For a long time I’ve been bothered by the difference between the expressions “I’ve been lucky” and “I’ve been blessed”—and also by the similarities between them. Often the phrase “I’ve been blessed” feels true to me, and I have no doubt, as a believer, that it is true. But it can also seem smug and have an implication I don’t like: I was blessed that the (...)
Columnists
I Feel Lucky
WHAT’S GOD GOT TO DO WITH IT?
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You say it well. We too have 'been lucky' . 56 years married, 6 healthy children and 8 grandchildren , both of us in late seventies and still healthy. We sometimes joke that the wheel spin is set to give us a loser year. I think you're right to say 'lucky' and it's best to just say humbly "thank you Jesus' . and glad to be giving back is the sign of thankfulness. it is also the obligation and a way to worship..
We must be most careful to not come to believe that somehow we deserve it whether good or misfortune. There is still a lingering notion that bad things only happen to bad people or teach good people a lesson. The entire issue of blessings (or luck) is simply a mystery.
Someone close to me flirts with death. I pray for life. Life is the outcome. So it is then obscene for me to feel gratitude to God? You do realize that this column suggests that both prayer of petition and pray of intercession are pointless - even part of the obscenity. Is there anything in the Catechism or anything that two thousand years of the faith has considered a part of worship that meets approval at Commonweal? Why not just junk the whole Jesus stuff and be done with it.
Eric Bergerud
Albany CA