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<\/a>I have a friend who can\u2019t understand why I enjoy being a Catholic.<\/p>\n
From discussions I have had with him, it appears that he believes I am now enslaved by an organization that is run by a tyrant who bears the title of \u201cPope.\u201d I reckon that his libertarian tendencies bristle at the very idea of submitting to an authority, even if that authority is ordained \u00a0and conferred by Christ Himself.<\/a> Reckon<\/em><\/strong> transitive verb<\/em> the existence of the United States is reckoned<\/strong> from the Declaration of Independence intransitive verb<\/em><\/p>\n 1: to settle accounts<\/em> I hope you can see from this that using the word<\/span> reckon<\/span><\/span> in a sentence is not something that only hillbillies from Tennessee do. Because surely you can see that this word has many different meanings, and shades of meaning. And notice the reference to the Declaration of Independence, which for the purposes of this post fits where I\u2019m going to the \u201cT.\u201d <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n There is another use of the root word reckon<\/span> that may help shed some light on where I\u2019m going with this post as well. This word is really a phrase that has to do with the science of navigation. Let\u2019s take a look at <\/span>Merriam Webster<\/span> again,<\/span><\/p>\n Dead reckoning<\/strong> noun 1: the determination without the aid of celestial observations of the position of a ship or aircraft from the record of the courses sailed or flown, the distance made, and the known or estimated drift First Known Use of Dead Reckoning<\/strong>: 1613<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dead reckoning is nice, and all, but you wouldn\u2019t board an airline flight if you thought the pilot was just taking the plane up for a spin without any detailed flight plan to get you where you were going, would you? And lookee there at the second definition of the word. In the navigation business, guesswork can get you killed.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m removing the scholarly and erudite looking Anu Garg hat and putting on my Tennessee hillbilly \u201ccommon sense\u201d hat to say that this here fancy phrase-word means nothin\u2019 more than \u201cflying by the seat of your pants.\u201d Heck, you might even be plumb lost, \u201cbut yer jes too proud to stop at the gaas stayshun to ask that feller for directions, I reckon.\u201d See?<\/p>\n What\u2019s that? You can read a map all by yourself you say? You don\u2019t need any help reading maps? Well, I would really like to believe that about you but my own experience has been different. I almost never get lost, geographically speaking. Just ask my wife. And I\u2019ve spent an awful long time in the map room too and I love reading maps<\/span><\/a> as well. But in my practical, real world experience of actually navigating out in the field as a Marine? I know that some people read maps wrong. Dead wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n And they were reading the same maps that I had, too. I can\u2019t even remember how many times I have had to point this out to lost Lieutenants, Captains, and sometimes even Majors, when I was out in the field in the Marines. And to PFC\u2019s, Lance Corporal\u2019s, and even Sergeants sometimes too, as they were learning land navigation skills. And this assumes you are using current maps that were drawn and printed recently. True story time. This may shock you, but I even knew a Captain in my artillery battery who got lost routinely(!) even when he was using GPS. I kid you not! So don\u2019t argue to me that the latest technology will absolutely guarantee that you will make it to your intended destination.<\/p>\n Now, what if the map you are using today is ancient? You know, like you are using one that looks something like Blackbeard\u2019s treasure map, or the one from Robert Louis Stevenson\u2019s classic book <\/span><\/em>Treasure Island<\/em>. You can see that there is an X that marks the spot of the treasure but not much more detail than that.<\/p>\n Well, if I were you, and I found a map like this, I would track down and find the guy who buried the treasure who, as it turns out, is also the same guy who drew the map, and I\u2019d say,<\/p>\n Lookee here, I can\u2019t make head nor tales of where in the world this here treasure is from a readin\u2019 your map all by myself. Show me how to read this map and take me to the place where \u201cX\u201d marks the spot.