One of the things that’s so interesting about my life is how long I’ve lived. And I grew up in the church of the Catholic church in the 40s and 50s, and then came the 60s. And there was something that you had to be there to believe what was going on. But there was so much radical change in people’s ideas of what was traditionally considered to be right and wrong and good and valuable and. And then there was Vatican ii in the 60s, early 60s. And so I’ve lived in a church that I’ve always felt is divided.
And one of the things about that is I’ve struggled in my own mind and in my own ministry to you is to bring those two worlds together because they both have value. There’s something wonderful about a nice, neat, clean, organized way of doing things. And there’s something also essentially important about the messy, crazy, wondering, judging, reflecting, figuring out what the answer is. So what do I want to say about that? I want to say that there’s nothing more important in your own spiritual journey than to move from simply someone else’s authority telling you what to believe and believing it just because they tell you, moving from that to an inner conviction. And there’s also a real struggle for those who have questions about what’s right and wrong to know what the regulations and the rules have been and what they are now still.
And yet to know that within every heart there is this mysterious center of wisdom called God’s presence, the Holy Spirit’s presence. God’s presence in your heart. You can go there to find out what’s the best answer to a complicated moral problem. So it’s not either or one over the other all the time. It’s both. But there’s something about a movement from an externally demanded, regulated rules to a heart filled with an intention that is naturally going to choose the right thing.
That’s what I pray for, and that’s what I long for, for you to see that difference and know the difference and live the difference. And because one is filled with shame and fear and the other is filled with peace and a kind of inner joy. And that’s my prayer for you.
