Fragments of Faith

Have you ever found yourself struggling to see God in the world around you?  Does
it seem as though our faith-life and our daily lives often have a sharp line of
demarcation between them?  Are we able to look with new eyes and see elements
of faith and glimpses of God even in the secular world around us?

(Skip the intro)

I’m reminded of the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes and after all those
present were fed, there were many fragments left over that were gathered up into
baskets (Jn 6:10-13).  Those who had been there to hear Jesus speak had their
hunger fed both spiritually and physically with a kind of “fullness” of God.  But
imagine if others had come after the “crowds” had dispersed and had seen
nothing but a few fragments that had not made it into the baskets?  Would they
have understood what had just transpired?  Or perhaps would they have only
appreciated a “fragment” which incompletely satisfied but was, none the less,
something of God?

Can we see some of these “fragments” even in today’s society and culture; a kind
of sprinkling of God’s grace among the masses?  Perhaps even our own lives
contain only “fragments” of faith?

It might be said that St. Dominic’s heart was for the spiritually confused. He lived
and developed the Dominican Order’s charism:  contemplare et contemplata aliis
tradere or “contemplate and share the fruits of that contemplation.”  Different from
other monastic orders of his day, St. Dominic’s followers took the faith and
knowledge borne of their deep prayer and study in solitude and brought it “to the
streets.”  St. Thomas Aquinas, perhaps the greatest theologian in Church history,
(and a notable Dominican!) had as his primary goal to seek Truth (big “T”),
Veritas.  He was not afraid, however, to see the seeds of even a fragmented truth
in the words and works of others, such as Aristotle, for example.  Cardinal Timothy
Dolan, in his forward for the book “Seeds of the Word, finding God in the Culture,”
by Bishop Robert Barron, writes, “At the Second Vatican Council, the document
Lumen Gentium acknowledged the good that exists in other religions as well as in
those who have never heard of God, saying ‘whatever good or truth is found
among them is looked upon by the Church as preparation for the Gospel’” (Lumen
Gentium, 16).  Quoting early Church Fathers and catechists such as Justin Martyr
and Clement of Alexandria, Cardinal Dolan suggests that, “not only are elements
of truth found in popular works in our culture, but they even help to prepare the
way for the full acceptance of the Gospel!”
​
This column will attempt to look for evidence of Fragments of Faith in our own time
and place, in particular, through our human expression in Art:  music, books,
movies, plays and other media.  Perhaps we can see in these “fragments” a bit of
truth to gnaw on and allow God, in and through us, to cultivate the fullness of His
Bounty!
 
Today’s encounter is with contemporary music:
submitted by Sr. Mary Magdalene
 
In the song, “You’re a God,” the rock and roll group Vertical Horizon takes on a
topic that I thought might be timely in this season of Lent.  When asked about the
context, songwriter Matt Scannell said that the line “you’re a god” was mostly
sarcastic and related to people and relationships that had had a negative impact on him
(us) and were unhealthily out of balance.  The same could be said for many things
in our own experience that carry too much power or hold too much attention or
focus in our lives, perhaps even heavy weight “gods” such as addiction and
compulsion.  That’s why I think this song has something to say to us about all the
“little gods, little idols” we perhaps unconsciously worship that, as St. Ignatius
might point out, fail to bring us closer to (the One True) God and, instead, serve as
distractions.

Take a listen and see if you can “hear” a few fragments of faith:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s1Wlk419HQ  (You’re a God, with Lyrics)
 
The link below is to the original video by the band which seems to bear out the
“toxic relationship” side that the songwriter alluded to.  On a personal note, I
thought I detected a periodic look of sadness on the part of “Miss Perfect” which
might be an entirely different conversation about our human striving for a
perfection which is only an illusion.  What does perfection look like through God’s
eyes?  Where do we find true happiness?  Thoughts?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8s_q3IaglQ&list=RDU8s_q3IaglQ&start_radio=1