Twisted Virtue

Slowly yet steadily it has happened. “Good” has become “bad.” (But that’s not the end of the story….help me create this story!)

The virtues and standards of our faith, have been twisted by the modern world. Virtue is being mocked, or simply discarded. In the news, in classrooms and in the entertainment industry you can find examples of the mockery…

The response to Humility is “Don’t be a doormat.”
The response to Sacrifice is “Stand up for your rights. You deserve better.”
The response to Obedience is “Question all authority. No one is in charge of ME.”
The response to Chastity is “Why be repressed? It’s time to enjoy yourself.”
The response to Charity is “The government owes us. I am entitled.”
The response to Diligence and Hard Work is “Why bother? Just do the minimum.”

Virtues are seen as passe. Yet, these virtues are the very basis of a civilized society. They are crucial to decency, respect and growth as a culture. These virtues are the road to genuine love. So when these values are twisted to become meaningless, we are in BIG trouble as a culture and a nation.

I know virtue still exists. I can give examples of virtuous people...but first we must look at what is happening. Share you thoughts. Have you seen basic values being twisted?

2012--In with a ROAR!

2012 has started out in dramatic fashion. It reminds me of St. Paul who wrote to the churches to tell them to rejoice and trust in God no matter what happens. He was in a dismal prison when he wrote those words. (See Phil. 4:4-7)

For our family, New Year’s Day allowed no time to “rejoice” or to write resolutions! When I stumbled out of bed to let the dogs outside, my ears were met with the sound of loud barking from several dogs.

I rushed to throw on a jacket and headed outside. As I rounded the corner, my heart stopped. There were dogs inside our goat pen. One came out of the shelter licking blood. I screamed and three more dogs came out.

A pathetic bleating came from inside the shelter. My mind raced. I was afraid of the dog pack. And how much had they mutilated our two “dwarf” pet goats?

I called the Sheriff rather than face the dogs alone. One of the goats stumbled into the open and fell over dead. The other goat was in shock. I felt the same way. When I finally came inside, my legs were shaking.

Yet, God has a way of granting us hope and light even in the midst of tragedy just as St. Paul said.

The sun came out as the remaining goat, named Jag, finally was coaxed to come into the barn. Jag ran to the front door with me, as if he remembered another time he was hurt and he spent the night in our bathroom. Jag began to follow me around the barnyard like my lamb. The bond with this goat has been strengthened. Now are remaining lonely goat has become quite “talkative.”

A few days later Jag peeled his lip back and made a new sound…he smelled something in the air. Our old horse needed help. Although Brandy was 35, she could still push away the other female horse when a male horse came by! She was like a 150 year old lady competing for the favors of a gentleman!

But now Brandy was had fallen in the thick mud and she couldn’t get up. Her body seemed to shrivel up. She was shaking and dazed. I knelt beside her.

Brigit, our 12 year old, wasn’t ready to give up. She brought out food and ropes. “We can get her up, Mom. We have to,” she cried.

So we did our best. But we could not help her legs to work. Brandy kept falling back to the ground shaking, her eyes rolling.

It was a long afternoon. Finally, the goat called out just as Brandy was put to sleep. Animals seem to know about death. There was a moment of profound silence. No cackling chickens. No barking dogs. No honking donkey. Just silence.

This New Year has made me take stock of life and death.
In the bigger picture, we know there are deeper tragedies that other families are experiencing. The lesson of this new beginning, is that life is a precious gift not to be taken for granted.

One gutsy horse and one protective goat left a barnyard with thawing snow, a new puppy who sleeps at my feet and bright rays of light coming through dark clouds.

God is here through it all. With our faith we know that endings are also new beginnings. Life and death are part of a woven fabric. So our family has made a collective resolution not to take the beauty and bounty of God for granted anymore.

And I have promised to say, “Jesus, I trust in you” every day. Jesus our model and our Lord, is our hope for a future of promise.

Our DAILY Bread

For fifteen years I’ve been a freelance writer. Before that I was a full-time artist. These are not the kind of professions with a guaranteed income! And lately, as the jobs and paychecks dwindle into meagerness, I find myself staring at the neighbor lady as she drives off to work every day. Suddenly, I find myself feeling jealous! Wow. That’s a shock!

