Monastic Mumblings, a Friar's Journey

Humility

With all the finger pointing going on in the world of Politics and Religion these days, I would like to bring up and remember the Virtue of Humility.  This single state of being is a way of safely staying away from many sins. How would our world be different if practicing humility was formost among what our Churches taught in America?

Br. Thomas Merton, Trappist monk tells us this:

"It is not humility to insist on being someone that you are not. It is as much as saying that you know better than God who you are and who you ought to be. How do you expect to arrive at the end of your own journey if you take the road to another man's city? How do you expect to reach your own perfection by leading somebody else's life:? His sanctity will never be yours; you must have the humility to work out your own salvation in a darkness where you are absolutely alone... And so it takes heroic humility to be yourself and to be nobody but the man, or the artist, that God intended you to be.
You will be made to feel that your honesty is only pride. This is a serious temptation because you can never be sure whether you are being true to your true self or only building up a defense for the false personality that is the creature of your own appetite for esteem. But the greatest humility can be learned from the anguish of keeping your balance in such a position: of continuing to be yourself without getting tough about it and asserting your false self against the false selves of other people."

Thomas Merton, The New Seeds of Contemplation, New Directions Publishing Co. 1961, p. 100-101

Christine, in her post on Monastic Spirituality says these powerful words:

The practice of humility also leads us to a spirituality of radical newness and reversal.   In John’s gospel, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, giving us a vision of a new order, and image of encountering God in the most unexpected places

What if we truly practiced humility and truth-telling?  What if our churches lived out of an awareness of the gifts and limits of institutions, allowing God to truly surprise us with newness?  What would it mean for entire nations to practice humility, honoring our collective gifts and limits?

monstrous hypocrisy

I rarely post directly named political issues here on my blog, because I want to focus on the better things of the spirit. Today I feel absolutely outraged. It has come to my attention over the last few days that A Republican US Congressman of Florida, namely Mark Foley has been habitually hitting on underage pages serving the US House of Representatives.  I have read the instant messages he sent to the underage boy, and let me tell you they are FAR too offensive for me to link to on this site.

The Republican Leadership knew about this for around a year.  They not only did nothing, they actively covered up the situation and allowed it to continue.  THIS IS A CRIME ITSELF. The entire leadership (at least the three or four that knew) should resign in disgrace immediately. Then they should be prosecuted and jailed if need be. I assure you, here in Oklahoma if you become aware of sexual predation of a minor you must report it, by LAW. 

Rep Foley was Co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus.  The Republicans put him in charge of taking care of child sex offenders. This man has gotten high marks from the Christian Right. (2003  Representative Foley supported the interests of the American Family Association 100 percent in 2003.,  from their website just before the last election)

This is a monstrous hypocrisy. I am absolutely horrified by the cover this man was given. What I want to know is what is the Christian Right saying now? You can bet that if this were a Democrat they would be howling in rage and demanding retribution approaching the Apocalypse itself. But what is this? As of this posting, a review of four of the 'biggies"(see below) on the so called "Christian" right shows nothing on their websites concerning this issue. I assure you had it been a Democrat; the banner headlines would have proclaimed the moral turpitude of that party.

I was once a campaign volunteer for Ronald Regan, he once said that the Democrat party had left him, well I am just about to my limit, I think the Christian Right and the rest of the Republicans have totally destroyed whatever connection to morals I once thought they had. 

Today's Gospel is Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48. Jesus is telling us that we must do whatever it takes to live the Gospel life. That the Kingdom He is calling us to is worth that much.  Do we dare cast away all that impedes us, or does political victory at all costs keep us from following the simple Carpenter from Nazareth?

Lord have mercy!

http://www.traditionalvalues.org
http://www.family.org
http://www.cwfa.org
http://www.afa.net/