"Have No Anxiety At All"

My wife gave me a familiar 'did you really say that?' look a few days ago, after I said I didn't understand why so many folks are upset about current events.

She had, as usual, reason on her side. I've gotten upset, a lot. I'm pretty much the opposite of phlegmatic.

But I don't see much point in contemplating cracked mirrors, or taking my cue from Yeats:

"...The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott...."
("The Lady of Shalott," Tennyson (1842))

---

"...Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

"Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand...."
("The Second Coming," William Butler Yeats (1920))

I've quoted Yeats' "things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" quite a bit. (July 5, 2015; April 24, 2015; April 17, 2015)

Like quite a few other folks at the time, Yeats was getting over the Great War. Since then we've survived another global war, McCarthyism, the Beatles, and leisure suits. I won't enjoy my country's 2016 presidential election, but I'm pretty sure we'll survive that, too.

By some standards, this isn't a particularly 'religious' or 'relevant' blog. I don't rant about Armageddon, fur seals, or the crisis du jour.

Actually, I've come pretty close to ranting about the latter. (May 1, 2015; April 19, 2015)

Kvetching

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference has taken a back seat to news about an unconscious celebrity found in a brothel and dire pronouncements about Synod 14.

The climate conference starts November 30, so kvetching about Laudato si' and climate change will probably pick up next month.

My take on the coming ice age, global warming, climate change, or whatever, is that Earth's climate has been changing for about 4,540,000,000 years, give or take 50,000,000, and will probably keep changing. (May 8, 2015; February 20, 2015)

The natural world got along without us. But now that we're here, and have climate-affecting tech, we're responsible for its maintenance. (July 3, 2015; June 18, 2015)

Emotions and Reason

Getting back to Tennyson, Yeats, and angst, I care about what's going on — and I trust my feelings: within reason.

I think that's partly because living with undiagnosed depression and something on the autism spectrum for decades taught me that my emotions are unreliable guides.

Emotions are good, in the sense that they're part of being human. They're "...the connection between the life of the senses and the life of the mind...." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1764)

In another sense, emotions aren't good or bad by themselves. What matters is what we decide to do about them. (Catechism, 1762-1770)

"...since the sensitive appetite can obey reason, as stated above (Question [17], Article [7]), it belongs to the perfection of moral or human good, that the passions themselves also should be controlled by reason...."
("The Summa Theologica," First Part of the Second Part | Question: 24 | Article: 3, St. Thomas Aquinas) (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Benziger Bros. edition, 1947)

Having a good, or bad, feeling about something may mean that it's good or evil — or not. That's why I should think before responding. (Catechism, 1765-1770)

I trust my feelings to let me know that something may be important. After that, it's up to my reason to decide what's happening and what — if anything — I should do.

Reason is part of being human, too. But because we have free will, thinking is an option: not a requirement. Like I said Friday, my experience has been that I'm better off if I think before I act. (Catechism, 1730, 1778, 1804, 2339)

The antics of loudly-religious folks notwithstanding, faith and reason get along fine. (Catechism, 156-159)

Why Take Jesus Seriously?

Jesus said that we should love God, love our neighbors, see everybody as our neighbor, and treat others as we want to be treated. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37)

I think the reciprocity principle we call the Golden Rule makes sense.

Something like it shows up in "The Eloquent Peasant," a story set in Egypt's Ninth or Tenth Dynasty. More than a dozen centuries later, Confucius (孔子) said pretty much the same thing.

But Jesus the Nazorean also claimed to be God: "...before Abraham came to be, I AM." (John 8:58)

Some folks have delusions of grandeur, but megalomania isn't wisdom: so why should I take Jesus seriously?

The short answer is that a few days after our Lord was executed and buried, Jesus stopped being dead. After a series of meetings and working lunches, the 11 surviving disciples realized that they weren't seeing a ghost.

"And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them."

"With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight."
(Luke 24:30-31)

---

"While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, 'Have you anything here to eat?'

"They gave him a piece of baked fish;

"he took it and ate it in front of them."
(Luke 24:41-43)

---

"Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be with you.'

"Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.' "
(John 20:26-27)

I've talked about our Lord's final meeting with the 11, described in Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:10-11, before. (October 5, 2014)

Rejoice!

Not everybody wanted to hear that Jesus is alive, and will be coming back. Saint Stephen was the first Christian who got killed for saying something folks didn't want to hear. (Acts 7:57-60)

Keep an eye on the "young man named Saul," who looked after the cloaks of Stephen's killers. (Acts 9:3-6)

A couple chapters later, he's "still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord" when Jesus has a brief but meaningful dialog with him. (Acts 9:1-6)

Understandably, Ananias asked for clarification when the Lord told him to look up Saul. After that, Saul and Ananias finally convinced local Christians that Saul had changed his mind, and Saul's former associates tried to kill him. (Acts 9:13-25)

There are two other accounts of Saul's conversion, and that's another topic. Topics. (Acts 22:3-16, Acts 26:2-18)

Saul's Greco-Roman name is Paul. Yet more topics. (Acts 13:9, footnote 5)

Paul's letter to Christians in Rome includes a pretty good reminder:

"Who will condemn? It is Christ (Jesus) who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

"What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?...

"...For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, ⁹ nor future things, nor powers,

"nor height, nor depth, ¹⁰ nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 8:34-35, 38-39)

I'm concerned about the environment, politics, and dental hygiene. But I try to keep my priorities straight. Nothing — nothing — in this world will keep me from our Lord. I could walk away, but that would be my choice: and a daft decision. (July 27, 2014)

Finally, pretty good advice from another letter, and the best news humanity's ever had:

"Rejoice ⁴ in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!

