3/26/23

A fellow leftist Christian recently said, "I've long since made my bed alongside Dostoyevsky saying something to the effect, 'even if it were incontrovertibly proven to me that Jesus was not the Christ, still I would choose to believe in him.' Because for me faith in this arena is never based on the veracity of an historical theory but on a choice." But the same person also then asked, "What does it mean to believe in Christ while adhering to a materialist conception of history?" Indeed, how can one be both a Christian and a materialist at the same time? Do they just shrug and say, like Whitman, 'so I contradict myself! Contradiction is the bugaboo of mankind'? It's a question worth pondering, and it got me thinking about my own answer as both a Christian and someone who adheres to a materialist conception of history with leftist politics.

There's a line from Brian Sanderson's novel Oathbringer I rather like: "One can believe in a story without believing it happened." It's a powerful statement that holds a lot of truth. I can't count the number of stories I've read that have deeply affected me over the years, many shaping the very person I am today because of how much I believed in it and its message. The story of Jesus is no different. While I believe much of the story of Jesus is true, I'm also ok if it's not because of how it inspires me to think and act, along with the hope it instills and the support of its teachings designed to help make us more loving to all of creation, even if we're not always loved back by it in return.

As I wrote on Christmas (I definitely like repeating myself):

When I read the bible, what I see is the story of a people who, on the one hand, are struggling with the world they live in, full of greed, oppression, and violence, yet dreaming of a world that's filled with equality, abundance, and peace. It's a story of historical progress towards something better and the successes and failures that a particular people found worth telling and remembering. And Jesus himself embodies the spirit of this dream. His name means "God liberates" or "God is liberation." His message was destined to be revolutionary, as Mary proclaims in Luke 1:52-53, "He pulls down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the humble. He fills the hungry with good things and he leaves the rich with nothing." His birth was announced to poor workers (shepherds), not the wealthy or kings. His life was spent trying to bring a new and more egalitarian world into being through acts like healing the sick, feeding the hungry, opposing economic exploitation, chastising the rich and distributing their wealth to those in need, and working to bring those on the margins back into the heart of the community. He opposed Roman imperialism, religious hypocrisy, persecution, and violence. He spoke of compassion, forgiveness, universal kinship, and loving our neighbours as ourselves, making concern for others the entry fee to the kingdom of heaven. And he did all of this because he was inspired by universal love and compassion for the human condition.

It's a dream that I share, and just as this revolutionary spirit helped guide the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, I believe it'll also help guide all of us out of the bondage of our current system that's idolized and globalized greed, oppression, and violence. And for me, Christ is a living symbol of that spirit.

That spirit is also present in many other places, like social and political movements and monasteries—the former reflecting the active aspects of revolution and the latter reflecting the contemplative aspects and desired outcomes of equality and community. I think Ernesto Cardenal touches upon these contradictions and their synthesis when he wrote In Cuba:

At breakfast some Marxists asked me about our community at Solentiname. I explained that we try to lead a life in common, with no "thine" or "mine," a life of voluntary poverty—free from the desire for money and from the demands of a society of consumption. We live in brotherly union, all working for the community. We are all equal. And then I stopped. I understood that what may seem very novel in the capitalistic world is a daily reality in Cuba. (I couldn't talk to them about prayer because it would be misinterpreted, and I wouldn’t know how to explain mystic union to people who don't believe in God.) I was afraid that they were going to ask me what need there is for such communities in a socialist society. At that moment I would not have known what to say.

I kept thinking of the question that the young Marxists might have asked me. It seems to me that in a perfect socialist society it would not be necessary to "flee from the world" in order to live the Gospel. In any case, the material life of those communities would be the same as that of all the others. And I remembered what St. John Chrysostom said (in a letter to a rich man): "If cities were Christian, monasteries would be unnecessary."

For me, God is love. God liberates. God is the spirit of revolution. And Christ loves. Christ is a liberator. Christ is a revolutionary. And as Marcus Borg wrote, Christ "revealed what can be seen of God in a human life" through his words and actions. So I consider myself Christian because I follow Christ's example—not the Christianity of imperialism, wealth, white supremacy, etc., but the revolutionary Christianity of Jesus and the liberation of the poor and oppressed.

