USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #47

 

I'LL BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW......

 ....... that a  Native American Chief and Medicine Man is in the process of being canonized by the Vatican?

As a person interested in such things as Native American spirituality, I am reading the book pictured below. This extraordinary man was somehow able to bridge the spiritual traditions of the Oglala Lakota and the religion of Roman Catholics, without losing respect for either.  

What attracted me to this man as well, is the fact that several years ago, I led the priests and their bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, in their annual convocation. Our meeting was close to the South Dakota border and close to Mount Marty College in Yankton in the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

As a student and later a staff member of St. Meinrad Seminary, I was familiar with the first Abbot of St. Meinrad, Martin Marty, who had come from their founding abbey in Switzerland. In 1876 the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions sent him to Dakota Territory. In 1879 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic for Dakota Territory. In 1889 he was named Bishop of Sioux Falls, the first diocese of the state of South Dakota at the time.

On Tuesday, June 25, 2019, at St. Agnes Catholic Church, Manderson, SD, Bishop Robert Gruss of Rapid City SD, presided at a Mass celebrating the completion of the diocesan phase of the Cause for Canonization of Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk. At the conclusion of Mass, the final documents were signed, sealed and bound with a red cord, readied to be taken to the Congregation for Causes of Saints in Rome, Italy. Fr. Louis Escalante, the Roman Postulator for the Cause, will deliver the final documents.

Below, Bishop Robert Gruss prays at the grave of Servant of God, Chief Nicholas Black Elk,  with some of his Native American parishioners.

 

The Official Canonization Prayer 

MY MIXED AND CONFLICTING EMOTIONS

I have many, many mixed and conflicting emotions about all this! The more I learn about how the Native American Tribes of this country were treated by European Christians in their expansion across this country, the more sinful and tragic it appears to me, especially when I learn more about how they were often forced to embrace a white Christian culture and religion, accept the seizing of their ancestral lands and give up their own languages, cultures and spiritualities. 

I have the same conflicting emotions about how black people from Africa, forced to come here as slaves, had to give up their own cultures and spiritualities. 

The best I can do is to try to learn the truth of their stories, share what I learn the best I can, give them the respect and honor they deserve and, in all honesty, call a sin a sin! I am a Christian, but I am not a Christian Nationalist - one who is determined to force my religion onto the people of other religions in this country. I believe that Christianity is a religion of invitation and lived example, not of  force and exploitation. I believe in the separation of church and state as the best way to honor the many religious traditions of this country.   

 

SOME TIMELY ADVICE

copied from locally produced

THE NOTEBOOK

THOUGHTS, IDEAS & UPDATES FROM POPLAR TERRACE AND FRIENDS

Issue 43, November 2024

Thoughts on Finding Hope in Despair By Brene’ Brown

Despair is a claustrophobic feeling. It’s the emotion that says, “Nothing will ever change.” It’s different than anger or sadness or grief. Despair is twinged with hopelessness. People who subscribe to power-over leadership often weaponize despair. They count on people giving up on themselves, their work, and each other. I get it. I’m looking at people I know with suspicion. I’m questioning the value of my work. I’m wondering if courage, kindness, and caring for each other simply don’t matter anymore. I’m desperate for someone to blame because blame is an effective way to discharge pain and it gives us a sense of counterfeit control. The research shows that people hope is a powerful antidote to despair. What’s interesting, however, is that hope is not an emotion (C.R. Snyder). Hope is a cognitive-behavioral process. It’s about having a goal, a pathway to achieve that goal, and a sense of agency or “I can do this.” Right now, the thing that is helping the most is micro-dosing hope. I have no access to big hope right now, however, I am asking myself how I can support the people around me. The people on my team, in my community. How can I make sure that, in the maelstrom of my emotions, I stay committed to courage, kindness, and caring for others regardless of the choices that made by others? Doing the smallest next right thing is hard […] but sometimes it’s all we’ve got.

How will you stay committed to kindness?

In times of challenge, we have the power to choose how we engage with our communities. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been reflecting on ways we can infuse a sense of lovingkindness, hopefulness, and hope back into our beloved city. It is as Brene’ Brown suggests: We must find the smallest, next right thing to do. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist Being a responsible and compassionate neighbor begins with listening and learning about the needs of those around you and staying open to how you can help. It also includes listening to and learning about yourself. What will you do to take care of you? And once you can offer that kindness to yourself, consider what can be done to lift up someone else who is struggling. Small actions for self-care: Go on a mindful walk, make a quick phone call to an old friend, pick up a book, visit a park, take a nap, turn off the TV one night a week, doodle, meditate, try a new recipe, try a new restaurant, reconnect in some small way to spirituality, go to the library for an hour, speak gently to yourself when you look in the mirror. Small actions for neighborly love: Strike up a chat in at the checkout line, donate unused or gently used resources, make eye contact and smile warmly, help someone with a small task like carrying in the groceries, volunteer for a cause you care about once a month, mentor a younger person interested in your hobbies or career, never let a compliment go unsaid. To keep moving forward with optimism and generosity, join us in learning, nurturing, and thriving at one (or all!) of the many inclusive and uplifting events happening across town. Let’s continue to cultivate a community built on hope, kindness, and mutual support. We can do this—together.

