We take such things as travel as something for granted at times, though I keep having the astonishment I can be at Franciscan and then home in one day. Given this is just driving, so I can’t even fathom how it will be when I fly, since I haven’t flown yet. I hope I can eventually, but then I hope to travel a bit.

I know I’ve written on traveling like this a lot, but it just begs for a reminder.

The reason for it’s seemingly, newness is that it resides closer to me then the past relationships I have had. Of course this is based in the fact that I am older now and I have grown in different ways, which I myself can honestly and sincerely recognize without sounding incredibly ignorant.

The thing is that settling into knowing someone has changed for me and even more so it is something that deepens my compassion for them, and I don’t mean to speak so impersonal on this topic, but I’d rather that then get too personal, since I am treading the line. To put in short I’m dating a really great girl, and that has made my perspective and life change to some degree, not in a bad way obviously. It’s given myself a new scope on things and made me make new changes on a life that was getting a little bit too comfortable.

Of course maybe some don’t view such a relationship as one that should change them, but I do, since for me if I really care about someone I make concessions. I have to; there are no ways around that. And for that matter I really enjoy having someone to care for and to listen and care for me in turn. I know that is the draw for most others looking for relationships and the rest, but there is a lot more that goes into that as well.

Maybe, I’ll talk more about this topic when I have gleaned more from it, but it’s only been a month and I still feel like there is a bit more to go before I have another insight. Though I will say it’s been really amazing thus far.

Didn’t think I’d ever get to personal on here, but then I just did huh?

Well, after today I should be back to my normal posting. Sorry for the wait guys, I will try to stay on top of it for longer periods.

I have a selected a couple songs to share the lyrics as well as the music video done for one of the songs as well.

The Birds And The Bees lyrics

Breathe in
And I’m coming to these terms that my heart won’t beat anymore
I just can’t get it
Sing along sing if you want, ten more seconds till we’re through the door.
And it’s a dance party everyone’s looking for, been drinkin tonight and I won’t stop, when it’s a Quarter to four daylight is breakin’

Lovely lyrics

Oh no, my heart is getting heavy,
was I was forward?
I kinda had the feeling that it’s over,
but know I know that I’m crazy
(I think that I’m going nowhere)
So scream loud and look at me way down,
I know that you’re afraid,
I’ll hold you close and never, ever let you go
(Chorus)
Up and Down
you spin me around
you got everybody watchin as you hit the ground
so take a step back
you know i’m there
Oh God can you save me now?
Enough Vallium to fill this room
it’s kinda hard when I’m dead right?
it’s kinda hard when I’m dead…

Put Some Clothes On lyrics

I’ll see it in you by the person you are in me (and you forever)
I’m simple like this, just as simple can be (it’s me and you forever)
I said it before but i got to believe in me and you forever
I wanna see me with the person i am in you (and me forever)

Diamonds lyrics

And we will find our way there
Live like delicates
Before we go you’ll know
The spotlight lives in all of us.
(and it’s the OO)
And we’ll set the stage
And walk away to find what’s taken
(and it’s the OO)

And we’ll set the stage
And walk away to find you

You watch the way I’m talkin
And i’ll watch the way you’re walkin’

Diamonds – Music Video

The new distinction that was arising here from what Marx could see that man left to go to work and then come back home to where the laborer could relax to at least some degree. The dualistic quality in this type of society should be taken of note, since it has taken full effect now in the work place.

Many employees, if their jobs allow, get the weekends off, which they all hunger for. I’ve known at least personally a few individuals that work hard during the week, but once it’s nine o’clock on Fridays they let it all go and lose it until sobering Sunday. Of course this is just a generalization and one of my own concoction, but please take it as you like.

It has in essence separated the human person, since work has become something of an external work outside of ourselves, which doesn’t enter our personal lives at all. The in some sense has made our labor something we merely ‘do’, which for Marx was a dramatic change, since he saw labor as something of an expression of the interior of the individual. This is of course not how everyone thinks, but by the glazed look that most get when doing tasks at work, it can be seen how the passion behind work has gone out.

