When are we going to realize that material, no matter how enhanced with intelligent bits, can only take us so far on our journey to freedom? And beyond that point, which is a relatively shallow one, becomes a positive impediment.
How many times have we given ourselves permission to be a little materialistic, just this one time? We deserve it, just like Bush deserves his bike rides. And maybe it's true that first time, but soon the tenth and twentieth time have long since passed and we've ceded the right to permanent selfishness, establishing a new level from which to devolve further. And suddenly we find ourselves imitating attitudes we secretly despise, but the secret grows more and more hidden until we no longer recognize it as our own.
To share God's life is to encounter a level of being that calls humanity to ever higher levels. These days it is often very difficult to distinguish spiritual and material processes, so debased has our understanding of humanity become through technical dominance. This dominance enslaves our understanding of the meaning of compassion. We break this slavery only through love for the least among us.
An blog by a member of the Catholic peace movement, Pax Christi, to provide resources for those Christians who want to come out of empire and celebrate the New Jerusalem.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
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