All that said, God is also the ground of being and the laws of nature underlying the causal relationships present throughout the universe—i.e., mental and physical actions and results, causes and effects, etc. And historical materialism is simply the study of the material causes and conditions that shape human society and the ways we're encouraged (and forcefully prodded) to think and live, as well as who benefits from and suffers under those social relations. Here, Jesus is clearly on the side of making those social relations egalitarian and challenging the authority of exploitative classes, while his story emphasizes the ways in which God works with us and through us if we truly know and embody love.

There are undoubtedly mystical and supranatural elements to his story that point towards something that lies beyond our material world — to what we call God, transcendence, ultimate reality, the divine, the unconditioned, etc. — and our ability to achieve union with the divine, from his contemplative and intimate connection with God and frequent times of solitary prayer to the miracles he performed such as walking on water, healing the sick, multiplying food for the hungry, and raising the dead, including his own resurrection after being executed by the state in a method reserved for those who opposed the authority of Rome in some shape or form. His own resurrection story may have been literal or simply expressing the resurrection of what he lived and died for in the lives of those who carried on his message, but many seem to miss his mission here on earth and the way he represents God manifest in human form, acting within history. As David Inczauskis, SJ writes, "Many Christians, jumping straight to spiritual reality, transcendence, and the afterlife, forget that God reveals in matter, in this world, in history. They look to the sky for a God who came to earth." Whichever way we may choose to view the resurrection narrative, whether as history or myth, the story of Jesus is ultimately the story of a human being embodying the presence of the divine on earth who bridges the gap between the transcendent and the concrete by centering their spiritual message on how we treat one another (particularly the poor and marginalized), and hence the rift between humanity and itself created by our tendency to, in the words of Feuerbach, "suppose the essence of nature outside nature, the essence of humanity outside humanity, the essence of thought outside the act of thinking."

Jesus' life and teachings stress unequivocally that our beliefs and convictions in a 'heavenly kin-dom' should be reflected in our actions; and our actions shouldn't cause harm, but act as seeds for happiness and liberation. That to me is what matters most. Because whatever happens after this life is over, if we live righteously right here and now, then not only will this world be left a little better than we found it after we're gone, but we've also served to store up treasure in heaven.

2/18/22

My six favourite gospel passages and why I find them meaningful:

1. The first reading is Mark 12:28-31, where Jesus sums up the heart of his religion:

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

It's clear from this passage that love is at the very heart of his spirituality. And not just love, but the love of others. His message is at the same time inherently personal and social in nature. How we relate to others is foundational to Jesus’ way of life and that of religion in general. And taken in the context of the rest of the New Testament, the more we abide by this commandment, the more we collectively come closer towards what's often called the kingdom of heaven, i.e., a society characterized by abundance, justice, equality, mercy, love, and peace (see Micah 6:8 and Isaiah 2:1-5).

2. The next passage on my list is Luke 6:20-45:

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

Love of Enemies. “But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful.

Judging Others. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.

A Tree Known by Its Fruit. “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

The Two Foundations. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

The heart of this passage is transformative justice and reflects Micah 6.8, and it depicts the ideal morality of Jesus stemming from the causal relationships of nature itself. It acknowledges that the world we have evolved in and created for ourselves is often harsh and unfair, a world in which good people are often treated unjustly. But there's also a hopeful message, that eventually those who are poor, hungry, and hated will have an equal place in the better world we are to create, while those who lived in luxury at the privation and oppression of others will be unhappy because their privilege will be no more. It speaks to the socio-economic needs of the people. But it doesn't end with harsh words for the world's exploiters and oppressors, because hate and violence only serve to poison our own hearts and make us like them, causing us to harm others in a cycle of violence. Instead, it ends with an appeal to live differently, to love and care for those who harm us, to treat others as we wish to be treated. It asks us to develop compassion and have mercy for others, and to refrain from judging them, even those who do us harm. We all have our faults, and we must work to train our own hearts and minds and actions before we can have the wisdom and spiritual maturity to go out and help others, too. And just as you'll know a good person by their good deeds, the goodness of your own heart will be known to others by the fruits of your good deeds. And a better, more just world can only be built upon the foundation of just hearts and just actions, not cycles of oppression and violence.

