And Romeo loved his Juilette...

Back in the early days of the Ronald Reagan regime, St. Lou Reed released what may be his life's work: New York. It was a long, hard and loving look at reality - the very essence of contemplation the mystics tell me - in which he considers love, sex, economic, politics, hope, fear and all the rest.

I was reminded of this song -"Romeo Had Juliette" - this morning while reading the NY Times which quotes the Mayor of Mexico City as promising free Viagra to all men over the age of 60 because, "Everyone deserves to be happy." (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/americas/13mexico.html) It made me think of a quote from Chesterton about uncommitted sex being the cheap mysticism of those without faith. (I am searching for the reference...)

In a time of fear and emptiness - a time when many traditional religious answers ring hollow or at least confusing - there is still that thirst for a deeper connection. Like St. Lou, I have come to trust that even the cheap mysticism of the moment is still a prayer. It may be expressed in a broken or even pathological way as Jung has suggested, but the cry of the heart for God is still there. I see it in the wave of new horror films that speak about the life beyond the obvious, I see it in the flooding of the Internet with cheap pornography and I even see it in the weird return of the Roman Catholic Church's return to selling indulgences! (CORRECTION: I got busted for sloppiness here; they aren't SELLING indulgences... just requiring that you go to CONFESSION to get one. Thanks for the clarificaiton.)(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/nyregion/10indulgence.html?ref=us) NOTE: you really have to read this story about the indulgences! I love this quote from a Lutheran pastor: After Catholics, the people most expert on the topic are probably Lutherans, whose church was born from the schism over indulgences and whose leaders have met regularly with Vatican officials since the 1960s in an effort to mend their differences. “It has been something of a mystery to us as to why now,” said the Rev. Dr. Michael Root, dean of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., who has participated in those meetings. The renewal of indulgences, he said, has “not advanced” the dialogue.“Our main problem has always been the question of quantifying God’s blessing,” Dr. Root said. Lutherans believe that divine forgiveness is a given, but not something people can influence. (NY Times, 2/9/09)

Man, are these fascinating times. St. Natalie Merchant put it like this:

Chesterton also said:"One of the chief uses of religion is that it makes us remember our coming from darkness, the simple fact that we are created." God's grace is free and some try to sell it to get people back into church. As Dostoevesky noted in the Grand Inquisitor, should Christ come back to set us free again, the church would kill him. So St. Pete Townsend keeps singing...