"Holding God in Consciousness"

 

No mind other than God’s can “hold God,” so what this phrase really means is “Keeping conscious of God,” or “keeping one’s mind on and in God.” I have borrowed the phrase from St. Paul’s Letter to the Christians in Rome, ch 1:28, which reads: “Since they did not hold God in consciousness, God gave them up to a base mind....” I am translating literally from the Greek.Using the mind in the movement to God was well developed in the Greek-speaking world long before the epiphany of Christ. Below I will quote from two Greek philosophers who lived roughly around 500 B.C., about a century before the death of Socrates, 500 years before Christ. These verses may give you some idea of the mental culture which the gospel of Christ encountered in the ancient world:

From Xenophanes (c. 530 B.C.)

“There is one God, among gods and men the greatest, not at all like mortals in body or in mind. He sees as a whole, thinks as whole, and hears as a whole. Without toil he sets everything in motion, by the thought of his mind.”

From Heracleitus of Ephesus (c. 500 B.C.)

“One must follow the Logos [reason], which is common to all. But although the Logos is universal, the many lives as if they had understanding peculiar to themselves.
“The sun is new every day.” “Asses prefer straw to gold.”
“How could anyone hide from that which never sets?”
“That which alone is wise is One; it is willing and unwilling to be called Zeus".
“You could not in your journey find the ends of the soul, though you travelled the whole way; so deep is its Logos.”
“I explored my soul.”
“Human nature has no power of understanding; but the divine nature has it"
“Without faith the divine escapes being known.”
“It is hard to fight against impulse; whatever it wants, it buys at the expense of soul.”
“To those who are awake, there is one ordered universe common to all, whereas in sleep each man turns away from this world into one of his own". “The Lord whose oracle is that at Delphi neither speaks nor conceals, but gives a sign.”
"The thinking faculty is common to all.”
“All human beings have the capacity to know themselves and to act in moderation.”

Finally, one from Socrates, killed by the Athenians in 399 B.C.

“The unexamined life is not worthy of a human being.”

Government Or No Government

 Sept. 6

Two extremes of thoughts are tangling in my mind this morning, neither of which I find admirable, both disturbing:  One is a kind of motto developed by the DNC, and used in their video:  "Government is the one thing we all belong to."  The other comes from a "liberal-libertarian" whose article I read this morning, arguing for the needlessness of having any government at all.  Two extremes, both have wide appeal, apparently. 

The second view, which is really anarchistic, probably comes to us from Ayn Rand, and as far as I can tell, leaves the weak and poor utterly at the mercy of the wealthy and powerful.  Private "insurance companies" would take the place of any "coercive government."  The view is propounded by a professor in Nevada, and it typifies what I think of intellectual pursuits in American universities (other than physical sciences):  in large part, brain-washing by ideologues, left or right, who seem divorced from reality.  I pity our students and young people.  Best advice I would have for someone going to college now: study a physical science or engineering, and keep as free as possible from all ideologically-inclined courses taught under the guise of "history," "liberal arts," "political science," "philosophy," and so on.  And that is most unfortunate, as the life of the mind suffers.  But the main casualty of our ideologically-drunk culture is the life of the mind, real thinking.

As for the slogan from the DNC, that "Government is the one thing we all belong to," it is nearly an inversion of our Founding principles:  "We the People" form a government, and are in principle superior to it.  Civil society precedes and overarches any and all governments.  On a popular level, the common in "the people" or "the country" was captured in JFK's  well-known phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."  (He did not say, "Government," nor did he tell folks to ask what Government can do for them.)  Here, we are all members of "the country," which has a government as a part of it, not as the whole; and government needs to defend the whole country, protect the weaker members from the strong, serve justice.  Or again, remember the classical understanding that nourished western thought for centuries, and is so unlike this Governmentalism heard at the DNC:  We all belong to the Whole, the universe; and participate in it with our bodies, souls, reason.  Not "government," but reason (logos) is the common (koinos) which all share--a view articulated 2500 years ago by Herakleitos of Ephesus. 

