The Lost Sayings

As the episodes of Star Wars unfold, we learn that Darth Vader was a master in the ways of the Jedi. This mastery should have been transmitted to his children, as would be expected between a parent and his-her offspring, but in the case of Luke Skywalker, he was isolated from his father for so long that he had no idea that the Jedi even existed, much less that he himself possessed the potential to be one of its masters.

Faith is also transmitted one generation at a time, but it risks being 'lost' if it is not practiced or taught, and the parents who neglect to teach it are eventually faced with the reality of children who are indifferent to it or curious about establishing even the most superfluous understanding of the role of faith in their lives.

I once participated in a conference on the subject of catechesis where one of the invited guests compared the effect of the cultural revolution of the 1960s to the devastation of the Hiroshima bomb - at least in terms of transmitting faith. The argument goes something like this: the 1960s were characterised by a spirit of free choice where many of the teenagers and young adults chose to rebel totally against all that their parents had taught them. Consequently, they rejected all the wisdom and lessons that their families had held as sacred up to then, including faith, family values etc. As they in turn matured, were married and had families, the time came for them to teach their own children about the important lessons of life, but since they had rejected the lessons that they themselves had been taught, they had nothing upon which to base the lessons they would teach their own children. Since that time, at least two or three other generations have passed, and the challenge of transmitting faith has been compounded with the passing of each generation.

One of the results is that we currently find some young people who are thirsting for meaning in their lives, for answers to the most basic questions about higher powers, about God, about faith. Particularly among teenagers and adults who are now in their thirties and forties, questions abound about the validity of various methods of spirituality. One might say that many have lost the sayings which were part of the Catholic faith traditionally transmitted by parents to their children.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of questions and yearnings for answers, especially in the realm of faith. Various groups such as Catholic Christian Outreach and even the Legionaries of Christ and others like them have sprung up as possible sources of answers and providers of the catechesis which has been missing for so many years.

Some nominal Catholics - those who have been baptised and raised as Catholic but who for various reasons do not practice the traditions of the Catholic Church may actually be surprised to learn that the bible actually speaks many truths which have hitherto been unknown. In a sense, you might say that the bible is the list of 'sayings' which for many lapsed Catholics, have been lost. As these 'sayings' are rediscovered, the faith which was not previously transmitted has the possibility of coming back to life.

Can we define God?

A young child once asked, 'Who created God?' In the mind of a child, if we can trace everything back to a moment at which it was created, then God too, must have been created. The logic is sound, except that creation assumes that there is a prime mover.

Philosophers such as René Descartes would argue that this prime mover is God, but the quest to understand who God is represents a journey that each of us must undertake in the context of faith.

Catholic tradition has always defined God as the author of good, and classically pits good agains evil, which it defines as the absence of God. Modern-day theatre such as J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings and George Lucas' Star Wars both deal with the age-old questions of good and evil.

In the case of Star Wars, what some refer to as the 'spiritual rhelm' is defined as 'the Force'. The Jedi seeks to harness the Force and to draw energy from that which 'surrounds us and penetrates us ... (and) binds the galaxy together' but unlike the Christian understanding of goodness and blessing which are gifts from God, the Force also has a dark side. In the words of the Jedi master Yoda, 'Anger ... fear ... agression. The dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join ou in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your desitny, consume you it will ...'

Like the Jedi who is in search of harnessing the Force to do good, Christians also are on a quest to identify good and evil - blessing and curse. This divine mystery, properly understood, leads the believer to realize that all human beings reach a point on the journey when we appreciate the importance of the virtue of humility. When humans meet God in prayer, one of the first lessons we learn is humility - that we are not in charge: of our own lives, of our own destiny.

The Church father Augustine believed that 'if you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility and the third is still humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.'

Being strong in the Force, like Yoda, Obi-Wan and even Darth Vader is therefore akin to the Christian understanding that the purpose of our being is to seek, know and serve God. The further we are along this journey of discovery, knowledge and service, the more we grow in our understanding of the One who created all things.

Questions of faith for today's generation

Ever since the days of my youth, I have been facinated with the world of Hollywood blockbusters - isn't everyone? Every now and then, the worlds of modern-day pop culture and questions of faith cross paths, and the result makes for interesting speculation.

In the latter part of the 1970s the first of the Star Wars films made its début and people like George Lucas and others have been rocketed into the media limelight ever since. Two years ago, Dick Staub, an award-winniing broadcaster, writer and speaker, whose work focuses on interpreting faith and culture wrote Christian Wisdom for the Jedi Masters. In the next series of posts, I'd like to take a look at some of Staub's reflections as they pertain to modern-day life.

