A Memorial Day Reflection

The gospel for this Memorial Day weekend is taken from the 14^th chapter of John’s gospel which has been read every day this past week, leading up to Memorial Day.   This chapter contains Jesus’ appeal that we follow His commandments.  His commandments go beyond the Mosaic Law which provided a moral code to guide specific behaviors of the people of God.  Jesus’ commandments are less specific but call us to attain a more mature spirituality based on love and forgiveness.  Loving one another as Jesus defines it, requires a sacrificial love, exemplified in His life and death.   The perfect, sacrificial love of Jesus is portrayed by the crucifix with the body of Jesus depicted in death.  It is this very love that overcame death and holds the promise of eternal life. 

Although we will never achieve the perfection of love in this life, and certainly not on our own, Jesus promises to help us by sending the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us. 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.”  (John 14:15)

Memorial Day is set aside as a national holiday to honor those men and women who sacrificed themselves for our country and what it stands for.  They fought and many died protecting our freedom from the threat of Fascism, Nazism, and Communism.  My own father landed at Normandy and fought his way across France until he was seriously wounded six weeks later, just over the border in Germany.  After nearly losing his leg, he wore a brace the rest of his life, never regaining the feeling or the use of one leg below the knee.  He seldom spoke of the horrors of war he witnessed, and never complained about the sacrifices he made for our country.  If anything, he was proud to have fought for the ideals of our country and our triumph over the evils of socialism taken to the extreme. 

It may be naïve to think that our country embodied a “Spirit of Truth” during the Second World War, but at least we stood for the dignity of the human person.   In contrast, the extreme socialism and nationalism promoted by Hitler was driven by the belief that the government knew what was best for the people, and that they could perfect their nation by purging themselves of undesirables, like the Jews and other minorities.   Theirs was a world devoid of “The Truth” as revealed by the tenets of Christianity.

Sadly, as Europeans and Americans have become more secular and abandoned their Christian heritage, they have begun to lose sight of God’s Truth.    We have lost respect for the dignity of human life and view 40% of unborn babies as “undesirable.”    Like Hitler who authorized human experimentation, we now use human embryos as fodder for research.   In a virtual human holocaust, more than 50 million unborn babies have been killed in America over the past 40 years, and millions more have been frozen as embryos, as if they were mere property.   This is NOT what my father, a devout Catholic, fought for!  Our current government has legislated the right to abortion, even while suppressing religious freedom, in their quest to perfect our country and dismissing religious objections to abortion as a “war on women.”   Similarly, our government has severely damaged the family by promulgating laws to enable “no-fault” divorce, discouraging marriage among the poor by rewarding single mothers, and penalizing married couples with extra taxes.  

Love is no longer understood to be sacrificial in nature, but rather an emotion to be enjoyed without regard to commitment or personal responsibility to spouse or children.  The individual is now considered the basic unit of society, not the family, and absolute individual freedom held to be the most important American value, even at the cost of discarding undesirable and inconvenient responsibilities to spouses, embryos, and children.  Anyone who says differently is accused of violating the civil rights of others, but when did divorce, abortion, and child abandonment become a civil right?   In short, our world “…cannot accept the Spirit of Truth because it neither sees nor knows Him.”

The Spirit of Truth, the Advocate, assists us in cultivating virtue in our lives, so that we may become more capable of sacrificial love, while honoring our commitments and responsibilities.  This is the true path to happiness, in contrast to radical individualism.  Absolute individual freedom, as promoted by our government, does not lead to fulfillment and happiness, but rather to the slavery and isolation of selfishness.  Socrates was killed by his government for challenging the prevailing culture of his time, and for promoting the cultivation of virtue.  Jesus was murdered for revealing the True nature of God while advocating love and forgiveness, and this was viewed as a threat the status quo.   

This Memorial Day, perhaps the best way to honor the Veterans who have served and sacrificed for our country, is to resolve to uphold and promote The Spirit of Truth which was so instrumental in the founding of our country, but is now waning in the 21^st century.   Benjamin Franklin, among others, knew that our Republic would not survive unless the people of our country remained virtuous.  Democracy depends on the people’s understanding of what constitutes the common good.  Without a culture of life and the guidance of The Spirit of Truth, our nation will deconstruct, just as ancient Greece, Rome and early 20^th century Germany did, when their cultures fell into moral decay.

Antidote for a Troubled Nation

Today’s gospel starts with Jesus saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  This proclamation is especially relevant in the 21^st century.  We live in a troubled world.  Anxiety and depression are rampant in American society.  According to the CDC, 11% of all Americans older than age 12 take antidepressant medication.  Among women age 40-59 the rate is 24%, and of all the people taking antidepressants, 14% have been doing so continuously for 10 or more years.

