A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
As Catholics we understand that when we wake up each morning, God just gave us a new day to know, love and serve Him, right? That's how we'll ultimately gain the happiness of heaven - with His grace, of course. I don't know about you, but I learned all about this in my catechism studies both growing up and in my continuing study as an adult. The Baltimore Catechism, which used a question-answer format, puts it simply like this:
Why did God make us?
God made us to show forth his goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in Heaven.
What must we do to gain the happiness of heaven?
To gain the happiness of heaven, we must know, love, and serve God in this world.
Nothing complicated here, right?
Having refreshed ourselves with some fundamentals this Sunday morning, you've got to believe we're on track to start not only the day, but this whole week off on the right foot - at least as far as our ultimate salvation is concerned. So far, so good.
It's moments like this that make me wonder why I read stuff about what's "going on" in the Church these days - stuff like the Synod on the Family in Rome. I kind of got sucked into following the whole controversial mess (and it really has been a mess) last week. If you did too, you know that the whole thing's been a bonanza for the media, which even though locked out of the proceedings - which means they really don't know what's going on behind closed doors - have put out all sorts of opinions about how the Church will "treat" divorced and remarried couples, as well as homosexuals, in the future. Nothing here about families - as in just plain old regular families where there's a mother, father, and children.
If you thought that a gathering entitled "Synod on the Family" would naturally concern itself with the family - as in the natural family, as in the family as the fundamental building block of a healthy society, as in the family as ordained by God to reflect the love of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity - well, you'd be wrong. Nope. It seems this Synod concerns itself with everything but the family. And, frankly, when you read about all the goings-on about divorced and remarried couples, homosexuals and homosexual unions, people living together (meaning fornicating), and...OK, let's just stop right here. Just listing all this stuff is sucking the energy out of me. And I won't let it spoil my Sunday, that fresh first day of the week that, when it starts off right, can set the tone for the rest of the week. In fact, let's have some fun with all this nonsense.
I'm thinking here about the "factions" of Bishops facing off with each other in Rome during this Synod: the ones that think the Church needs to "modernize" and the ones who want to uphold Truth (although you can probably guess which "side" I'm on here). And I'm picturing them arguing trying to get one up on each other - which is kind of what's been going on. To be clear, I'm not addressing here that one side's right and the other isn't. And maybe you don't like that I'm trying to make light of what is a quite serious situation. But here goes anyway.
If you'll permit yourself a sense humor to relieve us "normal" Catholics from the media-fueled spectacle of our Bishops locking horns in the confines of the Synod halls, then sit back and enjoy one of my favorite songs from the great Irving Berlin musical, "Annie Get Your Gun." Maybe the Bishops can just settle the issues at hand like Annie Oakley manages to do here.
(Okay, it's a stretch, but, really, do enjoy Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat's great version of this immortal Broadway tune.)
Why did God make us?
God made us to show forth his goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in Heaven.
What must we do to gain the happiness of heaven?
To gain the happiness of heaven, we must know, love, and serve God in this world.
Nothing complicated here, right?
Having refreshed ourselves with some fundamentals this Sunday morning, you've got to believe we're on track to start not only the day, but this whole week off on the right foot - at least as far as our ultimate salvation is concerned. So far, so good.
It's moments like this that make me wonder why I read stuff about what's "going on" in the Church these days - stuff like the Synod on the Family in Rome. I kind of got sucked into following the whole controversial mess (and it really has been a mess) last week. If you did too, you know that the whole thing's been a bonanza for the media, which even though locked out of the proceedings - which means they really don't know what's going on behind closed doors - have put out all sorts of opinions about how the Church will "treat" divorced and remarried couples, as well as homosexuals, in the future. Nothing here about families - as in just plain old regular families where there's a mother, father, and children.
If you thought that a gathering entitled "Synod on the Family" would naturally concern itself with the family - as in the natural family, as in the family as the fundamental building block of a healthy society, as in the family as ordained by God to reflect the love of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity - well, you'd be wrong. Nope. It seems this Synod concerns itself with everything but the family. And, frankly, when you read about all the goings-on about divorced and remarried couples, homosexuals and homosexual unions, people living together (meaning fornicating), and...OK, let's just stop right here. Just listing all this stuff is sucking the energy out of me. And I won't let it spoil my Sunday, that fresh first day of the week that, when it starts off right, can set the tone for the rest of the week. In fact, let's have some fun with all this nonsense.
I'm thinking here about the "factions" of Bishops facing off with each other in Rome during this Synod: the ones that think the Church needs to "modernize" and the ones who want to uphold Truth (although you can probably guess which "side" I'm on here). And I'm picturing them arguing trying to get one up on each other - which is kind of what's been going on. To be clear, I'm not addressing here that one side's right and the other isn't. And maybe you don't like that I'm trying to make light of what is a quite serious situation. But here goes anyway.
If you'll permit yourself a sense humor to relieve us "normal" Catholics from the media-fueled spectacle of our Bishops locking horns in the confines of the Synod halls, then sit back and enjoy one of my favorite songs from the great Irving Berlin musical, "Annie Get Your Gun." Maybe the Bishops can just settle the issues at hand like Annie Oakley manages to do here.
(Okay, it's a stretch, but, really, do enjoy Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat's great version of this immortal Broadway tune.)
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