“Once again I give you thanks for your merciful love, kindest Lord, for having found
another way of arousing me from my inertia.”
--
St. Gertrude the Great
The American Spectator talks with Hitchins, about his opposition to a smoking ban… …The ban is un-American for all these reasons, Hitchens explained in an interview with TAS Tuesday. Settings such as the Apollo Room in Williamsburg’s Raleigh Tave…
I should be in bed but I found this post entitled Nunc Dimittis, through the Anchoress. If you know someone in the clergy, remember what a tough job they have and tell them you appreciate their sacrifices….
Zowie. Not at all what I expected. Like the Anchoress, I can’t begin to tell you part of it. You just have to read it for yourself. But having done so, I’m done blogging for the night.
This waiter has written a extremely insightful post. Theology is wonderful to study and discuss, but people and their needs are more important. The nurse in this very poignant story is an example of many Christians that are forgetting the needs of people in their quest of more theological understanding, she was so involved in her position as a nurse, faithfully at her station, rather than to her duty to the sick and dying. Many times doctors, nurses, politicians, and clergy can lose their focus on the service needed by the people they are to watch over due to their focus on the “theories” of the occupation. So too with us lay persons, may we be more focused on the fields white to harvest and the suffering of those souls that God brings into our lives and not only to His Word. “Be ye doers and not hearers only.”
That this man could realize his inability to be a priest also shows his wisdom. He probably serves God better as a waiter, but then aren’t we all to be waiters to one another?
May God have mercy on all the Marias of the world, and may we be God’s hands, feet, eyes, and ears as we serve one another.
Very moving. I can’t imagine the kind of compassion and dedication it would take to become a member of the clergy, to minister daily to the needs of people like Maria. Seeing the sorts of things she and others go through, the suffering they endure, is heartbreaking.
With all due respect, Truthseeker, and while I agree with you to a point, I don’t think that theology and people’s needs are mutually exclusive. As you rightly quote, we must be “doers and not hearers only”, but while we must act, we also must know how we are to act. Every lamentable thing that the waiter mentioned in his account - the suffering of Maria, the death of her baby, her loneliness, the indifference of her nurse - comes down to human beings disobeying God. To blame God for these things, to call Him a “gigantic asshole” because of the things we chose to do, when He warns us not to, doesn’t make any sense. The waiter was obviously upset when he said this, and we all say things in anger and grief that we don’t really mean or come to regret later, but we suffer because of our sin, our disobedience of God. This is one of the most important facts we need to know in life: that we are all sinful. The entire Bible is a long story that details the lengths to which God is willing to go on our behalf, and how we, His creation, push Him away at every turn.
This is basic theology, the study of the nature of God. It’s not just a pleasant pasttime, discussing angels dancing on pin heads; it’s absolutely important. It’s trying to understand God. After all, Jesus gave two great commandments that encapsulated all the Law and the Prophets, and the first one was “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your *mind*.” (Matt. 22:37, emphasis mine)
As you said, we should all be “waiters to the world”.
June 25th, 2005 at 12:56 am
Everywhere should be Disneyland…
The American Spectator talks with Hitchins, about his opposition to a smoking ban… …The ban is un-American for all these reasons, Hitchens explained in an interview with TAS Tuesday. Settings such as the Apollo Room in Williamsburg’s Raleigh Tave…
June 25th, 2005 at 6:20 am
See Dubya: The Streets of Laredo
I should be in bed but I found this post entitled Nunc Dimittis, through the Anchoress. If you know someone in the clergy, remember what a tough job they have and tell them you appreciate their sacrifices….
June 25th, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Thank you, A. It did make me cry. One thing I know, He holds us ALL in the palm of His hand. What a great guy, eh? All of them, including our Father.
June 25th, 2005 at 10:34 pm
Waiter rant.
Zowie. Not at all what I expected. Like the Anchoress, I can’t begin to tell you part of it. You just have to read it for yourself. But having done so, I’m done blogging for the night.
June 26th, 2005 at 12:09 am
This waiter has written a extremely insightful post. Theology is wonderful to study and discuss, but people and their needs are more important. The nurse in this very poignant story is an example of many Christians that are forgetting the needs of people in their quest of more theological understanding, she was so involved in her position as a nurse, faithfully at her station, rather than to her duty to the sick and dying. Many times doctors, nurses, politicians, and clergy can lose their focus on the service needed by the people they are to watch over due to their focus on the “theories” of the occupation. So too with us lay persons, may we be more focused on the fields white to harvest and the suffering of those souls that God brings into our lives and not only to His Word. “Be ye doers and not hearers only.”
That this man could realize his inability to be a priest also shows his wisdom. He probably serves God better as a waiter, but then aren’t we all to be waiters to one another?
May God have mercy on all the Marias of the world, and may we be God’s hands, feet, eyes, and ears as we serve one another.
June 27th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
Wonderful
June 28th, 2005 at 3:45 pm
I’m humbled.
June 28th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
Very moving. I can’t imagine the kind of compassion and dedication it would take to become a member of the clergy, to minister daily to the needs of people like Maria. Seeing the sorts of things she and others go through, the suffering they endure, is heartbreaking.
With all due respect, Truthseeker, and while I agree with you to a point, I don’t think that theology and people’s needs are mutually exclusive. As you rightly quote, we must be “doers and not hearers only”, but while we must act, we also must know how we are to act. Every lamentable thing that the waiter mentioned in his account - the suffering of Maria, the death of her baby, her loneliness, the indifference of her nurse - comes down to human beings disobeying God. To blame God for these things, to call Him a “gigantic asshole” because of the things we chose to do, when He warns us not to, doesn’t make any sense. The waiter was obviously upset when he said this, and we all say things in anger and grief that we don’t really mean or come to regret later, but we suffer because of our sin, our disobedience of God. This is one of the most important facts we need to know in life: that we are all sinful. The entire Bible is a long story that details the lengths to which God is willing to go on our behalf, and how we, His creation, push Him away at every turn.
This is basic theology, the study of the nature of God. It’s not just a pleasant pasttime, discussing angels dancing on pin heads; it’s absolutely important. It’s trying to understand God. After all, Jesus gave two great commandments that encapsulated all the Law and the Prophets, and the first one was “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your *mind*.” (Matt. 22:37, emphasis mine)
As you said, we should all be “waiters to the world”.