Two things happened on Twitter this past week that got my brain working. (and yes, I am on Twitter, and Facebook and Instagram) First was a tweet from the youth ministers who were attending the #NCCYM, which came in part, “Doubt is not toxic to faith—Silence is toxic to faith.” (thanks Deepu, John, Row, Steve et al) The second was on St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6th) in which there were many Memes with jolly old St. Nicholas punching Arius for denying the divinity of Jesus but the one tweet that asked us to reflect and not retweet something of legend instead of fact. In other words we don’t know if the Bishop Nicholas was at the Council of Nicea and should we be happy about the punch?
A long introduction that is hopefully worth the thoughts that follow. The youth ministers that gathered from around the nation in San Jose last week at the #NCCYM are vital and essential to the life of the Catholic Church. It was fascinating following the tweets they placed into the twitterverse that were thought provoking, funny, sometimes irreverent but always a challenge to see how we serve our young people, both teens and young adults, not as objects but as “who” each one is and their unique experience of God in the world. The above quote and been in my prayer over and over again because I like to talk through the doubts of the young men and women who often come to talk, flooding them with my pearls of wisdom and fail to hear them as who they are…or in other words, silence them into the toxic wasteland of not being heard. It is a challenge that our ministers to the young also face as they seek to listen and hear God’s voice in our young people.
This is the difficulty we often confront. We want to fix it right now rather than let the Holy Spirit move in the life. We want our advice and experiences to help others when often times it is only the quietness of listening that allows the breath of the Spirit to truly animate the soul of life. Now I don’t know the full context of the tweet, but it is a thought worth pondering because the silence can flow both ways as we leave unspoken the true words of grace and blessing that others might need…or the words of hard truth…or the gentle nudging of holy presence that speaks loudly and clears the air with the gale force winds of life and love. So…#1 Thank God for our youth and young adult ministers…and #2 pray for them.
Second we get to good ole St. Nick. I have a great love for the Bishop Nicholas for a variety of reasons, the greatest of which is he is my Confirmation patron saint. When I was in my High School Confirmation class we were asked to choose a saint name for Confirmation. I remember that the teacher also challenged us to choose a saint with a virtue with which we wished to strengthen in our own lives and then ask the help of our saint to grow in this virtue. Strangely enough and I believe with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and perhaps my guardian Angel, I choose Nicholas. The virtue that I saw and believed I needed to strengthen was that of generosity. How a 14 year old boy comes up with this I will forever be puzzled at…but there it is.
So, when I saw all the tweets with the Memes of St. Nicholas punching Arius I was truly saddened because, while I know that St. Nicholas had his sins, I like to remember his blessing of generosity and his prayers for me. Nicholas is a saint, not because of a punch, but because of his choosing to say yes over and over again to God in seeking mercy, reconciliation and living within the generous charity of God’s love for him and all people. St. Nicholas generosity shows us the face of God as we acknowledge our need to grow in holiness and avoid the sins of the world.
Just some thoughts.
God Bless
Fr. Mark