Hope Against Darkness, et al.

I recently finished reading a book for my theology class, entitled Hope Against Darkness, The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety, by Richard Rohr, and it was a very good book for me to have read. I learned a lot of new concepts from the book. I just wanted to name a few important ones.

There were a couple of things that paralleled things that I had already come to realize. Rohr describes two basic ways of behavior: fight or flight. He suggests that there is a third way (the way Jesus exemplifies) called compassionate knowing. This seems to me to be very similar to the idea behind my "man of peace" blog. He also said that "the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better," which of course goes right along with the "world transformation through self transformation" thought I've discussed before. So that was cool.

But he also challenged me to growth in a very important way. One of the topics that he came back to several times throughout the book was that both liberals and conservatives are flawed in their worldviews. Obviously, his critique on liberals is what had an effect on me. He described how liberals, while very accepting of the broadness of humanity, have trouble acknowledging the vertical dimension of God. This translates to my experience because of my inclination to think in terms of social justice, often without the openness to God through prayer (which I do desire) to go along with it. (and conservatives exhibit the opposite phenomenon, if you were wondering) He also pointed out how critical liberals are of society, esp. authority figures. It just gave me something to think about. How critical am I? Of whom? I think I want to break that habit of being overly critical/sarcastic.

I also went to a Social Justice Night at SLU a couple weeks ago where Jim Wallis spoke on the topic of religion and politics. He stressed that God is not a republican or a democrat. I might post more on what I learned from that night later, but basically I am feeling challenged/called to not define myself so much as a liberal. I need to look at each issue separately, but through the lens of my faith, more than any political group. Most of my opinions will probably still end up being generally liberal, though.

Also, in theology class, I learned something new about Jesus. We read the first chapter of Meeting Jesus Again, a book I now want to read the rest of. It reinforces the human nature of Jesus. I had never fully realized or accepted how much Jesus limited himself when He became Incarnate. That he wasn't aware that he was the Messiah. It is still a very new perspective for me, so I have to reflect on it more before I can write more on it.

I also read an article about the celibacy of the clergy (reading ahead in theology class). It described how this vow allows a priest or sister to reform and redirect their sexuality so that when relating with other people, they are able to take a genuine and complete interest in that person in a very unarming, comforting, and loving way. So that led me to, one, appreciate the vow of celibacy a lot more, and two, reevaluate my own chastity (which I see as a single layperson's celibacy) to see how I can try to develop and grow in my ability to relate to people in this way. And that wouldn't have to end with marriage.

Speaking of vocations, with the hecticness of the schoolyear and with what I've been studying in my Modern Euro class about Protestantism, I am realizing that I need to gain a better understanding of the fundamental function and purpose of a priest before I can consider the priesthood. So I'll be working to educate myself. Pray for me as I go through these faith-strengthening doubts!