You aren't selfish by nature, Steve. If you're chastising yourself for that still. You've always been generous with your time, with your attention to others' needs. You've certainly helped me through a hell of a lot of crap over the years, in material and emotional ways. I'd be a lot poorer in every way if I'd never known you. Being "selfish" is a natural consequence of being scared, and as you get less scared you're naturally letting go of your white knuckle grip. I really appreciate the way you are open about your struggles; it's helped me a great deal.
I just subscribed. I really, really hope you continue to write on this platform. I'm a "traditional" Catholic with a growing sense of unease, and your "thinking out loud" is helping me immensely. Nobody that I'm aware of is doing this Steve, so you're the only source of honest thought and investigation that I can find from this perspective. I've been following along in the shadows but finally decided this is something I want to see continue so will help if I can. I am currently going back and reading through all the articles again. There's just so much there. I look forward to your next article and hope to participate in the conversation via the comments section. Thanks for sharing!
I have come to understand the beatitudes the same way I understand the words in Genesis: "Let there be". Jesus himself is the blessing: "The kingdom of God is within you."
Generosity or cheapness come as a consequence of the blessing.
As the song says, "Let the weak say 'I am strong'. Let the poor say 'I am rich', because of what the Lord has done".
In high school, I worked after class and on weekends. Labor laws were broken, as I worked 35 hours a week while in school at sixteen years of age. My parents financial situation was such that they would ask me for money to help cover bills or the mortgage. I gave them many thousands of dollars over the course of several years. The humiliation of having to ask their teenage son for money was met with my begrudging acquiescence. My asking, “How much this time?” or, “Will you be able to pay me back?” was an intentional twist of the knife to punish them for what I perceived as an injustice. They were preemptively defensive when asking and I saw that as being ungrateful. It was a tense period.
I wish I would have handled it better, but I was an angry teenager for a host of other reasons. In our case, scarcity amplified our other problems.
A really thoughtful and balanced meditation. You excavated some deeply buried wisdom here that too often gets covered over by all manner of interpretive rubble. Some of it well intended, but saccharine tropes, nonetheless, and, sadly, even deliberate dross used to guilt people into submission. Nicely written, too.
The key to always having enough is radical generosity. My life changed when I started tithing after being a $1 a week in the basket guy. Now we live on 10% and give 90% away. We’ve never gone without.
Setting aside the fact that Christ said the "poor in spirit" are blessed, which as far as I understand, has never been interpreted to mean solely or primarily material poverty (yes, I'm aware of the shorter version in Luke that does not include "in spirit"), I think you are viewing "the poor" in an extremely Western or American sense. I agree that being materially deprived can create resentment to those so afflicted, particularly in our modern consumerist age when each person is acutely aware of what he or she lacks. But for the majority of human history, being "poor" was the lot of all but a privileged few, and thus simply a given fact of existence--not something over which to shake your fist in anger at the gods.
Who is shaking their fist in anger at the gods? I'm just trying to explain how a certain kind of mentality can arise around this way of living that can keep you from striving for your best. Simultaneously, those who have never been poor can have a hard time understanding how hard generosity can be when that's all you've known.
I wasn't saying you were. It was simply an expression to highlight my overall point that I think we modern Westerners have a much different idea/understanding of "the poor" or what it means to be poor than most humans in history.
I recommend a tour of Bavaria and Austria as a remedy for "Blessed are the poor". Not to mention the endless fulminating on materialism.
The Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg (the two jobs tended to go as a package in parts of Europe) had a really nice Palace, which you can visit as a lowly tourist. One of them, around 1606, had to build another palace, the Mirabell, to house his mistress and their 15 kids. Sadly, you can't get in - the city Council uses it as offices.
Passau is the Three Rivers City, where the Inn and the Ilz join the Danube. The floods can be biblical and it is very noticeable that the Bishop's splendid digs is one of the few buildings above the highest flood level.
Thanks Steve. Another really great piece that resonates.
