Live as though money is no object?

Twittering-class poppycock strikes again.

I'm sure that it must be lovely to have enough money that you can spend your life doing what you desire.

But back in real-world-land, I really appreciate that there are rubbish-collectors, bus-drivers, shop-assistants, road maintenance staff etc etc who spend some of their lives doing very boring-ordinary-not-the-stuff of dreams things, so that all of us can spend a little of of lives doing what we dream of.

Hedonism = society failure.

Church rules and funeral music vs sound pastoral theology

A great piece of pastoral theology from
http://rorycooney.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-ipad-doesnt-lie-funeral-music.html


"because church "rules" about music can be bent for the rich and famous (for instance, when at the cathedral "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" was played at Harry Carey's funeral during the final procession), they can be bent for the not-so-rich and otherwise-unknown when grief enters their houses as well. I resist, I expect that the funeral liturgy will proclaim the resurrection. Since the resurrection is such a surprise, and I have no idea what that means as well, I've had to decide that
assuaging a family's grief by (rarely) playing a song "sacred" only to the memory of the deceased won't keep me or them out of heaven."

Amen to that - what more can I say.

Musicians as God's workers

A quote from Andrew Greeley's introduction to Rory Cooney's 1987 collection "Mystery"

"Musicians, you see, are men and women who see the wonders of God's graceful love in patterns of sound, the splendor of the form of God's beauty manifested and revealed in the proportioned parts of the matter with which they work. They do God's work and are worthy of the respect, the encouragement and the payment due in justice to all God's workers."  

Nice.

We need all styles of music

I do wish our more traditionally-minded brothers and sisters could see things this way:

... discern how the Lord speaks through the different types of worship expressions in the Church and therefore use these expressions appropriately in ministry:

• ... through contemporary praise & worship music, I see the Lord’s intimate love for his people & their passionate response back to him expressed in the simplicity and freedom of the music.
• Through traditional hymnody, I see God’s majesty expressed in the beauty of ordered rhythm & meter.
• In sacred chant, I see the solemnity & truth of God expressed through his Word which are beautifully sung according to the rhythm of the text itself.
• And through the blending of Sacred chant and praise & worship in the Liturgy .... I see God’s people “singing a new song” to the Lord.

Ref:    http://catholic-worship.com/growing-as-a-music-leader-a-reflection-on-the-jesus-retreat-2012/

Personally, I find a great depth of spirit "feeding" in the rhythms of Irish traditional music.   In the intricate patterns blending around each other, with a unifying underlying tune, with a huge sense of life and energy in them ... I see God's hand at work guiding us our lives, and giving us occasional surprising moments.

I See, I See

A poem which appeared around the pubs of Galway after Pope Francis' election.

Ex-Benedict

Many will be horrified, but I'm afraid I just think it's funny:

Thanks to: http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2013/02/14/ex-benedict/

You don't need to have other people's problems for them: Implicit emotional support works better

They may not realise it, but sometimes it seems like many Irish people cannot help but (try to) solve other people's problems - and can't understand why other people aren't grateful:

• I shiver because I remember something horrible that I heard on the news - they run to turn the heating up.
• I say we're not going on holiday this Christmas 'cos we had to go to a funeral - they spend an hour on the internet researching holiday options (most of which I've looked at and rejected already), and start angling to find out who died so they can get a Mass card (ahh, thanks, but the father-in-law didn't actually believe in God).
• I comment that I'm thinking about looking for a new job, they tell me about all the unemployed people they know and why I should be happy to stay where I am. Or I say I'm unemployed, and they tell me about their uncle who's looking for a girl for his reception desk (yup, but I'm a qualified accountant).

Here's a bit of reading that 'd like to share around. It's a bit jargony, and all about work. But basically it's saying that other people will find it more helpful if you tone things down, and assume that they can assume their own problems. Good advice, IMHO.  You cannot do other people's praying or worrying for them.

Religious practice and the trend to specialisation

An interesting thought here, from Catholic Sensibility

"The forces of the culture are arrayed more seriously against Catholics of any age engaging in deeper catechesis. We live in an age of specialization. A college physics major is knowledgeable and competent within her or his discipline. But likely knows little about economics. And an economics major may have a dusing of calculus, but cares nothing for the deep math and concepts masters by a physicist.
Likewise, even committed Catholic college students: why should they learn more about their faith when they have "specialists" to assist them. When confronted with a moral dilemma, why not go to a priest, either live or online? Why make a difficult choice when they can engage an expert to tell them the right thing to do?"

I can see where he's coming from. And potentially this takes us back to times when ordinary people didn't "do" religious stuff at all - they just blindly followed the leader (no matter how good/bad he was).

But today even the specialist builder, hairdresser, teacher or astro-physicist can be expected to have a modest amount of competence in cookery, for instance. At a minimum we expect them to feed themselves - and to be able to use food appropriately on social settings and rituals. Lots of parenting-time is invested in this sort of teaching.

What happens in later life is really up to the individuals interests. Some will indeed turn into food-professionals - the people you consult when you need a fancy meal cooked, or a crowd catered for.

But many won't take their basic knowledge any further until something goes wrong. Even then, dieticians don't expect everyone to become food-science specialists. They aim for clients to to learn enough to be able to make good choices to address their particular situation, and carry them out unassisted.

Spiritual food vs physical food - sounds like a good comparison.

No one expects all eaters to become expert nutritionists.   So I'm not sure why anyone should expect all prayers to become theologians.

Rituals - the good and bad. Can they be ugly too?

An interesting comment, from a local church newsletter, about rituals:

"Not that rituals always work. They go wrong when they become too empty or too full. In both cases they lose their connection with everyday life.
Empty ritual is when we end up just going through the motions: the gift-giving, carol singing, or whatever doesn't connect with how we really feel.
Overblown ritual is the opposite: the ritual becomes so important it becomes an escape from the life that surrounds it.
But at their best, rituals gather up the scattered meanings of our lives and return them to us with fresh clarity and purpose."

Of course, what's empty to one participant may well be meaningful and connected to the next person. Part of being human is that we sometimes do go through the motions, sometime for our own sake, sometimes for other peoples. The woman whose husband died in late December may well "do" Christmas the following year - but only for the sake of her children and the friends who cannot bear the thought of her not doing so. Likely enough the ritual will be empty for her then. But the joy will come back - eventually, most probably in a few years - if she can manage to stay in the habit of "doing Christmas".

And I'm not so sure that empty and overblown are opposites: ritual at its worst becomes both of these at the same time.

Interesting concepts, though, and helpful in terms of focussing on why we do what we do.

Ideals, not rules of membership

Alleluia - finally an Irish bishop saying something sensible:

"...the central tenets of Catholicism were not established as rules of memberships but as "ideals". "These are all ideals that we must try to live up to. If you do not meet all these ideals, it does not mean that you cannot take your place at the table the Lord has prepared for you. The Church is a refuge for the weak, not a home for the perfect."

Ref:   http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/01/tenets-of-catholicism-are-ideals-not-rules-says-irish-bishop/

And before anyone starts asking what counts as a central tenet that's just an ideal vs a basic tenet of faith that is required due to being infallibly proclaimed - remember that faith is a journey. Almost no one is going to believe with the same depth for their who life. The whole point of being a community of sinful believers is to support each other on the journey, not to exclude based on weakness.