Straight Shooter

By Artur Suski, S.J. 

Credit: http://joeam.com

The Church and the secular world have different understandings of sin. When the media and other secular institutions talk about sin, they often equate sin with evil, with little deviation from this. The Church, on the other hand, from its earliest years has had a different understanding of sin.

There was no single word in the Greek language that can be translated into our English word sin. There are seven Greek words that are translated as sin in the Bible, with the most frequently used word being hamartia. It was used 221 times in the New Testament. Its literal meaning is quite revealing - it sheds some light on how the early Church understood sin. It means, literally, “to miss the mark”. To sin is really to miss the mark; think of an archer that is aiming for the bull’s eye in a target. If he’s really good, he’ll hit the mark. If not, he’ll miss the mark, or, he’ll sin.

Calling All People to Life

By John D. O’Brien, S.J. 

Photo: John O'Brien

Coming so soon from watching one of the most moving and remarkable films I’ve ever seen, I was inspired when I received a song by Canadian songwriter and musician Erin Leahy that explored similar themes. Leahy’s “Calling All People to Life”, like the movie Gravity, dwells upon the idea of the inherent fragility and value of human life, pivots upon the power of prayer, alludes to the fundamental choice between life and death, and has great exultant motifs of baptism and rebirth. Already getting radio-play, this new song from the Juno-award winning artist also captures several basic themes from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I invite readers to first take a moment and listen to the song for themselves, which is posted here with her permission:

Winning the Lottery

By Eric Hanna, S.J.

When they hear I have a vow of poverty, people often ask, “what if you won the lottery?” Children especially find this to be an important question. Sure, it's okay to have a vow of poverty … but if you won the lottery, would they take your money away? That doesn't seem fair.

Well, there are two answers to this question: a technical answer and a heartfelt answer.

Firstly, the technical answer. A member of a religious order with a vow of poverty won't be gambling. And if I bought a lottery ticket it would be with the community's money anyway. So really, if the ticket were a winner, the money would belong to the community. Ditto for gifts: whatever is given to me is not for my use alone but a donation to the whole religious order of which I am a member.

Knowing God’s Will: First Steps

By Adam Hincks, S.J.

If you ask me what you are to do in order to be perfect, I say, first – Do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising; give your first thoughts to God; make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament; say the Angelus devoutly; eat and drink to God’s glory; say the Rosary well; be recollected; keep out bad thoughts; make your evening meditation well; examine yourself daily; go to bed in good time, and you are already perfect. 
– Bl. John Henry Newman

St. Ignatius of Loyola would often close his letters with the prayer that he and his correspondent would have the grace to know God’s will and the strength to carry it out. He is by no means alone in this prayer. I suspect that most Christians often petition God for guidance about what to do in concrete situations. And yet, it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that discovering God’s will requires advanced spiritual experience or that it is the domain of mystical gurus. This can lead to a dilemma: we feel that we ought to seek for God’s will in our lives—whether it be for big, life decisions or small, everyday decisions—but at the same time we can feel that we do not have the spiritual know-how to get there. As a consequence, we either avoid commitment or become complacent.

When we are not sure how to come to know God’s will, Thomas Merton offers excellent, down-to-earth advice. In New Seeds of Contemplation, he writes:

The Senate Scandal: The Slippery Slope of Incoherence

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

Credit:www.westislandgazette.com

It all started with moments of self-entitlement. Lapses of judgment led to lies and cover ups. It all ended in the current predicament of the Canadian government, which has been consumed by the Senate expenses scandal. It is very easy to accuse the guilty parties, or simply to play partisan politics. I don’t intend to judge the senators, and those who are accused of assisting with cover-ups due to their lapse in judgement. Their actions are being examined by the Senate, and suspensions, sanctions and criminal charges, if any are laid, are being assessed.

Busy Zombies

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

“I am too busy to read this.”

While I certainly hope that the previous statement is not true, I think we all have those moments. We make decisions to say yes or no to things, because we simply cannot do everything. That being said, we tend to fill out our daily schedules. We are often busy with something. I myself do not like to sit on my hands and remain idle. But what kind of busy-ness is found in our lives?

The Chinese character for “busy” is máng. It is made up of two parts: the root (or the “radical”) of the character is the “heart” radical found on the left side. On the right, it is the word “death”. This is obviously not referring to cardiac death. As it is the case in many cultures, the heart stands for something more important. It often symbolizes the very being of our selves. Even our own Céline Dion from Canada thinks so.

One Hand at a Time

By John D. O’Brien, S.J. 

Fra Angelico, 15th c., National Gallery, London

Pray for me, and I shall for you and all your friends, that we may merrily meet in heaven. 

– St. Thomas More  

Saints alive! It’s that day of the year again, when we collectively honour that large company, the friends of God. There is a more restricted notion, which holds the saints are the elect in heaven. A more expansive one includes the living who are holy, as when St. Paul calls out “to the saints, who are at Ephesus” at the beginning of that famous letter. So while today we collectively honour the canonized, we may also reflect on the living who have been saintly influences during our lives.