Christmas reflection

"It might be easy to run away to a monastery, away from the commercialization, the hectic hustle, the demanding family responsibilities of Christmas-time. Then we would have a holy Christmas. But we would forget the lesson of the Incarnation, of the enfleshing of God—the lesson that we who are followers of Jesus do not run from the secular; rather we try to transform it. It is our mission to make holy the secular aspects of Christmas just as the early Christians baptized the Christmas tree. And we do this by being holy people—kind, patient, generous, loving, laughing people—no matter how maddening is the Christmas rush…"

- Fr. Andrew Greeley

May you receive abundant blessings this Christmas and may God hold you in the palm of his hand during the coming year.

Bro. James

Jeremy Casella's album "Recovery"

Here's some info about an album I discovered and bought recently thanks to christianitytoday.com (it made #4 in their top 10 albums of the year list):

http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2007/rcvry.html (their original 5-star review)

Jeremy Casella - "Recovery" (available on iTunes) = currently unsigned American artist after his label shelved his previous album (with lots of big name guest artists) never to release it. If it's half as good as this one it would certainly be worth getting and be much better than much of the relatively uninspired Christian MOR that trots out in the US on a daily basis.

"Recovery, a richly textured stunner that combines acoustic guitar, atmospheric keyboards, and drum programming with warm strings and horns. To say there's nothing quite like Casella in the Christian music landscape is an understatement, and that's part of why we find the album so captivating. Naturally, the other component is the poetic writing, which explores the tension between despair ("Distress Signal," "Hypocrisy #785") and hope ("Daylight," "Recovery") while wrestling with the role of faith in this everyday tug-of-war; not too unlike the Psalms, which "The Curse" clearly takes inspiration from. It's a hauntingly beautiful album to say the least—one that's sure to attract the attention of more progressive record labels mindful of the deeper artistic wells to be found in contemporary Christian music." - http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/reviews/2007/2007bestof.html

The last track, "Hand Of God", one of the most beautiful things I've heard in a long while (with a gorgeous instrumental outro). As a whole the album is pretty upbeat with a folk/orchestral/electronica sound that's really pleasing (a bit like David Gray on a good day). Great songs with beautiful, heartfelt lyrics. Can't stop playing the whole album at the mo.

See this "Making Of.." video on his web site that gives you clips of much of the album's songs with interviews (Casella himself - nice bloke, the album's producer, etc...).

For anyone who has been owned by a cat!

This wonderful little cartoon certainly cheered me up when it dropped into my Inbox. Reminds me so much of our old cat Tigger who slept on my bed most nights for about 10 years. Hmmm, yes, I think I needed to chill out a bit (you're right HolyFamoley).

Some righteous anger?

Back to that blog debate with an atheist... the other day it got to the point where I'd had enough of being polite and reasonable. I boiled over when a particular person used a very offensive word to describe myself and another catholic. This was after having had a very amicable, friendly discussion with another atheist, so don't think I've got it in for non-believers!! :-)

Anyway, this was my reply, not that I'm necessarily proud of the tone of what I say, it does nevertheless address perhaps better than I have managed to do before some of the issues I get challenged with when in discussion with non-believers.

See here for the complete discussion thread.

******************

"Yes OF COURSE the Church has throughout the centuries contained people who've got it badly wrong, committed atrocities even. WE CHRISTIANS ARE HUMAN BEINGS, for heaven's sake, not robots... imperfect, at times weak, forever sinners in need of conversion. Get over it!! And believe you me, we in my family know all about such matters... and yes, at times I feel tremendous anger towards those responsible. And yet I still believe in a loving God?? Madness, sheer madness.

But you know what? I am SO HAPPY in my madness in often makes me cry. My life as a Catholic and as a Brother has given me so much through so many wonderful people and experiences. I now see so much goodness in life, in people, which also makes me cry. The hidden gestures which never make the news, which are never quantified, which are never be held up against statistics which show that x number of heretics were burned under the authority of "Christian" monarchs.... The daily heroism and selflessness of ordinary people, Christians (and non-Christians). My madness has made me a better person, a more selfless one, a more caring one... broken and imperfect, but at least TRYING to always do the right thing....

