At my first parish as a young priest, we had daily Mass. The altar servers would typically set everything up before I got there, and admittedly, I didn’t always read the scriptures before those Masses. Well, I paid the price for it this week. I stood there behind the lectern, staring down at the infallible Word of God, and read aloud to the congregation, “And the Lord repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people.” (Exodus 32:14) Now, there aren’t a lot of great places to have a sudden onset existential crisis, but there are worse places than others, and I think behind the pulpit with your jaw on the floor is definitely on the short list of not ideal. Can God do evil? Can God be wrong? Can God repent? Who forgives God? And who the f+ck told me otherwise? Unholy Sh+t: An Irreverent Bible Study 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time Today’s reading: Matthew 5:13-16 The Sermon on the Mount was our boy Jesus’ big break. Sure, he had done the whole water-into-wine bit, but he wasn’t here for cheap parlor tricks! No, he was more like one of those magicians they used to bring to school that was like, “I just pulled a quarter out of your ear! And you know why I was able to do that? Because you aren’t dead from drinking and driving.” What I’m saying is Jesus had a message he wanted to get across. He didn’t just want to be known for getting everyone drunk and giggly at parties, “I’ve got a serious side too Dad Dammit!”
I don't really see the two as contradictory. I see the "do it in secret" part as more your intent. Do it with the intent that you don't want anyone to know. You should never do it with the intent to show how good you are, or how much you're helping others. But if you are truly giving with all your heart, you are not going to be able to keep it a secret. Those whom you have shown kindness, or helped, in mostly secret ways, are going to eventually shout it from the mountaintops. Your kindness should not be showy, but should be so pervasive that there is no way for it to missed.
That said, I' really enjoyed the post and the Unholy SH+T series of sermons!
Maybe the scriptures are less about what’s wrong for everyone to do and what’s right for you.” Yes. They probably are. As a queer Jew-ish poly dyslexic I am blessed by your work and love your words. Thank you for sharing. Be blessed. 😘
For the record, the "Both is good" gif is my most-used. And favorite. Because seriously. Life isn't this OR that. "And" is a good thing. (If that is moderately incoherent, blame it on my lack of caffeine. Getting up today has been a chore.)
Heh. This would put my tiresome right wing evangelical elder brother into a tizzy (which is kind of an entertaining thought to me: I'm petty like that sometimes 🤪). But more seriously, your thesis here rings true to me: "both, as appropriate".
To me, I think the message is, just do it -- not with the intent to be noticed and praised, but to do the right thing and be kind. If no one notices, that's fine. If someone does notice, and sees you as an example of kindness and right action, that's good too.
I wanted to thank you for writing this, and for good reason. I just recently started my substack, and its entire purpose aligns very well with this post. There is a school of thought that says Jesus wasn't the literal Son of God, but was an illuminated soul just like many others from various cultures: Siddhartha Gautama, Lao Tzu, any given Saint, etc. We might speculate as to whether or not Jesus was somehow qualitatively different from the others, but I'm not really sure what purpose that serves other than one that's likely going to feed into increased division. However, there are different ways to say a thing.
I grew up living some strange spiritual experiences and I was fairly young when Spirit Guides began telling me something very similar to the Jesus story, although one of them also said, when he was trying to break it to me, "Look, relax. You're not Jesus, Moses, or Mohammad so you can just chill. You're not even the only one of your own kind."
My lived experience has been such that I've constantly been at war with myself because of how my own experiences misaligned with the stuff I was taught. I ended up moving all of this into a context other than religious (esoteric practice and study) and was soon giving talks for The Theosophical Society in America. It looked like my guides were not kidding, and that it was no metaphor.
But your message here is one of the precise things I am aiming to communicate at length, in crystal clarity, by sharing my experiences, because that is how my guides have often put it: They have said that I had a rougher road by design, as even if an enlightened soul reincarnates, they still have to grow up here on Earth again, in systems that are pretty much designed to deny that people like them can exist while simultaneously being built *entirely around them*.
There's another contradiction in terms for you!
But thank you, because you hold a lot of authority and your word holds a lot of water. So I appreciate your saying this, from the bottom of my heart.
You make sense of the nonsense I had been trying to accept and "embrace" for 36 yrs as a sedevacantist trad catholic. I stopped fearing my death, guilt, shame, and appeasing the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary and quit religion. Long story but mental illness and fear ruled my life.
I don't really see the two as contradictory. I see the "do it in secret" part as more your intent. Do it with the intent that you don't want anyone to know. You should never do it with the intent to show how good you are, or how much you're helping others. But if you are truly giving with all your heart, you are not going to be able to keep it a secret. Those whom you have shown kindness, or helped, in mostly secret ways, are going to eventually shout it from the mountaintops. Your kindness should not be showy, but should be so pervasive that there is no way for it to missed.
That said, I' really enjoyed the post and the Unholy SH+T series of sermons!
Maybe the scriptures are less about what’s wrong for everyone to do and what’s right for you.” Yes. They probably are. As a queer Jew-ish poly dyslexic I am blessed by your work and love your words. Thank you for sharing. Be blessed. 😘
For the record, the "Both is good" gif is my most-used. And favorite. Because seriously. Life isn't this OR that. "And" is a good thing. (If that is moderately incoherent, blame it on my lack of caffeine. Getting up today has been a chore.)
That's some good shit! 👍
Heh. This would put my tiresome right wing evangelical elder brother into a tizzy (which is kind of an entertaining thought to me: I'm petty like that sometimes 🤪). But more seriously, your thesis here rings true to me: "both, as appropriate".
To me, I think the message is, just do it -- not with the intent to be noticed and praised, but to do the right thing and be kind. If no one notices, that's fine. If someone does notice, and sees you as an example of kindness and right action, that's good too.
Contradict oneself? We all do it, needs must, ( and the devil take the hindmost, as mr dear ma used to say)
Love your stuff, padre!
I wanted to thank you for writing this, and for good reason. I just recently started my substack, and its entire purpose aligns very well with this post. There is a school of thought that says Jesus wasn't the literal Son of God, but was an illuminated soul just like many others from various cultures: Siddhartha Gautama, Lao Tzu, any given Saint, etc. We might speculate as to whether or not Jesus was somehow qualitatively different from the others, but I'm not really sure what purpose that serves other than one that's likely going to feed into increased division. However, there are different ways to say a thing.
I grew up living some strange spiritual experiences and I was fairly young when Spirit Guides began telling me something very similar to the Jesus story, although one of them also said, when he was trying to break it to me, "Look, relax. You're not Jesus, Moses, or Mohammad so you can just chill. You're not even the only one of your own kind."
My lived experience has been such that I've constantly been at war with myself because of how my own experiences misaligned with the stuff I was taught. I ended up moving all of this into a context other than religious (esoteric practice and study) and was soon giving talks for The Theosophical Society in America. It looked like my guides were not kidding, and that it was no metaphor.
But your message here is one of the precise things I am aiming to communicate at length, in crystal clarity, by sharing my experiences, because that is how my guides have often put it: They have said that I had a rougher road by design, as even if an enlightened soul reincarnates, they still have to grow up here on Earth again, in systems that are pretty much designed to deny that people like them can exist while simultaneously being built *entirely around them*.
There's another contradiction in terms for you!
But thank you, because you hold a lot of authority and your word holds a lot of water. So I appreciate your saying this, from the bottom of my heart.
You make sense of the nonsense I had been trying to accept and "embrace" for 36 yrs as a sedevacantist trad catholic. I stopped fearing my death, guilt, shame, and appeasing the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary and quit religion. Long story but mental illness and fear ruled my life.