I LOVE THE LATIN MASS

 

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I really love the Latin mass. In my personal Rule of Life, I chant the Angelus in Latin three times a day. The reason I love it, aside from its innate beauty, is that I know that I am speaking to God. God is listening to me and He is accustomed to Latin. He has heard it for a long time and HE knows what it means, which is all that matters to me. I am going to mass to worship Him and appeal to Him, not to appeal to MYSELF and to entertain MYSELF.

I am not entirely ignorant of what the Latin is expressing. I will usually read the English and the Latin before chanting it, and I would love to actually learn Latin at some point, if I could possibly squeeze one more project into my schedule of projects. But not knowing what each word means, in context, is not a bother to me either. I know that these ancient chants have an imprimatur that protects me from heresy or from insulting our Lord. Not that I think He is insulted by the English used in the Novus Ordo either. I am not part of the party of outrage that has a constant litany of complaints issuing forth from the lips.

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Another advantage to Latin is something which some folks OBJECT to. They say it is a "dead language," meaning it is not spoken anywhere in the world. In my mind, this is a benefit. Because the language of Latin does not change, the meaning of the words of the mass will never change. It won't shift with the shifting tides of verbal fashion. We do not have to worry that what we are saying now means, "Lord, I offer thee a blessed chocolate donut."

The Novus Ordo seems an ugly thing. Don't get me wrong: I love English. As a writer, that is the language I use, and I love its variety, complexity and nuance, but it seems to me that the words of the Novus Ordo are the ugliest, most basic words available. No effort seems to have been made to use beautiful words and sentence structures. It is like a hammer on my head. Yes, I am perfectly clear on what it says and probably most of what it means, but it tastes like medicine in my mouth.

Catholic Cathedral

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I will, in obedience, do whatever is required in any church I attend, and I am not going to campaign for change, like so many do. I know that I am not in charge and that my personal, subjective desires are completely irrelevant. But I do feel very sorry for our poor God who must listen to this ugly thing. I am not saying the sentiments are ugly. No. They are not ugly. It is the language that is used that is so poor and bland. Plus, I do think a little mystery, when it comes to God, is not a bad thing.

It looks to me that, in their zeal to correctly and specifically describe what is going on, the creators of the N.O. gave no thought to beauty. Please note that I am a convert, post Vatican II, so my comments have nothing to do with "the good old days." 

Catholic Cathedral

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Brandon Morgan

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Although I was not a Catholic during the supposed "good old days," I DID attend one Latin mass when I was about 6 years old. My father had abandoned our family to write for television and collect adult toys like boats and planes and starlets who wore too much makeup, and on this particular Sunday, our mother had also taken off with her inamorata of the moment and had left us for the weekend by ourselves. My sister was only 5, and I barely 6. 

Iday, our Cuban maid, had come over in the morning to retrieve us and take us with her to her parish to attend mass. The church was gorgeous. High ceilings soared above us, stained glass was on all sides, a beautiful altar sparkled in the sun that shone down on us through the windows, and highly polished EVERYTHING dazzled my eyes. I was enraptured.

I was also hungry. And I noticed that there was a line of people on their knees at the front who were getting cookies given them by the priest. I would get on my knees if it meant I could have a cookie, and I asked Iday if I could go up to the altar. She reacted with an unsure look on her face, so I took advantage of her confusion, grabbed my little sister's hand, and ran like the wind to the altar rail.

We looked like two little "raggamuffins" (as my mother would call us) in our inappropriate little shorts and tee shirts that we wore daily for our play time. The priest solemnly made his way down the line and then stopped to look down at me, bemused.

"Have you had your first communion?" he asked, me, not unkindly.

"Huh?" I said, obviously clueless.

The kindly old priest smiled and walked past us. The people in the front pews who had noticed, tittered in laughter at the poor little girls who did not know what they were doing.

So I grabbed my sister's hand again and dragged her back up the aisle to our seats next to Iday, my face burning with shame.

"But I want a cookie!" my sister whined.

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That was my only experience with the Latin Mass before I became Catholic, finally, in my late 40's.

When discussing the Latin Mass with others who have more experience with it than I do, they complain that they do not understand Latin and that the mass "means more" to them in English because they know what is going on. That seems to be the prevailing rationale for the Novus Ordo mass, and apparently, people who feel that way are in the majority.

But I find this tendency to cater to the PEOPLE to be part of what has gone wrong with the church (and the rest of society, frankly.) We are far too used to being entertained so that now we expect everything to entertain us. This is a wide-spread problem.

For example, I see memes on Facebook demanding that people entertain the meme writer with "positivity" and rejecting anything that is sad or does not entertain the writer, who tells us that you will not be their friend any more if you are a sad sack and write about your woes. The meme writer will remove you from their friend list because they "deserve" better than you.

This means, of course, that if you are having a rough time of it in life, that you must keep it to yourself because we are all now required to entertain our friends and only be sources of "joy," which is meant to mean enjoyment, actually.

