The true Creator God - judgement

2Arrogant scoundrels pursue the poor;

they trap them by their cunning schemes.^a

3The wicked even boast of their greed;

these robbers curse and scorn the LORD.^b

4In their insolence the wicked boast:

“God does not care; there is no God.”^c

5Yet their affairs always succeed;

they ignore your judgment on high;

they sneer at all who oppose them.

6They say in their hearts, “We will never fall;

never will we see misfortune.”

7Their mouths are full of oaths, violence, and lies;

discord and evil are under their tongues.^d

8They wait in ambush near towns;

their eyes watch for the helpless

to murder the innocent in secret.^e

9They lurk in ambush like lions in a thicket,

hide there to trap the poor,

snare them and close the net.^f

10The helpless are crushed, laid low;

they fall into the power of the wicked,

11Who say in their hearts, “God has forgotten,

shows no concern, never bothers to look.”^g

          Psalm 10: 2-11

10^* Yet just as from the heavens

the rain and snow come down

And do not return there

till they have watered the earth,

making it fertile and fruitful,

Giving seed to the one who sows

and bread to the one who eats,

11So shall my word be

that goes forth from my mouth;

It shall not return to me empty,

but shall do what pleases me,

achieving the end for which I sent it.

                             Isaiah 55:  10-11

5“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. 7^* In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.^* 8Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

The Lord’s Prayer. 9^* “This is how you are to pray:^c

Our Father in heaven,^*

hallowed be your name,

10your kingdom come,^*

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.^d

11^{* e} Give us today our daily bread;

12and forgive us our debts,^*

as we forgive our debtors;^f

13and do not subject us to the final test,^*

but deliver us from the evil one.^g

14^* If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.^h 15But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.ⁱ

                                   Matthew 6:  5-14

 

Well, a bunch of quotes today and fitting I think for our consideration of this topic.  Today, it seems as though no one is listening to the Word.  Isaiah reminds us that God does not sent anything down without it accomplishing its purpose.  We may not always see what that end is to be, but nonetheless, it does accomplish its proper designated end.

 

So, we have the Psalmist decrying the apparent haughty ignorance of the "wicked" in the first citation above.  It does seem as though much of today's world believes that "God is dead".  Many folks accumulate for themselves the power, treasure, and influence right now without regard how their efforts affect others, especially the poor.  Other places in Matthew 6, Jesus says that they have gotten their reward.  So, although it appears that those who do all of the "nasties" outlined in the Psalm are getting away with it, they will eventually face a judgment suited just for them.  With the Psalmist we pray, "Our hope is in the Lord."

 

The Lord's Prayer, or "Our Father" as it is called in Catholic circles, is a reminder of the order in which we ought to pray.  If we spend all of our time praying for our own individual wants, we are probably no better than those who pray to pagan gods.  In fact, much of today's celebration of success and power is really a tribute to the gods of money, power, and influence - modern day's attempt to replace the true Creator God with gods that we can control and manipulate to our desires. 

 

Our true response to the true Creator God is to ask for our lives to be aligned with His purpose.    In grateful recognition of the many gifts with which we have been bestowed, we recognize that we a just a very small, insignificant cog in this entire universe and that what really matters is how we treat others, especially those who are less fortunate that us.  We may end up being very successful in our chosen career, but in grateful acceptance of those gifts, we recognize that we must share our blessing with others.  Then, the Psalmist's lament will turn into a song of joy and God's Word will return to Him having accomplished it full end.

 

Ultimately, God does care.  God does exist, no matter what some think.  Their ignorance on this issue will someday become a startling revelation.  Each will be judged on how their treat others (yesterday's message) and how they judge others (today's message).  God will care for those who love him, who try to become the people he wants them to be.  May we be those people.  May God Give You Peace!

Science

What benefactor has enabled you to look out upon the beauty of the sky, the sun in its course, the circle of the moon, the countless number of stars, with the harmony and order that are theirs, like the music of a harp? Who has blessed you with rain, with the art of husbandry, with different kinds of food, with the arts, with houses, with laws, with states, with a life of humanity and culture, with friendship and the easy familiarity of kinship?

Let us put into practice the supreme and primary law of God. He sends down rain on just and sinful alike, and causes the sun to rise on all without distinction. To all earth’s creatures he has given the broad earth, the springs, the rivers and the forests. He has given the air to the birds, and the waters to those who live in the water. He has given abundantly to all the basic needs of life, not as a private possession, not restricted by law, not divided by boundaries, but as common to all, amply and in rich measure. His gifts are not deficient in any way, because he wanted to give equality of blessing to equality of worth, and to show the abundance of his generosity.

