Weekly Reading (9/17-9/23)

"Are You Entitled to Food, Housing & Healthcare? Examining the Role of Government and the Public Order"
Meghan Clark, Political Theology

"A death at Gitmo"
Marc Falkoff, Los Angeles Times

"Benedict XVI in Lebanon: Encouraging Us to be Children Again"
Joshua Genig, First Things

"St. John Chrysostom and What We Really Don’t Want to Hear"
Holly Taylor-Coolman, Catholic Moral Theology

"Makers vs. Takers"
Anna Williams, First Things

"Learning To Fly", Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

So I started out for God knows where; I guess I'll know when I get there.

Life, faith, trust, love ... all of it is a journey without a set route or destination. It's part of the beauty of existence. And "Learning To Fly" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is the perfect soundtrack for journeys of all kinds.

"Life unfolds as it should. Stop and enjoy the process ... that is why you are here, that is why you were created."

Check out this song on Wikipedia, YouTube, or Amazon.

Embracing Trust

My wife and I are flying to Kansas tomorrow. She has a job interview; I'm going along for moral support. Up until the last few years, I enjoyed flying. It was adventurous and exotic. Somewhere along the way, however, I turned into a "white-knuckle flyer." (On my last flight, I couldn't stop saying "Hail Marys.") I know that statistically I have more to fear from the car ride to LAX than the flight itself, but emotions don't always behave rationally. Besides, the odds of winning the lottery suck too, but someone wins.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, my fear of flying is a manifestation of much larger fears about a vocation that constantly challenges me to surrender control of my life and trust completely in God's plan. I am called to share a revelation that I cannot make anyone believe, or even read. It's entirely possible that I am only supposed to plant a seed that will never sprout in my lifetime. As I have embraced my vocation more and more in the last few years, all that fear had to go somewhere. What activity demands surrendering control and placing trust in someone you've never met more than air travel?

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I'm not alone in this situation. The reality is that we have far less control over life than we would like to think. We can allow this unpredictability to paralyze us, or we can trust that the chaos does make sense somehow. There is a reason human beings keep coming back to religion.

So tomorrow will be an exercise in trust. But I may say a few "Hail Marys" too!

Weekly Reading (9/10-9/16)

"Pope's trip showcases another face of the Middle East"
John Allen, National Catholic Reporter

"Sleeping through genocide?"
Kevin Clarke, U.S. Catholic

"Can 'respect, sensitivity, and compassion' go with 'instrinsic disorder' when it comes to gay Catholics?"
Bryan Cones, U.S. Catholic

"The Disappearing Great Plains Blues"
Russell Saltzman, First Things

"I Want to Be Dependent"
Matthew Shadle, Catholic Moral Theology

"Live Like We're Dying", Kris Allen

Yesterday, The Huffington Post gave us a tragic example of of how YOLO is used in all the wrong ways. Kris Allen's "Live Like We're Dying" gets it right:

... How come we don’t say I love you enough till it’s too late?

... Our hearts are hungry for a food that won’t come. And we could make a feast from these crumbs.

... If your plane fell out of the skies, who would you call with your last goodbye? Should be so careful who we left out of our lives.

... You never see a crash till it’s head on. Why do we think we’re right when we’re dead wrong? You never know a good thing till it’s gone.

... We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to turn it all around or to throw it all away. Gotta tell them that we love them while we got the chance to say. Gotta live like we’re dying.

Life is short and unpredictable. If what you're doing isn't about love, then what the hell is the point?

Check out this song on Wikipedia, YouTube, or Amazon.