If this keeps up any longer, we are going to have to rewrite the Bible and take some things OUT. The Beatitudes will have to go, first thing. Unfortunately, they are the words of Jesus:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: 

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are they who mourn: 

For they shall be comforted

Blessed are the meek: 

For they shall inherit the earth

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness: 

For they shall be filled

Blessed are the merciful: 

For they shall obtain mercy

Blessed are the pure in heart: 

For they shall see God

Blessed are the peacemakers: 

For they shall be called the children of God

Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake: 

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven"

Matthew 5:3-10

We will also have to eliminate some central themes to accommodate our new internet-led priorities. When Jesus is asked to say what is the greatest commandment in the law, He replies:

"Love the Lord your God with 

all your heart and with all your

soul and with all your mind. This

is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: Love your

neighbor as yourself. All the Law and

the Prophets hang on these two

commandments."

Matthew 22:37-40

It is obvious from the last passage, in particular, that what God finds most important is not the inward journey of self-satisfaction. It is not the pursuit of personal pleasure and entertainment. It is an outward looking thing.

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One of the downsides of living in the internet age is that enjoyment is at our fingertips, and if we run across something boring or sad while doom-scrolling our Facebook news feed, we are easily out of it by moving our fingers across the screen. Eliminating suffering and accumulating sources of thrill are relatively easy in the U.S. We are training our bodies and minds to be even more selfish and pleasure seeking than they already are programmed to be.

Youngsters have learned that, in order to get big rewards and lots of endorphins flowing through their bodies, all they have to do is move their finger ever so slightly across the screen, in the "right" way. It ruins them for work, later in their life, because work is not organized to entertain them and it does not reward them for the mere flick of a finger. One has to do a lot more than that to earn a paycheck, and these children of the video game are not amused.

The fear of loathsome suffering and the feeling of entitlement to pleasure operates against every religious principle we have as Catholics. The internet and its immediate availability of psychological and biochemical reward have ruined us. 

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Tolga Ahmetler

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What does any of this have to do with the Latin Mass? I will tell you. I believe that the idea that the mass should cater to us, with the priest facing US, and the dull-as-dishwater language meant for US and OUR complete understanding,  is the direct result of our fear of loathsome suffering and the feeling of entitlement to pleasure that our citizens have always had, in a certain amount. The "pursuit of happiness" and all that. But the ease of the internet has increased it, like psychological steroids.

Don't think this old gal is immune to it either. I must consciously fight against it and will myself to be a bit less suffering avoidant. This is what the ancient ascetic practices were all about. You know, the hair shirts and the offering up of pains and sufferings.

I am not wearing a hair shirt, but I have within my own body an enormous amount of daily suffering, despite a supply of pain pills, and there are many times during the day when I spur myself on to do some kind of good work, even though to do it causes me great physical pain. I push through it and "offer it up" in reparation for my sins and the sins of the whole world. That is the Catholic way.

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Alexandra

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So, you will excuse me if I prefer the Latin Mass because I know that it is not for my entertainment. I am not worshipping ME. During the Latin Mass, unlike the Novus Ordo, the priest faces God (who is in the East, everyone knows that.) He does not face the people. We are beside the point. We are there to worship God, witnessing the Priest make the offerings. I know there are many other reasons why the Latin Mass is superior, according to those more educated than I am, and those who were accustomed to the Latin Mass, but my own reasons are enough for me, since I am not trying to convince anyone nor win anyone over to my side. I am simply musing over the topic and, the next time it appears in my Facebook feed, I can offer a link to this blog post so that I do not have to reinvent the wheel every time it comes up.

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Lance Lozano

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I realize that Pope Francis has recently put more restrictions on the Latin Mass, and I understand that at least part of the reasoning behind doing that is that many of the people who are lobbying for its return are also taking a somewhat militant stance and going to war with anyone who disagrees with them, which is not the meekness which Christ requires of us. But I am concerned that Papa's reasoning appears to be reactionary, which will only remain a thought in the back of my mind for the present time, as I am opposed to complaining about our Pope.

                                                        

It is difficult to get to mass at all these days. It took me a couple of years to get someone to bring me the Eucharist. I called and called the parish office, and finally had to contact the bishop's office, and even then it took several months to get it into gear.

I do not have a car and do not have the money to buy one. I hope that one day someone will decide to donate to my GOFUNDME so that I may get one and thereby get to doctors appointments and, especially, mass. 

If you are not able to get to church, you are out of sight and out of mind because the church has folded in on itself and, like the rest of us, has become the thing that needs to be propped up, instead of going out of itself to help a suffering world. Suffering is icky. Come to the church and buy some bingo tickets so the church can continue to offer bingo. Come to the church fiesta to enjoy the entertainments and the church can make money.

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Sascha Bosshard

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When I have transportation, I will attend the one church that has Latin Mass one day during the week. It is a poor little church in a very old part of town, and I feel very sorry for its poverty and lack of members. I just pray that it is allowed to stay open and continue to pray in that divine language of Latin that I imagine God has grown to love over the last thousand years or so.

In the meantime, God bless us all.

Silver Rose

THE POPE''S COMMENTS ABOUT BEING SAVED THROUGH OTHER RELIGIONS

 

Pope Francis in a crowd

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In our fractious times in which certain groups of people seem to enjoy reacting with outrage and telling everyone else about it, our poor Papa is being criticized for his poor wordsmanship once again.

This time it is because he said that "all religions are paths to God," during a trip to East Asia and Oceania.

Apparently, he went on to say, "they are like different languages that express the Divine," and the outrage gang promptly lost their minds.

Mostly, I think that our Pope tries to paraphrase the Catechism, and it gets lost in the translation. It seems to me that he appears to be trying to express a nuanced, complex thought in more simple language.

