Born That Way

Some of us (including yours truly) are the kind who relish the battle. We were, basically, born to cross swords. We just love to be part of the minority. We may be tired at times, but we are tired like the professional cyclist is tired: you know after a while he will be on the saddle again.

Alas, not everyone is born with the contrarian attitude, and the character trait of enjoying it.

Let us imagine for a moment that you are one of the latter. Let us imagine that you feel exhausted at the string of bad news, the discussions with friends and relatives, the endless drain this has on your energy. Understandable, that you may be at times tempted to give up: stop the discussions, or the blogging (if you blog), or the commenting (if you comment), or the reading (if you read).

Would this make you feel better? Would this improve your, say, “quality of life”?

I bet it wouldn’t. Apart from the very obvious fact that this is a vale of tears, and quality of life should not be our first concern, the brutal fact is that if you are a sincere Catholic shutting up would just let you suffer more. You would have to endure the careless mentions of the “gay” all tyour friends make as if this was a normal state of affair. You would have to endure the spreading of what you know to be Satan’s poison among those you love most. You would have to know that whilst you are shutting up, others are writing and fighting and quarreling and exchanging adrenaline on the Internet, and you are not part of the battle.

Would that make you happier? I doubt. Certainly: the tepid, the wannabes, the small “c” catholics can live better in that way. But you, my dear reader, you can’t. If you could, you would have found this blog unbearable a long time ago. You can’t, because you care.

Then I say to you: let Catholicism be one of your daily cares. Let the suffering that the continuous reading about bad news gives you make a part of your suffering, and give it to Christ together with all your other cares and sorrows (which, be in no doubt about that, will increase with age anyway). Get up in the morning knowing that there will be bad news, or stupid commenters, of journalists that let your adrenaline go sky high, or priests that send you out of the grace of God (let’s hope not literally; it’s an Italian way of saying…), or a Pope that… OK, I’ll stop here.

Embrace it all as part of your cross. We weren’t born for “quality of life”. We were born to give witness in our small way. It will cost anger and adrenaline. It will cost friendships (but were they good ones?). It will cost the loss of comfort in many  small and less small occasions. But there is no better alternative; not only thinking of our own salvation, but even thinking of our own “quality of life”.

Some people were not born to shut up.

Then it is much better for them that they don’t.

Born that way, and all that…

M