United or Untied?

The Tweet, the whole Tweet, and nothing but the Tweet!
Which came first, the people or the money?
Clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right.
Batten down the hatches, we're in for a fight!
Fishes feed on other fish according to their need,
But humans feed on others according to their greed.
Call your congressman, call your priest,
Call your anchorwoman at the very least.
Don't be timid speak your piece,
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Tell them that you want the truth!
Tell them you want justice!
When do we want it? We want it now.
We can't keep picking at the scab until it bleeds.
Let's throw all the liars out,
And make America united again!

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Charity of the Spirit

Charity of the Spirit - the solution to the RED / BLUE divide, especially for Christians.

St. Paul to the Galatians 5:13-15
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through charity of the spirit serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

St. Paul to the Galatians 6:10
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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Pray for Peace

On life's journey from the womb to the tomb,

A place of deep shadow without a glimmer

Of the light of awareness and reason,

A man should hope and pray for peace, even

To the last clod of earth thrown upon his grave.

God exacts from us less than guilt deserves

When you stretch out your hand to Him in life,

You will be forgiven and will not know fear.

You will have contempt for worldly misfortune,

Feeling secure in the knowledge that there is hope

And life beyond the grave will be brighter than noonday,

And the shadows will be like the morning sunrise.

Those who don't believe in God will remain unblessed.

They will grope around in darkness without the light

Their remedy against misfortune...to breathe their last.

Don't drain the swamp. Clean out the barn.

In the Gospel of Mark (Mark 5:1-20), Jesus goes across the lake to the "country of the Gerasenes", that is to say, the territory of the city-state of Gerasa. There, a man "possessed by a demon" comes from the caves to meet him. People had tried to tie him down but he was too strong to be tied, even with chains for he would always break out of them. Day and night among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Jesus approached him and called the demon to come out of the man, who replied "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you in the name of God never to torment me!" Jesus asked the demon for his name and is told "My name is Legion, for we are many." The demons begged Jesus not to send them away, but instead they asked Him to send them into the pigs on a nearby hillside, which he did. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. The possessed man was restored to sanity.

Now, the men tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and and the people went out to see what had happened. No doubt these people were not Jews because Jews under the Mosaic law do not eat pork and so these pigs were being raised for other people, perhaps for sale to the Roman soldiers or for export to other places. In any case, When the Savior released the young man from the evil spirits and permitted them to enter into the pigs and the pigs all died by drowning, the local people ordered Our Lord to go away. He was bad for business. The spirit of capitalism made them feel that rescuing a poor soul from the demons, was not worth the loss of their precious pigs.

Why is it that pigs and capitalism are so related? We talk about "bringing home the bacon" as if it were money. Mothers tell their children, "Don't be greedy like a pig." On Wall Street they say "pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered." In George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm" the pigs were the smartest animals and they ended up representing all of the other farm animals against the farmers. When the animals peeked into the window of the farmhouse where the negotiations were proceeding, they looked around the table and had difficulty discerning which were the men and which were the pigs.

Our television screen is our modern equivalent of the window to the negotiating table and we still have trouble differentiating the men from the pigs. I think instead of draining the swamp we need to clean out the barn.

Where does one find rest?

In the fuzzy orange glow of a new dawn fear strikes the land.

The damp air is heavy and smells of fear and uncertainty.

The sound of shouting and quarreling is heard on all sides.

In whom can the people trust if they no longer trust in God?

Do they trust in Science? But how does one pray to Science?

Where are the altars of Science and Technology located?

Is the Devil nothing more than a malicious Russian hacker?

Don't Science and Technology die when you Control-Alt-Delete?

God is not dead. He is the Resurrection and Life Eternal.

I shall go with God. I invite you to come along with me.

This is what the Lord says: “Stand by the roads, and look, 

And ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; 

Walk in it, and find rest for your souls. (Jeremiah 6:16)

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Mastering Oneself

It is by patient endurance that you will gain possession of your souls. (Luke 21:19).

The possession of a soul means the undisturbed mastery of oneself, which is the secret of inner peace as distinguished from a thousand agitations that make it fearful, unhappy, and disappointed. Only when the soul is completely possessed can anything else be fully enjoyed. The body can be injured without the consent of the soul, but the soul cannot be injured without its own consent.

