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.