truth and grace always together

conference  #4



truth it's the truth that we are made for the truth
our flourishing is dependent upon truth

three old nearly deaf women listening to a homily
will know beyond a shadow of doubt
whether the preacher sincerely believes what he preaches
they know by religious instinct they know by hearing deeply
they might not remember a word but they know

ours is the challenge to restore imagination
our knowledge of truth is depraved
without the vitality of the imagination


 here a confession was inserted
fr timothy confessed that he was nearly expelled from a benedictine school for reading   d  h  lawrences'  lady chatterley's lover  during benediction one evening at worth...we were all amused we laughed for 15 seconds at least   (  it's a great novel...an attempt to restore some healthy human eroticism into the antiseptic unimaginitive world of industrial britain...i think i will revisit this tale i know i read it in college  )


humans will suffocate if they don't find truth we are seekers of truth
and often it is the inquiries of non-believers who get us to ask ourselves
is all this TRUE is this catholic stuff TRUE????? and if it is true
even if we don't understand it it must be very important because well
others are believing it
others are genuflecting with their very lives to this stuff



this brought me to thinking about to my first notable conversion
when i was in my mid 20s i was seeking rather ardently
the rest is water under the bridge so to speak



the cultural scene of the west is riddled with lies everyone is lying the politicians are lying the news people are lying the leaders are lying ......... WHO IS TELLING THE TRUTH ANYMORE

humanity is the community of TRUTH   -   augustine of hippo

even a child is alerted to  the possibility of truth
we are inclined toward truth
we have an instinct for truth

the truth must be able to resonate with  the actual experience of people's lives
or else it is flat it is uninspired it is as exciting as a conclusion at the end of a lab report
.....are we able to say with      yves congar   OP   .....  I've fallen in love with TRUTH as with a person


am i thinking in truth terms when i confront the word of god
or
do i rationalize and make the WORD fit what i already think about life
do i resist the disturbing challenging aspects of the gospel
i mean in some ways it's a little crazy of us
to take these  2000 yr old  pieces of religious literature and presume they have some meaning for us

is our  ASSENT   notional
or   REAL  ... as  cardinal newman challenges

so often we face the WORD and we don't understand
i preached on something years ago it sounded good then but today
it is empty the word challenges me again and again and again
the TRUTH of the WORD is that it is always new and our praying the word
allows us to tap into the surprises of god the unexpected light
the WORD defies our agendas

how ready are we to say:

I JUST DON'T KNOW

even with all the commentarys and all the exegetical work
of the past 150 years
still the WORD on any given day
can surprise can challenge us

o that today you would hear his voice
harden not your hearts

this means we are to listen charitably
and with charitable listening comes powerful preaching
we owe this to the next generations of faith seekers truth seekers

often it is the CRISIS which permits us to speak TRUTHFULLY
to work through a major conflict is to gain the right to speak
truth to power or truth to untruth

how do i remain truthful with people with whom i disagree
for
you cannot speak truth with contempt
no truth without love
no love without truth

the very character of genuine charity is an extraordinary
flexibility the ability to entertain NUANCE

some people refuse to do NUANCE
without accepting the NUANCE of life
we cannot profess Justice let alone LOVE

if the heart is open
the mind understands  ....   pope john paul II

the challenge to be TRUE is placed before the church
empathy is an important element

the nonbelievers challenge our imaginations
and we must hear the voices of those who doubt bitterly
and who struggle without faith
for in order for truth to be TRUTH
it must needs take into account that actual suffering of people

it is one thing to accept wholeheartedly the church's teaching on
abortion
it is quite another thing to sit with a 16 yr old girl whose life
is in chaos and who is terribly afraid of her future of her present
and of her past
God's graciousness is often simply very quiet
how to stand in truth with real human dilemmas in quiet regard
for their dignity...if church people aren't'   doing this will anyone?

the half-learned tend to speak as if they know the truth
the truly learned are willing to say more and more
well i just don't know
that openness of not really knowing is a mark of generous youthfulness
open to the world in an exciting way
how to keep our minds young and curious

well.... bouts of ludicrosity tend to help



'tis good and healthy to savour insight
to return to the brilliance of insight.....bernard lonergan  SJ

savour truth savour friendship savour the sources of knowing
these are christian things to do these are sacramentally presented
these are the dramatic topics of prayer
even go so far as to savour disagreement
that is very catholic to hold opposing ideas in a balance of tolerable contradiction
sort of like juggling before the blessed mother




savour the urge to pilgrimage


and dance the cha cha cha






the MERTON scene that follows has attained to show biz status
in the catholic world i've heard this story so many times and it is  still a good story
but it is one of those things about this guy standing on a  corner in
louisville kentucky he's out of the monastery he's maybe on his way to a date with a lovely maiden
who knows who cares really the fact is he's there he's looking at the people on the street he is suddenly struck with the awareness that he loves these people he sees them deeply as perhaps god sees them as perhaps they don't even see themselves but he has a moment of clarified vision and he sees only beauty only these astounding different faces god the artist of impossible variety o i guess i told the story that's the story

and then a poem which ended with the line

"we acted like kings
and we drank in the sun"



about someone fishing with thomas merton and
 thomas aquinas








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