Wednesday, December 14, 2005
In Response to Your Response to my Last Entry
Betty,
"Suffering has become an opportunity to love... and therefore to be redemptive for others." (Fr. Stephen F. Torraco on 02-06-2002)
And how do we accomplish this? It is by transforming the suffering into love, taking away the sins delivered to us and giving back compassion, caring, gentleness, and kindness.
This is truly a miraculous feat. The strength, discernment, and transformative energy to do this come from our relationship with our Greater Power.
Do I need the doctrinaire and politics of a church, or temple, or synagogue, or mosque? Should I use my pittance of wealth to support enormous buildings and a huge bureaucracy, all designed to mold and manage my freedom to think for myself?
Doesn't the fellowship of members often lead to sin through sexual liaisons, gossiping, and shunning? Doesn’t the hierarchy take us into crusades and jihads and the Inquisition? Doesn’t religious fervor at times end in pogroms, ethnic cleansing, suicide bombings, intolerance and self-mutilation?
The difficulty in the "by oneself" approach is maintaining a continued awareness of one's relationship with the Greater Power without group guidance and/or pressure.
How quickly the mind flits from idea to idea during prayer, meditation and contemplation! How quickly one's attention turns to entertainment, social activities and pleasure-seeking!
So is the dilemma. Perhaps friends-at-a-distance to discuss spiritual matters is a compromise suitable for me. Be that friend, Betty!
Rosalind 12:40 PM
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