A Dinasour in the New Normal

Watching how the world is nowadays, I am glad that I had the opportunity to grow up in a much simpler time. Yes, I am a dinosaur and grateful for it. My e mail address is still hotmail and I still have my America Online (AOL) account.

Baca dalam bahasa Indonesia di sini.

We are inundated with the kind of news and suggestions about behaviors and violations that would have been unthinkable twenty, thirty years ago. It is easier now, for example, to be addicted to pornography, with ease of access on our gadgets. It is also easier to take graphic pictures of yourselves and your friends, because those would be digital and automatically saved to your gadget only. Before, it would be unthinkable because a camera shop would have to develop those pictures that you take.

Everyone has his/her private internet access. Everyone in a relatively free countries has an opportunity to push his/her own agenda should he/she wants to, no matter how moral or twisted it is. With this kind of open information for everyone, the opportunity to judge and to be judged is also greater. A stupid act or rant that one did during his/her teenage years can be recorded on the internet forever. That one moment of stupidity can haunt him/her years later. So, yes, growing up in this era is tough!

No wonder it seems that the gravity of sins seems to be worsening. I mentioned pornography before , and also other behaviors and choices that would be considered abnormal years ago, is now being pushed to become “the new normal”. So, where does it left a Catholic dinosaur like me? Should I get on with the times and accept the “new normal”? I can’t, even if I want to. The truth is still the truth, even when no one believes in it, and falsehood is still falsehood, even when everyone seems to believe in it.

However, this is not an excuse for me to be judgmental nor refusing to move on with the times! Otherwise, I WILL be EXTINCT like the dinosaurs. But how can I move on with the times and stay faithful as a Catholic? Should I just learn to look the other way?

In the Letter to the Romans, Paul says: “Where sin increased, grace overflows even more.” He is describing the saving power of God. How can we be the pipelines of that grace? Of that saving power?

I think this is what our current Pope, Francis, is doing. He never guides us to tolerate sin, not that I know of. He however, guide us to increase our empathy, our grace! Yes, we should never tolerate sin. However, it is not our place to condemn. It is our calling to increase our empathy, so that we can be the pipeline of God’s saving power, that are greater than all sins combined. God does not come for the healthy. The Church is not for the healthy, but it is there for the sick, including us!

So yes, I will still be a Catholic dinosaur, who will continue to be astounded with the current and future world, for better or for worse. However, I know for sure that no matter what, the grace of God, His saving power, will continue to overflow.