The Simple (or Simplistic) View

When I first received the call to Holy Orders (my understanding is that this call is to the Deaconate only) my instruction was "Begin your education". Well, I had no idea the form this education would take. Over the last 15 months I have seen about every form of strife possible within a parish - although I shouldn't say that. I am sure that there is more fun to come. I guess I assumed book learnin' was the education alluded to, and I was unprepared for all I have seen and learned.

One thing I have learned is that I tend to have a simple (or simplistic) view of the Church. A number of the problems we face at Saint Mary's would not have become problems if we were acting like a church - in other words, fulfilling the Great Commission, caring for the poor, widows and orphans, visiting the prisons and hospitals. Yes, we break bread as Our Lord commanded, but little else he asked of us is being done. Too simplistic a view, perhaps. But I do think we have lost our way.

Meanwhile, the book learning proceeds apace. I am currently in Fulton Sheen's book, The Priest is Not His Own. This one was given to me by the Rector, and the idea of Priest and victim is interesting. It helps me understand the role the priest plays, and it helps me accept some of the garbage being thrown my way. I just finished the section on preaching and prayer, and enjoyed how Cardinal Sheen interweaves two subjects that I may have thought to be dependent, but not interdependent.

Also, still slogging through Unseen Warfare by Scupoli. It is not the antiquarian language (English translated from Russian translated from Italian) that causes difficulty, but the call to an aesthetic lifestyle I find difficult. The basic ideas are important and worthwhile; fitting a monk's idea of discipline into the lifestyle I lead (husband, father, teacher, businessman, warden, acolyte, aspirant) is nearly impossible. The challenge, then, is to find those bits of truth that can lead me to a higher spirituality without thinking I need to lead a hermit's life.

I am just about to finish The Catholic Religion by Vernon Staley. Another superb book encompassing the basics of Anglo-Catholicism, but difficult to find. I was able to download a copy in PDF format from Google books.

Pardon the Amazon links. This blog is not purely commercial, but I am hoping that if any readers find an interest in these books, and use this link to buy them, maybe I can make a few dollars to put toward seminary.

Heavy Metal Monk

Not much to add to this!

A great story

Being sent by email with no attribution:

As a young minister in Kentucky, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a grave-side service for a homeless man, who had no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a new cemetery way back in the country, and this man would be the first to be buried there.? I was not familiar with the backwoods area, and I soon became lost. Being a typical man, I did not stop to ask for directions. I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the open grave, but the hearse was nowhere in sight. The digging crew was eating lunch. I apologized to the workers for my tardiness, and I stepped to the side of the open grave. There saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not hold them up for long, as I told them that this was the proper thing to do.

The workers gathered around the grave and stood silently, as I began to pour out my heart and soul. As I preached about 'looking forward to a brighter tomorrow' and 'the glory that is to come,' the workers began to say 'Amen,' 'Praise the Lord,' and 'Glory!' The fervor of these men truly inspired me. So, I preached and I preached like I had never preached before, all the way from Genesis to Revelations.

I finally closed the lengthy service with a prayer, thanked the men, and walked to my car. As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I heard one of the workers say to another, 'I ain't NEVER seen nothin' like that before, and I've been puttin' in septic tanks for thirty years!'

The Bible on-line

I recently found a very nice parallel bible on-line, with multi-lingual translations as well. I expect this will be a ready resource for my studies.

The Seven Ecumenical Councils

I just finished reading The Councils of the Church by Norman P. Tanner. An interesting and succinct text, it is my first foray into the details of the Councils. I may have to buy Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils 2 Volume Set so I can get a more complete understanding of the machinations surrounding these gatherings.

My initial reaction is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It is unfortunate that these errors continue, and even grow in strength through the centuries. It is easy to see, though, how quickly the errors can multiply when, in a modern age, we are faced with preachers who seemingly have little understanding of the traditional interpretation of scripture, and who can broadcast their error to a huge television audience.

I witnessed one such preacher today, a fellow by the name of Creflo Dollar (quite the appellation, considering his work in the so-called prosperity gospel). The contortions he performed in the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke would have filled a Chinese gymnast with envy. The desired result of the remarkable transformation of this gospel passage was to lead his congregation to believe that when Our Lord read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, the reference to preaching the gospel to the poor meant that Our Lord had come to make them rich. It took some work in selective repetition to convince even his gullible congregation of that meaning.

Now, I suspect that this preacher, dressed in his two thousand dollar suit, is a showman first and foremost. Certainly he has done well financially by preaching that which his flock seemingly wants to hear. I just keep hearing the little voice, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"