Author Tom Hoopes points out something similar in his September 19th article, Did Pope Francis Just Say That all Religions are Equally True? in a Media & Culture Newsletter of Benedictine College in Atkinson, KS,  and his recent book What Pope Francis Really Said. [See: ARTICLE LINK]

If you read the short article, he talks about the process he uses to analyze the Pope's comments. He deconstructs the comment, and figures it out, but especially with the latest comment, it is clear that our Pope is not deviating from the Catechism:

"Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation."

This topic immediately brings to mind my own conversion from Hinduism to Catholicism.

I am today a committed Catholic BECAUSE of a Hindu group that introduced me to the Catholic mystics. I was a nun, living very comfortably in a Hindu-based convent, where I was led to read extensively about the Catholic contemplative saints, such as Teresa of Avilla, Jane de Chantal, Francis de Sales, Brother Lawrence, Thomas Merton, and others. I had a massive conversion experience and left the convent to get Baptized and become Catholic.  It was VERY difficult for me to leave that place because I LOVED the life. I was very comfortable there. Although it was a group monastic experience, we all had a certain amount of private time to ourselves and, for me, the balance was just right, especially because of the 4 to 5 hours a day that was available for meditation, which I loved.

Through that Hindu-based group, and especially through Swami Swahananda, I was also able to attend a small meeting between Pope John Paul II and religious leaders from other religions in 1987, in which my Hindu teacher, the Pope, a Zen monk and a Jewish rabbi all delivered remarks about ecumenism and related topics. I had been invited to the meeting by my Hindu Swami, since he was one of the speakers on the dais, even though I had left the Hindu convent. He knew I was leaving to become Catholic.

I was GOBSMACKED by the suffering evidenced so exquisitely by the obviously saintly pope, who appeared to be a walking sacrifice to the Lord. God definitely introduced me to some of the finer points of the mystical life and the magnitude of the Catholic mysteries through that Hindu faith and my Bengali teacher.

Another interesting feature of this situation is that, when this group set up the convent rules and routines, they copied the Catholic convents, using them as their model for the new Hindu convent, which was established sometime around 1950, in Hollywood, I believe.

Based on my experiences, my personal view on this topic is that our great Lord is elegant in his expressions of allurements to Him. It makes perfect sense to me that He can and DOES use the vehicle of other religions to carry some of His truth. After all, is there any place in which God is not allowed to reside? Indeed, can one keep Him away?

He has certainly spoken to me through other religions. I left my religion-hating home when I was 17 and immediately began my spiritual search, going first into Scientology, then Nicheren Shoshu and Zen Buddhism, then Vedanta style Hinduism, and now, for many years, Catholicism. I have read about other religions, such as Tibetan Buddhism, without setting foot on those paths, as well.

Sometimes the Lord has "spoken" to me by discouraging me from avenues that were clearly going in the opposite direction of where He intended me to go. But sometimes He makes me work very hard for something, just to impress upon my mind how very much it means to me. For example, my road into the Catholic Church was EXTREMELY difficult because there is a tendency among some members to treat it as if it is an exclusive country club meant only for "cradle Catholics" of a certain background.

It is easy for me to believe that, for those people whose desire for the True Lord is sincere, He takes them from where they are and leads them. I do not see why those people who yearn for God would be ignored by our Blessed Lord. Surely, He loves us too much for anyone to be lost simply because they took the wrong train to their desired destination (their "desired destination" being the One True God.)

After being raised by religion-hating, immoral and unloving people, it would have been easy for me to have been tripped up by any one of a number of religions I studied or practiced. 

The outrage police would be astonished at how many similarities in thought and spiritual practice many religions share among them. Truth is, indeed, "seeded" throughout.  

So, I do hope that our dear Pope's detractors will soon find some peace of soul within themselves and stop this constant fault-finding.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose

VOTING

 

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Rather than re-invent the wheel every time someone presses me into a discussion about our current political climate, I am writing this.

I identify as a religious person, not a political one.

I am not a partisan political personality and, although I make an effort to discharge my civic responsibilities and vote whenever I have the chance, I do not identify with any party, except inasmuch as the process requires that I choose one at various points in the process. Whatever political opinions I hold are based upon principles, not personalities or political parties. So, if you are going to disagree with me, please anticipate that I am not going to respond to demands that I defend all the actions of everyone in any one party. There is no political party with which I agree on every value, goal and plan. The only organization to which I have that kind of devotion is the Catholic Church, the values of which I endeavor to follow as best I can, attending to the highest authorities in it, to the best of my ability.

Many of my fellow Catholics are hotly debating the current political cycle, and a number of them are making wild claims and demands about whom we are required to support. But, according to The Faith itself, it has been my experience that there is quite a bit of leeway in the faith which is meant to accommodate each person's appreciation of "proportionate reasons" that impinge upon their vote. In fact, two people could vote for two separate individuals and still be faithful to requirements, depending upon their rationale of WHY they are voting suchly, so I disagree with folks when they tell me that "The Church" demands that I vote for one person in particular. That's not how The Church operates.  

I would prefer NOT to talk about politics, but because these wild accusations and demands are flying around social media space, I can't ignore the political topic because it would be a disservice to new members of the faith, for instance, who are being misled.

