michal's musings

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is only possible in the Western Church that is under the influence of the Augustinian theology of original sin.   Augustine of Hippo stated that because of the sin of the first people (Adam and Eve) not only the tendency to sin is transmitted to the future generations but also the guilt.  So, people not only are born with the tendency to sin but with the guild of sin that they did not commit yet.    This teaching only exists in the Churches that are under the Augustinian influence.  The Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches did not accept the Augustinian teaching.  For them the guilt is not being transmitted only the tendency.  Therefore Orthodox Churches do not need the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.  For Orthodox Mary was born without the guilt of the original sin but only with the tendency to sin that she rejected throughout her life.    The Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception tries to prove that

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  The only thing we buy for that holiday is food. We don’t have to get any gifts to anybody.  This is very cool.  Sometimes I am tiered of Christmas.  It looks like it is all about gifts and decorations and … whatever.  For me the month of December is a month when I celebrate the Festival of Lights.  We celebrate Hanukkah, Solstice (the shortest day of the year), Christmas, Kwanza and perhaps few other holidays.  All of them are connected with some form of light.  Also, I like the fresh snow when it is white and beautiful.  It makes everything bright.  It works with moon very well.  It makes the night brighter. So, thanksgiving is in two days.  Let me enjoy food and walk and not working.  It looks like I will do this same thing during the December break too.  Happy Thanksgiving!  

I read an article about vocations in the Vision Vocation Guide .  It was by two nuns who gave me a totally different perspective on answering to God’s call.  These are the two paragraphs from this article: As the two women discuss the issues this question raises, neither sister is trying to push the listener into the convent. Just because someone is interested in prayer and spirituality, they point out, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re called to religious life. “Maybe this is a call to be open to any number of directions God might be calling you,” said Kollasch. “I think it’s safe to say that God is calling you somehow to a deeper relationship with Godself,” Vieira said. ‘You don’t have to answer the question: ‘Should I be a nun?’ Instead we can go with what we can be sure of, which is that God wants to know you, maybe in a new or deeper way.” http://www.digitalvocationguide.org/vision/2015#pg110 I cannot stop thinking about this definition.  I became a priest because

“Providing for…,” this is the new language of our bishops.  But no longer anymore:  “Welcoming," "gifts and qualities," mutual support, "precious" "partners," etc. What kind of language should the Church have: the language of diplomacy, judgment, law, or the language of compassion, understanding and support?   I have to say I am disappointed with the final document of the Synod on Family.  It did not bring anything new for now.  We still do not have any new ideas how we can help families to be closer to God.  James Martin, SJ tries to look on more positive aspect of that Synod and I respect his work and views.  I think he makes great points. The link to his article is below. The one think I hope that the Pope is doing is to give a moment of pastoral and human formation to the bishops.  They need it.      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-james-martin-sj/catholic-synod-_b_6014418.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

I love Jewish theology.  It is so down to earth. For example: G-d gave us Torah. Torah is no longer in heaven. It is on the earth.  Since it belongs to us we need to study it, love it and interpret it.  We have to make it our own.  Why? We have our own brains. We cannot worry all the time what G-d thinks about this or that.  We have Torah.  Ha gave us what he had. Now, we need to make sense of it and tell G-d how we understand it.  I love this approach.  It is so covenantal. We worship G-d. G-d is more than what we can imagine.  However, G-d is our partner and we are G-d’s partners. It is the Torah that makes us closer to each other. Yesterday, it was so good to dance with Torah and with other people and to love Torah and to talk about Torah.  Torah is more than a book. It is like a living organism. 

Tomorrow we celebrate Simchat Torah.  What is Simchat Torah: “Simchat Torah means "Rejoicing in the  Torah ." This holiday marks the completion of the annual cycle of  weekly Torah readings …. On Simchat Torah, we read the last Torah portion, then proceed immediately to the first chapter of Genesis, reminding us that the Torah is a circle, and never ends. This completion of the readings is a time of great celebration. There are processions around the synagogue carrying Torah  scrolls  and plenty of high-spirited singing and dancing in the synagogue with the Torahs. Drinking is also common during this time; in fact, a traditional source recommends performing the priestly blessing earlier than usual in the service, to make sure the  kohanim  are not drunk when the time comes! In some synagogues, confirmation ceremonies or ceremonies marking the beginning of a child's Jewish education are held at this time. Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are holidays on whi

