My Soul Longs For You, Lord

Reading the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, pub. USCCB, c. 2006, 9th printing 2012.
Responding to discussion questions from chapter one, My Soul Longs for You, O God:

What am I looking for in life?  Hmm... peace, wholeness, oneness-with-God, rest, meaningful-but-tranquil-connectedness.  As for my goals and ideals?  I find that for the first time in my life I don't have clear dreams or goals; I have fulfilled many (all?) of my previously envisioned goals, and I feel I have spent/exhausted my life along those lines; I want new dreams; I want an all-consuming dream for this next era of my life. 

How does God and the Church play a part in this?  Hmm... finding God's purpose for me now is the central defining balance-point and the only thrust/trajectory that will satisfy me.  As for "The Church," I don't know what part it plays "in my life"; rather, I think in terms of what part my dream (God's purpose for me) will play in the life of the Church. 

How is my life a journey toward God?  I am very aware (and have been for as long as I can remember) that my life is entirely about being held by God, walking w/ Christ, longing for being completely consumed with and by the Holy Spirit.  Even as a very young child I remember feeling a deeply poignant longing/ yearning for something; I was beginning, even at age 14, to realize that this fathomless hole inside me could only be filled by God.  All of my adult life has been a mixture of responding to God's drawing me into intimacy w/ Him and allowing myself to be distracted by other things, sometimes alternating between the two, more often struggling with the tension of the ever-present choice.

As a seeker I look for the truth in The Truth as revealed by the Author of All Truth, God, by reading His Word (the Bible), by communing w/ Him in prayer, and by opening myself further to the movement of the Holy Spirit by worshipping the Lord in communion w/ other believers, namely through the Mass.  I pay attention to people, things, and events in my life and continually ponder how they are part of God's Story.  I listen to my heart.

When I experience truth, beauty, goodness, I praise God.  I credit God for all good things.  I bless His Holy Name.  What makes it POSSIBLE for me to seek God?  Firstly, God Himself; secondly, God designed and created me to seek Him; thirdly God designed and created the universe to be a context, a time and space, where I can meet God and relate w/ Him. 

The main thing I have found in my search for Truth is this: Jesus-Christ is my Creator and Redeemer, my Teacher, Best-Friend, and Lover of my soul.  It is in trusting and following Jesus as my Lord that I can grow in my understanding of Truth.

Does being Catholic give any particularity to my search for God?  Hmm... I'm not sure.  I know that God definitely led me to finding my Home in the Eucharist.  I also know that I feel a soul-kinship with "the mystics."  But does being Catholic give me any sort of advantage in growing in the Lord?  I tend to think of being-Catholic as being open to becoming ever more aware of the bigness of God and ever more embracing of others.

My first family, especially my parents, have been a profound blessing, especially in terms of learning of and experiencing God as an absolutely unconditionally loving Creator and Parent.  My parents have done this by being themselves unconditionally loving and giving the credit to God, and by teaching me from His Word.  They also gave me an amazing start in life and introduction to the wonders and beauty of the world, most notably the awesomeness of creation and the sacredness of all peoples in all their variety.  They lay the groundwork for giving me the perspective that I am a citizen of the Earth and yet my true home is Heaven.

Right now, today, my longing for God is most genuinely expressed in my questioning how God wants to organize my life, order my schedule, prioritize my commitments.

Goodness

The idea of Good must be an absolute; it cannot be conceived as something relative.  Otherwise, the concept is really one of more-or-less-better-than, i.e. relatively better than something else, neither of which is wholly Good.

Furthermore, the idea of Good must be rooted in an acknowledgement of the existence of God.  Good must be freely generated from a Creator-of-the-Good, and that Goodness must be a feature of the Creator's God-ness.

Goodness must be "free".  Why?  It must be "free" in the sense that it's essence is not determined by any condition outside of itself.  That's part of the absoluteness of the concept: i.e. "Good" is good because that's what we call its inherent essence.  It's not "good" because it's better than something else.  It's not "good" because it's sometimes "good" for a limited time or situation or particular entities.  What is found to be "good" is good because it bears recognizable qualities of the "Good," and what is called and known as "Good" is Good because it is a hallmark of the One Who Is Good: God.

I think I'm suggesting that the "Good" is a facet of God's Being which is made most manifest in Christ, much as we have come to understand Truth being most perfectly revealed in Christ-The-Word.