"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

"Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁶ "
(Philippians 4:4, 6-8)

---

"For God so loved the world that he gave ⁷ his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn ⁸ the world, but that the world might be saved through him."
(John 3:16-17)

God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (John 3:17; Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:3-5; Catechism, 1-3, 52, 1825)

More posts about life, death, and the big picture:

• "Gnawing Our Lord"
  (August 16, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Bread, Gnawing, and Choices
  • An Incredible Claim
  • Standing Orders and Looking Ahead
• "Angst, Hope, and Building a Better World"
  (July 5, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Doomsday Predictions and Fashionable Melancholia
  • Looking Ahead
• "Corpus Christi: Gnawing on a Hard Saying"
  (June 7, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Adoration
  • CSI, Lanciano
  • "This Saying is Hard"
  • Two Millennia and Counting
• "Death? Been There, Done That"
  (April 5, 2015)
  Particularly
  • "Before Abraham ..."
  • Jesus Died - - -
  • - - - and Stopped Being Dead
  • The Last Hour — Two Millennia and Counting
• "Advent: Another Year of the Long Watch"
  (November 30, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Watching, Working
  • Consequences and Hope

---

¹ The Catechism uses technical terms, like "moral passions." Happily, there's a glossary:

"PASSIONS, MORAL: The emotions or dispositions which incline us to good or evil actions, such as love and hate, hope and fear, joy and sadness, and anger (1763)."
(Catechism, Glossary)

Emotions, feelings, "moral passions," are important. So is thinking:

• "Charleston Church Shooting: Emotions and Reason"
  (June 21, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Emotions and Reason
• "Raqa, Anger, and Whitewashed Tombs"
  (March 1, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Anger, Emotions, and Getting a Grip
  • Feeling, Thinking
• "Joy and Standing Orders"
  (October 5, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Joy, Zest, and Mud
  • Rejoice!

Charleston Church Shooting: Emotions and Reason

A young man joined a Wednesday evening Bible study group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, earlier this week.

After participating for about an hour, he killed nine of the folks there and left.

I'm angry, and sad, that nine lives were unjustifiably ended in that church: and am profoundly impressed at the reasoned calm shown by some of the victims' relatives.

In my considered opinion, what the young man did was wrong. I'll get back to why I think that's true: and what I'm doing about my anger and sorrow.

"Our Country?" Difference, Acceptance, and Murder

(From Facebook, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("Dylann Roof, 21, is suspected of killing nine people at a Charleston church "
(BBC News))

"...NBC News has published an interview with Sylvia Johnson, Pastor Clementa Pinckney's cousin, who said she had spoken to one of the survivors.

"She was told that the gunman 'reloaded five different times' and that the gunman told the victims: 'I have to do it... You rape our women and you're taking over our country, and you have to go.'..."
(BBC News))

There's quite a bit going on here, so please bear with me.

News coverage refers to Mr. Roof as a suspect, and appropriately adds "alleged" and "allegedly" to descriptions of his involvement in Wednesday's mass murder. This is appropriate, since he has not been tried or convicted.

For this post, however, I am making the assumption that he committed the murders. Perhaps further investigation may show that someone who looks like him, with a similar background, killed the folks. I think that is unlikely, but it is possible.

Moving on.

Mr. Roof's complaint is all-too-familiar. It is similar to worries about immigrants that are, I think, older than the United States.

I'm not concerned that 'they' will take over 'my' country — whether the 'they' are descended from slaves brought from Africa, or recent arrivals from other continents.

That's partly because I'm a Norwegian-Irish-Scots-American; who realizes that the ancestors of nearly all Americans lived elsewhere a few centuries, or years, ago.

The situation with the Americans whose church was attacked is different from mine, of course. I 'look Anglo,' despite my ancestry: so we had an easier time blending into the old WASPish America.

Life and Reality

Over the centuries, our government has shown an increased tolerance of non-English, non-Protestant Americans.¹ I like the direction we've been going: but not everybody does. (September 11, 2014; February 9, 2014; April 28, 2013)

I've used my Irish roots — or would that be tubers? — as an example of this occasionally-grudging tolerance. Obviously, we weren't the only imagined 'threats' to America, and that's another topic. (September 11, 2014)

Eventually, most Americans realized that many if not most Irishmen were not violent drunkards with criminal tendencies. We've even had an Irish president.

I am reasonably sure that Mr. Roof sincerely feels that folks with African ancestry are to blame for his problems, or at least a serious threat to him.

Even if that were true — and I am certain that it is not — his imagined grievance did not justify his decision to kill those folks.

Murder, deliberately killing an innocent person, is wrong. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2268-2269)

That's because human life is sacred. Created in the image of God, the divine image is in each of us. What we do with our life, and the lives of those around us, is up to us: for good or ill. (Genesis 1:27; Catechism, 1701-1709, 2258)

The prohibition against murder does not extend to legitimate self-defense. (Catechism, 2263-2267)

But Mr. Roof had not been physically threatened by his victims, his life was not in danger, and he certainly had options other than killing them. What he did was wrong.

Looking Out For Each Other

(From Nomader, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
("A prayer vigil at Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church"
(Wikipedia))

I've read speculation that Mr. Roof's goal was to start a 'race war.' That would be a very bad idea: and uncomfortably similar to genocide, which is strictly against the rules. (Catechism, 2313)

If that is his goal, I do not think he will succeed.

