December 12, 2007
The Hood
Like the kingdom of God, the neighborhood is not a place, but a relationship, not a condition, but a way of being.
Life works best in such neighborhood, that possible state of grace that allows us to live in and sustain the tension, say, that we find between religion and faith, that is, whatever we are bound to and whatever we can let go of, a tension that confuses so many, even today. The more religious I am, the more secure I am, the less risk I take. It is quite possible that the more faithful I am, the less religious I am, the more risk I take. Nothing in the Beatitudes suggests that “blessed are the religious.”
We could even ask and might better ask our myriad of presidential wannabes not how religious they are or what religion they are, but how faithful they are, not such pointless questions as whether they take the Bible literally, but whether they take it at all. And how.
Life is more livable if we move away from such attachment to detachment, something like stumbling and wandering around the neighborhood. St Dorotheus it was who said, “detachment is being free from wanting certain things to happen, trusting so in God that what is happening will be the thing you want, and you will be at peace with all.” Might it not be a way of searching for and finding the holy in holiday?
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