Prophesy (A Short Story)

In the spirit of fellow BadCatholic Marc Barnes' latest post on Almsgiving, I now present this short story I wrote a few years ago.

The man was psychic. That's what the sign said, the sign he was holding, cardboard soaked by rain and flimsy in his hands: Psychic and homeless, please help!
Sometimes he would get food, arms extended to the passing car, grabbing at the faceless arm's package. Sometimes it was a cheeseburger or a fish sandwich. Nobody ever knew if he was actually psychic or not, because he would take whatever he got and bite into it hungrily without even checking to see what it was.
Sometimes all he would get was venomous glances, I mean, what was this old man doing, anyway, this cancer of society, this man who "simply refused to get a job like any decent human being. I mean Christ! What's the world gonna do with all these bums all over the streets..?"
Most of the time the eyes of the people in the cars seemed just to slide over the old man, as if he were not there at all. In any case, the cars never slowed down.

Day and night the man stood on the corner, highways on both sides. He would stand there, a lone figure, isolated by his many layers of filthy clothes as well as concrete. Isolated by the pavement that surrounded his grassy divider. Isolated by the glass of car windows, the metal of car doors.

One night, I heard, he got beat up by a bunch of drunk kids. They stopped, got out of the noisy pickup, and surrounded the poor old man. They hit him when his back was turned. "You're psychic, eh? Tell us who hit you?" They struck him again and again, and all he could do was turn and turn and turn around. "Who hit you? Tell us, old man! Ha! Who hit you?"

Today I saw him still standing there on his median, still bearing the bruises and the blood. They didn't kill him. Not yet, that is. His eyes do not hold fear, though. No, when he saw me drive past, when our eyes locked, they held...hurt.
He stands, holding his sign for all to see. Now, it does not mention that he is psychic, nor that he is homeless. It simply bears the words: God Bless. And every time I drive past, it strikes me like a knife to the heart.

The Nature of Modern Heresy...and a little bit of Catholic Memes

By way of introduction, the days of burning heretics at the stake are far behind us. Never was that particular punishment morally right, nor was it condoned by the Catholic Church. Heresy- wrong teaching- has been around as long as there has been orthodoxy- right teaching. The way of fighting heresy is not with a sword held in the hand, but with the sword held in the mouth. The pen, mightier than the sword, will not only defeat the heresy, but also serve to convert the heretic. With that, onward.

Image by: Catholic Memes

 All heresy, that is, all false teaching, is at its heart, a misunderstanding of the truth, perhaps fueled by a single definition gone awry, or a phrase lost in translation. Modern heresies are no different. However, in my experience, modern heresies are all the more prevalent, all the more invasive, all the more insidious because the availability of information today has transformed the heretic from a well-meaning, well-educated, intentional heretic who actually conceives himself as apart from the visible Catholic Church, to an ignorant, perhaps unintentional heretic who thinks that he is well educated, and who may not believe himself to be apart from the visible Catholic Church. In short, what we see today that harms the Catholic Church the most is that- because of ignorance- some of the most obstinate heretics are found in the pews, even regularly so, and are often actively involved in parish life, multiplying heresy by teaching what they have misunderstood.

Fulton Sheen once said that there probably less than 100 people in the USA that hate the Catholic Church for what She really is. The rest of them hate the Church for what they think She is, and there is a huge difference. It is an excellent quote to illustrate that the enemies of the Church are probably not enemies but for their misunderstanding. But quiver at this thought: what if some of the friends of the Church are only friends of the Church because they like what they misunderstand the Church to be? Scary thought indeed.

It rings true, though. How many people only conceive of Jesus as a kind, gentle little lamb of a man who spoke only of love and kindness, and who probably- had he lived today- would have worn a tie-dye shirt and smoked weed? It would certainly seem this way, at least based on some of the songs we sing at Mass. I mean, who actually thinks that "Peace is Flowing Like a River", or "Spirit and Grace" are appropriate hymns to sing at Mass? I'm not going to knock the songs themselves, because they may be good songs, but I do not think that it really reveals the nature of what is happening to the fullest extent.
How many people after that think that it is morally OK to support abortion or contraception and still call yourself a Catholic? Perhaps, "Catholics for Choice"? They are out there. And howabout being Catholic and supporting gay marriage? I actually ran into a group called "Catholics for Marriage Equality" at World Youth Day. That's World Youth Day. I'm surprised at their courage. Moreover, how many people do not go to Confession the minimum of once a year, as the Church has prescribed, because they "have not killed anyone or anything"? How many people conceive of themselves as "good Catholics" despite all of the above?
In short, how many people think that they can take the roses without the war?

Image also courtesy of Catholic Memes

My point is this: all sin demands culpability, including heresy. And while those who sin are held completely accountable for their choice to sin, those who tempt or lead that person into sin must also be held accountable on their own part. I think it was Hans von Balthesar that put it this way: Scandalizing someone (leading them to sin in some way) is like spiritual murder...but allowing yourself to be scandalized is like spiritual suicide. In the same way, the large amount of lukewarm or 'cafeteria' Catholics- the most harmful heretics of our time, or so it seems- are ignorant due to two things: their own choice to be ignorant, and because the rest of us bad Catholics are terrible at teaching them better.

Pope Francis was quite insistent at World Youth Day that we go out and make disciples of all nations, as was the theme. We were to go out and "make a mess". Perhaps we simply need to make an effort- and in making an effort, make a mess- of teaching. It's not all that hard to read the Catechism. It's not all that hard to learn about a Faith that makes complete sense. And while I am not in the particular position to challenge or to make demands, I strongly encourage you, the reader, to look closer at this faith of ours, even if you are not Catholic, but especially if you are.

I really do like Catholic Memes...