Why I Love Making Idols

Those who yield to this pelagian or semi-pelagian mindset, even though they speak warmly of God’s grace, “ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style”… This can occur when some groups of Christians give excessive importance to certain rules, customs or ways of acting. The Gospel then tends to be reduced and constricted, deprived of its simplicity, allure and savour. This may well be a subtle form of pelagianism, for it appears to subject the life of grace to certain human structures. It can affect groups, movements and communities, and it explains why so often they begin with an intense life in the Spirit, only to end up fossilized… or corrupt”.  -Pope Francis

While in Chile a couple weeks ago, the extended family of the couple I was staying with invited me over for a big fat Chilean 2 hour long lunch.  They happen to be a wonderful big Catholic family – super involved in their local parish and the movement they belong to, 7 kids, the oldest of whom is a Trappist monk, various marian images/shrines/statues scattered about the house, etc etc.  So, what did they serve up for lunch on a Friday in Lent?!  Two big FATTY pork tenderloins, of course.  I laughed as I thought to myself, “Catholicism is a bit different down here I guess.” I found their “flavor” of Catholicism to be quite refreshing, as it is totally free from the heavily Puritan-influenced flavor of Catholicism here in America.

Turn Off the News & Build a Garden

Due to some unexpected turns in my life trajectory, I’ve been in Chile on a bit of a “life sabbatical.”  I’ve just always wanted to be cool enough to take a “sabbatical,” so I had some unexpected free time and figured this was my chance.  Because I’ve been in a small little beach town on the coast Chile, I’ve been mostly out of touch with life back in Trumplandia and the scope of the coronavirus situation.  I’ve just been fat chilling on the beach everyday, sipping espressos at the beach cafe in the sand, geeking out over books I’ve been wanting to read for a long time, surfing for the last few hours of daylight everyday (not sure you could call it “surfing,” but there’s just something to being out on the water laying on a board with the sun setting behind you…), and making a ton of new Chilean friends along the way.  Yet, I got pulled right into the mix of the America madness because one of my best friends was supposed to get married in late April, but due to the coronavirus and the uncertainty of a lot issues surrounding it that pertain to the wedding, they decided to get married this past Sunday.  I found this out on Friday, and had a bit of a tough call to make.  Everyone I talked to told me I was crazy for even considering it, but I’m a bit used to being told I’m crazy.  My mom was the only one who told me to go, because she knows me down to the core.  Thus, I decided to go, not thinking it was THAT big of a deal.

Pilot Me

 

Another talk I heard at the New York Encounter Conference (see “Reality Has Never Betrayed Me” post) was a discussion between Rusty Reno (editor of First Things), David Brooks (Editorialist for The New York Times), moderated by Maurizio Maniscalco, the president of the New York Encounter.  The talk was entitled: “Are the American People Betraying Their Dream? Or Is the American Dream Betraying its People?”  It was a thrilling discussion and I again would highly recommend it (shocker) as a good use of your time at some point this week to watch the talk  which I will include here:

Here are my not so brief comments on the talk that I jotted down later on that week (these are my comments on only one small section of the talk, which is why I would advise watching the whole thing):

Reality Has Never Betrayed Me

Sorry for the posting hiatus.  School started and life got crazy.  But here we are.  Back at it. So we’ll just dive right into the heavy stuff…

A few weekends ago, I went to the New York Encounter, the annual conference for a movement called Communion & Liberation (started by the Italian Luigi Giussani back in the 60’s).  The entire conference was absolutely memorizing to me, truly unlike any other conference I have ever been to.  The theme of the conference was “Reality Has Never Betrayed Me,” certainly not your typical catchy acronym theme that you might usually encounter.  When I first heard the theme I decided instantly that I absolutely must attend this conference because this concept of reality not betraying us just grabbed me by the throat instantly and I wanted to dive headfirst into this theme.  Is it true that reality never betrays us?  Sometimes it sure seems like it does.  I was intrigued if the conference would really dare to ask the question honestly, to take it to the edge of the cliff.  Is it really true that reality never betrays me?

Disarming Discovery

“Nothing disarms us or makes us yield with a sense of total abandonment as much as being discovered and understood.”     -Luigi Giussani

The Giuss is loose. This statement resonates profoundly with me, and in my brief experience of life here on planet Earth, I have found this to be absurdly accurate.  Often times our first instinct is to perceive the Other as an impenetrable force and surrender all attempts to make a connection with them.  This I have experienced to be especially true with us male members of the species homo sapiens, though it certainly applies to the other side as well.

Yet what I find to be true over and over again is that regardless of the person and their age and their background and their number of bicep tats, every person is just waiting to be discovered.  And once someone is bold enough to break through the superficial exterior and take the risk of discovering the Other, the vulnerability gushes forth.  I have found that often times all it takes is a simple question, or an attentiveness to a person who feels that they mostly go unnoticed (you know, that feeling when you can tell someone asks how you are doing and actually cares about your response).

It’s happened to me in all sorts of circumstances- from bars to dance floors to awkward wine and cheese social hours to graduation party conversations with my students’ dads to waiting hours in line for front row seats at Mumford concerts (worth it),  where close friends and distant strangers open up to me and share about their hopes and sorrows and details of life (sometimes more than you would ever want to hear).

It’s just a matter of taking that leap to discover the Other.  I’m not saying its always rainbows and butterflies (cue Maroon 5 track on repeat in your head… got em), because life is messy.  And most of the time I don’t have an answer to the deep questions they ask of why their life is so messy, so much seemingly messier than everyone elses.  But I have found what people want more than answers is just to be heard, understood, discovered. Not saying I always do it perfectly by any means, but I try.  Why? Well, because people are interesting and I enjoy interesting things.  Also, because it’s a concrete way to love other humans and as humans I think we should try our best to do that (and perhaps it is what we need most at this time in history when our country is seemingly more polarized than ever before). But most of all, because I know that ultimately I desire to be discovered as well.

We all do.

Wouldn’t it be wild if the One who created us reveals Himself to us primarily not as one who comes to judge or condemn us, but rather as one who wants to just understand us, discover us, above all else?  And love us regardless of what may be found in that discovery;  and in doing so, assures us that there will always be someone to meet our deepest human need of being found and discovered however far we may wander?

Wild indeed. And disarming. Like this Houdini-like iguana that strangely enough gives me hope for humanity: