Another Open Door

About a year and a half ago, I came up with an idea. As I work with disabled children, it was an idea to help these children walk better. It was just a thought. Then I mentioned the thought in passing to a parent of a child I work with. "I happen to have my Ph.D. in Materials' Science, and I know that is a patentable idea," he told me. Wow. That got me excited. So I brainstormed some more, drew some things up, got samples, did a little research. A few months later, I spoke with a friend, and asked, again just in passing, what her husband did for a living. "He's the patent lawyer for the university. " Hmmm, I thought. Did he ever offer advice? "Absolutely," she said, "And he loves to do it for free." So we met, and he gave me great advice. Then, a few months after that, I happened to be talking to another friend. "I never did find out what your husband does for a living" I told her, just to make conversation. "He works for an agency that helps small businesses and inventors get started." No. He met with me, again for free, loaned me books, let me attend teleconference educational seminars, and set me up with a patent lawyer for a free consultation. I mentioned my idea to my boss. "I just happen to know the head of the Biomechanical Engineering department. I'll see if he'll work with you." The head of the Biomechanical Engineering department would work with me, and we've discussed a research protocol. My boss said that my next step would be to get permission from the university and hospital to do testing on children. "How do I do that?" I asked. "I am on the committee. Here's what you do."

A few months back, I saw a magazine article in one of our trade journals about two PT's who had an idea, got a patent on it, and it's now in production. I cut it out and filed it with my project stuff. "See... it can be done. Other people do it." I met with another PT a few weeks ago, and showed her the article "Would you partner with me on my idea? See, these other two therapists did it." She said she would.

Between work and raising young children, my project had come to somewhat of a standstill. It was so big, to make this idea come to fruition, and the entire process is so unfamiliar and overwhelming.

Well, tonight... another door opened, encouraging me to step through. We had a training at work on a new piece of equipment, and who should be providing that training but the very therapist whose article I cut out of the trade journal. The one who had an invention of her own and brought it to fruition, who had so inspired me by her story. She told me of her journey through the patent and marketing process, and encouraged me to continue. "It has been so worth it!" And she has offered to give me any advice and help she can about the process. I am being led to do this, and I need to DO it!!! WHY I am being led I don't know, but if I don't walk through the doors that are opening before me, then I am being disobedient. OKAY, God. I am listening! I will follow through, even though I don't know what I'm doing!!!

Father Jonathan

Jonathan Morris is a commentator on ethical issus for Fox News. I stumbled upon this that he wrote, and it really struck a chord....

"Week after week I offer on this opinion page and on the FOX News Channel ethical analysis of the big news items of the day. It must seem to some I have an unquenchable passion to offer my moralist opinion on everyone else's business. Hollywood movies, political platforms, media bias, sports doping, immigration policy — nothing gets a bye, no flimsy proposal is left standing.
Today, however, I happily step off my soapbox, and put myself and my work under your gaze. For the sake of our future conversations, I want to explain why I — a piece of work, a flimsy project in my own right — would dare speak in moral absolutes, and so often.
More importantly, I throw out a question: can any mortal speak authoritatively about right and wrong? And does it do any good?
In this light, I often ruminate on the many blistering responses to my articles and television appearances: “Who the heck do you think you are (here I paraphrase, out of respect for all audiences)?”; “What makes your opinion so important?”; “Why don't you focus on getting your own house in order?”

The non-religious frequently throw me a bone — a sharp one — by framing the same argument in Biblical terms, “Let the one without sin cast the first stone.”
All of these stinging missives serve good purposes, no doubt. First, they call me to personal conversion. In my business and in the business of life in general, personal witness is not optional. Second, they invite me to analyze events more maturely, from foreign and often uncomfortable angles. Finally, they remind me to place the individual, in all of his uniqueness and considering all of his circumstances, at the forefront of any moral judgment.
But for every message I receive of ire and contempt, I am blessed to read countless stories of personal growth. “I never thought about it like that before?” “Why didn't they explain these reasons behind the rules when we were kids?” “I'm beginning to see how faith and reason can be friends?” “Why do I almost always agree with you if we don't belong to the same Church?”
Such contradictory reactions to the exact same content sometimes makes me doubt our species' claim to the titles of “intelligent beings” and “pinnacle of God's creation.” I ask myself, “Am I speaking in tongues?”
But then I reflect. Can we at least say some things are always wrong, everywhere, and for everyone? Can we make the claim rape, stealing, cheating and killing the innocent are bad? If so, should we speak out against them when they occur?
Can we likewise say some things are always good? In a world of much darkness, should we try, then, to spread the light of goodness more widely?
Then I reflect some more. There seems to be a faculty of the soul — a conscience — that when left alone, shouts truth on its own. It says, “This is good for you, do it! This is bad for you, avoid it!” When I obey that voice, the next time it gets stronger, clearer. When I silence it, the opposite occurs; tragically, it can even go away for good.
It is as if God has hardwired our hearts and minds to his truth.
My personal reflection continues. If we can recognize good and evil in the big things, with a little search, there is no reason we can't discover them in the little things too! Might it be possible to cultivate a sensitive, fine-tuned conscience that will point us not only to goodness, but also to greatness?
If we can do this personally, can we do it also as a society?
I think we can. And that's why I write and speak as I do, so often, and even in moral absolutes.
It's not about me. It's certainly not about my righteousness. The search for morality in the public square has to do with discovering the truth about how we were made, what we were made for, and the fastest way to get there.
On these pages, I hope you never witness personal attacks. I hope you never hear me break a scandal, dig up dirt, condemn a heart. If you ever do, remind me of who I am and who I am not.
But likewise, if you ever stop hearing me say that we can truly know the difference between right and wrong — in the big things and in the little things — please send me a note to remind me that I have no right to hide behind the fact that I too am a mess.