Two photos from my first trip to Lourdes as a HCPT volunteer in 1986. The second photo shows Colin, a young Downs Syndrome boy feeding a girl with cerbral palsy. Observing the care and patience he showed with her made many of us cry.

......
You can throw all the mud you like at me (sexual abuse, crusades, inquisitions, just wars...). I see too much goodness despite all you can throw in my direction. I choose to focus on the light, the good in people, their potential for goodness....

What is your motivation for trying to debunk Christian belief and attack its devotees? Some kind of crusade? Wanting to save the world, make it a better place? Well, instead of wasting your time on this blog, why don't you turn your computer off, look outside your front door and reach out to individuals in need. Put your money where your mouth is.

If you already do that, well, fair play to you.

I've raised lots of money for various causes through 7 sponsored cycles over the last 15 years and I know so many other Christians who make such sacrifices DAILY, not just once every few years, eg. lay friends of mine who are volunteers in a centre for down-and-outs, alcoholics, drug addicts. One, aged 68, works 2 days and one night a week with these people. And he is by no means an exception.

Are atheists so squeaky clean morally? Come on, where's your EVIDENCE? Does your atheism make YOU a better person?"

*****************

I know that last bit is a bit provocative, but he kept on asking us for "evidence" to back up what we as Catholics believe in. So I just thought I'd throw the ball back into his court. It was noticeable that he did not take up the gauntlet in his perfunctory reply.

The challenge of trying to prove God's existence

This is a response I gave to an atheist asking for proof of God's existence on the Daily Telegraph's Religion blog, "Holy Smoke":

If I asked you to prove that a relative of yours loved you, there would be a number of experiences that I am sure you could mention, if you so wished, to back up an assertion that "person A" loved you. What if I then said, "How do you know they are not faking it/lying/acting out of predominantly selfish motives, ie. not truly loving you?" I could counter ANY of your arguments to justify the existence of this invisible love with such a statement. It wouldn't give me any pleasure, but I could do so and feel secure that I had "won" the argument. You would KNOW deep down that the person loved you... you would have so many clear memories and feelings to drawn upon.

Maybe that person actually saved your life and in the process sacrificed theirs.. "There you are! There's proof!" you would say... But I, being oh so cruel, could turn round and say, "But they could have done that out of a moral sense of right and wrong, that it was the right thing to do... does that equate with love? I don't think so."

Well I (and the rest of us "deluded" Christians) are in a similar situation. Many of us could say that we had experienced God's presence in our lives. Great philosophers and theologians throughout the centuries have grappled with the question of trying to give a rational proof for the existence of God and are generally considered to have failed. Who am I to presume I could do any better?

The nearest I feel one can get is the testimony of the lives of those who sacrifice all for their faith in God, starting with Jesus... hence my reference to the belief in the resurrection of Jesus by his followers in a previous post... But you would say, "What about Islamic fundamentalist suicide bombers...? What God is it that demands of such people the sacrifice of innocent lives?"

No-one can give you an answer you would be happy with, based on what I have learned about you on this blog, and I am sure you realise this. All I (or anyone else) would be left with at the end of every possible argument is the testimony of who I am as a person, what I stand for... my sincerity, my wish to do God's will in all things, the desire I have to share the love God has shown me in his infinite mercy and kindness with those I come in contact with.

If you cannot respect what I believe, then at least respect me as a person.

**********

(And....)

I have myself experienced "strange" phenomena as well as know of umpteen (generally more dramatic) events in the lives of intelligent, rational people whom I trust deeply.

But can I prove that such things are miraculous in the religious sense/come from God? No, of course not. It would be an insult to the intelligence of others (inc. atheists) to try.

However, I DO CHOOSE to believe that a great many such happenings have been God-inspired. Why? Well, I don't NEED to believe in them to support/sustain my general faith in God. I just choose to (silly old me, hey?).

Let's just say that I'm prepared to stake my life on the fact that God does exist... I wouldn't have joined a religious order if I didn't. The evidence (yes, evidence) that piled up in my life in my late teenage years that something/someone/some external force was prodding/pulling/calling me in a particular direction just became too compelling to ignore. That evidence has continued to pile up ever since. In terms of rational thought, for me (and I say deliberately FOR ME - I cannot presume to speak for anyone else) it would have been illogical to ignore such compelling evidence forever and not at least test out whether or not I was really up to living in community as a teaching Brother.