Neither party is aligned with a cohesive Catholic world view.

We have, essentially, a two-party system and it is always a binary choice. One or the other. Pick one. Neither party conforms completely with the viewpoints of the Catholic faith, as Pope Francis recently pointed out.

Often times, one has to think of one's vote as a choice between the lesser of two evils. Often, there are issues of importance to EVERY American that are at stake in an election, and this year's election is one of those.

I do my best to follow the faith, as put down in The Catechism, and as interpreted and promulgated by various popes, one of whom I respect, in particular, being Pope Benedict XVI. Before he became Pope, he was a Cardinal and the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; one of the most important Dicasteries of the Roman Curia. He was known to be of great philosophical mind, a traditional Catholic, and here is the instruction he crafted in order to explain The Church's stance on voting, in light of the topic of the criminalization of abortion:

Pope Benedict's guidance about voting:

"A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate's permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation [emphasis added], which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons." Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

It is up to each individual to assess the "proportion reasons" that Pope Benedict talks about.

Donald Trump is dangerous to our democracy.

Donald Trump and the new iteration of the GOP have become a dangerous force on the political scene. It would take dozens of pages to demonstrate why this is so, but it isn't necessary for me to justify why I came to this conclusion. There are so many, varied and weighty examples why this twice impeached, 34 times federally indicted, proven liar, rapist and slanderer is dangerous to our government, that I know it would be quite easy for you to find these reasons yourself, without any help from me.

We cannot cure moral ills with political force.

When I discuss this topic with other Christians, they ALWAYS bring up abortion, as if making abortion illegal is worth any price, even the loss of our democracy itself. 

Although I am opposed to abortion, I do not think that this problem can be cured through the political process, and I will tell you why. There are a number of reasons. Abortions have always been available, legal and illegal; the pro-abortion population is much larger than we are; and this is such a hot issue that the fighting will never end if we continue to focus all our attention on the very worldly political process.  In addition, the party that is in favor of outlawing abortion is so tragically flawed at this moment that their stand on other issues is dangerous to our entire democratic process, thanks to Donald Trump and his cult.

I am not devoted to either political party.

In previous years, I have always felt I could vote for either party, depending on what was "hot" at the moment. Sometimes I vote for Republicans, and sometimes Democrats. But, until the current divisive, racist, xenophobic GOP candidate disappears into distant history, and the GOP repairs itself, I am afraid I have to vote Democrat. I have PLENTY of reasons for this that have nothing to do with how the news media treats the candidates. What I have seen, heard and know from my own eyes and ears, is that the methods promised by the Trump cult are toxic and will not produce a positive result that outweighs the negative it creates.

One day, American politics will have to hinge upon COMPROMISE. 

It is an old principle that a deal that is made in which neither opponent is happy is the BEST deal possible. In American politics, where each side has a vested interest in the welfare of the other, this is particularly true, especially now that the outer fringes of each party have swung so far to the corners.

If I got every political thing I wanted, many people would have to get little or nothing of what they want.

Compromise does not make me personally happy. When I imagine a society in which I would be happiest I see one in which the Catholic Church is once more a respected and popular authority; where the church bells toll loudly at least 3 times a day, and where Christian morals and ideals are the norm, not the reviled exception. But, if I were to have my idyllic dream imposed on the unwilling, there would be a lot of people for whom this vision would be their version of hell. My idea of happiness, therefore, would rest upon the unhappiness and unrest of a large part of the population because the realization of my kind of spiritual vision is the result of an authentic spiritual life that cannot be an artificially created facsimile. 

Americans would continue to fight against our religious vision.

Moral issues that are "settled" by force of law, against the will of a majority of the people, will not remain "settled" because Americans feel they have the right to determine how they are governed. In the area of abortion, for instance, most polls agree that up to 63% of the population believes that the decision about what happens within a woman's womb cannot be made by politicians and that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

For details about the demographics on this statistic, see:

 PEW RESEARCH CENTER ARTICLE

In the Pew research:

•  73% of white evangelical Protestants think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases;
• 86% of religiously unaffiliated people think it should be legal in all or most cases
• 71% of black protestants think it should be legal, as do 64% of white NONevangelical protestants, and 59% of Catholics

We can not pretend we are not religious in our objections to abortion.

In the public square, I have seen a good deal of effort on the part of Christians in fashioning reasons to criminalize abortions from a perspective other than religion - and these efforts are being made, in most cases by people who are religious and who are opposed to abortion because of their religion - not because of these creative "nonreligious" reasons that they fashion from another logic. That other logic is legitimate and not far-fetched, but our motivation did not arise from that "nonreligious" logic, and the rest of the world can see us crafting this pretense, which makes us appear to be hypocrites in their eyes.

Both sides create straw men to fight.

To be clear, I see both sides resolutely refusing to acknowledge the central reasons behind their opponents' position on this topic and then mischaracterizing it. Then they go to war with the straw man they have created, which is a famous fallacy of classical logic. Both sides ARE doing this.

While I agree that, in order to make any inroads into the abortion problem, we need to appeal to the minds of Americans, we can't manufacture the devotion necessary to change people's minds through this creative "nonreligious" logic that is not our obvious primary incentive. 

Evangelization of the culture should be our method.

