We should not stay away from our assembly as is the custom of some, but encourage one another

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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That verse from the Letter to the Hebrews, chapter ten verse 25, applies more and more often to us in our own day and, probably, to Christians in every generation. Due to our human condition after the "original sin" or "trouble at the origins of humanity", our natural inclination is no longer to worship God and offer Him thanks and praise, but rather to "go it alone" or "do our own thing" or just simply dispense ourselves from being dependent on anyone else, not even God.

Those who know me remember that I've never been one to "push religion" with anyone. I don't want to change in this outlook but to continue respecting another's own freedom and responsibility to engage in their own life journey and their own personal faith relationship with God and to travel on the road of life with other fellow Christians within the Church Jesus founded and died that we might all have life together in Him....

What often keeps me awake late at night and so is prompting me to write this love note is simply the kind of thing that comes up in conversation and then presses on my mind and in my heart.... It might be prompted when others share with me their experience of Sunday worship or simply their inclination no longer to go or not go so often. They may have had their own experience of participating - for a number of years - and how at times our Sunday worship can be an occasion of pain because of others....

One may say something that gives an impression of perhaps not joining in so often anymore in the Sunday worship.... I remember from what place in me friendly, fraternal words come... that place deep within me where pain and exhilaration meet... from the history of my life, of our lives, in all of those moments of human experience when life seems to be overwhelming... and if it weren't for God's love for me and personal experiences of that love, especially in the regular rhythm of Sunday worship, and also of Penance and Reconciliation, I know that I just wouldn't have made it this far in my life...

It would literally tear my heart out for me to hear or discover than anyone of my family or friends, or other Catholics or Christians, would suffer through life's many challenges and difficulties and feel isolated, or alone, or overwhelmed by it all and not taste the goodness of the Lord, especially when we allow Him to surround us with others just like us, fallible and imperfect and equally in need of God's love and mercy and understanding and consolation and wisdom and strength and peace.... I've been witness to far too many lives of those who, young and old, deprived themselves of frequenting the Lord in his Sunday Assembly and became so isolated and caught, strangled in the narrowness of their own troubled thoughts and agonizing heart, that their poor life didn't go so well, or even tragically.... Please don't let it happen to any of you....

The Father... and Jesus... and the Holy Spirit are EVERYWHERE and ALWAYS present... and we weak human beings, being in large part social, stand forever in need of being touched by the Lord in the midst of his great Sunday Assemblies.... When we stay away too long, ever so slowly the boundaries of our own thoughts and movements of our heart can shrink and we can find ourselves caught in an interior landscape that has become too narrow, tight, restricting, and even suffocating... and life can become unbearable... I know, I remember, from my own personal experience in adolescence, and then later again in my youth, and then yet again in my young adulthood... and at times even now through the many seasons of life....

Why did I forget to invite the Lord in when He knocked at the door of my heart? Why do I ever forget? I don't know... yes, I do... it's our human condition... but I remember with gratitude that He sent and still sends someone to remind me to listen for Jesus' gentle knock at the door of my heart and encouraged me to open up to Him without fear... and yet again, after having forgotten several times, I got to experience anew why we call Jesus our Savior... because I needed Him to shine his divine light into my confused mind... and inflame my smoldering heart with the burning fire of his divine love... and heal my wounded and damaged sense of my failing or impoverished life by the kind and merciful look of his eyes when I found myself seeking his forgiveness or just pouring out my troubles through one of the priests He went to a lot of trouble to send my way.... 

I know that I am more of a sinner than all of you, and you probably remain close to the Holy Trinity in the course of your daily life and continue to experience the conviction that God loves you and cares for you, but if you find yourself having neglected to accept Jesus' invitations to worship Him and his / our Father and the Holy Spirit in his Sunday Assembly, if you won't go back for your own sake, perhaps you might be willing to do it for me... and for Jesus Himself... just because He would like you to go because of what it is that He wants to do for you that He can only do for you when you are there among the others like us, to worship God and thank Him, regardless of how beautiful or how painful the music may be or the preaching may be....

There are some inner turmoils for which we can find no solutions because only God can give them, and He can only activate them within us through the instruments He has chosen and prepared for us.... I know, being a priest myself but at the same time a poor sinful human being like you, how much trouble Jesus has gone to over the years to make of me the instrument that I am or can be when I am attentive to Him.... It is out of love for you and me that Jesus gives us the priests we have, and their imperfection is simply an echo of our own human imperfection and a reminder that it is God alone who is perfect and who is qualified and empowered to bring about in us the impossible beautiful things we long for....

I have also learned from my own experience as well as that of so many other lives that we cannot expect fairly from God a "command performance", that He do for us, for me, exactly what I want and precisely when I want it.... Much of what I need from God and what He wants to give can only come gradually, a little at a time, through regular organically developing installments, one Sunday at a time, which is why He gave the third commandment, to "keep holy the Lord's day"... not only with Sunday Worship but also with praying and playing together as a family and taking time to rest....