Truth is as native to the mind as light is to the eye, but when truth illuminates people's sins they hate the truth and prefer to lie. Truth stirs the conscience of all men, especially evildoers, and they don't like it. Hence they try to cover up the truth. No one can turn off the light of truth but they can pull down the blinds of their own soul and shut it out. (Fulton J. Sheen)

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Groping from dark to light!

"On the dark path that man has to walk here, he is granted just as much light as he needs for the next steps that he has to take. More light would only dazzle him, and light from the side would only confuse him. Every man needs to be constantly reminded that he won’t end when this life does; that he has ahead of him an endless future for which his life here below is a preparation, just as throughout all creation every present moment is a preparation for the future."
(Moses Mendelssohn 1783)

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It's Getting Late

There is a journey before me but,
The destination is not at all clear.
The best part of me may already be there,
And what is left is mostly my memories.
I will leave with nothing in my pockets.
I cannot tell the reason for my journey.
My heart has yet to reveal it to my mouth.
Why does my body feel light and airy?
I am floating away like a child's baloon,
Tethered to Earth by a single thread.
A fortune in bribes can't stay my departure.
When it's time to go you really must go,
And something tells me it's getting late.

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What I would say

If I could give a short admonition to congress and the current administration, this is what I would say:

In 1864 Herbert Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection in Darwin's evolutionary theory. If the term "survival of the fittest" truly implies a war of man against every other man, then it follows that the first rule of nature regarding civilization must be "to seek peace." The followers of this rule are said to be "sociable" and those who are always contrary for superfluous reasons are guilty of tension and strife because of their disregard for this fundamental natural law. The second rule is that all men and women should do unto others as they would be done unto, or, in other words, the golden rule. Following close behind this are the societal rules that covenants must be kept, that people should have no reason to repent of their good will, and that every person strive to accommodate themselves to the rest.

With the object of these natural laws of civilized people in mind I am asking our elected government representatives of all parties to extend their hands in fellowship with one another and resolve to avoid petty grievances. I remind them also that lies are akin to murder because lies are intended to murder truth. I ask that they seek truth and harmony to the greatest extent possible in the interest of peace and to invoke God's blessing upon us and our posterity. Amen!

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For the Greater Glory

Abraham Lincoln once recited a line from the Gospel that has been quoted often over the years and especially recently. Lincoln delivered that line in a speech that he gave on June 16, 1858 as he accepted the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois that was held by Stephen A. Douglas. This speech is most remembered for Lincoln's quotation of the biblical phrase, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." (Mark 3:25, Matthew 12:25)

The Republican Party was being newly formed at the time by an odd coalition of folks whose only unity consisted in their abhorrence of slavery. The new Republican Party contained former members of the Whig Party who opposed slavery, members of the Free Soil Party, Democrats who opposed the Kansas Nebraska Act, former members of the "Know Nothings Party who viewed slavery as a threat to political freedom, and abolitionists who sought a political outlet for their hatred of slavery. It was Lincoln's task to pull these different groups together in order to build a consensus strong enough to hold the Union together. We are now at another point is history when our Union is becoming divided against itself, but what is the solution to save us from so much civil strife?

I believe that the solution can also be found in scripture.  Jesus says in Mark 12:31 and Matthew 22:39, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Yes, of course, that is easy for us to say, especially when we speak from a high horse or a high pulpit. As a practical matter, however, what might be the mechanism for the change in thinking that could result in such a change of heart? I found an answer in something written long ago by St. Augustine. Who wrote: “Love men, slay error; without pride be bold in the truth, without cruelty fight for the truth.” (Diligite homines, interficite errores; sine superbia de veritate præsumite, sine sævitia pro veritate certate.)

We must remember that we all make mistakes and that we will be judged by God as to whether the mistakes that we make are just errors without malice or if they are sins of omission or commission. In the meantime whatever mistakes that we perceive about others by using our five senses are either violations of societal laws or common errors, both of which may or may not be subject to temporal punishment depending upon the power and authority of the court that does the judging including the court of public opinion.

Time and again we see people who worship the same God yet hate each other. We also see patriots from various political parties who profess to love their country but do not love people who are not just like them and so there are people of different races and denominations who hate each other. The solution therefore is to hate error but love people. How? Through empathy, education, and charity toward all. By understanding that most hatreds are rooted in humiliation, envy, and fear brought on by ignorance. If the United States is truly “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” then it should carry the seal of God which is Truth. Our task is not to tear down but to build up, to build a consensus based upon unity in spirit, “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” - “For the Greater Glory of God” (the motto of St. Ignatius, The Jesuit Order, and Pope Francis).

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