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Email a FriendPosted by Claire on Friday, Feb 27, 2009 5:24 PM (EDT):
Thanks for this. I intend to follow these links this evening, once everyone is tucked in.
Christianity Is Not For Wimps
Christ came to set fire to the earth
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Friday, February 27, 2009 1:41 PM
Do you think perhaps God is trying to tell me something?
Here are some stirring quotations that caught my eye in my Google Reader this week. Do you sense a theme?
The first comes from an address Archbishop Chaput gave in Toronto on Monday about the Catholic political vocation. I commend the whole speech to you, but for purposes of this post I’m only going to cite an excerpt he read from a George Bernanos essay in which an agnostic is allowed to preach a homily.
“Dear brothers,” says the agnostic from the pulpit, “many unbelievers are not as hardened as you imagine. … [But when] we seek [Christ] now, in this world, it is you we find, and only you. … It is you Christians who participate in divinity, as your liturgy proclaims; it is you ‘divine men’ who ever since [Christ’s] ascension have been his representatives on earth. … You are the salt of the earth. [So if] the world loses its flavor, who is it I should blame? … The New Testament is eternally young. It is you who are so old. … Because you do not live your faith, your faith has ceased to be a living thing.”
Then The Anchoress posted something from Archbishop Romero:
A church that doesn’t provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a Word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, what kind of gospel is that? Preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed do not light up the world!
As it happens (and I don’t believe in coincidences), this is also the week I re-listened to the wonderful Peter Kreeft podcast, Shocking Beauty, which I likewise heartily recommend. (That’s Kreeft’s photo in my illustration by the way.) The subject is how us Christians manage to make Jesus “safe,” when in fact a “safe” or boring Jesus is no Jesus at all—“a tame lion is not Aslan,” as Kreeft puts it.
Along the way he makes a significant digression on the topic of boredom, which he sees as the besetting sin of our age.
Fear not, fellow housewives! Being bored with a repetitive task like laundry folding is not sinful. Kreeft is talking about the existential boredom of our time, which seeks release in perpetual stimulation and pleasure. He thinks that’s not true boredom, but the deadly sin of sloth or acedia, which he likens to spiritual anorexia: the soul has a banquet set before it and refuses to eat.
What I found fascinating was his proposed solution: adoration. Give it a listen and you’ll see it makes perfect sense. Adoration is what sets our hearts aflame with the infectious joy that the hardest heart cannot resist.
Comments
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Posted by Deacon Tom on Saturday, Feb 28, 2009 3:41 PM (EDT):
Rebecca—YOU challenge us… and so does dear AB Chaput… He ordained me and I’ve prayed for, loved and respected most all that I hear and read from him. Recently, I had this feeling down inside of me that he should be considered as a ‘next’ Holy Father when God’s time allows… The Archbishop challenges all of us—no one is safe… but he does it with love. By the way, I once listened to Peter Kreeft telling about his conversion to Catholicism… He’s a great teacher as well. Thanks for your columns and challenge. Blessings. dt
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