Now to rant about God and or Faith (ignore if you wish)

[ringosgarden]

I was told yesterday that my Uncle Freddy died

Comments

A little Forward I know

[green_hill_monk]

Madam,

Forgive my forwardness, as I have no right to write you a comment here please delete and forget this if you wish. I stumbled upon this as I was procrastinating trying not to do all the symbolic Logic studying I should be engrossed in now. This entry seems to be about faith, and works and life direction. These are concepts I can dig, if not fully understand their applications to your life. You self-identify as a Roman Catholic on the book of faces, this too is something I can identify with, being one myself. Actually I almost became a priest right after high school in the summer of 2004. But that’s irrelevant. This might be the time when an evangelical type would entreat you to BELIVE!!, even though you have no reason to, no examples of God showing up and saying Hi Tara, I love you. This is what Fitz would call an appeal to false authority. This is also why Catholicism uses three things, The bible, the cannon of our philosophers and reason to figure out faith and not just yelling telling you to believe. (I am not trying to sell belief to you by the by.) Dr. Quags as we call her one of our other professors who has three degrees in religion and is an atheist would tell you religion is bad because it sucks and is oppressive and evil. This may, very well be true. So organized religion is a take it or leave it thing. Now God…. You are correct. I cannot prove to you of its existence, I cannot place it in a box and bring it to your dorm and say shhhhh its right in here, but watch out we haven’t fed it in a few days. So it’s a leap of faith if you will, or more appropriately a guess He is either present or not present. In existence or not. Or is he? Is God Nature? Is he a bearded man with sandals? Is he an over soul of energy we all go back to? Got me, but that’s why we’re philosophers.

Re: A little Forward I know

[green_hill_monk]

Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said that we have no idea What God wants of us or what his will is or if he even exists we kind of just have to figure it out as we go, and madam that is what you are doing right now. Now the second thing you where discussing was meaning. Doing something, worthwhile is the million dolor word in that regard. Humph ...I do not know what to tell you but I feel as though I would like to tell you something. Your face book lists you as conservative so I hesitate to you down this vein of discussion but, nevertheless, Dorothy Day is my hero. She founded a paper in the 30's called the Catholic Worker along with an eccentric Frenchmen named Peter Marin they set up a series of soup kitchens and houses of hospitality and worked with the poor catholic workers do it all across the country even to this day. They resisted war, oppression policies which oppressed the poor and the marginalized, and they did it while living in the bowery themselves with those they defended. In the March April issue of the CW they profiled a French priest known as Abbe Pierre. He just died in world war two as a newly ordained priest he hid Jews and got many false documents so they where deported to work camps instead of death camps...in the winter of 54 the coldest winter on record in Europe he pleaded on a series of radio announcements for the movement to leave the underground train station open so the poor could be out of the cold, he also got all the churches opened over the next 50 years he became a huge housing activist being arrested countless times for squatting in government rent controlled vacant protects. Dan Berriogan the Jesuit priest who with his brother and 6 others made up the plowshares 8 broke in to the Catonsville draft office in the 60 and burned/ soaked their own blood over draft records as a form of non-violent protest. They all went to jail...the plowshares movement they started (from Isea they will beat swords into plowshares) has seen over a hundred groups break into military facilities and hammer on warplanes chain themselves to tanks ect. Rebelling against the instruments of humanities destruction. Dan Berrigan is also a poet and one of his most beautiful poems is one called the cloud of witness discussing how little people doing little or great things make up this enormous cloud bearing witness to the laws of love of peace of social justice and of gods very being. We look to them folks like Oscar Romero archbishop of el Salvador someone conservative bookish a scholar who when thrust into the bishops place and after seeing his priest friend murdered by the government began to take a strong stance against the dictatorial government in that country. They killed him at mass...he was the first bishop killed at mass in 1000 years. In 1980. people do big things and people do small. the actions themselves are less important then the commitment and spirit to those actions. when you stand and strive for change for peace for equality for liberation for justice...Where ever whenever it means something. Howard Sinn always says whatever protest how small whatever petition whatever letter you write it all contributes to the peace movement. So too whatever small stand you make whatever small dead you do it does contribute to that great cloud of witness to the great roaring bulwark of humanity pushing forward to better the world. So do not be discouraged take heart that you are part of a long line of beautiful committed caring people and go forward knowing you are loved. those be my two cents.