It's About Time for a Spiritual and Political Conversion

The liturgical year comes to a close as it always does, with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  This is much more than a passing nod to the kingship of Jesus as we move into Advent.  If we take the time to truly reflect on it, we are called to choose between making Jesus our sovereign king, or going on our merry way, doing as we please and making all of life’s myriad decisions based on what’s convenient at the moment, and how we feel at the time.  It is the choice between being a sovereign individual with radical autonomy , versus accepting the wisdom of Jesus and following His leadership and loving example.   Of course there are many gradations of this sovereignty; times when we follow Jesus, times we rationalize our actions, and times we outright commit sin.  The danger in all this is that we are creatures of habit, tending to repeat ourselves for better or for worse.  Ironically, sinful habits inevitably lead to unhappiness and disappointment, but we continue them all the same, hoping for a better outcome, or to merely to feel good momentarily, even knowing we will regret it in the end.

The Solemnity of Christ the King, is above all a call to conversion.  It is an appeal to cast off the yoke of slavery to sin, and enter into the love of Jesus.  To the extent that we accept His sovereignty, His Love and forgiveness, and begin to make all our decisions on the basis of His law of Love, we discover true happiness.  Any area of life we withhold from Jesus will continue to be a source disappointment and unhappiness.  But we are easily deceived when apart from Jesus, and fall readily into the trap of thinking we are capable of achieving happiness all on our own if was just discover the right combination.   Everybody wants to be happy, so it should be an easy choice, but of course it isn’t.  And that’s because it is so difficult to throw off our pride and other sinful habits which make it so hard to recognize the Truth, even when it is right in front of us.  The gospel for Sunday’s Solemnity has Jesus before Pilot saying, “You say that I am I king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

Every one of us is a sinner, making it difficult to hear and accept the Truth that Jesus reveals.  Fortunately God has thought of that too, because we are incapable of pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and out of sin.  In His Divine Mercy, Christ forgives our sins and makes it possible to finally “hear His voice,” the voice of Truth.   This call to conversion is a call to accept forgiveness and finally understand the wisdom of living under the reign of Jesus, to live under the dominion of Our Lord, rather than under the domination of sin. 

In much the same way our country has lost its moral compass, and seems incapable of perceiving truth.  The prevailing liberal/progressive ideology harkens back the Marxist notion that mankind is intrinsically selfish, that liberty, the rule of law, and high cultural standards aren’t inevitable or even natural,  and therefore society must be controlled for its own good.  This argument gained credibility during the Industrial Revolution and massive immigration to America resulting in numerous human rights abuses, especially among the labor class, women, children, and immigrants.  During the past 150 years liberals have been guided by the conviction that every aspect of American life has had to be meticulously managed by strict regulation.  As we progressed from farming to industrialization, to the information age, regulations kept getting more complex and pervasive.  Moreover, regulatory authority has moved far beyond business and banking laws to control every aspect of life, making the federal government the final arbiter on everything from the environment to education, to health and safety, to voting rights.  In doing so, the feds have usurped the State’s and local government’s rights to self-governance.  It is as if we’ve set up the “philosopher kings” Plato warned us about, because people can’t be trusted make decisions on their own.  Even more nefarious, in the past 40 years, and especially the most recent six years, the government has been dictating morality.  Starting with abortion rights and culminating in the right to homosexual marriage, the government demands by force of law that everyone participate by paying for abortion as an employee benefit, or with tax dollars, and even requires business services to be performed without regard to the conscious rights of individual citizens.  In this respect, the Constitution is being ignored with respect to the right to life, and the right to exercise freedom of religion, while new rights are being attributed to the constitution that do not exist.  The trouble is that this liberal ideology isn’t working.  It is suppressing economic growth, contributing to poverty by making the welfare trap harder to escape, hampering job-creation, inhibiting innovation, and impeding trade.  Socialism is failing big time in Europe, as it is in States and cities run by liberals, and yet they plod on, as if they will eventually hit on the right combination bureaucracy that finally solves the immense puzzle.  They cannot see the Truth of this situation.

Conversely, conservatives are seeking to decentralize decision-making, reduce the immense burden of convoluted administrative laws, and restore our constitutional rights.  Doing so would unleash economic growth, including job-creation to stem poverty.  They would defend religious freedom and the right to protect families from the assault on moral values in our educational system, and defend children’s right to be raised by both a father and a mother.

In a sense, the 2016 election is also about a conversion.  Do we want an America dominated by our government and the values they impose?  Or do we want to live under the dominion of leaders who will free us to act responsibly within the original rule of law that made our nation a great powerhouse, and gave us the moral authority to defeat Communism and Fascism?   Has the pendulum swung so far to the left that people will finally become aware of the Truth of the situation and “right the ship” before it gets any worse?

"Male and Female He Created Them"

Last Sunday we heard one of the creation accounts from Genesis, in which God created woman from Adam’s rib, and Adam declares that she is “bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.”  Then the author of Genesis proclaims:  “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:23-24)  In the gospel, when Jesus is asked about divorce, He quotes this passage from Genesis, saying: “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” (Mark 10: 7-8)

This describes God’s plan for the perpetuation of humanity and it is inscribed in the biological design of our human bodies.  There is only one way in which a human child can be conceived and brought into the world, and this is by the joining of a man and woman, each donating themselves to the marital act of becoming one flesh, so that new life can be procreated.  This is the very definition of marriage: male and female, joining together as one in order to form a family.  Nature itself makes it obvious that two men or two women, no matter what romantic feelings they have for one another, cannot become one flesh, nor participate in procreation.  Any attempt to do so, defies nature.  To call such a relationship a marriage is like calling day, night, and denies the reality of our bodies.   In his Theology of the Body, St. John Paul II goes into great length describing the beauty and purpose of the conjugal act, and the love of man and woman that forms the basis of their relationship, centered on the ‘gift of self’ each makes to the other.  But is doesn’t end here.  This joining of man and woman is meant to be permanent, because it is the basis of forming a family in which children are raised by their father and mother, secure in the knowledge that the family will love, protect, nurture, and guide them into maturity.  It has been understood for millennia that this definition of the family forms the basis for civil society.  Children need both father and mother in their lives to learn what it means to love, respect, and contribute to the family and to society at large.  This is precisely why marriage has been protected and encouraged in civil society.  It has been well-understood that the family is the basic unit of society, and contributes immensely to the common good.

