God is My Savior: Reflections at the Beginning of the Liturgical New Year

When I was growing up in the 1980s, there was a popular T-shirt that read, “Life’s a ***** and then you die.” It is something we thought was funny as teenagers. But looking at it from the perspective of today, I can see it was a cry of despair that life is suffering and meaningless.

Flashing forward to today, the temptation to think that way is real. Regardless of one’s outlook on life and wherever one lives, 2020 can easily be considered—expressed most charitably—sub-par. Depending on your outlook, 2021 can only get better… or can only get worse.

Of course, for Catholics, the New Year has already begun with the First Sunday of Advent. The message of Advent is important because it tells us that, no matter what hope or despair we feel about the Presidential Election or with COVID-19, that we need a savior and that our Savior will not forsake us.

That does not mean life will be all “sweetness and light” of course. Life does have hardship and injustice that is out of control. It also has hardship that comes in response to our own actions. Those who suffer the worst of it quite naturally feel embittered if told to “hang in there” because things are “looking up” (cf. James 2:16-17).

Rather, the Advent declaration of The Savior serves as hope to those in the worst of circumstances that no matter how bad life gets, there is respite offered to us. Not a superficial ephemeral respite of this world. But that things will be made right in the substantial and eternal sense. 

But, at the same time, it tells those whose faith is in themselves, in politics, in science, that we need saving in a way that these things cannot solve. At 12:01pm, January 20, 2021 we will have the same problems we have today. A change of political administration cannot change that. We will still be subject to the ravages of disease. A coronavirus vaccine cannot change that. In other words, we are mortal finite beings who are unable to solve certain things.

If we do not have a Savior, all we have been through in 2020 is meaningless, a farce. The changes we might get in the future does no good for those who died this past year, for those who suffered this past year.

But, if we do recognize our need for a Savior and seek to live according to His ways, we will be able to make sense out of what we have been through and will go through. There is a point to life, there is a relief from our sorrows that is much more than nothingness. God is in control.

He is in control, but He is not a “fairy godmother” or a “genie” who grants wishes when we pray. Sometimes, we do have to say, like Jesus did, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). We may have to be told like St. Paul was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Job could not see the sense of his suffering. He railed against the perceived injustice of God in letting these things happen to him when he did not do anything that merited such punishment. God’s response to Job was not to excuse Himself. It was to point out that Job could not grasp what God knew and designed and Job had no basis for telling God that what He permitted was unjust.

We do need to keep this in mind. I do not know what might happen to me today, tomorrow. I could drop dead. I could be stricken by a disease. I could lose my family or friends. But come what may, I trust that God is my Savior and that what happens to me here on Earth does not mean that God has abandoned me.

So yes, 2020 is a dumpster fire… and I am sure others can say it more vehemently than I can, having suffered more. But, regardless of whether 2021 is better or worse in the temporal, physical sense, we have a Savior who offers us what we cannot possibly do for ourselves. We would be wise to trust and follow Him regardless of how the road looks here on Earth.

It’s Iimi! Vile Evil (Part III)

One of the problems with using a teenage protagonist for the It’s Iimi! comics is that she is obviously too young to have lived through the turbulent events prior to the mid-decade of the 2000s. So, to have someone who was there, Iimi’s mother enters the discussion on how Catholics reacted in the past. This isn’t done to deny the pain or justify the suspicion against the claims. But it is important to understand why so many of us went down that path in the 90s and early 00s so we can avoid 

Another part of this comic is aimed at showing that those who were hurt by people in the Church are not cardboard villains that hate the Church without cause. Even when we defend the Church from false claims, we can’t downplay the very real suffering that victims went through or condemn them if their pain is keeping them away. 

This concludes the story.

Part 1: https://www.ifimightinterject.com/2020/11/its-iimi-vile-evil-part-i.html

Part 2: https://www.ifimightinterject.com/2020/11/its-iimi-vile-evil-part-ii.html

It’s Iimi! Vile Evil (Part II)

[If you're reading this, the comic is now part of the Issue 13-15 Omnibus]

What if you thought you had everything figured out and then you discovered your assumptions were wrong? Iimi-tan and Ms. Baculum both discover that some things aren’t as you thought and other things don’t have to be as you thought.

Part One can be found HERE.

Part Three can be found at https://www.ifimightinterject.com/2020/11/its-iimi-vile-evil-part-iii.html

[†] It was actually published under the title Inside the Domestic Church.

What Are We to Do About This? (Hint: Not What They’re Doing on the Internet)

If you have been following the news of Cardinal-Elect Gregory, you probably are aware of the recent information that he has no intention of denying the Eucharist to the Catholic President-Elect Joe Biden over his intention to enable policies contrary to Catholic Moral Teaching. As this seems to be contrary to Canon 915^†, this is troubling to many. This canon and the companion canon 916 read:

CAN. 915 Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.

