HAITI:
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MARCH 31st:
Learn why the last day of March is a very important day in Catholic Youth Ministry here.

O Guardian of Israel,
Our shelter and shade,
Stir up in us that flame of justice
That Jesus incited on this earth,
That rages in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
O arouse in us
That very flame of righteousness
That enticed Martin
To be a living sacrifice of praise,
To seek freedom for all God’s children.
O to you, God every faithful and true,
Be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.

J. Glenn Murray, SJ

In the world today, the path of dangerous goodness is a dangerous path because self-ish-ness is not part of the work of discipleship. Those who aspire to be disciples remain centered upon both God and others. Faith for the disciple is never about being the select or the elite; it is built upon hospitality and inclusivity.

How might this dangerous faith look at the world today? Cardinal Claudio Hummes of São Paolo, Brazil, questions if terrorism does not “”have  as one of its ingredients a revolt against an imposed poverty, experienced as practically irreversible in the short and medium term?” The dangerous goodness response, therefore, is that “A servant church must have as its priority solidarity with the poor.” “The faith must express itself in charity and in solidarity, which is the civil form of charity,” Hummes said. “Today more than ever, the church faces this challenge. In fact, effective solidarity with the poor, both individual persons and entire nations, is indispensable for the construction of peace. Solidarity corrects injustices, reestablishes the fundamental rights of persons and of nations, overcomes poverty and even resists the revolt that injustice provokes, eliminating the violence that is born with revolt and constructing peace.” (quote source) Our response to terrorism should be to turn the other cheek and be charitable and in solidarity with those who may harm us.

For the young person, the challenges of discipleship can certainly be a hard but worthy adventure.

This is our prayer for another ordinary Sunday.

Lord, we shall sing to You a new song with all the lands blessing Your holy Name. We will not be silent, for the sake of all, we will not be quiet, The LORD is king. We proclaim your marvelous deeds to all the nations.

You are the same God, same Lord, same Spirit, and you govern us with equity yet offer different kinds of spiritual gifts, different forms of service, different workings by which we might give You the glory due Your holy Name. You take the plain waters of our lives and transform us into something more.

Might our lives further be a witness of You who saves the best for last. May we serve as a continuation of signs which revealed Your glory. May be become Your delight in that we do whatever You have told us.

Here is my DVR confessional.

I still will watch reruns of West Wing without any excuse and will double check the story-line of a Star Trek: The Next Generation before deleting it. There you have it… the “comfort food” on my media library.

Tomorrow, I (or my DVR) will be there as Season 8 of 24 kicks in. Same thing for the Lost season premier on  Feb. 2 (Groundhog Day?  Seriously? Someone tell me that’s not a nod to the Bill Murray movie and the “present” story-line!)

And, I like the reality competitions where we watch folks improve week after week.

Everyone of these shows are about passion and passionate folks living out their lives and dreams. All of which is to indicate why I can not resist Glee !

Every now and then there comes an anthem for a generation that speaks a truth…

> Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin‘

> Wang Chung’s Everybody Have Fun Tonight

> and now…

From this week’s American Idol search in Atlanta comes 62-year-old  General Larry Platt’s new musical rant against baggy-trousered B-boys, the instant classic “Pants On The Ground.”

Of course, this will lead to inevitable imitations such as when Neil Young allegedly  
appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to sing his own version.

“Call yourself a cool cat, lookin’ like a fool walkin’ downtown with your pants on the ground.”

I Know, I know, I have pretty much beaten the Nation Catholic Youth Conference drum long and very hard.  Well, in a maybe last but certainly not least effort, here is one more.

Christopher Stefanick, Director of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Denver Archdiocese, wrote about the experience of Catholic subculture at NCYC in Denver Catholic Register. He wrote:

“The Gospel isn’t communicated in a vacuum.  It’s communicated through culture.  When a Catholic culture is lacking, the Church organically creates subcultures, drawing in and redeeming aspects of the culture it’s in.  This is happening among our youth today.  Youth ministry has formed a redeemed culture born out of generation MTV with its own stages, its own rock stars and its own brand of rebellion.”

