Sunday, September 30, 2012

Honestly! - Part One

 *Honest = honorable in principles, intentions, and actions, upright and fair
Spirituality = how you live your life in relationship to, how you understand your higher power

            So, just how honest are you? No, not with all those other people, just how honest are you with you? Just how well do you live a life that is in line with your spiritual beliefs? How consistent are you in practice? Are you comfortable in your own skin? If you didn’t respond with a resounding “VERY WELL” then please read on.

Many people have difficulties, or challenges that stem from their spirituality, or their lack of a practiced spirituality. Unfortunately, most people don’t even realize that the feeling they have of imbalance in life is very much in tune to the way they live their lives. One example may be; a man and woman are living together outside of marriage, one or the other or even both may have a conflict within themselves that causes conflict in the relationship. I use this example only due to its commonality. Their personal ethical, moral, or religious ideals do not reflect the life that they desire or believe they should be living. The solution then is to resolve the conflict between how they are living their lives and how they perceive their lives should be lived. They will have to make a physical, emotional and spiritual decision as to how they will bring their current situation into balance. These are hard decisions to make; but before they can make a confident decision that will affect not only their life but the lives of their family and friends, they need to fully understand themselves and their God.  Bringing your spiritual life in concert with your physical life can help with these decisions and bring tremendous peace into your existence.
The first key, as simple as it sounds, is to understand your God or, if you desire, your higher power. A person may believe that their God is a good and kind God, but then they ask God “why have you given me this pain to deal with”. They may not even realize that this is a conflict within their own understanding of God and it is causing them the emotional imbalance that they are currently experiencing. It is not God that is causing their pain, but conceivably it is simply the environment that they live in. How well do you take care of yourself? What kind of people do you associate with? What is the environment in your neighborhood, or your employ? Or it could be because of the decisions they have made in the past. You can’t change the past, but you can certainly shape the future.
            The next key is to understand you, and this is probably the most difficult. Can you honestly answer this; what kind of person am I? Now, can you answer this question in detail? For instance; when you are in traffic do you act as politely to the person that cut you off as you do when you’re with family? Are you as kind at home as you are when dealing with business partners or old friends? Is your God with you at all times, or just when it’s convenient? These could be the personal questions that you need to come to a conclusive understanding of. But indeed, you need to come to a conclusive understanding of yourself. The better you understand yourself and your tendencies the better you can react to all the different challenges that life will bring about. The better prepared you will be to not make the same mistakes again and again.
Remember God does not cause us pain. Sin, pain and death came into this world through the sin of Adam. These anxieties or pains can be caused by ourselves or at least by our environment, our entire environment, where we live, the people we associate ourselves with etc. And of course sometimes events just happen; unfortunate circumstances in many cases simply cannot be avoided. How we react depends in part to how we live and comprehend our existence in our relationship with our God. This requires an internal evaluation of who we are, who we really are. Not the ideal we wish for, but the true person that engages others in our everyday lives. This also requires the study of what each individual calls God. In order to live a life that is spirituality honest, you must first understand your God.
This is a brief illustration of being honest with ourselves in our Spirituality. By understanding who you are as a person and what you believe in, you can live a more peaceful and a exceedingly balanced life. Understanding yourself, your beliefs and how they work together is the key to finding a consistently happy life. You are an evolving being, as a lump of clay can be shaped into a fine vase; you too can shape your lived life and your spiritual life to be one in the same.  This is approximately one page of text that will inevitably lead to a lifetime of soul searching. Take your time; be honest with yourself and with others. Oh, and remember to smile as often as possible.
           
*Dictionary.com
By David E.Gonzales

Friday, September 28, 2012

To profane or… (non-religious)

           I have decided to dedicate myself to creating environmentally safe eye and ear zones. Yes, that means actually taking the time to properly articulate an idea or emotion instead of resorting to the use of “shock” terminology. Mind you I have no intention of trying to change the world into following me on my path to spiritual constancy. Only that I am on a personal mission to be a better me. I realize that it is simply easier to use profanity to express oneself than to stop and think through an idea or emotion. For me, this will include not using punctuation in place of foul language or a combination of letters and punctuation to press forward the idea of words that are less than socially proper.

I don’t believe this will be that difficult to accomplish since my propensity to use this type of language is minimal. However, I have been known to allow an occasional word of this nature to land on the ears of an un-expecting soul. It is this that I wish to eliminate from my personal inconsistencies. I do expect that the elimination of soft profanity will be a slightly more difficult to achieve. While some words are not necessarily considered profane, they do lead one to consider them in terms that are coarser than the word itself denotes. Of course this would depend on the context that the word is used.