CAN. 916 A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

As commonly understood, someone who is aware that they committed a grave sin must not go to Communion and, if they try, they are to be refused. Since Confession of a grave sin requires a firm purpose of amendment to avoid that sin in the future^‡. To confess a grave sin with no intention to change is a serious matter indeed.

Unfortunately, matters are muddied by the fact that the coverage seems slanted. Those who react strongly against the abortion issue are outraged and report it as such. Those who tend to downplay it tend to focus more on the need to work together and think he is doing the right thing. Those of us who are trying to be faithful Catholics and avoid rash judgment are confused.

Speaking personally, I am deeply troubled by the statement. Regardless of the policies Biden supported when he was a member of Congress or Vice President, he is now in the position to enable those policies with even fewer restrictions. Personally, I am praying that someone (like the Pope) will “have words” with him about this. I want to ask, “if canon 915 does not apply now, when will it?”

However…

(And you should know by now, there is always a “however” when I write articles like this), it’s not as clear cut as it seems.

Despite my personal feelings, we members of the Catholic laity do need to be aware of the fact that there is more to consider than we know that might merit a pastoral decision like this. No, I cannot personally think of any that convince me either. But we need to avoid the argument from ignorance fallacy. Just because we do not know of such a reason does not mean no such reason exists. We do know that there are pro-abortion Catholic politicians in other countries, and we would certainly need to first research whether they are denied the Eucharist.

And here we see that Cardinal-elect Gregory’s plan—however much we deplore it—is not unusual. In other nations, this approach has been used for awhile (See HERE for examples). So, like it or not, we are a bit late in our outrage… we were just ignorant about the situation.

God is not mocked (Galatians 6:7). If Biden does receive the Eucharist unworthily, he will answer for that as well as any unrepented sins… just as we all will. This may or may not apply to the Cardinal-elect or bishops in other nations as well that permit a pro-abortion politician to receive. But that is a judgment that God will have to make.

The judgment the Pope and Curia will need to make is, at what point does canon 915 apply when it comes to politicians creating and protecting laws contrary to Catholic teaching.

So, if Cardinal-Elect Gregory persists in this, and Rome does not overrule him, we do have an obligation to understand the thinking involved instead of committing rash judgment. No, this is not a doctrine. No, we are not required to give “religious assent of intellect and will” to this decision. No, this is not a stamp of approval by the Church for Biden’s policies. We do know that the Pope is opposed to abortion, after all. But, even if we are morally appalled by this, we are still required to behave in a Christian manner. Canon 212—the part that gets forgotten—requires us to make our concerns known respectfully:

§3. According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.

So, if we are morally troubled, let us pray for Biden and for Cardinal-elect Gregory, that they might do what is right in God’s sight. And, if they persist in acting in a way we are morally appalled by, then let us pray that we might understand God’s will in the matter. But let us not invent charges of heresy and act like an angry mob. If conscience demands that we speak out, we cannot do so in a way that treats the clergy as if they were enemies… because then we are guilty of doing wrong as well.

 

______________________

(†) As I understand it, canon 1398 (“A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication”) does not apply to the politicians that legalize abortion, but only those who participate in a specific act of abortion.

(‡) We might fail of course, but the intention must be there.

It’s Iimi! Vile Evil (Part I)

[Recovery Notes: This comic was originally published as three separate issues. Apparently, I combined them after they were uploaded. So, they're combined here.]

Iimi discussed the McCarrick Report with Ms. Baculum. Sometimes, hurt and pain are found in unexpected places. This is part one of a series. In this chapter, Iimi discusses the things we need to keep in mind when assessing the report.

As a special note, nothing in this comic should be seen as blaming the victims or giving the Church a whitewash. It only examines the McCarrick Report (not other cases) to determine who knew what and when.

(Annoyingly, I confused “Millenial” with Generation Z.)

It’s Iimi! Vile Evil (Part II)

What if you thought you had everything figured out and then you discovered your assumptions were wrong? Iimi-tan and Ms. Baculum both discover that some things aren’t as you thought and other things don’t have to be as you thought.

It’s Iimi! Vile Evil (Part III)

One of the problems with using a teenage protagonist for the It’s Iimi! Comics is that she is obviously too young to have lived through the turbulent events prior to the mid-decade of the 2000s. So, to have someone who was there, Iimi’s mother enters the discussion on how Catholics reacted in the past. This isn’t done to deny the pain or justify the suspicion against the claims. But it is important to understand why so many of us went down that path in the 90s and early 00s so we can avoid 

Another part of this comic aims to show that those who were hurt by people in the Church are not cardboard villains who hate the Church without cause. Even when we defend the Church from false claims, we can’t downplay the very real suffering that victims went through or condemn them if their pain is keeping them away.