The Church is Like a Petunia...

Battling decay, Links, School Prep

My parish is nestled in the heart of a concrete jungle, a small David against the encroaching mechanization of man. She was built by immigrants. Her classrooms now empty. Her abundant flower gardens tended by just two feminine hands.⁣⁣ I’ve never met the gardener but I see how she adorns the church. And tucks a potted flower in that one hidden nook.⁣⁣

Beyond the gardens, the flowers seem to go where they will and we search every week for new signs of petunias in hard places.⁣⁣ These little flowers are joy opportunists. Easily plucked and crushed, yet finding a way.⁣⁣

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I had an image in my mind of the small church property and the shining tabernacle within. And it seemed to me…⁣⁣
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That the delight of Jesus Christ was seeping through the doors, through the ground, and out of every opening of that building.⁣⁣ And it was rising up through the cracks in the sidewalk as petunias.⁣⁣
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Back at home, I noticed a plant growing straight up through the asphalt at the end of our street. No sidewalk crack required. It simply grew and poked a perfect hole through that hard surface. My fingers can crush this plant and yet it rises up through what my hands could never penetrate. Mystery.⁣⁣
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How does it rise?⁣⁣
How do we?⁣⁣
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Sometimes I have trouble understanding Church. I see the broken people. I see my own sins. I see institutional failures that challenge me with doubt and anger and grief.⁣⁣ I think of the flowers, the leaven, the mustard seed (Mt 13)…⁣⁣
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The kingdom of heaven is like smallest seed that transforms into a tree so large that the birds make a home there.⁣⁣
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The kingdom is like leaven which loses itself in the meal until it rises and nourishes.⁣⁣
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Where is the seed? Where is leaven? Where is Church? And when will we see that the Eucharistic feast is not contained… but alive like the mighty petunia in a heart disposed to grace?⁣⁣
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Some day…⁣⁣
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“The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them into the furnace of fire…Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father...”⁣⁣ (Mt 13:41)
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And the flowers will be gathered and grow forever.

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Church wild and sweet…

The intensity of division among internet Catholics has been heating up lately. I wasn’t sure that was possible but here we are. The “liturgy wars” in particular are driving people out of the Church. The cloud of toxic bitterness is so thick that they’re struggling to see Christ through it. Shots fired from without and within…

Is the Church crumbling? No. But perhaps the idols are. The veneer. Of self-satisfied piety. Of fruitless reforms of reforms of reforms. Of a desperate ego-centric clinging to what we wish Church to be.

I observe those petunias and cheer them on for being bold and wild and sweet. Even so, they will fade in a month and disappear, leaving nothing but concrete visible to the eye.

The seed will sleep and rise again when it is time…

Eucharisteo! The Church will rise.

Will she look like the tidy 1950s suburban parish?
Will she look like the catecombs?
Will she look like the blood of the Nigerian martyrs spilled in the dirt?
Will she look like the Maronites, hidden and preserved for centuries in the mountains?
Will she look like a tiny cell at Dauchau?

While the liturgy wars rage and the voices of social media remind me (again) that I don’t pray right, dress right, think right, worship right…

I think of the flowers and of Lazarus. Of being brought back to life in the springtime of grace… so that we can die another day in the service of Love.

What hubris to even think I can get it right without grace, obedience to Christ… and detachment from a life marked more by the world than by the breath of the Holy Spirit…

And I feel the tug of silence. To a place where my ego is isn’t tempted toward battle but is laid bare before my Creator…

To die and rise by turns until the final reckoning.

“If love separates, it is in order to unite; if it roots it out, it is in order to plant; if it empties, it is to fill; if it puts a soul in solitude, it is to bring plentitude.”
- Archbishop Luis Martinez

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Links and Miscellany…

It’s that time of year when I repost my article for parents with sons discerning (or currently attending) seminary. Also for the young men themselves. Many are preparing to start their seminary academic year and I want you to know:

You don’t have to go. You don’t have to go YET. You don’t have to stay. And if you do go, there are some things you need to know first that almost no one will tell you.

What Catholic Parents Need to Know Before a Son Enters Seminary

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I recently lent one of my favorite parenting books to a young mother and I’m reminded to share again here. It is not specifically Christian but is important and rooted in an understanding of God’s design for the family and attachment. I’ve read it at different stages of parenting and changed for the better each time. The title doesn’t do it justice and seems to turn people off. Hold your nose and read it anyway…

Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers

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Related to the raging debates over liturgy, I found this a refreshing reminder of the goodness of Church and the continuity of sacrament:

The Glory of the Liturgy: Pope Benedict’s Vision

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It’s been a few minutes since I’ve shared my own book so I’m going to do that. As the mainstream medical world slips more quickly into diabolical confusion, we need to have a firm sense of what God has designed for our health. Catholics love to debate health care, especially who ought to pay for it. But what IS health care? Seems like we need to be able to answer that question first:

The Sunshine Principle: A Radically Simply Approach to Natural Catholic Healing

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Another school year…

We are gearing up for our 20th year of homeschooling and I almost can’t believe that I am looking back on so much family history already. I have another 12 to go (perhaps I should start drinking coffee?) and yet the majority is behind me.

Every child has been different and constantly changing. I have also been different and changing over time. What an incredibly fluid and dynamic thing the family is! A school of life and of radical love. Capable of great goodness and great hurt.

I enjoy listening to my adult children talk about their experience as homeschoolers and recently asked my oldest if he would consent to a podcast interview with me on the topic. He said yes… which is exciting and terrifying to me. I hope to post that discussion here soon.

The lives of my adult kids remind me that homeschooling is not really about me and my talents or failures. It really is about being an available conduit of grace and resources, mentoring, and meaningful relationship. And then getting out of the way.

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Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the urgent need of my son and his new bride. Your prayers and gifts are of such weight that we cannot hope to return the favor in this life. But we are praying for you each by name and are inspired to pay it forward as we can. Your testimony reminds of the solidness of Church even in these confusing times... the Spirit moving in the body to uphold in love in the name of Jesus Christ. Powerful. Transformative.

Please keep sharing if you are so moved: Help Danielle Heal

In the next few weeks, I’m entertaining the kind of schedule I promised myself I would never get pulled into again. Too many deadlines, appointments, commitments, obligations, details… not too sure how I slipped into this place! But I’m here and trying not to panic (or give up) as I scoot toward all the little finish lines.

Let’s reconvene soon and have a good chuckle over our life drama in light of eternity. It all matters. Little things with great love. Praying not to lose sight of God in the marshes of the details. Until next time…

Thanks be to God!

Melody

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