Morning Friend,Would it surprise you greatly to learn that my grade 2 Catechism teacher once invited our Parish Priest to answer some "theological questions" posed by a precociously skeptical student which she herself had been unable to properly address? ( at least to MY satisfaction?)To the good Father's credit, he surely did the best he could in trying to explain to an 8-year-old, the Great Flood and God's "justification" for wiping the human slate clean and starting fresh.The poor fellow looked about as uncomfortable as I'd ever seen a Priest, with sort of a "no one at the Seminary ever said there'd be days like this?" look to him.Not that I was feeling particularly "buoyant" myself wondering if this opportunity to pose my questions to someone "higher up" the chain of Catholicism might be merely a prelude to determining my candidacy for an exorcism?I worried also whether such borderline blasphemy might not get me booted as an Alter Boy; AFTER I had been pilloried, stoned and racked of course. ( This would also doubtlessly throw a wrench into my youthful designs on the Priesthood as a career choice which at the time had been a "serious" consideration !)I wish I could tell you the meeting was a rousing success; a profound moment of enlightenment in which the STEEL of my FAITH was tempered!Had that been the case, this forum might well be entitled "FATHER Ab's Miraculous Meanderings" !?The truth is, I STILL don't understand God's "reason" for the Great Flood. ( the gist of my dilemma was, and still is, that there had to be at least a FEW "innocents" among the millions that were drowned ? )Whether intended or not, what the good Father DID manage to convey to a fearful and impressionable lad that day was the notion that whether you are a nappy-headed 8-year-old or an eighty-year-old Rhodes Scholar, it is a MISTAKE to try and define, interpret, justify, contemporize, humanize, illuminate or explain GOD, especially through the flawed writings of flawed and mortal men as found in Biblical tales.Just yesterday, Christians celebrated Easter; based on a STORY of "redemption", "re-incarnation" and "rejuvenation" of "God's only son" who "died for our sins" and "rose up from the dead" as sign of "His love for us" and the "eternal life" which awaits in "Heaven" for all those who "ask for forgiveness".I ask you this my friend:- Will a bank robber grab a quick read of the Bible on his way to the crime scene, or is he more likely to be able to recite scriptures by rote when he's before the parole board?- Does God "hide" in the pages of the Bible waiting to be "found" by death row inmates?- Is "going to church" once a week worthy of forgiveness for a week's mayhem?- Is God's word "unavailable" to those needing the strength to overcome evil intentions BEFORE they are acted on?Without getting into theological hot water, I'll instead slog through some moral muck here and suggest that the most basic principle of ANY religion is NOT a "literary interpretation" of some thousand-year-old tome, but rather the practice of choosing a life of Goodness before and instead of Evil?Except to the more Sociologically impaired segment of society, the difference between RIGHT and WRONG is not a state secret.The very harmonious balance of life in the most secular of societies is reflected by the choices made by its' citizens.Do we not have to make such choices dozens of times in the course of our days?Don't MANY if not MOST people generally make a habit of making the "right" choice, whether they own, have read or even heard about the Bible?Couldn't it be said that such people act in that "right" way because GOD "Lives" IN them?Aren't the true "Acts of God" found in the valor, sacrifice, forgiveness, love and morally "right choices" of everyday "Good People"?Here I am now 8 years and several scores old and still asking questions about God.At least from my ceaselessly inquisitive but more finely honed perspective of late, they are mostly rhetorical.Living on a FLOOD PLAIN as I do, the "moral" high ground is about as safe as I can get.Love "Father" tImMy:/ ( that DOES have a nice ring!?!?)
Laugh as much as you breathe
Love as long as you live ( high and dry)
