Can a catholic support him?

November 13th, 2008 The author

I had been eyeing this book at Kinokuniya for about a month. It was still before his election time. The whole world was for him, and yet, like many other catholics, I felt as though I was betraying my own religion by supporting Barrack, which honsestly didn’t make sense to be honest.

My good friend Atlasya depicted my thoughts well in her recent entry.  To be ostracized as being pro-death and not following the catholic faith just because one supports Obama is preposterous. Although it might be seem as cowardice , I’ve been careful not to be to pro-Obama when it comes to openly discussing such pertinent matters with my Catholic circle.  I’ve heard the arguments from both camps.

And so that’s why I bought this book. If anything, I guess me purchasing this book is an epitome of how serious I am taking my religion and political beliefs. Growing up I was not that strong of a catholic myself. Sure, I’d never skip Sunday Mass, I had a bible by my bedside, I carried my rosary as often as I could and go about my daily endevours (I still do carry it around with me till this day). But I was out of vogue when it came to the Church’s teaching. Perhaps that’s why I supported Kerry blindly, without really scrutinizing his stance on abortion. 

With the help of the young adult’s ministry, through their programs and monthly talks, I grew closer in my faith, and I started seeing how wrong my thoughts were, and how the catholic church had gotten it right all along. Pope John Paul II ’s writings on Theology of the body opened my eyes on how the world had gotten it’s views on sex and abortion wrong. 

And so like most of my catholic friends, I began to renounce abortion, and all the other corrupted evils of this world. I began to view those who were impregnated before marriage as being inmoral and having no faith in them. I began viewing such people as living the ways of the world and not being responsible and abstaining from pre-maritial sex.

But I found that thought to be judgemental and very “pharaisee-like”. I wondered whether people who thought that way of others who were involved in a pre-marital sex relationship would think that same way if that person was his younger sister or brother. Too often times we - the “righteous ones who have never been in a compromising situation” sit on a pedestal and judge others. I used to sit on that pedestal and yes I used to be quite judgemental. Like I said before, I naively presumed those who were in a pre-marital sexual union to be irresonspible and not following God’s law.

But I have to admit, my thoughts have changed. Personally while I am still against abortion, I have to learn to accept the choices of others. It’s extremely painful and difficult for me to say this, but I guess I have perhaps come to a point in my life where I can only share with you my own personal views. It’s up to you on what you do next.

It’s funny, many months before Obama nominated Joe Biden to be his running mate, as I was reading Audacity Of Hope  on a train ride back home, I paused to reflect on how I would address the whole abortion issue if I were president-elect. And my thoughts were exactly what Joe Biden would go on to say down the road : I can’t force my belief unto others.

Many people have disagreed with me on that thought of line. Some,  have rebuked me by wondering whether I’m a real catholic. I’ve also been questioned by others on how I can be catholic and yet support a pro-death president.

I feel people are mislead. Supporting Obama does not mean you’re necessarily endorsing a murderer (and that’s what the Republicans and fundamentalist christians (including Catholics!) want you to believe). On the contary, I took great relief when I found this being quoted by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI  (He was then Cardinal) :

A catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil… if he were to deliberately vote on a  candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stance on abortion/euthannasia. When a catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion/euthannasia, but votes for him for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons

I got that quote from just reading a few pages from the book.

Can it be any clearer than that?

So can a catholic support him? … I’m about to find out

Posted in Church, Foreign Affairs, God, Life, People, Uncanny Philosophy, me | 4 Comments »

Love thy lord with all thy heart,soul and mind

October 27th, 2008 The author

This weekend’s readings were about loving God. As the priest expounded on love during his homily at mass earlier today, my mind went in tangent. I was not ruminating on what the priest was explaining about, but I was thinking about love…more precisely I was thinking about loving God.

I can somehow understand when people these days tell me “how am I suppose to love God when there’s so many bad things happening around me?” or “how am I suppose to believe in a God that cares when right now, despite me pleading for His help and guidance, He’s offered me nothing.”

How do you expect me to love someone so slient? And that too with all my heart, soul and mind? You have GOT to be kidding me!

True enough, our God is a strange God. If you read through the history of the bible, in the begining God wasn’t like that. He lavished everything on man, his greatest prized possession. He gave him dominion over all the animalia kingdom. Man could freely communicate and God could see man face to face.

We all know what happened after that.  Fast forward in time, and then came Egypt. The Israelites were in captive for 400 years! I wondered whether many people during that 400 slave year period cried out to God for help and set themselves up for dissapointment when He became silent again…

How are we suppose to love God when He’s silent?

Aha, but if we read all through Exodus and up to the book of Numbers, we see that God actually does talk to his people. He draws himself close to His people when He liberates them out of Egypt. And what did his people do? Well for starters they built a golden calf, they whinned to Uncle Mo (Moses) every other day, they were basically cursing God for bringing them to a desolate dry land… and this wasn’t for a week, or 3 months….this was for 40 years!

Then came Jesus. God himself, dwelt among us unworthy sinners. He ate like anyone of us, drank like anyone of us, slept like anyone of us, laughed, cried, smiled, joked, empathized and so on. And yet, people were only interested in Him for his signs, people were interested in him cuz they talk he was a circus freak, an entertainer, who gave free food at his gatherings. At the end, he was killed, for something he didn’t even commit.