God bless, Father Jonathan"

Sola Fide

Faith Alone. It is the mantra of a vast number of Christians, and a dividing line among Christ’s church. What is required for our salvation? Faith ALONE? Or is there more? Are we required “to do something” in order to work out our salvation? The truth is everywhere throughout the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and we have only to look and see in order to understand.

“God alone gives grace to whom He chooses, and often when the soul is least thinking of it… I mean that although we may meditate and try our hardest, and though we shed tears to gain it, we cannot make this water flow”. St. Theresa of Avila

Salvation, undoubtedly, is a gift from God. It is his promise to us, and it is a gift of which we are wholly unworthy. We are imperfect, despite our attempts toward perfection. It is the nature of being human. St. Theresa of Avila said “As a rule, all our anxieties and troubles come from misunderstanding our own Nature.” We need to understand that we all, even the very BEST of us, fall short of the glory of God. THAT is our nature. We don’t deserve to live in Heaven eternally. Yet that is what God promises us. As a gift, freely given.

What does it mean to accept that gift, though? To believe in it? Yes. Absolutely. That is the first step. But it cannot be our only step, because even the Devil believes in God, and believes that He offers salvation to His people. The demons recognized Christ as God’s son…. they had faith in Him as well. The difference, the second step to accepting the gift of salvation, is OBEDIENCE. Nowhere in the Bible do the words “faith ALONE” exist. EVERYWHERE in the Bible does God command us to obey Him.

Noah believed that God would flood the earth and that God would save him, as He had promised. His faith was intact. Was it enough? It wasn’t until He acted on that faith, was obedient to the work God called on Him to complete, that the means to that salvation was worked out, in the form of the Ark. God offered Noah and his family the gift of salvation from the flood, but it required Noah’s obedience and action to become saved from the waters. One could not have happened without the other. “Saved by faith alone”, but “sanctified by works” is a flawed concept. Noah was not merely “made holy” by doing as God commanded. His very life, and that of his family, depended on it.

So what does OBEDIENCE mean? Every covenant God made with mankind required obedience as a stipulation of the promise. Exodus 19:5 is but one of numerous examples. “Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people.” It is a gift, but there is an “if”. And that “if” required a response from the people.

What is God calling us to obey? His laws, surely. The 10 commandments, living a just and righteous life, doing good works. But it was Jesus who explained to us what the fulfillment of the law was…. LOVE. Everything that God commands us to do and be can be boiled down into two very simple statements: “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and love your neighbor as yourself”. LOVE is the fulfillment of the law. When we talk about “works”, if they are not done out of love, they mean nothing.

1 Corinthians 13 explains this beautifully. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Faith, Hope, and Love. And the GREATEST of these is LOVE. Sola Fide is incomplete. Faith alone cannot save without an active love.

St. Terese of Lisieux said “If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn’t lack the noblest of all, it must have a Heart, and a Heart BURNING WITH LOVE. And I realized that this love alone was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act, if it ceased to function, then the Martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others; it’s a universe of it’s own, comprising all time and space – it’s eternal.”

The next thing that Jesus commands us to do, is “Abide in my love”. What does that mean? Live in it, stay connected to it, wallow in it. How? Where do we encounter His presence? Through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. But also, through His sacraments, where we receive His grace, in order to abide in His love. This is very explicit.

John 6:53-55 “Amen, Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh, drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

John 3:5 “Amen Amen I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.”

We need to partake of the Eucharist and be baptized with the seal of the Holy spirit in order to receive our gift of salvation. It is what Jesus commanded us to do, in order to “abide in His love”. And we must obey. Participating in these activities does not merely “sanctify” us, or make us Holy. Our very salvation depends on it. Because Jesus told us so.

Faith alone cannot be enough, without obedience to the law, which is LOVE. First Corinthians tells us why this is… because only love remains. The other gifts of the Spirit are tools for our life here on earth. When we complete a journey, we no longer need a map. In the same way, when the Kingdom of God comes, when the veil is lifted, we will no longer need Faith. Faith becomes knowledge. Speaking in tongues becomes perfect communication with God. Works will be finished. So what remains? Love. God is love. And love is eternal.

Random Thought

I took the boys to my in-laws this morning, bright and early, just at sunrise. The sky was pink over the lake, and Quinn said "Look Colby! The sun's waking up! " Colby replied "ooohhh, pretty". Then they asked where the moon was, and we talked about how we don't see the moon as much when the sun is up, because the sun is so bright. And it occurred to me that this is just one more of the millions of "parables" God built in nature, echoing the "reality" of Him. We people of the earth are so much like the moon... a dull, lifeless rock, that becomes glorioius only through the reflection of the sun's light. What gives us life and beauty is the spirit that is a reflection of our Creator, just as the moon's beauty comes as a reflection of the light of the Sun....
Just another example of how we are adjectives, and not the Noun. Hmmmm.