Feast day of Saint Bienvenue?
What a night.
God is alive and kicking in France.
I stayed for a day at the retreat for teenagers Anne and Cristophe were giving. Charismatic; I felt a little out of place. But even so… even though the language barrier doesn’t help…I feel so much more at ease with people I don’t have to feel like hiding my faith around!
A boy got up and told the story of how he felt called to be a priest at age 7, told God if it snowed before September 27th that year he’d take it as a sign (it snowed September 26th) then got into the gangster rap lifestyle, started buying the clothes, picking up chicks, hating the police (with no reason whatsoever to do so) stealing (not too much) and cultivating that hateful look all the rappers in the videos have in their eyes (he’s 12 by this point) then had a powerful experience that turned him around, allowed him to give all of that up, to live for God- all before the age of 16. He’s something. Or rather, God's really something
The retreat was put on by the Community of the Beatitudes- I’m still not sure I understand it. It seems two charismatic Christian (Protestant) married couples at one point wanted to live together in community, then they converted to Catholicism, grew, and had all sorts of members feel called to join the priesthood and religious life. Result: a group of brothers, sisters, priests, single and married people all living, praying, and working together. And spreading across the world. To Denver, notably, where a young student found out about them from a group called FOCUS at her school, joined in Colorado, and was sent to the community just outside Rouen- where she invited me to stay next weekend. And explained all the community’s history to me, because I wasn’t sure I was getting it in French*
It’s a small world after all.
I also got to vent to her a little about the state of religious liberty in the State of France. And she did a little counter- venting. Apparently Parisian restaurants are allowed to deny service to anyone wearing a habit. She said something about an attempt to irradicate religion in France altogether, spawned from a fear of Islam, but spreading to everything else. I asked her if she thought this assessment wasn’t a little extreme, and she pointed back to the schools. Touché.
Which is why I will never again whine about Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/ Ramadan/Winter Solstice/Festivus celebrations. The more the merrier. Make all the television stations wish us a happy one, separately, every commercial break. Just please don’t forbid anyone to celebrate them. Religious diversity. Bring it on. Just don’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

oh, who am I kidding making political commentary?

and yeah, i know things in the US are far from perfect (I don't think they have religious groups founded on the basis of "God hates fags" in France...)

anyway...

Car Dieu est un Dieu puissant
Il régne de son saint lieu
Avec puissance, amour
Car Dieu est un Dieu puissant

*Don’t worry Mom and Dad, they’re not a cult, they’re very loyal to the Catholic church, and I’m not thinking of joining!