The Oppressor

Proverbs 3:31

31. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.

Sometimes, it just looks so much easier.  Other people don't seem to care about their spiritual state -- beyond "thou shalt not kill" -- and follow no religion, no guidelines, no practices.  And, yet, they seem to be happy.  They are good people who conduct themselves decently, have families and friends, own nice things, have fun, and even do good works for others sometimes.  And all without the addition of religious dogma, doctrine, and duties to carry around.  Surely, they are more free and, therefore, more joyful.  Right?  So, why am I burdening myself with Christianity, and, more pointedly, Catholicism?

I sometimes think this way.  It's only natural when I live in a secular culture and am surrounded by people who rarely talk of God or their souls.  To be a traditional (read fully authentic) Catholic Christian these days in the United States of America is considered radical and antiquated.  At best, I am a poor slob who needs the comfort of fairy tales or, at worst, I am an irrational fool, controlled by old white men, bent on conforming others to my superstition.  But... who really is the oppressor here?  What about the sense of something more that is beyond words and materialism and the scrutiny of telescopes and microscopes?  What about the wonder, present throughout human history, even in our scientifically-intelligent age, that draws human beings to look deeply within themselves and beyond all finite confines?  Physicists are not immune to that sense of inexplicable and inexhaustible mystery.  Albert Einstein himself was a man who often talked about God and believed in the human soul.  Yet, the empiricists of our day scoff at the poetry that lies between the metered lines and reduce the beauty and true ecstasy of love to brain chemicals, social conditioning, and sex.  They demystify, diminish, and even ridicule Christ because they have no idea who He is.  And we, who have an inkling, who have a glimpse of a glimmer of a knowing, are labeled as dreamers, dunces, or despots and our desire for spiritual knowledge and teachings -- for the whole truth of reality -- is oppressed.

Just be a good person, they will say.  And to be a good person, be free of conforming constraints that are not agreed upon by a majority of diverse people.  In other words, follow the majority, let the majority decide, be formed and shaped by what most people do in response to what the loudest people say.  Do not think for yourselves.  Do not spend too much effort trying to find your true self.

But, I reject all oppressors.  I'm not Catholic because practitioners of that faith indoctrinated me through exposure and extortion.  In fact, I'm not Catholic because of the example of Catholic people at all.  I was an atheist who, in the silence and stillness of nothing became aware of something beyond nothing, something beyond words or understanding.  That human wonder and sense of sacred Mystery was there and I did not run away from it or let others coax it or beat it down out of me.  Through the long journey of wondering, asking, seeking, discovering, I was never looking to be confined or conformed.  Now, as a believing Christian, I am still and always living for freedom and restoration.  Not the rigidity of rules.  Not the oppression of my true self.  No.  I seek to be truly and fully human, truly and fully alive -- truly and fully joyful.  And, surprise, it doesn't come by snapping my fingers.  (Good thing, because I can't snap my fingers.)  It comes through love -- true love.  Not biochemistry and temporarily satisfying social constructs.  But real agape, divine love that calls for my discipleship, for me to open myself up wide to the wonder and the awe.

And I will not stop there.  There are many people who call themselves spiritual but not religious because they do not want to try to fit this wonder and awe into a structure like organized religion.  However, this is looking at it the wrong way around.  Oak trees don't get stuffed down into an acorn -- they grow forth from the acorn.  A wildflower, which seems to grow so effortlessly, has its own struggles and pains -- as well as an order and form to follow.  Let us be like the little flowers in the field, for, from the safety of tiny confines miraculous beauty does grow.  My living spirituality comes forth from my religion as all of us, all of the complex diversity and beauty of creation, comes forth from God – from Divine Will, Word, and Way.  This is the truth -- this is Christ.  I seek the fullness of reality in Him, in the Way, the Truth, and the Life -- and the truth sets me free so that my joy may be ever full.

The true oppressors of the world seek for themselves power over those whom they oppress.  Sometimes, perhaps, they may truly want others to be as happy as they are -- but if that is their true desire then they will encourage others to ask, to seek, and to knock, they will never force.  Usually, it seems to me, oppressors want others to be as miserable as they are.  They think worldly power is everything and physical weakness or littleness is to be avoided at all costs -- and so they are miserable.  The finite will always fade and crumble away, but the Mystery is eternal.  And the Mystery can only be entered through free and true love.

The next time that I envy the ease with which others seem to live their lives, I will remember the struggle of wildflowers and the pain of bursting forth from an acorn so that there will always be an acorn from which to burst.  I am an Oak tree, a Catholic, because that's the truth of who I am -- conceived in the structure that gave birth to me and in which I am rooted: Christ.