I was a poorly formed Catholic. I went to CCD in the early 70s - blah! Boring! I went to a Catholic high school from the fall of 1975 and I graduated the day after Mount St. Helen blew up in 1980. We were taught fluff. I'm not in a minority by any stretch of the imagination. I spent from my late teens until my wife and I were married in 1992 mostly out of the church. And even after our wedding it was a struggle.
I explained this to a dear friend, a very holy priest. He said sometimes our fervor is like a slightly wet match. You strike the match and it sparks a little, but you keep striking it and eventually it catches fire.
So the soggy matches in this country helped to bring about what we have today. Problem is they don't know they are soggy.
I was thinking about the people I know who went to Washington DC for today. I did not. I worked. I talked to people and not a single person seemed to be aware of anything happening in Washington DC. Now contrast that to the Super Bowl that will occur a week from this Sunday. What is really worth getting "amped" about? What is more important?
Knowing the difference is a gift from God. For me, to get that gift was nothing less than having God hitting me upside the head with a 2 X 4. This got my attention. Many years ago somebody talked about a very dangerous prayer. It's very simple but very powerful and really it can be scary. "God change me, whatever the cost."
"Be not afraid", Pope John Paul II would repeatedly say. In regards to what I mentioned above, what would our church and what would our world be like today, had Karol Wojtyla not been elected pope in 1978? I don't believe I would be where I am now.
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