Religious or Faithful?

Moses and the Golden Calf
(Painting by William Blake)

Some may talk the talk, and even walk the walk, but have they strayed from the path of enduring faith?

If you profess to be a Christian, ask yourself this question:  “Are you merely religious, or are you truly born again?”  Joseph Mattera lists a number of ways that people tend “to deceive themselves about their faith.” 

These include the following: going through religious motions but lacking “inner transformation,” viewing baptism as an endpoint rather than as a progressive beginning, feeling near to God but not actually with God, dabbling in spiritual gifts without developing spiritual fruits, railing against God rather than conversing with God, reciting prayers rather than taking them to heart, and mistaking idolatry for love.

Mattera concludes: “You can be sincere – and sincerely wrong.”  Beware the self-deception that threatens “a believer’s walk.”

Resources

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/10-ways-people-deceive-themselves-about-their-faith/

No Place Like Home

Schloss Goldenstein
(Photo by Eigenes Werk)

Although nursing facilities are often called homes, they rarely feel like such.  Elderly folks especially thrive upon the familiarity and congeniality of their actual home-sweet-home.

Three Austrian nuns who were “moved to a Catholic care” facility, “a decision they claim was made against their will,” returned to their convent home “with the help of former students and a locksmith.”  All in their 80s, each had felt “homesick and out of place” while away from the convent they had lived in for decades. One claimed the right to remain in the convent “until the end of our lives,” a promise which she then stated “was broken.”

Church authorities have been “highlighting concerns about... health and safety,” insisting that “the nursing home provided essential medical care.”  The nuns, however, have resumed their daily convent routines with the loving assistance of community supporters.  Such mutuality may very well outweigh any so-called care that clinicians might provide.

 Resources

https://www.iheart.com/content/2025-09-15-group-of-nuns-break-out-of-nursing-home-and-back-into-their-former-convent/

Tourists Behaving Badly

Saint Ambrose of Milan
(Public Domain)

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is advice worth considering, especially when traveling to countries that emphasize social mores.

This adage was allegedly first utilized by Saint Ambrose of Milan while mentoring Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica.  The two had been planning to visit 4^th-century Rome and were wondering whether to adhere to its Saturday fasting schedule, which differed from that of Milan.

If some of today’s impetuous tourists were to seek wise counsel, much angst could be avoided.  This past summer, an Australian Instagrammer thought he’d entertain online viewers with a video of him drinking from a can left on a Japanese headstone as a likely offering to the ancestors.  “He’s then seen burping in front of the grave.”

This, plus many another tourist breach, has resulted in public outcry all the way up to embassy levels and online apologies.  What the world needs now is not only love sweet love, but also wisdom sweet wisdom.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_in_Rome,_do_as_the_Romans_do            

https://news.yahoo.com/news/articles/anger-japan-instagrammer-drinks-burial-062859207.html

Autumnal Reflections

 

(Photo by Richard Ricciardi)

Leaves are often bursting with beauty just before they fall.  Humans also experience bouts of beauty before they finally detach from life in this world.

Contrary to popular opinion, dying is not just a fearful affair. According to Dr. Christopher Kerr, a decades-long hospice physician, this final phase can provide a “unique vantage point” that “changes one’s perspective and perception.”

In his study of “more than 1,500 end-of-life events,” Kerr found that “most dying patients” experience intense visions and/or dreams that provide transformational closure.  These experiences are marked with clarity, rather than with the confusion that often accompanies medication-induced states.

Although sometimes wracked with cycles of guilt and remorse, such processes allow for the release of unresolved relationship traumas, which often results in loving feelings of peaceful completion. 

Resources

End-of-life doctor reveals what people say right before death

Religion Gone Mad

People's Crusade of 1096
(Public Domain)

People who say, “You can’t live with it,” often forget to add “but you can’t live without it.”  This can be true for many of life’s essentials: water can flood homes as well as quench thirst, air can hurl trees as well as fill lungs, and religion can help to sin as well as help to save.

The kind of religion that helps to sin is the kind that falls very far from its holy roots.  It’s the kind that human history has borne way too often.  It’s the kind that has fostered the Salem Witch Trials, the (so-called) Holy Crusades, the Branch Davidian Disaster, the Thirty Years War, the Mass Deaths of Jonestown, and many other such tragic events.

Yet the misuse of religion does not mean that religion itself is no good.  Much like water and air, religion can be essentially life affirming when not tainted by humans gone mad.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/10-worst-things-religions-have-ever-done/vi-AA1FKd6K?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=8853bb290dca43bfb6619593424fe482&ei=31

  

Funeral Surprise

 

(Photo by Airwolfhound)

Imagine attending a dear one’s funeral.  As the outdoor ceremony proceeds, you can’t help but notice a commotion overhead.  Hoping to catch a glimpse of his ascending soul, you glance skyward.  Instead you’re showered with rose petals and US currency.

Come to find out that this was your friend’s final request.  Having been a successful businessman, he wanted to share “5,000 in cash” with the help of a handy helicopter.  His funeral attendees were invited to partake of this free-floating bounty.

All this occurred within a busy section of East Detroit.  Yet iHeartRadio was happy to report, “Despite the potential for chaos, the crowd remained calm and respectful.  All’s well that ends well!

Resources

https://www.iheart.com/content/2025-07-10-dead-mans-life-savings-dropped-out-of-helicopter-fulfilling-his-dying-wish/?mid=1513639&rid=98364581&sc=email&pname=newsletter&cid=NATIONAL&keyid=National%20iHeart%20Daily%20NewsTalk&campid=headline7

Confession: Accountability or Forgiveness?

(Public Domain)

Many organizations uphold the power of confession, including grade schools and Alcoholics Anonymous.  That is why there are lunchroom monitors and Fifth-Step partners. If you always dance as though no one were watching, you may eventually trip over your own two tootsies.

Yet when it comes to spiritual absolution, there are some stark differences among religious perspectives. Catholics, for example, believe that “confessing sins to a priest is a sacrament” because “priests have been given authority by Christ to forgive sins.”  Protestants instead attest to “the priesthood of all believers,” and state that confession among believers yields accountability rather than true forgiveness.  That is why Protestants confess directly to God, rather than to priests and/or saints.

Nevertheless, human-to-human accountability can go a long way toward keeping destructive behaviors in check.  Coupling this with confessional prayer can be a source of incredible strength. 

Resources

https://mikesignorelli.com/the-7-key-differences-between-catholicism-and-protestant-christianity/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22485390191&gbraid=0AAAAAoWiDOzc4XgUJqw2x4SW-7Pao9bKU&gclid=CjwKCAjw4efDBhATEiwAaDBpbh7_yBJOy6eCy5JkQKddMoAzhKQ31mjVUTe3KdOxApQzEAOyFshu9xoCciEQAvD_BwE