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We've got more excellent things to discuss from "The Diary of a Country Priest." Years ago, I was acquainted with a woman who had stopped going to Mass. She was mad at God for taking her mother too soon. She loved her mother very much and I can understand this kind of anger. The pain of losing someone "too soon" can make us feel gipped. What I wanted to caution this woman about was the fact that she was in serious danger of not being able to see her mother in eternity. I didn't know her well enough to have that conversation and I had just overheard her saying that she had essentially turned her back on God. In the book, the priest goes to visit the mom of Mlle Chantal, the bratty girl I spoke of last week. She is a neglectful mother who has been mourning her son for 11 years. He died when he was 18 months old and since that time she has ignored her daughter and only caved in on herself. As the priest is talking to her, she makes it known that she really wants nothing to do with God, but she's sure that her love for her son will help her get to Heaven. She wants very little to do with God because of her anger and hatred towards Him, but she still expects Heaven. The priest warns her that she is in danger of Hell and in Hell, she won't even be able to love her son. He says, "Hell is not to love any more. As long as we remain in this life we can still deceive ourselves, think that we love by our own will, that we love independently of God. But, we're like madmen stretching our hands to clasp the moon reflected in water." There is always pain in this life: Loved ones gone before we are ready, tragedies happen. I once cut myself off from the Source of Love because of my anger. If we truly love someone, Catholic Pilgrims, we don't display our love by hurting ourselves and potentially severing a chance to love them in Heaven. They wouldn't want Hell for us; they would want us to do everything we can to hang on and stay close to the One that is Love. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
Continue ReadingI was talking with my husband about the post I made on Monday about the lack of participation at Mass. He said, "Well, the best you can say is that they are there, at least, out of obligation. But, to truly live the spiritual life well you have to couple obligation with passion. Obligation by itself is just okay. Passion by itself is just okay." I said, "Okay, I know what obligation by itself looks like. It's showing up to Mass just to warm the seat, but not fully participating. What does passion by itself look like?" "Look at it this way. One's the rudder, the other's the engine. A rudder with no engine keeps you on the path but you don't really go anywhere. An engine with no rudder speeds off with zero direction. Obligation with no passion means you just show up. Passion with no obligation means you are driven purely by emotions and you only do things if you *feel* it. We need them coupled together. Sometimes, we just need to show up even if we don't feel like it. We can't always be guided by our emotions. But, doing things purely out of obligation with no heart it in, leaves you just puttering along down the path--a rudder with no engine." I responded, "That makes a lot of sense. I would say that in order to help with the passion at Mass, we need to prepare ourselves. Externally, we need to come looking like we care. We need to participate in the gestures. We need to speak and say the prayers and responses. Internally, we need to think about what is going on. Maybe read the readings ahead of time. Silence phones. Meditate on the why of each part of the Mass." In no other relationship, Catholic Pilgrims, do we want people to love us purely out of obligation. We want our spouses, relatives, and friends to love us because they desire to. Neither do we want to be loved only by purely emotional guidance, because that means the second someone doesn't "feel" it anymore, they drop us. Obligation and passion together makes us feel secure and wanted. If we want to be loved that way and, hopefully, we want to love others that way, our worship and love of God should be guided by obligation and passion, as well. Live the faith boldly and travel well.
Continue ReadingI've been slowing making my way through "The Diary of a Country Priest." If you remember, I encouraged you all to watch it a few weeks ago. I was having trouble understanding the book and I thought watching the movie would help me understand the characters better. Anyway, it is a rich, rich book and I have found that I need to read a little and then just sit with it for a while before moving on. The girl you see in this picture is Mademoiselle Chantal and she is a prideful, hate-filled brat. To be fair to her, her mother has been emotionally absent nearly her whole life and her father is having an affair with her governess. She hates everybody and she battles with the priest as if she is battling God. She hates her mother for being incapable of being a good mother because she is so wrapped up in the pain of losing a young son long ago. She hates her father for his betrayal and sin. She hates her governess. She even declares to the priest that she wants to kill them all. As the priest (we never know his name) and Mlle Chantal continue with this spiritual battle, the priest says to her, "You hate this woman and feel yourself so far removed from her, when your hate and her sin are as two branches of the same tree." Sometimes, people hurt us deeply. Mlle Chantal has every right to hate the sins that her parents and governess are engaged in--we should always hate evil actions. However, she has allowed her hatred of their sins to move into hatred of the people and that has wrapped a vice around her heart. Once that happens, her hatred and their sins mingle causing them to be linked together as a "communion of sinners," potentially "companions for all eternity." That eternity being in Hell. Once, long ago, I was deeply wounded and I allowed the sins others to take root as hatred of them in my soul. I felt justified in feeling that way. Yet, it was not helping me one bit, in fact, it made me a prideful, hate-filled brat in many ways. We cannot let another's sin lead us into sin, Catholic Pilgrims. We must fight to keep our souls free from darkness or we are no different than the ones that hurt us. Live the faith boldly and travel well.
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