Certainly not if folks at a prayer vigil at Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church are any indication. That's a photo of part of the crowd, taken June 18, 2015.

Today's America is not New York City in 1863 (some Irishmen were occasionally violent) or Los Angeles in 1965.

Most of us very strongly disapprove of killing folks in a place of worship — no matter who their ancestors are.

That may help explain why Mr. Roof was found so promptly.

His description, and images from a security camera, were broadcast. The next morning someone working in Shelby, North Carolina, spotted him. That's about 245 miles/395 kilometers from Charleston. She told her boss; who contacted local law enforcement. (BBC News, Wikipedia)

That sort of solidarity is how we're supposed to act. (Catechism, 1939)

Forgiveness and Alternatives

(From BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(" 'Everyone's plea for your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies will live in love. So hate won't win', a relative of one victim told the suspect"
(BBC News))

"Charleston relatives 'forgive' shooting suspect in court"
BBC News (June 19, 2015)

"Relatives of some of the nine churchgoers shot dead in South Carolina have addressed the suspected gunman in court and said they forgive him.

"Dylann Roof, 21, appeared in court in Charleston to face nine murder charges.

"He showed no emotion as relatives of the victims addressed him directly. 'I forgive you' said one victim's daughter, fighting back tears.

"Police are treating the killings at the African-American church on Wednesday night as a hate crime...."

My native culture assigns high value to the social position of some victims — a state senator, three ministers, a church sexton, and four Bible study members — lesser value to others:

• Dead
  • Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd
  • Susie Jackson
  • Ethel Lee Lance
  • Depayne Middleton
  • Clementa C. Pinckney
  • Myra Thompson
  • Tywanza Sanders
  • Daniel Simmons
  • Sharonda Singleton
• Accused killer
  • Dylann Storm Roof

I draw some comfort from knowing that kinfolk of the victims did not forget their faith: and have the strength to forgive someone who has so deeply wounded their family.

Forgiving someone is not the same as pretending that an injustice never happened. That would be crazy. Respect for the "transcendent dignity" of humanity demands that we work for justice. The trick is hating the sin — not the sinner. (Catechism, 1929-1933, 2820)

I've heard withholding forgiveness described as drinking poison — and expecting the other person to die. That may be why our Lord emphasized forgiveness so much:

"¹¹ And he said to them, 'Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day

"and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

"You are witnesses of these things.

"And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father ¹² upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." "
(Luke 24:46-49)

I talked about the Shavout we celebrate each Pentecost last month. (May 24, 2015)

Emotions and Reason

As I've said before, what our faith requires is simple: love God, love my neighbors, see everyone as my neighbor, and treat others as I'd like to be treated. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37; Catechism, 1789)

"Simple" isn't "easy," though. We call the folks with the heroic virtue it takes to live as if those principles matter "Saints," and that's yet another topic. (April 19, 2015)

The sort of love that's required can't be safely abstract. I must act as if what I believe matters. My concern for justice, for example, can't stop with my family or folks who look like me. Our Lord's story about the Samaritan makes that clear.

Judging from headlines and enraged online rants I've seen, many folks realize that killing those folks in Charleston was very wrong. That's true, and anger is a natural reaction. But we're supposed to think.

Controlling our actions isn't easy. I think controlling what happens inside, in our heart, is harder: but that's also required. (Matthew 5:22-22, 15:18-19)

I've been over this before — Emotions happen. What matters is how I deal with them: how I use my will and reason. Feeling emotions is part of being human. So is using my brain, thinking before I act or speak. (Catechism, 1951, 1730, 1763-1767)

Emotions can indicate that something requires attention. After that, my job is using reason to decide what I should or should not do. (Catechism, 1763, 1765, 1767)

That's the way it's supposed to work, anyway. I have free will; so acting on my impulses, letting emotion rule my life, is an option — and a very bad idea.

So: how am I handing the anger and sorrow I feel, knowing that nine lives ended because a young man apparently let his anger run loose?

My emotional response helped me pay attention to what was happening in South Carolina. The next step was thinking about how I should respond.

I can't help the folks involved, not directly. But prayer is always an option.²

I can also try to remember that emotions are part of being human, but that we're expected to use our brains — and think about what is true and good, and what is not. (Catechism, 1954-1960)

That will help keep me calm enough to appreciate my family, and this continuing gift we call life.

More about love and reason:

• "Boston Bombing Verdict: Death, Life, Consequences"
  (May 17, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Lost Lives, Lost Limbs
  • Consequences
  • "And Who is my Neighbor?"
  • Time to Think
• "Raqa, Anger, and Whitewashed Tombs"
  (March 1, 2015)
  Particularly
  • High Stakes
  • Anger, Emotions, and Getting a Grip
• "Vengeance, Anger, and Looking Ahead"
  (July 13, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Anger, Sin, and Getting a Grip
  • Crime and Punishment: Around 550 B.C.
  • "Avenger of Blood," "Forgive ... Injustice" — the Bible and Getting a Grip
• "Murder at a Sikh Temple: Why I Care"
  (August 9, 2012)
  Particularly
  • Upset About Mass Murder? Yes
  • "I Don't Hear..."
  • Murder, Life, and Rules
• "Change, Love, and Mass Murder"
  (May 30, 2012)
  Particularly
  • Coping with Change, Decisions, and Mass Murder
  • People: Individuals and the Common Good
  • Neighbors and Rules
  • Race; Idolatry; and Love, Catholic Style

---

¹ My country started out as several English colonies, inheriting that nation's cultural and political baggage. I've discussed tolerance, Henry VIII, authority, assumptions, and slow progress, before. (April 26, 2015; December 16, 2013; September 2, 2012; June 22, 2012)

Charleston, South Carolina, has a history of tolerance — which has been improving with time. Catholics, for example, are now allowed to openly worship there.