Considering that we live in the most prosperous, freest nation in the world, what might account for this? Despite our failure to reduce poverty in America over the past 50 years, we still enjoy greater wealth than any nation on earth.  Even the poorest among us have better living conditions than most of the rest of the world.  Things we take for granted like clean water, electricity, sanitation, education, and medical care, are luxuries limited to only the most wealthy in other nations.  The freedoms we enjoy such as free speech, religious freedom, the right to work, and to own property, do not exist in half the nations on earth.  Our standard of living has never been higher.  Cell phones are ubiquitous, as are TVs, computers, and tablets, even among our poor.  You may think these are expensive luxuries, but 30 years ago one megabyte of computer memory cost $5000.  Now you can buy a terabyte drive for about 60 bucks. Ten years ago a 40 inch flat screen TV cost $3500, now you can pick one up for less than $600.

Despite all these advantages, we still find plenty of things to complain about such as internet access on airplanes, the dearth of good TV shows, or the lack of availability of our favorite foods in supermarkets.  What seems to be lacking is gratitude for all we have.  Instead of acknowledging and appreciating all that we have, we have become a nation of whiners, grumbling about everything from the weather to politics.  With all we have going for us, why is this the case?   The news media may be partly to blame.  Almost everything reported on the news is some sort of disaster of either natural or man-made cause.   But the bigger issue, I believe, is our lack of gratitude.  The Roman philosopher Cicero once said that “Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, it is the parent of all others.”  As a nation, we seem to have forgotten our spiritual heritage and begun to focus primarily on ourselves and our personal comforts and freedoms.  In doing so, we have lost sight of the many blessings we enjoy. 

Last week one of our grandsons made his First Holy Communion.  Here is the letter I wrote to him about the importance of what he was experiencing:

Dear Aiden,

Your First Communion is a really important event in your life.  It means you are old enough to understand some very important things about life, and you are ready to receive Jesus into your body and soul. 

One of the most important things to know is that when God created you, He made you more than just a body and mind.  He gave you a spirit that will live forever.   This spirit of yours is very special, and it is the reason why you can love, and laugh, and cry.  It is also what makes you the person you are.  Your spirit contains the divine spark of God’s love.  This love of God can make you brave, and wise as well as loving and forgiving, if you let it. 

When you receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, you are allowing Jesus to enter into your body and your spirit and give you the strength to become a better person.  The Holy Spirit of God strengthens you and gives you courage.   He also helps you become more understanding, more wise, and most importantly, more loving. 

Nana and I will always pray for you (even long after we’ve passed away from this world).  Our prayer is that you will allow Jesus to help you grow strong, and wise, and loving, just like Jesus Himself.

Our culture is becoming more secular, with a greater focus on personal fulfillment and comfort, and simultaneously losing sight of our spiritual nature.  Two things happen when this occurs:  First, we focus primarily on ourselves, and as a result, every inconvenience and disappointment becomes a cause for frustration and anxiety.  Second, we lose our sense of wonder and awe for the many gifts that surround us.  Without this spiritual worldview, we are left with only the mundane, which will never fully satisfy us.  Furthermore, as morality corrodes, we are left with the consequences of sin which include broken relationships, low self-esteem, lack of trust, and not surprisingly, more angst.   The rise in divorce rates corresponds to higher rates of depression and suicide, not only among divorcees, but their children as well.  The change in sexual mores has been accompanied by a pandemic of sexually transmitted disease, and of course, 50 million abortions over the past 40 years.   Is it any wonder clinical depression has increased 400% in the last 10 years, and tenfold in the last 40 years?

In my opinion, the antidote for all this is to cultivate our spiritual lives.  In doing so, we will focus less on ourselves, and more on the many gifts our God has bestowed in us.  As I wrote to my grandson, we are spiritual creatures.   When we neglect our spiritual nature, the consequence is anxiety.  Of course even the most devout Christians suffer depression, but cultivating an attitude of gratitude is bound to help fend off the apprehension and fears that lead to depression.  Perhaps this is why Jesus so frequently encouraged his disciples to “Be not afraid.”  After all, no matter what happens in this world, we know we will be with Him in the next.  That’s certainly something to be grateful for, and helps us cope with the disappointments we experience until then.

 

 

Divine Mercy and the War on Poverty

Saint Pope John Paul II established the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.  God’s mercy is incomprehensible, a true mystery.  Why would God, who has no need for humanity, suffer and die for our redemption, despite our many faults and failings?   Regardless of our apathy, our sins of omission and commission, and even though we may have cultivated a life of selfish pursuit, obsessed with our own importance, Our Lord sacrificed Himself to redeem us!  God’s Mercy is impossible to understand, and yet we know that He intervened in human history, suffered, died, was buried, and then rose from the dead… all for us. 

