Glimpses of God in the Everyday

“I don’t feel like it’s any of my business what people think of me.”
— Jim Caviezel

As a faithful Catholic who is an actor, Jim Caviezel must have had to use that philosophy a lot to remain true to his faith. We all should take a lesson from his book and do likewise. I’m serious here. We really should.

I just want to ask though, has anyone else tried to practice what Jim Caviezel preaches?

I have. It is darned near impossible.

It was excruciating It went completely against my nature. I like to win, especially when I’ve acted completely blamelessly and I want everyone to like me. It is easy to talk about turning the other cheek, but doing it is far from easy.

I now have a completely new appreciation for Jesus not arguing with the tribunal, not striking down the soldiers who mocked him after the scourging and humbly carrying that cross to his sacrificial death. He was blameless. But he let them think what they wanted. His reputation was in tatters long before that in all the “correct” circles.

My little tussle was nothing in comparison. Baby steps. Always baby steps.

When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.
— Matthew 5:39

The quotes is from Caviezel, the thoughts are from Happy Catholic (and Patheos columnist) Julie Davis, and it all can be found in Happy Catholic; Glimpses of God in Everyday Life, a book I am highly recommending to you, not because Julie is a friend, but because it’s a scrappy little volume that serves up morsels from some of the most surprising sources (Alice Cooper? Bender from Futuerama? Hank Hill and H. G. Wells?) and then seasons them with Julie’s own sauce.

Another:

Otto: Don’t call me stupid.
Wanda: Oh, right, to call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people. I’ve worn dresses with higher IQs. I’ve known sheep that could outwit you, but you think you’re an intellectual, don’t you, ape?
Otto: Apes don’t read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes, they do, Otto, they just don’t understand it.
— A Fish Called Wanda

Do we really know all we think we do? A bit of searching on the Internet, a few good quotes, maybe even an article or two later, and too many of us feel qualified for philosophic debate.

This is not to say that we can’t argue logically or discuss philosophy without a degree, but we need to be firmly grounded in teh truth of what we believe. Further reading might be required, admitting we don’t know or even having to re-examine beliefs based on what we have learned.

It can hurt. Believe me. I know. I had to be slapped around by lots of reading and the logic of two thousand years of Church teachings before I came to my current views about the sanctity of life in every [human] form, including the unborn and the death penalty. I could almost feel the “rip” in my chest when I had to change my mind on these, especially when it came to admitting them to others. Those aren’t popular views.

Once I really understood, however, there was no going back. That’s the price of understanding what we think.

Great last line. Great book.