on reality or illusions thereof..

When we decide, we are exercising a human trait that elevates us from the animal kingdom. We cease becoming an arranged action of molecules. Science can explain the material composition of our bodies; but the process of thought straddles between a physical and spiritual realm.

Thought is an unseen process from a composite group of molecules. We cannot say that our arm decided to lift a glass of water to take a drink, yet we believe our brain can. We know our brain (an organ of the body) is capable of orchestrating this ‘lifting of this glass’; and also consists of a conscience. Yet it doesn’t consciously tell us to breathe or for our heart to continue pumping while we sleep. We see ‘as far as the eye can see’; but the mind has no such limits.

We know some things by instinct, some things by experiences, some by the sciences and some by our desire or study; but how do we explain the moral code that exists in our heart? How can we know that a moral code exists in our heart, since it doesn’t show up on a ‘cat’ scan or ex-ray? Does this infer our soul or being?

Now, back to ‘lifting the glass’. The parts of our body move in a controlled sequence of actions and we acknowledge the effects of gravity and anticipate a sensation we recall from a previous act. Animals may do similar things by instinct; but they do not scan such a variety of choices: like pouring the water on someone’s head, or throwing the glass across the room, or mixing it with scotch!

As I write my thoughts and you read the words; you are in a way, reading my mind. But be assured, not beyond these words.Animals can act or react instinctively, but a human makes the path an individual trail.

Put a ball on an angled surface and it will roll, not because it wants to but because it must. Add a soccer field and players and the ball becomes hope for a nation. Each human person has a bit of the creator inside that beckons us to become an integral character of this puzzle we call life.

decide..

what's our mark?

What is the most important text, symbol or mark on a tombstone?

Some would say, the maxims added by the family; like ‘A loving father and husband’, or ‘Forever Remembered’. Some would say perhaps that it is our surname that explains our life’s ‘DNA’. Still others would insist that it is the day of our birth; the day we sprang to life in this world.

But what of the dash or hyphen that’s engraved between the date of birth and the date of death? That little inconspicuous mark says nothing but contains everything. This mark signifies our entire life. And only God knows precisely what this mark stands for.

Another important (maybe more so) mark on the tombstone is the date of death. In the Church, we celebrate a saint’s feast day on their anniversary of death not birth? This date marks the day of entrance into eternal life. It should actually be referred to as the date of our re-birth rather than death!

I’ll explain using words from Bishop Sheen; ”To a pagan, this world is everything and death deprives him of all there is; to the Christian, this world is only a scaffolding through which souls climb to the Kingdom of God. All during life, the pagan is moving toward death; but the Christian is moving backward. He starts with the fact that he must die and render an account of his (life) stewardship; knowing that he will die, he plans his life accordingly.”

In essence we (as Christians) live our life in reverse. With God time is irrelevant, so the direction of it is also extraneous. By the act of living, we move towards the beginning of our undying life. Therefore if we looked at our life in reverse; beyond our birth is really an end or using the thesaurus suggestion for ‘end’, our ‘death’. To summarize, our beginning in this world is actually our end, with no end going forward! All clear now?

I guess this is more to ponder..

the 'cafeteria catholic'

This is an expression that applies to those calling themselves ‘Catholic’ that want to pick and choose whatever they like about the faith and decide the breadth and width of each topic.

In recent news; some of the chosen people (celebrities) are publically calling themselves ‘cafeteria catholics’ and wearing this as a badge of honour. Comments like ‘I consider myself a Catholic in good standing; but I disagree with a lot of the teachings of the Church’ .. or ‘I don’t believe’.. And then they proceed to spew their narrow minded canned jargon that is emitted by most of these uninformed sheep.

They stand in their cafeteria line and take similar servings from what is processed and served up by the media-celebrity chefs. Or they simply take it upon themselves to decree their opinions.

To put it bluntly.. a cafeteria catholic is a lukewarm catholic.. And noting what scripture tells us in Revelation 3:16 “but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

The Church is established here on earth, by Jesus, to guide us on our journey of life.We must remember that God created us; and not the other way around!