OPTIMIST OR PESSIMIST? #2

 OPTIMIST OR PESSIMIST?

The DEA moved wolves from Minnesota to Isle Royal in hope of balancing the animal population on the island. Last winter during the Polar Vortex, a she-wolf walked the 15 miles home to Minnesota over an ice bridge on Lake Superior.

The she-wolf is a perfect image of an optimist.  She was lonely for home and when she saw a chance to escape she took it.  

Who is happier a pessimist or an optimist?  A pessimist is someone who is so determined not to be disappointed by fate that they choose to expect the worse. It works for them, because if things go well, they consider that a bonus and if not, they take comfort in being right.  They think optimists are fools and have their heads in the clouds. An optimist is someone who expects the best. They think pessimists are sourpusses and killjoys. The major difference is that the pessimist has no hope while the optimist is full of hope.  The wolf had no assurance that she would make it home, but she had hope.

We can wake up, grow up, ad get real.  Jesus led the way. He was a realist. A realist is person who recognizes that neither pessimism nor optimism are acceptable positions.  Instead realism understands that things just go the way they do and we need to be prepared for either.   Jesus set the example that night in the garden.  He asked God to spare him, but he acknowledged the very real possibility that God would not, and so he said, “Not my will, but yours.”

Jesus came to bring hope to the world. He is hope.  While the emphasis on that hope has been life everlasting, the more valuable aspect is the trust in God that comes with hope. God never abandons.  God loves us unconditionally.  Knowing that, is how Jesus fulfilled his mission.  We have the example; it’s up to us to follow it. 

Pope John XXIII said, “God wants you to be happy in this life.”  That was a revolutionary statement.  Why would God want that?  Because when we are happy we are kinder, more generous, more out-going, more caring and when it becomes evident to others that we are happy because of Jesus, we have made the connection that is true purpose of our lives.   

Optimism is to believe that good actions create more good actions.

Pessimism is to believe that nothing we do makes any difference. That’s a dark view, with no hope. It is true that the world and society in general can give us reason to be pessimistic, but we can’t let it take over our lives.  Like the wolf, we must hopefully press on. 

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA

A REFLECTION

A REFLECTION 

“How in the world did I get here?”  I imagine everyone in their eighth decade has the same thought when their next birthday looms as mine does shortly.  As I look back on a very long life, all the emotions felt assail me, some of which I would rather not revisit.  But this is about my spiritual life.  

Fr. Richard Rohr wrote an essay in which he described the development of a spiritual life as Order, Disorder and Reorder.  My response to that was “Boy Howdy!”

For me Order was a time when questions were not allowed.

Disorder was a time when there was nothing but questions.

Reorder is the time where no questions are necessary. 

Thus these late years, from a spiritual standpoint, are the easy ones.  I am at peace with God.  I have put my absolute trust in him with the result that I worry a lot less and understand that whatever comes, He will sustain me. I realized through my searching that the very best qualities in humans are the reflection of the presence of the Spirit within us.  I concluded that the harshly judgmental God of my childhood was the creation of humans, men mostly.  They felt powerless and craved control, so they constructed a God who could do what they could not.  

However, Jesus said, “Who has seen me has seen the Father.”  Thereby destroying that image.  God is loving, forgiving, and compassionate and infinitely fair as Jesus proved. 

I learned that what happens, happens and the accidents of living are not God pulling strings.  If I could, I would re-train those who consistently declare that they know the Will of God and those whose faith life is based on superstition and a total misunderstanding of God. 

Living a long life means, as a rule, that one has seen just about everything.  That brings with it understanding, patience and tolerance. I’m embarrassed to say how long it has taken me to reach that state.   

As human lives go, mine has been a Princess Cruise and I pray I have been worth it.

I don’t pretend to have reached perfection, for as Jesus reminds us, “Only the Heavenly Father is perfect.”  I do say, though, that I look forward to meeting God. 

I hope he blocks out a chunk of time for me, because there is a lot I want to say to him, beginning with Thank You.

Blessings on you all, 

Don’t despair. Spring has to come eventually, unless, of course, Summer overtakes it.

Carol Lemelin OPA

HANGING ON

HANGING ON

Imagine how St. Peter felt standing face to face with a resurrected Jesus.  The only word that might properly describe his emotional state would be kaleidoscope.  Fear, joy, anxiety, humiliation, hope and love spinning around madly throughout his mind and body. Most of us would collapse under the strain. Perhaps he did. Jesus’ look of love would have pierced his heart. That is how everyone feels when they have been forgiven. 

When we speak of forgiveness, for the most part, we speak of how and why we should forgive.  We usually only think of our feelings and rarely the feelings of the one forgiven.  Forgiveness has two sides. Both parties are relieved of a burden and each feels a sense of freedom.  When you try to sort out the emotional firestorm of both, you wind up falling back on the cliché, “It’s complicated.”

How do we do it?  How do we let go of things that have hurt us and ruined our sleep?

How do we stop feeling good when the offending party’s luck turns bad or when we perceive we have scored a point against them?  We start by praying. Asking God to teach us mercy or asking God to strengthen our resolve to ask for it. 