Oratio 14, De Pauperum amore Saint Gregory of Nazianzen, bishop

 

 

Part of today's goal was to comment upon the fabricated dichotomy between science and faith.  The first paragraph sort of states that God has generously lavished us with many gifts all of which science tries to explain for us.  I think this is really a simple thing to get ones head around.  Faith explains why; science explains how.  Two different questions. Two different viewpoints.  Neither of them are really incompatible with the other, unless you try to interpret the words of the why written in the Bible as actually occurring the way they say they do.  There is nothing really contradictory between God creating the world and it actually taking millions of years, or the process through which it has been made.  I think to try to distinguish between the two is just looking for a fight that really isn't there.  Modern science and the modern church are really looking at the stars from different points on the prism, but looking at the same thing in reality.

 

But this passage and today's gospel require some comment as well:  "he wanted to give equality of blessing to equality of worth..."

 

The last sentence of the second paragraph says more about the why that is critical to the Gospel passage from today (Matthew 25: 31-46).  God has, in fact, showered us with blessings beyond our wildest imagination.  Jesus calls us to be certain that we share our blessing with those less fortunate.  To do so is a really good thing.  To not do so results in a pretty nasty ending. 

 

I've written about this concept a bunch before and will probably come back to it, because in our society today there is a tendency to forget about the poor, unfortunate, and marginalized.  We need to heighten our response to these folks and get out of our self-centeredness to even have a beginning for turning this country around.  Hopefully, our legislators in both our states and at the national level will figure this out before it's too late.  One can only hope and pray.

God

13“But,” said Moses to God, “if I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?” 14God replied to Moses: I am who I am.^* Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.  

15God spoke further to Moses: This is what you will say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.

This is my name forever;^e

this is my title for all generations.

Exodus 3: 13-15 

25^{* l} I will sprinkle clean water over you to make you clean; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26^m I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.ⁿ 27I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them.

Ezekiel 36: 25-27 

Today's culture appears to relieve itself of the responsibility of the concept of God, the all good Creator of the universe.  Rather, one supposes that science is the master explanation of all that is, was, and will be.  It appears that only through the "good graces" of science do anything have any meaning and only through its proofs can anything exist.  The corollary, of course, is that each person is his own arbiter of moral rectitude and behavior.

 

What I like about the meeting with God by Moses is that we people of good will and faith discover that the "God of our Fathers" exists.  That's right, just exists.  "I am who I am."  Has been, is now, and will be forever.  The "to be" verb is an interesting one because it does convey that property of existing.  Interestingly, the title "Supreme Being" conveys that quality of existing - but at a level far beyond our meager existence.  We have conveniently used the word GOD to convey this "existing".

 

Unfortunately, too many folks today have supplanted a belief in this "Existing Being" for the belief in things more practical like, power, money, science, or "me".  What many of us have discovered over the years is that they more physical things end up being very transient when it comes to overall satisfaction and goodness.  Oh, yeah, there is that momentary excitement when one wins the lottery, but many of those folks end up right where they started.  How much is enough when it comes to money? Or power?  Or whatever?

 

If we set aside these physical things and emotions and allow the words of Ezekiel to soak in, we discover that the "heart of flesh" is that "God of love" that often hear about but don't seem to be able to find.  When we allow "I AM" to be the center of our lives, we find a liberating freedom because we get outside of ourselves and turn to the "other" in our lives.  Good thing to be doing during this season of Lent - turn away from the sinful selfishness of our lives and look for ways to ease the burdens of another.  Go ahead. Try it!

Sin

But the words they spoke were mere flattery; *
they lied to him with their lips.
For their hearts were not truly with him; *
they were not faithful to his covenant.

Yet he who is full of compassion *
forgave them their sin and spared them.
So often he held back his anger *
when he might have stirred up his rage.

He remembered they were only men, *
a breath that passes never to return.
Psalm 78

Yup, there it is in good old black and white. 

"They lied to him with their lips for their hearts were not truly with him", "Yet he who is full of compassion forgave them their sin and spared them."

Pretty much says it all.  Today's society has turned its back on God's ways as a whole.  Oh I'm not saying that every single person has, but as a whole, contemporary US society has pretty much said, "No, thanks" to the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.  Without a general agreement on the concept of sin or a wholesale belief that sin doesn't exist anymore, society has pretty much turned its back on the Creator.  Like I saw on Facebook today, "If there was no God there'd be no reason to be an Atheist." 

 

So, why do all these folks go around railing against the moral tenets advocated by the Church.  You know, this isn't a cafeteria line where you get to pick and choose which of the natural laws you want to agree with.  Don't pick gravity.  Don't pick magnetism. Don't pick the speed of light or sound.  Just because you don't pick them, doesn't make it so. 

