Posted on 07/01/2010 9:03:55 AM PDT by Mad Dawg
As to assessing whether it has failed or not, shall we also conclude that Christianity has failed since almost 2,000 years have gone by since its inception and there seems to be as much sin as, or more sin than, ever. We started on 7/1/10. We haven't been at this for half a year. Monica prayed for Augustine's conversion more than 30 times as long. I don't know how to assess success at prayer.
In related news ...
Right now, some of us feelthy papists are reading bits of Augustine's "Letter to Proba" in our daily prayers. I think it's a wonderful document. Early on Augie says that when we pray "Thy will be done," we are praying that it be done in us, in our wills. We are praying that our wills be conformed with His.
He goes on to say or suggest that when we pray, we are, as it were, opening up communication with God. We may think everything is going from us to Him, but maybe we do not perceive how much is coming the other way -- maybe not for years or decades.
And a wise, used to be Episcopalian but now Catholic, nun told me years ago that when we pray we get the devil's attention. And he takes it up a notch or three. He does not trouble those safely in his creel. He can deal with them later.
I have noticed the sheer awfulness, the shamefulness really, of the Intended Catholic Dictatorship thread, and the seemingly disgraceful behavior of folks on both sides, possibly including me. I don't view that as a sign of failure. I won't view it as a sign of failure if I see it 10 years from now. I'll view it as "lots to pray over."
So let's to our prayers, then! I have to go upstairs in a few minutes and lave the corpse and scrape the bristles off my wrinkled visage, and lug my carcass out to Planned Parenthood. They continue their lethal work too, but I am not yet ready to say the Lord does not hear us.
And though the strife is fierce, the warfare longLet us be steadfast and bold. This consolation has no earthly origin but is the summons and gift of God Himself. Who will hang back when such a trumpet sounds?
Steals on the ear, the distant triumph song.
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia!
Thanks for the ping.
Amen.
Quite so! We're all in the Lord's Army, as the song says, whether the battlefield is Planned Parenthood, your own kitchen, or Walmart. (I'm headed to the kitchen.)
May God bless you, Mad Dawg, for the spiritual work you do on FR and for the spiritual work you are doing for the unborn.
God bless us- every one.
I like that - our wills - that it be done in our little wills. That we conform to the infinite Will...
We understand each other...on this point.
Aw shucks. Twarn’t nuthin’.
To stand in the beautiful moon, to walk up and down and listen to a very talkative and VERY boring person, to pray a little, this is as much a gift as a labor.
Amen. Sometimes Augustine is like a big fruitcake (and I LIKE fruitcake). Each bite is wonderful, but so chock full of goodness that to eat the whole thing is impossible!
And, yes, may our wills be shaped by Him into little models of His, please God!
I am so weary of willing against Him! So weary of the wrongs to which I cling. I want so much to be His soldier and servant -- if an old and pudgy soldier and servant. May I hear the orders clearly and may He give me the grace to obey, "and that right early!"
Brother!
I just saw a thread title that suggested that the Taliban thinks “The Marines are insane!” Yeah Baby! (Darn I wish I were 30 years younger!)
As for those points on which we do not understand one another, let us rest them in the lap of the Lord who understands them and us perfectly well.
What we share, as we gaze at each other suspiciously, is confidence in a Mighty and Loving Lord.
And if that’s not enough for us, then we’re crazier than the Marines, and not in a good way.
Whaddya say?
Whaddya say?
What we share is what matters most... I'm happy...
In many churches tomorrow, the reading from the gospels will be the story of the Pharisee and the Publican.
In keeping with the theme of this thread, I’d just like to say that I thank God that I am not even as this Pharisee. I’m WAY humbler.
(Wait. Do I hear thunder?)
LOLOLOL!!!!
Her thought was that the RC church has undoubtedly pursued almost every relationship possible by now ~ so there should be something good there.
Putting my mind to the wheel of life I've come up with one relationship that may not be popular but maybe someone did delivery a lesson about it ~ but what if the Pharisee, on some level, was correct. Sure, he has an elevated idea of where he stands in society, and certainly compared to a tax collector most folks of his day would have probably pointed him out to their children as a GOOD MODEL FOR YOU!
But the tax collector? Look, let me tell you, after several decades of writing rules to lash the backs of the paying public, and getting myself involved in collecting large dollar value bills owed to an agency of the United State government, I have no illusions that my occupation was thought of as valuable by any but the cops and the lawyers!
I read that parable differently than just about anybody ~ except tax collectors and cops and lawyers (particularly the criminal defense bar) and others who collect bills.
