The Forked Flame #2
The Forked flame #2
The other day I was simply blindsided by the reality that more than anything else, in reciting the Lord's Prayer, I am asking God to 'give us this day our daily bread'; not because I want him to meet my physical needs. But because I want him to reinforce my courage and strength to combat the 'evil' in today's world and give 'good' the winning edge. The will to confront and destroy the pillars of secularization can only be conferred by God through the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation.
Whether or not Christians are willing to attest to the fact, the only resilience capable of destroying the evils of populism and secularization must come from the daily food we consume during Mass: the Word and the Eucharist. The Daily Bread we petition for in the Lord's Prayer.
All this talk about the Word and the Eucharist reminds me of a Cover Story carried by Time Magazine a few years ago entitled: 'The Disappearing Christ' in which the journalist expressed the view that these days individuals he encounter are no longer asking about or looking for Christ. Needless to say, I did not agree with the thesis of the article and decided to let the Editor know.
My letter to the Magazine went something like this:
Dear Sir:
I beg to differ with the main sentiment expressed in your Cover Story of April 9th.:'The Disappearing Christ'. I am Roman Catholic and I happen to know in a very intimate and profound way, that the Christ is alive and well; and walking among us. If you look closely you will see him in the faces of the poor and the homeless who go for days without eating; yet do not give up hope because they believe that God's compassion is reflected in the hearts of many good people. One of whom will surely pass them by on any given day with a genuine smile and the offer of a free meal.
Those nameless faces know for sure that Christ did not 'disappear' and that He never will.
There are also good Catholics who encounter the Risen Christ at Easter and cannot help but spontaneously erupt in songs of praise and thanksgiving. Feeling a spirit of inexpressible joy that the Son of God, without asking why, or what was in it for Him, endured unimaginable humiliation and pain that ended in death-- simply because he knew we would learn from his example that inexpressible joy is purchased only at the price of great pain. We actually experience the exhilaration of His resurrection when after 3 days in the pits of hell he shattered records by breaking the bonds of death to rise victorious from the grave. The gratitude we Christians express at Easter time is not an empty show. We really do believe that the Historical Christ carried a heavy cross up Calvary Hill for our sins (yours and mine) because he wanted to leave a legacy of Redemption for us to follow. When life gets rough and we can see no rhyme or reason in our many challenges, we don't speak about a 'disappearing Christ' we simply draw upon the sustenance of our 'daily Bread' and recall not only the example of the Calvary Way that led to the Resurrection, but also the promise of the Second Coming.
If you don't believe that Christ broke the bonds of death; walked this earth in plain sight of his apostles and many others; then ascended to his (and our) Father--leaving the fruits of Pentecost for our daily nourishment, then I wish you the opportunity to be evangelized into a Faith that believes in the risen Christ. It is Faith in the risen Christ that makes people do good instead of evil. Faith in the risen Christ that makes families uphold the good of marriage as only between one man and one woman --for life. Marriage as an institution where children can be socialized to believe in the complementarity between a mother and father. Marriage that teaches children how to save the tremendous gift of their sexuality for the good of marriage.
So Mr. Editor I want you to believe in a very present, ever present, Christ. I want you to know there is hope that God exists to help us through this earthly maze. I want you to teach your children that hope; and point them to the image of Christ whose dignity in suffering teaches us about the 'good' in suffering and the reality of God's plan to lead each and everyone of us back to our roots in Heaven.
I want you to believe that Christ is only a prayer away; and that if you're having a very bad day and you call on Christ to hold your hand; then you remain very still, you'll actually feel a soft wind nestling against your cheek. I guarantee you the touch you feel will be the signal of the winds of change. And the strength and confidence you will gain as God accepts your invitation to come closer will be reflected in the paradigm shift that causes your challenges to seem very surmountable. Sometimes feeling God's presence in our lives is as simple as becoming aware that our expectations may not be falling short; but that God may be untying the knots in our lives in a different way than we expect. We simply need to believe that He is here, in the present, and He will see us through from one day to the next, and the next and the next.
We must never doubt that Christ appeared once--for all time. And He's not going anywhere.
If we take nothing else away from all this we must remember that Christ carried that proverbial "old rugged cross" for no other reason than for us to learn life's struggles are by their very nature purifying. Like a sapling pushing its way through tight masses of soil, if there's no friction along "The Way" of the human journey, then there's no growth.