Our primary method of combatting the sin of abortion, and other moral failings, should be authentic evangelization to the FAITH, something that requires an awful lot more work than flapping our internet lips on social media and other public areas. Our solution is religious, not political. Once the culture is evangelized, we could have an abortuary on every corner, and the halls would echo in their emptiness of clients because the FAITH has found its way into their hearts.

When it comes to the elimination of social ills, it is entirely a question of METHOD. Which METHODS will most reliably arrive at the goal? I anticipate that a nuanced scheme of systems would have to be combined.

While I believe that politics should not be our primary method of turning around the awful abortion statistics, there are a few things we can do in the political arena to encourage the growth of a culture that is pro-life, and I say "encourage" because they are positive solutions, such as government-paid maternity and paternity leave, nursery school, child care, AND education at all levels. They have these programs in many of the other industrialized nations, while we behave as if we hate one another and are in competition with one another, instead of supporting our population, from cradle to grave.

We are ashamed.

It occurs to me that the reason why we have shifted our attention to politics and away from evangelization is because of the awful sex abuse and other scandals. We are ashamed, and it is no wonder! I suspect that the church needs to cleanse itself of its perversions and become more true to its principles, and then it must make amends for not cleaning house before now. Only then can we evangelize the culture from the religious perspective, because, if we are honest, it is the religious perspective that is at the heart of our objection to abortion.

Political power is no substitute for evangelization.

Forcing people to live by Christian standards by wielding political power will only create more hostility and division. Just look at the public discussions about the legal status of abortion! Each side is so entrenched, politically, that if something does not change, the fight will go on FOREVER.

The political fight might go on forever.

My pragmatic approach infuriates some people. Those people do not seem to care that making abortion illegal has never been a particularly good insurance against abortion, except for poor women, that it probably will not stop abortion, and now that it has been legal for more than 50 years, a high percentage of the population is not in favor of returning to the time when it was illegal. They want the decision to remain with the woman.

The cooperation of the mother is required.

An important thing to remember is that, in order for a child in the womb to survive, you have to have the cooperation of the mother. Forcing her to live by your moral code at this late stage in the game is not a reliable method. This is hugely important because, once the woman is pregnant, it is far too late to begin to comment on her moral failings.

The root problem is primarily sex outside of marriage.

I have yet to hear ANYONE talk about sex outside of marriage as a problem. Even Catholics take it for granted that this is part of life and they themselves are living this way. It is so common in society for people to have active sex lives outside of marriage that I never hear Catholics discuss this grave moral ill. I can't remember the last time I read any article about it, and if Catholics were to refuse to watch any movie or television show that featured people "living in sin," either shacked up or occasionally, and they made it known they were doing this, the motion picture and television industry would be gravely affected. It makes me wonder exactly just how much we are "Catholic," if at all, when we are frantically vocal about abortion but remain largely silent about the underlying cause.

If men and women never had sex outside of marriage, there would be scant few abortions to discuss.

These are my opinions.

I have written this blog post because I am tired of reinventing the wheel during conversations online and, in order to do justice to the topic, I wanted to explain my views completely, in one place. I am not an expert, by any means, though I do attempt to educate myself by reading the opinions of experts and staying up to date on verifiable facts.

I understand that people of good will may disagree with my conclusions. 

I respect the viewpoints of others on this matter, but please be advised that it is not necessary to write to me to tell me that abortion is a grave moral sin. I certainly agree with you. 

I do not support abortion. My opinion has to do with whether or not making it illegal will accomplish anything.

I am not having any abortions, nor am I suggesting anyone else should have an abortion, nor would I encourage anyone to have an abortion. If you have actually read this blog post, these facts would be clear to you, so if you feel moved to write me and call me names and behave in a vulgar, inappropriate fashion, you will understand when your comment is not published.

I will correct my facts, if proven wrong.

If you find something in my blog post that is factually incorrect, and if you have proof from a reliable, legitimate and recognized source of that type of information, please provide it and I will correct any and every instance of wrong fact that you present to me. I am devoted to Truth and have no interest in perpetuating anything else. Just keep in mind, however, that an opinion piece from a partisan organization will not meet the criteria for a source of proof.

I will not defend positions I have not taken.

"Whatabout" accusations that ignore the points I have made and which demand that I defend things I have not proposed will not be published. 

I will not read or publish partisan opinion rags from either side.

Disputes that rely upon someone else's opinion, in the form of internet articles from partisan platforms, will not be read or published.

Threats of any and every kind will be referred to local law enforcement for prosecution. 

Respectful, pertinent questions for the purpose of clarification of something specific that I have said will be answered in the same tone and with the same consideration.

I thank you for your patience and understanding, in advance.

God bless us all!

Silver Rose

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All rights reserved. 

SUFFERING AND SO-CALLED "POSITIVE THINKING"

 

Our Lady of Sorrows

I recently turned 70, which seemed a rather monumental birth day, as birthdays go, and it has made me think about death and suffering and the transit of my life on this planet thus far. Also, today is the Marian feast day for Our Lady of Sorrows.

Every generation, IF we are lucky enough to reach old age, is going to have the honor of being ABLE to look back on the progression of their lives and see some remarkable twists and turns of history, due to advancements in science and politics and even natural disasters, such as the Covid pandemic, earthquakes, floods, and the like. We have NO way of knowing how things would have differed for us, had our circumstances been other than what they were.

