What do we know about God?

O God, forasmuch as without thee

We are not able to doubt thee,

Help us all by thy grace

To teach the whole race

We know nothing whatever about thee.
-- Ronald Knox

The sufficiency of God

Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you, all things are
passing, God is unchanging. Patience gains all; nothing is
lacking to those who have God: God alone is sufficient.
-- St. Teresa of Avila

St. Benedict's Toolbox

Next on my reading list: St. Benedict's Toolbox: The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living. Be sure to look at the other readers' reviews.
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Evolution vs. Creationism

It is amazing to me that some church bodies still continue to argue about evolution and creationism. As much as I try to tune out all of the noise made about this, at times the volume is too high to ignore. Even the Roman Catholic church has not been immune to the controversy. The following are some comments by Jesuit Father Edward Oakes, a theology professor at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. (The emphasis in bold is mine.)
The Church has no "doctrine" on evolution, any more than it has a doctrine on tectonic plates or a magisterial teaching on how human consciousness arises from the electrical firings inside the neurology of the brain. These matters are both beyond the competence of the magisterium and are irrelevant to salvation, anyway. . . .
If "creationism" means six-day creation as a few Christian fundamentalists still hold, then there is no chance in the world that the Catholic Church will join that cause. But "creationism" can also refer to the total ontological dependence of the universe on God's creative act of will, and nothing in the theory of evolution can threaten that essential doctrine of the Catholic faith.
. . .

If evolution simply means "descent with modification," then I would agree that evolution must be regarded as confirmed by scientific "fact" -- meaning by that tendentious word a reality that no one can afford to deny, except at the price of obscurantism.

Defined in that way, the theory of evolution claims that all life began about 3.5 billion years ago as a single-celled, self-replicating organism from which we are all descended. Since everyone now reading this sentence once began his or her existence as a single-celled organism, I hardly see how such a theory can be regarded as inherently implausible. Plus, let's not forget that the biological basis of the Church's opposition to abortion is based on the single-celled origin of human life.

And once one traces the transmission of life all the way back, using the science of genetics as one's marker, and once one follows the paths of life back to life's remotest beginnings, one sees how the various life-forms are interrelated. Moreover, using genetics, one can roughly spot when each branch of life broke off from its parent-branches.

The problem comes from the conflation of Darwinism with evolution strictly defined. Now Darwinism asserts not just the fact of "descent with modification"; it also claims to know the "how" of evolution: Evolution occurred, it claims, by means of something it calls "natural selection."

Again, if that term is strictly defined, it simply means that only those organisms that reach reproductive age get to transmit their genes; and if those genes were somehow "responsible" for helping that organism reach reproductive age, then that "helpfulness" will likely contribute to later success as well.

As with the doctrine that all life began as a single-celled organism, I hardly see how such an obvious insight can be regarded as controversial. But then again, we have to ask: How much does the concept of natural selection actually explain the "how" of evolution? Certainly, this question is a very controversial point among philosophers of biology.
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The Poor

Think what the world could look like if we took care of the poor even half as well as we do our bibles!
-- Dorothy Day
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Knowing God

It is frustrating to talk with Christians who know everything and have all of the answers. Let us instead remember the words of Rev. Edmund Steimle:
For all of our knowledge and experience of God as they are expressed in creeds and dogma, he is always beyond us, beyond our understanding and reason, beyond all our neat little blueprints and formulas. Which brings me to this: Never be misled into supposing that we Christians think we have God all neatly packaged and labeled for easy distribution and consumption like a package of frozen peas. Our creeds and dogmas only serve to lead us into the "depth of the riches" of God's being. There is a mystery about the nature and ways of God that you and I can never expect to fathom entirely -- otherwise God would not be God. We do but touch the fringe of his garment. But we do believe that the fringe which we touch is real!
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Waiting for God

Part of my devotions today was from 1 Samuel 22; David asks the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother come to you, until I know what God will do for me." It is necessary for us to wait until we know what God will do for us. Oh, but the wait can be difficult!
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In Grasping

I so much need to continually remind myself to simplify my life . . . not just of material things, but even experiences. The following by Thomas Merton is all too true:
If what most people take for granted were really true -- if all you needed to be happy was to grab everything and see everything and investigate every experience and then talk about it, I should have been a very happy person, a spiritual millionaire, from the cradle even until now . . . What a strange thing! In filling myself, I had emptied myself. In grasping things, I had lost everything. In devouring pleasures and joys, I had found distress and anguish and fear.
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The Unshopping Card

I strive to make good decisions about spending and be accountable to God. A friend passed on to me The Unshopping Card. Maybe it can help you.

Do I REALLY need this?
Is it overpackaged?
How long will it last?
If it breaks, can it be fixed?
How will I dispose of it?
What is its environmental cost?
Is it made of renewable or recycled materials?
Is it recyclable or biodegradable?
Could I borrow, rent or buy it used?
Is it worth the time I worked to pay for it?

So you want to be a hermit ...

He alone knows the moment and the way. Have no plan for you life, just keep yourself free of anything that could prevent God from moving you as he wishes. Tastes and distastes are not to be considered. Be available and malleable. . . . "He knows all, he can do all and he loves me." Engrave this on your heart and on the palms of your hands.
-- The Hermitage Within

Serve Somebody

A few days ago Bob Dylan was in town. Do you recall these lyrics?

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

Might like to wear cotton... might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, or in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

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How to Pray

It is at times of grief in particular when we wonder, "Where is God?" It was good to be reminded by Rev. Kenneth Harste at a funeral last week: "Pray specific prayers to see God at work."
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More on Hermits

He with whom God is
is never less alone
than when he is alone.

For then he can enjoy his joy,
then he is his own
to enjoy God in himself
and himself in God.
William of Saint-Thierry

Doubt your faith?

Do you have doubts about your faith? Jesus knew we would. He said to Peter:
"Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail." Luke 22:31-32
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Hermits

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a hermit? I've just started reading The Hermitage Within, written by an anonymous monk. He warns, "Not everyone, obviously, can and should live as a monk or hermit. But no Chirstian can do without an inner hermitage in which to meet his God."
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Seek God

Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God.
1 Chronicles 22:19a
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