Comfort
Last night, when my work for the day was done, I laid down in my very comfortable bed. I recently replaced my pillow, which made for an extra cushy experience. The late summer heat was kept at bay by my air conditioner, backed up by my ceiling fan. I used a supercomputer that easily fits into my pocket to turn off all the lights in my house, arm my security system, lock my doors, and turn on a white noise machine, so no loud noises would disturb my sleep.
We live in a world of peak comfort. We have access to every piece of human knowledge, the ability to travel the world through powered flight, and view any work of art on a screen. Musicians play their music for us, at will, through our speakers, and we have more minutes of video to watch than we could ever possibly get around to.
What have we done with this comfort? Despite overcoming almost every natural barrier, we haven’t found happiness. Like the people of Israel, we have a direct connection to knowledge of God, but we choose not to let it change us. They had the prophets, we have the Eucharistic Christ and all of His words. Still, we are asleep.
It’s good for us to harness technology and use it to power our betterment. We can use our phones to pray using the Hallow app, or to doom scroll away our day on social media. We can use air conditioning to protect us from dangerous heat, or to resist spending time in God’s creation. We can use medicine to correct dysfunction, or to cause death and destruction.
The people of Israel had little comfort in the world, and they turned away from God. We have all the comfort in the world, and we still turn away. It’s time to wake up.
Letting Go of Efficiency
It’s a Friday morning and time to run errands in the big city. Before we leave the house, I cycle through the various routes, selecting the most efficient option. Our departure time is calculated carefully, accounting for bathroom breaks, finding shoes, and getting out the door. Along the way, seconds are shaved off our travel time as I select the best lane, optimal cruise speed, and maneuver around slower traffic.
This is how my mind works, always working for optimization. I plan, recompute, and adjust my day to get things done in the best way possible. It just happens. For most things, that’s fine. We safely and efficiently move through our errands, check tasks off of my list, and get more stuff done.
In parenting, efficiency isn’t always the right choice.
I can clean the kitchen, wash the cars, and reorganize my closet with speed and precision on my own, but should I? Shouldn’t I let my two-year old pull dishes out of the clean dishwasher, one at a time, at random, instead of insisting on pulling out entire category groups? She’s so gleeful to help.
I can go to the office and knock out an hour’s worth of work in 45 minutes, but shouldn’t I take my son along with me to check out an airplane and play with his LEGOs while I work? He’ll ask questions, share his thoughts, and slow me down. It’s not efficient, but is it better?
I can wash a car in 90 minutes, getting it to showroom perfection, but shouldn’t I let my daughter pick up the hose and go a little crazy? Shouldn’t I hand her the wash mitt and let her take some of the dirt off of the car, too?
We all remember that point in time when we realized that our parents were their own people. They have their own thoughts, needs, hopes, and dreams. As children, our minds weren’t able to comprehend that others have the same desires that we have. Now on the other side of that equation, I can see into my children’s minds, but they cannot yet see into mine.
I’m a very efficient person, but when it comes to each day and each task, it’s okay if I invite my children into my world, and I perform at a level just a few notches below peak.
Diligence
On Friday night, at 8:30pm to be exact, a very motivated local landscaping supply business owner dropped off a pallet of sod in my driveway. Several beds around our house sat empty since we removed over a dozen shrubs at the end of March. With this delivery, we were ready to end this project.
With any big project, it’s easy to get worn out. Running a marathon requires more than just energy and stamina. When you get to mile 20, 23, or 24, you need something much deeper to push you to the finish line. You require the internal motivation to keep going, and the diligence to finish what you started.
The spiritual life is the biggest project any of us ever undertake. Enduring a lifetime of trial, triumph, defeat, and temptation requires that we, as St. Paul said, run the race. We have to put in the effort, do the work, and not let despair set in.
Quitting half-way through, or taking a break, is like leaving those empty beds of dirt. We did the hard work in March to clear out the beds, dig out the shrubs, and clear them to dirt. By the time the sod man was hired and made his delivery, the weeds had grown up again, so we had to clean the bed out for a second time.
Why keep fighting battles that have already been won? Focus, fight, win, and never give up an inch of ground.