"...Why did Jews become such a significant group in seventeenth-century South Carolina? What brought them to a colonial port? The Rosengartens point to the 'Fundamental Constitutions of 1669,' a document drafted by Enlightenment philosopher John Locke (then the private secretary to Anthony Ashley Cooper, one of the colony’s 'Lords Proprietors,') that granted the right of people of any religion—except Catholics—to form a church. This was not necessarily a friendly act of pluralism, Dale notes: 'They put that in because the thought was that if you let these people into society, they would see the light and convert.' Though never enacted, the document expressed the intent of the authorities to allow 'fringe' groups like the Jews and the French Huguenots, both successful mercantile groups in diasporas at the time, to settle in the fledgling Charles Town. 'It was a business decision,' she believes. 'They were looking for settlers who would be strong economic contributors.'..."
("A 'portion of the People'," Nell Porter Brown, Harvard Magazine (January-February 2003))

---

"...The itinerary also includes less well-known churches which represent the spiritual diversity that the city was built upon, such as the Emanuel AME Church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South, First Scots Presbyterian, established in 1731 by 12 Scottish families, and St. Mary's, the first Roman Catholic Church in the Carolinas and Georgia...."

"...While the earliest settlers primarily came from England, colonial Charleston was also home to a mixture of ethnic and religious groups. French, Scottish, Irish and Germans migrated to the developing seacoast town, representing numerous Protestant denominations, as well as Catholicism and Judaism. Sephardic Jews (of Spanish and Portugese ancestry) migrated to the city in such numbers that Charleston became one of the largest Jewish communities in North America....

"...Although South Carolina's religious freedom (for all non-Catholics) attracted many Dissenters, the Church of England was the established church after 1706...."
("Charleston's Historic Religious and Community Buildings," National Park Service, Department of the Interior)

² No pressure, but prayer couldn't hurt — and remembering the big picture.

"Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them."
(Eternal Rest/Requiem Æternam)

---

"For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."
(Romans 14:8)

The Universe: a Magnificent Tent

Folks have looked up and been impressed for a long time:

"¹ Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it."
(Deuteronomy 10:14)

---

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft."
(Psalms 19:2)

That galaxy is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Back when I was in high school, a fair number of books I read called it the "Great Andromeda Nebula." More up-to-date books occasionally called it an "island universe." (September 26, 2014; July 15, 2014)

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi described M31 as a "little cloud" in "Book of Fixed Stars," more than a thousand years after Deuteronomy and Psalms were written — which is what it looked like before astronomers had telescopes.

The first spyglass was probably made in the Netherlands. A spyglass was good for "seeing faraway things as though nearby:" like the flags of ships. That'd be vital for owners of the Netherlands' merchant fleets.

Then Galileo tweaked spyglass design, made a nice profit selling his spyglasses to merchants, published "Sidereus Nuncius," and was eventually placed under house arrest. I gather it was politics, Galileo's abrasive personality, and folks who mistook poetry for science, that got him in trouble.

Galileo as the shining embodiment of reason, locked in epic struggle against the dark forces of superstition and oppression, makes a good story: but is more myth¹ than history. (January 9, 2015; April 25, 2014; October 26, 2009)

From the Dome of Heaven - - -

Years ago, an enthusiastic Christian informed me that our sun goes around Earth, not the other way around — because Joshua 10:12-13 says so. He may have been sincere, but I think he's wrong.

On the other hand, despite what Job 9:6-7 says, I've never known a Christian who said that Earth is flat. (October 3, 2014)

I could be a Christian, following our Lord, if I believed that a solid dome kept the 'ocean of heaven' from flooding the earth I walk on.

But my faith doesn't demand that I ignore what we've learned in the two dozen or so centuries since Mesopotamian culture provided poets with imagery we read in the Old testament.

I'm a Christian and a Catholic, so studying this wonder-filled universe and using what we learn to develop new tools is okay. Science and technology are part of being human. Ethics apply, of course. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2293-2295)

Faith isn't reason: but it's reasonable, and certainly not against an honest search for truth. (Catechism, 31-35, 159)

Besides, as I say rather often, scientific discoveries are invitations "to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator." (Catechism, 283)

Speaking of which, although size isn't everything — in the two and a half millennia since Job was written, we've learned that our world is huge.

- - - to the Edge of the Observable Universe

(From Andrew Z. Colvin, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikipedia; used w/o permission.)
(Diagrams of the Virgo Supercluster, left; and Local Group, right.)

Our Milky Way galaxy, labeled — indistinctly at this scale — in red on the left-hand picture, is near the center of the Local Group, a collection of more than 54 galaxies.

Light from the Andromeda Galaxy, that largish white smudge in the Local Group, takes about 2,500,000 years to reach us.

The Local Group is one of more than 100 groups and clusters in the Virgo Supercluster. The Local Group's position in the Virgo Supercluster is labeled in red.

Light takes about 110,000,000 years to cross the Virgo Supercluster. It's one of millions in the observable universe.

Superclusters were the largest known structures in the universe — until we started mapping filaments and walls of superclusters.


