We've just celebrated Christmas and New Year's Day, and my mind is quickly turning towards Lent. With Lent, it seems that the whole world is transformed by the liturgy that recapitulates the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Believing, as I'm sure most of you would agree, isn't always easy. This will sound frivolous to you, but my personal struggles come from what my faith tells me and from the seemingly contradictory propositions made in the science arena. I have wrestled with the two since I was a mere child, and getting answers to my questions has been very difficult for me since I don't have anyone in my immediate vicinity to consult with.
Perhaps while I wait for answers, I should interpret my struggles as something analogous to the strain that Jesus faced when He was instructed to spend forty days in the desert, hungry and 
tempted. My hunger would be for answers (God), and my temptation would be surrender and say there is no God. However, I know that God shall reveal more of Himself to me in due time. During these times of doubt and desolation, He could be calling me to an ever deeper relationship with Him. Also, to help advance our faith it would help to recall those mystics who, throughout the ages, romanticized our hearts by courageously asserting the promises of Jesus Christ. I ask again, could Chardin, C.S. Lewis, Eckhart, Grffiths, Avila, and Lisieux be COMPLETELY wrong? Could they have been victims of megalomania or self-delusion? I think not.
I shall continue to seek my God with all my heart and with all my mind knowing that in due time I shall know more.
"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song." ~~ Pope John Paul II
8 comments:
I'm a passionate Catholic and a physicist! Maybe I'm just dumb, but the two seem to go hand in hand, because both have nothing to do with common sense! Both involve drifting in the unknown and having to think of 5 impossible things before breakfast. Ultimately though faith is more satisfying than the science, I couldn't do science without it.
I've just fond your blog. 'Tis good! It's joined my favourites!
Best wishes,
Oh my gosh, Tom - your dream come true - your very own physicist!
As to all the folks you mention?? You find the truth where ever it is to be found. Some have more truth than others. It is your job, through the eyes of faith, to discern.
P.S. Lent is my very, very favorite season.
A thinking person wrestles, a non-thinking automaton blindly accepts. Like Rita says religion and science do go hand in hand. It is finding it out for yourself that is the challenge and I feel the adventure. The first thing I learned in ILM (Institute for Leadership in Ministry) this year is that it is ok to have unanswered questions. I have found that people who need immediate answers to life's tough questions often veer dangerously into superstition. Relax. The answers you seek will come to you and you may be pleasantly surprised at what insights come your way.
Our storm here has abated somewhat but you may be catching the end of it out there. I love rainy nights too!
Tom: At Christmas time it is, I think, only natural to be aware of the coming Lent-and vice versa. What I'm saying, very inarticulately, is that for every happy time filled with promise there is the dark unknown.However, the light always triumphs in the end.
It is an important part of the faith journey to question. That's how we build our well-formed conscience and our relationship with Christ. The best friendships take a lot of work and they don't happen overnight; thus, it is true with our relationship with the best friend we will ever have: Jesus.
I love you guys!!!
Rita, welcome aboard. We must talk!
Tom
Oh sure, throw over poor little old Auntie Adrienne for Rita the Physicist.
Tom -- for gosh sakes, she has pictures of BACTERIA on her blog!!! Of course, she also has many other nice pictures and many good things to say - for a physicist.
Oh now Auntie Adrienne, your favorite blogger-nephew wouldn't forget you.
IRREGARDLESS of what may you think, I'm always glad you stopped by. I know other people in blogger-land like to upset you and tease you with minor infractions. You'll get none of that from me:)
LOL!
Tom
Wow Tom, I'm glad I'm not the only one, I too have been thinking of Lent and my daughter keeps telling me that we are not even through Christmas in the Church and my mind is already ahead of me, ha!!
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