HerbEly

Silence vs. Noise

    Thomas Keating quotes John of the Cross: “Silence is God’s first language. Every thing else is a translation." From this premise, one might conclude than to find God, one must retreat into a hermitage, Once there, one can be silent 24/7. This attitude is easily reinforced by the 2nd reading for Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006. The last sentance - James 1:27 reads:

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

If pure religion requires being unstained by the world, perhaps the best course of action is to avoid the world entirely. This leads to the spiritual practice known as contemptus mundi – contempt for the world.

On his audio CD publisher Gregory Pierce replies that a spirituality of silence alone won’t help him. With a publishing company, a family, and little leaguers in his care, he needs a spirituality that helps him find God in the midst of noise.

   A look at Sunday's gospel shows that the conflict is only an apparant one. From Mark 7:15-23  we read:

"..there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
…
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."

The context of this passage has to do with ancient Jewish dietary laws. However, a moment's reflection leads us to the recognition that there are many things in the outside world what can “go into us” through our senses and perceptions. It is not the outside world that is that is a problem. It is our reaction to the outside world that is the problem. When we react from any of the list of evil thoughts listed, we will be “ .. stained by the world.”

The question then becomes; how do we move from a state in which we react out “evil thoughts” to one in which we can respond to the world out of grace?

Spiritual Principles and Practices in Intelligence Work

Here is a working abstract for the paper that I've been asked to present at the Intelligence and Ethics 2007 conference in January.

Spirituality in the Intelligence workplace – just as in every workplace – starts with the premise that our work is creative and, in some sense, a service aimed at building a more just world. In the normal case, this spirituality improves the quality of our service through the practice of specific disciplines (e.g. striving for quality; dealing with imperfections, treating colleagues with dignity). In the abnormal (we hope) case, it requires challenging superiors to ensure that the intelligence community is true to its purpose. In every case, it requires developing the faculty of discernment – intuitively knowing “the next right thing” to be done. While acquiring this faculty is ultimately a matter of personal development, it can be assisted through a program of mentoring, counseling, and training in professional skills and ethics.

Comments are invited.

Lay Ecclesial Movements and the New Clericalism

America magazine has two articles about apostolic movements (also called lay associations) and their relationships with parish life. (Lay movements include

• Cursillo
• Worldwide Marriage Encounter
• Communion and Liberation
• Charismatic Renewal
• Community of Saint ‘Egidio

Both articles assess their contributions and their tensions with parish life.

    Not discussed, but I think related, is what writer Russell Shaw calls the “new clericalism” and the institutional church’s attitude toward the role of the laity.

Shaggy Dog in Church Story

This item about how Transcendental Mediation Lessens Brain's Pain Response reminded me of the story about the Zen monk who visited a dentist.

"Would you like a shot of Novacaine?"

"No, I know how to transcend dental medicaiton."

Cursillo is Returning to Central Virgnia

Upon our return from vacation, I am delighted to learn that two of our good friends will be directors of Valley Cursillo. If you are a Central Virginia Cursillista, or would like to learn more about Cursillo, please check their website. Even after ~25 years, the lessons I learned in this "short course" in Christianity shape my responses to daily life. God bless you Fran and Marshall.

“God as We Understand Him” (Her)

    Yesterday I got into a conversation on images of God and how the affect our spiritual lives. Characteristically, I came down on both sides of the fence.
    On the one side I think that it is a mistake to insist on a particular image of God at the beginning of a spiritual journey. There is wisdom in being able to start by committing oneself to “God as I understand him.” It allows one to get started without having to first accept or reject distorted ideas that may have been picked up in childhood. The prime example, of course, is “You better behave or God is going to punish you.” If we insist that a spiritual directee get the image right at the very beginning, we can lose before we start.
    On the other side we can make progress by paying attention to the images of God as expressed by some of the greatest biblical texts. Here are some texts depicting God as a loving father (no surprise in that one); a loving mother; and a passionately loving spouse. The links are to New International Version at Bible Gateway. (This is a great tool. You can click on the center icon to see a whole chapter and can compare translations.)

Rabbi Boteach on Duke Lacrosse

Rabbi Smuley Boteach doesn't know what happened in the alleged rape of a stripper by members of the Duke Lacrosse team. His Beliefnet column has some pointed comments:

Because no one knows what really happened that night, anything I write below is purely speculative. But what is certain is that a bunch of drunken college boys at an elite university hired an exotic dancer as a way of entertaining themselves. And I am, unfortunately, used to scenes like that with male students. You see, I served for 11 years as rabbi at another elite university, Oxford, and witnessed firsthand the growing misogyny that has become a central staple of university life.

…
It is time for the Western world to accept the sad truth that universities are becoming bastions of female-hating lechers who spend four years trying to bed as many women as possible, while making the word “bitch” one of the most used in their vocabularies. Tom Wolfe’s newest novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chronicles the unbelievable scorn for women that permeates the American campus, and depicts how women have lost all dignity, becoming complicit in their own degradation, as they stop at nothing to become the male plaything.

