I Drank the Kool-Aid

I drank the Kool-Aid, a phrase I have used regularly over the past four years, however never in this sense. For the past four years I worked in the Residence Life Office at a small liberal arts college, and instead of Freshmen, we had First years, instead of dorms we had Residence Halls. Working with this terms each day in the office I would regularly correct my friends who would give me shit about how ridiculous it was, and of course they were right so my only response was, I drank the Kool-Aid. 

However for this post the phrase I drank the Kool-Aid isn't an expression of clever, or meaningless response, to different terms for random Residence Life policies for a college. Rather the phrase here is a passionate declaration that yes I do believe. I buy into what the Church teaches, sure at times there are things I question, which is healthy, at other times there are things that I criticize, which is healthy, and at other times there are things that Catholics, Christians in general, and even the priests from the pulpit say that I down right and passionately disagree with, which is also ok. 

No matter what though, the simple reality is that drinking the Kool-Aid is not simple in this case. It is not some meaningless protocol that you follow for work, and can ignore (or at least try to forget) when not there or after you no longer work there. However a persons beliefs are always with them, they as it would seem should never be placed on a shelf hidden away. And beliefs like emotions can be complicated and without any explanation at times, which can be very difficult to understand, which is ok. However for anyone to attempt to make a claim that having faith, is an easy option, it is not. 

Now that I've said my piece, on it, and C.S. Lewis offered us his insight, for my fiends who simply can't go on without asking the question "but where in Scripture? (Perhaps another tangent for another post) And since this blog is if nothing else masquerading as a blog about reflections on the readings from each Sunday, then let us turn to the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, which I am happy to say was only 2 days ago (August 23) 

Again we are hearing from the Gospel of John (perhaps if I had a favorite gospel, my fav) 6: 60-69. 

"Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, This saying is hard; who can accept it?" This is a question those of us who have "drank the Kool-Aid are face with everyday, can we accept it? Some may answer yes, other may not. "As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, Do you also want to leave? Simon Peter answered him, Master, to whom shall we go?"  

Now with a response like that an easy argument could be made that Simon Peter of all people just proved that the route of drinking the Kool-Aid is an easy one, however the next lines are always important. "You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." Sticking around, staying with Jesus, is not the easy route, rather its the difficult route, and to a degree the only route, because of the belief. 

I would be remiss not to use the go to line about what it truly means to live a life of freedom, as much as I hate this phrase I feel obligated to end with this idea. 

To truly live a life in freedom is not to have the ability to do what ever we want, but rather to do that which we ought do. This too makes certain aspects of living a life post Kool-Aid consumption more difficult. 

For anyone who would like specific examples of everyday struggles of people who have "drank the Kool-Aid" just let me know. I left them out of the post to cut down on length. 

Peace and Blessings Always 

~M

FYI The Kool-Aid is black cherry flavored!