In the jacket notes which accompany this volume, the editors explain:

"Star Wars, one of the most enduring pop cultural phenomena of our day, is a spiritual mythology built around a universal energy called 'the Force' and a Jedi's ability to use it. The overt spiritual themes in the Star Wars films convey remarkable theological truths to a younger generation that is dissatisfied with religion but hungry for a spiritual quest ..."

Wisdom issues to be discussed in this volume include Jedi understandings about seeking, knowing, fighting and serving. In the words of the Jedi master Yoda, "for the adventure that awaits us, prepare yourself and for the ride, come along".

Nurturing, love and caring

Ever had one of “those days”: A day where you seem to have left your brain somewhere else ... A day when the slightest upset can have much bigger consequences? These are called frazzles. Little stressors in our lives may pile up to create bigger stressors because our brain’s ability to think and to act has been hampered by the little things. Taking a little time to slow down, evaluate your situation and assess what changes need to be made can help “de-frazzle” those days.

There is a story told of a professor performing a demonstration in front of his class. First he takes larger rocks and places them in a jar. He asks the class, “Is this jar full?” The eager students answer in the affirmative. Next he adds medium sized stones to fill in spaces left by the larger rocks and again he asks, “Is the jar full?” Again the students confirm that it is. The wise professor then adds smaller stones filling more spaces. When asked, “Is this jar full?” again the students respond that it is. Finally the professor fills the remaining spaces with sand. “What lesson can you learn from this demonstration?” asks the professor. The students sit in silence until the professor explains, “The truth in this illustration is, first make room for the big things, for family, friends, spiritual life, what ever is important to you and then fit the other things around them. Because if you do not fit the big things in first, you will never get them in at all.”

In Daniel Goleman’s final chapter Social Consequence we are reminded of the need for security or a safe environment in which mistakes can be made and corrected. We need the freedom to feel safe as we are corrected. These corrections can be found in positive personal connections.

In our Catholic experience we are called into the sacrament of reconciliation with our God. This is our safe environment in which we can explain to God and our confessor the nature of our sins and to be forgiven. We leave the confessional absolved of our sins and free to live as a reflection of God’s love in this world. It is beneficial to go to the same confessor because our continued confessions enable him to see more clearly the true inner state of our soul and to understand better the occasions of our sin. A consistent confessor can be essential to “de-frazzle” our spiritual lives.

The scientific world has made many amazing discoveries about the inner workings of the human mind and the effect of nurturing, love, and caring on health and society. These issues have each been addressed in the teachings of Jesus Christ. The centuries-old wisdom of the Church is now up-held by modern science. “Love one another”, reach out to someone else, connect with them and the world will benefit. As science and Christianity have proven, our social brains were made for this purpose.

Healthy Consequences

“…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” (Mt 25: 35 – 36)

If stress is social, relieving the stress of others will relieve stress for all. The better we connect with others the better our health and their health will become. Jesus’s words spoke to caring for others as keys to the kingdom of Heaven. In the chapter entitled Healthy Consequences, Daniel Goleman’s book Social Intelligence speaks of how twenty-first century science can now demonstrate that caring for others will indeed bring a little bit of heaven down to earth for all of us.

While it is easy to care for our loved ones and those close to us, the true challenge lies in reaching out to others, connecting with them and demonstrating true Christian ideals.

Consider the plight of those around us. A walk down inner city streets will reveal the plight of the hungry, the thirsty and the homeless. While many of us may be afraid to reach out to these marginalized people, we can still find many people around us in need. Do you know of a sick person alone in a hospital bed waiting and hoping for a friendly visit, a smile or a few kind words? How about a new mother frazzled by the new challenges of parenthood? In your neighbourhood is there a recently widowed person who now spends many hours alone, longing for the company of their loved one called Home before them?

As a Christian living in the increasingly disconnected twenty-first century, consider taking some time to reach out to someone you sense may be in need. Challenge yourself to find the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the sick or the imprisoned who share this world with us and to become living examples of God’s love. Not only will you be fulfilling God’s call, you may also be benefiting your own health.

Love's Varieties

In ancient times people believed that the liver was the seat of emotion in the body. Later civilizations came to believe that the heart ruled our emotions. In the chapter entitled Love's Varieties of his book Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman reveals that it is in fact the brain that drives emotion, particularly love.

