Author: The Anchorite

Posted on

Feed the Birds

Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time: Mark 9:41-50

Feast of St. Polycarp

“Jesus said to his disciples: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.” Mark 9:41

I admit it.

I have been on a Mary Poppins kick since I discovered that quote with which I opened my last post. Even though I saw many Disney movies as a child, I had never seen Mary Poppins. As a child, my special interests were so focused that, unless a movie appeared to offer me at least one of them, I wasn’t interested. Doctor Doolittle passed muster for me then – the Rex Harrison film –  with all those animals he talked to.  Apparently, Mary Poppins didn’t pass (in spite of the penguins, horses, fox and hounds, and dog).  Continue reading “Feed the Birds”

Posted on

Be Perfect?

Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (A): Matthew 5:38-48

I’m practically perfect from head to toe
If I had a fault it would never dare to show
I’m so practically perfect
In every way

Both prim and proper and never too stern
Well-educated yet willing to learn
I’m clean and honest, my manner refined
And I wear shoes of the sensible kind

I suffer no nonsense and whilst I remain
There’s nothing else I feel I need explain

I’m practically perfect in every way
Practically perfect, that’s my forte
Uncanny nannies are hard to find
Unique, yet meek, unspeakably kind

I’m practically perfect, not slightly soiled
Running like an engine that’s just been freshly oiled
I’m so practically perfect
In every way

– From the song “Practically Perfect”, Mary Poppins: The Musical

Does this song remind you of anyone you know? I couldn’t help but think of a couple of nuns who taught me in school. Even if this wasn’t their conscious intent, I could easily imagine either of them singing this song with a straight face. They certainly gave me that impression. But not only nuns, of course. I’ve met other people who seemed to give off an aura of “practically perfect”. Might this song apply to you in some way? I confess that I have often felt that I should be something like this – or very close to it – and that I would be a failure as a human being if I wasn’t like this. This image of “practically perfect” has dominated the imaginations of many people, causing them to see themselves as “not good enough”, no matter what they did. People who are literal-minded, or prone to obsessive-compulsive behavior, can be especially vulnerable to seeing this image of perfection as what it means to be a good human being. They suffer greatly from never being able to attain such perfection in their lives, and can see themselves as failures because of it. Sadly, other, ‘healthier’ people sometimes confirm this by their attitudes toward those who have psychological challenges and thus can’t appear to be “practically perfect”.  Continue reading “Be Perfect?”

Posted on

Babel and the Cross

Friday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

(A comment on this photo: This is the main entrance to the parish office of Our Lady Of The Snows in Dexter, Maine. As you can see, the parish is aptly named!)

Today’s Mass readings – the story of the Tower of Babel and Jesus’ teaching on the necessity of denying ourselves, taking up our cross each day and following him – present certain challenges to us who hear or read them today. First of all, these readings seem, at first glance, to have little to do with one another. Secondly, it is all too easy for many people to simply dismiss any readings from the early chapters of Genesis as ancient myths, impossible to square with what paleontology and archaeology teach us about the origins of humanity and civilization, and therefore irrelevant to us today. If we take a longer look, however, we may find that these two readings have a genuine connection. Moreover, stories like that of the Tower of Babel can be surprisingly relevant to our own day. Keep in mind that the book of Genesis does not intend to give us information about archaeology. It intends to diagnose what has gone wrong with humanity, and what God is doing about it.   Continue reading “Babel and the Cross”

Posted on

Disappointment and Renewal

Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

Disappointment. It’s an experience as common as death and taxes. Who has not felt disappointed in someone or something? Who has not felt disappointed in our own selves at times? Is it possible to get through a week – or even a day – without feeling some form of disappointment? Where do all these disappointments come from?

At every stage of our lives – friendship, school, work, marriage, family, or parish, to name but a few – we bring certain hopes and expectations to the table. We have expectations as to what our role and contributions will be, and hopes and expectations as to what others who are involved will be and do. The more important something is to us, the more important it will be that our hopes and expectations are met. When they are not met, the more bitter our disappointment will feel.  Continue reading “Disappointment and Renewal”

Posted on

Fulfilling, Not Abolishing

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A): Matthew 5:17-37

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” – Matthew 5:17

Calling something – or, God forbid, someone – old is never a compliment. In our society, with constant technological improvements, we have come to assume that the new is better than the old. In our ads which glorify youth (because young people are more vulnerable to advertising as a rule), we have come to assume that being or looking young is better than being or looking old. Therefore, when we look at the Bible, we will instinctively prefer the “New” Testament over the “Old”, and view the “Old” as somehow obsolete. It’s as though, in computer lingo, the Old Testament was the beta version of the Bible, and the New Testament the official release.  Continue reading “Fulfilling, Not Abolishing”