It's Tuesday, so I'll Write About Sunday.

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said,

"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law?
How do you read it?"
He said in reply,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself."
He replied to him, "You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live."

Luke 10: 25-28

Well, Ok then.  Straight forward, isn't it?

Ummm  No.

Lisa Grass, over at Catholic Bandita had some interesting things to say about the Theological Virtue of Charity (love) a week or two ago.  I'm not going to go into it, because one, I couldn't re-locate her article to quote directly from, and two, it's kind of tightly reasoned--not a lot of wiggle room.  But it does mean one thing that needs to be put out there:  Charity is the kind of supernatural love for us that God has, and that we are supposed to have for Him.  We are, however, incapable of this, unless we are to receive this through grace (which can be had for the asking).  Thi s supernatural love will then spill over into our relationships with others.

This is not romantic or fraternal love, is is supernatural.

Well, yesterday while I was saying the Novene to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (I am nothing, if not the king of the smooth transition!) something hit me in the Lords Prayer --"Forgive us Our Trespasses, as we Forgive those who trespass against us."   Well now, here's a conundrum--does this mean "at the same time" or "to the same extent"?  Either way, I'm in trouble.    I'm in trouble because Jesus is Lord, and we are called to love the Lord, and he told us "If you love me, you will keep my commandments". (Jn 14:15)

Well gee, he's taught me to pray that I'll be forgiven to the extent I forgive--and I have both a redneck temper and the ability to stay angry for years.  So right off the bat I'm in trouble.  I"m also in trouble in another way, through my own simple sinfulness. But there is a third source of trouble:

Catechesis int eh Church isn't very good.  I study a lot, but I will never be sure what I'm studying is sound.  Too many with degrees in Theology contradict one another, and what has been said before, and I can get distressingly confused over what exactly is commanded.   When I study read and follow a strict line, I get told that that is in itself and error and perhaps sinful, and when I read and study and take a more "merciful and forgiving" interpretation I'm told that that's an error and perhaps sinful.

Not to mention all the "nuances" I hear and read about, and the whole "for the poor" thing, etc.  And then, there is that  " with all your heart,with all your being,with all your strength,and with all your mind" clause, which doesn't leave me a whole lot of room for reservations.

Which leave me with the necessity of working things out "with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12) .

(For the record, yes, I do wish i was a Carmelite)