Last night, I watched and lisened to an interview with Mark Hederman. It brought all kinds of thoughts to me and I thought I would share them with you. I know some of my thoughts will be controversial and that is OK. I must warn you that it has to do with religion - just know that whatever your beliefs are, I respect them. I only ask the same from you. (The link to the full interview is at the bottom).
Now to get to his interview. I have to admit that at first, I thought 'oh here we go with another old man preaching about the virtues of the Roman Catholic faith'. So I listened - but with skepticism. For there are many beliefs of the Roman Catholic faith that I disagree with. Then I heard him say something to the effect that when he was in the boarding school, it felt more like a kidnapping as well as where they recruited most priests. And my attention got caught and the more I listened to this man, the more I liked him.
I absolutely love the fact that he does not believe that the Catholic Church is the 'only' church. That God communicates with us whereever we are (and I took that to mean whatever fath we belong to) - as long as there is Love, there is everything (I don't know if he said those exact words, but that is something I took away from what he said).
Do I believe that going to a certain church is important or not. I personally believe 'not'. I think I have always believed that, altho going to mass with all its symbolism, has always felt right to me. But I never put a priest on a pedestal - nor will I ever do so - they are just there as a celebrant - what they say is what the whole congregation should be saying. The prayers they say are the prayers we should all be saying. I believe that Jesus is truly present in the eucharist, yet at the same time, I think each one of us is also present - it is where we join ourselves with Him. Where we become one - where we are truly Church. You become what you eat. So when I receive the eucharist, I am humbled because I am receiving Jesus within me, and at the same time - mysteriously, I am also receiving a part of myself and a part of all those around me. Does that make sense? I am a eucharistic minister and when I look people in the eye and say 'Body of Christ' I feel such overwhelming humbleness. For I am saying (at the same time) - here, take this, it is Jesus body, here, take this, it is your body). Some people think it would be terrible if someone who was not 'worthy' should receive the eucharist. I personaly think that Jesus would find no one unworthy.
When I was on my 'journey of questioning', my last road block was receving the Eucharist. I was back in Church, I attended faithfully, etc. But when the time came to receive the eucharist, I knelt in prayer, saying to myself 'I am not worthy to receive you'. One Sunday I heard (not sure if heard is the right word) - but I was commanded to get up and receive the eucharist. The voice was loud enough to get my attention. The 'voice' also told me that it was my pride that kept me in my pew. I immediately got up (I literally was in a daze - I was just obeying that 'voice') - I hardly remember walking up to receive the eucharist. Afterwards, I pondered why that voice told me that my pride was what was keeping me in my pew - after all, I had no pride that I knew of - I felt too unworthy - how could I feel unworthy and be full of pride. Then I understood - I thought I needed to be 'right' with God before I could receive the Eucharist and God knew I needed to receive it. There is a humbleness in getting up and saying to God 'I need you' - for that is what we do when we get up - we leave our pride behind and accept that we need Him within us.
OK - enough of my take on the Eucharist. I do agree with Mark Hederman when he says that using words like Transubstantiation' is ridiculous, especially since no-one can truly explain it and it can become a hindrance to unity between churches.
What is your take on the eucharist? What do you believe about it?
To get to the rest of his interview - I like the fact that he finds the church to be a 'dinosaur' (I believe that as well) - but it is necessary if one is a piest to accept this (like he says, it is an institution made by man). I like the fact that he realizes that there are very few dogmas (truths) but a whole lot of rules - but to be part of the church, one has to accept some of their rules. The Holy Spirit does not depend on anyone - the H.S. is open to all. Nice.
I think what I enjoyed the most about his interview was when he talked about the fact that he did not believe in 'hell' as we know it or what is commonly thought of when one says hell. Hell is simply a choice we make. I like to think of it as not answering Jesus' call to us in our graves. If we cannot recognize his voice now, how will we when we die? I think of Lazarus - when Jesus called out for Lazarus to 'come out', I think we too will be called to 'come out' - will we listen? or will we be afraid of what awaits us and therefore remain in the 'tomb', not to be unwrapped. Will we even recognize His voice when he calls us to the resurection? Will we respond? I think that religions that tells us we need to be 'born again' and if we are not, we will go to hell - that has to be the greatest sin, to tell someone they will be going to hell. For who will respond of the loving voice of God after death if we fear him? Now maybe there is a place (purgatory ... altho I do not think of pergatory the way it was taught - I think it is a place we continue to learn - to accept who God truly is.
I love the fact that he says that we will be judged ONLY on one thing - on how we loved. For what mother would punish her child forever for doing something 'bad'? If a mother (or father) on earth cannot do this, how could a loving God do that? Impossible. However, we ourselves can choose to hide (e.g. garden of Eden comes to mind) from God - yet God still searched out Adam and Eve - will He not search us out if we hide? But we still will have free will even after death (my belief) - and we can still chose to not be where Love is. Some people, unfortunately, would actually chose to not be around Love (altho I think sometimes some people turn away from love because they have never been loved or do not want to be loved because of different circumstances (which God will take into account). Is it a conscious choice to not chose Love or is it because of our being hurt in this life? God is greater than anything, and only God knows what lies in the heart of men and women. I once heard that until one can actually accept that Hitler might be in heaven, one has not yet learned yet just how much God loves. Take Judas for example: I fully believe that Judas will be in heaven. He repented what he did to Jesus. He felt so bad - he tried to give back the 30 pieces of silver when he realized that Jesus would not manifest his power and restore Jerusalem to what it should be. He had a different expectation of what Jesus was all about and I think he may have misunderstood Jesus' words when Jesus told him 'do what you must do' - and he thought that Jesus was giving him permission - he (Judas) was trying to force Jesus' hand - Judas thought he knew better than Jesus did about what was the right thing to do - and so he betrayed Jesus. But he repented (so much so that he hung himself out of his anguish over what he had done). If Jesus could forgive the thief on the cross (and perhaps even both thieves) , then I truly believe that he forgave Judas' ignorance.
Like Mark does when he closes the interview - we will be judged only on one thing: Love. Did Judas love Jesus - far be it for me to decide on that one. Maybe Judas was welcomed home like the prodigal son...... or maybe Judas ended up in 'purgatory' until he learned to let go of his guilt and was able to approach God with a repented heart.
For I believe, in my heart of hearts, that there is still free will after death. It is a gift that was given to us and I do not believe that any gift God gives is ever taken away.
To hear the full interview with Mark Hederman, click here:
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1094436
No comments:
Post a Comment