DISCERNING WHAT IS OF VALUE

    

My prayer is that you may be able to discern what is of value.

Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11

This quote from our second reading today reminds me of something from the Book of Sirach in the Old Testament. “Before you are life and death, good and evil, whichever you choose shall be given you. No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.” (Sirach 15:15-20) That is worth repeating! "Before you are life and death, good and evil, whichever you choose will be given to you!"

 

A lot is made these days of our "right to choose," but little is said about our responsibility to choose wisely, not to mention our responsibility to accept the consequences of our choices. Some people are like kids who go through life eating the filling out of the Oreos and then throwing the cookies away. They want freedom without the responsibility that goes with it! They want to choose, but they are not necessarily willing to accept the responsibility that goes with their choices.

 

You may have the right to eat French Fries and Chicken Nuggets three times a day, but you also have the responsibility to eat healthily.  If you only exercise your right to eat whatever you want, without accepting your responsibility to eat well, you will sooner or later have to accept the consequences of your choices. You have a right to skip class, but you also have a responsibility to go to class. If you only exercise your right to skip, you must be willing to accept the consequences of maybe flunking out of school.  If you only exercise your right to accept a credit card, without accepting your responsibility for paying for what you charge, you will sooner or later have to accept the painful consequences of your choices -ruining your credit for years to come!  Our culture is filling up with people who keep trying to beat this basic truth!    

 

Young friends here today, I have something to say to you. One of the benefits of being a young adult is finally being able to enjoy the freedom to make your own choices.  One of the upsides of the freedom to choose is the ability to build your own life the way you want it through a series of personal choices. One of the downsides of the freedom to choose is the freedom to ruin your own life through a series of poorly-thought-out choices. The freedom to choose, combined with the ability to choose wisely, is the ideal. Yet there are many who cannot handle their freedom well and end up losing it. Choosing what feels good at the moment, without the personal discipline to choose what would actually be good over the long haul, is a recipe for disaster.  Hearing about people ruining their lives has actually become a favorite American entertainment. Many think it is funny to watch stupid people on trash TV tell the world how they have ruined their lives and the lives of those who have been associated with them.    

 

Every day, old and new TV programs like Judge Judy, 90 Day Fiance, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos make big bucks featuring people who have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them because of the poor choices they have made. They have the "freedom to choose" but choose poorly. They have the "freedom to choose" but they don't have the ability to discern what is of value.  Illegitimate children, ruined marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, financial ruin, family disintegration, squandered opportunities for a good education and loss of reputation are only a few of the consequences of making choices without the ability to choose wisely.

 

To be able to "discern what is of value," we must develop self-mastery. By self-mastery, I mean we have to be able to name and then "stand up to" our addictions, our cowardice and our laziness in order to create the life we want to have! We must be able to "handle" ourselves and our cravings - for a higher purpose and for our long-term good. We must be able to continually clarify what we really want out of life, constantly focus our energies to reach for what we want and consistently deal in truth rather than self-deception.

 

People with self-mastery approach their lives like an artist approaching the task of producing a work of art. People with self-mastery know how to discern what is of value and use what they have discerned to live on purpose!  The spiritual disciplines of both East and West speak often of the practice self-mastery.  I published a new book last year on this very subject. It is an autobiography mapping the courageous choices I have deliberately made since age six and how those choices made me what I am today – for good or for bad! It is called BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE: Choosing to Do Hard Things for Your Own Good.

 

One of the sad things about our culture, in which freedom of choice is so highly honored, is the growing tendency to deflect responsibility for our choices after we make them.  If our culture is to survive, the freedom to choose must be combined with personal responsibility. To demand the freedom to make our own choices and then throw the blame on others when those choices backfire is the height of cowardice and irresponsibility - and yet it is so popular in our culture. Freedom without responsibility is wreaking havoc all around us.

 

When enough of us have the ability to discern what is of value and when enough of us have the self-mastery to choose what is of value, marriages will improve, families will improve, neighborhood will improve, the economy will improve, churches will improve, nations will improve and the world will improve. These problems can only be fixed one person at a time. In reality, no one can save us from us, but us!            

 

Discipline is about choosing “delayed gratification” or “good things coming to those who wait” or “the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward in favor of a larger prize in the future.” Numerous studies have shown that the ability to delay gratification is one of the biggest indicators of success through life – be it your ability to manage your resources, choose the right spouse, maintain your weight, becoming skilled at a sport or launching a career. Those who can resist temptation in pursuit of long-term goals are blessed with an enormous advantage over the rest of the herd. In other words, too much comfort is a bad thing – long term. Yes, lack of self-mastery has a direct impact on the quality of multiple areas of people’s lives. Those who cannot establish mastery over their appetites and impulses will no doubt see many aspects of their lives quickly unravel. The ability to subordinate a lower impulse to a higher value is the essence of a satisfying life. Leonardo da Vinci was right when he said, “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”

 

The ability to discern what is of value and self-mastery in the face of severe temptation is at the heart of Jesus’ desert experience. To do his Father’s will, not his own, Jesus had to be able to see the difference between what “looked good” and what was “actually good.” Once he was able to discern what the will of his Father was, he had to have the self-mastery to follow it, no matter how tempted he was to do otherwise!