{"id":13516,"date":"2021-05-23T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-22T23:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turski.blog\/?p=13516"},"modified":"2023-08-19T18:39:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T18:39:26","slug":"pentecost-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=13516","title":{"rendered":"Pentecost"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Common sense\u2019 has recently become even more commonly used (excuse the pun), particularly in the discussion regarding easing the Covid restrictions. The phrase is often employed by those arguing for a quicker pace or for complete abandonment of the current constraints. Their argument is that people should use their \u2018common sense\u2019 rather than adhere to regulations and guidelines issued by the government. I\u2019d rather avoid getting involved in such a discussion right now – it\u2019s neither the time nor the<\/span> place for that – and focus on the phrase \u2018common sense\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

A simple definition of this idiom goes like this: <\/span>A sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.<\/span><\/i><\/a> On the face of it, common sense makes a lot of sense; we can make our own assessment of the situation and act accordingly. However, every single Health & Safety officer will tell you that there is no such thing as \u2018common sense\u2019; or in other words, \u2018common sense\u2019 is not universal or uniform. What is \u2018common sense\u2019 judgment to one individual can be considered foolish by the other. In 2017 a night porter in Cameron House Hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond considered storing hot ashes in a cupboard containing kindling and newspapers as a perfectly acceptable practice. The subsequent blaze that ripped through the hotel left two innocent hotel guests dead. What we call \u2018common sense\u2019 is, in fact, the product of one\u2019s education, experience and mental capabilities. Because it\u2019s an acquired skill, its effectiveness can be questionable. \u2018Common sense\u2019 is often cited as a handy cover for laziness, self-interest or aversion to learning. \u2018Common sense\u2019 often tramples over the intricacies of life, reducing them to black-and-white view and binary choices.<\/span><\/p>\n

In case you wonder why I\u2019m blabbing on<\/span> about all this, here is the answer. <\/span>\u2018I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth […] and he will tell you of the things to come.\u2019<\/span><\/i> Jesus made this announcement at the Last Supper, shortly before His passion and death. His selected disciples, the future leaders of the Church, were quite cocky, even belligerent as presented by Simon Peter\u2019s declaration: <\/span>\u2018Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you. […] Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.\u201d And so said all the disciples.\u2019 (Matthew 26:33-35)<\/span><\/i> That was their \u2018common sense\u2019, completely destroyed a few hours later, with the same Simon Peter\u2019s public triple denial of Jesus. He knew perfectly well that His disciples were not ready yet and that their cockiness would fail them. Jesus\u2019 public ministry was over, His sacrificial death on the cross would complete His redemptive mission. But the disciples\u2019 learning wasn\u2019t over yet. In fact, it has never been finished. It has continued in the Church throughout her history and we are part of this process on ecclesiastical, communal and personal levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

The entire Church has always evolved, adapting to ever-changing environment<\/span>s<\/b>, circumstances, challenges and so on. The Acts of the Apostles, the biblical book we have read at Mass since Easter, is the earliest testimony of the Church\u2019s listening to the Holy Spirit and adapting to the rapidly expanding community of the faithful. A very similar image emerges from even a superficial glance at the history of the Church. The latest great change was introduced by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Similarly, local communities of the faithful have to adapt to their local challenges. In post-Reformation Scotland the Church, disallowed and banned, continued her mission secretly, paying a high price for it, as illustrated by the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last but not least, as individual members of the community of the Church we are obliged to listen to the Holy Spirit and consequently grow in our faith. Too many of our fellow Christians remain spiritually adolescent despite their mature age. The gap between their understanding of the faith and their adult lives keeps widening, making the former less and less relevant. Because of that, they drift away from the community of the Church and their faith turns into a ritualistic tradition with a strong whiff of superstition. I think this kind of religiosity mixed with widespread indifference is the greatest challenge of our times. How do we face it? I don\u2019t have a simple answer to that question. However, I think we can make the response of today\u2019s psalm part of our daily prayer: <\/span>\u2018Send forth your spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.\u2019<\/span><\/i> Another step is to grow in a deeper, visceral understanding of our faith so we can share it with others. And last but not least, we need to live out our faith, because actions speak louder than words.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Common sense\u2019 has recently become even more commonly used (excuse the pun), particularly in the discussion regarding easing the Covid restrictions. The phrase is often employed by those arguing for a quicker pace or for complete abandonment of the current constraints. Their argument is that people should use their \u2018common sense\u2019 rather than adhere to regulations and guidelines issued by the government. I\u2019d rather avoid getting involved in such a discussion right now – it\u2019s neither the time nor the place for that – and focus on the phrase \u2018common sense\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-b"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/post-header-red.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14065,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13516\/revisions\/14065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}