Wikipedia identifies a subculture as a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong. If a particular subculture is characterized by a systematic opposition to the dominant culture, it may be described as a counterculture.  And, Church…  Is this what discipleship is all about?

Stefanick concludes his article: “Generation MTV teens want to rebel and make a name for themselves.  What better way to do that than by being holy!  There’s no more profound rebellion than the one given by the saints and martyrs.  As I looked at the sea of teens, joyful to be standing for Jesus Christ and celebrating our ancient faith, I wondered, ‘If our Lord can change the world with 12, what can he do with 22,000?”

Watch next week. . . it happens all again at the March for Life.

The dangerous discipleship that Jesus proposed can be found in the Sermon on the Mount. What the beatitudes call for is an attitude that both expects and provides more goodness and that which is right in our existence despite whatever evil or wrong around us. Jesus is proposing to those who would accept the challenge of discipleship was that they enter the path of dangerous goodness

If you are without material wealth but continue to place your trust in God than you are more than rich enough. Tough times will occur but they open us to God’s grace. If we can remain humble, merciful, peaceful, and patient; if we can remain people of integrity despite that which confronts us, we allow the work of God to intervene in our lives. When faced with sorrow, we seek joy. This is the work of disciples.

Disciples not only evangelize by words and action, they also evangelize by presence. St. Francis of Assisi reminded others to “preach the Gospel at all times; (and) if necessary, use words.” This is what it means to be light for the world or a city set on a mountain.

The path of dangerous goodness demands that we make our relationships with each other correct before concerning ourselves with making our relationship with God right. Dangerous goodness calls for not only to avoid sin itself but also those acts that might also lead to sin. Dangerous goodness offers “no resistance” to evil but actually offers more goodness, in kind, that the evil presented. A slap on the cheek gets the offer of another check. The demand for one mile gets two. Enemies get love and prayers.

Recently, I re-read An Open Letter to Youth Ministry Workers Planning Short-term Missions, a posting by Dave Livermore on YouthWorker.com.  In it, Livermore asks us to “imagine how humiliating it is to be on the receiving end of many of these trips.”

In our own local Justice Action Week program, the staff refers to this as “the zoo effect.”  It is what occurs when one only does drive-by service focusing more on the impact upon themselves rather then genuinely engaging in solidarity with the local community, with an individual.  Participants are encouraged not to view their experience from a safe distance.

Livermore  concludes his letter with “You’re not bringing Jesus to us. He’s already here. In fact, He’s doing some amazing things here. And we know He’s in your midst and doing amazing things among you. We have needs. You have resources. You have needs. We have resources. Let’s pursue a relationship and see how God unfolds His mission in and through us—together!”

” Back in the day,” as she would say, daughter Johanna, from her perspective as a college student, suggested that it is not faith but religion itself which is what is dangerous.

I also think that today there is a danger in believing in the religion so wholeheartedly that you lose the faith.  In believing in the letter of the law so much that you lose the spirit of the law… this is more of an opposite danger… the dangers previously discussed were the kinds of dangers that – when risked – led to better things.   I think that “dangerous faith” can also encompass the dangers that we fall into when we just nod our heads and believe everything that is said without thinking about it and without understanding it for ourselves  If faith were a test, and Jesus the teacher, I don’t think He would want us to just SPIT BACK what He said in a nice, neat essay -  I think He would want us to challenge it, work with it, and come to our own conclusions.   I think that this line of thought itself is perhaps dangerous to some people, because who knows where it could lead?  But who knows where it could lead?!!?  And what it could teach us?  Faith is meant to be grappled with – and grappling with faith can be dangerous as well

The band R.E.M. empathized with Johanna’s feelings when they sang “That’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spotlight, losing my religion, trying to keep up with you, and I don’t know if I can do it.” Faith is dangerous stuff.