Hopeful pessimist or hopeless optimist? Thoughts on Ascension Thursday

“May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call…” – Ephesians 1:18

A little lectio divina led me to savor this particular line of today’s Scripture, for Ascension Thursday. While I’m a little wistful that Easter draws to an end, I also find myself hopeful. Now I’ve been floundering around for something to say about my hope, and wouldn’t you know it, God pointed me to some words on the topic. Just yesterday, in the throes of my final floundering, I came across a post written by Bridget at Women in Theology, where she, among other things, reminds us of something very important:

“…hope is not optimism. In fact, in certain cases (I suspect most of the cases where it actually matters) optimism can be a vice opposed to hope. An optimist can discount and ignore evidence against her conviction that things will right themselves. An optimist is threatened by others’ pain. But someone acting in hope—the conviction not that things will right themselves, nor that we’ll be able to right them, but that God’s power will work to overturn whatever wrongs our systems can devise—that person can face pain. Without denying pain or being swept away by it, she can face her own and others’ suffering.”

Hope is not optimism. Do a little lectio with those words – they are most powerful! I find this so helpful – and so hopeful, as I return to those words from Ephesians that open this post. I also appreciate that Bridget reminds us of the importance of language and of depth of reflection, something we can easily forget in the land of status updates and tweets, in the land of “optimistic opinionating” that social media can represent. (This is not a swipe at social media, without which there would be post today, but rather a call to reflection. Add to that a reminder that God uses all things for good – including social media, which provided the incubator for both this post and the WIT post that ultimately inspired it.)

Today my reflection, along with it my prayer, is to be anchored in hope and free from optimism. This does not make me a hopeful pessimist, any more than the opposite would be a hopeless optimist… although I can see the allure of the latter. No, it is the banality of optimism that I was reminded of at the last minute, and the power of great hope that grows out of faith.

Pentecost will arrive on Sunday, May 19. In these days in between, we await the Holy Spirit. What will your prayer be during this powerful time? Suddenly, my own prayer which was centered around the ways that I “hoped” that God would shape my life, has shifted. Today – at least just today, just this moment – pray that hope grows more deeply in my heart. If I am able to string my prayer of hope from moment to moment, and day to day, between now and Pentecost, who knows what will happen? Maybe, just maybe, the “eyes of my heart will be enlightened.” And to that I say, amen, and amen, and amen.

In the meantime, don’t just go staring at the sky, waiting for Jesus to come back down. Open your heart and notice Jesus all around you, especially in the most pessimistic of places and in the people you would never imagine finding Jesus is, but where Jesus might be found with the open eyes of a willing heart.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – The Religious Formation of the Young by Peter Avvento

Is our challenge forming the young, or forming the adults?

“Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”
Challenges Facing the Catholic Church
Series 3
“The Religious Formation of the Young”

“How can the Church ensure the sound religious formation of its youth?”

The first problem that we have to face, across the country, is the near bankruptcy in the way children are taught and initiated into the sacramental life. While there are some exceptions, by and large this is the state of affairs. Children are baptized before they know anything about what is going on. They are introduced to First Reconciliation before they have anything much to be penitent about and in a way that almost assumes that their “first confession” will be their “last confession”. They approach First Communion in a better spirit but often within a family context that is more about the “show” then it is about deepening of the family faith experience. Worst of all, our young people receive Confirmation as a kind of “diploma” which ends their religious education just at a time when it should be a sign of deepening discipleship not graduation. In many circles Confirmation has come to be known as the “sacrament after which you do not need to go to church if you don’t want to.

Based on the above portrait there is no way that a sacramental catechesis will attract the young until we as adult Catholics freely engage in a much less passive way in a life of faith and that we approach our faith as wanting to make a difference in the world.

How do we do this? We need to connect worship and mission. Most parishes put a lot of work into their liturgy as well as reaching out to the local community in works of support. But relatively few faith communities pursue the path of promoting structural changes in society. As a church we are not very effective at promoting the overall vision of God’s Kingdom. All too often we focus on making stands on specific issues – abortion, same sex marriage, etc. Rather we must promote human dignity, promote the common good, and promote a consistent ethic of life across the board. These are the pillars of a sound catholic social teaching

While small children should primarily be taught Bible stories, adolescents and young adults need to be introduced to the vision of a Church making a difference in the world. They need to be challenged by the call to daily discipleship – not to the fulfillment of project hours so as to pass a test. Our young people will not be impressed by being told to love the Church or to follow the teaching of the pope. But if they can come to see the Church striving to make a positive difference in the world, with leaders who are in touch with the concerns of everyday people, many of them will make a connection between a Church of integrity and worship.