So while I ask that others respect my desire to keep clear my eyes and ears of less than well articulated speech, I will continue to respect your freedom of speech as long as it is not a deliberate attempt to offend me. Of course, you are welcome to join me in my quest for spiritual constancy.

May peace be with you, along with your ears and eyes.

by David E.Gonzales

Caritas through Church

          Caritas* through Church this is how we, Christians, live our faith; it is our expressed relationship with God. We have been commanded by God, through Christ, to take care of one another without judgment or for reciprocation. God is love, therefore, acts of love are the purest way for us to relate to God and the purest acts of love are acts of charity. Love is not just some heartfelt utterance but is instead a word of action.

In the early days of Judaism, the people were set upon to take care of their own people. All others were to be, at the very least, avoided. Even if a gentile should convert to the Jewish faith they were still considered as second class within the community. Jesus brought a sense of charity to a new level of consciousness. He insisted that the Jewish people, and in fact all people, should treat each other with this sense of caritas. That all peoples are the people of the one true God and are included in God’s plan for us, his people. Christ made this call to charity, personal. In fact, at no place in The Bible is there a call for centralized charity. In this I mean there is no call to government** implemented charity, no call for a forced financial equalization of all people to end poverty. The Church as an organized group for the purpose of charitable works is a truly expressed relational connection with our God through Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The call of our Christ is a personal call for humanity to enact caritas. For example in Matthew it is written, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me”. (Matt. 25; 40) Even more revealing is how Jesus reiterates this teaching a mere five verses later, “Amen I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me”. (Matt. 25; 45) I believe is done so that we, his people, do not evade responsibility by turning charity into a bureaucracy. Matthew 25; 31-46 is for me one of the most telling teachings of our Christ. In this teaching our Christ spells out that we have a duty to maintain our salvation through caritas. Not only is there a benefit to this action but a detriment if we don’t. Evil does not take prisoners, but instead takes volunteers. Evil has no problem with a good intention today for the price of soul tomorrow. Imagine the world as a whole that hands over its gift of salvation. As the public perception of a giving government continues to grow, the growth of atheism also continues. The Church is being progressively seen as an obstacle within the daily lives of her members. After all, what do you need the Church for if the government is supplying you with supplements to your life? The Church then becomes but “a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal”. (1 Cor 13; 1b) Another way to express is to say- “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth”. (1 John 3:18,)

The teaching of social justice including the government in the definition of “institutions” is extended beyond its creative intent. There is a need to separate “social justice” from “charity” the line between them should not be blurred. If separated, social justice would then be leaning strongly to the “laws” of society, while charity would lean just as strongly toward the works of caritas. I understand that there will always be some overlap in the application of these two teachings, but the overlap needs to be contained. “It grows increasingly true that the obligations of justice and love are fulfilled only if each person, contributing to the common good, according to his own abilities and the needs of others, also promotes and assists the public and private institutions dedicated to bettering the conditions of human life”.3  In this quote from Gaudiem et Spes justice and love are listed as two separate entities. While they work together in union for the greater good of mankind, they remain unique in their actions and purpose.  The words “also promotes” indicates that personal involvement in caritas is our first, and therefore, our most essential action in our commandment to serve. While this most certainly does not eliminate public institutions from charity, it does put it forward as a second alternative to the works of the Church. “Citizens, for their part, either individually or collectively, must be careful not to attribute excessive power to public authority, not to make exaggerated and untimely demands upon it in their own interests, lessening in this way the responsible role of persons, families and social groups”.4

The Eucharist is the” source and summit” (CCC-1324) and the “sum and summary” (CCC-1327) of our faith, and will always be so. However, “above all, charity ‘binds everything together in perfect harmony’”. (CCC-815) Christ gave his life for us; caritas is how we give life to his sacrifice. It is how we return his love for us. The call of Christ to love God with all our hearts is the call to caritas. This brings our faith into the perspective that is our life. Caritas is how we are to live our faith, it is how we are to love God, and it is how we are to follow the commandments of our Christ. “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (MK 12:29-31) Loving our neighbor as ourselves is loving our God! Here the words love and caritas can be looked upon as one and the same. How we treat each other in our daily lives define us as Christians that actively live the Gospels, or instead, as a group of Sunday Christians acting in love for the benefit of ourselves. “Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example.” [CCC 459] This is the way we love God: through the treatment of all Gods’ children. Brother, sister, friend and foe, we can make no exception to whom we serve. We must offer ourselves for the benefit of others as Jesus our Christ offered himself for us. We do these works and we pray for the veil of ignorance to be lifted from the eyes of those who have yet to see. We pray that all may hear, see, and feel the true love of our Father. We pray that all will come to him with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the strength to follow in his sons’ example.

