Chilling with Mary and Frank
Playing is hard work!
Reading is hard too.
nom nom nom nom nom nom......
Dominic loves the rosary....
My wife Teresa, our friend Mary Clare Piecynski, and I were interviewed last year by my father, Marcus Grodi, on the experience of living the faith encountered by young adults in the Catholic church today. I hope you enjoy!
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In this special 3-part video, Marcus Grodi interviews three Catholic young adults on the experiences and struggles faced by young Catholics in trying to live out their faith in the 21st century.
About the Guests:
JonMarc and Teresa Grodi are recent newlyweds and more recent parents (since this interview was recorded last year) who studied and were involved with campus ministry at Bowling Green State University and the St. Thomas More University Parish. JonMarc has a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and he works full-time as the Communications Coordinator for the Coming Home Network International, freelances as a web-designer, and blogs at www.restatementoftheobvious.com. In addition to being a full-time mom, Teresa has a master’s degree in History and freelances as a writer and copy-editor. Both help to run a local “Faith on Tap” group and occasionally speak at Catholic events.
Mary Clare Piecynski is a life-long Catholic and staff member of the Coming Home Network International. Mary Clare graduated from Ave Maria University in 2005 with a degree in Theology. She works with lay men and women, young adults, and spouses of clergy who are on the journey to the Catholic Church, along with coordinating the CHNetwork’s monthly newsletter. Mary Clare assisted for several years with RCIA, takes part in various Catholic young adult activities in her area, and is privileged to be a Big Sister with Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
Here is another among the many excellent videos by Fr. Robert Barron. The video clarifies the common but (I think) often misused or misunderstood term “faith”.
This particular video caught my eye and then my immense interest and excitement upon watching because Fr. Barron beautifully and concisely explains faith as it needs to be explained to the modern mind, for whom the word has so much baggage that it almost loses all meaning.
Using human relationships as an analogy, Fr. Barron shows how faith is not only normal but necessary in our relationships with both the human and the divine . In his example, Fr. Barron explains that while we can and do use our reason to learn much about another person, there is a whole world of knowledge about that person we will never know without them telling us: their thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, desires, goals, etc. To know a person on this level we must listen to them speak and at some point make the choice to trust what they say. Without this trust, human relationships are impossible. ( I once used a very similar example and line of thought in a talk I gave to high schoolers about the nature of faith. Great minds think alike, and mediocre minds, like mine, sometimes get lucky.)
This is insightful because faith is seldom thought of or talked about in a relational sense. Often faith is reduced by both believers and nonbelievers to being blind belief, superstition, or a mere wager on God’s potential existence based on the probabilities of risk and reward. But this is simply not what Catholics mean by religious faith.
In article 26 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church it states, “faith is man’s response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man”. Humans cannot initiate faith on our own (as they could if faith simply were an act of blind belief or a bet). Rather, faith is a relational response to God. God reveals himself and it is our decision to trust this revelation and act upon it which constitutes faith.
I think this idea of faith clarifies and makes sense out of a term that is often used quite vaguely. However, I think it is also challenging. It implies that faith really is about an encounter with God, a relationship with God. It is about trusting and obeying a live author who entered His own story in the person of Jesus Christ and remains present and approachable in prayer and in the sacraments of the Church.
If, contrary to its detractors, faith is not mere blind belief, superstition, or a cosmic wager, but rather a “yes” to the God who reveals Himself to us in Christ, the Word, through the natural world, art, beauty, the Church, the sacraments, and in our own hearts, there are important questions to be pondered by believers and non-believers alike.
Have I rejected or feared “faith” because I thought it was superstition or a blind jump? Am I open enough to Truth that I would accept and put faith in God if I really did encounter Him? Have I really sought God Himself or rather just some mental proposition about God? Though I purport to “believe”, have I avoided this kind of faith in God for fear that He may not really be there? Have I avoided this kind of faith in God for fear that He really might be there after all, and want more from me than I am willing to give?
Here are a couple of my articles that ask and ponder similar questions:
Eucharistic Adoration: Alone with the Perilous Question
Two Fears – The Reasons We Avoid Discovering Whether God Is Really There
The com-box is open. I would love to know your thoughts!