(This year, I have been telling everyone that my birthday present is the birthday itself. 70.  It's amazed me.)

We will, at times, wonder if things might have turned out better for us if we had been born to better people. By the time I was 5, my father had left our home to chase starlets, spending money on them that he should have spent on his children, who never went to a dentist, nor had proper shoes or clothing to wear, while he was buying boats, airplanes, and loose women. Meanwhile, his wife, our mother, was ill with multiple sclerosis and lupus and rheumatoid arthritis from her early 20's, waking up paralyzed on several occasions. 

But my father's ill treatment of my mother did not endow her with sympathy for her children, however, and she treated me, in particular, as the scape goat, tormenting me with ruthless emotional abuse and giving me not a single shred of love my entire time with her, causing me to take my junior and senior classes in one year of high school and graduating a year early, just so I could leave home as soon as possible, walking out the door with nothing but the clothes on my back, shortly after I turned 17.

Is it legitimate to wonder what my life would have looked like, had I been raised with love by either parent, instead of the two narcissistic and utterly selfish people I was given? Of course, it is natural that this thought would blow across the sere landscape of my childhood memories.

Somehow, however, I am at peace with the idea that God had me born to the people and in the way he wanted me to. His reasons are his own, and I will never fault him for it, because I am not privy to the thoughts of Our Lord, and it is not my business to second guess Him because, if one actually believes in God, who is all good, one HAS to assume that "something good is going on," (as my old Hindu teacher used to say), no matter WHAT the circumstances of one's life. We are not entitled to know the reasons of God.

I make the best of my circumstances and usually experience great serenity of soul, despite the suffering. I know it does not seem possible and, indeed, many people have made assumptions about me, that if I have so many sufferings, then I must be miserable, but it isn't true. How suffering and blessedness can exist, side by side, at the same time and in the same person, is incomprehensible to many people but it is the spiritual version of walking and chewing gum at the same time. More than one layer of reality exists in our consciousness at the same time. 

This does not mean that I do not suffer. Yes, I certainly suffer EXCEPT that, no matter how bad it gets, I have avoided feeling sorry for myself, and I think that this has made me, in general, happier than I have a right to be. I am quite sure I have not met my Lord's hopes for me and His standards, so I must not withdraw into self-pity, in case he decides to treat me as I really deserve to be treated. It is nothing but his generosity of grace that preserves us all from the fate we have earned, no matter how much we delude ourselves about how holy we are.

When I encounter the frustrations of life, I do feel those frustrations. But the drama is playing itself out on a blessed field. We are not expected to just lay down and say, "oh well, it's God's will. I will do nothing." That is not what we are called to do. We must fight it. If we have needs that are not being met, we must do what we can to ensure our survival and get those needs met. We do the best we can, make the calculations of action that we believe will bring the best result, but not grieve too much if we have miscalculated and the result is not what was desired.

I have been seeing a lot of very selfish and self-satisfied memes on social media lately. What most of my Catholic friends do not realize is that these are toxic message from the "New Age" philosophies which are the opposite of our Catholic faith. Each of these memes is some version of the admonition to shut up if you are suffering, don't tell anyone about it, and "be grateful" instead. This seems cruel to me for, if our neighbor is suffering and there may be something we can do to alleviate it, we will not know how we might do so, if they are under orders to keep a scarf stuffed in their mouth!

This offal sandwich is breaded, on the one side, with the writer's claim that they deserve to be friends with people who bring them only joy, and on the other side, with the instruction that anyone who is suffering should not only refrain from mentioning it, but should only talk about how grateful they are instead!

The fact is that we are all suffering, and when we love our neighbor, it is one sufferer healing another. The lacuna in my life matches an embarrassment of riches in the life of another person, and vice versa, and this is how we are all meant to get through life - helping one another, each in our own way. 

I have had many opportunities to help other folks, even though my finances and physical condition are not good, because (like most people) I have other talents and treasures than the obvious. I try not to talk about my own "talents and treasures" unless it is necessary to the topic of a conversation. But it occurs to me that, if I am not allowed to discuss how I have helped someone, and it is not allowed for me to discuss the help that I myself need, and it is terrible to brag about my good fortune (which some people do to excess on social media, in my opinion) and many folks object to being forced to hear religious dissertations, then what exactly must I discuss?  "Small talk" is very difficult for me, as it is for other Aspergerish folk and, while I can do it, exhaustion often results. 

I have very few conversations, one-on-one, in my daily life, but with all the restrictions, I struggle to know what to say. I may try to touch on art or literature but, unless the other person has the same interests, it lands with a sodden thud in the middle of the discussion.

All of this makes for a recommendation to the solitary religious life for me and, although it is not understood very well by anyone else, it is perhaps what God had in mind for me all along, because nothing has worked so well, and I have also had many unpleasant pressures pushing me in that direction. Everything that has happened to me has contributed to the direction of my life which I believe is something close to what God had planned. I was not intelligent enough to figure it out for myself, so He had to close off all the other avenues to make sure I understood His meaning.

Every once in a while, though, I have a message that I need to give because THIS, this writing thing, is one of the "talents and treasures" with which The Lord has gifted me, and I think he expects me to exercise it, every now and then.

