BODY AND SOUL

It makes me sad that all one ever hears about in the media with regard to Catholicism is but a small portion of the social manifestations of an incredibly loving, deeply meaningful and positive model gifted to us by a loving Creator who, in love, has tied his own hands, so to speak, so that, with free will, we may choose to follow his prescription that purifies us, aligns us with His will, and allows us to return to him and dwell with Him forever in a beatific vision.

I have asked myself, if God made each one of us and knew our name before our birth, and if the whole of Christianity is purposed so we would return to Him at the end of our lives, why didn't he just create us and then keep us in heaven where we are intended to be for all eternity?  Why bother making this detour to earth?  Why?

Obviously, there is something valuable that happens here on earth, something that cannot be duplicated in heaven or in a strictly spiritual persona.  We need these bodies and these earthly experiences for some type of development and/or learning process.  On judgment day, He will resurrect us with our glorified bodies, and we will go to heaven, which is a place and not just some abstract 'spiritual' realm.  We will commune with Lord, as glorified body and soul, in the exquisitely beautiful realm of heaven.

We are body and soul.  We are not a soul trapped in a body.  (That was a very early heresy that is being repeated now by New Agey types of people whose views are similar to the gnostics that existed before Jesus was born and who tried to change His message to jive with their own.)

This is why it is tremendously important to harmonize our body's activities with the will of Our Father Who Art In Heaven.  We are called to "be perfect" as our "Father in Heaven is Perfect."  Many people do not understand that the sins that one does with one's body have a profound affect on one's entire being.  It is difficult for many people to understand how the sexual sins can be harmful, for instance, when it feels so great and there is no appearance of harm.  It is doubly difficult to comprehend the damage when other people join you in your assertions that "no harm is done."  When the government approves it, such as the legalization of abortion and the weddings of same-sex couples, it is harder still to see clearly, especially since the nature of what is being done is being hidden in deliberately obscuring language.

Abortion, which is murder of an unborn human being, is characterized as "pro-choice."  Same-sex marriage is enshrined in the Constitution, of all things, and is labeled as an issue of "human rights."

Because the general public is mostly ignorant of Christian faith, they are easily inculcated with the misleading language and phony labels generated by people who are committed to certain types of sins.  Without bothering to study the faith before making their decision, they opt for the thing that is easiest and feels the best.  Sex feels great.  Reading books and studying is too much trouble.  Let's just have the sexual sin and forget about studying both sides of an issue before we make a decision! Let's just discount the Christian faith by repeating the sound-bite cliches we have heard from other people.

I will sheepishly raise my hand at this point when the question is asked if I have ever behaved like that?  You betcha.  When I was young, I repeated what other people said about Jesus and His Church and kept sinning, secure in the knowledge that it was OK.  Everyone said so, after all.  I am grateful for the forgiveness of God.  He doesn't want to punish us.  He just wants us to get it right.  "Your sins are forgiven. Go and sin no more," Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery.

Sins accomplished with the body are important, not because I think so but because Jesus said so.  "Go and sin no more." In addition to sexual sins, gluttony is also a physical sin, as is alcoholism and abusing drugs.  We are told that the body is the temple of the spirit.  Something important is being accomplished there.  We do not need to know every reason why it is important.  God doesn't owe us that.  He is accomplishing His work in us as He sees fit.

If we didn't need our bodies for some special purpose, they would not have been created.  We wouldn't have them.  There is a divine purpose to humans possessing body and soul.  I don't pretend to know the whole story behind this, just that I need to be more cognizant of what I am doing with my body. I have my issue, which is food.  Other people will struggle with other crosses in regard to what they allow within the temple of their soul.  We must remember that it is important and not discount it, though.

What we should not do is pretend that bodily sins do not hurt us and others.  We should aim for the highest, instead of legislating the lowest.

Silver "Rose" Parnell
(c) 2015

INDIANA ON MY MIND

Sometime in my mid to late 30's, I worked for an attorney in Beverly Hills who, I grew to understand, was somewhat lacking in personal ethics.  One day, he placed a document in front of me and told me to sign a verification testifying that I had mailed copies of it to the opposing attorney a few days previously.  I had never seen the document before, so I declined to sign it.  He wanted me to lie, and my personal ethics and religious sensibilities prevented me from doing it.  He insisted, quite vigorously, that he was the boss, he had ordered me to sign it and that he would take responsibility for it.  He claimed I would not be culpable, morally or legally.  He was wrong on both counts.

When he realized that I was not going to budge, he either fired me or I quit.  I can't remember which.  It was a terrible job anyway.  Our work space was tiny, all the secretaries were jammed together, and they were horrible women, probably each one was part of the "mean girl" clique in high school, and they had even gone so far as to steal my tax return out of the outgoing mail, probably to see how much money I made, or just to mess with me.  Maybe both.

