It's a Family Thing

Aren't families interesting? We all belong to one (or more than one). No matter how messy ours is, it would be very hard to think about living in this world without it.

My sisters and brothers can drive me crazy, but I love them none the less. I have a relationship with my siblings that could best be described as toxic when fewer than two states separate us. I think I like email and internet connections to my family the best. I can love them and keep up with their lives from a very comfortable distance.

God placed me in my family for a reason. I can accept that statement at face value, but I still wonder what He could have been thinking! These people are nothing like me; and don't even get me started on their politics. And yet, would I have become the writer that I am had I not spent so many hours imagining myself somewhere other than the attic in which my loving brother used to lock me? Hmm. Would I have any understanding of intercessory prayer if my sister hadn't needed so much prayer when she went off to "find herself" and trouble seemed to be her constant companion?

Don't get me wrong, I have wonderful memories of the years I lived with my brothers and sisters. I can still remember camping in that big tent on hot summer nights. We could hear the crickets and owls and other creatures, but we were safe in our canvas home because we weren't alone. Some of those camping trips are my best memories, and we never really went anywhere exciting, but we were together.

God is our eternal Father. He is eternally Fathering us as we wander through this wasteland searching for the promised land. But at least he didn't create us to wander all alone, he gave us families so that while we wandered we could fight over every little thing every moment. So you see, we have finally come to the answer to that age old question.

He started it! It's all God's fault.

Pax

Bumper Sticker Theology

We all have seen them, those short pithy statements that are meant to render God-talk into something readable from the car behind while traveling at 60 plus miles per hour. Most true theologians hate them. I'm a big fan of what I call bumper sticker theology - I find that there are times when the best one can offer a person in distress is one of these. We throw them out like life-lines in an attempt to keep our friends from sinking into the abyss of despair that some of us know so well.

Today was one of those days for me. I was hurting because I missed an absent friend too soon taken from us here below and I really needed reassurance. Amazingly, this little piece of wisdom came from a Homily given at a Mass I attended today. Father told us a story of a 12th century saint; Francis of Asissi.

The story goes that he was showing a novice of his order how to preach in the town. They walked through the town, the younger monk following a few paces behind. The entire day Francis spent helping the poor, offering a hand where needed, and in one case his cloak to someone who didn't have one. When they came back to their starting place the younger monk asked "But Master, where did you preach?" to which Francis replied, "Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words."

Our God is a God of presence. I AM -- the God of the present moment. If we want to offer our best to our friends, the most important thing we can give them is our presence. I got through this day because I had friends around me who gave me a hug, or a smile, or shared their tissues when I needed them. It was then that it occurred to me that my absent friend isn't forever lost to me, she lives in that wonderful congregation the Communion of Saints. She now lives in the Love that is God, and that love extends to me through the people who love me, and those I love. It still may hurt to think of her, but each time the memories are sweeter.

So I guess my end of the day bumper sticker should be: We are an Easter People, and Alleluia is our Song.

Pax