May you all taste deeply and regularly of the "goodness" of the Lord....

Please don't take any of this as "preaching" because it isn't that at all... but only the pangs of my love for each of you and for all of you together as the beautiful family that you are, and my friends....

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Who can say what is "true Islam"?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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The Catholic News Agency on February 27th reported on the talk given by Professor Saeed Khan, an expert in Islam, at the Cor Unum conference a few days ago and CNA's interview with him - "Is a Catholic concept of mercy at the heart of true Islam?" The report speaks of "true Islam" but I would put the question: who can authoritatively state and demonstrate what is true Islam and what is false Islam?

I find it difficult to understand and accept such interpretations of Islam and to reconcile these statements with the reality. I also believe it is long overdue for us to make necessary distinctions whenever we make such public statements. Otherwise we mislead the faithful and the general population because we all risk feeling guilty about what we think and feel about the condition of Islam in the world, not only today, but throughout history.

As Pope Francis and his predecessors have done, so I also try to do and so engage in dialogue with Muslims. That is something we as Christians and Catholics must do.

It is one thing to dialogue with people who are Muslims in name only, or who practice their faith as they understand it, with emphasis entirely on a spiritual reading of Islam, and quite another to try to dialogue with a Muslim who fervently adheres to the overall movement of the Qur'an and the history of Islam.

For us Christians, it has ever only been splinter groups that were found to be heretics, with the exception of the Arian period when almost all the bishops adhered to Arius. It has been relatively easy in Christendom to make a distinction between the faith and society. St Augustine wrote of it in terms of the "City of God" and the "City of man". None of the abuses and atrocities committed by Christians and their civil and ecclesial institutions in the past two millennia could ever be traced back to or founded on or claimed to be derived or inspired by the New Testament, or even the Old Testament for that matter.

Abuses of power by kings and princes as well as by ecclesiastics could not be founded on even erroneous interpretations of the Sacred Scriptures because in the Bible there are no statements attributed to God anywhere telling the faithful to go out and kill unbelievers.

The contrary however is true of Islam. History clearly demonstrates that its many periods of militaristic conquest and expansion were driven by tenets of the Qur'an and, at the outset, by commands issued by Mohammad himself, which he attributed to Allah.

While the Qur'an does contain some "mild" verses directed toward fervent faith, mercy, and peace, the general movement of the Qur'an, Muslim traditional teachings and documents, and public statements made by Muslim leaders all clearly go in a single direction: the conquest of the world for Allah. We have yet to hear Muslim leaders competently and authoritatively refute the militaristic claims made the those who consider themselves and are generally accepted to be fervent Muslims. We are unlikely ever to witness such refutations because such arguments cannot be convincingly based on the Qur'an nor on Islamic tradition.

As I understand all that I have read, the conferences I've heard, and the most objective reports I've seen, the only authentic dialogue we Christians can have is with Muslims that the world of Islam considers heretics or traitors to Islam.

Muslims sincerely open to Christians, or to Christ and his life and message, may be more than we think, but they live under the domination of those who correctly state the true nature of Islam, which is militant and bent on the conversion of all of humanity and considers the "people of the book" to be following falsified versions of the Scriptures. Those we consider "moderate" Muslims are incapable of refuting the claims of "fervent" Muslims, such as those following the revival initiated by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, because the overwhelming intent of the Qur'an and all the Islamic documentation and tradition coherently goes in the militant direction.

Moreover, while Christianity left its world of theocracy behind in the Middle Ages, Islam has ever always been a theocratic society, in which there can be no distinction between religion and life, between mosque and city hall, between Islam and society. It is all one and as fervent adherents to the letter and spirit of the Qur'an and Muslim tradition, they are bent on imposing Sharia Law on the whole planet.

If I am in error in any point of my understanding of the situation I hope that someone would be so kind as to point it out to me.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Pope Francis regarding Donald Trump's "Mexico Wall" - what is or isn't Christian?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?
WHAT IS IT TO BE CHRISTIAN?
WHO CAN CLAIM TO BE CHRISTIAN?
WHO CAN SAY THAT A PERSON IS NOT A CHRISTIAN?

Acts 11:25-26     ²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”    NRSV

From the beginning of what we now call Christianity the disciples of Jesus did not call themselves Christians, but it was other people - ordinary citizens who were neither believers in the Jewish faith nor believers in Jesus - who called Jesus' disciples "Christians". People identified them as followers of the Nazarene Jesus Christ precisely as Jesus himself had foretold it would happen. 

John 13:34-35     ³⁴ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”     NRSV

According to Jesus' own mind and intention, any who follow Him as his disciples will be recognized as his disciples by the love they have for one another, a love which would become plain and visible to everyone as distinctive from what is to be found in the rest of society. When Jesus was arrested all twelve of his apostles failed in their love for Him. One betrayed Him, one denied Him, and the others ran away and abandoned Him. The one who betrayed Him could not cope and hanged himself. The other eleven in their regret sought to reverse their acts of weakness. They only succeeded when Jesus appeared to them and forgave them, restoring them to friendship and confidence in Him. Jesus strove to empower them to love one another after the example He gave by loving them even to the point of laying down his life for them.