<\/em><\/p>\n That is where the Catholic Church comes in see? She made the map, and she knows where the treasure chest is. Sure, I can read that Treasure Island map too, but it\u2019s lacking in a few details, or didn\u2019t you notice? How long have you been reading that map and you didn\u2019t notice this?! Now, the Church knows where the treasure is buried, because She was there when the chest was put into the ground. And She was there when it ascended up into Heaven too.<\/p>\n She knows that the treasure resides in each and every one of us now, so the map isn\u2019t a geographical one, see, but an internal one. As G.K. Chesterton explains so well,<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The Catholic Church carries a sort of map of the mind which looks like the map of a maze, but which is in fact a guide to the maze. It has been compiled from knowledge which, even considered as human knowledge, is quite without any human parallel.<\/em><\/p>\n There is no other case of one continuous intelligent institution that has been thinking about thinking for two thousand years. Its experience naturally covers nearly all experiences; and especially nearly all errors. The result is a map in which all the blind alleys and bad roads are clearly marked, all the ways that have been shown to be worthless by the best of all evidence: the evidence of those who have gone down them.<\/p>\n Now back to my friend, who has a \u201cgive me liberty, or give me death\u201d bent that would make even Patrick Henry seem squishy on the concept of freedom. Free will is a wonderful gift from God. Knowing that you can\u2019t read maps and need help navigating is another one of those gifts. But wait, there is more.<\/span><\/p>\n In my little mind, the knowledge that Christ himself founded the Church and put a human being in charge of it while She is here on earth gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. The kind of feeling I get when I think of my mother comforting me after the time when I had gotten lost at the county fair one year when I was little. When she found me, she gave me the biggest hug ever, and boy did I need that too! And to me this is similar to the kind of feeling I got when I was in the Marines and was serving under a great Commandant, or good commander. It is a feeling of confidence and joy that I am in good hands, even if the mission I was involved in might lead to my physical death.<\/p>\n Allison recently wrote a post <\/span><\/a>about her search for answers about the Kingdom of God. I don\u2019t know if my freedom loving friend thinks about the fact that this kingdom is not a representative democracy or not. But to be clear, it\u2019s called a Kingdom, because there is a King. He is a wise and wonderful King, and a benevolent one too. But most certainly He is a King, and if I pledge my allegiance to Him, which I have, then I do so with full knowledge that I will have to do what he asks of me. I am submissive to Him, otherwise, I\u2019m a rogue and a traitor. <\/span><\/p>\n This duty to obey requires discipline and grace, and in my short experience as a Catholic, the Sacraments<\/span><\/a> of the Church, and Her teachings, which are God\u2019s teachings (<\/span>as you can easily discover<\/span><\/a>), are what provide me the means to stay the course without getting lost. And I will <\/span>continue to read maps<\/span><\/a> to my hearts content. And I\u2019m very happy because on this ship, <\/span>I don\u2019t have to decide everything<\/span><\/a> either. Thank God!<\/span><\/p>\n The Church is the Ship and I have complete confidence in Her Captain\u2019s ability to navigate the shoals of this world until the day His Majesty decides to come back aboard Her and brings us into port.<\/p>\n Semper Fidelis,<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>
\nNow before you go and start thinking Frank is using hillbilly colloquial speech by using the word reckon<\/em>, let me put on my Anu Garg hat<\/a> and have a look at this particular word. Here is what the Merriam Webster Dictionary<\/a> says about it,<\/p>\n
\n Definition of <\/em>reckon<\/strong>
\n 1<\/em>
\n a: count <<\/em>to reckon<\/strong> the number of days days till Christmas><\/em>
\n b: estimate, compute <<\/em>reckon<\/strong> the height of a building, etc.><\/em>
\n c: to determine by reference to a fixed basis <\/em>
\n Example-<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>2: to regard or think of as: consider<\/em>
\n 3<\/em>
\n chiefly dialect : think, suppose < I\u00a0<\/em>reckon<\/strong> I\u2019ve outlived my time \u2014 Ellen Glasgow><\/em><\/p>\n
\n 2: to make a calculation<\/em>
\n 3<\/em>
\n a: judge<\/em>
\n b: chiefly dialect: suppose, think<\/em>
\n 4: to accept something as certain: place reliance <\/em>reckon<\/strong> on your promise to help.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nDefinition of Dead Reckoning<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n2: guesswork
\n\u2014 dead reckon (verb)<\/p>\n<\/a>