On the sunny side of the street!

Doc Farrell

"I was glad that all this time I had been howling my complaints not against the Catholic faith but against something quite imaginary which I had thought up in my own head…I had not yet discovered that what the Church taught was the truth."

—St. Augustine of Hippo, 397 AD

Do you enjoy being a Christian? Does it make your day better? Do you find it easy to talk to people, to defuse their anxieties, to moderate your judgements of them?
This morning I met a 30 year old hitch hiking with a bag 3 miles from the nearest town. He is a Latvian. He walked to a distant fruit farm to try to get work and was told no. He told me that he had sent his son home to live with his parents and that his wife was dead. Then he started crying, telling me that he hadn't ate or slept in two days, that he was homeless.
I asked him if he contacted the Latvian embassy, he said that they would allow him use of a phone but gave him no further help. They didn't even give him any details about the Capuchins in town or about shelters! I'm helping him out but the point of the story is that it REALLY shook me.

You see I am a spoilt Christian, one who has never gone hungry or been homeless, at least not for more than one night. I had, within reason, everything I could want. And I was still not happy. 
I think that's what really brought me back to the story of Christ. Not because I was desperate but because having pretty much not a problem in the world, at least none I couldn't handle, I still experienced in every minute of the day, the perfect absurdity of being alive in a universe without any meaning beyond the materialist one.

So to make a long story short I stepped off the deep end and threw myself into Buddhism, not just the gentle touchy feely buddhism but the scary esoteric hard traditions! Something one needs a teacher for, which I didn't have. Then I moved into investigating psychic phenomena which led me back to the strangest psychic phenomena, the Resurrection, which has led me back to here, old reliable Irish Catholicism. 

And yet it's a different Catholicism for me because my knowledge and limited experience in the supernatural aspects of other traditions have made me see anew the supernatural aspects in Catholicism that have been put aside in some ways by intelligent Catholics as somehow embarrassingly superstitious and irrational. 
I've also become very interested in the contemplative teachings which have become less important or less public than the educational/medical/justice teachings, at least to the lay person.

So what's the point of my story? I suppose it's that I'm disappointed with the need of a lot of posters on here to be right. A lot of posters seem to feel persecuted. They don't seem happy unless they are in full battle charge against their perceived enemies, both within and outside Christianity. I'm also guilty of this. There seems to be little positivity, little celebration. Am I being unfair ? 
The following is a link to what real Christian persecution happening today is like.
http://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Fr--Barron-comments-on-A-Persecuted-Church-and-Its.aspx

The church still isn't as good as it could be but it's a lot better then it was. I'm not as happy as I could be but I'm more content than I've ever been. And I want to be further involved in making things better.
So I won't be getting involved in internet squabbling, trying to win an argument with liberals or traditionals or agnostics or the thousands of other groups but rather will limit my posts to life affirming news about Christ and those strange creatures called Christians!

I've been blessed in my life so far. I want to share those blessings now in a more practical way. I'm not going away but I'm going to try to stick with the Good News. I hope you will too.
The question I'm asking myself right now is what can I do to build my faith and to help others. And the answer is obvious. Work. Real work. Thanks very much for your time.
(by the way, I guess there's a massive egotism involved in creating a thread to tell others to take a chill pill but that's the kind of humility I have!:D )

Onesimus

Doc you need to break that up. Very hard to read it in that enclosed format.

The Quadratic Equation

Thanks for that Doc, I had hoped to use this board to discuss ecumenical matters and learn more from other denominations to add a new angle to my Catholicism, instead I found mostly negative posts about Catholics, the Catholic Church and Catholicism, agenda driven myths and misinformation peddled as facts and seemingly believed. I respect other peoples beliefs and vive la difference, but I was surprised to find so much rubbish on here about Catholicism peddled as fact. Is it persecution ? No, but as someone who experienced the very worst of the troubles in NI, I am acutely aware it can be a stepping tone to other things if it's tolerated, nurtured and allowed to fester as it was in NI.

tommy2bad

And yet it's a different Catholicism for me because my knowledge and limited experience in the supernatural aspects of other traditions have made me see anew the supernatural aspects in Catholicism that have been put aside in some ways by intelligent Catholics as somehow embarrassingly superstitious and irrational.

That echoes with me. Similar path to Christianity.
Haven't forgotten the practical bits 'tho. I'm left wing enough to see justice and equality as something to be achieved for their own sake.

Do you enjoy being a Christian? Does it make your day better? Do you find it easy to talk to people, to defuse their anxieties, to moderate your judgements of them?

Yes, proof of the pudding as it were.

Doc Farrell

None of you know me, it's likely that I will disappear from here soon so I want to mention something that puts everything for me into perspective. It is happening right now. There is a chap from Latvia asleep downstairs. He slept in a field near the motorway last night as he has done so for the last few nights.

His 9 month old child is in an orphanage. His parents are dead. His wife is dead, dying in childbirth. If he doesn't get back soon the child will be given up for adoption. He is going back tomorrow. I have no children. I have told him that I will help him. I believe that his dead wife has sent him to me. For various serious reasons I really believe that I'm supposed to help him. I don't need to think about what to do. I know what to do.

This is a gift to me. For the first time in my life I know what Christianity really is. I'm not looking for praise or criticism. I'm putting it out there because this is a Christian experience in full fury. This is not what I expected but it is what I have prayed for, to experience life at 100% full velocity. All differences and arguments on here are like the shadows and wind outside. I hope that each of you get punched with a blessing from the dead as I believe I have.
(obviously I haven't said a word of this to him as he has enough on his plate as it is!)
God bless each one of you.