Lenten Exercise #7
(Sorry I've gotten behind. I had to write a reflection for the SLU liturgy website last night. I will post two when I can.)
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/021208.shtml
Why do we pray? Does prayer actually make a difference? Is trying to dictate what God does a presumptuous thing to do? What kind of goodness and love does God have for his creatures if prayer does not move Him at all?
I have no easy answers at all for these sorts of things, but in the context of Lent, we can meditate briefly on the concept of prayer - especially as it is given in these readings. First, we are told in Isaiah that the word of the Lord will not return void. It shall do the will of God, "achieving the end for which [God] sent it."
Let's challenge this - put it a broad context. So are the people who say that Katrina was a punishment for the poor in New Orleans right? After all, it happened, so it had to have been willed by God. It will achieve the end for which it is sent. Presumably, we take God's willing things for us to be for the greatest good - but how could God impose such miserable suffering on so many scores of people? Even more pointedly, how could God make man such that he could possibly brutalize and murder his fellow man and bring fear and hatred into the world? Need we be reminded of Virginia Tech? All such acts are willed by God, right? If God is powerless to stop this, He is not omnipotent. If he chose not to do this, He is not omnibenevolent. What kind of God wills this? What does He will this for?
I reply, first, that none of these things is pure evil. Even the acts by which people are instantly or unexpectedly killed - they are not pure evil. Suffering is largely a consequence of our limitedness - both mental and physical. We may suffer physically a great deal - but recalling the spirit of Lent, it is not in the flesh but in the spirit that we are to build up true worth.
Are natural disasters and catastrophic events, then, a harsh reminder of this? Not in themselves - but they can be. I also take it that, adapting the old dictum, the Lord never gives you what you cannot handle ... with His grace. Constantly, we are reminded that we are imperfect and that we are not the be-all end-all of existence. We are dependent on God for life and we reach for him in our minds for our fulfillment. The physical goods of this world are means to that end (if used properly) The physical challenges of limitedness give meaning to our lives and strengthen us insofar as we do not simply try to do things without seeking it for the right purpose. Our limitedness gives us a sense of urgency; it's like a deadline for a paper, to put it crudely. Perhaps giving humans unlimited time to find Him, God knew that humans never would get around to it! It makes every breath we take and move we make meaningful as we seek. We know that we will never reach the end of our search in this life, but, perhaps, at least we have the will to hope.
Could God have willed the ill effects of every natural disaster or human action? Ill effects of human choosing are one thing - insofar as we can readily identify with our will, then that action is ours. (I'm currently reading Augustine, which may explain a bit of pessimism on will, but I think there is wisdom there - I'm trying to work it out - my own spirituality and philosophy is most definitely a work in progress)
Why is the evil so disproportionate? I believe there are two positives that are of infinite importance, so as to trump evil: first, the fact that we are even alive at all; second, the fact that God lies not in the realm of the physical.
Man seeks to know and understand - and by that I take it to mean that man seeks to find out what is going on in the world and what will happen in the world - in his or her own life and in others'. Man was either created limited, merited limitedness, or has evolved limited. I have yet to square thoughts on original sin, evolution, and human nature yet, so I apologize. In God, though, man finds an ultimate end - an end beyond all human knowing and experience. It is up to man to do the best he can on earth being open to the help of God, yet not insensitive to the human needs of others. Physical death is simply the end of our physical existence, but it will not be feared if we keep our minds as much as we are able on the prizes of the mind. Physical suffering may be almost insuperable and care must be taken of physical goodness, but always with a mind towards the ultimate end of it all.
We return to prayer. Prayer is not just humans hoping after God. Prayer is not telling God what to do. Prayer is asking that God's will be done and for the grace and strength to do good, to forgive, to act as best we can always in this life, and to apportion to us what we need to live - materially in some sense, but most definitely physically. Prayer is faith seeking understanding aloud, which is not too hard to begin to think about, so long as we not consider man the be-all end-all of all existence.
The problem of evil, which I scattershottedly wrote on here, admits of no easy answer, and, again, I do not think my own thoughts are terribly well formed on this yet (80 page thesis and all). But with faith and humility, I keep searching and pray that God's will be done - and that I may know, love, and rest in that will.