 “Our’ bread is the ‘one’ loaf for the ‘many.’ In the Beatitudes ‘poverty’ is the virtue of sharing: it calls us to communicate and share both material and spiritual goods, not by coercion but out of love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs of others”.  [CCC-2833] the phrase “not by coercion but out of love” Is stated here for guidance and clarity, to keep us on the right path of caritas through the Church and to not allow us to get lazy in our efforts to follow the law of love. This furthers the idea of Christ’s teaching that caritas is not something that can be forced upon anyone, it must be a personal choice to give and not a governmental idea of social justice that implements a Robin Hood style of financial equality. Should the Church be calling out to the government to budget charity? Many say yes to this, claiming that is the only humanitarian thing to do. But is it really?  To use government to consolidate resources is to pass the buck of responsibly for us to care for each other. If you level the playing field to all the populace then you will more than likely have a world equal in poverty. I believe this would only create great competition for the limited recourses available.

Yes, government has a role in providing for those in need, it is not, however, the answer to the problem of the poor. I would indicate that the poor is not a problem, but instead a mission. Indeed the mission of humanity.

The government’s focus in charity should be primarily;
1) To not establish hurdles that hinder charity, either financially or physically.
2) To make clear the path for charitable institutions especially in the international community.
3) To make available it’s extraordinary recourses in the event of a natural disaster.   
The Church should have her plan in the instance of natural disaster, to be ready to assist with
International aid, in conjunction with the government, in an as organized a manner as possible.

                     “Love - Caritas will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbor is indispensable. The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person - every person - needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: she is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their soul, something which often is even more necessary than material support. In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread alone’ – a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human”.2

The first two sentences in this excerpt from the Holy Father say much of our need to be active in charity through the Church. Government institutions simply cannot supply through hand outs the needs of the poor. It is a task that cannot be accomplished without the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. To attempt to tackle the task of caring for the needy is too daunting a task to attempt simply as human beings. Our Christ stated that, “the poor you will always have with you;” (Matt 26; 11a), it is necessary for the Church to always be strongly active in caritas. It is essential for the survival of the Church to not let the governments of the world be allowed to replace the Church as the first in caritas. Part two of Deus Caritas Est is filled with the call for the church, her people at all levels of order, to be pursuant with the teachings of our Christ in this most important commandment.: to love one another. The state would absorb everything including the freedoms that we have come enjoy, and perhaps, now take for granted. The state would become out of necessity, increasingly dictating, in order to maintain order and conserve resources.

The single biggest divide in the Church today is whether or not, or perhaps how much, the government should be engaged in charity. Those who see themselves as progressives seem to think that the governments can, with the stroke of a pen, eliminate poverty. I strongly disagree. The government has no source of income other than that of taxes, the forced taking of income from any or all, to redistribute to those that they deem qualified. This is done without taking into consideration the probity of the action, instead considering only the legal necessity, guidelines and/or the political advantage. To propose that government can eliminate poverty in this manner, I believe is a fallacy and should be refuted.


There have been many writings on the correlation between happiness and works of charity; I am not going to explore the physiological angles within this opinion.

I have written these words as I sense have been guided by the Holy Spirit. I do believe that this has been written in truth and are words that the Spirit wishes to have spoken. I hope and pray that this paper will bring about discussion within and throughout the Church as a whole, and in doing so will bring about at least some unification in the division that exists in the Church today.

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* Encyclopedia Britannica (on-line edition)
Encyclopedia

Charity

in Christian thought, the highest form of love, signifying the reciprocal love between God and man that is made manifest in unselfish love of one's fellow men. St. Paul's classical description of charity is found in the New Testament(I Cor. 13). In Christian theology and ethics, charity (a translation of the Greek word agape, also meaning "love") is most eloquently shown in the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ. St. Augustine summarized much of Christian thought about charity when he wrote: "Charity is a virtue which, when our affections are perfectly ordered, unites us to God, for by it we love him." Using this definition and others from the Christian tradition, the medieval theologians, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, placed charity in the context of the other Christian virtues and specified its role as "the foundation or root" of them all

** meaning all levels of government.

references:
1 = All references to biblical scripture by this author is from the NABRE
2 = Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI
3 = Gaudiem et Spes, #30
4 = Gaudiem et Spes, #75
CCC = Catechism of the Catholic Church

by David E.Gonzales
All rights reserved