My point is this : It’s not that we can’t love God, it’s rather we sometimes choose not to. And although we don’t openly say “Screw you” to His face directly, our actions speak for us. We let God know He has let us down by our deeds toward him, such as skipping mass, not taking His word seriously, not praying much and talking to Him, engaging in activities that He has said no to.

And what’s wrong with that? I’m dissapointed, I have a right to be dissapointed with someone who has upsetted me.  Afterall he left me all alone when I cried up to him for help. Why should he deserve my affection and love?

I don’t claim to know the absolute answer to this often asked question. But I do know that God is more alive than anyone else, and I do know every time I sin by doing something deviant and which is not “pleasing in His eyes” I am indirectly saying “I don’t love you God” and I’m nailing an innocent man to a cross.

There are days where God has also been silent in my life, and during most of these periods, I am sucked and indulged by the world’s pleasures and thrills. God takes a back seat, and I don’t think of him much. During these periods, I gotta admit, the temptation to skip mass and just continue indulging myself with my worldly pleasures is very tempting.

But everytime what happens is I do end up going to mass. I don’t know why. It’s not so much because of friends or the priest or anything superficial and physical. I guess it’s just one of those things that you just do, like going to watch your son’s football game even though you’re not in the best of terms with him, or visit your dad every month, even though you’ve had a sour and bitter relationship with him over the last couple of years. The same goes for Mass. I go because, I want to be with God. I want God to know that I still love Him, even though it’s not a very intimate and strong love, it is love nonetheless. Even though I sometimes can’t feel Him around, I still go, hoping that He will come through and once again reignite the flame.

And to tell you the truth, it has happened to me so many times. There have been times where I’ve been so alone, and He has come just at the right moment, and no it’s not via divine interventions and heavens parting ways. It comes in the most simplest ways such as getting a “well done” note from my boss or colleagues, or somehow I am suddenly able to solve my problem at work, (even though I didn’t pray for it). It comes in the most simplest form such as friends asking me how I’m doing and inviting me to join with them for dinner. Simple things ya know. Simple things to remind me that “I’m still here…you better believe it!”

So tell me, how is it NOT possible for me to love my God with all my heart,soul and strength. To me God has become like family, in fact more than family. Sure there are things he does which I can’t comprehend, and sometimes I just don’t want to crack my head over, (just like when my mom used to do things I couldn’t understand when I was a kid, I would write in my diary that I thought mum was mad because she was mad). Family members go through life with ups and downs, and it’s the same way with God, but it’s only better in the sense that God uses those downs to bring about something positive in the future.

I know it’s all wishy washy, mushy mushy talk, but I believe it will all my heart.soul and mind when people say that God has a purpose for everyone….who holds on to Him. Even when hope seems lost, when what you’ve prayed for has not been answered, God is right there working something with you. It’s whether you want to let him continue working with you.

You better believe it…

Posted in Church, God, Love, People, me | No Comments »

My Ways are not your ways

September 22nd, 2008 The author

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  neither are your ways my ways,”  declares the LORD” - Isaiah 55 : 8

Interestingly, this was taken from this weekend’s liturgy reading. The gospel focused on Matthew 20 : 1-16, which basically talk about the parable of the vineyard owner who paid every worker the same amount of wages, including those he hired at the last minute. The workers who were hired in the morning were angry at the injustice they saw from the owner.

“We worked harder than those guys who came in late, how can you pay them as much as us?”
And now you know why salary disclosure is a confidential matter ;)

The point here today is not so much on the injustice. It’s not so much about fair wages either and being treated fairly and equally. In fact if you look at it from an angle, they were in fact treated equally, as in there was no discrimination in the wages being paid out, everyone got the same. The morning workers weren’t cheated if you read closely, because they offered to do the job for the same amount of money that would be paid to the last minute workers. In fact The owner vineyard didn’t short change the morning workers at all! He paid them accordingly to what was agreed.

My friend, I am not cheating you.  Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go.  What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ - Matt 20 : 13 - 15

Ooh, what a slap in the face, but you know what, the owner is right! Who are we to tell the owner that He should pay less to those who came late?

Thank goodness God does not operate to corporate standards. If God ran his company God Inc. we probably would have been fired long long time ago for “failure to comply with the company’s standards”. The underlying theme here is that God is generous, just as He is merciful and this is something we humans cannot understand. In a way, I like this parable, because it has something to do with practical lives, for once we see God as a businessman, and we’re appalled at how he treats his more hardworking loyal employees. Where’s equality and fairness? Oh it’s right there, in fact we have no right to talk about equality and fairness to a God who is full of justice; the fact He doesn’t short change us is a clear indication!

Our God is a generous God, and no our feeble minds may not be able to wrap around this concept, especially when it comes to Him judging and dealing with other, “less-qualified” people in our church and daily lives, but as Isaiah 55:8 says:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  neither are your ways my ways,”

The jealousy and envious on our part should not be called for. Rather the focus should honestly be on celebrating God’s goodness and His mercy and faithfulness to us.

Posted in Church, God, Uncanny Philosophy | 1 Comment »