The "great commission" by Jesus to his apostles

Matthew 28:16-20     ¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus' intentions clearly revealed the will of God in his final act as the master and teacher of his 12 apostles, now temporarily only 11, and of his other disciples. He commissioned them to go out into the world and the primary thing they were to do is make disciples - without distinction of national or ethnic origin - by baptizing them, immersing them, in God the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and teaching them to observe all that He had commanded them.

Clearly then the "test" of a disciple is going out to make other disciples, and the substance of a disciple is the quality of love with which he or she loves others with Jesus as our model.

Any individual can desire or claim to be a Christian, but only others can truly say whether or not anyone is a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ. I can be a member of a Christian church, have proof of my initiation, and even regularly attend and contribute, but I could just as well be a member of a country club. Only my neighbors together with my enemies can say whether I truly live as a disciple of Jesus, who commanded his disciples to go so far as to love and forgive their enemies and do good to those who do evil to them, always returning good for evil.

Matthew 7:15-20    
¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will know them by their fruits.     NRSV

Jesus immediately knew what kind of person came up to Him or spoke out in front of his disciples. Jesus would not allow himself of those who followed or listened to Him to be manipulated by others just because they can speak the loudest, hide behind their public office or status, or intimidate others by employing the most influence or power or flaunting their success or riches. In every age Jesus wants his disciples to enjoy the same freedom, the freedom of the children of God. So He gave us simple criteria for discerning what kind of person another is on the basis of what comes out of them. 

Matthew 15:19     ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.     NRSV

It is no coincidence that it is we, the healthy and wealthy of the Earth who take the means to isolate ourselves with walls of stone or economic protocols or other exercises of power. We in the Americas built our society upon the "ethnic cleansing" of genocide of the native peoples we found here when they would not submit to our every whim and tried to defend themselves, their peoples, and their way of life. Such a violent and murderous undertaking was certainly not the intention of most settlers and pioneers who brought high moral standards with them. However these good people were poorly represented by their leaders and the effect of the "land grabbing" attitude of Europeans was still deadly for the indigenous populations of this rich land. It is the same in every land and has been this way since the dawn of humanity, but it was not so in the original design of the Creator. To make it seem easier to exploit others all we have to do is consider them inferior, but such attitudes and policies dehumanize those who employ those very same practices.

Genesis 1:26-30     ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”²⁷ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹ God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.      NRSV

There is a clear lesson from this account of the Creation given by God to the Jewish People as his Chosen People. In the inspired Word given by God to his People, He tells that they are to be the first among his children, intending them to draw to Him all the nations of the world. From God's point of view all the abundance of the Earth is intended by Him to be enjoyed by all of humanity without any exception or preference of privilege. The Jewish Scriptures make it clear that it is out of fear and greed that human beings make distinctions among ourselves, hoard good things to ourselves, and by the same token exclude others from having access, let alone enjoy, the good things of the Earth.

Pope Francis by his whole way of being is all about reaching out to others in respect and dialogue, open to what good can come from authentic encounter between people. This attitude and approach includes a willingness to be touched or moved by the experience and conditions of the other and do what is possible to ease the other's difficulties and through sharing and caring build bridges of good will and understanding in favor of unity and peace through works of justice and caring. This is very clearly an attitude that Jesus wants even today for any who would be his disciples. 

Any approach that would build walls instead of bridges and harden the protocols that hinder others from having access to the good things of the Earth is not only unchristian but it is fundamentally an inhuman attitude. Such policies are the policies of those who would rule over others by force and do all that is deemed to be necessary to assure the rule of those with access to power, influence, riches. Many writers have explored and commented the ills of the deliberate exploitation of others, such as George Orwell in his novels Animal Farm and 1984.

What cannot be seen by those who refuse to see can often be plainly visible to mere children. This truth has been marvelously illustrated by Hans Christian Andersen in his fable "The Emperor's New Clothes". Perhaps what may prompt Mr. Donald Trump to say what he does, with all due respect to him and his bid to be the next President of the U.S.A., and all those who agree with him, is the American doctrine of "separation of church and state". 

The Roman Catholic Church agrees with citizens of the world that the civil state has its proper competence and jurisdiction in matters of civil government and that the religious institution such as the church, temple, or synagogue has competence and jurisdiction in matters of religious governance. Some especially in America would make of this an ideology that would attempt to reduce practice of a faith to the realm of private life and go so far as to abhor any public manifestation of faith. 

It is clear that the Creator of the universe as revealed to the Jewish People and in Jesus of Nazareth the Christ that God intends his children who believe in Him to practice their faith so thoroughly that it changes, enriches, and enhances every aspect of their life, including all public manifestations of their life and faith. It makes no sense therefore for a person to attempt to be a devout person of faith in church and at home but live as a pagan without regard or respect for others in school, at work, in the lab, in the marketplace, in public office, or anywhere else out in the world.