As she comes out the door at exactly 7:15 a.m. everyday, the neighbor lady flips back her hair which is perfectly combed. She gets into her car and drives away, acknowledging me by raising a hand to her window as I stand with my kids at the bus stop.

But, I’m sure, as she’s driving away, she’s thinking, “There’s Judith. Standing there in grubby clothes and wild hair, ready to go and feed her horses and donkey. What a life she has. No job. No boss. I’m jealous.”

I’ve been praying about this odd turn of events and this is what I realize now:

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew people were tested by God. He sent them manna…bread from heaven! But He also gave a command along with it…no hoarding up for tomorrow. Instead, He said, “Collect only enough for your needs today. Trust me. Rely on me and leave tomorrow alone.”

Then in the New Testament, the Apostles asked Jesus to teach them to pray. I’ll bet they wanted to know how to list their requests so God would answer! I can image them secretly hoping Jesus would give them something really good to say! They were really asking, “Teach us how to pray so the Father in heaven will give us steady work and good pay so we will survive and even thrive during these economic hard times!”

Instead, Jesus told them to begin with words of praise and then to say, “Give us this day our daily bread…”

Just one day at a time! The Lord gives us enough for that. Why does He do this? Well, I guess Jesus gave St. Faustina the answer. He told her that we have a simple prayer to say. It is this…“Jesus, I trust in you.”

If I trust in Him, and offer thanksgiving, all will be well! One day at a time! No guarantees about what comes next. There is no looking glass. No comfortable cushion to rest on in this lifetime. But there is Someone we can trust.

Thank you Jesus!

The Enduring Lesson

The man scoffed when I mentioned I was going to Mass. There was venom in his eyes. “How can you be a Catholic? That church is just a bunch of hypocrites and pedophiles.”

We’ve all heard that kind of thing. And I find it odd. Even though our culture doesn’t condemn public education because of the wrong doing of some teachers; and the culture doesn’t condemn the postal service just because some employees have “gone postal;” our culture likes to bash the entire Catholic Church over the wrongdoings of some priests or over the hypocrisy of some who sit in the pews.

But the truth is that every social or religious institution contains both the good and the bad. The history of the Judeo-Christian faith is a story of leaders who have gone astray and times when the Chosen People turned their backs on God. It is a see-saw history. One minute the people are following God and obeying His laws. They are humble, contrite and worshipful. The next minute they have abandoned their faith and are singing to idols.

As for leaders of faith, the story isn’t much better. In the Old Testament, David was a great leader and wrote powerful psalms. But then he lusted for a neighbor’s wife and arranged to have her husband killed. That’s pretty atrocious behavior! And his son, Solomon, was sought after as the wisest man in history. Yet he married numerous pagan wives and was responsible for the growth of idol worship in his country.

Then in the New Testament, we hear about Peter. In the reading this Sunday we heard that Peter recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior and the Son of God. It was a profound leap of faith to state this belief out loud. Yet, when Jesus tells His followers that He will suffer and die as a part of the plan of Salvation, Peter says, “Oh no. We won’t let that happen.” The words sound like a worldly temptation to Jesus and Peter is severely rebuked.

The point is: progress in faith tends to follow the pattern of 2-1=1 growth. We take two steps forward and one step backward. When toddlers are learning to walk they take a few steps and then go back to crawling. Then they’ll walk for awhile with great independence and the next thing we know, they are reaching up asking to be carried!

We make progress, and then we sin. This is not big news. What is profoundly true, and awe-inspiring, is that our church perseveres. In spite of sin and persecution, in spite of hypocrisy and a few bad leaders, the church keeps on going. As the body of Christ, the church has existed for 2000 years and it will exist until the end of time!

We don’t go to church to be inspired by a powerful, charismatic priest. We don’t go to church to show off our goodness or bask in the powerful goodness of the other people. We certainly don’t go to church because we are people who never sin. Instead, we come before the only One deserving of worship to beg His forgiveness. We go to church for guidance from His words and through His sacraments.