Although we do not deserve such immense love and mercy, God not only reaches out to us in love, He accomplished our salvation with His own blood, sweat, and tears.  In doing so He demonstrated the extent of divine mercy and set an example of what it means to love so completely that no sacrifice is too great on behalf of our beloved.  During His short public ministry Jesus demonstrated the love and mercy of God over and over again, curing the ill, forgiving sins, and reaching out to sinners.  At the same time, He was quick to call out hypocrisy, and unafraid to upset the customs and conventions of religious leaders who were more concerned about the details of the law than the people themselves.  In short, Jesus embodied not only God’s mercy, but His justice as well.  The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were all about justice under the law, but lacked the virtue of mercy.  In many ways, there were spiritually immature, calling on God to destroy their enemies, giving themselves excuses to divorce women when they lost interest, and punishing people severely for legal infractions.  The Scribes and Pharisees were quick to criticize Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, for dining with tax collectors, and for forgiving sinners, even an adulterer.  Their concept of Justice was legalistic and they assumed that God punished people in this life for their sins, even taking out His wrath on their descendants. Jesus taught a more mature spirituality in which we pray for our enemies and we exercise mercy and forgiveness for sinners.  

Justice without mercy is nothing more than dictatorship. On the other hand, Mercy without Justice is merely coddling, and no mercy at all.  God’s mercy is also just.  Yes, He saves us, despite our sinfulness, and there is nothing we can do to attain our salvation, other than believe in Him, but He is also just.  The word justice is often confused with fairness and the notion that everyone should be treated the same.  However, at the root of justice is the concept of human dignity.  Every single person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect because they have been uniquely created by God.  God is Just because He loves us unconditionally and treats each person justly.  This is the right thing to do, it is righteous to treat every person with respect.  The term social justice is often misunderstood and confused with charity.  We should all be concerned about the poor, Jesus certainly was.  We should approach the difficult problem of poverty with both mercy and justice, treating every person respectfully, justly, and mercifully, but good intentions often go astray when charity results in hurting the very people in need.

President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty in 1965, when the poverty rate was 18%.  after nearly 50 years and $15 trillion spent on anti-poverty programs, we’ve done more harm than good, and the poverty rate remains over 15%.   We’ve lost the war and created an entire class of people who depend on government assistance, rather than on themselves.  This may sound harsh, but the fact is that there are more people living in poverty now, than ever before in our nation’s history, 50 million in all.   Ironically, the reasons for poverty are well-known and understood by those who have studied the causes carefully, but this information is never publicized.  Numerous studies have been conducted by social scientists in an effort to understand the causes of poverty, and importantly, the effect of anti-poverty programs.*   Here’s what they found and documented, over and over again in study after study.  The more welfare benefits people receive:

·        The fewer hours they worked

·        The less money they earned

·        The more likely they were to divorce and remain single

In other words, the anti-poverty programs discouraged the very behaviors that prevent poverty and encouraged the behaviors that result in poverty.  The same studies documented the behaviors that almost certainly prevent poverty:

·        Finish High School

·        Get a job

·        Get married and stay married

·        Don’t have children until getting married

Despite almost 50 years of failed efforts, our current anti-poverty programs continue to discourage people who are receiving welfare benefits from working or getting married.  Under our current welfare programs, for every dollar a poor person earns from working, they lose 80 cents or more in welfare benefits.  Single parents are discouraged from getting married because they will lose benefits, and our tax code penalizes married couples in a dozen different ways. 

An old adage comes to mind: “Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a person to fish and you feed him for the rest of his life.”  Our current anti-poverty programs discourage marriage and development of the virtue of self-reliance.  Our government spends approximately $1 Trillion a year on these programs and they are a miserable failure.  Every good parent knows that spoiling a child will impede the likelihood of their success as adults.  Although emotionally demanding ,good parents teach their children the importance of personal responsibility and a good work ethic.  Because we love our children, we treat them with Justice and Mercy, teaching them valuable lessons by rewarding their efforts and successes, and helping them learn from their failures.  Our government does the opposite with its “income equality” programs wherein those who have worked hard and succeeded are punished with regressive taxes, and those who are trapped in poverty are discouraged from improving their lot in life.

Our merciful Lord calls us to feed the hungry and care for the poor.  He certainly would not want us to trap anyone in the cycle of poverty, but rather help people help themselves.  If we really care for people and respect them, we will re-think the way we approach poverty and address the real causes.  That means encouraging marriage and family, demanding that everyone complete their education, and creating incentives to work, rather than disincentives.  This would be both Just and Merciful.

*For a summary of these studies see, “Welfare: The Political Economy of Welfare Reform in the United States” by Martin Anderson