Christians are to live out their faith in God in Jesus through every aspect of their life including a rich and complete participation in the social life of their community and people. The Roman Catholic Church teaches, as in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, that Catholic Christians are never to attempt to impose their faith or practice on others but rather are to live so fully their faith in every aspect of their life that they will have the effect of a leaven for the common good within society.

So, Mr. Trump, with all due respect to you, your party, and your supporters, everyone is entitled to say whether anyone is a Christian, and we all need to heed the voices of others, especially the voices of our opponents and enemies, for they are the least likely to be motivated to flatter or get into our good graces and the most likely to see clearly all those aspects of our lives which we cannot see.

God bless you and America in this final year leading to your presidential elections.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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ALL WILL BE WELL, WON’T IT?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Living the Gospel, Catherine Doherty's Little Mandate – by Fr. Gilles A. Surprenant, Madonna House Associate, Family Life Chaplain, Archdiocese of Montréal – from my Journal – 14.07.2002 - Composed in Dina Belanger Poustinia while on summer vacation / poustinia retreat 

       Today, I met my Sister and asked, “How’s it going? Is everything well?” Sadly, her
expression – already full of pondering – said, as she moved away, “Well, it ....” I called after
her quietly, “All will be well.” Another said, “That’s so easy to say.” Yes, it is so easy to say,
“All will be well.” It is so easy to hope, when once we have known hope, when once we have
known love, when once we have known joy, when once we have known delight, when once we
have known peace. It is so very easy to say “All will be well” when we are immersed in hope,
love, joy, delight, and peace.

       What do we do when we are not sensing our blessedness, when we can only remember
seeing dreary dusty despair, tasting bitter loneliness, hearing sorrowful sadness, smelling of
death and decay, and feeling troubling torment – when we can no longer remember the color of
hope, the taste of love, the sound of joy, the smell of delight, or the feel of peace? What do we
do then? It’s so easy to say, “All will be well” when everything within and around me or us
screams back “How do you know? All is not well! All will never be well again! Will any thing
ever be well? Was anything ever well? How dare you say ‘All will be well’?”

       Upon a time, the radiant color of all things – of people and living creatures, of the sky,
the earth, and the water – their color illumined me with hope…. O where has it gone? Then
too, your love filled me with the taste of bread and wine, and of the sweetest fruits. At the very
sound of your footsteps or your voice, joy leapt up within my heart. The fragrance of your
garments, of your hair, and of the meals we shared filled my soul with delight. The very breeze
in the air surrounded me with the warmth of your presence and cradled me in your peace. O
where have they all gone? Where have You gone, O my Beloved? No, all is not well – not well
at all…. Oh, in so many ways, all is not well.

       All is not well – my ailment is back. Lord, I thought You had heard my prayer and had
answered it. Why has my ailment returned? What’s going to happen now? Do you intend to
heal me? How much longer must I pray? What’s the point of praying to be well again if You
have no intention of healing me? Why does your will always have to come to me through others
– why can’t You just reveal your will to me yourself? What do You want of me? How can I
know it? How can all be well when I am not? Is it true – will all ever be well again?

       Upon a time, though I did not seek attention or approval, the eyes of my brothers and
sisters were full of warmth and understanding for me – but now I see judgment, and their
disappointment – now they are embarrassed or concerned for me. I ache so much once again
to be self-oblivious: to have eyes only for the well-being of others, to hunger only for your love
in the hearts of all, to have ears only for your Word – that your every desire might be my
command, to want only the scent of my labor and ours – all done for love of You and for the
least of these sisters and brothers of Yours, ours, and mine, and to take comfort only in the
sensations accompanying the satisfaction of being spent for love and filling me with gratitude
for your wondrous gift of life renewed each day as an echo of your promise of eternity. O, in
what depth of darkness have I fallen, for assuredly, all is not now well.

       All is not well – the one You’ve entrusted to me for formation has such glaring faults –
what do You want of me? Am I supposed to continually correct this person? It doesn’t look
like this is someone who’s going to change in a hurry, so what am I supposed to do? Is there a
bottom line, a minimum that is acceptable, and whose responsibility is it to make sure that this
minimum is met? What do You want of me? When will this all be well?

       Indeed, all is not well – I keep falling back into my faults – my sisters, my brothers, keep
correcting me, again and again I become embarrassed and feel humiliated, but I keep falling
back into my faults, and it just keeps going on and on…. How long will this last? When will my
heart become pure and undivided? Will You not do this for me? O, how long, Beloved, till You
rescue me from these depths? What do You want of me? How would You have me bear this
cross? When will I rest? Will You not make all things well?

       Upon a time, my mind was at rest – understanding enough of your ways that my labors,
my rests, my pains, my delights, my sorrows, my joys – all made sense to me in the comfort of
your presence and your love. Now, I feel like a traitor, like a guest who has overspent his
welcome, like a child who has become a burden, like one who is an embarrassment, like one
who should have gotten things right by now, like one who seems without discipline, like a stone
on everyone’s ankle. Then, my heart was content, my body was secure, and my spirit was in
surety, but now I am in distress. How long, O Lord, will You leave me among the dead? Do
You not see that all is not well?

