Tuesday, October 7, 2008

I WANTED A FAITH THAT WAS DEEPER




This was an old thread on NCR Cafe, before my time, that generated a very small but interesting discussion. I personally found the post and the comments intriguiging enough that I will read the book as soon as I can get it from the library. Given what I read on the thread, and the events that are unfolding around us now, it occurred to me that perhaps it is time now for a revisit to the topic. A couple of paragraphs from the thread:


"I was talking with a Chinese Zen master once and he said one of the difficulties of dealing with Catholics is that they love their spiritualities ... as if it was a parallel life," Kennedy tells Tom Fox. Buddhists root us in this moment, he said. "Buddhists would say, 'If God isn't present in this moment, where is he? You meet God in doing the deed of this moment in front of you. Never withdraw from it.' "


When Kennedy went to study with a Japanese Zen master, the Buddhist told him: " 'I do not want to make you a Buddhist. I want to empty you in imitation of your Lord Jesus Christ who emptied himself and poured himself out.' This is at the heart of what it means to be Catholic. To follow Christ is to empty ourselves." He continues: "I remember thinking then, 'This Buddhist might make a Christian of me yet.' It was so profoundly Christian and beautiful."


That we could learn what it really means to be Christian and Catholic from someone who is neither a Christian or a Catholic, but rather from a culture that traditional Christianity considers to be pagan idolators destined to spend eternity burning in the eternal fires of damnation ... is such a delicious irony.

Carl

PS: Wouldn't it be an interesting twist, if the world financial crisis and the fallout from the US Presidential election ended up bankrupting Opus Dei and the Vatican?

PPS: A "MUST READ" bulletin from Neale Donald Walsh :

4 comments:

  1. Carl, not sure if you noticed that NCR has posted an article about Zen Buddhism. http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2096

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  2. Thank you butterfly, I did see it late this afternoon. I have already posted a respone.

    Isnt synchronicity wonderful. Especially when the synchronicities begin to manifest so quickly.

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  3. It sure is Carl!!! I just sent a post and it is two pages long in the forum on Who is it that Consecrates the Eucharist. I wrote in response to a medieval trad's positions, which were so many, and that is why my post is so long. I am exhausted now, but I really felt I had to say something in the spirit of truth.

    The trads love to boast that in certain areas where certain bishops dwell there are a lot of people becoming priests. But what kind of priest will they be? They are the sort of sect in the Church that denies the Holy Spirit in favor of a belief in the "infallibility" of Church teaching, even if the teaching is wrong and essentially unchristian. They as a result punish and condemn their fellow Catholics as heretics which is not in the spirit of Christ. These sort of bishops he speaks about are the type that burnt St. Joan of Arc at the stake! How blind they are. How too often what is unjust and are serious mistakes seems to repeat itself over and over all throughout the history of the Church, but they still insist the Church was never wrong or to be held accountable for its grave sins against humanity.

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  4. Butterfly:

    Your comment here and on NCR gave me the inspiration for today's posting. I have posted a similar topic on NCR Table Topics as well.

    It will be interesting to see what responses are generated.

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