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The other day I was simply blindsided by the reality that more than anything else, in reciting the Lord's Prayer, I am asking God to 'give us this day our daily bread'; not because I want him to meet my physical needs. But because I want him to reinforce my courage and strength to combat the 'evil' in today's world and give 'good' the winning edge. The will to confront and destroy the pillars of secularization can only be conferred by God through the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation.
Whether or not Christians are willing to attest to the fact, the only resilience capable of destroying the evils of populism and secularization must come from the daily food we consume during Mass: the Word and the Eucharist. The Daily Bread we petition for in the Lord's Prayer.
All this talk about the Word and the Eucharist reminds me of a Cover Story carried by Time Magazine a few years ago entitled: 'The Disappearing Christ' in which the journalist expressed the view that these days individuals he encounter are no longer asking about or looking for Christ. Needless to say, I did not agree with the thesis of the article and decided to let the Editor know.
My letter to the Magazine went something like this:
Dear Sir:
I beg to differ with the main sentiment expressed in your Cover Story of April 9th.:'The Disappearing Christ'. I am Roman Catholic and I happen to know in a very intimate and profound way, that the Christ is alive and well; and walking among us. If you look closely you will see him in the faces of the poor and the homeless who go for days without eating; yet do not give up hope because they believe that God's compassion is reflected in the hearts of many good people. One of whom will surely pass them by on any given day with a genuine smile and the offer of a free meal.
Those nameless faces know for sure that Christ did not 'disappear' and that He never will.
There are also good Catholics who encounter the Risen Christ at Easter and cannot help but spontaneously erupt in songs of praise and thanksgiving. Feeling a spirit of inexpressible joy that the Son of God, without asking why, or what was in it for Him, endured unimaginable humiliation and pain that ended in death-- simply because he knew we would learn from his example that inexpressible joy is purchased only at the price of great pain. We actually experience the exhilaration of His resurrection when after 3 days in the pits of hell he shattered records by breaking the bonds of death to rise victorious from the grave. The gratitude we Christians express at Easter time is not an empty show. We really do believe that the Historical Christ carried a heavy cross up Calvary Hill for our sins (yours and mine) because he wanted to leave a legacy of Redemption for us to follow. When life gets rough and we can see no rhyme or reason in our many challenges, we don't speak about a 'disappearing Christ' we simply draw upon the sustenance of our 'daily Bread' and recall not only the example of the Calvary Way that led to the Resurrection, but also the promise of the Second Coming.
If you don't believe that Christ broke the bonds of death; walked this earth in plain sight of his apostles and many others; then ascended to his (and our) Father--leaving the fruits of Pentecost for our daily nourishment, then I wish you the opportunity to be evangelized into a Faith that believes in the risen Christ. It is Faith in the risen Christ that makes people do good instead of evil. Faith in the risen Christ that makes families uphold the good of marriage as only between one man and one woman --for life. Marriage as an institution where children can be socialized to believe in the complementarity between a mother and father. Marriage that teaches children how to save the tremendous gift of their sexuality for the good of marriage.
So Mr. Editor I want you to believe in a very present, ever present, Christ. I want you to know there is hope that God exists to help us through this earthly maze. I want you to teach your children that hope; and point them to the image of Christ whose dignity in suffering teaches us about the 'good' in suffering and the reality of God's plan to lead each and everyone of us back to our roots in Heaven.
I want you to believe that Christ is only a prayer away; and that if you're having a very bad day and you call on Christ to hold your hand; then you remain very still, you'll actually feel a soft wind nestling against your cheek. I guarantee you the touch you feel will be the signal of the winds of change. And the strength and confidence you will gain as God accepts your invitation to come closer will be reflected in the paradigm shift that causes your challenges to seem very surmountable. Sometimes feeling God's presence in our lives is as simple as becoming aware that our expectations may not be falling short; but that God may be untying the knots in our lives in a different way than we expect. We simply need to believe that He is here, in the present, and He will see us through from one day to the next, and the next and the next.
We must never doubt that Christ appeared once--for all time. And He's not going anywhere.
If we take nothing else away from all this we must remember that Christ carried that proverbial "old rugged cross" for no other reason than for us to learn life's struggles are by their very nature purifying. Like a sapling pushing its way through tight masses of soil, if there's no friction along "The Way" of the human journey, then there's no growth.
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