I’ll make this brief, as brevity is courteous, and courtesy is next to godliness. Or was it cleanliness? Well it certainly isn’t common sense.
Take the case of Father Adelir Antonio de Carli, a Brazilian priest who is still missing after tethering himself to 1,000 balloons this past Sunday (for Reuter’s coverage of the story, click here).
Seems Father de Carli has found a way to get closer to God. Literally.
The priest wanted to break a 19-hour record for the most hours ever flying with balloons to raise money for a rest-stop for truckers in the port town of Paranagua. He was last seen over the ocean. Bits of balloons have been found along the coastline near Sao Francisco do Sul.
Now you might ask yourself: why would a priest do such a thing? I’ve known more than a few priests in my time. And while you can’t judge them all for the actions of one, it has occurred to me that members of the clergy have a peculiar distinction of having men among their ranks who firmly believe that they possess some sort of invulnerability, invested in them from on high. It’s an arrogance of sorts. The epitome of “holier than thou.” But as we’ve found, especially in these past few years when the Catholic Church has come under fire for covering up all sorts of crimes committed by clergy, priests are only human. And human beings are frail.
Mark Twain once referred to a balloon as a “thing to take meteoric observations and commit suicide with.”
Tonight, I don’t care if you’re Cathoic, Protestant, Muslim or other, say a prayer for Father de Carli. His faith never faltered, even when common sense failed him.
And in the end, when all the air goes out of life’s balloons, isn’t that what religion’s all about?
