By Michael Turner
My Friend,
Glad to help out a little with cash flow - please don't make a big deal out of it.
In my cultural milieu, this open sharing of our needs and the ability to open up a little bit with the cash represents a closeness and brotherhood I want to be a part of. From my own messed up family background, I am more open (and needy) for Catholic family. Our baptism has made us closer then my own blood brothers and we don't even know each other that well!
A little sharing of cash represents for me a way to put flesh on my deep belief that we are supposed to share more with each other as Catholics. Part of the problem with nominal Catholics is that they fall into the '“worship of nothing' culture and one aspect of this in the Wild West is a very lonely rugged individualism. Every one of us is supposed to be on our own outside of some head-trip of "community" in Church. It has been very disappointing for me to experience in the last couple of years people who I had expected to be my brothers or sisters when every thing was going good and "charismatic", walk away from our "friendship" when times got tough for me.
It is a dance for me between yearning for Heaven where we will all be sharing everything and recognizing the righteous limits and separateness of our families here. In an ideal context, which has been glimpsed a few times in history, I believe we should share everything in common. Nobody wants to go there, but I still think it has to be the ideal we strive for. If one is broken, we should all come alongside and help him out until he is made whole. When your barn burns down- that is, when, not if, because hard times come to each of us- I want to be in a position to come over right away and help you rebuild. Who thinks like this in the Catholic world?
It is a radical Gospel call I hear, so hard to live out in practical ways, but a clarion Gospel call for me. How can I get myself into a position where my life is well-organized enough- as in the Amish concept of Ordnung -"0rder"- that I can respond freely when others need my help?
We had a big flood here in Santa Cruz in 1982. Mennonite farmers from the plains of Canada heard about the flood and drove their tractors and trailers down here to help dig out mud-filled homes. I have always wanted to have it so together that I could do something like that for Jesus.
So...we "Catholics" make a lot of money on each other and live these superficial lives in "Catholic Communities" with each other but there is no teeth to our Gospel. The worship of the nothingness has held most of the field amongst us. We are very weak and self-serving and frankly quite useless in the hands of Almighty God. If He called would we hear? If we could hear, are we ready to respond?
Come Lord Jesus,
Pierce our selfness,
Blow away our worship of nothingness
Fill the temple of our souls,
With the glory of your Presence.
Come to fill our houses of worship
With the Splendor of your Truth.
Have Mercy on us
Return us again to our first love.
As you crack us open,
Make permanent our new relationship of dependence on You
In your great mercy,
Allow us not back into the seclusion of our own ways.
In Christ,
Your Catholic Brother
