Connecting the Dots with Mark Shea

Today Mark and I talk about Lent, about joyful deaths, about the Orans posture at mass, and about evangelizing Aliens from other worlds. In short, we try to get to as many things as our imaginations can fathom in an hour.  

My take?   I spent some time thinking about this after the show.

Would meeting aliens from another world or finding life on other planets shake the foundations of our faith?

Simple answer?  No.

Why? I think it is possible, we are unique in the universe, in that we are the most sentient (God help us), in which case, it speaks to perhaps needing to recognize our task as stewards of all creation including the suns, moons, planets and stars and get to work caring for everyone we encounter, for they too are made of the same stuff as the suns, the moons, the planets and the stars.

However, I am not troubled by the idea of  not being alone in the universe because even if that first scenario is the case, we have a lot of company.

If there is other life (tangible, living through time and occupying space and having matter), if it is non-sentient, then we must care for it as we are called to shepherd eagles, embryos, humpback whales, butterflies, orchids, redwoods, penguins, lions, wolves, lambs and all that grows or creeps or swims or flies upon the earth.

If we discover life forms with will and intellect, then they are our brothers, and we know, we are always  our brothers' keepers even if they are stronger and bigger and more evolved intellectually, physically or even morally than we are.  Our mission does not change even if our position on the food chain might, it only, (like the universe), would be expanded.  

Catholic means Universal, ergo I'm going to go with the concept that such a faith would include within it, all that inhabits the Universe.  As the bard said, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Hamlet (1.5.167-8)

We cannot outdo our God in love, in generosity, in creativity, or I would add, imagination. If we can conjure wizards, two-hearted thirteen lives doctors, hobbits, Vulcans and Jedi Knights from our limited minds, who knows what wonders God holds for us to find if we were to venture out past our own safe shores.

Hey! Where did Small Success Thursday go?

It's on Facebook over at Catholicmom.com.  I don't know if someone who isn't on Facebook can read that link or not. Please, let me know one way or another.  I'm still mulling over how to manage this weekly counting of the blessings of the past week if it isn't able to be shared beyond the walls of Facebook. 

Suffice it to say, here's the key point:

We went to the zoo.  As happens in most field trips with kids, it got hot. They got hungry. We had to walk everywhere, and there was a temptation to turn what had been a treat into a trial.   We got through it and with that struggle, came this insight.   

Suffering, albeit in a tiny way, somehow made the whole trip more memorable, the way a story becomes more memorable than if once upon a time, everyone lived happily ever after, the end. I thought about this as we prepare for Lent, knowing we're to recognize, the only way to Easter, is through the cross. Embracing suffering doesn't mean seeking pain, but weathering it well, and weathering it with other people when such moments occur, being the Simon or the Veronica to someone whose burden becomes visible. 

So this week's small successes became focused around when we had the opportunity to be a Simon or a Veronica, did we take it?

Please, leave a comment in the com box if the link works or not (if you are NOT on Facebook).   Thank you. 

Today, over at the National Catholic Register

Sooner or later, my kids will learn everything is grist for the mill. At that point, they might possibly stop quarreling in the car over the radio or the temperature or which seat they got, if only to ensure I don't use such incidents as a source of inspiration. Today's feature? Make peace with your brother.