Headline News

I'm staying home today, mostly to pray & catch up on assigned reading for my Metaphysics class - mostly Aristotle. While another cup of coffee was brewing, I switched on the TV just in time to hear the CNN announcetrix relay matter-of-factly that the Pro Life billboard in NY calling out Planned Parenthood is being removed for "reasons of safety," whilst showing a video clip of the sign coming down.

Without a word of comment, the newswoman then moved on the next story, beginning with such an expression of angst, "This next story is soooo sad! A group of baby bottle-nosed dolphins has been found washed up on shore..."

Folks, I ain't against dolphins by any means, but I hope you can see the tragedy knotted up in this 30-second piece of reporting.

Confucius says...

The Master said, "The gentlemen helps others to effect what is good; he does not help them to effect what is bad. The small man does the opposite." - Book 12, verse 16
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Zi-zhang asked, "What must a Gentleman be like before he can be said to have got through?"

The Master said, "What on earth do you mean by getting through?"

Zi-zhang answered, "What I have in mind is a man who is sure to be known whether he serves in a state or in a noble family."

The Master said, "That is being known, not getting through. Now the term 'getting through' describes a man who is straight by nature and fond of what is right, sensitive to other people's words and observant of the expression on their faces, and always mindful of being modest. Such a man is bound to get through whether he serves in a state or in a noble family.

"On the other hand, the term 'being known' describes a man who has no misgivings about his own claim to benevolence when all he is doing is putting up a facade of benevolence which is belied by his deeds. Such a man is sure to be known, whether he serves in a state or in a noble family." - Book 12, verse 20

As we forgive others...

My parish is holding a Scripture study on the Psalms as read through the lens of the Lord's Prayer.

In the section on "Give us our daily bread," we considered the things that we ask of God. Often that is deliverance from a difficult situation. The psalmist of Psalms 5 & 6 pleads with God for the destruction of evil-doers, those who disregard God's name.

However, in the "Forgive us our tresspasses" section, it is the psalmist of Psalm 51 himself who has commited evil against God, but now he's not so eager for God to give the evil-doers what they really deserve, is he?!? Now he wants forgiveness. To be fair, he does acknowledge that God would be perfectly just in giving him the destruction that he knows he deserves, yet he trusts in God's mercy.

This is surely why Jesus teaches us in the Our Father that God's forgiveness of us is dependent on our forgiveness of others. We continually wrong God with our sins, but we trust in his mercy so much that we rarely consider his just judgment as a real possibility. I hope that trust is not really a taking-for-granted. St. Francis de Sales noted pointedly that we sinners deserve nothing but eternal damnation. We expect God's lavish & unending mercy & forgiveness for ourselves, yet we are pretty stingy with mercy toward others - we expect them to pay dearly for whatever they've done to us.

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There is a Latin word that sumptuously describes the love of God: misericordia. One might translate that as "heart-mercy," but it is usually just translated as love or mercy. But it reminds me that God's mercy is not in its box, his love in another box, & his forgiveness in yet another box, & so on. It is all part of God's unbounded love, which St. John tells us is his very essence.

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If we refuse to forgive someone, then our hearts are divided & fractured. To put it plainly, we simply refuse to love. This is a very sketchy place from which to insist on God's forgiveness. Since Lent is nigh upon us, perhaps this is a good to reflect on the immensity of God's love compared to the paucity of own, both for him & for others.

With an eye towards to events in the life of David that occasioned the writing of Psalm 51, we also discussed the sources of temptation. Franciscan Father Charles has a few insightful words about this on his blog in a post titled Diabolical Temptations.

I hope you are all enjoying the unseasonably fine weather, at least here in East Tennessee. God bless.

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P.S.: Above photo taken at the Nashville cathedral at the Aquinas College Theological & Catechedtical Forum on Feb 5, 2011. Click Here to hear & see the guest speakers, including D. Scott Hahn, reflect on the thinking of Pope Benedict XVI.