       Are You not all-powerful and sovereign over all? Can You not make all things well?
And yet You do not act, You leave me to languish in my misery. Can You be testing me? If it is
so, then what do You want of me? If I am as a child in pain, and You are comforting me –
though I am aware only of my hurt – would You have me dry my tears? Would you have me
echo your words, “All will be well?” Would You have me hope in my pain suffered for You? If I
am as one crushed by too many rejections, and You are encouraging me – though I see You not
in my defeat – would You have me take heart in my humiliation? Would you have me echo
your words, “All will be well?” Would You have me love though I am crushed?

       If I am as one wounded in battle, and You are attending me – though I am aware only of
my wounds – would You have me silence my groans? Would you have me echo your words,
“All will be well?” Would You have me take joy in my wounds suffered for You? If I am as one
staggering in the desert, lost in the wilderness, parched and weakened by hunger, and have lost
all sense of life in me, and You are finding me – would You have me let You sweep me off my
feet? Would you have me echo your words, “All will be well?” Would You have me take
delight – even in all I have endured for You? What do You want of me?

       If I am as one haunted by the relentless troubles of the world, cut to the heart by the
untold suffering of countless throngs of your children – embarrassed to still be in the grip of my
own pain, insignificant though it seem in comparison, and You are calling to me in my depths of
shame – would You have me come out of my tomb? Would you have me echo your words, “All
will be well?” Would You have me find peace in You? What do You want of me?

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Sex - Marriage - Divorce - Family - Gender - Why are we in the mess we're in?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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SEX

A century ago the societies of most nations on Earth had ritual behaviors of various sorts around the experience and use of human sexuality and for the most part a certain primacy was given to marriage and family and the exercise of sex was shrouded in conventions of respect and modesty that kept it out of public display. In the time that elapsed since then various interests have attacked these social norms, qualifying them as taboos harmful to the full human freedom of expression.

As a result we have seen not only the dismantling of sexual taboos but radical loss of respect for the human person and women have suffered the most. The disintegration of marriage and family has caused ever increasing numbers of women to be reduced to the ranks of the poor as they struggle to raise their children as single parents after their divorce or failure to marry. More men than ever are failing to take their full share of responsibilities as spouses and fathers after they have enjoyed sexual union with their partner.

The so called "sexual revolution" of the mid-twentieth century was initiated to free women so that they might be as free as men to fully experience and enjoy their sexuality, but the actual result has been to reduce women to abandonment and poverty in the end. How could we fall so far so quickly?

MARRIAGE

It is no coincidence that during this same period of time Hollywood played a strong role in changing social moral values not only in Western societies but worldwide. Such institutions as the arrangement by parents of the marriages of their offspring worked fairly well for centuries if not for millennia; yet very quickly under the scrutiny of the camera such proven traditional practices were put to shame by ridicule in favor of romance. Tragically, romance did not live up to its enthusiastic claims and has proven to be far less effective in establishing successful and stable marriages and families. Once romance is claimed as a perennial value, it is hard to "turn it off" after one has married the spouse with whom one fell in love. The high hormonal experience of falling in love is often preferred to the long term development of a deeper loving relationship which is the basis and heart of marriage.

DIVORCE

When one perennially sighs for the next partner with whom one can "fall in love" one tends to get stuck in adolescence or at least in young adulthood. By electing not to face the challenges of the real and ever deepening human intimacy which is essential to marriage, one gets locked into what Pope Francis calls the "throw away culture" that is quite willing to "drop" or "throw away" the spouse or partner with whom one is no longer satisfied in favor of another who would be more likely to stir up the high hormonal reaction of "falling in love". When a human being does not live fully or deeply there results a need to experience more intense hormonal reactions in order to verify that one is still alive because the ordinary experiences of everyday life are merely being sampled but not fully tasted.

This is not to say that everyone who divorces is immature and selfish. Sadly, it happens far too often that a mature, selfless, and loving person marries with the best of intentions someone who is not as fully mature or committed as they were. There are few more painful experiences in life than being abandoned by a less committed spouse after one has given everything and held nothing back. The sense of betrayal one experiences under such circumstances is profoundly painful and may for a time be quite debilitating.

PERFECT LOVE

Thankfully, the person with even a minimum of faith can find in God release from such pain and suffering. The human soul was designed by the Creator to seek and receive the presence and love of the Holy Trinity, and the experience of marital abandonment in separation or divorce can become an opportunity for a person to discover God more deeply and personally. It brings great peace and joy to realize that in actual fact only God can truly and perfectly satisfy the longing of the human heart to be loved perfectly, completely, and unceasingly.

