Spiritual Immune System

[AlanFromWichita]

I was resting after prayer this morning, and just listened to today’s readings and reflections on the Bishop’s web site.

And then I was watching a hulu.com video by Speed Levitch, who was having personal conversations with some of Jefferson’s inventions.

Then I started thinking about what if I measured my life as a momentary flash in history, not as an importance of its own?

So I got to thinking about the alleged “evil” the Church has done, and my sympathetic mind went to work trying to explain how this is not hell winning.

So I thought up a good problem to solve: Why would the Body of Christ burn a heretic at the stake, only later to canonize her?

Then I let my allegorical imagination run wild. Caution for anyone who does not want to be exposed to grandiose thoughts … do not read the rest of my post. :whacky:

I’m thinking that the Church has immune systems that keep her earthly presence (her physical Body – buildings, artifacts, money, dogma – not to be confused with the mystical Body of Christ) intact over all generations. You don’t want some heresy to infect you and die from spiritual pneumonia without even a struggle.

But now and then something tickles you and you scratch. Or sneeze. This would be a heretic like Jesus or a saint that says things that surprise or confuse or anger the Body or Mind. So you sneeze toward the alleged blasphemer or heretic, or scratch at it, and it dies or goes through injury or insult.

Well unless you are allergic to this, you will quickly get over it. And you recognize Jesus as Lord, or the heretic as a saint. There are still lots of temporal effects from these sneezes, which we called “evil” at the time. Some said “bless you” and others said, “curse you” but either way the system responded and updated its immune system, so that in the future all may be “vaccinated” by being brought up Catholic against this extension to original sin that we call “judgment” and “condemnation.”

Through the Blood of the Lamb the system thus keeps the purity, and we have come full circle since the beginning of Jesus’s ministry in the purity and quality of the water changed wine.

Alan

 

[AlanFromWichita]

I think I am the fig tree, the master is God, and the gardener is Jesus and His Church:
Luke 13:6-9:

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’

He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

 

[prodigalson2011]

Wow. Speed Levitch. I’m always surprised to come across anyone who knows about him. He’s quite an, erm… interesting character. Have you watched the documentary that was made about him? He was also featured in a segment of Richard Linklater’s film, “Waking Life.” He goes off on a pretty absurd little tangent there that’s pretty amusing, especially with the mixed live action/animation aesthetic. Sorry, I know this post wasn’t about this at all; it was just surprising to me to see that name on these forums.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Wow. Speed Levitch. I’m always surprised to come across anyone who knows about him. He’s quite an, erm… interesting character. Have you watched the documentary that was made about him? He was also featured in a segment of Richard Linklater’s film, “Waking Life.” He goes off on a pretty absurd little tangent there that’s pretty amusing, especially with the mixed live action/animation aesthetic. Sorry, I know this post wasn’t about this at all; it was just surprising to me to see that name on these forums.

No, go for it. I like to talk about whatever it is that I trigger people to think about.

Alan

 

[thistle]

I was resting after prayer this morning, and just listened to today’s readings and reflections on the Bishop’s web site.

And then I was watching a hulu.com video by Speed Levitch, who was having personal conversations with some of Jefferson’s inventions.

Then I started thinking about what if I measured my life as a momentary flash in history, not as an importance of its own?

So I got to thinking about the alleged “evil” the Church has done, and my sympathetic mind went to work trying to explain how this is not hell winning.

So I thought up a good problem to solve: Why would the Body of Christ burn a heretic at the stake, only later to canonize her?

Then I let my allegorical imagination run wild. Caution for anyone who does not want to be exposed to grandiose thoughts … do not read the rest of my post. :whacky:

I’m thinking that the Church has immune systems that keep her earthly presence (her physical Body – buildings, artifacts, money, dogma – not to be confused with the mystical Body of Christ) intact over all generations. You don’t want some heresy to infect you and die from spiritual pneumonia without even a struggle.

But now and then something tickles you and you scratch. Or sneeze. This would be a heretic like Jesus or a saint that says things that surprise or confuse or anger the Body or Mind. So you sneeze toward the alleged blasphemer or heretic, or scratch at it, and it dies or goes through injury or insult.

Well unless you are allergic to this, you will quickly get over it. And you recognize Jesus as Lord, or the heretic as a saint. There are still lots of temporal effects from these sneezes, which we called “evil” at the time. Some said “bless you” and others said, “curse you” but either way the system responded and updated its immune system, so that in the future all may be “vaccinated” by being brought up Catholic against this extension to original sin that we call “judgment” and “condemnation.”

Through the Blood of the Lamb the system thus keeps the purity, and we have come full circle since the beginning of Jesus’s ministry in the purity and quality of the water changed wine.

Alan

The Church did not burn Joan of Arc (if that’s who you are referring to).

 

[AlanFromWichita]

The Church did not burn Joan of Arc (if that’s who you are referring to).

Maybe I’m thinking of someone else? The church did not burn any heretics and later canonize?

Either way I still see this as a potentially useful model so we can just drop that part if we need to.

Alan

 

[Lady_Love]

So I thought up a good problem to solve: Why would the Body of Christ burn a heretic at the stake, only later to canonize her?

Alan

The prophets and saints are always mocked, falsified, brutalized and killed. No one is greater than their master!

If Christ is truly present in you, this is bound to happen. Someone who is truly holy is so radically beautiful in spirit they are often victims of rejection. The sinner sees the holiness and is convicted of their own sinfulness. The sinner really rejects themselves mirrored by the saint and thinks if they rid themselves of the saint they will no longer feel convicted. Like what Herodias did to St. John who accused her of adultery.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

The prophets and saints are always mocked, falsified, brutalized and killed. No one is greater than their master!

If Christ is truly present in you, this is bound to happen. Someone who is truly holy is so radically beautiful in spirit they are often victims of rejection. The sinner sees the holiness and is convicted of their own sinfulness. The sinner really rejects themselves mirrored by the saint and thinks if they rid themselves of the saint they will no longer feel convicted. Like what Herodias did to St. John who accused her of adultery.

I think that’s a great way to describe it. Thank you so much for your post!

Alan