 

The natural law is inherent in human behavior because we were created in the image of the Trinity. (Then God said: Let us make^* human beings in our image, after our likeness. Genesis 1:  26)  Yup, God was plural in the beginning.  We are created with these moral imperatives already encoded in our circuits.  That's why most societies have laws against murder, incest, theft, and so on.  Everyone still has that quiet little voice that twangs when you do something that is really stupidly wrong.  Our faith tradition just does a pretty good job of explaining how this all works.

 

What we need is to rekindle a healthy respect for what is truly right and wrong.  A good healthy respect for sin -  

Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become “like gods,”¹²³ knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus “love of oneself even to contempt of God.

 Catechism #1850

When we acknowledge that sin exists (and its hard to ignore the above definition), we gain a healthy respect for the reality of our lives.  We recognize that concentrating on "what feels good" really isn't the best way to proceed through life.  Ultimately, we recognize that the whole point of Jesus' message is to repent of this selfishness, turn back to God's way, and enjoy the good life as it was originally meant to be.  Think of other first, knowing that is what God's love is all about.

Today's morality

Yet there still is required a daily renewal to repair the shortcomings of our mortal nature, and whatever degree of progress has been made there is no one who should not be more advanced. All must therefore strive to ensure that on the day of redemption no one may be found in the sins of his former life.

 St. Leo, the Great; Sermo 6 de Quadragesima

15See, I have today set before you life and good, death and evil.^j 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I am giving you today, loving the LORD, your God, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and ordinances, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.^k 

 Deuteronomy 30

 

23Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily^* and follow me.ⁿ 24For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.^o 25What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?

Luke 9

 

I am reading the book "Roman Pilgrimage, The Station Churches" by George Weigel for part of my Lenten reflections.  This is a good book.  I used it last year and gained quite a bit from it and recommend it to anyone trying to gain insight in a stronger faith..  Well in today's entry Mr. Weigel writes that as Israel passed from a slave people to a free people and while they journeyed through the desert after leaving Egypt and passing through the Red Sea, they had to rid themselves of some of their former bad habits that they developed whilst being slaves.  He lists those as

• the habit of self-worship;
• the habit of bad morals.

Or, as he writes as Blessed John Henry Newman put it

• from shadowy false gods to the true God;
• from the fantasy of self-worship to the truth of worshipping the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit;
• from the illusion of the autonomous, self-defining self to the truth of the self-giving self.

These quotes from today's readings and from Mr. Weigel's excellent book serve to outline the contrast between what is good and right and the overall philosophy of many people in today's society in the United States.  Our country has gravitated to a philosophy of personal morality and relativism which generally states, "if it feels good, do it."  As a society, we have turned our backs on the very sensible moral code, one that has been (as St. Pope John Paul II puts it) "built into men and women from the very beginning."

 

I think in this point the Church is right.  Humankind has the innate coding of a moral behavior which is effectively right.  It is not the code that allows one to decide for itself what is right.  Rather, it is like a natural law that is right for all peoples.  Why else would nearly all societies in the world have a "law" against murder, adultery, theft, and so on.  Here in the US we say that it's OK for one to selectively choose from the cafeteria line those actions which we believe are correct, e.g., unrestricted sex, abortion, and everything is fine.  But then, on the other hand, we continue to express moral certainties about murder and theft.  In essence, we glorify the self against the overwhelming evidence that there is something greater than us motivating the activities of life here.  In essence, we have made ourselves and our pleasure GOD.

 

It is true that humankind has been given the freedom of choice and that the Divine Creator will not interfere with that freedom.  So, folks can decide to ignore the commandments outlined in the many religious traditions.  But to do so imperils the long term likelihood of eternal happiness and ultimate freedom as illustrated in the texts quoted at the beginning of today's entry.

 

To correct this issue and probably many of the societal and political issues of our day, we ought to re-consider this laissez-faire approach to morality, return to the natural law absolutes, and re-aim for the target of "self-giving self."  We ought to look out for others first.  We ought to re-direct our political will to confirming the natural law and consider helping the less fortunate as our primary obligation.  And, we need to recognize that this will be a daily effort in forgiveness, reconciliation, and conversion.

