I apologize for the scant blogging this week. My oldest daughter is getting married in the Fall of 2012 and we were/are shopping for a wedding dress. Of course at a size 2, everything had to be pinned up which doesn't do justice to the design of the dress...and so the search continues. She did find a few she really likes and we may well go back to them - but I'm really hoping for a 'this is it' moment for her.
I approached shopping for a wedding dress with my daughter with the sensitivities that what I want her to wear and what she may fall in love with in a dress are two different things. I don't want to impose my style on her...just be there to make sure the Sacrament is the focus and help her to find the wow factor in the styles of the dress. Many blessings as we make our way to it.
Anyway, I wanted to followup on the problems in blogosphere.
Catholic blogging, especially at this time in our history, is about helping to free up truth from the negligence and errors of unfaithful priests and Bishops. Each of us has their own calling and mission. Christ ministered to people's spiritual and temporal needs in numerous ways, according to the situation. Some - like Judas, He tried to set an example for through loving him gently. Others, He provoked by saying they were dogs unworthy of reception. Others, He took the whip to drive them out. Other times, in His omnipotence - He knew the situation called for truth and mercy. There is temperament of the persons, spiritual warfare and other things involved in the reasons for these different approaches.
Christ could, of course, do it all and in an instant. He could see it all, knew it all and in His perfection, could create a perfect storm for healing. Healing requires a submission of the person. If it relied solely upon God, everyone would be perfect in health and mind and spirit. There are different ways and different approaches according to the circumstances.
In our humanity, we cannot. To make up for those deficiencies, each of us has been imparted with gifts to carry out only a part of it.
I have my own mission in this spiritual vortex as we try to carry on Christ's ministry. Shea has his own mission. Terry Nelson has his own mission. Voris has his.
Instead of working as the Mystical Body of Christ, two things are happening in blogosphere.
1. People suffer from the affliction of believing their own calling and mission is the sole ministry of Christ.
2. The mission gets trumped by one that protects the ego, emotions and feelings of people.
All of us can and do fall into these pits along our way.
As our faith matures, we grasp number 1.
Number 2 is always hanging around in some form or way - either in minor ways or it can take over the animus of the mission and the people near it.
The discussions about Communion in hand at Abbey Roads were so immersed in both of these spiritual challenges that my presence in bringing them into to the light was only serving to dig heels more deeply into these flaws.
Since my own mission is more of the emergency search and rescue, I have a tough time watching people swimming in the river of denial without trying to cast the net. I can't seem to keep my mouth shut. Since I felt this was conflicting with Terry's mission and what he wanted to do on his own blog, I unlinked him. It seems by doing so, it's led to an impression that I think he is unorthodox or unfaithful - which is absurd. Nor should my unlinking him imply I believe him to be spiritually inferior.
There were numerous posts that whipped up a frenzy of contempt for Voris, Corapi and others, ridiculing the person for foibles and troubles and sins, excuse it by implying they are carrying out the mission of mortification of souls. That's a new one on me. You can't do this and then claim you're trying not to create cliques because that is exactly what you are doing.
To protect feelings and emotions and egos, others chime in to dump on the the mission of the exposition of priests Cardinal who are sexually exploiting children and adults, leading their flocks into temptation, sin and spiritual death, sacrilege of Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity or even hiring people to kill the unborn to make a profit, enabling or supporting the killing in some way to as having the same motives and objectives.
But, these two things couldn't be any further apart.
One is a mission of liberty from evil.
The other is a combination (and fruit) of number 1 and 2 above.
The taming of the shrews requires acceptance that Christ's ministry has many facets, for many reasons that cannot be seen with the eyes in our head. An admission that Christ's gifts and ministry which He witnessed to had to be divy'd up among the donkeys. It would require support and prayer.
Until that day comes, you gotta know when hold em. Know when to fold em. Know when to walk away and know when to run.
Otherwise, you can do more damage to the souls with their panties in a twist than if you had said and done nothing at all.
***ADDENDUM
I wish I could write more about this subject today, but I simply MUST make my way through my adoring fans and papparazzi to run some errands!
