casual theology

Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 – Second Reading of First Sunday of advent 2012) Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia recently wrote a very insightful article for First Things about the challenges facing the Church in America today.  He was reflecting on the troubling trends, especially among youth and young adults and their attitudes towards religion in general and Catholicism in particular. Indeed there are many issues and obstacles the Church must face as we move forward in the years to come. We are still reeling from the sex abuse scandals of the clergy while the laity continues to ignore the Church’s teachings about sexuality and the human person. As secular humanism grows the Church is finding...

Last night I had the opportunity to attend Eucharistic adoration with a small group of friends. While we were worshiping the Lord I had a vision.  It was like we were at the seashore only in place of the sea was the monstrance and each of us in attendance were like buckets with small holes in them. Angels were going going back and forth from the monstrance to each of us. They would gather up grace that was flowing from the Body of our Lord like water pouring forth from the monstrance then bring that grace to each of us and pour it into our buckets. As we received the grace it flowed out through the holes and over the tops of the buckets wetting the sand around us. The angels kept going back & forth and were so full of joy in their task as if they were competing with each other to see who could fill their person's bucket the most. Tonight I was reading from Benedict XVI's Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum caritatas, on the Eucharist. He writes: "Indeed, on...

“The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die.” “But the snake said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.” Genesis 2:16-17; 3:4-5 _____________________ “I believe that my position on choice is one that is consistent with my Catholic upbringing, which said that every person has a free will and has the responsibility to live their own lives in a way that they would have to account for in the end.” Nancy Pelosi _____________________ As we enter into the Lenten season we look ahead to the sacrificial gift of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. We are called to remember that it was our sins that made the cross necessary. We look back to the Garden and the Original Sin of our first parents and we...

The sixth chapter of John’s gospel Jesus begins with the feeding of the multitudes with five loaves and two fish. The crowd, who wanted to crown him as king, followed Jesus the next day asking for a sign. Instead of giving them more food for their bellies Jesus gave them food for thought. Jesus challenged the sensibilities of everyone present; the poor and the wealthy, the uneducated and the learned, the laity and the priests and Pharisees. He told them that he was going to provide more than manna for them, that he had new heavenly bread that would give them eternal life. That bread was his very flesh and blood which he commanded them to eat and drink. He affronted their ideas of what God and their religion could or would ask of them. He challenged them to believe in something that was, in their thinking, impossible and outrageous. The response of the crowd demonstrated how offended they were to be asked to believe such a thing: “Who is this man? Who does he think he is?” “How can ...

So apparently there’s been a lot of buzz about Jefferson Bethke’s viral video rant/poem, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus. ” Some people think it’s the best thing since Martin Luther got himself some paper and a hammer. Others want to start piling up wood while they look for some matches. Personally, I admire the guy’s passion and apparent love for Jesus. I understand where he’s coming from with his anti-religion/pro-Jesus position. There was a time not that long ago I would probably have been giving him a big thumbs up, but I would have been wrong and so is he. I think what he’s really upset with is “false religion”, aka hypocrisy, and that’s a good thing to be leery of, but we can’t allow ourselves to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Here’s some things he’s just plain wrong about. What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion? "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” – Jesus (Mt ...

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven." (Matthew 5:3-10) I believe the beatitudes are a model or pattern for spiritual maturity with one building on another and ultimately looping back again in a continual path toward spiritual perfection. Rather than looking at them separately as if describin...

I'm probably going to catch some flack for this. As I woke up this morning I was greeted with the news that Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan. I watched the news as I was getting ready for work and listened to the radio on my drive to the office. I was struck by a couple things. I must admit that I felt relief that bin Laden was dead. While I recognize that terrorism will continue after his death; I appreciated the sense of justice and closure brought by this news. I was disheartened by the reactions I witnessed in the news reports. People were gathering and chanting 'U-S-A! U-S-A!" and singing "God Bless America" in the streets. While I can understand their sense of relief and even victory, something in me just didn't sit right with the idea of celebrating the death of another person, even if that person was bin Laden. There was just something in me that immediately recognized that this was not a "Christian" response to this news....