Chipper Cheese!

We're here, unpacking, and trying to settle in (emphasis is added to "trying"). Orientation officially begins with Matins and Mass at 8:00 in the morning.

Gus loves this place; there's a huge playground in our circle that he thinks is just for him. Amazing how human nature manifests itself so soon, aye? Mary Camille is her usual self - smiling at dad and napping all day! Randa, my mother-in-law, came up with Malacy and the babes to help get us settled in. We all went to Mass today in the seminary chapel, the Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin. What a joy it is to have my family with me!

And for those of you who read this prose, you'll be glad to know that we have internet service again! Hip hip, we're out of the dark ages. I may be an antiquarian of sorts, but I sure do like the internet!

So let's ponder our usual two things: the joie de vivre and good theology of the day. So, first let's consider joyous living and cheese. Yes, cheese, dear ones. Specifically, let's look at a local delight here in Wisconsin, cheese curds (yep, cheese curds).

Technically, cheese curds are soured milk bi-products that rise to the top during the cheese making process. They're usually found anywhere that makes lots of cheese, so they are definitely part of any good Wisconsonian's diet. They need to be fresh so that they are mild, springy, and, I dare say, rubber-like.

I had my first batch this morning. May I say shazam!?! I loved them. I'm told they even deep fry them up here. And we thought we fried everything down South. Who'd a thunk it? If you're ever up this way, or anywhere that makes lots of cheese, try them. They will make your life more joyful.

So after I ate them, I wondered how cheese and theology would pair. Did you know very few Biblical mentions of cheese exist? I can only find these three:

1 Samuel 17:18 "Bring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousand, and look into the welfare of your brothers, and bring back news of them.

2 Samuel 17:29 honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him, to eat; for they said, "The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."

Job 10:10 'Did You not pour me out like milk And curdle me like cheese;

I'm not real sure what's going in the 1 Samuel passage, but I sure can understand the latter two. I can certainly appreciate saying "The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness." Moreover, I can promise you, whether we admit it or not, that we are those people, ones who grow "weary" and "thirsty" amidst the backdrop of, as Bishop Fitzsimmons Allison so aptly calls, "the reality of debt, diapers, divorce, and despair." Likewise, I can surely empathize with our man Job, who, in the face of reckoning with his creator - after he's lost it all - can only look down from his ash heap and say "I loathe my life...I will speak the bitterness of my soul (Job 10:1)." Depressing or brutally honest, we might ask?

So what is one to do in the face of life, that experience that can and does jerk us around unmercifully? That is the theological question of the day, albeit vis-à-vis Wisconsin cheese curds.

There seems to be two options, right? First, we can wallow in our mire forever and sink into that dreaded depression, one in which we dwell in the shadow of darkness all our earthly days. Perhaps we've all been there. Perhaps we're there now. Often times it's drugs, sex, or worldly successes that we use to mask our depression. Suffice it to say, we all know what this place looks like. That's when we can join Job and wish we were never born.

There's always the other option, which self-help methodologies dictate begins with us pulling up those proverbial bootstraps and aim to get us cracking on the "new you". This is when you go to Barnes & Noble and desperately max out your credit cards on titles like Ten Steps to the New You and How to Feel Better Now!. If you're a human at all, you'll know this doesn't work. Where is God's grace and mercy in self-help? Where's God's power? You know, the one that's made perfect not in self-help but in human frailty and weakness?

May I propose a third view to solve this quandary? May I suggest that instead of drowning in our sorrows and instead of wasting time, talent, and treasure, on self-help scams, let us fix our gaze on the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, the one True Light that darkness shall never overcome. Even our Lord said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

For it from this vantage point - high above the ash heaps of this world - that all things are made anew, all things are refreshed, and all things are sustained. For it is from this mountain that all vexations are cast aside, all transgressions erased, all souls fed, and even the chasm between death and eternal life are bridged. A great glimpse of this apex is offered at each and every Mass, the "source and summit of Christian life." This is the truth, my friends. Jesus the Christ is the one in whom we must place our trust. Robert Bridges' hymn, "All My Hope On God Is Founded", perfectly encapsulates what I'm trying to say to you (download it on iTunes and make sure it's set to Herbert Howells tune, Michael):

All my hope on God is founded;he doth still my trust renew,me through change and chance he guideth,only good and only true.God unknown, he alonecalls my heart to be his own.

Pride of man and earthly glory,sword and crown betray his trust;what with care and toil he buildeth,tower and temple fall to dust.

But God's power,hour by hour,is my temple and my tower.God's great goodness aye endureth,deep his wisdom, passing thought:splendor, light and life attend him,beauty springeth out of naught.Evermore from his storenewborn worlds rise and adore.

Daily doth the almighty Giverbounteous gifts on us bestow;his desire our soul delighteth,pleasure leads us where we go.Love doth standat his hand;joy doth wait on his command.

Still from man to God eternalsacrifice of praise be done,high above all praises praisingfor the gift of Christ, his Son.Christ doth callone and all:ye who follow shall not fall.

Finally, after you've pondered these things, go out and find some cheese curds. Better still, come visit us; I'll even suggest a wine to accompany them.

I love you,

CDW