So, I think the message for today is simply this: Stop telling people to shut up and save you from having to listen to their pain. If there are some people who you think may harp on it a bit much, I will suggest that it is their effort to be HEARD in a sea of people who refuse to hear them that is causing them to repeat themselves. Maybe if just one person would do a splendid job of actually hearing that person, in a calm, patient, and nonjudgmental fashion, the sufferer may talk about it less than otherwise. It is in that hearing that the sufferer will find some relief.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose

THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION AND CONTEMPLATION FROM THE ASPERGER PERSPECTIVE

 

VIEW FROM MY HERMITAGE

When some folks hear the term "meditation," the image that comes to mind is that of an old, long-haired Hindu holy man, dressed in the orange "gerua" color of the saints of that religion, with maybe a few strings of rudraksha beads slung around his neck, and some colorful paint on his face.

Or perhaps you have been attracted to the more austere practice of Zen and studied with a Zen Roshi, such as my friend, Roshi Prabhasa Dharma.

Meditation and its related practice of contemplation are common forms of prayer that are shared with a number of religions, including Catholicism. Generally speaking, Christian Meditation involves concentrating on a specific prayer, usually a sacred text, and examining it from various perspectives, such as in the practice of lectio divina.  Generous use of the intellect is involved. 

But in contemplation,  there is a deeper, more focused concentration of the soul on the Beloved Lord. In my personal practice, it is a quiet sitting with and gazing upon Him, without the noisiness and distraction of the activity of the intellect. 

I fully admit that the simple definitions I have offered, above, are just the beginning of the soul's comprehension of what a bare bones, basic approach would be, so I would like to add upon those with material from the Catholic Answers website, in particular, which is a wonderful resource. They present us an article about this topic from the original Catholic Encyclopedia published from 1907 through 1912, that I  cannot improve upon:

Definition of "contemplation" from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

"Contemplation, the object of contemplative life, is defined as the complacent, loving gaze of the soul on Divine Truth already known and apprehended by the intellect assisted and enlightened by Divine Grace."

According to Edmond Gurdon, St. Bernard considered contemplation to be the highest of all human worship because it is, essentially, an act of adoration and "utter self surrender of man's whole being." He further makes the point that time spent in contemplation is typically brief, since exterior action, "with the solicitude and cares attendant on it" naturally absorbs the attention of the spiritual practitioner, which is why those that yearn for the mystical union with God will naturally withdraw from the crowd and abandon all other pursuits to "lead a retired life entirely consecrated to the purpose of contemplation." 

Thus, throughout the last 2,000 years, we have seen scores of Christian hermits, many of them later regarded as saints, withdraw from society to pursue the Lord in the quiet of the desert, the forest, and the monastery, but it is in the monastery alone where one finds the organization and the protections so crucial to the hermit's peaceful experience of the contemplative life, which is recognized by Edmond Gurdon in this quote:

"It is evident that such a life can be led nowhere

 so safely and so easily as in those 

monastic orders which make

 it their special object."

Edmond Gurdon

I offer the entire text to the Catholic Answers page HERE 

Meditative Landscape

by Silver S. Parnell (c) Copyright 1998

All rights reserved

My thoughts on the general topic:

The distractions of modern life are many and persuasive. The typical American, no matter how attracted to the contemplative ideal of the hermit, will "naturally" be distracted by the comings and goings, the eatings and drinkings, the pull of society's dance. HOWEVER, it is slightly different from the perspective of the Asperger personality which contains in its nature both helpful impulses that make us at home alone with ourselves and enable concentration that facilitates contemplation, as well as unhelpful ones that can express themselves in a manner that interferes with group life.

There are some people who are uniquely temperamentally inclined to endure the privations of the hermit life due to special conditions of their intellect and their "neuro-diversity." I am not talking about the misanthropes who dislike other humans and all aspects of "normal" society. Those people are cynical egotists who almost despise their fellow man, which is the opposite of the state necessary for the love of God. One cannot love God and hate mankind.

No, I am talking about the religious person who also happens to be a member of a group to which I belong; the Aspergers among us. While those who are on the autistic spectrum are not necessarily automatically religious, those of us who ARE religious can make use of our common ability to concentrate very intently on one topic and put it in service to our love of The Lord. Many of us are also quite able to spend long hours of time by ourselves, and we easily tolerate routine and tedious schedules, and, in fact appreciate these things that are sources of boredom for many other folks.

Before my baptism and conversion to Catholicism, I was a nun in a Hindu convent, and I remember becoming a bit ill at ease on holidays when the schedule was changed. Unless I could look upon it as one of our "regular" or "routine" holidays, I couldn't wait for the day to be over, when others around me were enjoying the change of pace.

Mother Mary

by

Silver S. Parnell

(c) Copyright 2013

All rights reserved.

I won't say that these natural inclinations always make it easier for me to endure my life as a hermit. It doesn't help me deal with the bullies, con artists and thieves that routinely assail vulnerable people like me in my day-to-day life, but it certainly has helped me to remain constant to my vow of 20 years ago when I decided to dedicate the remainder of my life to the contemplation of The Lord. I made the personal vow one day, then 20 years later, I suddenly looked up and realized that two decades had passed!

On the other hand, the "monastic orders" that Edmond Gurdon says offer a more ideal home for the contemplative soul will not usually be so tolerant with the peculiarities with which the autistic person is saddled, so we will do better on our own, as hermits, rather than as a contemplative in an organization. 