I liken what it takes to ask for forgiveness or to forgive to the same strength that is required to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.   We want to hang on for dear life to the strap, which is the grudge or the guilt. We are not sure who we will be after we let go. That, of course, is the point.  If we have let either define us, we are certainly not who we should be or should want to be.  We have to let go of the strap.  We may scream all the way down but God stands ready to catch us.  

I read somewhere that if you ask forgiveness and it is denied, it’s not your problem anymore. But that is not true.  It will always be there unresolved.  On the other hand, refusing to forgive means you are keeping the grudge in your heart. In either case, a heart filled with bitterness or guilt leaves little room for God. 

My mother told me long ago that whenever the issue surfaces, pray for the other person.  The first time I tried it, I must admit I did it grudgingly, but to my surprise it worked. Whatever we need to do the right thing, God is there to bestow it.  As it is with everything else we have to trust in Him.  His mercy endures forever.

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin 

WHY BARABBAS?

WHY BARABBAS?

Once again we find ourselves in first century Jerusalem during Passover. 

We witness the cure of the blind man at the pool of the temple.  We witness the totally unjust arrest of the man from Nazareth.  We hear of the betrayal of two of his disciples.  One turned him in to the authorities and the other denied even knowing him.   Then, at what his enemies expected would be a cut and dried indictment; Pilate refused to call him guilty even though they had offered him large bribes.  His meddlesome wife had interfered and warned him off and the superstitious coward knuckled under.  Then he brought out Barabbas and asked them to save the Nazarene instead of the zealot. The crowd wasn’t having any of that.  They had been encouraged and perhaps, even paid, to demand the death of the crazy guy from Galilee and they weren’t about to settle for less.

Why did the people choose Barabbas over Jesus? We, who know Jesus, join with the people of that time in asking that question.  The injustice done to a person whose whole life was dedicated to justice was unbearable.  However, the truth is most of the people in that crowd could have cared less what happened to Jesus. Most of them were street people who enjoyed the spectacle of someone being convicted and crucified who wasn’t them.  They yelled whatever they thought the powers-that-be wanted them to yell.  

Barabbas was a prisoner of the Romans for attacks on Roman soldiers.  This made him a national hero to the Jews.  If it came to a decision between a hero and this Galilean, there was no doubt which way they would go.  They weren’t choosing Barabbas over Jesus; they were getting a chance to put something over on the Romans. Pilate offered the deal because he did not think Jesus was guilty of anything and that the crowd knew it and so would choose him. He figured wrong.  Here was a golden opportunity and they took it, so Rome would blame him. 

It’s so easy to blame Rome and Pilate for this, but the sad truth is what Jesus fully expected.  He commented once that their own people had killed all the prophets and that is exactly what happened to him.  His last days as a human were filled with betrayal.  The physical abuse and the crucifixion broke his body, but the betrayal broke his heart.  

When we are betrayed by anyone, spouse, child, boss or friend, Jesus is there to comfort.  During his whole life he was immersed in humanity.  Nothing that happens to us is unknown to him.  His love goes so deep we could be lost in it, but we don’t trust it.  We treat him as though he were Santa Claus or an ATM.  We are meant to live with him and in him as he lives in us.  If we do what is necessary to know him, we will. It’s there for us. It has always been there since the first Easter.  But we are in danger of duplicating the mindset of the Pharisees; abandoning the love of God and for God in favor of control. Let this Easter be the time we wake up along with Jesus. 

Christos Aneste’, Joyeuses Pâques, Frohe Ostern, Wesołego Alleluja, Felice Pasquas

Happy Easter! 

Carol Lemelin OPA

HOLY FOOLS

HOLY FOOLS

If anyone among you considers themselves wise in this age, let them become a fool so as to become wise. (1 Cor. 3:18)

There are no definitions of fool that would encourage anyone to be one, and yet this is what St. Paul suggests.  The thing is a fool, as a rule, is usually someone who can’t control their actions. But a fool is also someone who is blind to the reactions of others.  Paul considers himself, and all the people of The Way, to be that kind of fool.  To preach and teach the lessons of Christ with total conviction no matter how people react.  Secretly, many people think you would be a fool to do that. 

In Russian, Yurodivi means Holy Fool.  Two shining examples of that are St. Basil, the Russian and St. Francis, the Italian. These men were both regarded as fools.  They had decided all the world’s trappings were keeping them from God, so they divested themselves of those distractions.  They did some outlandish things, but all the time they kept to their goal of convincing people that God is ever present and ever loving.  

Some people laughed at them. Some people wanted them locked up. Some people were terrified of them as though their behavior was catching.  Still, other people revered them and to this day, their names are written large in the litany of the Saints.  Basil once threw a slab of meat in front of ,no less a personage than, Ivan the Terrible during Lent.  The Tsar recoiled at meat being put in front of him.  “It is Lent,he cried.  Basil retorts, “Why do you quail at meat in Lent when you do not hesitate to murder your own people?” Through the grace of God, he was not beheaded on the spot.  Their dramatic gestures, no matter how shocking, always had to do with revealing Christ and focusing people’s attention on the Will of God. 