'Cos, you see, to start with, I didn't believe I was. I had far more doubts about my ability to live up to the calling I felt sure I was being offered than that the calling was real. I shouldn't have doubted, because God will always give you whatever you need to cope with whatever he calls you to do.

eg. My 2 least favourite subjects at school (+ the ones I did worst in) = French + RE. Boring!!! Took RE O-Level a year early at 15. Good riddance, I felt. Scraped a 'C'. French a year later, again scraping a 'C'.

I since joined a FRENCH religious order, obviously involving extensive theological + philosophical study, all of which I did IN FRANCE and IN FRENCH!!!!! Now don't tell me God hasn't got a sense of humour...

Gratefulness - Brother David Steindl-Rast

This is a beautiful reflection given by Brother David Steindl-Rast. He has such a wonderful germanic accent too.

"The Lives Of Others" - a wonderful film

I saw this for the 3rd time recently. It's a companion piece to Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" (starring the ever wonderful Gene Hackman) but, I feel, with much more heart and soul than the aforementioned 1970's American film. It won the Oscar this year for Best Foreign Film in competition against such popular, critically acclaimed films as "Pan's Labyrinth" (Mexico), "Days Of Glory" (Algeria) and "After The Wedding" (Denmark). The film is at no. 59 in the all-time popularity ratings over at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

Ulrich Mühe's subtle, skillful central performance as Captain (Hauptmann) Wiesler in a role written for him was surely also deserving of an Oscar nod, but he was not even nominated. It has been seen by some as wishful thinking to suggest that such a devout, zealous defender of the socialist ideals of the East German Communist regime could go through such a conversion experience, but I feel the film effective shows the gradual nature of the conversion and is a testament to the potential for goodness in all of us.


After being asked by his boss to see a play by one of the few apparently loyal defenders of socialism amongst the East German literati, Georg Dreymann, Wiesler offers to set up surveillance on the writer's flat to see if he is as squeaky clean as he seems. But this request seems to be coloured by his fascination (crush?) with the lead actress in the play who happens to be the writer's live-in lover and muse, Christa-Maria Sieland.

So the conversion of this seemingly cold, hyper-efficient loner (whose spartan, undecorated flat contrasts with the book-filled warmth of Dreymann's own place) would seem to begin on a basic level by a thawing of the heart. However, the film steers away from "Peeping Tom"-style obsession and also from what could have become an expression of jealousy for the writer and his way of life. We begin to get signs that a deeper, more profound humanisation is occuring, most movingly so in one of the film's great moments.

**SPOILER ALERT** (although I won't give away evrything! :-)





A mentor and close friend of the Dreymann commits suicide days after having given the writer a present of a piece of piano music entitled "Sonata For A Good Man". Dreymann, obviously very upset, then sits down at the piano to play the piece in honour of his dead friend. Wielser, listening in upstairs, not only sheds a tear but his face is subtly transformed into a mask of pain (Mühe plays this so wonderfully well) that may contain a mixture of feelings: compassion, guilt and also maybe a sense of awakening... He is going to have to make a choice. One that will profoundly effect not just his own life but the lives of others (!).

Dreymann himself (in the aftermath of the death of his friend) also manages to move from a purely sentimental position to one of heroic action in the writing of a damning political tract that he manages to get smuggled out of the country and published in West Germany. And so the conversions of both men run in parallel. But it is that of Wiesler that dominates the subsequent drama.

The film's understated, gentle but incredibly moving ending has become one of my all-time favourites. The final freeze-frame on Capt. Wiesler's transfigured face (Mühe) as he accepts the indirect gift of the book's dedication (a book written by Dreymann in his honour, entitled "Sonata For A Good Man") says more about the untapped power for good within each of us than anything I know.

This is made all the more poignant by Mühe's subsequent death from stomach cancer within a few months of the film receiving its Oscar. He was a highly popular and respected veteran of German stage and screen, taking the lead role in a long running German TV thriller series. In "The Lives Of Others", art meets life in that Mühe himself was the object of East German Stasi surveillance during the 1980's.

Here is the English trailer for the film: slightly shorter than the US version and without the dialogue of the latter version which I feel gives away too much of the plot. I really do not like it when trailers basically give you a condensed version of the whole film.