(From Andrew Z. Colvin, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License agreements; via Wikipedia; used w/o permission.)
("A simulated view of the entire observable universe, approximately 93 billion light years (or 28 billion parsecs) in diameter. The scale is such that the fine grains represent collections of large numbers of superclusters. The Virgo Supercluster – home of Milky Way – is marked at the center, but is too small to be seen in the image."
(Andrew Z. Colvin, via Wikipedia))

Scientists have been studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation: photons released when the universe cooled down and became transparent, some 380,000 years after the Big Bang. It's some 46,000,000,000 light years away "now."

The universe is only 13,798,000,000 years old, give or take 37,000,000, but photons from the CMB started traveling when the universe was a lot smaller. I've mentioned cosmic expansion before. (April 17, 2015)

"...Whatever God Wills...."

Do I approve of the universe being this big, or this old?

My take on that question is — it doesn't matter:

"Our God is in heaven; whatever God wills is done."
(Psalms 115:3)

God's God, I'm not, and I'm quite willing to take reality 'as is.'

"...Though the Heavens Grow Thin like Smoke...."

The last I checked, scientists have quite a few ideas about what will eventually happen to this universe. Since we've only recently started collecting data on dark energy, dark matter, and how reality works on nanoscopic scales, my guess is that today's ideas will soon be heavily revised: or discarded.

I'm not going to make the mistake of confusing poetry and science. (July 18, 2014)

However, I'm quite sure that this universe will change: and eventually end.

That isn't, for me, a particularly comfortable thought: but my preferences won't change reality. Not on a cosmic scale.

The idea that this universe, magnificent as it is, won't last forever is hardly new.

Thousands of years back, it was compared to useful but temporary things like tents and garments:

"He sits enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; He stretches out the heavens like a veil, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."
(Isaiah 40:22)

---

"³ Raise your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; Though the heavens grow thin like smoke, the earth wears out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies, My salvation shall remain forever and my justice shall never be dismayed."
(Isaiah 51:6)

---

"and: 'At the beginning, O Lord, you established the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

"They will perish, but you remain; and they will all grow old like a garment.

"You will roll them up like a cloak, and like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.' "
(Hebrews 1:10-12)

---

"Then the sky was divided ¹³ like a torn scroll curling up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place."
(Revelation 6:14)

The end of this universe isn't, I think, the end of reality. And that is another topic. (November 2, 2014)

More opportunities for "greater admiration:"

• "Dark Matter and Energy: New Data, and a Map"
  (April 17, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Living in a Big Universe
  • Afterword: "...Like a Tent...."
• "Large Hadron Collider: There’s More to Learn"
  (April 10, 2015)
  Particularly
  • "Tampering With Things Man Was Not Supposed to Know?"
  • Truth
• "Humility, Science, and Accepting Reality"
  (March 29, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Scientists, Ethics, and Horrors: Imagined and Real
  • Order, Beauty, and Using our Brains
  • Science and Humility
• "Scientific Discoveries: an Invitation to 'Even Greater Admiration' "
  (September 21, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Truth Cannot Contradict Truth
  • Living With Change
  • Psalms 115 and the Universe
• "Science, Faith, and Leaving the 19th Century Behind"
  (July 15, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Cosmic Scale, Old and New
  • "...As a Grain from a Balance..."

---

¹ A bit about faith and reason, religion and science, Catholic style:

"...From the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment down to our own day, the Galileo case has been a sort of 'myth', in which the image fabricated out of the events was quite far removed from reality. In this perspective, the Galileo case was the symbol of the Church's supposed rejection of scientific progress, or of 'dogmatic' obscurantism opposed to the free search for truth. This myth has played a considerable cultural role...."
("Faith can never conflict with reason," Pope St. John Paul II (1992) (via Caltech Newman Center))

---

"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2)...."
("Fides et Ratio," Pope St. John Paul II, on the relationship between faith and reason (September 14, 1998)

---

"...Thomas observed that creation is neither a movement nor a mutation. It is instead the foundational and continuing relationship that links the creature to the Creator, for he is the cause of every being and all becoming (cf. Summa Theologiae, I, q.45, a. 3).

"To 'evolve' literally means 'to unroll a scroll', that is, to read a book. The imagery of nature as a book has its roots in Christianity and has been held dear by many scientists. Galileo saw nature as a book whose author is God in the same way that Scripture has God as its author...."
("To participants in the Plenary of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences," Pope Benedict XVI (October 31, 2008))

More:

• "The Summa Theologica," First Part, Question 45, Article 3; St. Thomas Aquinas)
  (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Benziger Bros. edition, 1947))
• "To participants in the Plenary of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences"
  Pope Benedict XVI (October 31, 2008)
  (From w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2008/october/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20081031_academy-sciences.html (June 13, 2015))
• "Fides et Ratio"
  Pope St. John Paul II, on the relationship between faith and reason (September 14, 1998)
  (From w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html (June 13, 2015))

Charlie Hebdo, Chick Tracts, and Getting a Grip

As I'm writing this, 19 folks in France have died because — it's complicated.

Assuming that the Kouachi brothers had religious motives for killing folks at the Charlie Hebdo offices is, I think, reasonable: but it's an assumption.

Assuming that Charlie Hebdo's distinctly irreverent treatment of Islam led to this week's attack is — that's complicated, too.

I think it's likely that the Kouachi brothers were upset about Charlie Hebdo's satirical treatment of their faith. BUT that's no excuse for killing people. Not in France. Or, for that matter, America.

Ironically, one of the non-Kouachi dead was a Muslim police officer, Ahmed Merabet.

