What are your feelings about New Year's Resolutions? We are halfway through January and at the start of this small bit of Ordinary Time before Lent begins (when we usually make another type of resolution…) So, how is it going? Have they been such an issue for you in the past that you have given up on them? Life occasionally requires resolutions as a plan to change something, to accommodate our proneness to sin and err and human failure. In the midst of this pandemic and the world of sad politics it has been difficult for many of us to be focused and stay focused on what is important.
Recently, I read this question on Facebook: that during this time when we have been stuck by circumstance, have you become a chunk, a drunk, a hunk or a monk? I laughed out loud when I read it, but it also pointed out where many people’s interests went when they felt they couldn’t manage life and just: stuff. I thought there might have been a couple of other (fun?) lists too: Have you become lean, mean, clean, porcine or libertine? Or maybe: crazy, hazy, lazy and “daz-y?” You see where I am going here—we are all a lot of things and mixtures of many things—no one is all one thing, but where is our primary, personal focus? Do we allow events to shape our change, or are we making conscious choices about who we are in this world? Last weekend we celebrated “The Baptism of the Lord” and we were reminded of our Baptismal promises (resolutions). Fr. Kevin (this past weekend) talked about Baptism as a gateway; we are called to “enter in” to those promises we made. Maybe before too much time passes we should revisit our (many) resolutions, “tweak” them for success, check them for value, and prioritize them in our behavior… I, too, struggle with weight, not enough regular exercise, hoping to gain a “schedule” or habit of regular and positive choices. What is most important first? Health, of course, work and organization (goes without saying)… But here are some resolutions that might help you start or re-start in a list for 2021. They may help you in the regular, usual stuff we strive for every year. RESOLVED: that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be the primary objects of my love and devotion in this New Year; and that Holy Scripture will have a regular place in my life for the sake of grasping the nature of God and understanding His heart and will for humanity. RESOLVED: that my fellow human beings will be treated with respect, dignity, and justice in all situations of my personal, social-political and professional life, and that I will exhibit sensitivity to the needs and desires of people around me so that their lives can be better and happier because of my presence and my choices. RESOLVED: that love, (understood as unselfish care for others), will become the benchmark of my life and all its relationships; and that righteousness will be my daily and passionate pursuit as I try to speak, act, and relate in ways that consciously imitate Jesus Christ. RESOLVED: that my faith will be informed and guided by Holy Scripture above my own inclinations, desires, self-centeredness, selfishness or a tendency at self-justification; that the Kingdom of God will be a practical concept for me in 2021 as I try to do my part to nudge the world back toward Eden for heaven's sake. RESOLVED: that 2021 will be a year of (pandemic-safe) adventure in which I seek out new friends, learn new skills, and contribute to new causes that are worthwhile. while I try to live a lifestyle of peace. It is time to replace the frenetic worry and hectic pace of life that only frustrates me and tends to annoy others! RESOLVED: that hope, built on the faithful promises of God, will dominate any tendency I have to carry pessimism and gloom into the lives of others; that joy will accompany me and flow through me to people who live in a world that too often fosters melancholy, and seems to revel in negatives, cruelty and sin. In January, or March, or September, in any new start these declarations of intent carried through by us would make a difference that would make all the difference in this field of souls. Today’s Psalm Response is: “Here am I, O God, I come to do your will.” We should make resolutions that support our faith—a faith based in love and mercy, kindness and justice, compassion and care of each other. My guess is that maybe all the rest would fall into place… Keep singing in your hearts! Elizabeth Dyc The COVID CRISIS has laid bare a conceit long held by many in both the Church and society-at-large: we can avoid suffering! To facilitate this avoidance God and the destiny for which we are ordained is warped or denied. For this life only we live. Any diminishment in life’s quality or delights is unbearable; its passing a tragedy. In our (vain) attempts to extend life indefinitely and extract from it what fleeting pleasures we can, we end up echoing the Satanic challenge, “‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high…I will ascend above the highest of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:13-14). In this entirely egocentric and worldly vision, we are as gods (cf. Genesis 3:5), arrogating to ourselves the defining of reality and morality to suit our purposes. Religion itself is thus perverted; Christianity becomes “humanitarianism.”