I think what I'm searching for or contending with is a way to describe and contrast my experience of what I know about God and God's Creation, most particularly God's Eternal Reality versus the contemporary myth or world-view of our culture.  Most people I know recognize that our cultural thinking carries a propaganda that there is no Truth, let alone a Truth that can be known; there is only relative perspectives and opinions and preferences.  Similarly, most people recognize that our social thinking promotes the lie that nothing is good or bad, there is not absolute basis for a morality, there is only that which is more or less preferable and it's based on each person's or group's passing notions of such.

Furthermore, our culture/society has nearly succeeded in persuading most of us (even Christians) that anything that is "real" has a divided nature.  "There are two sides to every coin."  "There are two sides to every story."  "You can't know what is good unless you have also experienced the bad."  "You can't make a choice unless there are at least two things available."  I would argue that all of this thinking is part of the lie first expressed by the serpent in the Garden of Eden.  I.e. I am arguing that dualistic thinking and conceiving is never fully or adequately revealing of that which is True because that which is True is One.  Similarly, that which is Good is Whole.

I'm sure there have already been some very great thinkers who have expressed very well what it is I am trying to understand as I try to describe my thoughts.  I realize that my present search for how to express something which I know deep w/in myself to be True is much like eyes trying to see through the darkness the Face of One Who's Voice they have heard in their heart.

More later.

Current Reading

I'm currently reading (and re-reading) Theological Reflection, Connecting Faith and Life by Joye Gros, O.P., D.Min. for a class.  It's a good introduction to the topic.  I may comment further on this TOPIC at a later date.  I plan to NOT quote or reference directly any material received from the program I'm in or any material recommended I read for the program.  This is simply a note that I'm reading this book, and I recommend it.

Re The Priesthood

I just read Sr. Sara Butler's paper "Women's Ordination: Is It Still An Issue?"  Butler gives an excellent explanation of the Church's Teaching on this topic.  I hope to learn more on this subject, but this is a GREAT over-view and she references other sources I hope to eventually explore.

To find this paper, google Sr. Sara Butler and then find in the list: Mar7dunwoodie.doc  (I don't know how to link a ".doc")

An Unaltered Faith

The  following texts are excerpts I've highlighted while reading The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM).  From the Introduction; Testimony of an Unaltered Faith:

The sacrificial nature of the Mass, solemnly defended by the Council of Trent, because it accords with the universal tradition of the Church, was once more stated by the Second Vatican Council, which pronounced these clear words about the Mass: "At the Last Supper, Our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood, by which the Sacrifice of his Cross is perpetuated until he comes again; and till then he entrusts the memorial of his Death and Resurrection to his beloved spouse, the Church."
..."for whenever the memorial of this sacrifice is celebrated the work of our redemption is accomplished..."
So, in the new Missal the rule of prayer (lex orandi) of the Church corresponds to her perennial rule of faith (lex credendi), by which we are truly taught that the sacrifice of his Cross and its sacramental renewal in the Mass, which Christ the Lord instituted at the Last Supper and commanded his Apostles to do in his memory, are one and the same, differing only in the manner of their offering; and as a result, that the Mass is at one and the same time a sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving, propitiation, and satisfaction.
...the royal Priesthood of the faithful... For the celebration of the Eucharist is the action of the whole Church... For this people is the People of God, purchased by Christ's Blood, gathered together by the Lord, nourished by his word, the people called to present to God the prayers of the entire human family, a people that gives thanks in Christ for the mystery of salvation by offering his Sacrifice, a people, finally, that is brought together in unity by Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ.  This people, though holy in its origin, nevertheless grows constantly in holiness by conscious, active, and fruitful participation in the mystery of the Eucharist.

Singing To The Lord

This is one of my favorite quotes from "Sing To The Lord; Music In Divine Worship":
"Persons designated for the ministry of psalmist should possess 'the ability for singing and a facility in correct pronunciation and diction.'"

;)

reference:
GIRM, no. 102
LFM, no. 56

Faithfulness is powerful!

Re-reading the GIRM (General Instruction for the Roman Missal).  It seems to me there isn't much changed in the GIRM, even though the translation for the prayers, etc. are changed in the RM.  Even so, this is a manual I should re-read at least once-a-year!  There's so much to know!  Even so, what most amazes me is how well we do liturgy together even though most of us don't know the GIRM, not even the parts that pertain to our own specific ministry.  I think that testifies to the power of example and tradition.  It also goes to show that all those who make it their business to correct us along the way have a very important ministry too: that of keeping the faith, in more ways than one!  It's true, it doesn't take a degree to do liturgy well.  It doesn't take a degree or even a manual to teach and follow a plan.  It does however take great personal humility as well as devotion to the Lord to remain true, in this case true to "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi" in its deepest sense.  Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ; thanks be to Jesus for the Holy Spirit; thanks be to the Spirit of becoming One! :)