When the conversation turned to my final check, the attorney refused to pay me my accrued vacation pay.  California law, at that time, provided that a person's vacation pay accrued on a daily basis and that, when you left the employ of a company, the company had to pay you the accrued vacation pay.  Previously, companies had waited until an employee was about to take a vacation and then fired them without severance and without paying for the vacation they had earned.

When I reminded this attorney of the laws in this regard, he said, "so sue me."  I replied, "Fine, I will!" and I drove directly to the Department of Labor Standard Enforcement and filled out a complaint against them.  I knew that, if the company did not give me the money it owed me within two weeks, they could be fined $10,000 or more and they could be required to pay me as if I was still employed with them, for every day I had to wait before I received the money I was owed.  I received my complete check within a week.

There were laws in place and offices to administer those laws with regard to compensation, but to my knowledge, there was no protection for my religious or ethical considerations.  If an employer ordered me to lie or do something illegal or unethical, there wasn't much recourse except to quit, get fired, or cave in.  The only "alternative"  was to hire an attorney and sue the employer to get one's job back, which would be contingent upon being able to prove one's case - and what clerical worker has that kind of money or would want to return to a job like that anyway?

I was many times ordered to lie and/or do unethical or immoral things during my working life.  I refused, and I moved on to another job.  There was little room in business for a secretary or an office manager who will not lie for their boss.

40 years ago, a young mother at age 20, I worked as an assistant in the commodities department at a famous financial management firm on one of the top floors of a large office building in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.  I was the only female on the floor, and all the men would gather in the conference room at lunch time to watch pornographic movies.  They would hoot and holler and make vulgar noises and comments about the movies, every once in a while calling out to me to come and join them.  It was an awful experience.

I hadn't been there long when I was propositioned by the boss.  He asked me to go to Las Vegas with him for the weekend.  I refused, of course.  He fired me immediately.  I didn't realize he had blacklisted me with his cronies until I went on an interview for a job with another firm in the neighborhood.  The interviewer was a friend of the boss that had propositioned me.  In front of a room full of people, the interviewer announced that he would never hire me because my previous employer had told him I was lazy and slow.  He pronounced this with an evil smile and a glance around the room to make sure that everyone heard him.  Evidently, he took an interview with me just so he could punish me and humiliate me in front of all those other people.  I had dared to say "no" to a weekend of sex with the boss.

I see now that there is this huge flap about a law recently enacted in Indiana in which a person of religious conviction cannot be forced to materially cooperate or assist in some action or service that is of a nature that is considered morally reprehensible by the religion of the person.  Mainstream media is screaming "discrimination!" because the law would protect a Christian baker from having to make cakes for gay weddings, since homosexual acts are considered very sinful.    It would protect the Jewish man from having to dry clean all the uniforms of the Nazi party or the Aryan Nation.  I believe it would also protect the black tailor from having to sew the costumes for the next KKK rally.

Certain media outlets are making hay out of this law, canvassing small businesses owned and/or run by Christians and asking them questions designed to get them to admit that they would not serve a gay wedding.  At least one business has been forced to close its doors.  They were getting death threats.

In my own life, I have observed that, the harder I work to live a good, holy and pure life, the more animosity to which I am subjected by the world at large, acquaintances, Facebook people, etc.  I can feel the pressure to conform to the secular norm of sex on demand, abortions on demand, abandonment of my faith on demand.  I am not allowed to hold any opinion that differs from the secular worldview, or else my character and motives are demeaned and I become the object of heated and hateful attacks.

I used to belong to a religion that preached that "all paths lead to God," and not a single person criticized me, but as soon as I had my conversion and became Catholic, all hell broke loose.  Even a friend of many years duration went nuts and took every opportunity to bash my faith, in person and in print, (even going so far as to spread lies about it), while at the same time insisting on attending Catholic retreats and receiving the Eucharist, though never having been Catholic and knowing full well that the Catholic Church does not allow non-Catholics to receive communion.  Illicitly receiving the Eucharist under false pretenses, in an unworthy state, while at the same time campaigning against the teachings of faith and morals of the Catholic Church is an insult to the faith.  I can only imagine the motives, as it makes no sense to me, except in the context of a childish effort to disavow "the rules" by flouting them.

I would be happy to see more laws like the one in Indiana being enacted in the United States.  More than a dozen states have it on their books at present, and I would like to see it expanded to provide protection for employees in the work place so that employers do not feel they can treat them as slaves and force them to commit acts against their conscience.  Judging from the brouhaha that has erupted since Indiana introduced this law, however, I doubt that stout protections for religious conscience will be enacted any further.  Western culture seems hellbent on jumping off the cliff of secular atheism and moral relativism.  One can always hope, and pray it will stop itself before it goes hurling over the edge, too late to save itself.  In the meantime, let's pray.

God save us all.

Silver Rose