Category Archives: Essays

 What Will We Do Part I

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The turmoil, troubles and falling away which the Church is experiencing  may be solved by making the past, the path into the future. Through the rediscovery of our perfected precepts, we the Body of Christ, we the laity, through our Faith and our continuing conversion of heart can recreate the cornerstone and construct Jesus’ Church. As it was, as the Holy Spirit makes it, as it will be. Solutions will be found by reestablishing the harmony in our hearts, through the teachings of the Magisterium, and through the Holy Order of Brothers, in our  Domestic Church and our communities. Through right thinking, evangelization flows naturally from one thought to the next. What does this look like, what will we do?

Let us ask; what has been forgotten and what has been lost? Two thousand years of biblical and historical perspective have brought us to this moment; surely this isn’t the end of those means. Have we forgotten that the betrayer was one of the twelve? Are we too sophisticated to believe the evil one prowls this world destroying lives and crushing souls? Is the Greater Good, found in the tragedies of today’s headlines; a return to our roots, the foundation found in the Word as told through Sacred Scripture, that word written in our hearts and told through our listening. Will we now say openly and honestly; the Lord has spoken, and we have answered? If prayer is a conversation between two people who love each other, and I believe it is; then, we pray our prayers will be answered. We pray we receive and accept His will. So, we pray together;  from the deepest, most focused and concentrated meditative state of mind we can muster, to simply calling his name; Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

The Hour Glass Revisited

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As an explanation of the Form and Content of our beautiful and beloved Catholicism; the Holy Spirit gives us the hour glass as a working model. What does this mean?

Consider the hour glass, unmistakable in its form, design and purpose. It’s immediately recognizable; in its symmetry, its functionality and in its simplicity, no other structure is like it, no other structure can take its place. It is the Form. It is the way that it is, because it is the only way it can be. This is the Church.

The sand; each grain is exquisitely unique.  Distinctively faceted, a shade apart from the rest, fashioned by God and honed by nature. This is the Content. Bathed in paradox, because the only element each grain truly shares is that each is different. Yet taken in their entirety, each is uniform, locked in perfect harmony with the rest. This is the Body.

We realize the Form can not be changed, rearranged or altered in any way. And nothing can be added or taken away from the content. Not even the most beautiful diamond among the sand, for nothing else belongs there. There can be no substitutes; there are no equivalents, for only a genuine and measured amount will work.

Simply put, the “Hour Glass” provides the best example of the Church. Without the Form the Content fulfills no purpose.  Without the Content the Form has no function.

What’s It Like

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Being an Evangelical Catholic is like telling your story to the world. In other words, it’s speaking from your heart knowing no matter who might be listening; the story would be the same. It’s knowing what you heard is the truth because it’s the same truth any believer would have heard. It’s about learning some life lessons, seeing yourself in them and learning from the experience. One of my lessons is this.

When I was in the world, making my way as a wage earner I was intently focused on the rewards of my labor. I wanted the prestige work, the money and all the trimmings. I was so focused on the gifts, I forgot about the Giver of Gifts. I was so focused on me I forgot about Him. As I came to realize it was me focused on me, I got a glimpse of His Grace; it had been Jesus all along. Some one told me, we are all guided missiles on an ever-correcting course, and I actually understood some of what that meant. I was getting part of the story, at least enough to turn and look.

What I saw, was amazing; hiding in plain sight so to speak. A confirming and reassuring state of mind was making its present felt, I was heading toward a Baptism of Desire. The apprehensive aspects were fading away and the yearning and eagerness were providing the energy. This was beginning to get exciting. The possibilities were endless, this sure seemed like the vista vision I was looking for. I was about to be forgiven. Forgiven for the pain and confusion I had caused. Forgiven for being the small person I so dearly protected.

It was only after I had joyously jump on the band wagon, had taken my victory lap and stood in the adulation of my many admirers that it hit me like the five-gallon ice cold shower of gator aid; I had done it again. The same old me, just amped up, the same circuits, the same electric, the same old stuff. I had missed again. It wasn’t about me and my forgiveness; it was about Him and His Divine Mercy. It wasn’t what I was getting; it was what He was giving. OK, strike two; what’s next, I don’t know. I know where He is leading me, I don’t know how he will get me there, but I’m going with Him anyway.

What’s It Like I

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Questions are…more important than answers

Good questions make better answers…than good answers make.

Why would I say this; because our minds armed with reason, logic and hopefully some intelligence struggles forward, forever marching forward to find an answer? Finding a definitive answer in an infinite universe; good luck with that. With this in mind, let’s admit even the best of answers needs some qualification. If we listen closely to what’s being said, isn’t there a “both this and this also” added or implied to each answer. As resolute as it might sound in the beginning, I believe we look for something more. I offer you this, as complete as the answer may be, as firm as the ground may seem to be, we don’t bask in the glory of the answer like a tourist on the beach. Even the finest “ah ha” moments are short lived…..We quickly move our sight to the next horizon. Our new found revelation becomes another stone in our neatly laid road, another brick on the wall, another freshly packed pigeon hole.

So be honest, isn’t asking “what and how” a lot more exciting than putting the last piece of the puzzle together. Don’t we want “uncertainty” to have a calming effect on us rather than an unsettling one? Isn’t “I’m not sure” and “I don’t know” more engaging than the answers we are standing on? Doesn’t life remind us that the journey is more important than the destination? Isn’t the answer a far gone conclusion? Isn’t the Lord leading us all to heaven; isn’t the answer, we don’t know how He will get us there, but we are going with Him anyway.