The claim that "Government is the one thing we all belong to" would be an ideological child of European "Democratic Socialism" from the late 19th century to the present.  It is based on the creed of Marx, but has dropped the call for violent revolution, and freezes the Marxist-Leninist stage of the "dictatorship of the Party" through government, not going on to Marx's goal of a "classless society" without any need for government.  In effect, this Democratic worldview is a more or less "benign" totalitarianism, in which the individual human being, and all non-governmental groups within society, are subservient to the "Government."  (And the "Government" is preferably controlled and dominated by one "Party," of course.)  This phenomenon was already analyzed by Nietzsche in the 1880's, who wrote about "the Idol State," and explained how degenerate Christianity, Socialism, and Democracy form the creed that creates a "herd mentality," making all subservient to the State.  Fascism, Soviet Communism, and National Socialism are all based on the same essential desire:  the individual and social units are subservient to the almighty, controlling, compelling, monopolistic Government.

So the liberal-libertarians want to dismantle the State, and at least the chosen spokesman for the Democrat Party (USA) seeks to elevate the Government / State as the one and only common reality to which we all belong.  I do not find such views "scary" (it is common now to find things "scary," as children do), but I find them disturbing, because these extremist views, detached from reality, have gained such a powerful grip in the consciousness of so many of our people.  "Age of ideology" indeed.  Common sense, with its grounding in reality, is increasingly eclipsed by ideological non-thinking. 

I must wonder, as I often have, if our country has not in reality become totalitarian, a way of life (or of death) developed mainly by men / women seeking power, and embodying their will to power in all-powerful institutions (mainly, Government).  What are political parties but means to get and to keep political power?  That is the foremost lesson of the recent party conventions.

Adult Faith Class on Romans

Why do I teach adult faith classes, and why do I think that they are significant for our parishes?

According to Catholic law and theology, a parish priest has three duties, listed in order of importance: teaching and preaching; celebrating the Sacraments; administration of parish properties. Preaching in the sense of proclaiming Christ is expected at every Eucharistic celebration. Teaching is the priest’s duty in his “care for souls,” in the effort to help ground human beings in the truth of Christ. Generally teaching our little ones is entrusted to worthy lay people in the parishes, who have a good grounding in their faith and desire to share that with our children. Adult education generally takes the form of initial instruction for non-Catholics who wish to enter our church (RCIA), and ongoing faith development, or mystagogy, for Catholicsseeking a deeper understanding of our common faith.

Regarding the significance of adult faith education, let me quote an exchange with a senior monsignor with whom I worked in Maryland. Parishes asked that I offer faith classes, but he refused to allow me, saying that “They are not needed. You learn your faith as a child.” As I said to the monsignor, “The faith you learn as a child is a child’s faith; it must grow.” It is that simple: Faith in God needs to grow into understanding, insight, wisdom, and ultimately, a more genuine love of God and of neighbor in God.

Our new class begins on 09 and 11 September at the times listed. After some thought, I have chosen to have us study together the New Testament letter often briefly called “Romans.” This letter is the longest and most developed presentation of the Apostle Paul’s understanding of our life in Christ. It justly can be called “the Gospel according to St. Paul.” Rather than present stories from the life of Jesus to flesh out the meaning of his death and Resurrection, the Apostle Paul explains the meaning of Christ for human life.

To enhance our understanding, I shall draw at times on Old Testament passages or from other letters of St. Paul, or from writings by Church fathers and theologians. But above all, we shall seek to read the text of “Romans” closely, and try to enter into its meaning and underlying spiritual experiences. Needless to say, we must proceed using not only reason, but the Spirit to help us understand this profound letter by the Apostle.

Please know that all adults and maturing younger people are invited to attend these sessions of our adult faith class.