This may seem like scattered thoughts which I apologize for, but I am merely trying to just spill some thoughts from my class a couple days ago. And if nothing else, it’s something of a startling notion that Marx could see.

Maybe he was onto something…

***

The Aims and Means of the Catholic Worker

Published: 2008

The aim of the Catholic Worker movement is to live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ. Our sources are the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures as handed down in the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, with our inspiration coming from the lives of the saints, “men and women outstanding in holiness, living witnesses to Your unchanging love.” (Eucharistic Prayer)

This aim requires us to begin living in a different way. We recall the words of our founders, Dorothy Day who said, “God meant things to be much easier than we have made them,” and Peter Maurin who wanted to build a society “where it is easier for people to be good.”

* * *

When we examine our society, which is generally called capitalist (because of its methods of producing and controlling wealth) and is bourgeois (because of prevailing concern for acquisition and material interests, and its emphasis on respectability and mediocrity), we find it far from God’s justice.

• In economics, private and state capitalism bring about an unjust distribution of wealth, for the profit motive guides decisions. Those in power live off the sweat of others’ brows, while those without power are robbed of a just return for their work. Usury (the charging of interest above administrative costs) is a major contributor to the wrongdoing intrinsic to this system. We note, especially, how the world debt crisis leads poor countries into greater deprivation and a dependency from which there is no foreseeable escape. Here at home, the number of hungry and homeless and unemployed people rises in the midst of increasing affluence.
• In labor, human need is no longer the reason for human work. Instead, the unbridled expansion of technology, necessary to capitalism and viewed as “progress,” holds sway. Jobs are concentrated in productivity and administration for a “high-tech,” war-related, consumer society of disposable goods, so that laborers are trapped in work that does not contribute to human welfare. Furthermore, as jobs become more specialized, many people are excluded from meaningful work or are alienated from the products of their labor. Even in farming, agribusiness has replaced agriculture, and, in all areas, moral restraints are run over roughshod, and a disregard for the laws of nature now threatens the very planet.
• In politics, the state functions to control and regulate life. Its power has burgeoned hand in hand with growth in technology, so that military, scientific and corporate interests get the highest priority when concrete political policies are formulated. Because of the sheer size of institutions, we tend towards government by bureaucracy — that is, government by nobody. Bureaucracy, in all areas of life, is not only impersonal, but also makes accountability, and, therefore, an effective political forum for redressing grievances, next to impossible.
• In morals, relations between people are corrupted by distorted images of the human person. Class, race and sex often determine personal worth and position within society, leading to structures that foster oppression. Capitalism further divides society by pitting owners against workers in perpetual conflict over wealth and its control. Those who do not “produce” are abandoned, and left, at best, to be “processed” through institutions. Spiritual destitution is rampant, manifested in isolation, madness, promiscuity and violence.
• The arms race stands as a clear sign of the direction and spirit of our age. It has extended the domain of destruction and the fear of annihilation, and denies the basic right to life. There is a direct connection between the arms race and destitution. “The arms race is an utterly treacherous trap, and one which injures the poor to an intolerable degree.” (Vatican II)

* * *

In contrast to what we see around us, as well as within ourselves, stands St. Thomas Aquinas’ doctrine of the Common Good, a vision of a society where the good of each member is bound to the good of the whole in the service of God.

To this end, we advocate:

• Personalism, a philosophy which regards the freedom and dignity of each person as the basis, focus and goal of all metaphysics and morals. In following such wisdom, we move away from a self-centered individualism toward the good of the other. This is to be done by taking personal responsibility for changing conditions, rather than looking to the state or other institutions to provide impersonal “charity.” We pray for a Church renewed by this philosophy and for a time when all those who feel excluded from participation are welcomed with love, drawn by the gentle personalism Peter Maurin taught.
• A decentralized society, in contrast to the present bigness of government, industry, education, health care and agriculture. We encourage efforts such as family farms, rural and urban land trusts, worker ownership and management of small factories, homesteading projects, food, housing and other cooperatives — any effort in which money can once more become merely a medium of exchange, and human beings are no longer commodities.
• A “green revolution,” so that it is possible to rediscover the proper meaning of our labor and/or true bonds with the land; a distributist communitarianism, self-sufficient through farming, crafting and appropriate technology; a radically new society where people will rely on the fruits of their own toil and labor; associations of mutuality, and a sense of fairness to resolve conflicts.