Random Moments of Grace – The Blog Tour

As I told you on Thursday, I don’t really feel like writing. *sigh* I’ll get there, when I get there. Reading however, that’s another story. And reading I have been doing – so let me tell you about it right now.

As a direct result of reading, today I will write, as the blog tour for Random MOMents of Grace (from Loyola Press),by Ginny Kubitz Moyer stops here, which I am very excited about!

When I discovered Ginny’s blog, Random Acts of Momness, I was hooked, and I’ve been a near daily visitor for a couple of years now. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s very insightful, and I think what I love best is how she reveals such small-s-sacrament moments of grace with such beauty and ease.

Anyway, let me offer this very short review… I loved the book. Rather than tell you why I loved it, I simply recommend it very highly. If you read this book, or take a look at Ginny’s blog, you will understand. While the blog, and the book flow forth from Ginny’s Catholic motherhood, I can promise you, neither the blog nor the book exclude anyone. So don’t let that keep you from this treasure.

I would like you to know Ginny a bit better, so take a look right here…
You describe parenting as the “ultimate spiritual workout.” What are some “training tips” that you might offer expectant moms about to begin this journey?

Most pregnancy books give you lots of advice about what to expect, post-baby. They tell you that your body will change, your sleep patterns will change, your love life will change – but they don’t tell you that your spiritual life will change, too. Those changes can be challenging (less time for prayer/meditation, noisy plastic toys constantly underfoot), and yet parenting has deepened my faith life in ways I could not have anticipated. Since having kids, I understand the love of God better than ever before. I’ve gained an entirely new appreciation for what it means to be part of a community. Formerly fuzzy concepts like grace are much more concrete to me now.

Any time we leave our comfort zones, we grow. Motherhood is all about leaving one’s comfort zones. It puts you into situations that are not exactly enjoyable (being stuck overnight in the airport with a nine-month-old baby is not anyone’s idea of a good time – don’t ask me how I know this), but it also brings you moments of astonishing joy and beauty. I’m not sure you can prepare for all this, exactly; you can only embrace it. And so I’d tell an expectant mother that she’s in for a wild ride … but a transformative one.

In a chapter called “The Good and The Bad,” you write beautifully about how both exist in our lives. Do you typically feel aware of the necessity of both as you live through those moments? (I can’t help but think of the short span between Matthew telling you that he loves you, and his journey to the time out place that almost immediately followed, as I ask this.)

In any bad moment of life as a parent (the stomach flu, the tantrum, the cross-country-flight-with-rambunctious-kids) I think we all just want to get past it as quickly as possible. But at the end of the day, when I think back over the day’s experiences, I can often see that the bad moments fit into a larger narrative, so to speak. I can see how they are a part of life as a mom, but they are not the sum total of my parenting experiences. That makes them easier to accept, somehow.

I think this is why an evening’s moment of reflection is so useful. When we step back and look at the day, we can see not just the icky parts, but also the moments of grace that were present. And the more you identify these moments of grace after the fact, the more it trains you to become aware of them in real time, as they are happening. I can’t do that all the time, but I am getting better.

Maintaining a life of faith that includes attendance at church is one of the most difficult things for young families to do. What would you say to a mom of young kids who would love to be able to live that way, but feels too time and stress challenged to do so?

I’d say just pack up the kids and go, and let yourself be open to whatever you are able to absorb of the service, even if it doesn’t feel like much. Honestly, it’s hard to recall the last time I could focus on the entire Gospel. The moment the priest starts the homily, one of the boys invariably has to use the potty; it’s like a Pavlovian response. But even when I miss what feels like ninety percent of the service, it’s not a wasted experience. Certain words or phrases will leap out at me, even while trying to contain two squirrelly kids, and sometimes that word or phrase is just what I need.

Also, as a Catholic, I love the fact that even when I am utterly distracted by the boys and miss the readings and the Gospel and the homily and the creed, I still have the Eucharist. Walking down that aisle and tasting the body of Christ is a moment of total, pure involvement. That action breaks through all the distraction and focuses me on the relationship that is the very heart of my faith. Because of that, every Mass – even the ones where the kids are so active that I wonder why I came in the first place – is utterly worth it.

Franciscan priest and author Richard Rohr has said that faith has to be “caught and not taught.” How do you think that a life of faith is transmitted to the next generation?

Well, I’m a teacher by trade, so I can’t not teach my kids. ☺ But I do think that so much of faith is about the example you see around you, in your own family. If someone asked your child, “Does your mom like being Catholic?” (or Presbyterian, or Jewish, or Mormon, or whatever), what would your child say? And if you think your child might not be able to answer “yes,” what can you do to change that? I think this is a very useful question to ponder.