The intimate friendship showered by God on chosen individuals such as Abraham, Moses, and the prophets during the time of the Jewish Covenant was also offered and is still offered today to those willing to learn the "fear of the Lord", the way of wisdom which God offers to those who wish and who commit themselves to "walk in the Lord's ways". Such a walk and way of life implies study of the Torah and a life of prayer by both women and men in ways consistent with their calling in life.

Jesus of Nazareth, whom his followers call the Christ - the Messiah - sharpened the focus of God's call and the desirable human response around his commandment to his disciples that they love one another as He loved them and that they teach others to do likewise. Jesus revealed that God is not just a divine being but one in whom there are three persons. In his teaching, life, and example Jesus revealed that God is, in effect, a community of divine persons in one divine being. Jesus taught that we human beings are designed to love and be loved through the same self-giving by which the Holy Trinity pours the divine life of love into us.

FAMILY

Our Creator God designed human beings for a fullness of life through love such that we have truly been created "in the image and likeness" of God as told in the first chapters of Genesis. Bishop Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil south of Montreal in the Province of Québec teaches that the human family is patterned after the Holy Trinity.

Jesus revealed that He the divine Son receives his life from the Father and that He ever seeks to give his life back to the Father as an offering freely given and with the value added of his life, ministry, and sacrifice. The fruit of the love between the Father and the Son is another divine person, the Holy Spirit. When a man cherishes his wife he reflects the love of the Father for his Son; as a cherished wife returns this love to her husband with the value added of her devotion to him, and later to their children, the fruit of their love is the new entity or life which is their "couple" relationship.

Joined in a lifelong commitment in marriage, they are no longer two but one flesh, not only in the physical and emotional union of intercourse but in the mutual self-giving of their shared life and love together. It is the faithful, exclusive, devoted, and unending love and life of husband and wife as a couple that gives birth to a family, whether or not they are able to conceive their own children. The couple made up of a husband and wife who draw their life and love from God is the richest formula for family that can be conceived of, because each relies on God for love and bestows that love on the other. The human heart has such a need for love that no human being can perfectly satisfy it, but only God. When a married couple rely on God's love, they are free to love one another without holding the other responsible for their happiness.

A loving couple consisting of a husband and wife possess in themselves the fullness of human life as  complementary male and female, providing their children with all that they could need as mentors for their upbringing and formation for life. In addition, the family in which the parents are rooted in God provides for the children an environment in which they can come to know and love God as they come to know and experience his love for them by being first introduced to God by the example, formation, and direction of their parents.

GENDER

While the sexual revolution of the 1960's was in part an attempt by some women to experience the same freedom men seemed to have to enjoy sex without responsibility or consequences, women can never free themselves from their biological and psychological design for the conception and gestation of human life. A few try by seeking conversion into males, but then they are no longer females.

Attempts to block conception, control fertility, or induce temporary infertility remain just that, efforts to circumvent or frustrate our natural human design and purpose. While we can do this in a "green" way by respecting our natural processes and avoid conceiving new life for a time, navigating against the current remains a strain for our whole being. The deepest satisfaction human beings can know is that which comes through cooperation with the fundamental design of our nature: we are designed not only to live but also to give life.

In most cultures and human societies there are some who are called not to marry or have children but to live as celibates for another purpose. Celibates reorient their vital energies to live and to love by giving life in other ways and through other forms of contribution to the common good.

Advances in the social sciences - especially in biology and psychology - help us to understand how it is that in most societies and times there are some individuals who for various reasons are not at ease identifying with their own gender. For some it may be that they find it difficult to embrace their own gender mode - the male mode is scientifically established as the "intrusive" mode, and the female mode is scientifically established as the "inclusive" mode - and so they may actually prefer the mode of the other gender or of their opposite gender parent. For some individuals this may lead them to prefer or to identify with the other gender rather than their own.

Failing to embrace or being loath to embrace one's own gender causes confusion for the individual but also for others. There is already enough confusion in human relationships, but gender confusion makes everything much more complicated by tending to confuse much non-verbal communication.

At this time at the beginning of the 21st century there seems to be more gender confusion than ever. There is a social movement or trend lobbying for the elimination of gender distinctions altogether, which would extend gender confusion throughout the whole society. Such a view seems based on the assumption that human nature is a blank on which we can design whatever we wish and on the denial of specific ends for which we have been deferentially designed male or female.

SEXUAL FEELINGS, ORIENTATION, AND IDENTITY

Still, compassion and understanding require of us respect for others and a willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt in the absence of clear explanations for the way things are as they are. Since 1961 when "the pill" was first manufactured and marketed, we have seen the advent of three or more new generations of offspring who have - to a greater or lesser extent - accumulated the effects of this chemical invasion of our women. The pill interferes with a woman hormonal balance with the stated aim of forcing her fertility cycle to become more regular and the admitted side effect that it prevents conception either from taking place or from progressing after it has taken place.

As far as we know at present no longitudinal studies have been conducted to ascertain whether or not additional effects of the pill might be to so upset women's hormonal balance as to cause subsequent gender confusion in some of their offspring. This could be a plausible explanation for same sex attraction in some individuals.