* * *

We believe this needed personal and social transformation should be pursued by the means Jesus revealed in His sacrificial love. With Christ as our Exemplar, by prayer and communion with His Body and Blood, we strive for practices of

• Nonviolence. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” (Matt. 5:9) Only through nonviolent action can a personalist revolution come about, one in which one evil will not be replaced simply by another. Thus, we oppose the deliberate taking of human life for any reason, and see every oppression as blasphemy. Jesus taught us to take suffering upon ourselves rather than inflict it upon others, and He calls us to fight against violence with the spiritual weapons of prayer, fasting and noncooperation with evil. Refusal to pay taxes for war, to register for conscription, to comply with any unjust legislation; participation in nonviolent strikes and boycotts, protests or vigils; withdrawal of support for dominant systems, corporate funding or usurious practices are all excellent means to establish peace.
• The works of mercy (as found in Matt. 25:31-46) are at the heart of the Gospel and they are clear mandates for our response to “the least of our brothers and sisters.” Houses of hospitality are centers for learning to do the acts of love, so that the poor can receive what is, in justice, theirs, the second coat in our closet, the spare room in our home, a place at our table. Anything beyond what we immediately need belongs to those who go without.
• Manual labor, in a society that rejects it as undignified and inferior. “Besides inducing cooperation, besides overcoming barriers and establishing the spirit of sister and brotherhood (besides just getting things done), manual labor enables us to use our bodies as well as our hands, our minds.” (Dorothy Day) The Benedictine motto Ora et Labora reminds us that the work of human hands is a gift for the edification of the world and the glory of God.
• Voluntary poverty. “The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge and belief in love.” (Dorothy Day) By embracing voluntary poverty, that is, by casting our lot freely with those whose impoverishment is not a choice, we would ask for the grace to abandon ourselves to the love of God. It would put us on the path to incarnate the Church’s “preferential option for the poor.”

* * *

We must be prepared to accept seeming failure with these aims, for sacrifice and suffering are part of the Christian life. Success, as the world determines it, is not the final criterion for judgments. The most important thing is the love of Jesus Christ and how to live His truth.

Notes: Reprinted from The Catholic Worker newspaper, May 2008

Source: Retrieved on December 17, 2009 from http://www.catholicworker.org/aimsandmeanstext.cfm?Number=5

Goodness and love are as real as their terrible opposites…But love is the final reality; and anyone who does not understand this, be he writer or sage, is a man flawed in wisdom. –Sheldon Vanuaken (A Severe Mercy)

This section stuck out for me a few days ago. I’ve been really busy, but I finally found time to think about it. And I think we can all reasonably agree with Vanuaken here. It’s hard sometimes to imagine that Love and Good do triumph in the world, especially as of late with current events in the Middle East.

Yet, the thing is that Goodness and Love really are real within this fallen world, despite the obstacles to it. The second part of Vanuaken’s statement, “Love is the final reality” really is what heaven will be. I mean, you all have heard me go off on God’s Love and that is the simple fact that Love really is the final reality for all of us that choose him.

It really is something that we lose perspective of at times. We can really let the clouds come in and cover up the sun, but we cannot remember that the sun is still shining then we really have lost it. It’s easy to say that I guess, though harder to actually do, which is the way things go.

This was really only to serve as a sort of reminder, even Vanauken states that wiser men may forget this; “be he writer or sage” he wants to make sure that always realize that Love and Goodness are real.

Praise God for that!

God loved us First.

We are such poor receptors. –Dr. White

These first two statements are what have to be said first in order to set the tone for what my post will be about. This train of thought is coming from another one of my philosophy classes, which is kinda funny, but I guess they are getting me to think right?

