Work Related

It's rare, but every once in a while I run across a cool site for Software Engineering.  97 things every programmer should know  is a resource to turn any code monkey into a professional

The Manhood of Jesus Christ.

My wife and I recently went to a couple's retreat to try to improve our marriage.  While there, I learned a very interesting definition of what a man needs to be a man:

1. a Challenge
2. An Adventure
3. A woman to die for.

I was reading this upcoming Sunday's readings, and it occurred to me that the Gospel reading, the encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, is Jesus Christ's moment of becoming a man.

Bear with me.  Let's go through each of the above criteria:

1. A Challenge.  Jesus Christ was both man and God.  Which means the God side was continually, in his brain, having a dialog with the man side.  What a challenge for a first century Jew, raised in a tribal society- to enter Samaritan Territory, and sit at this well.
2. An Adventure.  Once he sat at the well, after the adventure of getting there at all (travel in those days for a poor man like Christ was on foot- slowly) the thirst kicked in.  All human adventure is linked to our needs; and the fulfillment of spiritual and physical need.  No less so did Christ experience this, which is when we come to number 3.
3. A Woman to Die For.  At first, this was just the fulfillment of his adventure- merely asking for water.  But it quickly, thanks to God knowledge seeping into Christ's finite human brain, became much, much more.   For this was no ordinary Samaritan woman.  She was adulterous (after all, we heard before this week how divorce is a form of adultery) having had five husbands and currently living with a boyfriend who is not her husband.  Given the times, much of this sin was likely due to mere attempts to survive after divorce; a woman did not live long on her own in such patriarchal societies.  But meeting this sinful woman, I believe, was the beginning- the beginning of what he knew he needed to do to redeem us all.  For we are all the woman at the well.

Feed the Hungry, Clothe the naked, Shelter the Homeless, Document the Undocumented, Assimilate the Unassimilated

The problem of refugees has come to the forefront due to Donald Trump.  But the one place I've had a problem with Church teaching, is in the unreasoning allowance for human migration.

Thinking about where I differ with Donald Trump, I think my problem with this teaching is a severe cultural problem that has happened with white American Catholics in my generation.  We've lost our roots, we were denied teaching about our culture in the 1970s and 1980s, and we're only now getting it back.

When you have no culture yourself- multiculturalism is a threat.  Everybody else is allowed culture, but white people are not.  Why?  Because our culture is evil.  Our culture is supposedly that which conquored the world- but now must be denied.

But what if we start taking a different approach.  What if, in forming "Sanctuary Chuch" policies, we not only feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, protect the criminal (for a time, and to reconcile the criminal to the crown), but to go a step further.  Let us document the undocumented and thus create the paper trail necessary to prove that a  person really intends to immigrate and abandon old allegiances to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which she stands, One Nation Under God, INDIVISIBLE, with Liberty and JUSTICE for all.

Which leads to our next duty as a Church.  We must assmilate the unassimilated.  If we want a Christian nation, and we most certainly should, that means converting the unconverted.  It means teaching English to those who are newly arrived.  It means introducing them to our food, it means inviting them into our homes, it means teaching them the laws of the land so that they may become productive members of our culture.

Which circles back around- that we must first have a culture to teach.    It is time to stop being afraid of our own culture, it is time to offer the melting pot of culture where *all* cultures are blended together into one, rather than the salad bowl of multiculturalism where the tomatoes fight for dominance against the lettuce.

For Catholics, that means we need to start with faith and reason.  With reason and history.