Another factor concerns what social and psychological scientists call the latent sexual period in children aged six to twelve or until the onset of puberty. In a society where sexual matters are kept out of public display children enjoy greater protection from the invasiveness of sexual imagery to disturb their imaginations before this happens naturally in the course of puberty. During the latency period children have sufficient concerns to occupy their complete attention and have been shown to be better prepared for the changes precipitated by puberty when they have been allowed to rest from these added pressures until they are sufficiently developed to face and endure them.

The overwhelmingly public tidal wave of explicit sexuality, sex in advertising, and pornography of varying degrees of intrusiveness has become so all pervasive that children are allowed little or no rest or protection from the invasiveness of sexual imagery and the complex emotions associated with it, such that many children are deprived of the "latency rest" and forced to endure sexual confusion earlier than they would want and before they are sufficiently developed to make sense of it.

In such a hostile environment it is not surprising that more children experience gender confusion from an early age. In addition the proactive if not aggressive lobbying of homosexual movements is undoubtedly adding to the pressure already experienced by confused children to "lock themselves in" and identify themselves with a particular sexual orientation. Given that human beings remain in a process of development that is not completed until the early to mid twenties, though it may not be fully realized until much later in life; it would seem a violation of their human dignity and freedom to require of children that they prematurely label or define themselves so narrowly as by sexual feelings that for the most part are often only incidental, passing, or temporary.

WHY ARE WE IN THE MESS WE'RE IN?

In philosophical and anthropological discourses one can find just about any view conceivable of what a human being is, or what might be the meaning and purpose of human life. The spectrum goes from claiming total freedom to define human life in whatever way we wish, at one end, to declaring, at the other end, that we are already locked into the design of our nature as it is whether we like it or not.

Social scientists tend to limit themselves to factors that are visible, tangible, and measurable, which is why they tend to put aside and exclude from consideration invisible, less tangible, immeasurable factors such as spirituality and divine revelation. Such biases considerably weaken and limit our ability to comprehend the full value and potential of human life, given that we are amphibians of a sort, living both in the physical world and in the spiritual world.

GENESIS - DIVINE REVELATION OF OUR HUMAN ORIGINS

Please read this article by novelist Michael O'Brien....

Modesty in the Culture of Shamelessness - by Michael O'Brien - October 8, 2008

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Struggles, worries, fears - human beings face to face with God - managing our time, talent, & treasure

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Struggles, Worries, Fears, and God

OR

 Called to be good stewards of the Earth for the common good

Struggles? Yes, I have them… doesn’t everyone? Worries? Life would be better without them, but unfortunately they are there. Fears? Oh yes…. These three, among others, describe much about our human condition. Struggles every day, worries touching on the future, and fears about many things – these three – add much burden to our lives and make it more difficult for us to be happy.

God loves us and doesn’t want us to be unhappy. That is why He has given us his solutions to these weak points in our humanity. The three most sensitive points in our lives are probably the same for all of us: time, energy, and money. Rare are the days when time is not an issue, or we don’t run out of energy, or we aren’t haunted by fear. God feels sorry for us when He sees us suffering and unhappy; so this is why He told his Chosen People about his solutions and taught them how to put them into practice. Jesus also practiced these solutions and showed us by his example how important and practical God’s solutions are.

TIME

Time is how we experience our life as a gift from God. He began to give us life through our parents. Even the most terrible of parents deserve at the very least respect and gratitude from their children if, for no other reason, because God used them to begin giving us life. The reality is that we receive life from God moment by moment, which makes time a key way that makes us aware of being alive.

Why then is time so often difficult or painful for us? We have to get somewhere and get upset when we think we not arrive in time. We are doing something and find ourselves running out of time. We enjoy a good experience and time seems to go by too quickly. A situation makes us suffer and time seems to slow down to a crawl. We become concerned that there is more time behind us than there is ahead of us.

As we grow older and wiser we realize that we have little or no power over time or over the thoughts and feelings that time generates in us in the course of our lives. We feel helpless to change our relationship with time despite our best resolutions and efforts to make changes.

God announced a simple solution to our problem with time. Our trouble with time was originally caused by the breakdown in humanity’s relationship with God. Time can only become a blessing again by allowing God to restore us to an intimate relationship with Him. Here is what the Lord told his people.

Exodus 20:8-11   “⁸Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labour and do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.” (NRSV)

For us to be restored to an intimate relationship with God we need to allow God to be God in our lives. This means we need to make room for God’s way of looking at us and our lives. God knows that we need time to rest and so He gave his own example in the account of how He created the universe and us. When you think about it, resting is attractive and makes sense. Even machines need to be turned off so they can cool down and be maintained.

So God’s solution is that of the seven days He gives us each week, we give Him back the day that He has marked for us to spend with Him. We keep holy the Lord’s Day, the “Sabbath” or seventh day, by giving Him worship and then spending the whole day with family and friends, relaxing, celebrating, playing, and putting aside all work and worry. We will have the next six days to work all we want. 