Well, anyway this class is with Dr. White again and his quote is in reference to how bad we are at receiving God’s Grace. I mean, this statement has some validity, since we still sin after we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (for Catholics) and even for others that receive a conversion of the heart we still end falling into old habitual ways. This is a clear illustration in how we need to constantly recognize that God is working in the world and is thirsting for us.

We need to return to God every minute, which of course is an idealized vision of the Faithful, but then the Saints did it. And to move on from this short exultation to go back to God, I want to speak on God’s Love, which is not really a small matter, but I am only trying to restate a couple concepts that we can forget at times or don’t even know spelled out.

First one is what I stated earlier: God Loved us First. We don’t Love God first even though He would wish it that way. He gave us freewill to choose Him or not, which means we have to actively Love Him as well. It is through this Loving God that we become better than what our fallen human nature denotes. And this Loving that exists between God and His children on earth is the direct reason of why we even transcend our finitude.

The second statement which sorta blends into the first statement is the fact that we are Loved that we become Good at all. God Loves us, and by that Love gives us Grace to try and become more like Him. If we didn’t have that Love from Him we would always fall short of what He wants for us. By allowing the Grace to come into us, (hence the receptor comment), we open ourselves to God’s hand in our lives as well as His all encompassing Love.

This may seem hard to grasp at times, and I am sorry that I can’t give anything more to help, but even myself is trying to get a better idea of God’s Love. I will of course share more as I go deeper into His mystery. As long as Christians realize the truly unimaginable Love that the Father has for us, it is hard not to try and live out for Him.

Oh Father, please help us open our hearts more to You, to truly feel Your Love move within us.

The Light allows us to see our shadows. –Dr. White

This small quote came from one of my professors and the gravity of it really struck me obviously. It just really puts as a whole how as we come closer to knowing Truth, we can really see how our actions impact ourselves and others. By actions I mean both good and bad actions.

The Truth comes in form of Light by the fact that the closer we put ourselves in line with how God reveals to us certain things; it’s as if our souls become illuminated. The full concept is something that I cannot even full expound since it would take many pages and paragraphs to explain, and I do not even fully grasp it all.

The insight I wanted to draw from this simple statement from Dr. White was that Light reveals not only things that were once lost in darkness, but reveals the shadows that we ourselves cast. The shadows are the sin that stains us, and even if we do go to confession to wipe it away it does generally return. Even the saints professed utter humility, for they were able to recognize our wretched condition in the Light of God.

Dr. White was sure to make sure that it’s not the sense that the Saints have a false sense of humility to profess such, but it is an important insight we should have. If we do not recognize our human condition that lacks Grace then we will forsake the Light that we are direly in the need to illuminate.

Let Light come to us, and let us discern the shadows that are thrown behind us.

If she died, I might – since, under God, I must not act to follow her – I might live for years. Those years and all of beauty they might contain I put into the ball. And then I offered-up all of it to the King: take all I have ever dreamed, all I may ever long for including the death I shall certainly long for: I offer it up, oh Christ, for her for her best good death or life. This was my offering-up. I asked God to take all…That offering-up was perhaps the most purely holy and purely loving act of my life. –Sheldon Vanauken (A Severe Mercy)

This passage is just immense. I tried to condense it as much as I could, but I couldn’t. The passion, feeling and pure Love behind all of these words is enough to bring me to tears. Vanauken is able to write and so sharply produce his thoughts and emotions so intelligibly.

Despite the overwhelming compassion and beauty of Vanauken’s words we can see the pain amid these words as well. I may be spoiling the book for those of you, but I haven’t hid the ending of the story, where Vanauken’s wife despite all they have gone through contracts a mysterious sickness and dies. This in the end shatters him and forces him to cling all the tighter to the Cross.

Yet, here Vanauken sounds like a saint offering up the rest of his years for Davy, his wife. He has no idea what will happen to her, but instinctually he knows she will die. Amid the drowning despair that has clutched his heart, he wants to make sure she will be ok in the end. As he says at the end of the passage I quoted, “was perhaps the most purely holy and purely loving act of my life.” And I have to agree; because that is in essence the best we can do for one another.

God Bless the Vanaukens for the insights they have given me and the motions of my heart they have opened me up to.