I am proud to be a member of the church begun by Christ so long ago which shines a light in our world today.

So the next time someone says, “How can you be a Catholic when they are all a bunch of hypocrites” you can say, “We are all less than perfect people. I go to church for the help I need to be better.”

Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II has been close to our family for the past year. My son did a research project about the Pope. And it continued all year! We had a huge biography sitting in the living room; pictures of the Pope stacked on the dining room table; YouTube videos of the Pope playing all evening. We listened to Peter practice speaking with a Polish accent and we watched his 10 minute performance "at least a thousand times" according to Peter's sister!

The amazing thing is that the Pope touched us all deeply. When we heard about a mother who was diagnosed with cancer, we offered to pray to blessed John Paul for her. We began asking for his intercession in many things.
From studying the pictures of the Pope, we see a handsome young man who slowly became stooped, gained weight and began to have slurred speech. You can see pain and frustration written on his face. Yet, he continued to appear in public. He didn't hide himself away, or even slow down all his travels, just because he was suffering from Parkinsons Disease.

I decided to create a painting in honor of this Suffering Servant. (Why not? It fits right in with the growing stacks of books on the man all over our house!) Here it is. I hope it will inspire you. This painting is partly 3D...the hands and crucifix come out from the canvas.

Also Peter's performance is now online here.

If you are interested in my artwork, send me an email. Thanks.

Learning Life’s Big Lessons

Recently 3000 kids gathered in Washington DC for a competition called National History Day. They put together amazing projects that required yearlong (primary source) research which you don't see at the middle and high school level very often. The "back stories" that happen during this experience are fascinating. Although this is a secular competition, the skills of perseverance, truth seeking, and the search for moral heroes comes out of our Christian framework. I always tell my kids, "These kinds of projects have a life of their own!" Here are just a few of this year's stories:

1) Tierra Hudson, age 13, competed this year for the first time. She and her partner, Laura Winn, did a performance about Marian Anderson whose singing became a symbol and a force for change during the Civil Rights era. Tierra's ethnic background is black, Japanese and Hispanic. She and her mom wanted to meet the best friend of Tierra's grandfather during their visit to Washington DC. Tierra never met her grandfather who died a month before she was born. Her grandfather was stationed in Japan during WWII where he met and married his wife. His friend met Tierra and her mother at B Smith's restaurant to share memories and photos. The restaurant owner, B Smith, came over to meet Tierra and learn about her project. B Smith is a model, successful entrepreneur and product spokesperson. She took photographs with Tierra and offered this advice, "Keep working hard and following your dreams. Your dreams are going to take you places!" It was a powerful experience for Tierra.

2) Brigit Brown, age 12, (my daughter) did a documentary about The Mustang Debate. She wrote a letter to the governor of New Mexico about her project and interviewed several key figures at the BLM during her research. The director of the Bureau of Land Management at the Department of the Interior, Bob Abbey, met with Brigit while she was in DC to receive a copy of her work and congratulate her. He said, "The issue about wild horses has become very emotional and there is a lot of misunderstanding out there. We are really proud of you for the work you did to tell the whole story."

3) Grace Sartin, age 12, did her first History Day project this year and was happy to have made it to the national level. "It's an honor and I'm just glad to be here," she said smiling happily. Her sister, Emily, has participated in previous years. One year she did a project about a lady pirate from Ireland. Her project didn't win but an Irish group saw her performance and said her representation was more accurate than anything they had seen. Three weeks later she was surprised to receive an award in the mail. It was a medal from "The Order of the Bard."

There are a lot more stories out there. Stories in every family...


For me, the message is that too many modern kids, with their cellphones and easy access to everything, have forgotten how to work hard. But these NHD kids have poured their hearts into serious work. They are beginning to recognize that effort is deeply rewarding in itself. The outcome in in God's hands. (My husband likes to says, "Do your best. The results are none of your business.")

The dedication, perseverance and willingness to speak to important people in order to keep learning...well, these are qualities that shape character. Getting a medal or some other acknowledgement is not necessary if our kids are going in the right direction toward making the world a better place.

