I dont think that Faith has nor should have political power, but it can have and sometimes should have a voice in politics. Simply because I am a citizen of the state with rights as a citizen and since my Faith is the whole of me…not something I can pick up in the morning and lay aside in the afternoon for some reason.
How would I put my theories into practise by persevering …perseverance is not really perseverance until it has failed and got up again, I dont think… by listening and by reading and by pondering what I hear and what I read and most of all by being a person of prayer committed to my Baptism and the Gospel, Christ, and in quite radical ways. Sometimes we can think that the radical is to be left to religious and priests…not so I dont think, not so at all. And this is the danger that I spoke about in my first post, that the laity are lacking terribly in formation and in understanding and living out that The Gospel is something that is demanding and challenging…on all the baptized. We need to rediscover our Baptims as a great demand and challenge as a call and vocation to be certain kinds of people in our being, in our very being, our way of existing in this world, in our essence…a call to be radically commited to Christ and The Gospel and every single state in life and walk in life will daily present calls to be this in that day and in all the days to come.
If I am a person of prayer of regular daily prayer that is as essential as the daily coffee or shower, things are going to fall into place…guaranteed beyond doubt!!!
It is a journey and obviously when I am at point A in transit to point B, I cannot be at point B until I transit to that point.
If I invite the Holy Spirit to be present daily in my selfhood and in my whole life - to be the inspiration to self and to my way of living - through a life of prayer and strong spirituality…near on miracles are going to happen…guranteed beyond doubt!!!
But where is our formation as lay people in a specifically lay spirituality for our times, speaking to our times for our times. Jesus was a man very much in His Times and vitally concerned and active in them…this is what spirituality is all about, living my life and the ordinary details of my ordinary life the very same as if Jesus was to live out these very ordinary details in a very ordinary life - and as I come closer to God, to Unity, Jesus will indeed be doing all that.
There are a couple of other important things we need as people of trustful confident Faith etc., and that is the courage to claim our right to be human (we make mistakes and are not infallible)…we need to have the courage to to experience reality from our own ground of being and not keep borrowing or claiming that of others. Finally we need to be people of adventure and willing to risk and take risks, to let go of personal security…and if it all goes wrong - then back to the drawing board and start all over again if necessary.
I hope all this makes sense…and my take!..and still ready to run if necessary
It is said that the true hero is in reality a coward reacting under stress…so I have decided to invest in coward first and primarily in the hope that maybe the rest might follow…if not - then run I will!
…and that theory will have crashed into the wall along with quite a few others
Barb
What gets me about Apologetics is that most all contributors are so jolly knowledgeable…makes a gal feel truly inadequate!
