Too Short for an Article
By Peter Mirus (bio - articles - send a comment) | April 16, 2012 11:33 AM
I’ve been very busy with work and family over the past two weeks, so here are some seeds that haven’t fully germinated. Hopefully, you’ll get some value from these reflections.
- The problem of pain. I think we tend to tiptoe around others who are suffering, particularly those who are suffering physical pain. When I’m with a loved one who is suffering bravely, I always want to ask, “Can you feel the love of God in your pain? How does that love reveal itself?” I don’t want to intrude... just curious to compare notes on this subject.
- Maybe I’m too optimistic, but I don’t think so. Over the past decade I’ve learned to make reservation of judgment my first instinct when I read news stories about the U.S. bishops. However, when thinking about that fact last week, it seemed to me that I’ve been reading more positive and less negative news than I was even three or four years ago. Will this trend continue? Part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop, but most of me is thinking positively.
- Perhaps you’d like to take me up on this dare? I frequently encounter both Catholics and non-Catholics who think they have the Faith pegged but in fact have some serious misconceptions. My standard reply has been to invite them to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church cover-to-cover. The reason? Well, I have yet to meet a person who, having read the Catechism cover-to-cover, has not subsequently converted. (I’m sure such people exist, but I haven’t met them.)
- Solace in friends. Hopefully you are lucky enough to have one or more friends who display the admirable qualities of loyalty, wisdom, and discretion. I have several good friends to whom I can bare my soul without worrying about consequences.
- Isn’t God awesome? (Only He could think this stuff up.) When you look at all of the amazing work that God has done with so little good “material”... I can only laugh at some of the crazy/good stuff that happens—despite my best or worst intentions and efforts.
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Posted by: bkmajer3729 -
Apr. 16, 2012 11:57 PM ET USA
About your dare...the challenge may be more enticing if you can put a number on your personal experience (e.g. "I have met 23 people over the years and after their reading the complete CCC each one without fail has converted to our beautiful Catholic Faith.") Focus is not the quantity but put these kinds of claims into tangible parameters. Otherwise your dare, while admirable, is a bit empty. Actually if you have the data to support your claim, there is plenty for an article!
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Posted by: jimgrum697380 -
Apr. 16, 2012 6:43 PM ET USA
Everyone suffers. Sometimes suffering occurs on the part of individuals when those they care about encounter suffering. It is this type of "vicarious" suffering, for example that of a parent for the suffering child, that exceeds any physical suffering the parent might ever possibly endure. It is interesting in some cases, when the pain seems exponentially greater than what one might previously have imagined possible, somehow one can feel that God is demonstrating how much He really cares.
