d see the positive difference in me and they would ask themselves, “How can I get some of that?”  And when they asked me, I’d tell them. I can be that one Christian Gandhi never met if I would commit myself to letting God’s grace work in my life.  I can be an agent of change in the Church and in the world by letting God be an agent of change in my life.  To do so, I must commit myself to making the effort to be the person that God calls me to be, the person that God sees when He looks at me. 

To be clear, though, Kelly’s book is not a “downer” in any way.  His message is one of hope and joy.  It is radical and simple—but simple doesn’t mean easy.  God is ever-merciful and loving.  He waits for us.  We can blame others—society, the Church, the media—or we can accept the personal challenge to rediscover Catholicism.  If, rather than accept this challenge, I decide that “others” are to blame, nothing will change.  But if you and I each try to be the best version of the person God created us to be, we can, with God’s help and grace, change the world.

Numbers 3:33-5:31

The Lord continues to instruct Moses and Aaron in preparation for the Israelite's departure from the base of Mt. Sinai. He directs them to assign certain tasks relating to the Dwelling to particular clans within the group of Israelites. The passage shifts to a discussion about expelling the unclean, such as lepers, from the encampment, and then on to directions about the test to be used to confirm a hsuband's suspicions that his wife has committed adultery. In Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly identifies fasting as one of the seven pillars of the Catholic life. He explains that to give oneself in love (to God, to a spouse), one first must possess oneself. Self-possession, in turn, is aided by--indeed, is impossible without--self-discipline. Habits of discipline when it comes to food, drink, and other daily aspects of our lives can help build and strengthen the discipline we need to be the best version of ourselves and to give ourselves in love to others. As I read Kelly's explanation, I thought of Leviticus and Numbers. The Lord is preparing the Israelites for a journey to the promised land. This time of preparation includes a great deal of detailed instruction from God about what they may and may not do, what they may and may not eat, etc. Perhaps one of God's purposes in this was to instill a sense of individual and communal discipline, which would steel the Israelites for the journey ahead, but would also ready them for entry into the promised land. Likewise, God calls me to look at my habits and my actions, calls me to be more disciplined, for example, about what I ingest (do I treat my body right?) and what I say (do I use appropriate language? Is it sharp, sarcastic, inappropriate?). Living more disciplined in this manner helps to make straight the way for the Lord. As we approach the start of Lent (early this year!), I would like to focus more on this self-possession and self-discipline to help ready myself for Easter.

Leviticus 18:19-21:24

I was afraid that I would shortly run out of things to say about the litany of "do nots" in Leviticus. But I find this passage to be rich (although still plenty of "do nots"). I am struck by these words of the Lord to Moses: Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. And again a little while later: Sanctify yourselves, then, and be holy; for I, the Lord, your God, am holy. We are called to holiness. So many saints and Catholic writers have said the very same thing. I am currently reading Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly, and he makes this a central part of his message. It's a powerful idea, that God has created me and called me to be holy, as He is holy. St. Athanasius said that the Divine became man so that man could become divine. Doesn't that very powerfully convey the message of Christianity in as compact a way imaginable? The Lord goes on to expand on the Ten Commandments, providing some more insight and explanation. I was struck by this sentence: You shall not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. One could obviously take this literally, because to do these things would be not only wrong, but cruel. But they spoke to me as a metaphor. Do I dismiss or condescend to those who don't believe what I believe? Who I perceive to be deaf to God's message? Do I judge them without knowing them as God does? Do I make it harder for those who seem blind to God and His message by failing to show them love, compassion or mercy? Unfortunately, yes. And in doing so, I fail to "fear" or respect (much less love and honor) God and His creation. Perhaps if I cleared the path for them a bit, rather than acting as a stumbling block, their blindness might be "cured"--or at least their vision, their view of God, might be improved. So, my call to personal holiness is not, strictly speaking, purely personal, but rather can and should impact my community as well.