{"id":407,"date":"2012-03-15T14:31:42","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T14:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=407"},"modified":"2012-03-15T14:32:57","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T14:32:57","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjava-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=407","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">    var _gaq = _gaq || [];   _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']);   _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);    (function() {     var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;     ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';     var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);   })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Session 21 \u2013 Held on Sunday, Mar 11, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Why am I here?\u00a0 Why do I go to church?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps because of my leading questions, our group\u2019s discussions can be divided into two general topics; a response to what happened the previous week and the scripture passage for the present week.\u00a0 So you can note that there have been two separate posts over the past month or two.\u00a0 The same is true for this week\u2019s post.<\/p>\n<p>Last week I noticed that Tim, Roseann, Heber, and Michael shared a common theme that was worth pursuing.\u00a0 Tim reminded us of his struggle when confronted with concrete decisions concerning what can be termed God and Country issues.\u00a0 Roseann was aware that she has matured over the years.\u00a0 As she reflects back she is more critical of the thoughts she had as a younger woman.\u00a0 Michael responded that growing older doesn\u2019t necessarily mean becoming more mature; sometimes persons actually become harder, meaner, smaller.\u00a0 Heber realized that going through the RCIA process had made a profound change in him, clarifying the proper relationship between God and Country concerns.\u00a0In the concluding paragraph I attempt to identify the common themes that emerged from our discussions.<\/p>\n<p>Roseann felt that we have to choose whether to become bitter or not in response to what life presents you with.\u00a0 She felt that we have to learn in her words, to let go, let God.\u00a0 That phrase reminded Rosemarie of a book with that title.\u00a0 Although she didn\u2019t agree with all of it content, Rosemarie thought that the key word is adjust.\u00a0 \u201cI believe that everyday of our lives we adjust.\u201d\u00a0 We need to recognize that God is in control and that is what is underneath the phrase, let go and let God.\u00a0 But it is easier to say than to do. Being in control seems to lie close to the heart of the matter. \u00a0Life doesn&#8217;t offer conclusive proof that God is in control which leads us to want to control. \u00a0There is an real issue at this juncture of control, us, and God. \u00a0Let go sounds easy enough but is it?<\/p>\n<p>Tim shared the question that headlines this post.\u00a0 At age 25 he realized that he had been coming to church more out of habit than anything else.\u00a0 This caused him pause and led to asking himself a very fundamental question, Why was he at St. Anthony?\u00a0 Why did he attend church at all?\u00a0 This was a genuine, personal question for him.\u00a0 And that made all the difference.\u00a0 In response to that question he went back to the Book and ultimately was to read most, if not all of it.\u00a0 He wanted to find out the basis for his faith and turned to the Bible as a primary source.\u00a0 Do these profound personal questions happen to everyone? \u00a0Why do some of us search for an answer and others do not?<\/p>\n<p>As we reflected on our conversations we realized that we share many common themes in our life.\u00a0 Life comes at us everyday, it never stops until we die.\u00a0 During our life we can grow and become more mature, more balanced, etc., but it is also possible that we will become bitter, small, mean over what life has thrown our way.\u00a0 It can happen that we raise very fundamental questions about the meaning of our life as we are living it.\u00a0 <strong>Why do I go to church?\u00a0 Why am I here?\u00a0<\/strong> Again it is not inevitable that we ask ourselves these kind of questions or asking them take the time to respond to them.\u00a0 Events can make a different, change the course of our life.\u00a0 But, like a refrain, such changes are not inevitable.<\/p>\n<p>As we turn our attention to the call and migration of Abraham, another layer of interpretation of the meaning of our life comes to the fore.\u00a0 We can come to realize that our response matters but God is faithful even if we are not.\u00a0 Have we discovered that truth in our life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why am I here?\u00a0 Why do I go to church? Perhaps because of my leading questions, our group\u2019s discussions can be divided into two general topics; a response to what happened the previous week and the scripture passage for the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=407\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10,5],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-change-in-the-catholic-church","category-culture","category-scripture","tag-religion-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions\/411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}