3. The third passage on my list is also from Luke, Luke 10:29-37:

The Parable of the Good Samaritan. But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

This passage is directly related to Mark 12:28-31, the summation of Jesus' message. The greatest thing we can do is to love our neighbour as ourselves. And here Jesus is asked 'who is my neighbour'? His reply is basically everyone, but particularly those who are in need. And to really highlight the depth, complexity, and universality of this message, the person Jesus picks for his example of our neighbour is someone considered an enemy and ritually and morally unclean during his time, someone who even a priest would pass on by. Just pick a person from a group that you most despise today lying on the side of the road robbed and injured and needing help—even that's your neighbour. And to help such a person isn't an easy thing to do. Jesus' message is indeed a challenging one for us to truly hear, let alone live out. But that kind of heart is precisely the one that's needed to transform this world into one characterized by abundance, justice, equality, mercy, love, and peace. No one can be left out of our hearts or our society.

4. Number four on my list is Mt 25:31-46, the parable of the sheeps and goats:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

This parable has as its theme one very common in Jesus' teachings on this list—that of how we should treat one another. It's about our actions and caring for one another. And the message I take away from this passage is that the heart of true religion isn't about politics of purity or judging others for their actions and choices. Rather, it's about interconnectedness, relationships, and care and concern for others. How we treat others is our spiritual practice, and it's only in the present moment (not after death) that we choose God (love) or Mammon (greed). And here Jesus is very clear about which he chooses and which he wants us to choose.

5. The fifth passage is Acts 4:32-35:

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.

This passage is important to me because it reflects the early disciples' understanding of Jesus' message and mirrors the world they're trying to create, the kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven. And if we truly want to realize a world in which we don't have to struggle and compete to survive, but labour together and all share in the fruits of abundance, we must live in the same way and socially, spiritually, and materially transition to something new, something characterized by the maxim: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need."

And last but not least, the final passage on my list is James 4:1-17:

Causes of Division. Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Adulterers! Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks without meaning when it says, “The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy”? But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says:

“God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”

So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds. Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. Whoever speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or to destroy. Who then are you to judge your neighbor?

Warning Against Presumption. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”— you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.” But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.

In this passage, James, the brother of Jesus, delivers a powerful admonishment. It begins with a discourse on the seeds of division in society that lie within our hearts, the drives and intentions fed by greed, anger, and ignorance. If our hearts are influenced by these intentions, then so will our actions.

James chastises us and pleads with us to live another way, a way that's implicitly based on generosity, love, and wisdom. It asks us to submit to God; and God is love, so we're called to submit to love. And it reiterates that things such as greed, anger, covetousness, judgmentalism, self-centeredness, etc. makes the happiness of all an impossibility. It's a rebuke of hyperindividualism and a call to humility. We're not perfect and make mistakes, nor are we omniscient or omnipotent and able to perfectly know and control the future. We're mortal beings at the mercy of the cosmic laws of nature whose lives are ephemeral compared to eternity. And one cardinal mistake is to love the world and worldly things (things like praise, possessions, power, etc.) rather than God and one another.

Everything in nature is interrelated, including human beings. We're social creatures shaped by our relationships with each other as well as our external environment and the material social relations of our socio-economic institutions. And if those relationships are rotten, what grows out of them will surely be, too. Ultimately, we shouldn't live our lives with the goal of profit, dominance, and gain for ourselves, but simply live doing what's right for its own sake. And if that's how we all choose to live our lives, then happiness will surely follow.

12/25/22

Some people wonder why I consider myself Christian. And honestly, I wonder myself sometimes, too, looking at what's been done in its name. But the short answer is, I find hope and inspiration in the revolutionary message contained within Christianity itself and not necessarily in the institution it's become.

When I read the bible, what I see is the story of a people who, on the one hand, are struggling with the world they live in, full of greed, oppression, and violence, yet dreaming of a world that's filled with equality, abundance, and peace. It's a story of historical progress towards something better and the successes and failures that a particular people found worth telling and remembering. And Jesus himself embodies the spirit of this dream. His name means "God liberates" or "God is liberation." His message was destined to be revolutionary, as Mary proclaims in Luke 1:52-53, "He pulls down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the humble. He fills the hungry with good things and he leaves the rich with nothing." His birth was announced to poor workers (shepherds), not the wealthy or kings. His life was spent trying to bring a new and more egalitarian world into being through acts like healing the sick, feeding the hungry, opposing economic exploitation, chastising the rich and distributing their wealth to those in need, and working to bring those on the margins back into the heart of the community. He opposed Roman imperialism, religious hypocrisy, persecution, and violence. He spoke of compassion, forgiveness, universal kinship, and loving our neighbours as ourselves, making concern for others the entry fee to the kingdom of heaven. And he did all of this because he was inspired by universal love and compassion for the human condition.