Science can now accomplish human fertilization artificially, but it still requires male and female cells when performed in a lab, and every child, including those conceived in a test tube, or carried by a surrogate mother, still has a biological father and mother.  These children, like every other child, have a basic human right to be raised by both of their biological parents.   Sadly, many children are abandoned by one parent or the other, but study after study reveals that children raised by both father and mother, fare far better than those raised by a single parent, or two ‘parents’ of the same sex.  Simply put, God’s plan for the care and nurturing of children, the natural plan, if you will, is for children to be raised by both father and mother, providing the safety, security, and example of how to live a responsible, moral, and purposeful life.   Social science has studied the family for decades and has revealed that children raised by a single parent are far more likely to live in poverty, fail to complete their education, and less likely to marry themselves, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.  Children raised by couples of the same sex are similarly disadvantaged.  They may be loved of course, but lack the example and guidance and love of one of their biological parents.

The law of the land has now redefined marriage as the right of any two people with romantic feelings toward one another to be married, with complete disregard for the facts of nature and human biology, and at the same time ignoring the right of children to be raised by both of their biological parents.  Moreover, these same laws demand that if requested, every one of us must participate in that marriage ceremony.  Florists, bakers, photographers, wedding planners, and county clerks have all been sued, fined, punished, and in one case, imprisoned, for refusing to participate in gay marriage ceremonies on the basis of their religious conviction.  Opposition to these changes has been weak and futile because legislators and the electorate itself are afraid of offending gay couples and being labeled as intolerant.  Politicians and even some of the protestant clergy hide behind the notion gay people are entitled to happiness, and they act as marriage is nothing more than the acknowledgement of romantic feelings and commitments.  But they ignore the very definition of the marital act and the rights of children, as well as the common good of society, which has a vested interest in children who are the future of humanity.  In effect, they are condoning a lie based on the very nature of our bodies and the needs of children to be raised by parents of both sexes. 

This perversion of our sexuality, making it something nature never intended it to be, is but one more step down the slippery slope of sin.  Even Freud, who was a radical progressive, warned that when sex is separated from procreation, all manner of perversions come into play.  The lie that pornography and prostitution are victimless crimes, ignores the damage it does to people addicted to it, and the harmful effects such a selfish approach to sex has on relationships and human dignity.  In the case of prostitution, it also contributes to the worldwide pandemic of human trafficking which is largely ignored by the media.  As a society, we have come to value absolute human freedom so much that most people believe everyone is entitled to pursue happiness in their own way, unencumbered by traditional social mores which were meant to preserve and promote the common good.   The collateral damage of abandoning the traditional morality of Christianity includes the breakdown of marriage, an increase in poverty, and the people most affected are children, the very future of civil society.

This fight over the definition of marriage is only beginning.  Religious freedom is under attack in America and we will soon be seeing lawsuits against religious organizations, in an attempt to force them to accede to the LGBT agenda, just like our current Justice Department is already attempting to force religious organizations to pay for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.  But the courts and our Progressive government officials have gotten it wrong.  They are undermining the common good and inflicting damage on children and future generations, in the name of absolute individual autonomy, while ignoring the consequences of abandoning the moral underpinnings of society.  It is time for all Christians to stand up for the truth, and boldly speak about the reality of what constitutes a REAL marriage and family.  Every person should be treated with dignity, respect, and love, including homosexuals, but we can and must do so without redefining marriage and undermining the rights of children and jeopardizing future generations.

What's the Pope Really Up To?

Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba and America has dominated the news for the past couple weeks.  Everywhere he went he was cheered by tens of thousands of admirers.  People from both ends of the political spectrum have welcomed his message of peace, love, and hope.  The secular media has been almost giddy about things said by Pope Francis.  One ABC national news correspondent described Francis as “the first Progressive, Liberal pope, who is finally modernizing the Church”.  Similarly, Bernie Sanders described the pope as a “very progressive”, citing his remarks about climate change and immigration.  Hilary Clinton and President Obama agreed with the pope’s “liberal views” on Cuba, the Iran agreement, and climate change.  Republican leaders cited the pope’s conservative views on marriage and family, but cringed at his comments about global climate change and his opposition to the death penalty.  For the most part, unless you took the time to read the full text of his remarks to congress and the U.N., this would be the impression you got from the media coverage, and if you are a devout Catholic (not a Nancy Peolsi-Catholic) you might be wondering, “What is Pope Francis up to?”

The impressions cited above are all based on political views.  There is a tendency to interpret the pope’s words and actions as if he too were a politician, advocating specific political strategy, and promoting an agenda in which one side is right, and opposing views are wrong.  The problem with this interpretation is that the pope does not take political views, but rather speaks what he believes to be the Truth about the human condition, and the problems faced by society.  He favors neither liberal nor conservative views, and he has not yet changed any of the Catholic Church’s long standing teaching about the basics of our faith with regard to the dignity and sanctity of every human life, marriage, family or the priesthood.  What the pope IS advocating, is a way of life, rooted in authentic Christian faith as taught by Jesus Himself to his apostles and disciples, and handed down through the centuries to the successors of these same apostles.  Unlike politicians, who are polarized to the point of hatred for their opposition, Pope Francis enters into the fray without condemnation of those who might disagree with him.  He speaks openly and clearly about the issues of the day, ranging from climate change and immigration to marriage and family.  Because he has engaged in the hot button issues of the day, people look for specific words or phrases uttered by the pope to cite the fact that he agrees with them on a particular point, but then overlook the full context of his remarks, and choose to ignore whatever they disagree with.   The pope’s actions, such as riding in a small car, also reflect the way of life he espouses.  For example, immediately following his visit to the White House, Pope Francis visited the Little Sisters of the Poor whose religious freedom is under attack by the Obama administration; and after his UN speech to the most powerful political leaders in the world, he visited the poor in New York City. 

Here are some of the quotes you did not hear from the media coverage of the pope’s visit to Congress. After citing the important accomplishments of famous Americans, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton, the pope said, “It is important today that the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is the voice of fraternity and love.” Remember, it was religious groups whose voice was heard clearly after the Dredd Scott decision, igniting the Civil War and the end of slavery; and the religious views of MLK that led to the success of the Civil Rights movement.  In contrast, at the White House the day before, President Obama boasted about religious freedom in America, which he described as the “freedom to worship,” but denying the rightful place of religious views in public dialogue or in action.  Knowing that the president and Congress overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, and the Supreme Court has redefined marriage, the pope said this: “How essential the family has been to the building of this country, and how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement.  Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family which is so threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without.  Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family.  I can only reiterate the importance and above all the richness and beauty of family life.”  He was referring of course to the traditional definition of family: father, mother, and children. 