The Poor are With Us

I was sitting in the bleachers watching my son’s basketball practice when a man started ranting about the Catholic Church. He had overheard my daughter complaining about someone at church that day who had said the food she was preparing wasn’t for kids who happened to wander into the Hall.

“What does the Catholic Church have against feeding those in need?” he said. That really threw me. I didn’t even realize the connection until he gestured to my daughter who had made her hungry stomach clear. The man went on to share the baggage he was carrying around.

“The nuns ran the school in my hometown. Kids would come in hungry but they didn’t have money. The nuns wouldn’t let them go through the line at lunchtime and they fired the lady who tried to feed those kids.”

He didn’t let me respond. He was on a roll. “I just read an article about how all the poverty in the world would end if Catholics and a couple other churches would sell all their artwork and statues and gold. But Catholics don’t care. They’d rather have fancy buildings.”

By the time he was finished, my mind had stopped working. I mumbled that it was unfortunate about the nuns he met and that art is important to inspire people’s souls. He rolled his eyes and turned away.

I spent a restless night blaming myself for not giving him better answers. Because I have thought about this and read about it. Why don’t the words come?

What I should have said is this:

If the Church sold all the artwork it holds, there would possibly be several million dollars available for more service work. There might even be billions. If, of course, the artwork could all be sold for high prices. Then we could feed every person in the world. But for how long? A week? A month? Maybe we could give every family in the world a cow. And this would last for how long? Maybe we could give every family some tools either for farming or fishing. But would every family use those tools?

There have been studies about how to end poverty for centuries. And clearly, money alone is not the answer. So, should we could pour billions into a “think tank” about how to end poverty?

The truth is this: eventually, poverty would return.

The Catholic Church is one of the oldest charitable organizations in the world. And the poor may actually have been better off when all Christians were called to be “charitable” instead of institutionalizing the concept and putting the poor on state-directed “welfare.”

The situation of the nuns withholding food is certainly troublesome…I wonder if they tried to help the poor children in ways that were unseen? The church calls for charity and compassion. Yet, in every church and every organization there are individuals who are mean-spirited. Sadly, that will always be true as well.

As for art…I am an artist. I know, from both creating art and admiring it, that art can lift up the spirit of many people. It elevates us, taking us out of the humdrum of our lives and into the world of Spirit.

Images of Jesus make him seem more accessible. Just as we put pictures on our walls to remind us of the people we love who are in a different place, we need images of Jesus to bring our attention back to him.

I teach my Sunday School students a song that goes, “Rise up my soul and give glory to God…” With music, the proclaiming of the Word of God, the artwork and architecture of the church, as well as charitable acts, we all work together to “give Him glory.”

The Church attempts to give glory to God in the structure and ornamentation of its buildings. In this way, the Church also becomes a beacon of light and hope to those who are drawn to these places of worship out of a simple love for beauty. Tourists regularly go to the great cathedrals of the world to be inspired.

But imagine all the artwork has been sold off. All the beautiful buildings are gone. The money that supported the poor is also used up. And the poor still exist.

Where then is our hope, our dignity and our inspiration?

The Catholic Church here in our small town was built by poor people. They didn’t have a lot of money. But they came together to put up the best structure they could using their sweat and calloused hands. Little by little our congregation has added a few statues, a few nice windows. We generally don’t pay people to create new artwork or re-do the kneelers. I have painted banners. Other artists have donated their work. A couple who run a small upholstery shop, donated their time and supplies to fix the torn and tattered upholstery at the church. Our church building is a labor of love.

And we also have a St. Vincent de Paul center and a food pantry that feeds the hungry and pays household bills for those who need it. Quietly, and without fanfare, there are people from our church who visit the sick, the prisoners and the elderly. We have programs for our youth and give money to all kinds of causes.

It is not an either/or thing: Either we put money into a building OR we care for the poor. We should do both. Because BOTH give glory to God. And if our local church were bombed tomorrow, the people here would put it back up again. Because we need it.

***
So, back to the man in the bleachers. I’ll see him again soon. Do I dare print out the information above (without the mention of his challenge) and offer it to him in a written form? Or can I speak these words? Stay tuned….