It's a dream that I share, and just as this revolutionary spirit helped guide the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, I believe it'll also help guide all of us out of the bondage of our current system that's idolized and globalized greed, oppression, and violence. And for me, Christ is a living symbol of that spirit.

That spirit is also present in many other places, like social and political movements and monasteries—the former reflecting the active aspects of revolution and the latter reflecting the contemplative aspects and desired outcomes of equality and community. I think Ernesto Cardenal touches upon these contradictions and their synthesis when he wrote In Cuba:

At breakfast some Marxists asked me about our community at Solentiname. I explained that we try to lead a life in common, with no "thine" or "mine," a life of voluntary poverty—free from the desire for money and from the demands of a society of consumption. We live in brotherly union, all working for the community. We are all equal. And then I stopped. I understood that what may seem very novel in the capitalistic world is a daily reality in Cuba. (I couldn't talk to them about prayer because it would be misinterpreted, and I wouldn’t know how to explain mystic union to people who don't believe in God.) I was afraid that they were going to ask me what need there is for such communities in a socialist society. At that moment I would not have known what to say.

I kept thinking of the question that the young Marxists might have asked me. It seems to me that in a perfect socialist society it would not be necessary to "flee from the world" in order to live the Gospel. In any case, the material life of those communities would be the same as that of all the others. And I remembered what St. John Chrysostom said (in a letter to a rich man): "If cities were Christian, monasteries would be unnecessary."

For me, God is love. God liberates. God is the spirit of revolution. And Christ loves. Christ is a liberator. Christ is a revolutionary. And as Marcus Borg wrote, Christ "revealed what can be seen of God in a human life" through his words and actions. So I consider myself Christian because I follow Christ's example—not the Christianity of imperialism, wealth, white supremacy, etc., but the revolutionary Christianity of Jesus and the liberation of the poor and oppressed.

12/18/22

Today's service at Spirit of Grace was incredibly moving, both due to the nature of the readings and to the emotions, prayers, and thoughts that were offered by the community.

There was a tearful children's homily at the beginning about the birth of Jesus and the meaning of the name Emmanuel, 'God is with us.' Obviously there was something deeply felt by the presenter, Katie, about the idea of God walking with us, crying with us, and being present with us in good times and bad. (The community has certainly suffered its fair share of hardships and loss, as well as its joys and blessings, this past year.) And the theme of waiting appeared repeatedly throughout, particularly in Fr. Jack's homily—waiting for the birth of Jesus and for the ideals he embodies, waiting for a better future, for liberation, for the presence of God that'll change our lives and the world, a presence that's paradoxically already present.

But what I think we so often forget is that what we're really waiting on is ourselves, for our own awakening and transformation. The way we treat one another is up to us. The way our world appears is up to us. Ultimately, we've been given the "keys to the kingdom of heaven," and it has to be our decisions and actions that bring it about here on earth. God doesn't impose a just or unjust world upon us; we create the world we experience. This is our power, our gift. And the closer we are to God, Dhamma, Tao, Nature, or whatever we want to call it, the more our actions will be characterized by love and harmlessness, and the closer we come to realizing a more just world.

Many of the hymns and bible passages that are sung and read every Sunday mention waiting for God and for a world that's more egalitarian and compassionate, where no one suffers from want, from hunger or thirst, from lack of access to healthcare, from loneliness, oppression, imprisonment, etc. And we sometimes need to be reminded that this new world we're waiting for isn't going to come about through magic, unexpectedly overnight, like Christmas presents waiting under the tree for us as children when we believed in Santa and our parents would hide them while we were sleeping for us to find in the morning. It'll only come about when we consciously and collectively decide to do things different—to not follow our impulses that arise out of greed, aversion, or delusion, but cultivate those arising out of non-greed, non-anger, and non-delusion and lead to long-term welfare and happiness; to not promulgate and support any political or economic system that creates inequality and disadvantages anyone rather than providing for the needs of all.

