mccarthyism

At communion this morning in chapel I thought about the reality of what I was doing: that the events of Christ’s death and resurrection are not just ideas or representative myths, but actual events in space and time; that in my body right now are the elements which in a very real sense symbolize the actual body and blood of Christ, and as such have the power to enable me to live the Life he brought. I realized (not for the first time) how much I’ve made the truths about Christ into an ideology which I use to give my life significance, without letting them filter down onto the plane where I actually live. Christ would be useless if he didn’t affect my daily life. It’s not an emotional thing; it’s a hard truth which I’m called to obey.

I don’t think it’s an accident that we actually ingest Christ’s body and drink his blood. This food enables us to live that Life which he brings, in an actual and physical sense. Alexander Schmemann: “Whether we ‘spiritualize’ our life or ‘secularize’ our religion, whether we invite men to a spiritual banquet or simply join them at the secular one, the real life of the world, for which we are told God gave his only-begotten Son, remain hopelessly beyond our religious grasp.” He’s talking about the dichotomy between the “spiritual,” or ideal, and the “secular,” or material; and he’s saying that Biblically there is no such thing: it’s all the same “life.” He draws them together this way: “When we see the world as an end in itself, everything becomes itself a value and consequently loses all value, because only in God is found the meaning (value) of everything, and the world is meaningful only when it is the ‘sacrament’ of God’s presence.”

I had a good nap behind the stacks in the library thinking about this right after chapel. I haven’t felt as rested in a long time as I did walking to lunch afterward. I have class now.

Reading:
Alexander Schmemann: For the life of the world
Isaac Bashevis Singer: Shosha

i have two tests this week soccer is not worth it so i skipped practice chris is just about my favorite person ever the band is playing again starting tomorrow night christ remains my only coherency i dreamed i lived in quebec city and it was wintertime it got dark at four and was bitterly cold i finally bought “the rising tide” last weekend and its splendid viva le bonhoeffer, viva le collier i went to florida last weekend and watched six terrible movies and cuddled with jamie h. and did no homework not much else to write at this juncture in three hours i’ll be nineteen happy happy birthday to me