Notes on Chapter One
Driving back up this mountain yet again for the umpteenth time today, my kids and I had The Conversation yet again for the Umpteenth Time:
“But Mom, why did they do that……?”
And my response was, “Well, sweetheart, its because everybody wants to look good, to be on top, to be a winner. But we know that appearances can many times be deceiving, right. Anyway, God knows their hearts.”
And so this first chapter of Matt Kelly’s
“Rediscovering Catholicism” begins with an opening volley that on some level we are all aware of the truth that we have built a culture based on appearance.. Everything looked real good up until the recent financial crash and resulting recession. Just scratch a little below the surface of anything these days, and there is in fact very little substance. The reality that there is Good and Evil, that these two realities are in fact black and white and not relative is no longer considered a truth. It is considered a “judgment” and an “intolerance,” and is therefore dismissed as old-fashioned, out-dated, and irrelevant.
We are hungry for truth in the midst of this moral and spiritual famine. We know this because of the attempts our culture makes to celebrate honesty, integrity or loyalty in popular movies (however weak the attempts be actually be). We are HARD WIRED to seek and know TRUTH. Our hearts are at rest when we recognize what is true and rest in truth.
Matt Kelly would have us understand that Christianity has been largely rejected. He asks the questions: “Why are so many people so hostile toward Christ and His teachings?” and “If we are followers of Christ, why are we not enthusiastically embracing Christianity?” He wonders if the answers to these questions lay in the possibility that Christianity and perhaps Catholics are as much a part of the culture of APPEARNCE and DECEPTION as anyone else. We have become so numbed to cheating and lying as necessary evils that we are uniformly skeptical, wary and even cynical in our search for truth. We are a tired and worn-out people. Too much noise, too busy, too much to be done…
The world, our friends, neighbors, and colleagues are all sending us the same message.,
“Don’t tell me, show me!!!!” No more books, no more TV preachers, no more radio talk shows or tapes. Just show me someone - anyone who is living an authentic life: humble yet heroic, good, true, noble. Mr. Kelly hints at the end of this first chapter that he knows what it will take to be that courageous man or woman who can choose with God’s grace to come forward and lead an authentic life.
In His grip,
Francis of Assisi
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We received the following from Matthew Kelley, who asked that we post it on the blog--seems an appropriate response to Frances of Assisi's post....BHG Here tis:
ReplyDeleteThis is a moment of opportunity for the Church. So many people have so many questions about Catholicism. We need to be the people who disseminate the answers. It is my hope that Rediscovering Catholicism will enrich your life, invigorate your spirituality, and give you a drive to get more involved with the Church. One of my dreams is that every Catholic in America will read this book in the next ten years. To that end anyone can get a free copy by visiting www.DynamicCatholic.com .
But what I am most excited about is parishes giving copies to everyone who attends Christmas Mass. So many people only come to Church at Christmas... and so, this is our one chance to re-engage them. Don't let them go home empty-handed this Christmas! Matthew Kelley
Ironically, we seem to care about everyone's impression of ourselves except God's. He sees our true selves, our hearts, our motivations. Our hypocrisies are no secrets to him. Christianity is "successful" in the American South probably more because it remains socially appropriate to go to Church than because we are more likely to believe in God.
ReplyDeleteBlessed then are those meek and poor who don't have access to all the devices and TV channels, self-help tapes and so called educational systems that we clutter our lives with. Their faith is more pure, their participation in their religion is more authentic, and their salvation is more likely than it is for us rich who are too busy filling our minds with other things to leave any room for Him who should consume every fiber of our being.
Yours in Christ,
Patrick
Hipocracy, and the preception of it is a BIG problem that we all face. Let's face it, we are NOT perfect but called to strive toward that goal! The modern culture looks at Christians, sees the imperfections, and says "See, we told you so! You are not practicing what you preach so you are really full of lies and we therefore reject your entire message"! Unfortunate but that is the thought process. Misunderstandings abound!! Just look at the hubbub surrounding the "Resignation" of Anne Rice, from not just the Catholic Church, but from Christianity as a whole (see this blog for a good answer to this: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/theanchoress/2010/07/30/anne-rice-quits-christianity/) and you see just what we are up against. The only answer for us that I know of is to try, as best we can, to live out our lives with Christ foremost in our hearts, minds and in our actions! We need to demonstrate that "simple and pure" faith Ryan speaks of that is visibly authentic to those around us. This is what the book is about!