You love to garden; how is gardening a mirror of grace in your journey as a mother, a writer, a woman of faith?

Gardening is so elemental, isn’t it? – it’s about connecting with what is most basic and important in life. In our technology-driven world, I think this is more necessary than ever. I remember one summer afternoon when I was feeling foggy and edgy from being online too much. I stopped and went outside and began to deadhead the lavender bushes, and it was like instant renewal. It was fabulous.

Also, gardening is not something that most of us instinctively know how to do. There’s a learning curve of figuring out which plants can’t do well in the shade, how much watering is enough, etc. Often, we can’t do it without the advice of someone who is more experienced than we are (in my case, my garden-loving mom and grandma.)

If you ask me, that makes it a pretty good metaphor for parenting. Maybe some women take their first baby home from the hospital and feel totally confident about their new role. I was petrified. Enter my mom, who was a lifesaver during those first few confusing and exhausting weeks.

And gardening is all about nurturing new life, helping it flourish, and making the world more beautiful by your efforts. When you stop to think about it, parenting is, too. They both require creativity, faith, and perseverance … and they show us that grace is all around us, if we take a moment to look for it.

Ginny is a very talented and truly wonderful person, so I am glad that you got to know her a little. Her words really come from the heart. That to me makes this book a very special one.

If my words and that endorsement still have not influenced you, then our last stop is the excerpt.You just click on that little PDF file below and you will get a real treat – Mom does always come back after a nap and a snack, that is for certain!

random-moments-22-28

I hope that you have enjoyed what you’ve heard about here, whether or not, you don’t always feel like you “fit” into the category. Like any good journey of faith, in the end, all are truly and beautifully welcome. Love and grace are present for all if we find them in life all around us, as Ginny has so richly done in this book.

And there is nothing random about that!

The Silence

Hi, your faithful editor Fran here! I have been a little quiet lately. If you want to have a look, I did say something about my not saying something, over at my personal blog. There is a great link to another blog, which is what prompted me to speak up in the first place. Come on over if you wish!

 

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow – Challenges Facing the Catholic Church, Part 2 – by Peter Avvento

Peter Avvento offers us a snapshot of the session that he offered this past Monday. Please join us for future sessions, April 29, May 6, and May 13 as we discuss the challenges faced by the Roman Catholic Church, in the context of our rich history. We begin at 7pm in the Social Hall at St Edward the Confessor; all are welcome, admission is free, but a free will offering is always gratefully accepted. 

Madre Pascalina Lehnert, who served as Pope Pius XII housekeeper and later as secretary. She served from 1917-1958, and was considered a most powerful woman.

Challenges Facing the Catholic Church
Series 2

“How does the Church need to change in order to allow for the full participation of women?”

Critics of the Roman Catholic Church often contend that we are a sexist institution. If we are honest we have to admit that there is some truth here. While women certainly constitute considerably more than half the church-going population and while they dominate the entire field of lay ministry, they simply do not have remotely proportional representation in leadership roles on the parish, diocesan or international levels.

Why is this case? It is not that the Church restricts ordained ministry to men, but rather, it is that the Church assigns all leadership roles to the ranks of the ordained, who just happen to be men. It is not self-evident that the charism of leadership is intrinsically connected to that of pastoral ministry, but….as long as our church is organized on the assumption that this connection is real then women n cannot take their appropriate places in church leadership.

How can we change the situation? One approach is to find a way moving forward to an ordained ministry that includes women as equal partners with men. The other approach is to distinguish between leadership and the pastoral ministry of the ordained. Both approaches involve radical changes in the Church and neither is seriously being considered at the highest levels of Church leadership at this time. But that does not mean that change cannot occur. As painful as it might sound, within the Church we do not measure change and/or development in years or even decades. Rather we measure in terms of centuries and eons.

The Vatican is not setting out to put women down, although some say that it seems that way. We also have to realize that those many members of the Church, laity and clergy alike, who believe that it is time for a change, are not trying to destroy the institution, but rather, are trying to save it from itself. It is also incumbent on everyone with some skin in the game to be neither overly protective of a clericalist status quo nor simply to transpose the “rights language” of the secular feminist debate into the ecclesial arena.

Both sides in the debate have to place the issue in the context of the ecclesial tradition. Those who desire to ordain women cannot just “thumb their nose” at the fact that this has never been a practice of the Church. And those who oppose it cannot simply say so in the name of unchanging tradition. Tradition is important and sometimes it is normative ecclesial memory, but tradition is a constant process of development, a living stream of change.

