Chewing Glass

Enough digital ink has been spilled over the horrible massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, so I’m not going to add to it except to say that yes, there is evil in the world; real evil, perpetuated by a real entity intent on destroying human beings.

Our Lord said of him, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”¹

Jesus was speaking here of the devil, Satan, Beelzebub, whichever name you prefer. It’s not fashionable in our modern age to believe in the boogeyman. This is all a superstitious fantasy according to the wise and learned. But this is exactly how the devil wants it. He doesn’t want us to believe in him. He wants to corrupt, and twist, and pervert in the shadows. He wants to kill, mutilate, and debase in disguise.

His is the malignant voice that whispers in the sad, mad, deluded, lonely ears of Adam Lanza, Timothy McVey, Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, and on and on, fueling the hate in their broken minds so that they will carry out his evil plans.

And it is the devil’s voice that whispers into your ear and mine. He will assure us that all is chaos, that we are lost, forsaken, forgotten, and excluded from the love of God. He will patiently draw us to the brink of despair and then push us over, just as he did to Judas. He does it every single day, every single hour, every minute, he never rests.

My friends, he is very real, and he is a liar!

The devil is defeated. His time is at an end, appearances to the contrary. The final word was spoken from the cross, “It is finished.”²  In this life we will have tribulations and trials, that’s a guarantee. We will suffer the effects of the devil’s evil: violence, treachery, bigotry, hatred, and disorder, but this is not the end.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’³

¹John 8:44
²John 19:30
³Rev 21:3-4
All quotations from the NIV

I’m writing this on the third Sunday of Advent, traditionally referred to as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice.” At this point in the Advent season, we are reminded to be joyful, for God Himself will become incarnate on this earth to save us from sin and death, and confer upon us eternal life with Him in paradise. I heard a reflection on this given by a priest in Ireland, in which he stated that all baptized Christians should remind themselves every day what their baptism means; that they have been reborn, and claimed as a son or daughter of God Himself. That recollection of this fact should instill great joy in the soul, no matter how dark, unhappy, or painful life might seem to be at this moment.

This got me to thinking about why we are so prone to lose our joy. The conclusion I came to is that very often, the life we think we want, or ought to have, is usually not the one we actually lead. The disconnect between these two states can lead a soul to despair. Given the way my fuzzy little mind works, I immediately thought of an illustration from the movies.

Continue reading “Sunset Boulevard”

So now the Pope has a Twitter account. So far, it’s gone about how you’d expect.

Sorry, but as a founding member of the Closet Luddite Society, I see no value whatever in tweeting, unless you’re practicing the mating call of the scarlet tanager. It’s only real purpose is to further degrade the language, inhibit real human communication, numb our intellects, attenuate our already limited attention spans, and let people shoot their mouths off with great rapidity.

With all due respect to His Holiness, nobody, and I mean nobody, is that interesting all the damn time. Take this blog for instance…anyway…

Yes, of course, I get what he’s trying to do, and I laud him for it. But isn’t there a limit to the whole trying-to-be-hip-in-order-to-reach-the-masses bit? St. Paul said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”¹  But does that extend to dumbing down the Gospel so it fits on a smartphone text screen? Especially with all the attendant smart-assery that inevitably follows the original tweet?

I’m conflicted.

Oh well, with God all things are possible, even preaching the Good News on Twitter.

¹1 Cor 9:22 NIV

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, let me add a wee bit more on the subject. I was talking with a friend today about how, in her circle of friends and family, 2012 was kind of a crummy year. It seemed to her that there was more than the usual amount of people getting sick or dying over the past twelve months. That led the conversation around to areas that are more philosophical.

You can keep yourself fit, keep your bad habits under control, get regular check-ups, but as I said in yesterday’s post, none of us is promised a tomorrow. What should we do then? Should we live in fear of getting sick, having some horrible debilitating accident, or perhaps dying? Should we turn into hypochondriacs, calling the doctor every time we see an advertisement for the latest drug designed to treat the latest syndrome? Or, as is all too common in our society, become obsessed with health and well-being to the point that we turn diet and exercise into a religion? We concluded that the answer is no, we shouldn’t fall into those traps. You do what you reasonably can and leave the rest to God. Live your life, and let what happens, happen. Yeah, it’s trite, but hey, it’s true!

Continue reading “12/13/12”

12/12/12. Enjoy it while it lasts because it won’t happen again for another hundred years. It was only eleven years ago that nerds worldwide celebrated Binary Day (01/01/01), snickering at the rest of the population over their little inside joke, toasting each other with Diet Mountain Dew, and quoting Klingon proverbs to each other. Will today achieve the same notoriety? Some people will notice and others will not. And why should they? It’s just another day, no?

If you listen to the sensationalist media, the Mayans have predicted that we won’t make it past Christmas! As I heard someone humorously explain, the Mayans left another less well-known message, “Sorry about not finishing the calendar, but we’re a little tied up right now with these Spanish jerks!”

Jesus told us that only the Father knows the date and time of the end of the world. He taught us that we would do better to concern ourselves only with today, “which has troubles enough of its own.”¹ In fact, for many people across the planet, 12/12/12 is the end of the world as they know it. Some will die today. Some will be involved in accidents or be diagnosed with diseases that irrevocably change their lives. Or these things will happen to a loved one. The point is, we are never promised a tomorrow.

A great saint once said that the past and the future are just other forms of self. The past consists of nothing but our memories, and the future consists only of our dreams. The only reality is now. You and I exist in the now of this very moment. Even as you read this, God is sustaining your life from nanosecond to nanosecond, always waiting to see if you will turn toward Him.

It is God’s mercy that creates us, sustains us through our days, however many there may be, and it is His mercy that will bring us to our heavenly home…if we will only respond to Him…today.

¹Matthew 6:34