TOMORROW'S SPIRITUALITY

   Vatican II said we have to read the signs of the times.  Today's physicists have given us a new sign that is as shocking as Galileo's claim that the earth revolves around the sun.  This breakthrough will have a major influence on our theology and especially on our everyday spirituality.  So it is worth at least this one Post.

    I'll do my best to explain it one step at a time.  And I welcome comments, corrections, etc.

    Step 1:  Until now, physicists understood the universe, including earth and ourselves, to be made up of physical, material beings.  In their terms, everything and everyone is made of atoms.  And atoms are made up of little balls called sub-atomic particles.

     Step 2:  Today's physicists have discovered that atoms are not material!  They are not made of material particles.  They are made of energy.  

     Step 3:  Energy is usually described as the ability to do work, or to be something. Energy is potential, or possibility.  Energy  is not yet something material.  Energy moves in waves.  So energy is immaterial waves of possibility, i.e., of possible material things and people.

     Step 4:  The entire universe and everything and everyone in it is made of energy.  Since energy is not material, everything is immaterial.  Immaterial energy moves in immaterial "energy waves."  The universe is a made of up an infinite number of waves of possibility. 

     Step 5:  The universe expresses itself in the form of immaterial, living, conscious beings, e.g., immaterial insects, animals, ourselves.  Therefore, the universe itself must be living and conscious.  In fact, the universe is living consciousness!   The universe is living awareness, universal being awake!

     We live in a universe that we are aware of, and that is aware of us!  

     Step 6:  This new consciousness gives us a new way to try to understand who God is.  But first we must understand that God is Absolute Mystery.  Mystery in this context is not ignorance, as in a Detective Novel in which we slowly find out who the murderer was.  Mystery, as it applies to God, is Reality that is so great that it is inexhaustible.  This means that the more we understand about God, the more there will be to understand, without end.

    So our understanding of who God is is and always will be a human construct, limited by our human nature.  That said, we can now say that since we are space/time, living, conscious images and likenesses of God, we can say that God is Eternal-Infinite Living Consciousness or Awareness.  More fully, we can say that:

     God is Eternal-Infinite, Living, Creative, Saving and World-Sanctifying and Evolving, Loving Consciousness/Awareness.

     It will greatly help us in understanding who God is if we put aside our images of God as Someone, e.g., an old man with a white beard,  "up there" or "out there."  It gets worse when we try to imagine God as up there and everywhere down here at the same time. 

     With this new understanding, we can image God as filling the universe and earth with Living, Creative, Saving and World-Sanctifying and Evolving Love-Consciousness.  This may take some time but it will be well-worth the effort, for the sake of our ongoing spiritual maturity and our Christ-like efforts in and for today's society.  

     Step 7:  God's Eternal-Infinite Love-Consciousness is what Jesus took to himself at the instant of his conception in Mary's womb.  If we want to "see" the divine Love-Consciousness, we can look at Jesus.  
      (Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  John 14:9)

     Step 7:  How do we get from being immaterial waves of possibility, to being three dimensional, solid figures living in a three dimensional, solid world?

     Here's what the physicists tell us:  Using its infinite possibilities, the living-conscious universe creates individual, immaterial possibilities, e.g., immaterial galaxies with their immaterial stars and planets, our immaterial moon and earth with its immaterial soil, water, air, fish, animals, and immaterial selves.  All are immaterial possibilities.

     We ourselves are a spirit, i.e., an immaterial soul with an immaterial brain and immaterial body with immaterial senses.  The universe puts the possible idea of a material earth and our material selves into our mind.  Our immaterial mind shows these possibilities to our immaterial brain.  Our immaterial brain excites our immaterial senses to sense these immaterial possibilities as if they are three dimensional, material objects in a three dimensional world and universe.  

     We are living, conscious, free, active participants in the conscious universe.  We use our consciousness to create the three dimensional world and universe we live in!  (For the scientifically minded, we create a hologram.)

     As images and likenesses of God, we are called and empowered to act like God and care for the world that we create by bringing it the peace, justice and love of Christ.  We are here to help "Thy Kingdom Come...on Earth."

                                                      Sing to the Lord a new song,
                                                     Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
                                                  Sing to the Lord, bless his name,
                                              Announce his salvation, day after day
                                             Tell God's glory among all the nations;
                                        Among all the people, God's marvelous deeds.
                                                                                             (From Psalm 96)






    













   

TIME TO GET ANGRY

   The latest horrific revelation of abuse of children by priests and the cover-up by bishops is a good opportunity for Catholics to get truly angry at the Church leaders, including Pope Francis.

   First, as a former Philadelphia priest, I want to say clearly and gratefully that I have the privilege to know Philly priests whom it has been a blessing and honor to call my brothers.  The are the exceptions to what I must say below. 

   For far too long Church leaders have directed their attention to the behavior of the priest-predators, especially homosexual priests, and finally to the bishops who covered up the predators' sins and crimes.  But they have refused to see that the problem is not a sexual one but a centuries old structural one.  It is time to wake up!

   The Catholic Church made a spiritually lethal structural error when it ceased being the People of Christ living their way in the life and truth of Christ, and took on the autocratic structure of the Roman Empire.  The role of the Emperor was taken over by the Pope; the Roman Senators became the Cardinals; the Governors became the Bishops, and the Roman peasants became the laity.  Later, the Church leaders added the trappings of Medieval Lords, which they still enjoy.  

   Throughout this time, the leaders isolated themselves from the laity and the world at large in a special class of privilege called the clergy.  For obvious good reasons, Jesus explicitly forbade his followers to take on such titles and honors.  (Lk. 22:26:  Let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.)

   What the leaders fail to see is that the anti-Christian clerical structure of isolation and privilege  has produced an ugly, foul atmosphere in which a most terribly debased humanity could flourish.  The problem is not homosexuality.  Both gays and straights abused both male and female children.  It is the dank atmosphere of isolation and privilege that attracts and has permitted deviates, both gay and straight, to operate without detection--or if detected, without accountability.

   The  Barque of Peter is a deteriorating wooden boat propelled by torn sails in a world where ships of steel and exotic metals are run by nuclear generators.  A half century ago, the Second Vatican Council opened the way for the Church to catch up to today's world.  A Council is the highest level of Church teaching.  Pope Francis knows this.  The way to Church renewal is open.  Yes, his opposition is strong and he will suffer greatly.  But the abused are crying out to God!  The world is waiting.  Francis is the Pope.  He has the knowledge and power to change the Church and make it a light of hope and love in today's world.  What is he waiting for?

Comments:  massimini7@gmail.com