And now a word from our Anglican brethren

While web cruising (an unfortunately rationalizable exercise in time-wasting), I came upon some lively thought and writing on a blog dedicated to the discussion of "Continuing Anglicanism" (aka churches that have withdrawn from the Episcopal Church in the USA in response to the unorthodox beliefs and actions of recent years). Although leaving me with the unfortunately (though perhaps undeserved) impression that good and faithful Anglicans are trapped, for now, in defining themselves by what they are not (e.g. Not Protestant, Not Papist, Not Heretical), the vigor and dedication of the writers' commitments to following Jesus faithfully is apparent and inspiring. I am honored to consider them brothers and hope they would reciprocate.

A post that particularly impressed me is a discussion by one of the contributors (nom de plume "Poetreader") on Pope Benedict's recent remarks on gender identity. Poetreader's essay, Benedict on Gender, is one of the most well-articulated discussion of the issue of homosexuality and the Church that I have ever come across. What makes it more striking is that it is written by a man who himself experiences same-sex attraction.

There are those of us who, for whatever reason, genetic, biological, psychological, or social (where it comes from doesn't really matter all that much), find ourselves attracted to members of our own sex. That is a present reality. It is, so to speak, the hand we've been dealt, and we need to be able to play that hand according to the rules. There's a difficulty, a struggle, involved in that. I am male, and that does make me different in a surprising number of ways from females. That is biological fact and any attempt to ignore that or to minimize it is an attempt to make me less than God intends, and this is so for the female as well. True freedom does not arise from denial of biological reality but from embracing it, and it is not freedom to be imprisoned by one's desires, but in knowing how to rise above them and, when they are not acceptable, to deny them.

The author has gone into greater depth about his personal journey here.

Very gratifying fact

The Blessed Mother knits. And she likes circular needles too!




Hat tip: The Pious Sodality of Church Ladies

Image source

Does God have one right choice for me in every decision?

I've always known Peter Kreeft is out there somewhere, but I hadn't ever gotten around to really exploring what he has written. Boy, what a mistake that was. First I listened to an audio CD I found in the narthex of a neighboring parish called something like "Seven Reasons to be Catholic." I was extremely impressed and resolved to find more.

His website -- Peterkreeft.com -- offers a generous helping of writings and audio recordings. And that's where I found his essay, Discernment, which leads off with the question asked in the title of this post. I found myself alternating between exclamations of "Amazing!" and "Well, of course!", always a sign that I'm in the presence of good thought and good writing.

Here's an excerpt, though I strongly encourage you to check out the whole thing:

Five general principles of discernment of God's will that apply to all questions about it, and therefore to our question too, are the following:

1. Always begin with data, with what we know for sure. Judge the unknown by the known, the uncertain by the certain. Adam and Eve neglected that principle in Eden and ignored God's clear command and warning for the devil's promised pig in a poke
   
   
2. Let your heart educate your mind. Let your love of God educate your reason in discerning his will. Jesus teaches this principle in John 7:17 to the Pharisees. (Would that certain Scripture scholars today would heed it!) They were asking how they could interpret his words, and he gave them the first principle of hermeneutics (the science of interpretation): "If your will were to do the will of my Father, you would understand my teaching." The saints understand the Bible better than the theologians, because they understand its primary author, God, by loving him with their whole heart and their whole mind.
   
   
3. Have a soft heart but a hard head. We should be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves," sharp as a fox in thought but loyal as a dog in will and deed. Soft-heartedness does not excuse soft-headedness, and hard-headedness does not excuse hard-heartedness. In our hearts we should be "bleeding-heart liberals" and in our heads "stuck-in-the-mud conservatives." [Ed. note: Is this not the most delightful and incisive sentence you have read all day?]
   
   
4. All God's signs should line up, by a kind of trigonometry. There are at least seven such signs: (1) Scripture, (2) church teaching, (3) human reason (which God created), (4) the appropriate situation, or circumstances (which he controls by his providence), (5) conscience, our innate sense of right and wrong, (6) our individual personal bent or desire or instincts, and (7) prayer. Test your choice by holding it up before God's face. If one of these seven voices says no, don't do it. If none say no, do it.
   
   
5. Look for the fruits of the spirit, especially the first three: love, joy, and peace. If we are angry and anxious and worried, loveless and joyless and peaceless, we have no right to say we are sure of being securely in God's will. Discernment itself should not be a stiff, brittle, anxious thing, but—since it too is part of God's will for our lives—loving and joyful and peace-filled, more like a game than a war, more like writing love letters than taking final exams.

Good for what ails you

Well, this was good for at least one of the things that was ailing me.

Reading an excellent book on Abraham Lincoln's leadership earlier this year heightened my desire for one thing that perhaps really was present "back in the old days" -- politicians responding to a genuine call to public service. I saw it this year in friend and fellow-parishioner Jack Lynch's run for Congress (he was running against John Dingell of Detroit -- need I say more?), and Amy Welborn has tipped us off to another.

Joseph Cao is a Catholic lawyer and former Jesuit who is running the December 6th election for Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District. His story is different from most:

He entered the Jesuits in 1990, spending two years in the novitiate in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. While working as a Jesuit in Mexico he had an experience that led him out of the Order and into the world of politics.

“I went all over the world to work with the poor and experienced a crisis of faith in Mexico over human suffering and God. I asked my spiritual director, ‘What is God doing about all this suffering?’ He told me that ‘God sends people to help.’ That was when I began to realize my calling was politics.”

There is only one part of the story that makes me sad. Joseph and his brother immigrated to the United States after his father was imprisoned by the Communists after the fall of Saigon, so he will never be eligible to be President of the United States.

All things old are new again

A hat tip to Chantblog for this. Who'd have thought that the terms "Gregorian chant" and "trendy" would ever belong in the same paragraph? (Click on the text for the full article.)

It doesn't have much of a beat, the kids can't dance to it, and it's sung in a dead language, but Gregorian chant seems to be the hottest thing in sacred music right now.

If you're interested in polyphony and chant (or are interested in becoming interested), see the link in the sidebar to a Sacred Music Colloquium next June in Chicago. I wonder if I can add it to my Amazon Wish List?