St. Marie Among the Hurons and other adventures

 Today Liz and I went and visited St. Marie up by Penetanguishene.  It was a reconstructed pioneer settlement that feature Wendat and French Jesuit history.

 

 The inside was a bunch of small buildings that they tried their best to resconstruct after the settlement was burned to the ground.  (And I can see how...the wooden building had lit fires everywhere, even today!)

 

 

This was the longboat house that was filled with smoke.  I almost had an asthma attack!  It was like I ended up in a bingo hall from the 90s.

We went across the road to visit the Canadian Martyr's Shrine.  Wow, there were tons, and TONS of tourists there.

I enjoyed the outside of the building, but there were a lot of things that I found a bit strange there (like the 17 life-sized prayer rosary circles, it was just odd to me.) but on the bright side, I bought a new wooden rosary that says it comes from Bethlehem.  Who knows if it's true, but it's really nice!

Afterwards, Liz and I went and found the first location of a Catholic Mass in Ontario.  I think this was more what I was expecting when I visited the Martyr's Shrine.

It was very peaceful and out of the way.  Afterwards we had dinner with Alex, and just generally it was a good time.  What a fun day!

Easter in 2020: Easter in Exile

This Easter is special in many ways...a special sounding year, that was supposed to have a different meaning, that was supposed to mean something different for Christians around the globe. Instead, we are all staying home, afraid of what is to come, both in the world and afraid for our own mortality because of an invisible enemy, that we do not understand, and cannot really fight.We are in exile from the world we used to have, mere months ago.

In the same way, Jesus' resurrection and the Easter story is one of fear, confinement, confusion and sadness. The disciples were expecting a messiah, someone who was a political hero in Jewish history, in human history, to rewrite the story that Roman culture had created. Instead, his best friends, watched him punished and killed in one of the most shameful ways, tortured, mobbed, and finally crucified. Not exactly the way any of us would wish to die.

After Jesus died, his followers were a target. They were locked away in small rooms, hiding from the authorities...and it was a miracle that saved them, not any political act. From Acts of the Apostles:

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³

Until they received grace and gifts from God, there was nothing they could do. Everything after that moment, however, was like reading a book about super heroes. They could speak in all languages, they healed the sick in God's name, they did many good deeds and were not afraid.

This is not to say that they lived the way that super heroes lived. Many early Christians were crucified, beaten to death, stoned to death, died for others. Regardless of what some people might say, Christianity is not triumphalism, it is not a triumph of goodness over bad people, bad things, bad moments, over tragedy.  Christianity only outlines in a stronger relief that what already exists.

Jesus changed our relationship with God...he was not here to make the world a perfect better place, but to change our relationship with the world. We are no longer bound by the Old Testament, but we are bound and freed by a new sense of baptism, indeed a baptism of fire, to recognize the good that is in the world, to make anew that which already exists. We recognize the importance of the ten commandments, but they cannot replace the beatitudes. Rules still exist, but first love.  Sin is still present, but first grace.  In Easter, in this pandemic world, is a reorientation to that which exists.

Jesus is for Christians, the bridge across to a new kind of relationship with the divine, and within such, as a great priest once said, we are called brothers and sisters in Christ now, and not just followers. Jesus' resurrection is a sacrifice that brings us into a new relationship with God.

Christians are losers first, and we follow someone who lost everything in an act that is hard to understand. And not through the fire of revolution, but through the fire of the Holy Spirit.  Even if we have a vaccine, we cannot bring back those we have lost. Let us pray for those still here, for those who have gone before us, for those trying to bring peace to our world in their own way.

TOW: Possessed

Happy Halloween!

This week I'm thinking about possession.  Not the kind that refers to people's property.  But, rather; demonic possession.
 
Last week I attended a talk between several authors on possession, authors who had all written about the subject of inner demons.  The talk was ok, but I became more interested in the topic of demonic possession that is common in myths from way back when.

Demonic possession is something that goes back to the first days of the Bible, both Old Testament and new (the demon tormenting Saul, Jesus and the possessed pigs.) and even before then, I suppose we would look Hindu texts.

