Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Summer Plateau

After having been away for most of June, I returned to find my town had come to rest in what I call the Plateau of Summer. That is when leaves on trees are no longer light green, but dark green; when the temperatures not longer edge into the 70’s but stay in the 80’s and 90’s every day; and when the wind blows not just warm, but hot and dry.

I know this state of affairs won’t last more that four or five weeks before the leaves start showing tiny splotches of red and yellow and the night air begins to cool.

When that happens, it will be time to start thinking about fall. But that will be then, and, happily, this is now.

Sign of Times Past

Peter’s Mistake

When Jesus asked who the disciples thought Jesus was, Peter got it right: You are the Messiah, the Son of God. Yet a few verses later, Jesus rebuked Peter for telling Jesus that he (Jesus) should not have to suffer and die. Peter was right about his answer, but wrong about what the answer meant.

When we use religious language, sometimes we’re like Peter. We know the right words but not necessarily what they mean— statements such as God’s being our Father, Jesus’ rising from the dead, the Spirit’s giving us life, etc. What do those things really mean?

One way we can find out is by watching people live and act according to them. If God truly is our Father, how will that change the way a person lives and treats others? If Jesus rose from the dead, how will this affect a person’s attitude toward death? If the Spirit is the life-giver, are people forced to depend solely on themselves for the things they need?

We can also look to the reflection the church has given to religious language for the past two thousand years. We are not the first people, after all, to face the challenge of what such language means, so why not get to know how our faith tradition has explained things that aren’t always easy to grasp?

In these ways, we can to come to understand better what our religious language really means, and sometimes, just as importantly, what it doesn’t.

Outdoor Sipping

A Pleasant Afternoon

I’d been sitting outside a coffee shop on a June afternoon. It was sunny with enough of a breeze to add a touch of coolness, and I nursed my cup of coffee for over an hour while several other people sat at tables reading just like me.

Afternoons like this don’t come that often. Everything fit together into one peaceful whole, from the smell of the flowers planted next to the building to the sight of leaves perfectly placed on the tree branches. Time slowed down and I even closed my eyes for a short nap.

It’s might not have been paradise, but it came pretty close.