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Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Readings: Acts 20:17-27 Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21 John 17:1-11

I am in the world no longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. [John 17:11]

Shakespeare ‘penned’ the phrase quoted above. I didn’t understand it as a student of Shakespeare in high school but I began to understand it when I waved goodbye to my family as I sailed off to Italy on September 21, 1963 for a three-year stretch in Rome. In fact, it has multiple meanings and applications that I appreciate now more than ever before.

There is another phrase that perhaps gives credence to my thoughts so poorly expressed and it’s this: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Ah, that’s it. At times we need to separate from ‘the source’ in order to appreciate how important it is to stay connected.

The farewell speech of St. Paul in Acts and the farewell ‘prayer’ of Jesus in John’s gospel were more likely composed by the authors of these texts along the lines of the farewell speeches of great leaders of their times in order to attract the attention of Jesus’ followers.

The departure of Jesus and later that of Paul created ‘fallow’ time in the hearts of the neophyte believers that was absolutely necessary if they were to grasp the significance of Jesus’ message and the teachings of St. Paul.

We are once again in ‘fallow’ time as we prepare for Pentecost. It’s a time of discernment during which we are invited to ponder the words and deeds of Jesus so that in his absence, we may come to know his presence in the Spirit that remains within us and around us.

As we ponder, it is important to reflect on the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and reverence of the Lord. And the fruits of the Holy Spirit are qualities that are characteristic of a community living in Christ: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty self-control and chastity.

There is much to ponder as we wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Unsolicited Advice...

Thursday November 16, 2006

ARCC spot LIGHT commentary on current issues in the Church provided by the ARCC (Association For the Rights of Catholics in the Church) Publications Committee, R. Schutzius, ed.

Unsolicited Advice to the Bishops

The United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is meeting now in D.C. and it is rumored that a change in priorities is on the agenda. Who would question the wisdom of this? Not that this would ever occur, but suppose, just suppose, that you had 15 minutes to deliver a layperson’s perspective on this project and could give some advice. Here a few thoughts that ARCC would offer:
____________________________________

Dear Bishops,

1. You asked for this job, you worked and prayed for it, and you got it. Now live with it. Don’t moan and groan about the difficulties and criticisms involved. They are part of the job.

2. You owe your people an explanation for the decisions that stem from your own personal convictions. Reference to authority is not enough. As Pope Benedict XVI said at Regensburg, Faith and Reason go hand in hand. If you
cannot support your decisions by reason and common sense, there is a good chance you are wrong.

3. Always make it a point to consult with your people in the pews (not just your hand-picked consultants). Know the sensus fidelium (opinion of the faithful). You cannot teach us, if you don’t know what we know or do not know, or how we are thinking. The Spirit speaks to all of us. It is also important that we know that you have asked, and heard what we have to say.

4. You are spiritual leaders, not political, not financial, not military, or psychological, but spiritual leaders. You should know about these things as we do, but lead us spiritually and trust us to respond according to our expertise. If you were not such legal owners/managers/controllers of our Churches you would have less fear and be better able to provide due process.

5. Respect is due your office, but as persons you must earn respect like everyone else. Respect your people and their willingness, qualifications, and intention to help.

6. If you are open and accountable, we will respond.

And here’s a meaningful postscript from Eileen DiFranco, also unsolicited, I’m sure:

My father, a humble man with a high school education, had this inborn “hypocrite meter” that went off every time someone in the church or the political arena did something that didn’t jive with his/her words. One of his favorite anti-hypocrite quotes was, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

I thought about my father’s words after my experience this weekend in Baltimore at the bishops’ convention where the self-defined servants of the Suffering Servant checked into their plush quarters at the Waterfront Marriott prior to their excursion to the Basilica of the Assumption accompanied by armed police officers on motorcycles. At the basilica, men who fully expect women to be willing to die in childbirth or from HIV-AIDS rather than protect themselves with a condom, were surrounded by layers and layers of armed guards in jack boots who were removed from the impoverished Baltimore neighborhoods to protect the bishops from a group of 20 peaceful demonstrators. There were even armed snipers on the roof of the basilica. The cloaked and saber carrying Knights of Columbus provided an additional layer of protection. Only the French Foreign Legion was missing.

The bishops then spent a whirlwind two days doing what the average man will admit doing – thinking about sex. Like a starvation victim who dreams of hot crossed buns, the bishops spent the bulk of their time perseverating on when and how people have sex. The most obvious omission in this sex obsessed meeting was discussion about sex within the ranks of a celibate clergy. Since they don’t understand their own sexuality, it is not surprising that their pontifications about married and homosexual sex bears little resemblance to the lived experiences of people in those groups.

The bishops are concerned about the ubiquitousness of sex in the secular society and then go on in the next sentence to reduce the whole of married life to sexual relations. I think that they believe that all married people ever do is have sex. Maybe for a bunch of celibates, marriage might seem to be all about sex, but for married people it’s sex and a whole lot more. At the end of the day, it’s the whole lot more that prevents the end of the marriage.

Then, in a breathtaking statement of profound ignorance, the bishops reduce the marriages of those who use artificial contraception to “casual sex,” as if the long, hard years of working out the many problems associated with intimate relationships are the same as meeting up with a prostitute on the street corner.

The ignorance and cruelty continues in their discussion of homosexuality when the bishops place the unwanted burden of life long celibacy upon gay people, a burden which, according to Richard Sipe, few clerics have been able to bear. The bishops also put gay people back into the farthest reaches of the closet, expecting them to hide what God made them to be, denying them authenticity and personal autonomy. By labeling gay people disordered, they give tacit permission for God fearing, Eucharist receiving people to attack and otherwise malign God’s holy children.

>From the comfort of the Marriott and the opulence of their episcopal mansions, amidst lawyers, insurance companies, public relations firms, wearing vestments and other accoutrements that collectively cost thousands of dollars, the bishops admit that their sayings are hard. Meanwhile, the really hard sayings of Jesus, the ones that have nothing to do with sex and affect the entire human race, are blissfully ignored.

My father must be ringing his hypocrite meter from heaven.

Eileen DiFranco