You aren't selfish by nature, Steve. If you're chastising yourself for that still. You've always been generous with your time, with your attention to others' needs. You've certainly helped me through a hell of a lot of crap over the years, in material and emotional ways. I'd be a lot poorer in every way if I'd never known you. Being "selfish" is a natural consequence of being scared, and as you get less scared you're naturally letting go of your white knuckle grip. I really appreciate the way you are open about your struggles; it's helped me a great deal.
Thanks. I don't even know what to say to that. I appreciate it.
I just subscribed. I really, really hope you continue to write on this platform. I'm a "traditional" Catholic with a growing sense of unease, and your "thinking out loud" is helping me immensely. Nobody that I'm aware of is doing this Steve, so you're the only source of honest thought and investigation that I can find from this perspective. I've been following along in the shadows but finally decided this is something I want to see continue so will help if I can. I am currently going back and reading through all the articles again. There's just so much there. I look forward to your next article and hope to participate in the conversation via the comments section. Thanks for sharing!
I have come to understand the beatitudes the same way I understand the words in Genesis: "Let there be". Jesus himself is the blessing: "The kingdom of God is within you."
Generosity or cheapness come as a consequence of the blessing.
As the song says, "Let the weak say 'I am strong'. Let the poor say 'I am rich', because of what the Lord has done".
"Give thanks, with a grateful heart."
This is a very thoughtful piece.
In high school, I worked after class and on weekends. Labor laws were broken, as I worked 35 hours a week while in school at sixteen years of age. My parents financial situation was such that they would ask me for money to help cover bills or the mortgage. I gave them many thousands of dollars over the course of several years. The humiliation of having to ask their teenage son for money was met with my begrudging acquiescence. My asking, “How much this time?” or, “Will you be able to pay me back?” was an intentional twist of the knife to punish them for what I perceived as an injustice. They were preemptively defensive when asking and I saw that as being ungrateful. It was a tense period.
I wish I would have handled it better, but I was an angry teenager for a host of other reasons. In our case, scarcity amplified our other problems.
A really thoughtful and balanced meditation. You excavated some deeply buried wisdom here that too often gets covered over by all manner of interpretive rubble. Some of it well intended, but saccharine tropes, nonetheless, and, sadly, even deliberate dross used to guilt people into submission. Nicely written, too.
Hey, you spell your name the correct way(because there is only one right way).
The key to always having enough is radical generosity. My life changed when I started tithing after being a $1 a week in the basket guy. Now we live on 10% and give 90% away. We’ve never gone without.
Setting aside the fact that Christ said the "poor in spirit" are blessed, which as far as I understand, has never been interpreted to mean solely or primarily material poverty (yes, I'm aware of the shorter version in Luke that does not include "in spirit"), I think you are viewing "the poor" in an extremely Western or American sense. I agree that being materially deprived can create resentment to those so afflicted, particularly in our modern consumerist age when each person is acutely aware of what he or she lacks. But for the majority of human history, being "poor" was the lot of all but a privileged few, and thus simply a given fact of existence--not something over which to shake your fist in anger at the gods.
Who is shaking their fist in anger at the gods? I'm just trying to explain how a certain kind of mentality can arise around this way of living that can keep you from striving for your best. Simultaneously, those who have never been poor can have a hard time understanding how hard generosity can be when that's all you've known.
I wasn't saying you were. It was simply an expression to highlight my overall point that I think we modern Westerners have a much different idea/understanding of "the poor" or what it means to be poor than most humans in history.
Steve,
I recommend a tour of Bavaria and Austria as a remedy for "Blessed are the poor". Not to mention the endless fulminating on materialism.
The Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg (the two jobs tended to go as a package in parts of Europe) had a really nice Palace, which you can visit as a lowly tourist. One of them, around 1606, had to build another palace, the Mirabell, to house his mistress and their 15 kids. Sadly, you can't get in - the city Council uses it as offices.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabell_Palace
Passau is the Three Rivers City, where the Inn and the Ilz join the Danube. The floods can be biblical and it is very noticeable that the Bishop's splendid digs is one of the few buildings above the highest flood level.
https://youtu.be/jjQzJ5Q1e5k
I shall omit Munich, where you might want to check out Cardinal Marx's waistline, his superb accommidation and his chauffeured BMW730.