He then makes a startling suggestion:

Male overexposure to women has even led to the death of the heterosexual man as we know him. If the definition of a heterosexual man is a male who is attracted to women, then most men today are barely heterosexual.

Think about it. Nearly all the men I know are only attracted to about one in 10 women, that is, the 10 percent of women they consider "hot." The other 90 percent leave them cold. Doesn’t that mean that they are ninety percent asexual? And I’m not trying to be funny. If a man is not attracted to a woman, then he is not heterosexual. Period. And if he only attracted to a small fraction of the women he meets, then he is fractionally heterosexual.

The second great tragedy of the contemporary Western man is that since women no longer strongly attract him, he cannot separate himself from his male buddies and truly attach himself to a female soul mate. Everywhere I go in the Western world I meet husbands whose real confidantes are still their drinking and card-playing buddies, and who are lonely in their marriages as a result. Alternatively, they are single men who are addicted to dating but who never fall in love.

I could ask precisely what he means by "attracted to a woman". Presumable there are a wide range of attractions. Still, he has a point.

Book Review: On-the-Job-Prayers

    Ellen Wulfhort’s story on “workaholism” prompted me to write this short review of William D. Thomson’s On-The-Job Prayers. Small enough to be tucked in a briefcase, glove compartment, toolbox, or top center desk drawer, this book has one hundred brief reflections on spirituality of work, a quote from scripture, and a short prayer. Each page can be read as a meditation in less time than needed for a coffee break. The index provides quick references for work related issues such as “Monday mornings,” happiness,” and “excellence.”
    Later this weekend, I plan a post on how work can be an addiction and a spiritual path to finding balance on one’s life.  For now, here is an extract

Lay Ministry: Bishops Shoot Selves in Other Foot

    The Bishops unintentionally shot themselves in the foot when they published their document on Lay Ministry. By focusing on the ministry laity perform inside the parish, the bishops ignored parishioners who hear the words of the dismissal:

"Let us go forth in joy to love and serve the Lord."

and return to their homes, jobs and communities for the coming week. From this perspective, at least 99 percent of lay ministry is done outside the ecclesial structure. The document Coworkers in the Vineyard of the Lord is subtitled "A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry."
    Now it appears that the Bishops have shot themselves in the other foot by insulting the work of the 99%. In this WaPo story on the Bishop’s effort to foster religious vocations. Mishelle Boorstein writes:   

"Fishers of Men," a 20-minute video released this month by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, presents priests as handsome and heroic, appearing in scenes of war and civil rights marches that are contrasted with the image of bored-looking people riding an escalator to meaningless jobs.

Are the Bishops really recruiting young people by saying “Be happy. Don’t go out and do the same meaningless, boring jobs as your parents”?

Bloodless Child Sacrifice

    As we sat in church Sunday morning and heard story of Abraham and Isaac many of us wondered: "What kind of God would ask a father to take a knife and sacrifice his own son?" Good question – one which most homilists avoid. If we place the question in a modern context and interpret the word sacrifice broadly, we find that the gods we now serve are deceptive and harsher than Abraham’s God.

    Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College has posted Soren Kierkegaard’s magnificent Panegyric on Abraham Any serious reflection on Abraham and Isaac should start there. Suffice it to say 1) that child sacrifice was a custom in he ancient Middle East; 2) that Abraham was trusting a God who had promised and performed miracles over seven decades of Abraham’s life; and 3) that his story would make him the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

    As the husband and father of teachers, I hear many stories about children and their parents. Many of these are stories about children who are hostile and unmotivated. Teachers quickly learn that the classroom behavior reflects the previous night’s experience at home. Children do not become angry, tired or upset just from stepping into the classroom. They carry these attitudes from home.

    Parents do not, as a rule, deliberately send a child to school angry, tired or upset. They overlook a child’s needs because they are preoccupied serving some other purpose. This may be job, career, power, pleasure, possession of great wealth or some other form of perceived satisfaction. When purposes such as these interfere with a parent’s primary responsibility they become what St. Ignatius called “inordinate attachments”.  The late psychologist addressed the deceptive and powerful course of attachments in his book Addiction and Grace.

    Parents can easily rationalize ignoring a child’s needs by saying to themselves that some sacrifices have to be made in order to meet a deadline or serve a client. The promises of power, pleasure and possession are deceptive. Many of them never know that they are bloodlessly sacrificing thier children's future on the altar of success.

    Teachers do not know what concerns are driving a parent’s behavior. They only know that the challenge of teaching an ill-prepared child.

    Abraham took Isaac up Mount Moriah knowing what he had to do and trusting that Yahweh would somehow make good on His promise. Abraham knew what he was about to do. Parents serving the gods of career, power or other attachments do not consciously know that they are sacrificing their children’s futures. If they do realize it, the language of dedication and service will help them to rationalize. The gods of success, power, and prestige, however make false and deceptive promises. In their language sacrifice is a good thing.

    The story of Abraham still horrifies us after three millennia. As a reward for his faith Abraham was able to keep Isaac and received this blessing.

I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Gen 22:17-18)

The gods of this world offer much, but their promises are deceptive and in the end, they can't deliver.