Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

True Religion

It seems you can buy true religion for a couple of hundred dollars and wear it out of the store. True Religion is the name of a line of high end denim clothing that’s been appearing in malls and True Religion outlets all over the country.

When I first walked by the True Religion section in Macy’s, the name brought me up short. The name still bothers me. I don’t like the highjacking of a spiritual concept to designate a clothing line. I’d rather we kept the phrase “true religion” for what the Letter of James says it is — “to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27) — not a pair of jeans.

Sunset on Commencement Bay

Light of Life, Light of Death: A Meditation on August 6

In the church year, the feast of the Transfiguration, commemorating the time when Jesus’ face “shone like the sun,” occurs on August 6. At the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw the light of divinity shining out in Jesus, the kind of light that brings clarity, joy, peace, warmth, and life.

Twenty centuries later, on August 6, 1945, a very different kind of light appeared on the earth, generated by the first atomic bomb, which blinded, burned, and destroyed roughly a quarter million people. It’s flash of blazing light brought nothing but pain, suffering, and the darkness of despair.

As individuals and as a human family, we have to choose the path in which we will walk. We also have to choose which light will illuminate our path — that which comes from weapons of destruction and the false sense of security such weapons bring, or the light that even today still shines from the face of Christ.

Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle University

Burdens and Laws

Jesus once told people that if they were burdened, they should come to him and he would give them rest. Interestingly enough, Jesus wasn’t talking about the everyday tribulations that go with being human. He was referring to the religious laws of his day, especially as interpreted by the Pharisees, who taught the keeping not only of the Ten Commandments but several hundred other laws as well.

At the risk of oversimplifying, I think the Pharisees used the Law to interpret and relate to God, so naturally they were upset and scandalized when someone didn’t follow its prescriptions. Jesus, on the other hand, used his experience of God to interpret and relate to the Law. That’s why Jesus felt free to change or ignore it whenever he judged that it failed to sufficiently convey God’s love for us or the love we’re meant to show to others and to ourselves.

Some Christians may think we have become lax in observing our religious rules and regulations. I feel we (especially if we are prone to be scrupulous) should think more like Jesus, who knew that the rules and regulations can sometimes be unnecessary burdens — burdens he wants to take from our shoulders.