Demonic possession became somewhat of a subject in the New Testament and Hellenic times, and since then,  demonic possession has taken on its own kind of culture and mythology, separate from any one particular religion, though its modern origins in English-speaking culture are definitely from Catholicism, and exacerbated by Baptist thinking and the like.  In other words, it began with the New Testament, and it took on a folk mythology within Christianity that developed its own legs.  It's very creepy to look into old cases of demonic possession.

Another thing I have to say, before I get into a personal reflection, is that when I think about 'demons' in my own life;  I'm going to speak about it in a religious way, but philosophically, I'm interested in the consequences (actions, ethics) as well as the religious experience (feelings, experiences).


I don't particularly want to recount the very stupid things I have done, but during those moments, I definitely felt like I was tempted, sorely tempted in the way that is described in the Christian tradition. And I was wondering today, in a very reflective manner, if perhaps I had been possessed by something during these very moments that I am most embarrassed by. 





However, there have been times when I have felt 'possessed by goodness'.  It's funny that in both cases, it's not just feelings that accompany the acts that follow it, but specific kinds of imagery in the mind, and certain kinds of desires, something unusual to my normal self.

And so, I wonder if someone can be possessed by God in the same way that demons are said to possess human beings.  And I don't mean in the sort of speaking tongues tradition; I mean in the sense of grace.  Do the saints that exist and have existed; were they possessed as well in a way? 

Philosophically, I have a problem with the idea of doing good without freely choosing it, but religiously, I'm interested in the idea that God would take such a personal interest in us, as to 'possess us' with goodness.  Does a saint 'possess' goodness because they are possessed by it?  Is goodness a trait...or is it a result of actions?  Is goodness a trait like blue or brown eyes, or is it more a result of the action and intentions of an individual?  Is it metaphysics or is it ethics?  Can it be both if we are possessed by good or evil forces?  Could it anything but metaphysics?

I have to think about it. 

Happy Easter

Easter is an interesting time for Christians. It's something that's hard to explain to non-Christians, and something that can only make sense in experience more than in words themselves. For example, here, people debate the truth of the miracle of Holy Fire, which burns without causing pain for prolonged periods of time to Christians who come to witness the miracle of fire that burns without pain in Jerusalem.

For me, this Easter has been a real blessing, and has given me time to rethink my Christian identity, and to really think about what's important in my life, and what has to go and what needs to stay. Personal housecleaning is part of Lent, and Easter is the culmination of all the hard work. The feast comes after all the waiting. All the pain is worth it, in the end. It's not an ends to a means, but a circular journey in the Christian idea of the self.

The Holy Fire might not be real. In fact, science shows that such things exist as 'natural miracles', not exactly divinely inspired. While I'm sure there's something interesting here in a critique of science in reference to miracles, what I would like to stress, especially given my extremely erratic life in these last couple weeks, is that Easter miracles are in the heart for Christians, not in nature. God doesn't need to convert nature...God tries to convert hearts. (And usually succeeds, I might add. Har har.)

I often suspect most of my friends lately have been experiencing this...giving birth to our adult selves, we're still figuring out what it means to be alive, and love and be loved, and love ourselves, and to give in love, even when there's nothing good about what we have. We are good in ourselves. But we don't know how to give that without giving up ourselves. Part of being an adult is taking responsibility for your choices. Molding responsibility with love lets those choices have meaning.

It's probably going to be really erratic for me until I get settled in yet another path truly, but after this Easter, I feel more at peace with God and myself, something that hasn't happened in a long time. For a while now, I really didn't feel like what I did for others and myself meant very much, as the process of me giving too much and not relying on others. Sometimes I realize that I try so hard to be good and manage to end up hating myself for being what I am and who I am and for being less than what I want. Not really positive.

In the process of becoming wise, we have to give up some things, start new dreams, and we sometimes must give up old dreams along the way. The dream of Christianity is the idea of reality matching the goodness in our hearts. Easter is a mystery of the heart, and the mind. Sometimes I'm afraid of what I don't know and what is uncertain in my life. But I think that part of faith is waiting for answers that will surely surface. The flame might not hurt, but to stick your hand in the fire is still a trying experience. The fire might not even be real. But I'm still scared of it now and then.

Happy Easter everybody.