We're waiting for God to deliver us from all this pain and messiness, but we're the ones who must be vigilant and follow the way forward—we're the ones who are called to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mt 22:34-40), who are called to see those who are hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison and minister to their needs (Mt 25:31-46).

12/17/22

Today is Pope Francis' birthday. I may not always agree with him, but as far as popes go, I think he could be a whole lot worse. For all his faults and that of the institution of the Catholic Church in general, I like that he's not afraid to criticize capitalism and the way that the poor and marginalized are treated within it. For example, when asked recently in an interview about those who call him a communist and how he'd respond to those who say that what the church and the pope have to say about economics isn't important, he answered, "I am much enlightened by the Beatitudes, but above all by the standard by which we will be judged: Matthew 25. 'I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was in prison, and you visited me. I was sick and you cared for me.' Is Jesus a communist, then? The problem that is behind this, that you have rightly touched on, is the socio-political reduction of the Gospel message. If I see the Gospel in a sociological way only, yes, I am a communist, and so too is Jesus. Behind these Beatitudes and Matthew 25 there is a message that is Jesus’ own. And that is to be Christian. The communists stole some of our Christian values." Amen to that. Happy birthday, comrade. 🎂☭

12/16/22

I stumbled on this quote today from Raimundo Panikkar:

The rivers of the earth do not actually meet each other, not even in the oceans, nor do they need to meet in order to be truly life-giving rivers. But they do meet: they meet in the skies–that is, in heaven. The rivers do not meet, not even as water. They meet in the form of clouds, once they have suffered a transformation into vapour, which eventually will pour down again into the valleys of mortals to feed the rivers of the earth. Religions do not coalesce, certainly not as organised religions. They meet once transformed into vapour, once metamorphosized into Spirit, which is then poured down in innumerable tongues.

It offers what I find to be the most beautiful and poetic articulation of what philosophia perennis means.

12/11/22

Today's gospel reading on the third Sunday of Advent is Luke 1:47-55, the Magnificat. This is the version used by Ernesto Cardenal in The Gospel in Solentiname from the American Bible Society:

"My soul praises the Lord;
my heart rejoices in God my savior.
because he has noticed his slave.
And from now on all generations will call be happy,
for mighty God has done great things for me.
His name is holy,
and his love reaches his faithful ones from generation to generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm;
he conquers those with proud hearts.
He pulls down the might from their thrones
and raises up the humble.
He fills the hungry with good things
and he leaves the rich with nothing.
He helps the nation of Israel his servants,
in remembrance of his love;
as he had promised to our fathers,
to Abraham, and to his descendants forever."

Like so many prophets and revolutionaries such as Isaiah before his birth, and others like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ernesto Cardenal after, Jesus embodies the spirit of this song of hope, and his life was devoted to bringing it about.

The translation they used today at Spirit of Grace was a modern, more inclusive rendition that was nice but had a less forceful impact. Nevertheless, the underlying message is the same. Mary, pregnant and waiting to give birth to her first child, Jesus, sings a praise to God and prophesizes the birth of a new world of justice for the poor and oppressed.

And that got me thinking about how that will come about. There are a lot of hymns that talk of waiting for this world to come, for God to bring it about. But I think that waiting is more like the waiting of an expectant parent, a waiting in which the parent takes an active part. The birth of a child takes time. And as this new life grows and takes shape, it's fed and nurtured by its parents-to-be until the conditions are right for it to enter the world and be born. So, too, the new world we hope to be born takes time to gestate, being fed and nurtured by our words and actions and the intentions underlying them.

But even after the child is born, care is still needed to protect it, nurture it, and help it to thrive and live long into the future, just as any social transformation still needs our continued care to protect it, nurture it, and help it to thrive and live long into the future. And just as we don't ever know the exact minute a child will be born and must wait patiently while preparing for its arrival, the same holds true of the new world, the kin-dom of God, we long for. We must wait patiently while preparing in whatever ways we can for its arrival.

And if we truly take the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves seriously, then we must work to free our neighbour from social systems of domination and exploitation, from hunger and poverty, from injustice and discrimination, from oppression and violence, from political and economic servitude.