Spring Water
Growing up, I’d drink nothing but milk. Now, for lunch that can’t possibly be true, but I have a distinct memory from childhood of drinking tons of milk. My dad was as big water drinker. He had his own, private supply of water in a Brita filter in the refrigerator that the kids weren’t allowed to us. Naturally, I’ve adopted the same idiosyncrasy in my fatherhood.
A few years ago, I turned to an almost exclusive water drinker. Interestingly, its taste can vary widely from town to town; from bottle to bottle. All water systems in the United States conform to government rules for safe drinking standards, but the chemical composition of water can cause slight changes in taste. Some water is delicious right out of the tap, and some water takes getting used to.
Earlier this year, we took a ski trip to rural northern Michigan. Even now, months later, I can still remember just how good that water tasted! It was so cool, clear, clean, crisp, and fresh. It was like I had taken a straw and drank straight from the lake. Not only that, but it was almost enough to make me want to move to that town and stay forever.
Jesus used water many times in his ministry, and for good reason. Water is life; water feeds the crops and feeds the body. When you think about the best glass of water you’ve ever had, it’s analogous to the refreshing nature of God’s love. A cool, clear, clean, crisp, and fresh relief for a tired and weary soul.
Slow Progress
We awake to find ourselves suddenly in a Post-Roe world. The question of abortion is thrown back into the political process, and it’s dawning on all of us that we spent 40 years praying for this day, and almost no time preparing for it.
The early political setbacks are hard to take. How is it that our intellectual opponents have so many people convinced that it’s a woman’s right to end the life of her child if it’s inconvenient? How can a society so moral and sensitive not only be permissive of this idea, but fanatically in favor of it?
In times like these, I find it helpful to consider things from a broader perspective. We exist in a tiny moment in history. Our lives of 60, 70, or 80 years are a blink of an eye. The positive impact that the Church has effected in society is remarkable. We are simply fighting the final battle.
In the days of the early church, children had zero value in society. They were entirely disposable, with infanticide occurring regularly. Newborn children could be taken to a certain part of land on the outskirts of town and abandoned to die.
Over the centuries, the Christian concept of the human person started to be accepted by society and enshrined in law. No longer were people valued for their utilitarian values; they were valued for existing. Christians placed a value on the life of a child, and the world followed.
Fifty years of terrible law informed the morality of modern-day America, teaching people that some life is disposable. It will take time, effort, and still more prayer to remove this cancer so entrenched in our morality. But it’s a fight that the Church must continue, to eradicate evil in the world, and to bring the Good News and freedom of the Gospel to all people.
Pause
I’m back from summer vacation, a whole week experiencing Northern Michigan. It was a great reprieve from the heat, and a chance to go to places that I’ve never been to before.
When I clocked out last week, I made the intentional choice to step away from my work. I didn’t check my email while I was away, or shoe-horn in any work related tasks. I did use the downtime to get some other priorities checked off my list.
It was not easy at first, and I knew I was storing up a massive backlog when I returned. But my choice was simple: vacation means vacation. Permission to not think about work, do work, or worry about work. I was free to be in the moment, say yes to most activities, and to recharge my batteries.
Now that I’m back, I’m back. Although I’m now overrun with projects, emails, and to-dos, I’m delighted that I gave myself the gift of a pause.
Worth Celebrating
At every point in our Nation’s life, all 246 years, there have been voices predicting its imminent collapse. There’s no doubt that we have struggled in this unique experiment of human governance. Never has a group of people as diverse as our population come together and governed for so long with such prosperity. It’s never happened before, and therefore, some conclude it can never survive.
Yet, from our humble beginnings, we built a nation of innovation. A technological, economic, and military powerhouse with the ability to set the world order. With this great power and influence, we chose to use it for good, for the advancement of humanity, not our self-interest.
Throughout these years, we’ve made many mistakes. As we crafted our laws, which inform the morality of our population, we wrongly denied basic human rights to ethic groups. We separated child and people in communal spaces, we warred with one another, and we even, for a while, pretended that the Constitution didn’t guarantee fundamental rights to all people.
Despite our errs, our democracy has shown a remarkable propensity for self-healing. Without need of external military intervention, we demolished the institution of slavery, broke down the barriers of segregation, and revoked the flawed logic that said that some lives weren’t worth living.