Today is the fifth day of Sukkot and I am in Chicago. Chicago has a large Jewish community. However, I live in the Latino neighborhood and I work at the Italian Village at UIC. There is no Jewish life here. Last year I was at this time in Israel.  The weather was great.  The smell of the food was wonderful. Jerusalem was very much alive.  I miss that great family feast. So, what is Sukkot all about? It is a celebration of the 40 years that the Jewish people spent on the desert when they left Egypt and before they came to Israel. Since the Ark of the Covenant was in a tent during this whole time, for seven days the Jews eat in a booth outside of their homes. Chag Sameach - Joyous Festival

AIDS is something many people do not want to talk about.  But, it is part of life. It is like diabetes or something similar to it. Most of the time people find themselves having it.  Often, they were not careful with others. Or, they trusted others too much.  So, if one has it, one cannot do anything but accept it and live with it.  Now, because we understand it better and our medicine is much more sophisticated we can live with AIDS many years and die of something totally different.  AIDS does not kill us in the Western World. But, there are some other parts of the world where people are dying because of AIDS and HIV.  

I like to drive. Two summers ago I drove from Chicago to Tulsa OK.  It took me almost 12 hours.  I loved it.  It was good.  I only spoke on the phone for about 10 min. during this whole time.  Plus, I did not turn on the radio. It was a quiet time. I was able to meditate and enter more deeply into myself.  The 12 hours were not that long. It was a journey to and from Tulsa; but, also it was a journey to and from Mikey that Michael took.  Meditation helps us to learn much about ourselves.  

 Towards the end of the morning service the priests came to the Ark where the scrolls of Torah were and they asked God to share his blessing upon the congregation.  This was a powerful moment. It was great to experience the descendants of the ancient Jewish priestly families to still practice the ritual and keep the family traditions.  Perhaps that is why the genealogy for the Jews is so important.  They need to know who among them are cohens – priests and who are levites – priests and temple workers so that some of the religious rituals can still be practiced.

When I woke up last Saturday my father’s first words were: Did you fast? He knew I was going to the synagogue for Yom Kippur.  No, I did not fast. I felt bad at that moment. But, it was too late.  with my friend, I had to go for a breakfast at 7am on Saturday morning before going to the synagogue at 10am.  However, I kept my breakfast kosher. At least I could do that. But, for the next year I will keep fasting on the day of Yom Kippur. I just did not think and know about it.  We can always learn something.    

Yesterday, for the first time I attended a Yom Kippur Service- Day of Atonement  at the Synagogue.  It was a powerful experience since as individuals and community we asked Hashem – God to forgive us.  The service was more than four hours long.  Some people do not leave their synagogues at all for those 24 hours.  They do not eat or drink. It is a powerful sign of repentance and sacrifice for the sake of some spiritual nourishment.  There will be more to come on Yom Kippur. 

Tikkun  Olam  -- repairing the world It is a Jewish concept of morality. For some Jews this is their religion.  But, it is a concept that most of us can be part of. Most of us want to live in a better world. If I can help this world to be better by becoming a better person I am part of Tikkun Olam.  It starts with me.  I need to correct myself and find ways to help myself become better.  It is a very simple concept.  However, many simple concepts are very difficult. 

Few weeks ago I attended a luncheon of the Jewish United Found.  I was invited there by the Hillel Center.  The main speaker was Francis Cardinal George, OMI.  It was his last address to the Jewish Community of Chicago as an Archbishop of Chicago.  The words that I remember from his talk are: “You [the Jews] can understand yourself without us [Christians]. But we [Christians] cannot understand ourselves without you (the Jews).” I mediate on these words.  They are not challenging to me.  They are encouraging me to go deeper into Jewish theology and spirituality. Christianity is not just Greco-Roman system of thinking, behaving and believing.  It is or it should be mostly Jewish way of thinking, behaving and believing. Jesus, his family and his first followers were all Jewish. We should never forget about it.     

John Rutter is an Anglican modern hymn music composer.  I just love his music and that was why I decided that for the beginning of my new blog I would use one of his music compositions: This is the Day . It was used at the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. 

I want to share a great website about four main spiritualties in the Catholic Church.  When you do the test, you will learn your spirituality.  It can help you to be more connected with yourself and especially with God. When I took the test it showed that I was an Augustinian.  I think I can agree with it.  I still like Franciscans, Jesuits and Benedictines but perhaps I am closer to St. Augustine.  My soul will not rest until it rests in you, my God.  http://www.vocationnetwork.org/articles/show/435