Tag: Change

Catholic Dating: Analysis Paralysis

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This post will be a little longer than usual. Today I will be closing the series by offering some final thoughts on some of the issues I see within the Catholic dating world.

Why is it that there don’t seem to be many Catholic couples dating and, by extension, why is the number of couples receiving the Sacrament of Matrimony plummeting?

As I’ve mentioned before, there are many different, complicated explanations as to why this is so, but today I would like to focus on the subject of analysis paralysis, as well as our attitude towards dating and courtship.

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Stuff I’ve Learned: I’m not who I was

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Something happened recently which gave me pause for thought.

A situation arose which was very similar to something which happened to me about ten years ago. It was a situation which previously brought out the worst parts of my character. However, this time around, I reacted completely differently. I didn’t fall into my previous patterns of behaviour.

All this made me realize that I’m not who I once was. I have changed. Wounds have healed. I have grown. Don’t worry though, there’s still room for a little more improvement… 😉

Later that day it got me thinking about how we sometimes view ourselves. I very often still think of myself as that awkward thirteen year old kid at school. Other times I think I’m still the same awkward twenty-something who doesn’t have a clue who he really is. But the truth is that I’m none of these people. I’m not who I was. It is those events of life and my journey with the Lord which have made me who I am.

Sunday Lectionary: Be doers of the word

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Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time: September 2nd, 2012

There are a number of themes found in this week’s Readings, but they all centre around remaining in right relationship with God through observance of His Word.

In our First Reading, Moses reminds the people of their obligation to observe what God has commanded. If they do this, then they shall remain in covenant with Him and be light to the other nations. In the Second Reading, St. James exhorts his listeners to “Be doers of the word and not hearers only”. Finally, in the Gospel our Lord answers the criticisms of the Pharisees when they complain about his disciples not washing their hands. He responds with a stinging rebuttal, claiming that they “disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition”. He goes on to say to the crowd that “nothing that enters one from outside can defile”. It is what we say and what we do which makes us “unclean”.

This Sunday, as we hear the Word of God proclaimed, do we “humbly welcome” it and allow it to penetrate our lives? Do we act on what we hear or are we “hearers only”? As we renew our covenant with the Lord in the Eucharist, let us commit ourselves to be “doers of His word” and to live lives which reflect the holiness of the Lord.

Does not hearers only

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I’m not who I was

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As 2011 draws to a close I’ve been reflecting on the events of this past year. New people have entered my life and some have left it. There have been fights and reconciliations. There has been the opportunity to go on some wonderful adventures as well as the chance to be still, to sit and listen and to reconsider my life’s vocation.

All of these things have changed me in some way. There is a proverb which I believe is attributed to E.E. Cummings which says “To grow is to change and to have grown often is to have changed much”.  All the events of this past year have helped mould me, for better or worse, from the person I was at the end of 2010 to the person I am now at the end of 2011.

The more I’ve considered this, the more comforting I’ve found it. It means that there is always a dynamism. There is always hope. Things are not set in stone. The person I was in the past is not necessarily who I am now or, indeed, the person I will become.

Can these dry bones live?

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For the last few weeks I’ve had Ezekiel 37 stuck in my head:

[The Lord] set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” – Ezekiel 37:1-3

The Lord then tells Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones and say:

“I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life…” – Ezekiel 37:5-6

We are then told that “there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them”. The Lord then commands Ezekiel to speak again, saying:

“Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live” – Ezekiel 37:9

Breath enters them, they come to life, “a vast army”…

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Change and Constancy

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The other day Phil sent me a link to the following video:

It reminded me of something I vaguely remembered hearing on a martial arts documentary when I was a child.  I can’t remember the exact words. I think the narrator was talking about Buddhist monks when he said something like:

“When on pilgrimage, the monks continually move, in the hope that, by being in constant motion and change, they will be able to discern what is eternal”

I may be misremembering the words or have them out of context, but I would say that the above statement does ring true for me. Having done some travelling I have noticed that in moving around you do tend to notice, not only the differences between peoples and cultures, but also their similarities.

Maybe we’re not as different as we think.