Mixing It Up

I just finished reading an interview with Oblate Missionary and seminary president Fr. Ronald Rolheiser. Rolheiser, as many of you know, has written some wonderful books on what really is going on in our culture and what are the deepest longings of the human heart. In this interview he was asked how he gets ideas for what he writes, and his answer is so interesting: he says he is always reading several different kinds of books at once (novels, history, spiritual, etc) and tries to find a common thread among them and explore that. Great idea. Right now I am reading Little Bee, Confessions of a Mega-Church Pastor, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything, and The Faith Club. It seems fairly obvious to me that the thread among these books is “making good decisions.” Wow – and on the heels of Pentecost! Do we truly believe in the fire of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, and how much do we truly rely on her to inform our decisions? Yesterday a young man came to our rectory door and asked if he could be allowed into the church. (It was after hours and everything was locked.) As I took him over, he explained to me that he had to make a big decision at work and needed to sit before the Blessed Sacrament. Making a godly decision, one inspired, was critical for him. I’d like to say that all of my decisions are made with such deliberation; I‘d like to say that, but I still have some work to do. I’m anxious to get back to The Jesuit Guide…to see what Martin has to say about decision-making, and to finish Little Bee to discover how Sarah’s resolve plays out. Mixing it up – trying to see the crossroads of faith and culture. What can that say to us as Catholic Christians?