In the eyes of the world, a person would be a fool to believe that someone, out of the quintillion people who have passed away, actually died and came back. You would be a fool to think you should turn the other cheek. You would be a fool to believe that bread and wine could become body and blood merely by repeating words spoken 2,000 years ago.

But we do believe it. If that is what being fool is, so be it. We are fools for Christ. It’s the kind of fool you want to be, that you need to be.  

You begin by accepting Paul’s message that we must not think of ourselves as superior to anyone.  We should accept this truth in our hearts; everyone is of the same value to God.  Then follow the example of Basil and Francis- well, perhaps not all of their examples. Tell of Jesus, his love and compassion, which reflect the true nature of God.  If someone tells you that you are a fool, you will know you’re doing something right.

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA

TRYING TO UNDERSTAND

TRYING TO UNDERSTAND 

Life on this earth is nothing if not complicated. Add to that, the question of where God fits in, just muddies the water more.   If we say that God is responsible for everything that happens, we then blame or thank God all the time.  If we say that God is not meddling in our lives and making things happen, then God comes across indifferent.  

The problem stems from the human race’s efforts to explain God.  For the most part, those efforts have failed miserably.  When I read Genesis for the first time as an adult, I was struck by how punitive God appears. I thought, “Wait a minute”. God created the humans, gave them a test, which they failed, so they were summarily banished from Eden and that’s why women must endure the pains of childbirth.

What?  That made no sense to me whatsoever. 

Reading the other Hebrew Scriptures didn’t help much.  God, when speaking through the prophets, said things like, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”   But, in other passages, he supposedly says, “I will visit devastation on them.”

How are we supposed to know how to reconcile those things?  Christ is the only answer.  His presence among us brought the love of God to us in a form we can understand.  His compassion for everyone, regardless of their station in life or their past, is a reflection of how God regards his people. Jesus struck down all the superstitions of his people to bring them closer to God. The Pharisees continually condemned Him for associating with sinners.  That was the tenor of the cruel and despotic rule of law.  A sinner was anyone who wasn’t perfect.  Perfection was determined by the powers that be. When someone asked whose sin was responsible for the man being born blind. Jesus answered “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.”  On the Cross, he told the thief “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He did not ask if the man was sorry for his crime, or had made restitution.  He simply, compassionately, rewarded the man for his courageous kindness in coming to His defense.   

This is the image of God we must carry with us.  Our free will and the choices we make because of it, are the cause of most suffering.  Other things are just the accidents of life.  

God is with us through it all. His love sustains us through the trials of life, but most particularly when we are tempted to doubt it.  It takes time, concentration, prayer and hope to achieve this knowledge.  It is worth the effort because of the peace it brings. 

I’ve given up trying to sort out the contradictions, because I realized I was going at it in the wrong way. I was trying to understand God when I should have been trying to understand the men who wrote the scriptures. They were only human after all. 

So I depend on this: At the Transfiguration, God said,

“This is my beloved Son. Hear him.”

Carol Lemelin OPA

NOT TREADING WATER ANYMORE

NOT TREADING WATER ANYMORE

Some years ago I attempted to water ski.  I got up on the skis just fine, but after a very short time, I fell off.  Everyone was asking what happened when it seemed as though I was doing great?  I shrugged because I didn’t want to say what happened.

The truth was, I was afraid of being out on that lake in such a vulnerable way. I love to swim and I love Lake Michigan, but I never allow myself to be in a position where I can’t touch the bottom.

The first time I read something that contradicted a religious principle I had been taught, I suddenly felt as though I couldn’t touch the bottom.  I was confused and upset, but I had to know, so I went in search of an answer.  Honestly, I did a lot of praying to the Spirit, which at that time was rare.  Once I got an answer I could live with, I decided to press on and research other things.  For quite a while I was in deep water, but I kept treading.  I learned that, though not mutually exclusive, religion and faith are not the same thing.  The more I studied I came to the conclusion that faith leads one to religion, not the other way around.  At least not for me. I believe that questioning is not a sin, but is instead, the path to growth.

As I peeled away the layers of religious training I had had since I was a little girl, God and Jesus took center stage. I realized I was developing a deep and personal relationship with Jesus. I felt as though I were walking with Him, listening to Him and observing all the people around Him.  Now my feet were firmly planted on the bottom. That’s how I would explain how it feels when you know God is truly with you and helping you, you just know it.  

To maintain the metaphor, once I had a firm grip on my own spiritual life, it’s been like diving the Great Barrier Reef.  I found one beautiful thing after another.  The loving, patient, forgiving God has taken over my life.  The vengeful, terrifying God of the Hebrew Scriptures has faded away. 

God gave us our minds and intellect to use in his service.  Finding answers to questions does not diminish one’s relationship with God, but instead strengthens it.

Think of the earliest Disciples of Christ.  When they heard Jesus speak in such loving terms about the Father, it touched them deeply and they had to know more and so they stayed with Him.  We need to know more. We can’t keep going from Advent to Lent, Christmas to Easter and call that faith.  We need to dig deeper into the life of Christ and the work of his disciples, of which we are the beneficiaries. This will bring new meaning to our faith.  The bond, which God wants to form with all of us, will then be ours. 

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA