another bachelor weekend

Last weekend, I went to see my folks. This weekend, I am headed off to the Confirmation retreat with the teenagers from our parish. I am really excited about this, though it has brought me to a lot of thinking lately. I have spent a lot of Sunday evenings trying to share what I know about God and the world and how things work and how faith and hope always truimph over evil.

But in my daily life, it is tough. I have friends who don't believe. I have friends who are not only athiests, they are actively discrediting what I believe - making jokes about Jesus and about Christians in general. That is a tough thing. How do you live a life with the credo to love one another when someone attacks the heart of your belief system? I wonder how those same people could miss the stories about the christians who have helped rebuild Mississippi on their mission trips - about the millions of people helped by Catholic Charities - the people fed and clothed by Christians seeking to do the right thing, James Dobson, Billie Graham, Max Lucado, Rich Mullens, or Mother Theresa for pete's sake. Well, I guess I just don't know exactly how to handle that kind confrontation so I just don't say anything.
Making statements about all Christians is like me deciding that all men were bad and abusive just because one or two in my lifetime have behaved that way. I certainly can attest that a man pushed far enough will hit his wife - and a ten year old stepson. A drunken man will strangle his wife and then forget he ever did such a thing. That a man will date rape a woman he cannot have otherwise just to prove a point. That a husband will sleep with someone else just to show you he can do whatever he wants. That a boyfriend will choose cocaine over a promise to your kids. But there are other men who mean it when they make a promise and stand by their wives and children - who struggle with two jobs to keep their families fed and clothed and never say an ill word. So speaking badly about one portion of the male population isn't fair to the millions of people who have behaved well.
If there was anything I learned by working in a psych hospital it was that people have so many more facets than what we see on the surface - and they are capable of amazing good - and astounding evil. Just because you label someone as bipolar doesn't mean he won't turn out to be Einstein or Abe Lincoln.

And whether it is in spite of that, or because of that, I choose to dedicate a part of my life to teaching these kids about God. The world is such a busy and tempting place. It seems so important to have some sort of compass to guide where you want to go. Not so that they become robots and never think about what they believe - but so that they have a starting place to wrestle with God and the world - so that they can ask questions and come up with answers which can make a difference. Is that naive? well, maybe. But when we start believing that we have limits - that we can't do anything, then we can't. There is a real difference between a dream that is difficult versus a dream that is insurmountable. That is what I want the kids to understand - that if they want to make a difference - leave the world a better place, they need only have enough faith in themselves, hope in the future and love for one another to make that difference.
Here is hoping that for the hour I have to speak to them, there will be truth and hope in my words.