The Wisdom of the Drunk

Oftentimes I dismiss what some people say because I know them to be drunks, or potheads, or just plain contrarians.  This morning's reading in Chapter, gave me pause to reconsider my actions. 

We are reading Timothy Radcliffe's I Call You Friends, and in the chapter, "To Praise, to Bless, To Preach: The Mission of the Dominican Family," Father Timothy explains it is exactly because someone struggles with alcoholism, drugs, emotional and mental issues, that they know whereof they speak.

Every one of us is a wounded preacher.  But the good news is that we are preachers

because we are wounded...  We have a word of hope and mercy because we have

needed them ourselves.

 
I, of all people, who volunteer in a prison, who profess to believe in redemption, should know better.  I have seen how men who have been wounded can help others who have been wounded.  Don't I who have three children, run to my sister who had six children for advice?  Direct experience is more valuable than any other kind.

So listen to those who have borne similar crosses like yours.  They have wisdom you just might need.

Walking Through Walls

In with my "cloistered brothers," today, we were discussing Timothy Radcliffe's I Call You Friends.  Radcliffe was writing about missionaries, but were thinking more along the lines of "preachers."  Not that missionaries aren't preachers, it's just that in my "cloistered brothers"' situation, they can't go out to be missionaries.  Yes, they are missionaries in a dark place, but they think preachers is more apt.

Anyway, back to my point.  Radcliffe asks "to whom are missionaries sent..."?  Today, he continues, "missionaries are sent not only to foreign lands but to everybody who is not like us."Those evangelizing on social media are missionaries.  Those writing books.  Those teaching in schools.

You get the idea?

Everybody who is not like us.

Radcliffe refers to Ephesians 1:10.  ...And this his good pleasure he proposed in him, to be dispensed in the fullness of the times; to re-establish all things in Christ...

So my "cloistered brothers" have a job to do.  They or rather, "we" always knew that.  But what I didn't realize was that by my ministering to my "cloistered brothers," I was bringing the outside world to them, besides Christ.  I walk through the wall dividing the outside from the inside.  I bring the things in heaven and in earth to them.  That's the purpose Christ set forth as a plan for the fullness of the times.

Courage and Chastity

Marina led the discussion in Chapter, today. We prepared by reading Timothy Radcliffe's What is the Point of Being a Christian?, chapters 4 & 5.

Chapter 4: "Do Not Be Afraid" was the one we spent most time on. My brothers liked to tell their stories of courage. It is hard to belong to a religious order in their environment. It takes courage. It takes courage to walk over to the outcasts of their society and risk being labeled as one of them: pedophiles, homosexuals, snitches, etc. Just being Catholic takes courage because some of the people stay away from Catholics (the faithful ones that attend Mass)just because the say our church is full of pedophiles. And there they are, the "great sinners" kneeling there before the altar. So does sitting next to them in the pew and praying with them, label one as one of them. Some think so. It does take courage to be a Catholic.

Chapter 5: "The Body Electric" is about chastity. Actually, it's about honesty. Radcliffe thinks they're related. What I think is beautiful is the analogy of the gift of one body to another, as the sacrament of the heart. Each one is saying to the other: "Here is my body for you." Is this not a profoundly eucharistic act?

Fr. Aquinas, my spiritual director would love that analogy. He sees sexuality throughout the scriptures. But then sensuality is his Achilles heel. St. Thomas Aquinas would agree. He would say that anyone who thinks that sex is repulsive is wrong -- morally wrong.

But you know......Fr. Aquinas and St. Thomas Aquinas are both males. Sex is equated with love to them. All too often, they have nothing to do with each other. Ask any victim of rape. Sex should be an expression of love. "Should be" are the operative verbs.

As Tony quipped today, "I love you. What's your name, again?"

Typical male.