A Change Would Do You Good

A friend of mine had on her away message today this quote:

“There was a time when the Church was very powerful – in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”  MLK, jr.

Do you rejoice in the times you’ve had to suffer for what you believed?  I know I usually don’t.  Every time some guy stops dating me because he finds out that I value and try and live a chaste life, every time someone says that my belief in God or that Christians are just stupid for believing… Whatever it is… I mourn.

We all want to be liked and accepted. It’s part of our social makeup.  But the truth is that we don’t need to be accepted by people.  Martin Luther King Jr. suffered for his beliefs.  Beliefs that people thought were ridiculous.  But his suffering is what made people’s hearts change.

Next time you suffer because of your beliefs, let’s try and remember that we should rejoice that we are sharing in Christ’s suffering. It is as if we also take part in Mary’s fiat… Because with her fiat, her yes, she suffered at the loss of ridicule of her son.  Let’s remember to thank God that we are worthy enough to be a part of the thermostat that will change society as a whole.

Ashes to Ashes

Well, as purplehyacinth mentioned, I’m going to be posting in here every day during Lent, God willing and the creek don’t rise. (Sorry, sometimes I think colloquialisms are HILARIOUS) Anyway, here we go…

This is the part of our religion that I think “outsiders” (and perhaps a lot of “insiders”, too) are pretty confused by.

I mean, today’s depressing, huh? No more of that Fat Tuesday nonsense, it’s time to buckle down, give something up, do something extra, and be at least a little miserable for the next 40 days. Great. Sign me up.

I met someone last night at a Young Adult faith formation session who is giving up every beverage except water. As in, no coffee, pop, alcohol, or even juice for the next 40 days. While I think he’s a crazy person, ha ha, I also think that it’s so inspiring that he’s even going to attempt it.

So why go through all the hassle? What’s the point?

It’s that whole redemptive suffering thing again: Our suffering unites us with Christ and it has meaning beyond our physical being. And though Lenten sacrifices are self-imposed minor sufferings, it’s a time to remind us for at least a couple weeks of the sacrifice of Jesus made for us. I mean, the man(-God) fasted in the desert for 40 days (… and was tortured and wrongly put to an excruciating death, and, and, and…), the least we can do is give up candy or something for that long, right?

But here’s where it gets complicated: God doesn’t need our sacrifice. It adds nothing to Him, and our NOT doing it subtracts nothing from Him. It’s not a give-and-take relationship, like we’re used to here on earth. He’s not like a king or ruler who accepts sacrifices/money as proof of loyalty, and whose kingdom gets larger the more loyals he/she has. God’s kingdom already encompasses the whole of humanity, whether those members of His kingdom acknowledge Him or not.

So the self-denial is about US. But it’s about us learning that, in fact, it’s NOT about us. (I know, right? Way to complicate things, God.)

When we give up something, we become poorer. When we eat fish, we enter into solidarity with the poor fishermen who became Jesus’ apostles. When we get ashes on our forehead, it reminds us that we aren’t taking any of this world’s wealth with us, because ultimately, all we are is dust that God formed into the miracle of life, but which will return to the dust from whence we came.

And we NEED all of these things. We need to be knocked off our high horses, if only for 8/73rds of the year. We become better people when we are more humble. In suffering through something, we learn about our boundaries and our ability to commit to something. We get that good dose of Catholic guilt setting us straight! When we put others first, we get a taste of how Jesus felt putting all of humanity before Himself.

And if you think about it, we get a tiny taste of the meaning of life! Loving God and each other: So much easier when you are able to appreciate God’s sacrifice for you, and are not only in solidarity somewhat with the poorest of the poor, but are also grateful to your support system helping you through this time.

ANYWAY, I apologize for rambling, but I really love that we have Lent. The theology/philosophy of it makes a lot of sense to me, and I always have ended up a better person on the other side. Always.

So here’s to the 40-day Be a Better Person program! *Cheers!*
(And yes, if you’re “that guy”, you can toast with a glass of water, if necessary.)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth

Wouldn’t it be great if churches didn’t have to worry about money?

If we never thought twice about giving ten percent of our wages away?

If Christians, by being good Christians were somehow saved not only from Hell, but from the “hell” of financial woes?!

I’m convinced that I’m getting at least a couple days off my time in Purgatory for how much crap I’ve had to struggle with.

*smirk* Now, I’m kinda kidding, but what if that’s true??

We’re told that all of our suffering here on earth unites us to Christ’s suffering and makes us not only better people while we’re alive, but better prepares us to be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. So many of the saints went through extreme physical pain and suffering, from torture to terminal disease. So what about the mental strife and stress the modern person goes through? Doesn’t that give us some “points” in the afterlife?

 (Sidenote: I explained the idea of the importance of doing good works to my fifth grade PSR class by a sort of “point” system that God has. We don’t know how many points we need, and we have no idea how many points each act is worth, so we just have to keep adding up points by doing good things for others and being as holy as we can. It’s sort of a me-centered way of looking at it, I guess, but they really seemed to grasp the idea of Purgatory/indulgences that way, and also the idea that we don’t know who has how many points and such, so therefore we shouldn’t judge each other and should try to help each other also get these cosmic points. Hey, it’s not a perfect analogy, but they’re in fifth grade, and it’s a foundation to build upon.)

 I could be completely off-base, but I think that it’s not the size, importance, or gravity of the suffering that matters so much as how you deal with it, and if you take the pain to the Lord. We are each given suffering that our souls can handle, experiences that can bring us to Christ if that’s the choice (always the right choice, btw) we make with our free will.

 So I’m going to take my financial burdens to the Lord and see if I can trade it in for some *real* treasure.

And hopefully, by the grace of God, make it through these stupid stupid money issues — along with a great majority of my generation.