These points were made even more clear in the pope’s remarks to the UN.  Referring to his encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis said, “We Christians believe that the universe is the fruit of a loving decision by the Creator, who permits man respectfully to use creation for the good of his fellow men.  Our world demands of government leaders, concrete steps  and immediate measures for putting an end to human trafficking, the marketing of human organs, sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave trade, including prostitution, drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime.   This presupposes and requires the right to education, ensured first and foremost by respecting the primary right of the family to educate its children as well as the right of churches and social groups to support and assist families in educating children.”  Here the Pope was referring to a UN resolution passed just a few weeks before his visit. The resolution, called The 2030 Agenda, cites the importance of the right of parents to be the primary teachers of their children.  However, the USA and several Western European nations voted against the resolution, which passed only because Moslem, African, and Eastern European countries had enough votes to get it passed. 

Addressing the issues of marriage and family again, he said, “Man does not create himself.  He is spirit and will, but also nature.  The misuse of human beings begins when we no longer recognize any authority above ourselves.  Creation is compromised where we ourselves have the final word.  Consequently, the defense of the environment demands that we recognize a moral law written into human nature itself, one which includes the natural difference between man and woman, and absolute respect for life in all stages and dimensions.  Without the recognition of certain uncontestable natural ethical limits, the idea of saving succeeding generation becomes an unattainable illusion, or worse, idle chatter which serves as a cover for all kinds of abuse and corruption, or for carrying out an ideological colonization by imposition of anomalous models and lifestyles which are alien to people’s identity.”    In other words, unless we face the Truth that God made men and women different and complementary, we risk the degradation of human dignity and further undermine the safety and security of future generations.  The pope’s words should serve as a warning against the ideological war being waged against Christianity.  Sadly, people deeply immersed in their own political agendas are likely to overlook this stern warning, much like the so-called “cafeteria Catholics” pick and choose which of the Church’s teachings to ignore.

C.S. Lewis once said, “The important thing about religion is not whether or not it makes you feel good, but whether or not it is True.”  In my view, much of the progressive, liberal agenda is aimed at wanting to feel good.  Liberals feel good about assisting the poor, offering legal status to illegal immigrants, along with welfare benefits, free health care, free education, free food, easy credit for student loans, and legitimizing gay marriage.  But the truth is, these programs often do more harm than good by creating a welfare trap and running up unsustainable debt.  They undermine marriage and deny children their natural right to be raised by both father and mother.   One of the reasons people love the pope is that he exemplifies a way of life that is authentically Christian.  By his words and actions, he demonstrates compassion, love, and forgiveness which is very attractive, as should be the witness of every authentic Christian.  He also speaks the Truth about our human and spiritual nature, the importance of religious freedom, and the essential nature of marriage and family.   By engaging wholeheartedly in the hot-button issues of the age, hopefully his full message about these natural and moral truths will be heard by more people, and perhaps even acted on by our governments.

 

Human Nature Hasn't Changed Much in 2300 Years

Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, after conquering most of the Middle East and Eastern Europe.  In doing so, he attempted to destroy the cultures and religions that resisted, and replace them with the Greek language, religion, and customs.  About this time, an unknown author wrote the Book of Wisdom which was to become part of the Old Testament.   Sunday’s reading from Wisdom recounts the persecution of those who opposed the adoption of Greek paganism:  “The wicked say, ‘Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us, he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law… Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.  For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from the hands of his foes.  Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”  (Wisdom 2: 12,17,20)  People who insisted on adhering to their faith in One True God, were dealt with severely by the Greek and later Roman overlords.  These words of scripture are eerily prophetic about the life and death of Jesus.  They also describe the persecution going on in the Middle East and Africa where Christians are tortured, beheaded, pillaged, and run out of their homes and country, fleeing for their very lives, rather than abandon their faith. 

Alexander, and later the Roman emperors and statesmen, lusted for power and control over all people.   Sunday’s second reading from the letter of St. James, describes what happens when human ambition is driven by the passion to control and exercise power.  “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.  Where do the wars and where do the conflicts come from?  Is it not from your passions that make war among your members?  You kill and envy but cannot obtain, you fight and wage war.”  (James 3:16, 4:3)  This quote describes the polarization and outright hatred that makes up the political landscape of America today.  Those in power, in both parties, seem more intent on retaining and gaining power, than ensuring the common good which is supposed to be their charge.  Blinded by political ambition, many on the Left refuse to confront the truth and consequences of their political agenda.  Rather than acknowledge the harvesting of body parts from aborted babies, even those born alive, they seek to discredit the authenticity of the recent videos, while refusing to even consider the heinous acts they are determined to defend.   Many on the right refuse act on measures aimed at addressing our monstrous national debt, for fear of losing votes based on polling data.  Republicans, despite majorities in both houses of Congress, refuse to take action against violations of first amendment rights, breaches of immigration laws, and even violations of Obamacare, which the President has unilaterally amended at least a dozen times without benefit of congressional approval.

So immersed in their political ambitions that they cannot discern the truth, and lacking the courage to stand up for what is truly right and just, it’s no wonder career politicians are being rebuked, and the political outsiders are faring so well in the recent polls and debates.   What’s at stake here is nothing less than the basic freedoms we take for granted, the security of our nation, and the economic disaster that looms if we fail to address our mounting debt and lethargic economy.  On one hand we have Progressives who insist that we should continue to expand government and dole out more money for free college education, and more welfare to ‘correct income inequality’, including people who have entered our country illegally, and higher minimum wages.  They insist on this and make it sound compassionate, despite hard evidence that there is no earthly way we can pay for all this without racking up trillions more in debt and hastening an economic disaster.  Study after study demonstrates that increasing the minimum wage will cause at least 500,000 workers to lose their jobs, and millions more will be reduced to part time employment and simultaneously lose their benefits.  College tuition has risen at least twice as fast as the CPI for the past decade and student loans amount to more than $1 Trillion, eclipsing even credit card debt.  Putting that on the taxpayer’s tab will only serve to magnify our debt problem, without addressing the underlying causes for the inordinate increases in the cost of education.  Extending legal status to 11 million illegal immigrants will immediately give them access to social security numbers, welfare benefits, and earned income tax credits, gorging our already bloated national budget and putting downward pressure on low wage jobs that minimum wages are trying to boost.  Carbon credits will very clearly cause the cost of energy production to rise, and in doing so inflate the cost of virtually all goods sold.  The environmental agenda is openly one of slowing down economic growth by removing money that should be invested in capital, and handing it over to the government at the very time we need to boost productivity, not dampen it.    To accomplish all this, the current Administration has been publishing approximately 76,000 pages of new rules and regulations with little or no congressional oversight, every year since taking office. 

