Chapter 11
Who Will Be Next?
Chapter Eleven contains a particularly challenging essay on the subject of who gets chosen next by God the Creator of the Universe to be used in His Plan for our fallen world.
It is bothersome because it implies that any of us might be chosen for His work in this fallen culture of death we live in. It presupposes that any one of us might be fingered to be sacrificed up, martyred, or in some way at the very least inconvenienced in carrying out His will—Heaven forbid it be me or someone I love. Could be costly. Could be dirty. Could be painful. How could it possibly be a joy?
But if not me, then who? If not my child, then whose children? Mr. Kelly offers up the idea that whatever is going to happen, it will happen with or without us. It is clear from Scripture that God wishes His plan to unfold WITH us, our hearts, our minds, our wills. But as free will denotes, that is our choice.
So, Mr. Kelly wonders, what are we willing to give our life for? What is it that makes us get out of bed each morning and begin a new day? What is it that we are willing to define our lives by?
We have been given finite time on this beautiful earth. What are we going to do with it? When our life is over, what regrets will we hold? Are our lives worth giving over to some greater cause—some cause that is bigger than any one of us? We are fast approaching the ninth anniversary of September 11th, and I defy any one to remember that day. I defy you to remember the men and women on American Flight #486 without thinking that, given the same situation, we would have the courage and virtue necessary to make the same choices those brave and honorable people made.
We must rise to the occasion whenever possible and the occasion is NOW. We are at a turning point in human history. The modern western culture is declining. We must rise up ourselves to shepherd in a new era. Where do we start?
We must embrace our Catholic Christianity. We must not exist within a lifeless set of rules and regulations. Catholicism is a vibrant way of life. To be truly Catholic, we are called first to holiness and second to express our joy and hopes by both example and stories. We must become story-tellers. We must tell the stories of our lives, our choices and the lives and choices of our families. We must tell how we love. We must tell how choose to live in love. We must tell the stories of our saints. We must tell how even in adversity we do not fear because the Lord God Creator of the Universe is the source of our life, our love, our author who writes our stories with in His love for the Son.
In His grip,
F of A
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Well said, Frances.
ReplyDeleteI just finished re-reading Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton--the old one, not his revised one. In it he talks about the root of war being fear. In the greater context, he is talking about WAR but there's a subtext--the war in one's spirit. The war that makes us reluctant to step out in faith and share our stories--perhaps even the fear that makes us reluctant to even know out own stories, either as individual people or as the Church. What are we so afraid of that we cannot speak up about our faith, our Savior, our Church? Being one of the world's original scardy-cats, I can answer that without even missing a beat: I am afraid of being ridiculed, rejected, incovenienced and changed. I am afraid of being left out and left behind. I am afraid that I will be--heaven forfend--wrong...I am so afraid of the little things, that I rarely even get to the point of considering whether I am afraid that what God wants of me is too hard or takes too much suffering. I am too willing to give up in the early skirmishes of the war in my spirit, and out of ...fear.
But then I remember--perfect love casts out fear. I am learning, by trial and error--that I am not to give into the fear, but to take it to the altar and in the stillness of my heart seek God, and He will take care of the fear. I may still be anxious on the level of my human life, but at a deeper level because the warring factions in my soul have struck their colors and signed a peace treaty, I find myself at rest and ready to go ahead, one step at a time.
Easily said. Harder to do. Worth the struggle.
Martha
Finding you place
ReplyDeleteI think the author strikes a good balance between being called to greatness (authentic life) and holiness. I think he also makes the point that our true calling is living to be the best we can be. Our vocation is who we are. So many time in running into people the first question is “How are you?” and the second is “How is work?” . What we do seems to define us. If I was able to struggle through college and become a doctor or a therapist, I would see my vocation as a minister. Being a non professional however I have taken solace in the protestant work ethic and learned that whether I eat or drink do all for the glory of God. I remember my Damascus road conversion and how everyone thought I was destined (even pre-ordained) to be a minister of the gospel, I went to Bible College with the intent of going to seminary afterwards. My rude awaking was learning that before I could take Greek I had to take remedial English. I also became quickly disillusioned at the lack of spirituality on campus. I actually was corrected when sharing a Bible verse because in it’s historical context it was not meant for personal application (Ps 127) . I only lasted a semester. In this context I found great consolation from 1st Cor 12 “Even the feeble member of the body are necessary” and “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit the body withal”. So now matter how I feel in my current state I can edify and am needed.
A great quote from Vatican II, Apostolican Actvositaten 2 “ A Catholic who does not work at the growth of the body to the extent of his possibilities must be considered useless to the Church and to himself”.
The phrase that struck me most in this chapter was about our "stories". Whose stories are we really listening to and modeling our lives after? Who or what is the main storyteller in our home? For most, yours truly included, if we are honest with ourselves, the main storytellers are the TV and/or computer. The mediums themselves are not the issue, but the all-you-can-view access is. As a parent, I am charged with the raising up of the next generation of saints, to instill in them the Truth so that when they are old, they will not depart from it. I try to be mindful of what influences my children are exposed to via TV and internet, but my efforts seem so futile against the onslaught... even commercials aren't "safe" anymore (those being "mini stories"). There are certain shows that I refuse to watch because I know that they will do more harm to my psyche than good, so why waste the precious time God has given me on something that I find objectionable? I have gotten grief about my stand, so when that happens, I try to remember to Whom I am ultimately accountable. Study after study has shown that our unconscious mind is more deeply affected than we can possibly understand by what we see and hear every day. Perhaps in order to be more "saintly" and to model the virtues that I want to see in my children, I should be most mindful of what storytellers influence my life and the lives of those who are under my care.
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