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/021208.shtml
Why do we pray? Does prayer actually make a difference? Is trying to dictate what God does a presumptuous thing to do? What kind of goodness and love does God have for his creatures if prayer does not move Him at all?
I have no easy answers at all for these sorts of things, but in the context of Lent, we can meditate briefly on the concept of prayer - especially as it is given in these readings. First, we are told in Isaiah that the word of the Lord will not return void. It shall do the will of God, "achieving the end for which [God] sent it."
Let's challenge this - put it a broad context. So are the people who say that Katrina was a punishment for the poor in New Orleans right? After all, it happened, so it had to have been willed by God. It will achieve the end for which it is sent. Presumably, we take God's willing things for us to be for the greatest good - but how could God impose such miserable suffering on so many scores of people? Even more pointedly, how could God make man such that he could possibly brutalize and murder his fellow man and bring fear and hatred into the world? Need we be reminded of Virginia Tech? All such acts are willed by God, right? If God is powerless to stop this, He is not omnipotent. If he chose not to do this, He is not omnibenevolent. What kind of God wills this? What does He will this for?
I reply, first, that none of these things is pure evil. Even the acts by which people are instantly or unexpectedly killed - they are not pure evil. Suffering is largely a consequence of our limitedness - both mental and physical. We may suffer physically a great deal - but recalling the spirit of Lent, it is not in the flesh but in the spirit that we are to build up true worth.
Are natural disasters and catastrophic events, then, a harsh reminder of this? Not in themselves - but they can be. I also take it that, adapting the old dictum, the Lord never gives you what you cannot handle ... with His grace. Constantly, we are reminded that we are imperfect and that we are not the be-all end-all of existence. We are dependent on God for life and we reach for him in our minds for our fulfillment. The physical goods of this world are means to that end (if used properly) The physical challenges of limitedness give meaning to our lives and strengthen us insofar as we do not simply try to do things without seeking it for the right purpose. Our limitedness gives us a sense of urgency; it's like a deadline for a paper, to put it crudely. Perhaps giving humans unlimited time to find Him, God knew that humans never would get around to it! It makes every breath we take and move we make meaningful as we seek. We know that we will never reach the end of our search in this life, but, perhaps, at least we have the will to hope.
Could God have willed the ill effects of every natural disaster or human action? Ill effects of human choosing are one thing - insofar as we can readily identify with our will, then that action is ours. (I'm currently reading Augustine, which may explain a bit of pessimism on will, but I think there is wisdom there - I'm trying to work it out - my own spirituality and philosophy is most definitely a work in progress)
Why is the evil so disproportionate? I believe there are two positives that are of infinite importance, so as to trump evil: first, the fact that we are even alive at all; second, the fact that God lies not in the realm of the physical.
Man seeks to know and understand - and by that I take it to mean that man seeks to find out what is going on in the world and what will happen in the world - in his or her own life and in others'. Man was either created limited, merited limitedness, or has evolved limited. I have yet to square thoughts on original sin, evolution, and human nature yet, so I apologize. In God, though, man finds an ultimate end - an end beyond all human knowing and experience. It is up to man to do the best he can on earth being open to the help of God, yet not insensitive to the human needs of others. Physical death is simply the end of our physical existence, but it will not be feared if we keep our minds as much as we are able on the prizes of the mind. Physical suffering may be almost insuperable and care must be taken of physical goodness, but always with a mind towards the ultimate end of it all.
We return to prayer. Prayer is not just humans hoping after God. Prayer is not telling God what to do. Prayer is asking that God's will be done and for the grace and strength to do good, to forgive, to act as best we can always in this life, and to apportion to us what we need to live - materially in some sense, but most definitely physically. Prayer is faith seeking understanding aloud, which is not too hard to begin to think about, so long as we not consider man the be-all end-all of all existence.
The problem of evil, which I scattershottedly wrote on here, admits of no easy answer, and, again, I do not think my own thoughts are terribly well formed on this yet (80 page thesis and all). But with faith and humility, I keep searching and pray that God's will be done - and that I may know, love, and rest in that will.