This Labor and Our Labor - Writing the Word

The "traffic" page shows that the websites are being visited, which is all I hope for, simply to confirm that what I write here is available. People no doubt back out the second they realize that this blog or the OpenCatholic website are NOT what they are looking for, or some may linger. I have no way of knowing short of responses. None to date. That's fine, of course. My posts are not, I think, strong on prompting an online conversation - I just don't write that way. I don't provide links, I don't rise other blogs or websites - I don't even provide a "favorites" links section, etc.

I see other pages that do all these things. A good example I saw recently was the page for the St. Joseph Oblates group, who have a shrine in Holy Cross, California (that's Santa Cruz, of course!) and I appreciated the links, etc. But anyone with an interest in links will find them elsewhere, I figure. A reader no doubt will see my website or blog having searched one or another term, and have at hand other results, and on and on.

While I am beholden and humbled by the glory of the Internet for these forms of communication, I cannot style myself for "maximum" reach. I recall a professor of mine, who advised that the task of poets was to be "interesting." No doubt, this is true of poets who hope for a career in writing, I suppose, but I fell my heart fall away from him at that point, as I was determined to be honest, first and foremost, whether or not anyone found my work "interesting."

I think my postings project something of this attitude - or, I hope they do! I hope they appear honest, I pray that they are!

But, what is honesty, to a follower of Christ? Beyond one's core belief statements, can I claim perfect honesty? Isn't almost anything I say, or write, or do, in some way tainted by the desire to be accepted, or recognized, as being "right"? For a person who believes and in fact celebrates on a daily basis that God only is the truth, it should be clear that any other effort is bound to be more or less diluted by self-interest.

Ah, but this is not to say that persons should not announce their desires! For it is in declaring ourselves - who we are and what we hope for - that we represent ourselves to our brothers and sisters. To stand before the community and state one's understandings - isn't this what St. Paul did? It is a fine thing, to say what you mean and mean what you say. It does not have to be in the form of a blatantly religious form of writing - in fact, it is better to be something quite else. One should speak plainly, from one's understanding, one's conscience. To endeavor to be understood.

But, again, one can be led astray even in one's desires for truth. Writing poetry - like painting or composing music - is notable in that the unconscious speaks, often serving to inform the conscious. The notion being that creation is a form of understanding and thought formation of itself. I suppose One sees that action in Scripture - in prophecy and figurative language. Our Lord himself spoke plainly of the purpose of parables in communicating to the general population what his disciples understood in more direct terms.

To return, again, to an earlier point, a Christian knows to trust in the Word. All else either points that way, or points elsewhere. I am someone who does not endorse a strict either/or premise for the value of the meaning behind words. I think that a lot of writing, while it may not point a finger directly at God, nonetheless maintains a kind of horizontal, or lateral position, like a person trying different doors for the one that opens. I see, in most writing, a noble search for the truth that fits that person's hopes and dreams. Behind that search is a soul, seeking. This too is noble. Very noble, indeed. And much to God's purpose and hope for us, that we seek Him, even as we despair of ever knowing Him.

One could do worse then bless those who write poetry. Or is my Irish showing?

;-)