Despite these inconvenient facts, all well-documented by our governments’ own auditors, economists, and analysts working at the GAO, OMB, BLS, and CBO, the Left presses on, hoping the general public will be so ill-informed that they fall for the emotional appeal for more free stuff and cleaner air, heedless of the terrible consequences.  And Republicans sit by idly, passing few, if any laws restricting this government overreach.  It’s time to wake up America; time to reclaim our government and take it out of the hands of career politicians.  It’s time to restore Liberty and government of the people, by the people, and for the people, not government for the sake of politicians.

A World at War

War is being waged throughout the world.  ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the many off-shoots of radical Islam are killing, torturing, and displacing millions of people, simply for being of a different sect of Islam, or for being Christian, Jewish, or agnostic.  Eastern Europe has absorbed millions of refugees and is now closing their borders.  The countries in the European Union are worried about the huge infusion of Mid-Eastern immigrants, especially given the very low birth rates among ethnic Europeans.  It’s easy to foresee that the influx of Moslem immigrants could readily become a majority in Western Europe within a generation.  I point this out not to pass judgement on the situation, or the countries receiving them.  Who can blame the refugees for abandoning their homeland under threat of death? 

But all this begs the questions: What brought this about, and what can be done about it?  Liberals blame George Bush for invading Iraq after 9/11 and destabilizing the Middle East.  But it was President Obama who unilaterally withdrew the peacekeeping force, effectively abandoning Iraq to ISIS.  When questioned about ISIS at the time, he dismissed them as “junior varsity” terrorists, and not a threat.  For more than a year now, we have come to realize that ISIS is a very real threat, yet the president has hamstrung our military with rules of engagement that make it virtually impossible to use our considerable military strength effectively.  In effect, we are standing by while ISIS murders everyone in their path and grows stronger, more sophisticated, and more deadly every day.

While our president is unwilling to wage war on radical Jihadist terrorists, he has declared war right here in America, a war for the conscience of our nation.   He is committed to “fundamentally transforming America” and is well on his way to accomplishing that goal.  This is a war of words and values aimed at imposing a liberal secular agenda on the American people.  It is a war being waged in the courts, where activist judges disregard the constitution and the duly passed laws of the States while imposing new values and establishing new societal mores.  It is being waged by the bureaucracy of the federal government where the EPA, Health, and Education departments issue administrative laws by the thousands of pages every month, with disregard to the First Amendment Rights of citizens or the negative effect all these regulations have on the cost of healthcare, energy, and employment.  It is a war being waged in schools where the formation of critical thinking skills and creativity are being replaced by revisionist history and indoctrination in the new morality of gender theory and income equality rather than natural law and human dignity.   It is a war being waged by a president with “a pen and a phone” who selectively decides which laws to enforce, while directing his Justice Department to attack State efforts to protect their international borders or State efforts to improve education outcomes by use of charter schools and vouchers.

The new values they promote are radical sexual autonomy and freedom from any moral judgment.  The forces of Secularism are aided by media bias in their efforts to impose abortion, the redefinition of marriage, and euthanasia.  The use of coercion by executive fiat and administrative law enables the government to levy immense tax penalties on employers who object on religious grounds to the destruction of human life in the womb.  Activist judges impose fines and jail sentences on those who refuse to participate in same sex marriage ceremonies.   As evidence of the success of the Secular agenda, human life is held is low regard; abortion is considered a basic right funded by the government and required in insurance coverage; and marriage is viewed as strictly for pleasure without regard to the rights of children to be raised by both of their biological parents. The procreation of children is becoming a laboratory product; sperm and female eggs are marketable items; surrogate motherhood is readily accepted, and now children can be engineered to have three genetic parents.  Anyone who opposes these efforts is portrayed as intolerant, backward, and uncaring.

This is most definitely a religious war, pitting Secularism against Traditional Judeo-Christian Christianity.  This onslaught of secularism is an overt attempt to remove God from public consideration, or to redefine Christianity so that it conforms to the new social and sexual ethics of our time.   But when God is removed from consideration, purely secular principles reign.  When this happens, people become spiritually empty and everything is permissible as moral relativism evolves to support the human ego and man’s craving for pleasure and self-satisfaction.  One of the many risks of this religious war is that Christians begin to waiver in their beliefs, in an attempt to accommodate our rapidly devolving morals and mores.  There are already Christian sects that accept gay marriage and even abortion, justifying it as compassionate.  Former president Jimmy Carter recently commented in a WWJD moment, that Jesus would approve of gay marriage, because it is the loving thing to do. Numerous high profile politicians and elitists claim to be Christian but condone abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia and more.

All this brings me to this Sunday’s gospel when Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  Each of us must answer this question if we consider ourselves Christian.  Was Jesus merely a gifted preacher and proto-hippie who promoted love and condemned war?  Did he accommodate the culture of His time in order to make people feel good about themselves and gain popularity?  Or was He who He said He was: the Son of God, speaking The Truth about our spiritual and human nature?  When challenged about marriage and divorce, Jesus quoted Genesis, “Male and Female He created them… and the two become one flesh, therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” ( Mark 10 and Gen 2:4)  He did not back down or accommodate the sinful culture of His time.

Christianity is becoming more and more unpopular.  People standing up for their Christian faith and opposing Planned Parenthood have been referred to as ‘terrorists’ by Hillary Clinton and President Obama.  Adhering to authentic Christianity is getting harder to do, and will subject courageous Christians to ridicule, fines, and imprisonment, by an increasingly intolerant government and secular society.  This is the fundamental transformation President Obama has been working toward.  Pray that we remain strong in our faith.  This is now a spiritual war and God is on our side.  Pray hard, pray often!