Goleman clinically dissects love into three categories:

• attachment,
• care giving, and
• sex,

each of which is controlled by brain chemistry and wiring.

Attachment is the type of love that brings us together and causes us to miss someone when they are absent. Care giving love gives us the desire to nurture people for whom we have concern. Sexual love involves physical togetherness. To further complicate the already complex emotion called love, the male and female brains respond differently to the same stimuli. In new relationships the male brain responds to physical attributes in a would-be partner, while the female brain responds to the partner’s ability to provide.

Research has shown that relationships offering a secure base from which one can venture out into the world also provides the most healthy benefits. The more positive moments that a couple shares and the more opportunities that they have for togetherness, the stronger their relationship will be. As partners spend time together their brains wire in similar patterns. Partners may mimic each others facial expressions to the point where as they age partners begin to wrinkle in similar patterns causing them to look alike.

This talk of love calls to mind the advise offered by Saint Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4 -8) “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Patience and kindness are both attributes of care giving. The ability to demonstrate concern for the needs of your partner, agreeing to do things together without resentment or anger and remaining truthful to each other are all signs of attuning to the needs of your partner. Science now shows that these attributes spoken about by Saint Paul will contribute to a long martial union that will bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things. These ancient words spoken at many wedding ceremonies are truly the keys to a long and lasting relationship.

Nurturing nature

The gospel of Matthew (19: 13-15) recounts moments when Jesus welcomed children with warmth and love saying “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs”. In the chapter of Daniel Goleman’s book Social Intelligence entitled Nurturing Nature, we are reminded of the importance of nurturing the growing brain so that the kingdom of heaven here on earth will be theirs.

There was a time when science believed a child’s brain stopped growing early in life and that the time to impact personality occurred in that small window of time while a child was less than five years old. Recent medical technology now shows that the human brain continues to grow and develop into young adulthood. As a child interacts with people the brain responds. With every interaction a child’s brain forms connections and the wiring in the brain grows like branches on a tree. As connections are made and nurtured these connections strengthen. Unused connections are pruned.

For adults, this knowledge is a call to attune to the needs of children and to support environments for positive brain growth and wiring. Some may mistakenly believe that this means we need to protect children from all of the harms in this world. Children need to learn to deal with the good and the bad in a secure environment where mistakes can be learned from. Adults can model appropriate reactions to stressful situations and disappointment so that children learn how to deal with such situations. As children learn from these situations their brains adapt and build resiliency: the ability to bounce back in stressful times.

An African proverb enlightens us saying “It takes a village to raise a child”. The Christian village will reflect God’s love and help our children to grow in a nurturing environment. We may never know the full effect of our relationships with children. We may not understand what our words - or a hug or a smile - may change for a child. But as living examples of God’s love in this world it is important that we demonstrate to children how important they are to each of us.

Take up the challenge and become God’s light in the world of a child, today.

Living examples

Yesterday we considered the basis of Golemans’s Social Intelligence, the “wiring” of the human brain to connect with others, which in turn reflects what Christians have been taught for centuries, to “Love one another”.

As Goleman discusses in his chapter Broken Bonds, a variety of maladjusted personality types may be formed by genetic or environmental forces that create disconnections in the brain wiring of some people.

There are instances in which a person may be born lacking the brain chemistry to read emotions as displayed by others and thus be unable to connect or to bond. In other situations the people in our lives may have a negative effect on our ability to connect. Absent or emotionally cold caretakers may impact the brain circuitry of their charges leaving them feeling disconnected with the world and people in it.

This calls forth the need for compassion for all. As people living in this world it is easy to connect to people who respond in socially accepted or expected ways. But what about those who through no fault of their own may lack this ability. As living examples of Christ’s work in this world it becomes our responsibility to model Christ’s love as an example for disconnected people. We need to offer compassionate connections to all people, whether they connect to us in return or not. As Christ often chose to interact with people in his world who may have been considered less favourably by society, it is important for us to reach out to those less “favourable” people in our society. Will you chose to be a living example of Christ to the world? Perhaps your example of love will help reshape another persons brain wiring.

The incredible brain

Social Intelligence, a sequel to Daniel Goleman’s best selling Emotional Intelligence enlightens the reader about the most recent advances in neuroscience, the study of the brain. While the inner workings of the human mind illustrate a marvelous gift from the Creator, consider the greater purpose of these workings.

Advances in medical technology have allowed scientists to view the brain and its workings under a variety of conditions. Our brains not only think, but also control emotions and thus in turn can set the tone for relationships in our lives. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology has shown that the chemistry and neuro connections in our brains change when we interact with others. In essence we are “wired” to connect with other people.