It's special to us. No doubt some think that taxman ought to be the model for our patron saint ~ yet, the pharisee is even the guy that we, too, like everybody else, would point to as a MODEL CITIZEN.
Think of how wonderful it would be to wake up every day and BE POPULAR and not DISTRESSED, or even DEPRESSED about "what would people think if they knew what I had to do today".
Ever put a company out of business ~ see their people driven into the streets ~ babies crying for their mothers ~ dogs howling at the Moon in vain?
Yes, the taxman and the bill collector are necessary to the functioning of society, particularly when large amounts of money and property are involved, but are they sinners?
No, in my mind I believe I'm clean shaven like the Pharisee, with a well cared for suit, and shined shoes. Yet, I know what that tax collector is thinking as he raises his hairy arms in the air to beat on his hairy chest, ...... but it's not his personal sin that he's asking the Lord to ignore ~ he is doing the work that ties together society itself, and he, if not everyone else, knows what it takes ~ the wetwork (in his day), the legal rigamorele (in our day), turning people into nothing but ciphers ~ the sort of things that Pharisee would never be seen doing ~ and he knows that HE is the person sacrificed for the good of everyone, and HE sees the Lord with all his being ~ which is why He knows he can call out to the Lord and be answered ~ because He knows that he needs to do that every day ~
The poor, hapless Pharisee is blind to the brutal reality, but that doesn't make him a good man ~ just someone who probably doesn't need as much mercy.
Dude, I’m a way bigger sinner than you.
Tax collectors back then were under the employ of the Roman government and their salaries were a percentage of what they collected from the citizens and graft, overcharging and downright stealing were common practices. That was the main reason they were despised so much.
I love that Jesus did not socialize with the religious leaders but, instead, chose the dregs of society. I firmly believe that he, in turn, changed their lives. The woman taken in adultery that Jesus forgave, the tax collector he called to be an apostle and the poor, sick, and handicapped that he healed and fed went on to become his most loyal followers. I do not think the ones known for their public sins continued in their behavior. He changed their hearts.
The ones who's hearts did not change were the ones who thought they were already on the right path, filled with their own self-righteousness. When Jesus gave the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, I think he may have been using Matthew as the character that was sincere in his repentance towards God. The Pharisee was probably guilty of bribing tax collectors and using the "services" of prostitutes - although they never let their secret lives be known. For all the world to see they were the epitome of man's goodness and righteousness. But, like Jesus said, inside they were full of death.
The touch of the savior is what changed hearts then and still does today.
Thank you. Nail=head.
Are NOT! I'm way, WAY bigger a sinner!
That's why I'm humbler, too.
Nyah!
;-)
This is too full and important for me to come up with a smart-alecky answer.
My own take is, well we know that gov’ts need revenue. And they need order, which means that some of us sometimes face the choice between saluting, saying yessir, and getting to work, or offering our resignation.
It’s morally and emotionally trying.
BUT, I’m thinking, where one is clear that, despite the grief and other pain, the job ought to be done, that needs doing, and that one is capable of doing it, then the sorrow and the spite are another what, prod for prayers for humility.
That is, I deserve hatred and contempt. The only mitigating aspect of that is that I don’t deserve it WHOLE lot more than anybody else, maybe. I hope.
Our Lord did not deserve it, and He got it.
So, maybe somewhere in there is equanimity. It’s not pain-free (If have yet to encounter anything that is.) But it doesn’t shatter the universe either.
This whole sinful rational animal thing is REALLY a ride!
That's actually a difficult job to do, but if you are a lay person, it seems to be more acceptable than if you are ordained clergy.
So, what did we do with that talent? Well, we traveled a lot and had meetings all over the place, and sat down to dinner (or lunch) together, so grace was always given.
I'd been in plenty of other government offices, but here, among the guys who ENFORCED the rules and started the ball rolling toward collecting the money, grace always happened ~ a big ol' gigantic grace, sometimes attended to by MORE THAN ONE person.
Now that didn't mean all these folks were the good guys ~ 'cause they weren't. But other than the fact we always had to tell the truth about every rule and every outcome (something the fellows further up the food chain didn't need to do) it was pretty obvious you had to put yourself into this thing and not let it kill you.
So, grace it was, and we always humbly accepted our food under the stipulation that without God we wouldn't have any.
There comes the day you retire from this sort of thing and move on to where you can reflect on it ~ and it does seem to me we went through cycles of being warrior monks ~ or what I imagine warrior monks would be like in terms of psychology.
It was good of Jesus to bring Matthew into the fold and I'm happy you folks remembered him.
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