Here’s why our Nation is in Big Trouble

The world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket lately.  Millions of people have been displaced in the Middle East, Europe is being overrun with refugees fleeing from ISIS, and both Russia and China have been treating the USA as if we were powerless to respond to attacks on our economy, our cyber security, and even our boarders.  Despite our military and economic superiority, the United States has been acting as if we are powerless to respond to these threats.  All this is reminiscent of the late 1970s when Jimmy Carter conceded that the expansion of Communism just south of our boarder in Central America, was inevitable and we just had to live with it.

It’s easy to blame a weak president who is all too willing to stand by as Christians are brutally slaughtered and our national sovereignty is disrespected, but I think the real problem is even more serious, and harder to remedy than by simply electing a new, stronger president.  Last Sunday’s readings stood out for me as a clarion call, addressing what is really contributing to all this calamity and decline.  Moses, speaking to his people said, “In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.  Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of these statutes and say, “This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.   What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law?” (Deuteronomy 4: 6-8)

As a nation, we have wantonly and shamelessly added and subtracted from God’s law in myriad ways.  In doing so, we have lost sight of The Truth as revealed by God and by nature, and substituted human laws rooted in lies and false assumptions.  The biggest lie of all is that taking a human life in-vitro is good, and contributes to society.  Sounding very much like Margaret Sanger, Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg points out that abortion reduces the number of ‘undesirables’.  Moreover, we’ve codified this into law, and demand that every tax payer support it, in direct violation of God’s Law: “Thou shalt not kill.”  We treat sex and promiscuity as a basic human right and the basis for marriage, without regard to the consequences to health, pregnancy, family responsibility, or the common good.  Ironically, the further we travel down this slippery slope, the more radical Islamists hate us for being “degenerate.”

In short, the moral underpinnings of our democracy have been undermined and it has led to injustice, violence, and poverty, because the inherent dignity of women and children is disregarded.  Consider the pandemic of human trafficking that is seldom mentioned in the media, the homicide rate, and the push for assisted suicide.  Worse yet, the political pressure to push the abortion and gay marriage agenda is about more than just women’s health and gay rights, it is about the destruction of the family and the implementation of a totalitarian system in which the government, not parents, assumes responsibility for teaching the new morality.  This may sound harsh, but look at what is happening in our schools.  Children are being indoctrinated with this progressive agenda all the way from grade school through college.  Here’s what the Archbishop of Guam had to say, after gay marriage was deemed law:  

 “The next step will be to implement this theory in the educational system of Guam,” said the archbishop. “This means that our children, your children, will be forced to assimilate to this pattern of non-gender; that there is no-such-thing as ‘male’ or ‘female’; they will be encouraged to explore their sexuality earlier, and parents will have no voice in the education of their children.” 

There is no question that parental rights and responsibilities, are being abrogated by government at all levels.  There are numerous stories about schools banning the terms ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ in favor of ‘friends.’  Gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms are being imposed on children despite the objections of parents and students alike.  It’s not enough for business owners to accept the gay lifestyle, they must participate in gay marriages if requested.  The conscience rights of medical and pharmaceutical professionals are being disregarded, and even religious institutions such as colleges, hosptials, and hospices must agree to provide abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization or face catastrophic fines that would cause bankruptcy.

The point of all this is that our government has far exceeded its legitimate authority.  Much of this change over the past six years has come about by executive fiat and court decree, but the democratic process has created this situation by electing people unwilling to choose in favor of The Truth.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches that “No society can last unless it is based on a hierarchy of values based on the just ordering of relationships.”  It goes on to say that legitimate authority is that which is in keeping with The Truth of human nature, and works toward the common good.  “No one is obliged to obey laws that are arbitrary and unjust or that contradict the natural moral order.”  The CCC further explains that, “The common good follows wherever the fundamental rights of the person are respected and men can freely develop their intellectual and religious potential.  The common good implies that men can live in society with freedom, peace, and security.  The common good is best served where the good of the individual person and of the smaller units of society (for instance, the family) is central. The individual and the smaller social unit need to be protected and promoted by the stronger power of State institutions.”  During the past six years, our government has done just the opposite.

 

Is it any wonder then, that we have become weak and feckless?  It is as if we are committing national suicide in slow motion, under the auspices of giving people what they want: freedom from responsibility; government funded food, housing, healthcare, pensions, childcare, education, abortions, and contraception.  Does that sound like a recipe for building a virtuous society?  Instead it has resulted in the lowest workforce participate rate in half a century, and the creation of an entitlement mentality, all of which smacks of socialism and is lapped up by the devotees of Bernie Sanders.  People don’t seem to know any better, because they are indoctrinated into this ‘new morality,’ and enticed by all the free stuff.  Our only way out of this is to wake up from this delusional state of self-indulgence and return to our Judeo-Christian roots.  It is God’s Law and the virtues it promotes that made our nation the most powerful, most just, and economically successful in the world.   We are a nation of LEGAL immigrants, who arrived here with little or no money, received no welfare benefits, no food stamps, and no handouts.   Our forebears worked hard because they had to.  They honored their faith and their family responsibilities, and formed a republic based on an honest to God commitment to the common good, and the utmost respect for the dignity of every human life.  They established LEGITIMATE authority, rooted in God’s Truth and the natural order.  Unless we return to this model of personal responsibility and adherence to God’s Law, our nation will continue to flounder and we will suffer the slow and painful death being experienced in the socialist countries of Europe, mired in debt and overrun by Muslim immigrants.  WAKE UP AMERICA !!

What I've learned from 47 years of marriage

I am writing this on the 47^th anniversary of our marriage.  Rose and I were high school sweethearts who married while I was still in college, a year before I was required to enter the US Army in 1968 to serve my obligatory two years of active duty.  August 24^th is the feast day of St. Bartholomew, the apostle also known as Nathaniel in the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church.  Coincidentally, we were married in St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church in Chicago, just a few blocks from where Rose grew up.  In the gospel, Bartholomew was introduced to Jesus by Philip, (San Filippo in Italian); another coincidence?

Like all married couples, we’ve had our struggles with all the typical stuff.  In 1968 the Viet Nam war was in full swing and we had every expectation that I would be sent overseas as a 2^nd Lieutenant, so that was hanging over our heads.   I graduated from college in 1969 and reported for duty in the Army shortly thereafter.  Nevertheless, we started a family right away.  Julie was born in 1970 and Joe in 1971.  Both were born in the Army hospital at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri where I had been assigned, pending my orders for Viet Nam.  I extended my service commitment by a year, in order to delay my orders to Viet Nam because otherwise I would have been absent when Joe was born.  As it turned out, President Nixon pulled 100,000 troops out of Viet Nam just before I was headed there, so I never had to serve overseas. In a sense, our marriage and our family was indirectly the reason I did not have to go to war.