Our brains will react to people in two ways. The “low road” very quickly senses or takes in information about another person and responds on a “gut” level. The “high road” or thinking brain takes longer to respond and measures reactions against previous knowledge and experience. Most of us have the ability to suppress those first gut instincts and take time to respond in socially acceptable ways. I'm sure we have all encountered instances in our lives when our gut reaction to an event is strong but we catch ourselves in time to measure our response.

Social intelligence, Goleman concludes, consists of social awareness, the ability to instantly sense someone else’s emotional state and social faculty which allows a person to build on that awareness and effectively interact with others.

It seems to me that Jesus Christ had this in mind when he instructed us to “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). It is through the teachings of Christ that we as Christians see others as reflections of God and learn to connect to them. By taking time to get to know another person we are building and enhancing social connections in our brains which in turn is a benefit to all of us. In an increasingly disconnected world filled with many “anti-social” devices, including cellphones and MP3 players, many are left with the feeling of being left out of society. Next time you have the opportunity to connect with someone new or turn on your personal music player, consider taking the time to reach out and find the reflection of God in that other person.

Over the next couple days we will look deeper into the theories and science presented in Social Intelligence and we will learn how the teaching of Christ are well supported by modern scientific discoveries.

Looking forward

For the third and final presentation at the annual meeting of the National Federation of Presbyteral Councils, Rev. John Jennings, a priest of the Diocese of Saint John, NB was invited to share some wisdom about how to begin the discussion.

The thesis of Father Jennings' presentation was that change, no matter the context, is always in response to circumstances which precipitate it. Beginning with the Early Church, he outlined how the identification of circumstances such as persecution, the need for definition of terms, establishment of order and other factors have all necessitated change during the history of the Church.

In his article entitled "Vatican Council II: Did Anything Happen?", published in Theological Studies, J.W. O'Maley spoke of the importance of balancing the lived tradition and the tendency to overemphasize the need for change. As such, one of the important roles of the Council was to concentrate on continuities while also recognizing discontinuities which have been effected by change throughout the Church's history.

One thing is certain, there is always change afoot, and when the Church is at its best, it has always been able to absorb and adjust the societies in which it is found, all the better to respond to the changes which are happening around it, and all the better to respond to the needs of the people of God.

Change represents a pivotal point in life. While it is important to be aware of the shifts in realities we face, it is equally imperative that we be aware of the gifts we bring to this moment, gifts which enable us to face the challenge of change head on and to maintain an atmosphere of hope as we look to the future.

The NFPC National Assembly wraps up tomorrow.

Reflecting on the present

In the second presentation of the National Assembly, the NFPC heard from Rev. R.B MacDonald, a priest of the Diocese of Antigonish who is eminently qualified and waxes eloquently about the declarations of the Second Vatican Eccumenical Council (1962-1965).

Fr. R.B. as he is known to friends and collegues presented reflections on the priesthood as it was explained in the documents of the Council, especially

• the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,
• the Decree on the Life and Ministry of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, and
• the Decree concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus

Father MacDonald was studying in Rome during the time of the Vatican Council and therefore was afforded a rare opportunity to visit the Council chambers during the deliberations, and to have insights into the behind-the-scenes developments which were otherwise perhaps unknown to much of the wider world. His insights shed a new light on the subject especially for those of us who are not so far along the journey of life.

Having examined the question of priesthood yesterday and today, we will turn our attention tomorrow to the priesthood of the future. In the meanwhile, we are taking advantage of wonderful weather to visit some of the tourist attractions on Cape Breton.

Reflections from the past

I'm in Sydney, Nova Scotia this week at a meeting of the National Federation of Presbyteral Councils. The occasion is the annual National Assembly of the NFPC and we're enjoying the hospitality that Cape Breton Island is so famous for.

During the first day of our meetings, we had the great pleasure to spend some time with Dr. Margaret MacDonald, who shared some thoughts about leadership in the very earliest years of the Church and its development as it is spoken of in the biblical letters of Saint Paul and the Gospels.

In the course of her writings, she also quoted extensively from two particular books which I look forward to reading in more depth. I thought that I would share them with you so that you too can explore them if you wish.

A Woman's Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity
Carolyn Osiek and Margaret MacDonald
(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2006)
ISBN: 0-8006-3777-1

Stewards, Prophets, Keepers of the Word: Leadership in the Early Church
Ritva H. Williams
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006)
ISBN: 978-1-56563-949-2