ReplyDeleteLuke
Of course hypocrites turn the world away from following Christ. Our hypocrisy does not only turn the world away but also our Savior who said “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3) So how can we represent Christ while we are in this world? I think in some regards we are all hypocrites due to our sinfulness. Only God is truly consistence with his character. We all say one thing and do another. So what did Jesus mean we he said “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:20). I think that we need to be honest to the world and not try to pretend to be something that we ourselves cannot obtain. As St.Paul said “You are our epistle know and read by all men” (2Cor 3:2). Bottom line is that we are Sinners and cannot save ourselves and must fully rely on God’s grace. That picture present who we really are as St.Paul said “But we have this wealth in vessels of earth, so that it may be seen that the power comes not from us but from God;“(2Cor 4:7)
ReplyDeleteWe all hunger for the Truth. But the truth has been watered down over the past 30 to 40 years producing the "Cafeteria Catholic". Is it any wonder that the world perceives the Catholic Church and its' teachings as lacking substance? Truth cannot be relative. Following and teaching the unvarnished Truth could restore confidence in the Church that Christ established.
ReplyDeleteThank you, 'Francis of Assisi' for you wonderful insight into this Appearance v Authenic discussion.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite 'ol Southernisms is:
"Be what you is, because if you be what you ain't, then you ain't what you is!"
"Be what you is",... what we "is" are Christians of the Roman Catholic Church (Christ's church)and... sinners.
Although we strive for a sinless life as Christians, we are not perfect. It is the "striving" that the world needs to see, it is the "striving" that should be viewed as conforming to Christ's church.
What we "is" is certainly not perfection. We are sinners, striving to conform our lives as the Church leads us to be more Christ like. The statement attritubed to Gandhi of, "If I had ever met one (Christian), I would have become one" represents a misunderstanding of what striving to be more Christ like is all about.
Authenticity is the condition of being trustworthy, or genuine. And it begins with the acceptance of just who we are.
Humbly,
St. Anthony of Padua
This past year my logic teacher gave a lecture on critical thinking entitled, “Worldview and the Idea of Normality.” In it, he made the assertion that "The ‘normal,’ to most people represents the baseline set of expectations that frame their understanding of their social and physical surroundings...Our understanding of what is ‘normal’ gives shape to our worldview—and our sense of the ‘normal’ is almost never derived from reason or Scripture—it is absorbed due to prolonged exposure to the ideas, models and patterns promulgated in the society around us."
ReplyDeleteLike Francis said in the above comment, it is this tainted ‘normal’ that wears us down almost to the point of submission.
Imagine having a black-and-white image of a bouquet of roses. Picture every rose being a uniform color, with the exception of one, which is a deep red. Does this rose not immediately draw your attention? GOD specifically calls us to be ‘peculiar people’ (I Peter 2:9)…We are to in the world, not of it. The black-and-white color scheme in the picture represents the world, and her idea of normality. We need to be red roses among grey.
A quick quote from Walker Percy that I came across on "The Catholic Thing" web site:
ReplyDelete"Never has there been such loneliness in the midst of crowds, never such hunger in the face of satiation. Never has there been a more fertile ground for the seed and the harvest the Lord spoke of. All that is needed is a bearer of the Good News who speaks it with such authenticity that it can penetrate the most exhausted hearing, revive the most jaded language."
Good thought "dundermuffin"!! We are likely entering another "Dark Age" when it comes to Christianity and our culture. (witness today's court ruling in California setting aside a Constitutional Amendment defining Marriage as between a man and a woman) We will, if we live our lives with visible faith, become the peculiar people, the red roses among the grey and hopefully the light that helps to brighten the deepening darkness that is slowly enveloping us. If we can get enough of us to really care about this we will make a big difference. That is what this project is all about!
ReplyDeleteLuke
Take a look at this post, too-an interview with a gay Catholic man. It puts, I think, some of what we have been discussing into sharp, personal perspective. Note that he she says that one tends to be at the mercy of one's emotions--not a good thing--and that the Church is a rock. Powerful stuff. Modern man has come to believe that everything is relative, including Truth, and that all that matters is that you are sincere in what you believe (I am sure Charles Schultz did not mean to launch that with good ol' Linus, but it seems to have happened). This blog is a good vision of the great healing, hard though it is, that can be had when the Church presents the Truth in love. We are the human faces of the Church--that's our job description.
ReplyDeleteMartha
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