The 1970s were challenging years: my starting a civilian career while attending graduate school, Rose home with four kids.  Dan was born in ’76, Jim in ’78.  We bought and sold three houses in Illinois, investing a lot of sweat equity into improving all three.  I realize now that I did not appreciate what hard work it was for Rose, especially with me gone so much for work and school.  We spent the decade of the ‘80s in California, but by 1989 we could no longer handle the increasingly secular culture of California.  The materialistic culture, the over-crowded schools, and the traffic, were all having effects on our family.  To Rose’s great credit she knew long before I did that the best thing for us and for our family was to get back to the Midwest.  Thank God she finally convinced me to move, it was definitely the best thing for us and for our family.

I won’t bore you with any more of our family history, but with all the fuss about marriage and its new secular definition, I want to devote this blog to my wonderful, amazing wife, and highlight why I uphold the traditional definition of marriage.  Our life together has been blessed with four wonderful children and twelve grandchildren.  This is only possible because we are male and female, and as God intended, we have become “one flesh.”  I’m not referring here to our gender and biology alone, but rather the union of our body, soul, and spirits in cooperation with God, who has afforded us the opportunity to participate in the co-creation of these new lives.  I believe it is God’s love that flows through us when love one another in a thousand different ways, through our words, actions, sacrifices, tone of voice, shared experiences, and so much more.  He permits us to participate in the inner life of the Trinity: love so strong it brings about the unity of spirits and the creation of new life.

For me, this is the most meaningful and important part of our married life: the privilege of loving one another, and loving of our children and grandchildren.   This is about much more than romantic feelings, it gives depth of meaning to our existence and purpose to our lives.  Of course I couldn’t possibly have understood this when we were first married.  If I had, perhaps I wouldn’t have been so selfish and full of sinful pride.  Early and often, my selfishness made me unwilling or unable to love Rose the way she deserves to be loved, loved the way God loves her: unselfishly, sacrificially.   Despite my shortcomings, she has loved me and cared for me for five decades now, and in the process her love has (finally) begun to transform me into a better person.  I am better for having been loved; better for wanting to love her more perfectly.  Last Sunday’s first reading called for husbands to love their wives as they love their own bodies, and second reading compared Christ’s love for the church to the marital love of a husband for his wife.  The love described here is sacrificial in nature, wanting what is best for the beloved, even to the point of sacrificing one’s self, just as Christ sacrificed Himself for us.

In our secular world, sacrificial love is anathema, it makes no sense to a culture that holds self-fulfillment to be paramount.  If you grow tired of someone, or they become an inconvenience, discard them in pursuit of happiness.  No-fault divorce is commonplace, and more often than not, children are abandoned along with the tiresome spouse.  The new law of the land implies that the basis of marriage is nothing more than amorous feelings.  Children’s right to be raised by BOTH of their biological parents counts for nothing in the brave new world of marriage.  In this case, it is only logical that the next step is marriage among three or more people, and/or among siblings, parent-child etc. none of which accords with the order of nature, as intended by God and revealed in the natural order of things.

The long standing, biblical definition of marriage is much more than a quaint tradition.  It is the foundation of civil society, and acknowledges that the family is the basic cell of civilization, not the autonomous individual.  Moreover, marriage calls for sacrificial love between spouses and on behalf of parents willing to do whatever is best for their children, whether it is convenient or not.  It is this sacrificial love that is life-giving, nurturing, and the most fulfilling. 

From the time I was a young boy, I knew I wanted to become a father, much like my own dad.  When I met Rose, I knew that she was going to be a fantastic mother.  This nascent intuition has been fulfilled a thousand times over, not because of anything I have done, but because God and Rose have loved me so much and blessed me with a life filled with meaning, purpose, and the joys of married life.

 

Effects of the Decline in Christianity

Every third year the Catholic Liturgical cycle turns to the gospel of John and spends five consecutive Sundays reading from the sixth chapter in which Jesus declares Himself to be “the Bread of Life.”  From the very earliest days of the Church, the apostles and disciples firmly understood that Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper.  For 1600 years, every person who professed to be a follower of Christ, accepted the belief that He is truly present in the form of consecrated bread and wine, and that He intended for us to consume His Flesh and drink His Blood.  This may sound harsh, but Jesus made His intentions explicitly clear as documented in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel.   I do not understand how anyone who believes in the inerrancy of scripture can draw any other conclusion. 

When the Jews, many of whom were Jesus’ disciples, quarreled about this fact, Jesus Himself responded by saying, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you do not have life within you.   Whoever eats my flesh and drinks by blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  And He didn’t stop there.  “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”  (John 6: 52-58)  Jesus made it clear that He was NOT speaking metaphorically. “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”  Yet, not long after the reformation, when splinter groups left the Catholic Church to form the various protestant denominations, belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in Eucharist fell by the wayside. 

With the advent of the age of enlightenment, Christians began to regard the Eucharist as merely a symbol, and a commemoration of the last supper.  Only the Catholic Church in both the Eastern and Western Rites has retained belief in the Real Presence, and to this day, the Eucharist is regarded as the sum and summit of our faith.  Because of the immense privilege it is to consume the Body and Blood of Our Lord, the Catholic mass remains centered on the Eucharist, and the entire liturgy is still essentially unchanged from the sacred way in which it has been celebrated since the first weeks and months after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  This is why the altar, not the presider, takes center stage in every church, and why the preaching, singing, and prayers of petition are conducted away from the altar where the Eucharist is to be presented.  It is also the reason why we kneel and genuflect, because we are in the Presence of God, not merely a symbol of Him.

Down in Sarasota Florida at the Ringling Museum of art, there is an entire room of 16^th century Italian art dedicated to the Eucharist.  It includes four huge wall-sized paintings depicting a sequence of scriptural accounts of the proto-Eucharist: the first is of the Jews receiving manna God sent to them in the desert (bread from heaven); the second is Jesus feeding a multitude with loaves and fishes; the third is the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Mass and the Eucharist, (“This is My Body, This is My Blood”);  and finally, a depiction of the consecration of the Bread and Wine becoming the Body and Blood of Christ at Mass. 

