Month: June 2019

Generous. Boisterous. Noisy.

That’s the description Giles Fraser used when writing about what was lost in the English Reformation.

Rod Dreher learned the wrong lesson from Benedict.

Dreher’s Benedictine option rightly critiques the consumerism inherent both in modern religiosity and in American culture, but he supplants it with his own rigorous, protestant, self-righteous, judgmental moralism that could not be farther than the world the Benedictines inhabited.

“A religion of inwardness, devoid of external pegs or props. Sitting in an empty room, mid the ruins of smashed statues, in silence, doing nothing.” Except judging gay people and women, Inwardly sanctified and horrifyingly self abusive and judgmental.

Or an ordered and practical Christianity, built on the liturgical rhythms of the church and centred on the Mass— inclusive, noisy, generous and non-judgmental. “boisterous God-infused praxis,”

I’ll take the noisy, generous Benedict. Not the imaginary, self-righteous one.

Breathe.

You are who you are.

Give yourself a mini sabbath.

Your life is not meant to be a spectacle, but theater.

God did not promise happiness, but disappointment.

Later, redemption.

Drink water.

Through the human hand,
the lilies of the field,
in vindication and defeat,
becomes Beauty.

When talking to God, use the inner voice in public.

When complaining to the priest, use a cartoon accent to underscore your seriousness.

Sometimes it’s not about you, but about them. They are doing the best they can.

It’s always about you.

Eat real food.

Go to parties.

Use the prayerbook.
Organizing, cleaning, and tidying, are also prayers.

Even in the mess, however, is the Trinity.

Lift a glass.
When the glass reaches your lips,
heartily express the pleasure of the first sip.

Throw yourself a little dance party.

You are not finished.