The voices of despair rise and fall, and we hear them daily today. But they look at a narrow window of our nation’s history, a snapshot in time that fails to capture the stunning progress that we’ve made. We are a flawed people, but despite our shortcomings and mistakes, we still seek to build a more perfect union.
The Work Begins
For 49 years, our voice on the fundamental issue for society was silenced. A contrived legal theory, enshrined in precedent, permitted a mother, with few limits, to take the life of her child for any reason. Just not a theory, but a position that argued that it was as the framers of the Constitution intended. We marched, we prayed, we did the work, and had our rights finally restored.
Like the return of Aslan to Narnia, the cold, brutal grip of the White Witch is broken, but her power is not destroyed. The question of the morality and legality of abortion is again up for debate, and now we must begin the hard work of winning hearts and minds.
We live in a society where people violently question the legitimacy of our legal system because things didn’t go their way. They lost, and now they want to change the rules. Deeper than that is the rage at the notion that mothers shouldn’t be permitted the right to kill their child; that a child has fundamental worth that ought to be protected.
The landscape has changed, and the people in every state must now determine how they wish to live. It’s true that with Roe overturned, many states will enact statutes that allow unlimited abortion, on demand, until the moment of life. In others, abortion will be completely outlawed. Many states will land in between.
Polls tell us that abortion is broadly accepted, and the overwhelming majority of Americans think that contraceptives, abortifacient by design, are morally acceptable. Yet, these same people seem baffled at why racism, sexism, and violence abounds in our communities. You cannot chip away at the integrity of the human person, with carveouts and exceptions, and not expect contagion to follow.
Our message, from the very beginning, is so simple that we teach it to kindergartners. Every person has value and is worth protecting. Now if only we can get our society to internalize it.
Fathers for Good
God’s plan of salvation for the World contains essential truths and profound beauty. He chose man to be held in esteem above all other beings in the created world, including His angels. He desires an intimate relationship with each one of us, and freely chooses to share His power with us.
God decided to share creative powers with man. He created Adam and Eve, but every human since came into the world only through the consent of humanity. Even when it was time to bring Jesus into the world, it required Mary’s fiat to bring salvation history to completion.
Throughout the Old Testament, God worked through families. Through the family of Abraham, God reveled Himself to the world, and opened the door to reconciliation from the Fall. Through the family of David, His installed Jesus on the throne of the universe, reconciling the world to Himself. Through the family of the Church is the treasury of graces, opening the gates of Heaven to all mankind.
God not only shares His creative powers with man, but also His title. God the Father is the first person of the Holy Trinity, and He shares that title with those men whom He has entrusted with the care of souls.
Fatherhood is not an easy path, especially with the traits that men share. We are not as nurturing or innately understanding of the workings of a child, but our presence is irreplaceable. The love of a father propels a child into the world with self-confidence and courage.
In one or two generations, our names and stories will be forgotten. We will become the subject of the family’s genealogist, mapping out a family history, a name on a paper with a few dates. A father’s contribution is not for honor or praise, but of humble service to his family. He quietly toils, with mistakes made daily, working towards the harvest of a well-rounded human. Though we forget his name, the transformational gift of love, passed from generation to generation, is his legacy.
God has shared with us His power and His title, may we strive to be worthy of the gift.
Universal Church
To prepare Benedict for receiving his First Communion and Confirmation, Alison and I thought he should go to Reconciliation the week before. It’s not a hard sell for Benedict. He’s seen me go regularly for years, and every time I invited him to come, he always accepts.
Our pastor was away on vacation, leaving only the Associate whose primary responsibilities are care for the Hispanic community in our parish. In fact, he speaks very little English at all.
I knew this ahead of time, and tried my best to prepare Benedict. This was only going to be his third or fourth confession, and I wanted to make sure that he knew to go through the sequence as normal. Even though he may not understand the priest’s words, it was still a valid sacrament.
Benedict has prayed at bilingual Masses, so he understands that there are equivalent prayers in other languages, but this was his first real experience of the universal Church. In a confessional at the back of his parish, he received the loving mercy of Christ, and didn’t understand a word that the priest said. That is a really cool thing.