My mother, who passed away two weeks ago, was devoted to her Catholic faith and especially to the Eucharist.  Not only did she attend daily mass as long as she was able, for many years she was a minister of the Eucharist, bringing Holy Communion to people who were housebound.  She performed this ministry for many years, always reminding me what a tremendous privilege it was for her to do so.  She drew strength and courage from reception of the Eucharist, and it enlivened her spirit, making her the woman she was in so many ways.  She often commented that she didn’t think she could cope with the struggles in her life, if not for the Eucharist and the Real Presence of God in her life. 

Unfortunately, in recent years belief in, and reception of the Eucharist, has been in decline.  Fewer than 10% of Catholics in Europe attend weekly mass with any regularity (in France less than 3%).  In the USA, the number is about 25% and declining.  Although I have no proof of cause and effect, I cannot help but wonder if this loss of the Real Presence of Christ in the lives of so many people, isn’t the reason for the decline of morality in our culture.  The European Union has set themselves up to be an explicitly secular society, throwing off all vestiges of their Christian heritage.  The result has been a decline in morality, in marriage, in families, and in birth rates as people become more and more egocentric.  Belief in the Real Presence and reception of Holy Communion is a call to put Christ at the center of our lives.   Knowing that ‘we are what we eat’, we quite literally become part of the Body of Christ when we consume His Flesh and Blood.  Without Him, we are more likely to put ourselves at the center, even to the point of rationalizing or even celebrating sinful behavior which is often self-destructive.  Without Christ to guide and protect us, we more easily fall victim to temptation, and the lies and deceit that now pass for our devolving culture.

My mom was once asked by a close friend who was a devout Baptist, why she remained Catholic and her immediate, simple answer was, “The Eucharist.”  I can understand Christians believing that communion is only a symbol, if that’s what they’ve been taught,   but like my mom, I mourn for their loss: foregoing the opportunity to be united in body and spirit with Our Lord!  On the other hand, I CANNOT understand how people who call themselves Christian can condone atrocities like abortion.   In the wake of the ongoing scandals being revealed about Planned Parenthood (PP), a group of Christian pastors who serve as advisors to PP, defended the organization as “doing the work of God.”  What other explanation can there be for this, except that they have completely lost touch with what it means to be Christian?  While this may seem extreme, we have self-proclaimed Christians in positions of authority who now demand that others violate their religious convictions with regard to abortion, birth control, sterilization, and marriage.  This is precisely what Pope John Paul II warned us about when he coined the phrase, the dictatorship of relativism:  a world without Christ that demands everyone adhere to its secular worldview or be punished under the law.

American in Decline, and in Need of a Shepherd

Western civilization had its beginnings in ancient Greece.  The breakthrough change that gave birth to the first democracy was the awareness and adoption of virtue, both personally and collectively.  This sea-change in human history gave birth to the notions of human dignity, the common good, and justice as the organizing principles of society.  The result, as we well know, was a major thrust forward in civilization bringing about advances in culture, the arts, the economy, and human flourishing.  Sadly, the Greek civilization of today has fallen far from its historically great origins.  National pride is a vestige of the past, based more in ethnic pride than the principles of self-sacrifice, self-discipline, and personal responsibility that were held in high esteem at the time of Aristotle.  The once-great nation that spread Western Civilization across Europe is not hopelessly mired in debt, brought about by socialism and the welfare state it created in an effort to appease a people more concerned about their federal benefits than the future they are leaving for their children and grandchildren.

Here in the United States, we seem to be headed down the same path.  The virtues that enlivened our country from its founding are all but forgotten.  They are being replaced by a lack of prudence and a redefinition of the common good that is anything but “good.”  The concept of prudence, or prudential judgment, seems to have been lost on our current national leaders.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes prudence as “the ability to recognize what is ‘right’ and what is ‘good.’  The virtue of prudence, or prudential judgment, directs all other virtues.  Without prudence, that is, knowing what is truly good, it is impossible to apply the virtues of justice, fortitude, and self-control."

Consider the changes that have taken place in our national culture in recent years, and ask yourself if these things can be in any way seen as “good,” and promoting the “common good.”  The sexual revolution of the late 20^th century separated sexual activity from responsibility for bringing new life into the world.  This change ushered in the idea that sex without responsibility is everyone’s natural right, and introduced the now commonly held opinion that any and all forms of sexual activity are perfectly normal.  This occurred while ignoring the many consequences extra-marital sex has on physical and emotional health.  Moreover, we now have a government forcing everyone to accept this new norm, even to the point of punishing employers and vendors who object to it on the basis of religious belief.  As further evidence of our declining sexual morality, consider the broad acceptance of the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon, celebrating the cruel abuse of a vulnerable young woman.  How can that possibly be held up as ‘good’?   Now our public schools are teaching children that all this is the new normal, in total disregard for the damage it is causing to families and especially children, whose natural right to be raised by both father and mother is being disregarded.  As predicted by Pope Paul VI, there has been a huge decline in marriage and traditional family relationships.  This in turn leads to increased poverty, the exploitation of women, and a host of emotional and physical illnesses, e.g. depression and STDs. 

The culture of death, exemplified by the abortion industry, now promotes euthanasia, and most recently attempted to “justify” the sale of fetal organs.  Apparently the illogic of denying that fetuses are human, but recognizing the value of their organs, doesn’t occur to them.  Then there’s the growing acceptance of the drug culture.  Medical marijuana has led to the acceptance of recreational use of marijuana, despite common sense observations about the greater risk of escalating drug use and its effect on highway safety, work place performance, and anywhere else that impaired judgment creates increased risk, not only for the user, but others in their vicinity.

In the meanwhile, our president recently gave a speech talking about the importance of justice as he defines it: marriage equality, income equality, and rights for illegal aliens.  It seems he is incapable of acting prudently because his definition of the common good is so radically different from what we understood as the virtues that made America great in the first place.  Like the ancient Greeks, our founding fathers knew that our form of government would depend on individual citizens acting with virtue: accepting responsibility for marriage, family, and children.  They recognized the family as the most fundamental component of civil society and the path to the future.  Our economy became the most vibrant and successful in the world on the strength of the free market, people choosing freely among a variety of options, so that vendors with the best, most economical products, would compete to survive.  Hard work, perseverance, and self-control were the measures of personal success, not entitlement to government-provided sustenance, nor government interference to transfer wealth. 