This post is mostly about living in a world where we're not all alike: and whatever else comes to mind as I write it.

First, though, something really important: remembering the folks who died.

Some of the 19 known dead are important by my culture's standards, others not so much:

• Cherif and Said Kouachi
  Brothers who killed
  • Charlie Hebdo staff, a visitor, and a caretaker
    • Frederic Boisseau
    • Cabu/Jean Cabut
    • Elsa Cayat
    • Charb/Stéphane Charbonnier
    • Philippe Honoré
    • Bernard Maris
    • Michel Renaud
    • Mustapha Ourrad
    • Tignous/Bernard Verlhac
    • Georges Wolinski
  • Police guarding Charlie Hebdo offices
    • Brigadier Franck Brinsolaro
    • Ahmed Merabet
• Amedy Coulibaly, who demanded release of the Kouachi brothers
  He apparently killed
  • Philippe Braham
  • Yohan Cohen
  • Yoav Hattab
  • Francois-Michel Saada
  (Source: "France attacks: Huge marches for victims," "Charlie Hebdo attack: Victim obituaries," BBC News)

No pressure, and this is just a suggestion: but prayer for the dead, their kin, and friends, couldn't hurt.

Hamyd Mourad And Assumptions

Hamyd Mourad's name keeps popping up as an accomplice in these killings. He's 18, much younger than Cherif (32) and Said (34). (BBC News (January 10, 2015))

A melodramatic tale could be woven about him — idealistic young man falling in with bad company, and all that.

That would be pure speculation.

Back in the real world, Hamyd Mourad apparently touched base with police when he learned that his name was being linked to the killings: and was released. (The Independent (UK), The New Yorker (USA))

I think jumping to conclusions is a bad idea. So is assuming that someone is guilty because they have the 'wrong' ancestors, or talked to someone who knew a suspected criminal. I've discussed cool heads, lukewarm brains, and regrettable assumptions, in another blog. (Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 15, 2011; July 30, 2007; July 2, 2007))

Having Irish forebears, and knowing about 'No Irish need apply' notices, affects my attitude, and that's another topic. (July 6, 2014)

The last I heard, police are still looking for Hayat Boumeddiene, who may actually have been involved with the fellow who attacked a kosher supermarket.

Satire and Death

"The paper's controversial 3 November 2011 issue, renamed 'Charia Hebdo' (a reference to Sharia law) and 'guest-edited' by Muhammad, depicted Muhammad saying: '100 lashes of the whip if you don't die laughing.'

"There have been two attacks presumed to be in retaliation: one in 2011 and one in 2015....

"...2015 attack...

"...During the attack the gunmen were heard to shout Allahu akbar, 'the Prophet is avenged', ... ^{[30[[38][39][40]} ... President François Hollande described it as a 'terrorist attack of the most extreme barbarity'.^[40] The two gunmen were identified as Saïd Kouachi and Chérif Kouachi, French Muslim brothers of Algerian descent. ^{[41][42][43][44]}..."
(Charlie Hebdo, Wikipedia [emphasis mine])

I haven't heard any reasonable alternative to the most obvious reason for Cherif and Said Kouachi's actions on Wednesday.

They were probably upset about at least one of these Charlie Hebdo issues:

• February 9, 2006
  • Front page cartoon of a weeping Muhammad saying "C'est dur d'être aimé par des cons" ("it's hard being loved by jerks")
  • Inside, "Mahomet débordé par les intégristes" ("Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists")
• November 3, 2011
  • This issue renamed "Charia Hebdo" (a reference to Sharia law)
  • "Guest-edited" by Muhammad
  • Muhammad depicted saying: "100 lashes of the whip if you don't die laughing."
• September 2012
  • Satirical cartoons of Muhammad
    • Including nude caricatures

Charlie Hebdo was fire-bombed and its website hacked in 2011. Maybe the attack wasn't related to their November 3, 2011, issue: but it might have been.

"...Charb [Stéphane Charbonnier] was quoted by AP stating that the attack might have been carried out by 'stupid people who don't know what Islam is' and that they are 'idiots who betray their own religion'. Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, said his organisation deplores 'the very mocking tone of the paper toward Islam and its prophet but reaffirms with force its total opposition to all acts and all forms of violence.' ^[19]...."
(Charlie Hebdo, 2011 attack, Wikipedia [emphasis mine])

Charb isn't available for comment this time around. She was killed Wednesday.

"Abominable"

I've run into quite a few opinions about killing folks at the Charlie Habdo offices and at that supermarket. Some are, I think, sensible:

"...Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Sunni Islam's leading centre of learning, called the attack 'criminal' and said 'Islam denounces any violence'. The Arab League also condemned the attack. Pope Francis called it 'abominable'...."
(BBC News (January 7, 2015) [emphasis mine])

If you're waiting for a rant about Muslim — or Catholic — hypocrisy, you'll have a long wait.

The psycho Santa of 2008 was Catholic; and so, apparently, is Emmanuel Uwayezu. (Another War-on-Terror Blog (October 22, 2009); A Catholic Citizen in America (December 26, 2008))

The 'pedophile priests' story has been in abeyance for a while, but there's an American election coming up: and that's yet another topic. (Pedophile Priests, Ephebophilia, and Facing Facts link list)

I didn't become a Catholic because Catholics have been perfect people for the last two millennia. Some of us have fallen short of our ideals: spectacularly. We're still cleaning up the mess left by Charlemagne's Verdun massacre. (May 18, 2014)

As for Muslims — my understanding is that Islam is at least as decentralized as Protestant Christianity, so it's small wonder that local and regional cultures affect what individuals and communities believe.

