communion on the Camino and theological exchanges

[MJ anderson]

Jessica Hopkins wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
> I agree with Ana completely. God, does not look, act, think, feel,
> resemble anything like the limited images we create of
> him though our ignorance,....

......Ana, Jessica, Deanna and others, please permit me a clarification
that I trust you will not take as an offense, for surely none is meant,
just as I am assuming no offense is meant when non-practicing Catholics
offer their personal theology as if to balance the actual teachings of
the Church.

In Jessica's comment snipped above, the God who does not "resemble
anything ...we create..." is not the God being referred to in earlier
posts by myself and others.

God, (and His Son, Jesus as the second person of the Trinity) is not
something the Church or other Catholics or other Christians "create,"
but He is who He has revealed Himself to be. We take His word for it.
To limit who He is in order that Jesus  becomes  " a great philosopher"
is to renounce what He said of Himself.  Those who recreate Christ in
this way are creating Him in an image they are more comfortable with,
perhaps. It is a current cultural trend to apply egalitarian values even
to God, and the "Jesus as philosopher" idea is part of the need to
reduce Jesus to a mere man that we humans can then adjust, re-image, and
in effect, do violence to what it is that He says He came to do. Isn't
it  more honest to simply say: "I reject the idea of Jesus as God, as
Savior--for I cannot accept that salvation
is required" ?

Isn't it more honest to say, " I do not know--I am open and seeking ."
An honest rejection of the teachings of Christianity carries more
integrity than attempting to remake Christian teaching as a non-specific
amalgamation of feelings and impressions.  Those who accept part of the
Christian teaching, but feel free to discard what does not seem valid to
them, and even denigrate certain teachings (such as the reception of
communion) them, greatly offend practicing Christians for whom these
teachings a holy.

I understand that they do not mean to offend, but imagine for a moment
that one accepted portions of Hindu beliefs (reincarnation) but that one
also assumes they are free to recast other portions of Hinduism to suit
one's own inclinations--and then offer that new  personal version of
Hinduism to others as valid Hinduism-- you can see how that would grieve
and offend a practicing Hindu.

It seems to me, and I am trying not to be offended by this, that it is
those who resist a definite teaching, a definite religious practice who
are "creating" God-- in their preferred amorphous image.  A God that "IS
the world," or " IS is the universe"  is then limited to what is
perceived by sentient beings--God is not so confined. God exits above
and beyond the universe--that is, His existence is outside of the
universe. The universe subsists in Him, but not the other way around.
This means that God was fully God without any need to have a cosmos--He
created the universe for our life and pleasure and for the utter joy of
creating--but His existence does not require or depend upon a universe.
The Trinity is a communion of persons fully complete--the overflow of
their love is the creative force that brought forth the universe.

To reduce God to what is IN the world, IN the universe, is to truncate
God, for the Universe is finite and small.

Because the Church does not conscript people, all membership is
voluntary. But it is hard--Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep my
commandments." He did not make parts of it optional.  Christianity is
open to all--but it is not open to personal reinterpretations.

The Camino is also hard--not all will choose to do it, or do all of it.
Just as the Camino is open to all and would welcome all, not all will
choose it.  Those who do, and do any portion of it are usually
transformed in some way---and many seek to return again. They experience
something beyond themselves--a mystery for contemplation. Part of that
mystery comes from loosing oneself to a greater reality--and this is the
first step for many of us toward God who calls and awaits us all.

MJAnderson