There is enough insanity in life

I am giving myself away, when I say that I was hit by a line, spoken by a detective in Law and Order: SVU.  I really don't care, for Olivia's line just instantaneously struck me.  What was the line? 

Well, she said to a fellow detective - "I have enough insanity in my life.  I need stability." 

I can identify with that, for it so speaks to me and my world.  And this especially speaks to me during Lent, a time of personal struggle in the spirtual desert, where I purposely and happily place myself.  . 

From a distance, my life may look purposeful and calm.  I trust it is purposeful, but it is surely not as it may seem from the outside.  Such is life for every person on this planet.  We all share in the human struggle and the chaos of our world.  I know my own share of daily insanity.  I appreciate that it reflects the crazy world we live in and have to deal with. 

Then, during the past week, I was asked a question by a friend - How does the Catholic Church view the human person?  Easy enough for me to answer, I thought.   However, it made me think more deeply, allowing me a healthy, reality check on life.  So I was grateful for the question, as it put before me the perspective on life that I ever need to remember.  The world may be crazy, but ....  I may experience my share of insanity, living in this world, but .....  The bottom line firmly remains that every human person enjoys equal and absolute worth, deserving dignity and respect, for we are all created and loved equally by God. 

Here was my response. 

"The Catholic Church’s understanding and value of the human person  is based on the teaching of Jesus in the gospels.  In his life, Jesus stood up and acted for the good of those excluded within the society of his time.  His actions showed that all, especially those seen as of less worth or having no place in society, had value and were of equal standing in the eyes of God, and so in society.  Jesus did so in the face of opposition by the religious leadership of his day.

So the Catholic Church follows, and thus shows dignity and respect to all, upholding their worth in society.  On this key theme within the Christian faith, the motto may be that of the pandemic – “Leave no one behind”.   

My friend thought this a good response to her search.  As for me, it says it all in my dealing with my own insanity in living, in this world.   Stability is found in knowing and loving God, and reaching out to our world in love, as best we can.  Insanity is real but it never rules the day.  Life is so much more.  

Our brokenness unites and empowers us

Last Friday was St Patrick's Day.  It got me thinking how intirguing that a Catholic saint is the cause for a national day.  Australia Day remembers first settlement by the English in 1788.  That raises controversy, as what about the indigenous people, already in the land?  Here, in Thailand, I know of no one particular national day.  Rather, as I judge it, Thais celebrate their identity.  

As far as I know, there is no controversy amongst the Irish with St Patrick's Day for it is a celebration of their identity.  It is a cultural celebration that touches the hearts of all Irish and those who identify with them, through their heritage, religion or affiliation.  

This past weekend, I saw how wide that affiliation stretches.  I went to the St Patrick's Ball here in Buddhist Thailand to see over 550 people gather to sing, dance and celebrate the Irish.  Whether Irish, Thai or other, many were sporting their green.  Just an amazing event.  I also learnt that there is an annual St Patrick's parade in Pattaya, held as a fundraiser for charity.  If you knew Pattaya, you would appreciate how amazing that is.     

What is it about Irish identity that attracts so many around the world?  The Irish have their history of brokenness.  They even know how to celebrate their brokenness with great songs, sung in gusto.  Although much more than that, the Irish moved out and on, beyond their brokenness.  So they re-established and recreated life wherever they went, knowing how to celebrate there and give life in new places.  That is a great gift. 

I believe that our brokenness does shape us, that it also offers us a way forward, but it never defines us.  In our brokennes, we see who we are, we find the deeper meaning and purpose in life, we meet God.  The full picture is that we move on from there, living life in richer and fuller ways, for there we have seen and met much more, being able to know what really matters and live it.  

Erin go bragh!

When are we?

As an Australian, and I am sure it has wider usage, I often start a conversation or give a greeting by saying - How are you?  Truth is I am not really interested in how the person is.  It is more about using an acceptable, cultural way for greeting another.  It is the same in Thai, except they use two other, simple phrases, which likewise hold specific, other meanings, but are used as a way to say - Hi!  These phrases both fit into their culture.  

In Thai, you will often be asked - Where are you going?  I think to myself , "none of your business".  Or they ask me every morning, when I go to the office - Have you eaten yet?   It took me an age to work out why so many others were interested in my eating habits.    

Aren't we funny in our ways, as we look to indirectly show simple concern.  I read St Augustine's way of doing the same, which just immediately hit me as, unlike our ways, being so direct.  He had found a creative way to make a real impact on one's life.  His concern for another was expressed by a radically, different question to tap into human consciousness, asking - When are we?  

On reading this, I felt absolutely confronted by his approach.  There is no getting around it, as it places you in time, you have no way out and you have to respond to it in some decent and direct way.  Unlike geographical positioning, you are less able to hide or run away.  

Where am I in time?  Real time situated in a real world.  God is not defined by time but not even God runs away from time.  It is within the boundaries of time that we experience the chaos, the struggles, the craziness, the goodness of life, the love of God and others.  Our life, our world may be falling apart, as it was for Augustine, with the collapse of the Roman Empire.  We share that same experience.  It does not go away, but neither does time collapse and, within its confines, people continue to strive to struggle, to live good lives, to look after each other.  Evil remains but it never destroys what cannot be taken away  - time for life, and loving and living.    

We are in our time.  It is the best of times for us in living life and making our contribution to the world.  Time may be only bad if we make it that way, and how often and easily we do that.  

It's not just me

Meeting Point at Suvarnabhumi Airport

I hear many others say what I am thinking, that time is just flying.  Here we are well into Christian Lent, a time to "stop, look and listen", to take account of life and see where we are going in it.  A danger is that we can just live, going on automatic pilot, thus being knocked around by world events, existing philosophies of life, and our own series of successes and failures.  Going where?      

Lent is a good time to go into the desert, not literally, for we can go into our desert, where we are.  Go there, pray and be nourished.  In doing this, what happens?   Surprisingly, our struggles in life are heightened and we will fail yet again, while just trying to do good.  The trap is that we may have been doing it for me; doing it alone, when we are not, even in the desert.    

Going to the desert reminds us that our basic instinct to love is ever under attack, is ever faced with the struggle to avoid that tempting path of selfishness and greedy power.  I was so poignantly reminded of this on reading two news articles last week.  One was looking at the declining birth rate in Japan, which is being led by selfish attitudes, based on profit and self-interest, held by all parties. I then read a shocking article from Belgium where a woman, who had murdered her four children, was assisted by the government to die, on the basis of her psychological discomfort.  Evil does exist in our world and it is much more than personal.  It is systemic.  

We do not stand alone in our temptations and failings.  Neither are we alone in our going to the desert, to face our realities and be strengthened and nourished by God; in our striving to face evil and to be and do good.  I must remember this as I keep falling and getting up.  Yes, it is tiring, but it is not just about me nor because of me.  If my human striving for perfection within an imperfect world, is pursued alone, I will surely fail.  I am part of us.  We are part of the divine Mystery.  Ever pursuing life and dignity is about us with our God, who is intimately entangled in the realities of life, a God who is so much more than we can ever imagine.  

The desert shows us that the way to live in our imperfect world is, through embracing and facing its imperfections, with God, who is intimately in love with us, in the midst of all that is.  Mystery and the desert go together.  I never go alone.  It is never just about me.    

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