Then there are syncretic belief systems like liberation theology and voodoo, combining Catholic and local beliefs: and that's another yet again another topic. (June 19, 2009)

I agree with Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the Arab League, and Pope Francis — killing those folks in Paris was a very bad idea.

I'm sure that some Muslims don't see it that way: and that some Catholics have more zeal than common sense.

Bottom line? The world's 1,800,000,000 or so living Muslims, and 1,190,000,000-plus Roman Catholics, are not all alike. We share a common humanity, and I'll get back to that.

Getting Angry, Staying Angry

I grew up in a virulently anti-Catholic part of America.

I don't remember seeing any Chick tracts, like the 'death cookie' one that made national news a few years back: but rants about the 'Whore of Babylon' were hard to miss. (March 5, 2010)

Jack T. Chick's "Mamma's Girls" tract (2012), warns us that the Catholic Church is run by Satan: and created Islam, Communism, Nazism, and Freemasonry.

I am not making that up.

The historical figures in "Mamma's Girls" are real. What Mr. Chick apparently thinks they did is — quite imaginative.

Unhappily, quite a few folks seem to believe Mr. Chick's version of reality.

Again, if you're waiting for a rant: you'll have a very long wait. I don't like the streak of anti-Catholicism that's part of American history and culture, but posting a screed won't help. (October 26, 2012)

Don't get me wrong. I can be very emotional about my faith.

That's okay. Emotions are part of being human. But "...conscience is a law of the mind...." We're expected to use our brains. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1762-1775-1776-1778)

Crazy assertions about my faith make me angry: momentarily. But I'm learning to think before I act.

Anger is a particularly serious sin, since it can lead to other sins. (Catechism, 1866)

I'd better explain that.

Anger, like any other emotion, isn't good or bad by itself. Emotions happen. It's when my reason and will get involved that it's an issue. (Catechism, 1767)

If I hang on to anger, letting it build into a desire to harm or kill someone else: that's where it becomes a sin. (Catechism, 1762-1775, 2302-2303)

Like it says in Romans 12:19: "...'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' "

There's Matthew 7:1-5; and Catechism, 1861; too. I'll leave the judgment of persons to the Almighty. God is emphatically not someone I want to defy. (September 11, 2010)

Again, I'm learning to think before I act: or write. Occasionally I don't catch anger, or some other impulse, in time. That's why we have the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. (Catechism, 1422-1470)

Looking Around, Looking Ahead

In a way, I can understand why Jack T. Chick and others have an attitude about the Catholic Church. We're huge, ancient, and — for the most part — 'foreign.'

We were around before the Roman Empire collapsed, and were global before internationalism was cool.

We're καθολικός, universal: not tied to any one era, nation, or culture. We see humanity as a huge, but sadly-dysfunctional, family. (Genesis 10:1-32; Catechism, 360, 396-409)

As part of that family, I have obligations:

• Love God, love my neighbor
  (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-27)
• See everyone as my neighbor
  (Matthew 5:43-44; Luke 10:29-37; Catechism, 1825)
• Treat others as I want to be treated
  (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31)

That love can't be safely abstract. I've expected to live as if loving God, and my neighbors, matters. It's not easy, like the time when someone stole the parish church's Gospel book. (September 4, 2011)

Since we're supposed to love our neighbors, all our neighbors, social justice is a priority. That doesn't mean forcing everyone into one cultural mold, or insisting one one 'correct' form of government. We're not supposed to be all alike. (Catechism, 1901, 1928-1948)

Not all Catholics are comfortable with that, of course.

I have the advantage of being an adult convert, one who accepts the need to re-learn just about everything I thought I knew about Catholicism. Spending my teen years in the '60s helps, too. In a way, I never stopped being one of 'those crazy kids' who thought we could do better.

Some folks see how much the world has changed, think it's the end of civilization as we know it: and see that as a bad thing.

I think it's the end of civilization as we know it, and about time. I remember the 'good old days,' and they weren't. (August 31, 2014; February 9, 2014)

The world our descendants live in won't be perfect. But if we maintain what is good in our societies, change what is not, and keep working: I think their world will be better.


(From Raphael-Lacoste, used w/o permission.)

And that's — still another topic.

More about living in a big world:

• "Neighbors, Love, and Upping the Ante"
  (October 26, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Basic Principles - - -
  • - - - and the Long Haul
• "Morality isn't Just About 'Morality' "
  (September 7, 2014)
  Particularly
  • "... A Law of the Mind ..."
  • Diversity, Dance, and a Distant Dream
• "Joining the Universal Banquet"
  (August 3, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Bringing a Message of Hope and Love"
  • Two Millennia: Looking Back, Looking Ahead"
• "Love is Mandatory, 'Like' is Optional: Praying for Peace in Iraq"
  (August 26, 2014)
• " 'All are Equal Before God"' — Rights of Humanity and a Right of the Aggressor"
  (August 24, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Unhappy About Change
  • Terrorism and Options
  • International Authority and Working With What We've Got
  • Loving Neighbors: No Matter What

Joy and Standing Orders

My father reminded me of this good advice when I was in my teens: "...whatever is true, ... whatever is lovely, ... think about these things." My response was something like '...because they won't last.'

I wasn't happy about saying that at the time. Decades later, I still regret the statement. I can't, of course, undo what was done: and the time for telling my father "I'm sorry" has long since passed. In any case, I said "I'm sorry" too often, and that's almost another topic.

