Thoughts from the Great Father Schmemann
While flying down to South Carolina last week, I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the diary of Father Alexander Schmemann--who I think is probably the greatest spiritual writer in the last century. One of his entries gave me a lot to think about. Let me paraphrase his thought and add to it a bit.
God created everything that is as good. The devil introduced a problem and posed this to Adam and Eve. "Did God really say..?" Evil is seeing the goodness of God as a "problem." Jesus redeems creation by reintroducing the intention of God over and against the "problems" posed by evil. Therefore when Jesus encounters the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he terms them as foolish when they interpret the events of Good Friday as unnecessary and not what they had "hoped" for. He tells them that these events were necessary and part of God's plan for good--the salvation of many!
How do you and I see the events and the people of our daily life? Do we perceive the goodness of God or is everyone around a "problem"?
Soon to be "Blessed" Mother Teresa was known to encounter the poor as "Christ" and not as a bum or "problem". Social Workers often had a problem with her because of her disinterest in doing anything to aleviate "problems". Once when she was to speak at a world conference to end hunger, she found a man begging for food at the entrance of the auditorium and took him and fed him--never speaking that day. The people attending the conference weren't really interested in ending the hunger of the man they had all passed, she was.
Tied into this perceiving the good in all, through the eyes of Christ, is Christian joy. True followers of Christ our joyful, they are not downcast bemoaning what could have been--they believe that victory is ultimately there and they pray that God's will be done in all things and they believe that it will be done on earth as it is in heaven. They see the events of their lives as not accidential occurences but meaningful events that are moving them often inspite of themselves and their sins to where God wants them to be.
I told a friend of mine, a bishop, that the sign of the healthiness of a religious community, movement, or individual priest in his diocese was the level of "joy" that they exhibit in their lives.
Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Speaking of Prophets...in this case Prophetess
Amy in the midst of the Bucs/Colts game last night announced when the Colts were trailing 21-0 that the Colts would win the game. Final score in overtime...(with a lot of help from the referees, I might add) 38-35...Colts!
I'm of the firm belief that people that are highly intuitive have this gift of foresight that is especially powerful when they are not all that conscious of it. In other words they just blurt it out without a lot of censoring.
Amy in the midst of the Bucs/Colts game last night announced when the Colts were trailing 21-0 that the Colts would win the game. Final score in overtime...(with a lot of help from the referees, I might add) 38-35...Colts!
I'm of the firm belief that people that are highly intuitive have this gift of foresight that is especially powerful when they are not all that conscious of it. In other words they just blurt it out without a lot of censoring.
Good News From Times Against Humanity
From Times Against Humanity:
"Today, Florida Governor Jeb Bush filed a motion to appear as an amicus curiae in Federal Court in support of the Shindler's motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the imminent starvation of their daughter Terri Schiavo. "
From Times Against Humanity:
"Today, Florida Governor Jeb Bush filed a motion to appear as an amicus curiae in Federal Court in support of the Shindler's motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the imminent starvation of their daughter Terri Schiavo. "
Feast of the Holy Rosary
John Paul II travels to Pompeii
From Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage:
"When he came to the address, his voice was initially halting and he skipped some lines, but he read the final remarks strongly and clearly.
'Pray for me in this sanctuary today and always,' he said. The word 'always' was a clear reference to after his death, which the pope has been speaking of more in recent months.
Overall, he appeared better, paced himself as he spoke and waved spontaneously as he was driven through a crowd of some 30,000 gathered before the shrine in the modern part of Pompeii.
On his way to the shrine he passed excavations of the city destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and later said old Pompeii still had a message for modern society.
'These ruins can talk. They ask the decisive question of what is man's destiny,' he said.
'Today, just as in the times of ancient Pompeii, it is necessary to proclaim Christ to a society that has distanced itself from Christian values and even seems to have lost its memory,' he said, speaking from a flower-bedecked platform.
He issued an urgent appeal for peace, saying the new millennium had already been 'lashed by winds of war and etched by blood in so many regions of the world.'"
John Paul II travels to Pompeii
From Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage:
"When he came to the address, his voice was initially halting and he skipped some lines, but he read the final remarks strongly and clearly.
'Pray for me in this sanctuary today and always,' he said. The word 'always' was a clear reference to after his death, which the pope has been speaking of more in recent months.
Overall, he appeared better, paced himself as he spoke and waved spontaneously as he was driven through a crowd of some 30,000 gathered before the shrine in the modern part of Pompeii.
On his way to the shrine he passed excavations of the city destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and later said old Pompeii still had a message for modern society.
'These ruins can talk. They ask the decisive question of what is man's destiny,' he said.
'Today, just as in the times of ancient Pompeii, it is necessary to proclaim Christ to a society that has distanced itself from Christian values and even seems to have lost its memory,' he said, speaking from a flower-bedecked platform.
He issued an urgent appeal for peace, saying the new millennium had already been 'lashed by winds of war and etched by blood in so many regions of the world.'"
Monday, October 6, 2003
Varia...
So it'll be the Cubs vs. the Marlins...I've seen both play the Reds this year...Florida won the Cubs lost
Hearing what has raised the alarm flags on the Pope's health is that the disease is affecting his lungs and that he can barely breathe anymore... read a story in the BBC about yesterday's canonizations and how strong he looked but if you look at the sidebar you'll see an audio link that reads "pope short of breath"...pray for him.
Rosary Rally in SC went well yesterday, lots of people under the hot Carolina sun praying the rosary for peace and families.
Stories of staying in the haunted bishop's house will come, once I've actually left it. Don't want stir up the demons..
Speaking of the Luminous mysteries, a priest wrote a piece in OSV proposing them in 1974 only he called them the "ministerial mysteries", I met him yesterday asked him if he had any good lottery number picks.
So it'll be the Cubs vs. the Marlins...I've seen both play the Reds this year...Florida won the Cubs lost
Hearing what has raised the alarm flags on the Pope's health is that the disease is affecting his lungs and that he can barely breathe anymore... read a story in the BBC about yesterday's canonizations and how strong he looked but if you look at the sidebar you'll see an audio link that reads "pope short of breath"...pray for him.
Rosary Rally in SC went well yesterday, lots of people under the hot Carolina sun praying the rosary for peace and families.
Stories of staying in the haunted bishop's house will come, once I've actually left it. Don't want stir up the demons..
Speaking of the Luminous mysteries, a priest wrote a piece in OSV proposing them in 1974 only he called them the "ministerial mysteries", I met him yesterday asked him if he had any good lottery number picks.
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