Comments on: Thursday Week 7 Year II http://rmarsh.com/2006/02/23/thursday-week-7-year-ii/ Spirituality and Theology Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:50:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Steve Bogner http://rmarsh.com/2006/02/23/thursday-week-7-year-ii/#comment-176 Steve Bogner Sat, 25 Feb 2006 14:17:08 +0000 http://rmarsh.com/2006/02/23/thursday-week-7-year-ii/#comment-176 Rob - Thanks for this blog, it has really stirred me. When you say 'wound into the web of it all' - that's how i find myself when reflecting on this. Interesting that you used the term 'web'. I imagine getting tangled up in a big spider's web. But if we think about it, individual threads in that web aren't very strong on their own. If we cut the web, one thread at a time, after a while there won't be much web remaining. The web is daunting, but individual threads aren't. Personally, I think that a lot of people get overwhelmed by the web because we're sold this vision of perfection. And when overwhelmed, it's easy to shut down and give up. But if we bring our focus to the threads, working them one by one, consistently and pervasively (i.e. the whole church), then that is manageable. It's a process, and I think Ignatian Spirituality recognizes this and is a great method of working that process. Rob - Thanks for this blog, it has really stirred me. When you say ‘wound into the web of it all’ - that’s how i find myself when reflecting on this. Interesting that you used the term ‘web’. I imagine getting tangled up in a big spider’s web. But if we think about it, individual threads in that web aren’t very strong on their own. If we cut the web, one thread at a time, after a while there won’t be much web remaining. The web is daunting, but individual threads aren’t.

Personally, I think that a lot of people get overwhelmed by the web because we’re sold this vision of perfection. And when overwhelmed, it’s easy to shut down and give up. But if we bring our focus to the threads, working them one by one, consistently and pervasively (i.e. the whole church), then that is manageable. It’s a process, and I think Ignatian Spirituality recognizes this and is a great method of working that process.

]]> By: crystal http://rmarsh.com/2006/02/23/thursday-week-7-year-ii/#comment-175 crystal Sat, 25 Feb 2006 03:05:31 +0000 http://rmarsh.com/2006/02/23/thursday-week-7-year-ii/#comment-175 <i>And what we do fear— a threatening future or a God who wants sacrifice —is all an illusion.</i> The threatening God of the OT ... on the one of the blog, discussing the death penalty, someone (I think a priest) posted this about the Father ... <i>Check out the death of Onan (Genesis 3, the slaughter of Egypt's first born (Exodus 11), the ban of Jerico (Joshua 6) and of Ai (Joshua for a sampling of God killing men directly or indirectly through Israel. Or even worse, the dreadful punishments given the unfaithful and unjust as related in Matthew 25 and Revelations ("The second death," Rev 20:6). The way of the Beatitudes is the preferred way for the disciple of Christ. Nonetheless, it is not a teaching that is absolutized in Catholic Tradition nor is it something that binds God either as He seeks to maintain justice in this world and in the next.</i> He is scary! Sometimes I think I'd fit into that heresy of Marcionism :-) And what we do fear— a threatening future or a God who wants sacrifice —is all an illusion.

The threatening God of the OT … on the one of the blog, discussing the death penalty, someone (I think a priest) posted this about the Father …

Check out the death of Onan (Genesis 3, the slaughter of Egypt’s first born (Exodus 11), the ban of Jerico (Joshua 6) and of Ai (Joshua for a sampling of God killing men directly or indirectly through Israel. Or even
worse, the dreadful punishments given the unfaithful and unjust as related in Matthew 25 and Revelations (”The second death,” Rev 20:6).

The way of the Beatitudes is the preferred way for the disciple of Christ. Nonetheless, it is not a teaching that is absolutized in Catholic Tradition nor is it something that binds God either as He seeks to maintain justice in this world and in the next.

He is scary! Sometimes I think I’d fit into that heresy of Marcionism :-)

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