That quote is from today's second reading, Philippians 4:6-9. I'll get back to that.

Today, thanks to very powerful antidepressants and a few other psychoactive prescriptions, I no longer have to fight the controls to make my brain work. I even have moments when I feel good about who I am and what I do.

That's a nice change of pace.

Melancholia was being redefined as depressive reaction while I was growing up, then to depressive neurosis; so maybe it's just as well that my condition wasn't spotted then. In any case, if I'd spent my adolescence and the bulk of my adult life in a different way — I wouldn't be where I am today.

Joy, Zest, and Mud

As it is, I had an opportunity to reason my way out of suicide: and developed a knack for seeing beauty in just about anything.

I seldom felt that emotional rush of wonder and delight at seeing a crescent moon, or noticing symmetries and order in drying mud. But I learned to appreciate the beauty that's built into this universe.

A dictionary says that joy can mean intense happiness: particularly ecstatic or exultant happiness. Ecstasy can mean intense joy or delight, getting so emotionally whipped up that rational thought and self-control are impossible.

I've run into folks who seem to approach faith with a zest and enthusiasm worthy of a homecoming game pep rally. That's okay, but I very much prefer a faith that still works when all the light and color is drained from the world.

Since I'm a Catholic, my faith depends on what I believe: not how I'm feeling. Faith and reason get along: or should. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 30, 156-159, 274, 1706)

It's not all about cold logic, though. Now and then we get a glimpse of the beatific vision. Most of us, anyway. (Catechism, 163)

The Beatific Vision and Mirrors

The beatific vision is contemplation of God in heavenly glory. I put a definition at the end of this post. I can't tell you what it's like from personal experience: my metaphorical mirror isn't all that shiny.

"At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known."
(1 Corinthians 13:12)

That's okay: since, like 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "we walk by faith, not by sight."

That's not the same as blind faith, or the sort that conscientiously avoids facts and reason. As a Catholic, I must believe that, using reason, we're "...capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator...;" and that "conscience is a judgment of reason ... a law of the mind...." (Catechism, 1704, 1778)

And that's yet another topic. Topics.

Rejoice!

"Rejoice ⁴ in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!

---

"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

"Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁶ "
(Philippians 4:4, 6-8)

Some of those verses are from today's readings, the first comes earlier in Philippians 4. Nearly a half-century after my father reminded me about them, I've found that they're pretty good advice.

I still don't "feel" joyful very often, and that's okay. I may never have the "mountaintop experience" folks describe as being overwhelmed, 'knocked down,' by God's presence. That's also okay.

Emotions are part of being human. They're even useful, in their own way. But I've found that reason is a better tool for making decisions. Still more topics. (Catechism, 1763-1770, 1776-1794)

Folks have taken verses like Philippians 4:6, "have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God," and run straight off the edge of reality.

Christians, everybody, are wounded people, living in a damaged world. We're going to have trouble, no matter what. (Catechism, 386-390)

The trick is not being anxious about the troubles we face.

I think looking at the big picture helps.

Move Out!

Almost two thousand years back, Jesus, the Son of God, was conceived. He was born, lived, was tortured and finally killed on Golgotha. For anybody else, that would have been the end.

Jesus isn't just anybody. Three days later, Jesus stopped being dead.

If that seems unbelievable, don't feel bad. It took quite a few meetings and at least one working lunch to convince the Apostles that Jesus was, in fact, really — no kidding — not a ghost — sit-down-and-eat-a-baked-fish, alive.

"While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, 'Have you anything here to eat?'

"They gave him a piece of baked fish;

"he took it and ate it in front of them."
(Luke 24:41-43)

---

"Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be with you.'

"Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.' "
(John 20:26-27)

Then my Lord gave us standing orders and a promise. That scene, in Matthew 28:18-20, is one of my favorites. I also enjoy reading what happened next:

"While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

"They said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.' "
(Acts 1:10-11)

Those verses from Acts remind me of a now-cliche scene from old movies, where the commander's inspiring speech is over — and the sergeant says something like 'alright! You got your orders: Move out!

Two millennia later, the standing orders haven't changed: and that's yet again another topic.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Robin Williams, Suicide, and Hope"
  (August 17, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Major Depressive Disorder: Real; Serious — and Treatable
• "Joyful, Yes: Giddy, No"
  (December 28, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Joy, Ecstasy, and Victory Celebrations
  • "Set Free From Sin"
• "Seeing the Horizon"
  (May 19, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Pickled Peppers
  • Fun is Good: Joy is Better
  • Eyes on the Horizon
• "Life, Death, and a Sore Wrist"
  (April 21, 2013)
  Particularly
  • God is In Control, We Have Orders
  • "...Neither Death, Nor Life..."
• "Fasting, Penance: and Infinite Depths of Joy"
  (June 3, 2012)
  Particularly
  • Despondency isn't a Virtue?
  • God, Rain, and Me
  • "Infinite Joy"

A look at the deep end of prayer, by another blogger:

• "True Contemplation and its Counterfeit – Part one"
  David Torkington (September 2, 2014)
• "True Contemplation and its Counterfeit – Part two"
   David Torkington (September 15, 2014)
• "The Beginning of Contemplative prayer"
  David Torkington (October 3, 2014)

---

"BEATIFIC VISION: The contemplation of God in heavenly glory, a gift of God which is a constitutive element of the happiness (or beatitude) of heaven (1028, 1720)."
(Catechism, Glossary, B)