Finishing up all I’m going to manage in the Sts. C&M lovefest:
Entropy reminds me to post this, which she wrote last week and I really really liked:
. . . When you’re mired in mortal sin because you’re a weak little weakling and yet you believe that what the Church teaches us is true, even though you seem unable to follow it (hypocrite!), you might latch onto another teaching of the Church that is more doable for you. Something you can follow and hope that by following that you can make up a little bit for being such a total and utter failure at being good. You might think that you’re at least not adding more sins on top of the ones you’ve already got and why haven’t I gone to confession yet? . . .
It’s an important distinction: You can insist that sin is not sin. Understandable if you haven’t heard of forgiveness. Who wants to be condemmned? I remember shortly before I returned to the church, desperately justifying myself to the office secretary one morning, because I couldn’t accept the reality that *I* had done something wrong, even so small as forgetting to give her whatever form it was I owed her. And she kept saying “I forgive you, I forgive you . . .”, and I had *no idea* what she was talking about. The idea that you could do something bad, and someone would just . . . let it go? Incomprehensible to me then.
Entropy uncovers something more beautiful: Sinning and knowing you’re sinning, and trying to at least hold onto what moral territory you can, even though it feels like complete holiness is beyond your ability.
Well it is. That’s why we have forgiveness. A God who isn’t out to condemn us. He lets us know we’re in the mire, because He’s there to give us a hand out of it.
***
On the topic of forgiveness and people who know how to forgive, here is my friend Charity’s blog. It’s a normal-person blog, kind of like Paris Daily Photo only it’s western Kansas captured by phone-camera. Just normal life. 4-H, kids playing basketball, cats on the couch.
***
Which is why this post by Eric Sammons is perfect for today:
I was recently reading an account of Game Six and I was struck by a quote from Fisk regarding this home run:
Other than being the father of two children, this was the greatest thrill of my life.
Think about what Fisk said for a moment. He just compared something that only 14 men have ever done – end a World Series game with a home run – with something that millions of men throughout history have done. Hitting a walk-off World Series home run takes a unique combination of skill, hard work and luck; having a child takes no special skill or ability. Just about every boy dreams about hitting a home run to win a World Series game – and Fisk did it in one of the most thrilling situations – yet the Red Sox catcher said that one of the most common activities known to man – having children – was more thrilling. So what does that tell us about parenthood?