I've been staying in the rectory to avoid sharing germs.  At Masses we had one less person inside our church than last week.  I've been sharing these numbers especially for those concerned about germs.  The 4 PM Mass is the most crowded.  The 8 AM and 6 PM Masses have the most room.  All Masses have plenty of room even for those who want to stay six feet apart.

4 PM        251           1

6 PM        135

8 AM        136

10 AM      171

12 PM      194

     Because of the election, I've been trying to help people grapple with the relationship between religion and politics.  I recently read the best article I've seen yet.

by Daniel Lipinski

This article is truthful and straightforward.  It doesn't use any literary devices to capture your attention in a sensationalist kind of way.  Lipinski goes deep intellectually.  Even if you're not familiar with all the history, philosophy, and theology that Lipinski discusses, you'll still come away with the injunction to be Catholic first even as you discern how best to participate in the public square.

     While I prefer the truthful, straightforward approach, literary devices can be effective in winning some people over.  Jesus occasionally used hyperbole and even the art of the Jewish insult in order to communicate more effectively.

     Comparing cultural liberals to the Nazis is meant to capture your attention.  For example, see David Carlin's Of Nazis and “Nazis”.  After capturing your attention, Carlin employs a twist.  He compares and contrasts cultural liberals and Nazis to show how they're alike and different.  You might be at first pacified that liberals are not like Nazis.  But later upon reflection, you might notice a more subtle literary device:  the open question in which the reader is meant to reach a conclusion on his own.  Cultural liberals and Nazis are not the same.  Who is worse?  I'm not so sure.  Jesus talked about being more afraid of the one who can kill the soul than the body.

     The Bible contains many different kinds of genres including satire.  Austin Ruse writes in the satire genre with Election 2022: Night of the Walking Dead.  He even gives you a clue about genres when he refers to the zombie genre.  If you don't realize the genre Ruse uses, you'll likely be deeply offended and miss the entire point of his article.

      While sensational literary devices and unusual genres can be effective in certain cases, I do prefer the truthful, straightforward approach.  Even so, I think stories are more powerful than academic treatises in winning people for Christ.  Dan Lipinski's article includes both academic truths and personal stories.  It's because of those stories that his academic insights are more attractive and meaningful.

     Notice how Jesus taught.  He often used parables (very short stories) to teach a lesson.  Even the Gospels as a whole are stories of Jesus Christ.  The Bible as a whole tells the story of salvation history.

     We might consider the stories that we enjoy whether in books, movies, TV, plays, or with family and friends.  Which stories are both enjoyable and meaningful?  What stories please us not only during the story but afterward?  This was a question St. Ignatius of Loyola asked himself with respect to books about romantic adventures and the lives of the saints.  He noted that the romantic adventures were exciting while reading them but left him depressed afterward.  The lives of the saints, however, were exciting while reading them and left him delighted long afterward as well.

     In my short quarantine during this cold, I've been watching two kinds of TV shows.  I'm rewatching Star Trek Discovery and then listening to Secrets of Star Trek podcasts about it.  I want to better understand post-modern stories and how they connect to reality.  Modern art has a lot of destruction in it.  Post modern art reaches for truth from the midst of the destruction.  I generally find both kinds of art depressing even though there are signs of hope.

     The other show I just started watching is The Chosen.  It's available on their website and elsewhere such as Amazon Prime, Roku, and Formed.  Our parish has a subscription to Formed.  To connect, choose the option for parishes.  I'm finding The Chosen to be both exciting during the watching and afterward.  I've noticed many little details that would make rewatching the episodes enjoyable too.  I've been pleasantly surprised by how The Chosen portrays sin without being gratuitous or too scary.  Jesus is portrayed as merciful and humble.  These are things we know, but I find the portrayal helpful to understand them better.

     So, I invite you to consider what stories you listen to or watch.  And I plead with you to use your reason when evaluating any article or story.  Try to understand the genre, recognize the literary devices, and understand what the author is trying to do.  Then you'll be much better able to discern whether the author is right or wrong, helpful or not.  Whatever you do, I invite you to be Catholic first.

God love you,

Fr. Jim