One proud Grandpa. : )
There is a great conference occurring this weekend in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by the Coming Home Network International (for which I work) and the Franciscan University of Steubenville.
The “Deep in History” conference was originally conceived of by my father, Marcus Grodi, president of the CHNetwork and host of “The Journey Home” on EWTN. The conference was intended to take people deep into the history of the Christian faith. Newman said “to be deep in history is to cease to be protestant” and with the 500th anniversary of the protestant reformation looming in 2017, Marcus wanted to offer this annual conference to tackle different themes and historical periods of our faith.
An historical perspective on the Christian faith is largely lacking in the minds of modern believers. This is a pity, for not only does the historical perspective help non-catholics understand the authenticity of Catholicism but it also lends itself greatly to helping people understand the miraculous continuity, longevity, and persistence of Christ’s Church. The Church has survived persecution and societal pressure from without as well as scandal and dissent from within. Nevertheless, the gates of hell have not and will not prevail.
Here is a little video I threw together at last year’s Deep in History conference, of various people talking about the importance of the historical perspective on the faith and how the conference helps with that.
Please visit www.deepinhistory.com for more information and last-minute registration.
I’ll miss Steve. I have been an Apple fan for a while and kept abreast of the resurrected tech company as they have grown to their present prominence.
I hope to meet Steve in heaven. I know he wasn’t a perfect guy (neither am I). However he was a great leader, loved his wife, valued his kids, and had a passion for beauty. I’m hoping somewhere amongst these he found God.
His physical death is certainly a sad thing. However, the thought of potentially losing him (or anyone) to a spiritual death is the true tragedy. After celebrity deaths, I have always noticed this lingering hope in my heart that I’d meet them someday in paradise. I notice that it has been there all along. In fact, I notice that I have this secret hope for every person I have ever encountered; this secret hope of final reconciliation, and this secret fear that perhaps some will refuse it.
The “Prayer for Those We Love” by St. Ambrose has always rung true to these hopes and fears:
Lord God, We can hope for others nothing better than the happiness we desire for ourselves. Therefore, I pray you, do not separate me after death from those I tenderly loved on earth. Grant that where I am, they may be with me, and that I may enjoy their presence in heaven after being so often deprived of it on earth. Lord God, I ask you to receive your beloved children immediately into your life-giving heart. After this brief life on earth, grant us eternal happiness. Amen. (Saint Ambrose of Milan 339-397)
This is what we wish for all people – from the celebrity to our closest friends and family. What a loss it would be for any of the human family to be absent in eternity?
I recall the loss I felt even around the deaths of troubled celebrities such as Michael Jackson or Heath Ledger. Not that I presume to judge their souls – and I earnestly pray for their Salvation – but one can certainly ascertain their spiritual peril. Furthermore, even the most infamous of these was the victim of their own sins and of sin itself, and thus should never be beyond our sympathy. But what a loss it would be if such troubled souls were never rescued and reconciled in the end?
Regardless of the lives they led, the loss of the least of these is loss indeed.
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” (C.S. Lewis)
I should have prayed for them more. Their physical death is a loss, but their spiritual death would be the true tragedy. The body of Christ, our eventual heavenly family, humanity in general would have lost a soul of infinite value and mystery.
The loss is infinite because a soul is of infinite worth. But the worth is not simply in what a soul is but in what it can be and was made to be. Every soul was made for God – for infinite, incalculable, glory. For this reason, the tragedy is both in the depths to which a soul may have fallen to its death but also in the heights to which it could have risen: they could have been saints.
“In the end, life offers only one tragedy: not to have been a saint” (Charles Peguy)
As the dust settles in the wake of Steve Jobs’ death, I am encouraged to hear stories of admiration by those who worked with him. I am encouraged by accounts of his love of his wife and his children (see Taylor Marshall’s Blog: Taylormarshall.com). I was encouraged to hear of his somewhat inexplicable determination to keep porn off of the iDevices. I truly hope that Steve found God in the end. In fact, I hope that it wasn’t really the end at all.