![](\"https:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/dalistjohnoncross-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The question has come my way several times<\/strong>, in the past week: \u201chow do you maintain your faith in light of news stories that bring light to the dark places that exist within your church?\u201d<\/p>\n
When have darkness and light been anything but co-existent? How do we recognize either without the other?<\/p>\n
I remain within, and love, the Catholic church because it is a church that has lived and wrestled within the mystery of the shadow-lands ever since an innocent man was arrested, sentenced and crucified, while the keeper of \u201cthe keys\u201d denied him, and his first priests ran away. Through 2000 imperfect \u2014 sometimes glorious, sometimes heinous \u2014 years, the church has contemplated and manifested the truth that dark and light, innocence and guilt, justice and injustice all share a kinship, one that waves back-and-forth, like wind-stirred wheat in a field, churning toward something \u2014 as yet \u2014 unknowable. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
NPR asked me to write an essay<\/strong> for Good Friday, and this is it. You can read the rest here<\/a>. NPR says don\u2019t forget recommend it, and leave a comment!<\/p>\n
Speaking of which, the comments at NPR are interesting and a little amusing, to me. Scorn is so incredibly simple and simplistic, and faith is so incredibly hard, and yet somehow the \u201cworld\u201d thinks it\u2019s the other way around \u2013 that my faith is simplistic and unthinking, but scornful kneejerkism is profound and deep.<\/p>\n
The world is an interesting place, isn\u2019t it? I am glad to be in it, doing my imperfect best as I try to move forward. I thank NPR for inviting me to write.<\/p>\n
You might as well comment there<\/strong>, since comments are still closed here as we cultivating silence<\/a>.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve podcasted the essay here<\/a>, for any who prefer that, today.<\/p>\n
UPDATE: <\/strong>
\nContext matters<\/a><\/p>\nDeacon Greg:<\/strong> Good Friday<\/a>:<\/p>\n
From within the four walls of our brokenness, behind the barbed wires of sin, we look out and look up \u2014 and we see this \u201ctree\u201d that symbolizes our salvation. This is how we know we are saved. This is how we know how much God loves us.<\/p>\n
This afternoon, the cross speaks to us. It speaks of the One who suffered and died upon it.<\/p>\n
It speaks to us in consolation. And \u2013 yes \u2014 in hope.<\/p>\n
And quietly, but persistently, it offers us the promise of something better, beyond the prison wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here. I am here. I am life. I am Eternal life.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Related:<\/strong>
\nJimmy Akin:<\/strong> Evil Monster Update<\/a>
\nJohn Allen:<\/strong> Is Middle Ground Possible on the Pope?<\/a>
\nJohn Stephenson:<\/strong> A Lutheran Pastor\u2019s Perspective on the Pope and the Dictatorship of Relativism<\/a>
\nPeggy Noonan:<\/strong> Catastrophe<\/a>
\n\u201cWere you There?\u201d<\/a>
\nYIM:<\/strong> Because I am Usually Howling With the Mob<\/a>
\nWhispers in the Loggia:<\/strong> Crucified!<\/a>
\nDominican Nuns of Summit:<\/strong> Holy Thursday<\/a>
\ndotCommonweal:<\/strong> Christus Factus Est<\/a>
\nMichael Sean Winters:<\/strong> The Other Scandal<\/a>
\nSisters of Mary<\/strong>: Sharing Holy Week<\/a>
\nMichael Fumento:<\/strong> A Good Friday to Remember<\/a>
\nAmerican Papist:<\/strong> History & Shroud<\/a>
\nFr. Dwight:<\/strong> Cosmic Remembrance<\/a>
\n\u201cScandal and the Cross<\/a>
\nDivine Office<\/a>
\nJames Martin:<\/strong>Praying for the Church\u2019s Rebirth<\/a>
\nMark Shea:<\/strong> GCK on Good Friday<\/a>
\nYIM:<\/strong> Because the Prophecy of David is fulfilled<\/a>
\nDanielle Bean:<\/strong> Marked by the Cross<\/a>
\nJohn O\u2019 Herron:<\/strong> The Death of JPII, from the Square<\/a>
\nFr. John Hardon:<\/strong> On Martyrdom and Suffering<\/a>
\nNeoneocon:<\/strong> The Press and the Pope<\/a>
\nFind more at<\/strong> New Advent<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The question has come my way several times, in the past week: \u201chow do you maintain your faith in light of news stories that bring light to the dark places that exist within your church?\u201d When have darkness and light been anything but co-existent? How do we recognize either without the other? I remain within, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,61,62,99,126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-crucible-of-faith","category-culture-of-lifedeath","category-faith-perspective","category-holy-week-10"],"yoast_head":"\n
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