ENERGY and its twin TALENT

(Energy well spent makes the best use of our talents and abilities.)

One way we know we are alive is by generating and spending energy. We do that in ways that are pleasant or unpleasant. We can spend our energy in ways that replenishes our energy at the same time or we can spend our energy in ways that depletes our energy reserves even faster. When we stubbornly push against obstacles that won’t move or throw ourselves at those walls in anger and other tough emotions we deplete our energy twice as fast. On the other hand, when we take a moment to stop and figure out what is happening and how best to apply our energy we can experience better results, feel greater satisfaction, and find that instead of depleting our energy reserves we are building them up at the same time that we are spending them. Even great effort can be rewarding when we direct our energies well.

Another way we rapidly deplete our energy reserves is when we struggle with tasks because in ways that are not effective or without the necessary skills. Clumsy efforts tend to use up more energy than efforts that employ skills to guide and precisely direct our energy to the desired objectives. We probably all know a person who is always angry and miserable in the course of their tasks and another person who is always glad and cheerful. The angry person will tend to be exhausted more often than the cheerful person.

God sees how we use our energy and is sad when we struggle under heavy burdens and are unhappy because He loves us and wants us, like any good parent, to succeed and experience the satisfaction of tasks well done. That is why each human being has a unique personality and set of talents and abilities. Some of these function well from the first time we use them and just get better with use, while others require more practice or learning and development. There is much satisfaction to be had from well directed efforts.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37    ²⁵ Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.^[j] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” ²⁷ He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” ²⁹ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” ³⁰ Jesus (then told him about the good Samaritan who cared for a stranger who had been mugged and left on the ground to die. Then Jesus asked the lawyer:) ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (NRSV)

The purest or holiest use of our energy and talent is when we do so entirely for the good of others, out of charity or perfect love. Within the family this happens when spouses care for one another, parents care for their children, children care for their parents, the young care for the elderly, the healthy care for the sick, and so on. It also happens outside the family and out in the world when we care for our neighbour, or forgive enemies, or for strangers or the poor, sick, lame, wounded, prisoners, or other suffering persons.

It also happens when we serve others through the Church, Church institutions, non-governmental organizations, or other groups or agencies. The most inspiring work we can find is that done by parents and grandparents, people who proclaim the Gospel by their lives and by their words, and all those who serve the People of God in response to Jesus’ call to serve as priests, religious, other consecrated persons, or other dedicated lay people. When what motivates us is pure love even considerable effort and expenditure of our energy brings both satisfaction and the restoration of our energy reserves because our love for others puts us into sync or communion with the Holy Trinity and opens us to receive even more of their life and love. 

TREASURE

(All material goods in this world are intended by God to be enjoyed equitably by all of humanity.)

Our experience of time can indeed cause us considerable stress and suffering. In addition, so many factors can cause us to suffer from the constant depletion of our vital energy, particularly when we struggle in difficult situations or at tasks for which we are ill suited or trained or prepared. Perhaps what causes us the greatest suffering in life is our relationship to material things, to what could be called treasure. Jesus was quite clear in his teaching and example regarding earthly treasure and material goods.

Matthew 6:19-21    “¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”   Mark 14:3-9    “³ While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. ⁴ But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,^[c] and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. ⁹ Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (NRSV)
 

Jesus taught by example that material goods have value by the use we make of them with other human beings and with God. Material goods and money can strangle us with greed and fear or they can give great joy to others and increase our own joy. We cannot be free of greed, fear, or anxiety about material goods on our own. For this reason God gave his Chosen People a guideline. He inspired Abraham and others to give to the service of God a tithe or ten percent. This seems to be an ideal that symbolizes and expresses in a practical way the detachment we need to put our trust in God rather than in ourselves or in riches.

Jesus offers us the freedom of the children of God when we “give back to God” the holy portion, the tithe or ten percent, which is sufficient to allow God to set us free from greed and fear. This includes what we give to God’s work in his Church as well as what we give and share with the poor and all those whom we help in our families. It is amazing to realize that God will never be outdone by us in generosity.

JESUS HAS GIVEN US HIS EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW

When we hear or read about Jesus in the Gospels we see in Him a human like us in all things but sin, a man who always has plenty of time for everyone who comes to Him. He never seems in a hurry or worried about time. Jesus is eager to make the best use of his talents and to put Himself at the service of everyone without worrying about running out of energy. 

When He was tired, He rested or slept, like the time He sat down at Jacob’s well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink because He was tired and thirsty. Jesus was never concerned about shelter, clothing, food, or money, and He taught his apostles and disciples to adopt the same attitudes of absolute and practical trust in the providence of his heavenly Father. 

Saint Francis of Assisi is probably the saint who imitated Jesus most literally in these attitudes. What Jesus invites us to do is truly possible and the most direct route to peace, satisfaction, joy, and the happiness of perfect love. When we dare to imitate Jesus we are surprised to find ourselves already enjoying a taste of the life that will be unending in the radiant presence of the Holy Trinity with all the angels and saints in heaven.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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