Humanitarianism is a parody of Christianity, reducing it to a “social justice” program that is merely concerned with the alleviation of suffering and poverty. To achieve “social justice” the objectivity of reality and morality are denied, replaced instead with relativism and moralism. Relativism is the assertion that everything in life is malleable, that morality, culture and beliefs are equal; what’s true for you might not be true for me. This is most clearly expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey: the ego has the right to define the nature “of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and the mystery of human life.” Moralism is manifested in the cancel culture and phrases such as, “silence is violence.” Rather than seeing freedom as the power to flourish as we were made to be, force is employed to ensure compliance with a capricious vision held by misguided souls. Having repudiated the supernatural dimensions of religion and not trusting God’s promises, humanitarianism has an unnatural emphasis on the present moment, which negatively affects the integrity of individual and collective life. It has no capacity for the common good and the kind of collective action that respects the moral integrity of human beings. Everything is always in flux. “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (George Santayana). The antidote to humanitarianism is religion, properly understood. We can understand religion generally to mean a relationship to what is divine. A religious person acknowledges something divine as the power that created him and the world, on which he is dependent and to which he is ordered. He wants to please and honor the divinity by his way of life. Religion makes humans and society whole, reconciling as it does the sacred and the mundane, the freedom of persons and the requirements of civilized order. The Christian notion of the human person affirms on the one hand our liberty and dignity while on the other hand avoiding the illusion of a thoroughgoing autonomy. Our dignity depends on affirming the sovereignty of God and the primacy of the good. While our collective self-deification to avoid suffering of any kind might seem freeing on its face, it results in a desperation within that makes us slaves to passing things and easily susceptible to a totalitarian order (for how could competing concepts of what is right and good ever be reconciled if God is not the referent point? You’re left with power as the only arbiter between competing visions). Ironically, suffering becomes our prison. “Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3). David J. Conrad Today we celebrate The Baptism of the Lord. Just as Jesus’ birth (the Nativity) was the ‘inauguration’ of our salvation, today—this last feast of the Christmas season—is the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry. We go from Christmas to a small respite of Ordinary Time where we hear of some of the extraordinary things Jesus did; and then we turn toward Jerusalem and the cross. After today, the Christmas season ends, and all the decorations are taken down and put away (if not already…). This year I would expect them to be up a bit longer (not just because some neighbor may be “negligent”), but because in the midst of this pandemic we all still need a little Christmas…
Walking through my neighborhood I was thinking about those Christmas inflatable decorations we see (and have seen) during this holy-day season. You know the ones: Rudolph, Frosty, the globe of the Magi, Santa, etc. They are so cheerful at night, full of air and lit up and brightly colored, but during the day they lie on the ground lifeless, empty, and deflated. Inflatable Christmas: temporary, only out and full for a short season and then gone until next year. Hmmm, sound familiar We all know that there are “inflatable” Christians: they are full of air, of not much content—not much on the inside, not much real conviction, of very little substance and depth. On the surface they may look pretty good: bright, cheerful, colorful—and we are glad when they show up, (all are welcome)—even if they are only filled by what is light and air. The inflatable Christian is only about the show and the surface: just to be seen, be looked at and admired. Appreciate them from a distance but don't get too close or you may be surprised, disappointed, or discouraged—because they are only temporary. They only appear on special occasions, dressed up and smiling when the season is right and the message is pleasing, the music is nostalgic, or they have something free they can take away with them (like ashes or palms). Don’t get me wrong—I am not being “judgy” but asking all of us to seek discernment about our own commitment in the faith. I am always happy to see visitors here at St. Aidan in the hope that I may be part of what will lure them back to the faith, or into the faith. I do ask myself though, and I’ll admit: where are they in the dark days of winter or the dry, hot and sunny days of summer? The original Christmas was real and a baptized believer should be solid in all seasons, consistent in their commitment in public and in private, under any circumstances or pressure—be they pandemic, politics or murder hornets. A baptized believer acts with grace, with kindness and mercy, forgiveness and love in word and deed. That kind of consistent action might help people to want to stay with us beyond Christmas… Today we are reminded of our own baptismal promises—not unlike any New Year resolutions we may have made—but there is a large difference—Christian resolutions are sacramental. They are a vow and a promise. We will dismantle the decorations for the Christmas Season and put them away until next year, but we are challenged to keep Christmas every day of the year. Christ has saved us by His birth because he came to die for us. There is so much more to the story than just the Nativity and the magic of the cradle story. Stick around and see; encourage visitors and others by your behaviors, acts, priorities and choices to come back…sooner than next year. We must fill ourselves with God’s grace and become solid in the eyes of the world. Keep singing in your hearts! Elizabeth Dyc Just a Note: For those of you who may not have seen the Adult Choir Virtual Christmas Project pieces, you may see them on line—a Christmas present for St. Aidan! All On a Starry Night: https://youtu.be/BQRo7eMsARQ Star of Wonder: https://youtu.be/vmN5IFtMzIA |
AuthorsDavid J. Conrad, M.A. Theology. Our Director of Faith Formation. Archives
April 2024
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St. Aidan Catholic Church
17500 Farmington Rd. Livonia, MI 48152 Phone: 734-425-5950 office@saintaidanlivonia.org Weekend Mass Schedule Saturday Vigil: 5:00 PM Sunday: 7:30, 9:30, 11:30 AM |