It is also true that many of us are devoted to our own peculiar "avocations" which we may turn toward the "work" portion of the "ora et labora," ("prayer and work") of the monastic life, and which may be too creative or offbeat for a typical monastic order.

Albuquerque Sky and Clouds

by

Silver S. Parnell

(C) Copyright 2020

All rights reserved.

The Asberger personality is often prone to obsessive compulsive disorders, by virtue of their capacity for intense concentration upon various hobbies and interests. 

 If one of our obsessions finds purchase in the mind of an Asperbergers personality and it is in line with a project that is welcomed by the institution, then it is a benefit to all concerned, and superiors may not notice the inflexibility that accompanies many such "hobbies." But if the obsession asserts itself in a topic that one's superiors find peculiar, then we are in trouble, all around.

Many of us develop interests at a very young age and retain those interests through adulthood. We develop what could be characterized as a devotion to a topic, almost as if it is our responsibility to always stay on top of new discoveries in the field, and we find it difficult to restrain ourselves from attending to new developments immediately, rather than during a time set out for such things by an outside factor, such as the schedule of a monastic institution. 

 

Hermitage in the snow

by

Silver S. Parnell

(c) 2021

All rights reserved.

I, for instance, began writing haiku poetry when very young. I was also a painter from youth. My favorite painters remain the same as they were from my early years, and I am still intensely interested in the entire topic. It is very hard for me to put down a book about the topic, or a painting I am working on, or some poetry I am writing.

The Asperger personality is sometimes famous for talking at great length about favorite topics on which great swaths of information has been accumulated. This can be irritating, in group life, where more balance is wanted.

But, the Aspergerish hermit, whom I call the "accidental hermit," while ill-suited to group life, given her God-given idiosyncracies, is  in greater need of the protections afforded by the monastic institutions because we are more vulnerable to the dangers of life outside the convent or monastery, due to the Accidental Hermit's gullibly loving nature, on the one hand, and the predatory nature of many of the folks among whom she has to live in close quarters, on the other.  Our culture has moved away from the Christian norm, for instance.

Unfortunately,  modern Americans have grown increasingly avaricious and scheming, and, while there are pockets of small-town culture where the Christian standards remain the blessed norm, it is sad to see, in my experience, that loving one's neighbor usually results in your disabled urban hermit being taken advantage of by those neighbors who share nearby residence. One would think that only the poverty stricken would prey upon the hermit, but in my lifelong experience, it does not matter the socio-economic station of the neighbor. All it takes is proximity and greed. 

Through artifice and design, some neurotypical people attempt to befriend your hermit for the sole purpose of grasping onto a piece of furniture or other thing they learn that I possess and, as soon as they have it and everything else they want, they fall back into a hard-bitten hostility and gritty cynicism that expresses itself in bitter recriminations for manufactured slights that are used as a smoke screen behind which to hide their acquisitiveness. 

If your loving Aspergerish hermit cannot physically do the service that these neighbors want or if she cannot afford to let go of the furniture on which the neighbor has set her eye, the neighbor will manipulate the situation so that others gang up on the hermit in order to force the item or service from her. All pretense of friendship is dropped, and the neighbor begins the litany of complaints that he or (usually) she recites.

Being a gentle soul, the Accidental Hermit will not lower herself to bickering over these items, nor will she pour grievances on the head of the people who have drawn her into their selfish dramas, but she does feel a certain sadness that these people have given up the real value that is to be had in the association with a lover of God.  

Despite these very real (and seemingly perennial) distractions, I contend that the Accidental Hermit is uniquely suited for this vocation, as an urban hermit, hidden among other single women and men, living in city apartments, following their monastic schedule.

The one thing that is sometimes a struggle is to be able to put down whatever I am doing at the moment, in obedience to the schedule. Most of the monastic institutions, convents and monasteries, chant the Divine Office at specific hours through the day and night. One has to be able to put down one's work at the time for prayer, and likewise put down one's prayer when it is time for work, or lunch, or sleep! I find it very difficult to drop anything in which I am engrossed at the moment, whether it be work, play or prayer. This is typical of many who have the Asperger personality, and it is an area in which being part of an institution would be helpful, but which I have to call upon self-discipline to do while alone.  There are trade-offs in both situations.

Photo by Bryan Brittos

unsplash.com

Royalty free images

If I don't have a saint to discuss in my next post, I may spend some time discussing the monastic schedule, or the "Rule of Life" that I have adopted for myself, in particular the prayer schedule.  

Any reader that has questions about the hermit life is free to ask in the comment section and I will answer to the best of my ability. next time I post.

In the meantime, please do not forget the "Go Fund Me" link, above right. While I am self-supporting with my Social Security Retirement funds, it really is not enough for all my needs, and I am falling behind.

God bless us all!

Silver Rose

(c) Copyright 2024, Silver S. Parnell

All rights reserved

(This post talks about "Asperger Syndrome" which used to be its own category, but now the higher functioning folks on the autistic spectrum are included in the wider term of "autistic spectrum disorder." Many of us, however, prefer "Aspergers" and continue to use it for ourselves. For my ears, it sounds more benign or pleasantly quirky. I am a fan of self determination and will continue to use it for myself, but also allow that others may prefer "neuro-divergent" or something else, and I will use those favored terms for those individuals when speaking about or to them specifically, otherwise I use my favored term.)