“Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God”-- G.K. ChestertonRaymond J. de Souza, Catholic Priest and National Post columnist commented a few years back thatCharlie Sheen was trying to find God. Father de Souza makes it clear that booze, drugs and hookers are not the recommended route, but the comment makes sense.
“You see, man strives for eternal joy; he would like pleasure in the extreme, would like what is eternal. But when there is no God, it is not granted to him and it cannot be. Then he himself must now create something that is fictitious, a false eternity.” -- Pope Benedict XVIIn “The Shadowlands of C.S. Lewis,” Peter Kreeft presents some of the famous author’s more dominant themes and includes large passages of his writings. Lewis used Plato’s Cave allegory to explain how we are living in a Shadowlands, not yet seeing reality as it really is: Infinite. Echoes of William Blake there…
God made us and we are fit for him, to be with him, so we have an innate longing for him. Without him, there is an emptiness, a hole in our soul, so to speak. The obvious answer is to fill it with God, but we are stubborn creatures, kicking against the goads, so we seek our own paths, trying to fill the emptiness with money, lust, success, whatever…
There are many paths to God. Mark Judge discusses George Harrison’s Catholic Krishna, which was not hippy dippy trendyism, but a real search for The Creator, which eventually led him back to the Christian God. In the same article, Judge also discusses Bono’s theology which is solidly grounded in Christ Our Savior.
In Achtung Baby, it is all there: our infinite potential for dreaming, discovering, and building, and the trouble we cause by confusing our liberty with license; our wanderings through streets both named and unnamed in search of peace or escape, enlightenment or forgetfulness, love or domination; the longing in our hearts for unity between and among God and man, man and woman, brother and sister, parent and child, and the restlessness, pride, larceny and fear in our heads that disturbs even the happiest of homes; our reveling in the fact that we truly are "fearfully and wonderfully made," and the sad acceptance of our brokenness; the excellence of fidelity; and the appeal of seduction; the glamour of evil, and the disaster of sin; the paradox of being rooted in time but destined for eternity; the God shaped hole at the center of our being, and our vain attempts to fill it with something, everything, anything other than God. (Stephen Catanzarite, quoted by Mark Judge)U2’s music is spilling over with references to the Holy Trinity and man’s struggles here on earth.
Here are a few passages from Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas, as excerpted from Christianity Today:
It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.
You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.
But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep s---. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity. (Bono: Grace over Karma)