So where does the Holy Spirit come into the picture? The Holy Spirit guides the Church into all truth and does so through the teaching authority of the popes and bishops as well as in the practice of the whole People of God – lay and clergy alike. But what are we to make of the activity of the Spirit when there is a serious issue over which the Church is divided? In such a time it is tempting to simply say that the Holy Spirit can never be at war with itself and so one side is right and the other must back down. It would be wiser to consider the possibility that the work of the Spirit may be invested in the discernment process that will result from good debate and out of which the truth that the Spirit guarantees will eventually emerge.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Challenges Facing the Catholic Church by Peter Avvento

Peter Avvento offered part 1 of this series on Monday night. If you missed part 1, don’t let that keep you from attending any of the other sessions. This was a great evening, with the promise of more to follow. There are no easy answers, but Peter offers us excellent questions to explore, and the possibility of paths to follow. All are welcome, so please join us! And please share this with friends and on social media.

“Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”
Challenges Facing the Catholic Church

A Crisis of Faith or a Crisis of Culture?

If you stop and talk with your everyday Catholic I am sure that you will hear them bemoan the fact that we are experiencing a crisis of faith of epic proportions. Evidence of this crisis can be found in the decline in Mass attendance, the challenges to authority, the loss of respect for the institution due to the sex abuse scandals, the decline in priestly vocations, the seemingly rampant secularism that colors the mind and heart of our young people. But is this truly a crisis of faith or is it not a crisis of culture?

We are all products of our cultural environment as well as shapers and architects of that culture. In order to understand what this crisis is about we need to look at three key cultural moments in the life of American Catholicism: culture of need, culture of compliance and culture of demand.

Culture of need – points to our earliest historical memory of being a Catholic in this country. The immigrant experience was one that can be described as a “search for acceptance”. The church provided the safe harbor for our grandparents and great-grandparents. In a country that believed or claim to believe in freedom of religion our Catholic ancestors were shunned, ridiculed and persecuted. They sought refuge in their parish community, typically constituted along ethnic lines – the Polish parish, the Italian parish, the Irish parish and so on, especially in the urban capitals of our country. Our ancestors flocked to the church for acceptance, community and enjoyment. The Church met that need.

Culture of compliance – this next evolution can best be summarized by the phrase, “Pray, pay, obey” and reached its apex in the 1950s as churches and seminaries were full, money was in the bank and everything proceeded like clockwork. This cultural epoch was not about individual choice and commitment. Rather, one could “hide in the weeds” of being born into the Catholic community. One learned the answers in the catechism and without even appropriating the core message, tried to live by a code of decency. This culture was based on a merit system whereby one could “earn” salvation through obedience and compliance.

Culture of demand – emerged as part of the post Vatican II experience and the rude awakening to individual freedom that was heralded in the 1960s. Now we began to be educated consumers who demanded excellence – excellent preaching, excellent music, and excellent liturgical celebration. If we did not get what we wanted to moved to where we could find it. No longer were we bound b y geographical confines. We “shopped” for what we wanted and needed. This continues to be our situation today. We want to be fed and we will move inside and outside of our denomination to find happiness and peace.

A patron of science, silence and faith

This post was published on my personal blog, There Will Be Bread, on Wednesday.

Today marks the death of one of my heroes of the faith – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. Although known today, he died in near obscurity, as he was largely silenced for his work during his life. Today is the anniversary of his death.

When I work with teenagers for confirmation preparation, they often tell me that science is the challenge between them, or one of the challenges, a belief in God. That is when I play the Teilhard de Chardin card, because when I tell them that he was a paleontologist, they are often surprised.

When I work with myself, at times frustrated with Church, I play the Teilhard de Chardin card for myself. He was silenced, I remind myself – and he was doing really important work. I am reminded of something I once read that said that turning up the oven does not result in a cake baked more quickly. Would Teilhard de Chardin be the giant that he is today, if not for the timing of how his work became known to the world?

Yes skeptics, I hear you thinking that this is a huge rationalization on my part. Maybe, but maybe not. Over 50 now, I have become more aware of how my own timing ins not usually in the best interest of anyone but me. And at this point in my life, I have lost most of the interest in the supremacy of my own timing and interest. (Note: most of…)

Yesterday I had a good cry born out of frustration over a church related matter. Today I am still upset, but tempered by this as-yet-uncanonized patron saint of mine.

I love the words along with the picture above. It is good science, but it is great theology, great eucharistic theology. Such things are not incompatible – they never were, and they never will be.

God is very patient with us, may we be so patient with one another – and with our selves. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, pray for us!

Postscript: I have one final paper due for school; it is to be delivered at a colloquium on Saturday. Needless to say, I have not completed it, so it seems unlikely that any blogging will come from between now and then. Since I have to go out of town for said colloquium, it is unlikely that I will post anything else before Monday. I graduate, one month from today!