Monthly Archives: June 2006

EXCERPT:
Will this be hard? Of course! Will priests face some people who are irritated or confused? When don’t they? Are priests are going to bear the main burden of this challenge in a parish. When have they not? And if that isn’t enough, when did the role of the Catholic lay faithful in the Church become easy? Catholics trying to live their lives well in this world as it is today are often faced with challenges that would make most priests curl up in a ball and suck their thumbs. Do parents of children simply flop down and whine about how hard it is going to be to educate their children, feed them, shelter them, see to their needs? “*sniff*… It’s soooooo harrrrrrrrrd!” I am tempted to put this in terms more suited to Tony Soprano, but “Boo hoo!” You want a real challenge? How about the state of life of a mother in a military family with several children and her Marine husband in Iraq? Can we please get some perspective here?
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EXCERPT:
Note the balancing of ideas: timor/amor (fear and love) and instituo/destituo (establish and abandon). In instituo I hear a “setting down” in the sense of how God made us and by that making He takes us upon Himself. He has our care and our governance. God sets us down next to Himself, under His watchful eye, so that we don’t go wrong. In destituo I hear a “setting down” in the sense of a setting to one side away from Himself, an abandonment of interest. In gubernatio God is our pilot, our steersman, keeping his hand on the wheel of our lives. We are solid because His loving hand is firm. Were He to abandon us, our ship would wreck and we would be “destitute”. Amidst the vicissitudes of this world we depend in fear and love on His Holy Name. We stand planted in the proper place before God’s fearful glance and under His guiding hand of love only through both love and fear His Name which points to His Person. Continue reading →