CS (not Lewis) on Grace:
At every moment of our lives, God graces us in existence and is eternally present to us. I heard a priest say once, that the word grace is literally, "that which is given." And sin is "that which is taken" or "manipulated" [take this to prayer and it will change your life]. Every moment of our lives is a grace because it is literally a "given situation." I can waste a lot of time complaining about how things are, but God has ordained and/or allowed every situation to be just as it is, and my desire should be to find him there since he gives himself to me always and everywhere, in every situation--even the really evil ones.
**setting the previous paragraph as the background music**
I can't help that God has designed me in such a way that I have an involuntary ability to unconsciously soak up certain things around me. I don't think I'm alone in this. It's easier to moderate what some of those things are now that I'm older and can reflect on my experiences, but it's part of the human condition for which I don't readily have to feel guilty. Sometimes I soak up some really great things, sometimes good things, and sometimes really nasty things--it's all a little mysterious. But when I look back on my childhood and my teenage years, I had no real "control" or conscious ability to live according to a certain ideal. Thankfully God gave me a conscience, but it was nevertheless immature at those times. Because of my socio-historical condition, I was raised in a very pop culturally-oriented society. Therefore, I soaked up a great deal of it (as many of you are painfully aware). I think it's unavoidable unless you have highly attuned parents, but even they have no absolute control.
All this to say, I can look back objectively at my life and choose to look at the culture I grew up in with disdain. The sound of a synthesizer can sometimes lead me to immediate nausea. [How ironic...I'm typing this in the Cap Bar with Collegium Cantorum's beautiful melodies coming from down the hall.] And yet, there is a layer of grace that covers my whole upbrining. There has to be. This is what is so wonderful about nostaligia; it can be the precursor to gratitude for the good things God has given us. Music and movies have the potential to generate nostalgia almost as mneumonic devices for grace. When we remember certain lines from a movie, we're reminded of good times or good experiences. But, there is also the potential to remember even a not so good line from a movie or song, and reflect on why I retained this line. Is it just because I'm sinful? It could be an invitation to reflection and conversion, God's showing me where I still need his grace.
This I hope doesn't trivialize our responsibility to be honest about where we might have a strong attachment to the "feelings" of consolation that come from music and movies. Neither do I intend to whitewash the media as pre-evil depending on an individual's disposition. There are certain forms of movies and music that are always and everywhere dangerous and to be avoided. Having said that, I will only digress momentarily to say, it is a whole other issue to think about the potential vocation some of us have in relation to the world around us. The Mystical Body has many members and some are called to be culturally savvy for the sake of reaching out to those enslaved by it. Others are called to renounce the whole enterprise all together as a reminder to the rest of us that there is more to this life than the fleeting pleasures of this world.
3 comments:
OK, it seems clear that God uses for good the music, images, and pop culture associations we've formed. The fact that he can and does work all things for good, though, does not place all things at the same level. There is a natural hierarchy of forms in music and all elements of culture, and, though God can and does use all of them, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't worry about pursuing the heights. I know you know this, and I'm just bringing it up because it is a huge challenge we must face honestly: am I really doing my best to work with God on my spiritual formation?
Good, LS, but the issue isn't achieving the highest forms of cultural sensibilities, but rather conforming our will to God's will. For example, the priest I met down in Nuevo Laredo isn't concerned with developing his affinity for Mozart, because it does nothing for his ministry. He needs to be able to meet the Mexicans there where they are -- i.e., he needs to seem to be Mexican himself, which in fact means renouncing Mozart in a certain sense. If he pushes Mozart on them, with no concern for the habits they have formed in their parishes, he will simply alienate them.
CS seems to be saying that God often asks us to accept the imperfect worldly things as paths which lead to Him. Sometimes we have to accept that we aren't allowed to pursue the ideal forms of worldly beauty. Maybe our upbringing keeps us from being able to experience those things as beautiful, or maybe our situation (as w/ Fr. Tony) cannot allow us the luxury of pursuing those things. But part of life is letting go of the ideals we have so that we can place our love more perfectly in Him who contains all ideals and all perfections.
I noticed that Fr. Powell has something that relates to this in his latest sermon.
"Watching this nation’s culture we are tempted to despair—our Enlightenment liberal democracy has become an Orwellian babysitter state! But here’s what we must remember: history trumps culture, salvation history trumps particular culture everytime; in other words, in the hearts and minds of the Christian witness living in the world, what matters is the memory passed on, the memory, the testimony of our creation, our fall, God’s faithfulness in calling us back to Him, our failures to hear his voice, His scandalous incarnation as Jesus Christ, and his even more scandalous death and resurrection for us."
Post a Comment