Greece’s debt is 188% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and America is not far behind with debt amounting to 122% of our GDP.  No one seems to realize that this is not merely an economic problem to be solved, but a reflection of our collective decline as a culture no longer rooted in virtues, and incapable of effective prudential judgment. Justice, or moral leadership. 

With this in mind, as I heard Psalm 23 sung at Mass this morning, the meaning and importance of that plaintive prayer became more evident to me.  For example:

  “The Lord is my Shepherd...”  It is God’s leadership and law that we must follow, not the imprudent dictates of impotent leaders whose personal description of justice insults God.

“He guides me in right paths.”  God has revealed what is “good and true and beautiful.”  He created us male and female, and destined us to become families, so as to bring new life into the world in a culture of life and love, not a culture of self-satisfaction at any cost.

“Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and staff that give me courage.” These are dark times in America, and evil pervades our national leadership, blinding them to what is truly the common good.  But I know that God is with me. He will give us the courage we need to stand up to the culture of death and speak God’s truth in the face of evil.

“Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.”  Striving for prudence, and living a virtuous life is the true path to happiness.  Plato and Aristotle knew this truth, as revealed by natural law, a precursor to Christianity.  Jesus revealed this Truth by His life, death, and resurrection, bringing about our salvation, not in political terms, but more importantly, in what really counts.  Jesus has saved our eternal spirit which will live forever in the Presence of God if we follow the Good Shepherd, not the idiots currently running our nation into the ground.

An Example to Live By- My Mom

The older I get, the more I appreciate the importance of the great Truths I am still learning about life.  Sometimes I wonder how I could have gone through so much of my life unaware of the significance of these Truths.  As a child, educated in Catholic schools, I learned the basics of faith and continued the rubrics of my faith throughout adulthood, thinking all the while that it was enough to believe in God, follow the Ten Commandments most of the time, beg forgiveness for my sins on occasion, and devote an hour or so each week to devotion.  But for the most part, my life has been consumed by the busy-ness of life.  Earning a living, raising a family, maintaining homes, trying to find a little time to relax, time seems to have flown by.

Now that I’ve been retired 5 years, I’ve begun to understand that the Truths I’ve accepted on faith are far more important than I had imagined.  I am beginning to realize that God’s laws and the guidance of my Church are not restrictions on my freedom, nor do they constrain my selfish appetites.  Instead, they are the keys to peace of mind, and the gateway to true freedom, freedom from obsessions that, if unchecked, lead to anxiety, disappointment, and unhappiness.  Having concerned myself for so many years with the pursuit of happiness, I thought that success in this life would ensure that my wife and family would enjoy the fruits of our combined labor.  But as I look back, the happiest, most joyful moments in life were not the result of success, but rather the shared experiences of intimacy with those I love most in this life: my wife, our children, grandchildren, and extended family.  Indeed, moments of love and relationship are the greatest source of joy, far surpassing any other temporal pleasures.  I am just now beginning to understand that in those moments of transcendent joy, I was participating in, and enjoying the Kingdom of God.  In those moments, nothing else compared to the love I was experiencing, and nothing else mattered. 

In Sunday’s scripture readings, God commissions Amos to become a prophet and the people do not want to hear what he as to say because they are otherwise occupied.  Jesus sends the Apostles out to spread the good news that “the kingdom of God is at hand.”  Those who accepted the message received healing and peace, while others rejected it, perhaps because they were too busy with the activities of daily life.  No one can possibly know what constitutes the Kingdom of God in its fullness, but God has revealed that “it is at hand,” and that it is a Kingdom of Love, mercy, and forgiveness.  When Jesus proclaimed the beatitudes, He was describing that kingdom where peace, love, and mercy prevail.

This is not, as so many skeptics claim, ‘pie in the sky.’  I am just now coming to realize that we are surrounded by the kingdom of God, by His Love and Mercy, if only we open our eyes and ears and hearts to the Truth God has revealed.  That Truth is summed up by the twofold command of loving God above all else, and loving others as we love ourselves.  Jesus is the perfect example of this love, in that He obeyed His Father explicitly, and loves all of us sacrificially, even to the point of death.  In doing so He wrought our salvation.  Embracing Him and His loving sacrifice opens us up to His saving grace, His Presence in our lives, and in effect we have the opportunity to enter into the Kingdom of God, right here, right now.  His is a kingdom unbounded by spacetime, meaning it is not a specific or distant place nor in a separate time.  The kingdom of God encompasses all space and all time.  The fact that we cannot perceive it in the here and now, makes no difference to its existence.  As Jesus Himself said, many ‘have eyes but do not see, ears, but do not hear’.  We are too often preoccupied by our selfish pursuits to see what is right before us and around us all the time:  the Love of God.

What got me thinking about all this, is that my mother is nearing the end of her life.  She’s 91 years old and in failing health, getting weaker by the day, literally fading away.  It is hard to witness, but at the same time inspirational, because of her strong faith and courage in the face of death.  She has long been a powerful witness to the Presence of God, not only in how gracefully she has accepted her gradual descent into frailty, but in her unfailing commitment to the Holy Spirit.  For as long as I can remember, she has told me that the Holy Spirit gave her the strength to raise eight children, to care for Dad during his long bout with Alzheimer’s disease, and more recently with her many physical infirmities. 

Having retained all her mental and spiritual faculties, mom is fully aware of her declining health, but seldom complains about the many indignities she has endured, as the result of illness, accidents, and the ravages of old age.  She has kept her sense of humor, her grace, and her dignity, not by dint of personal effort she says, but because of the Presence of the Holy Spirit in her life.  Until recently, she has attended daily mass and Communion.  Now she can only watch on closed circuit TV.  She prays the rosary, usually twice a day, not for herself, but for her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and one great-great grandson.  Until just a few weeks ago, she prepared over 100 birthday and anniversary cards every year, wanting her progeny to know they were loved and prayed for continuously. 

The great Truth I’ve learned from mom’s life, is that loving God is the source of true peace and happiness.  If there’s one word that mom would use to describe her attitude, even now, it is “grateful.”  She has told me over and over again, “how lucky” she has been to be so loved, and to have such a wonderful family.  She is living in the love of God, here, now, in the midst of her daily struggles with oxygen, weakness, and illness.  Despite her failing eyesight and hearing, she “sees and hears” the Truth of God’s love, present throughout her life, and especially now in the twilight of her earthly life.  Her greatest joy is knowing that soon she will leave all her infirmities behind when she is released from the constraints of spacetime to enjoy the fullness of the Kingdom of God.