Christian civil activity

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
   releasing those bound unjustly,
  untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
  breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
   sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
   and not turning your back on your own.
                     Isaiah 58

So the Christian world begins the season of repentance today.  One of the tenets of the Church is a call for fasting.  Isaiah words for today's Office of the Readings call for a kind of fasting that implies a civil activity that is counter to most folks ideas for our political system.   People today say that church folks should stick to praying and worship.  But, when we see texts like this, how can we refrain from speaking out against actions of our governments (federal, state, local) that run counter to this command to help the most vulnerable in our society.  On the other hand, Christians are counter-cultural.  We are required by our belief to have, in the words of our Bishops, a "preferential option for the poor."  How can we just sit by and let our governments create tax relief and programs for those who don't really need the help while so many people in this country go without. 

 

Today in his budget message the Governor of Illinois basically said that those who are poor can just go looking somewhere else.  The State of Illinois doesn't care about your problems.  We will balance our budget on your backs.  The US House of Representatives in DC wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and relieve some 11 million people of their health insurance.  They don't want to fix the problems, just repeal the entire thing without having something to replace it and help those who wouldn't have any health insurance any other way.  The US Senate and current Administration wants to maintain total free access to "health care" options for women that end the life of unborn babies.  How can we just sit by and not respond to these grossly indecent and uncaring policies?

 

By virtue of our baptism as Christians, we must enter into the political life of our country and speak out for and promote programs that care for the most vulnerable.  Was it Gandhi who said, " A nations greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."?  Many other writers have expressed the same sentiment. So, in today's social construct are we to allow the poor to go it on their own?  "If they'd rather die, then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population. Good night, gentlemen." (Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol"; Charles Dickens)  Is that the message that we want to pass on to all of those less fortunate, many of whom are there because of certain business policies that line the pockets of the mega rich at the expense of their employees and former employees? 

 

As Christians we have an obligation to speak out against injustice; to act in the presence of policies that leave out a large segment of the populace from the benefit of the American wealth.  Or, are we just to repeat the unlearned lessons from the 1920's and allow the rich grow their wealth at the expense of the rest of the country and face, yet another, financial and economic collapse.

As put by Living Space (sacredspace.ie) for the Thursday after Ash Wenesday:

The only way to live is, like Jesus, to offer our lives for the benefit of others in love, in caring, in solidarity, in compassion, in justice. This is the only way truly to find ourselves and to come out winners. What is the good of winning the whole world – becoming incredibly rich and famous – and to lose one’s integrity, one’s self-respect, one’s dignity as a person, one’s happiness?

 

I think that it is high time that all Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all other people of Good Will should make a stand against the policies that intentionally exclude a large segment of people from the goodness of the United States' economic power.  Though our lobbying of our elected leaders, participation in the upcoming election, and protesting on the streets, we must signal that this direction of our culture is indeed wayward.  Part of the implication of "all men are created equal" is that everyone should have equal opportunity to the benefits created in this type of government and that we all have a obligation to help those who are less fortunate to learn how to raise themselves up in pride, dignity, and with grace.  Let's begin this revolution today.

Immigration

Exodus 20:10 NIV

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

Exodus 22:21 NIV

"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.

Exodus 23:9 NIV

"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.

Exodus 23:12 NIV

"Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.

Deuteronomy 24:14 NIV

Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.  

 

Deuteronomy 24:17 NIV

Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 

Deuteronomy 24:19 NIV

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

 

Deuteronomy 24:20 NIV

When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.

 

Deuteronomy 24:21 NIV

When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.

 

Deuteronomy 26:12 NIV

When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

and so on . . .

 

I picked all of these Old Testament quotes for the reason that many of our so-called Christian friends seem to prefer to quote the Old Testament to justify their positions on a whole range of subjects.  I just thought that it would be instructive, in light of the current angst over the immigration issue, to remind everyone what our Holy Scripture says about the immigrant. 

 

What I find troubling is that so many of the loudest objectors to any updating of the country's immigration policy claim to be Christian.  These few, and a whole list of other quotations, clearly indicate that people of Good Will should be concerned about the most vulnerable among them and this includes the immigrant.  The last quote is the most revealing.  Until the needs of the priests, alien, orphan and widow are met, the good worshiper cannot even consider their obligation has been fulfilled. (That's in the verse which follows.)  Matthew 25 writes about the "least of these my brothers" indicating that our first obligation as Christians after loving God is to care for those who are less fortunate than ourselves ("preferential option for the poor" as the Bishops called it).

 

When we begin to look at the immigration situation in our country, we need to consider our calling as believers and people of Good Will who live out the tenets of our faith enumerated in the Holy Scriptures.  How can we care for those from other countries who come to us for shelter, work, help, and safety?

 

Some are eternally upset that we have some 11 million non-citizens who are taking away the jobs of needy Americans.  But no one seems to ever ask the simple question of why they are here in the first place.  Generally, I believe that it's because of the jobs that they are hired to do and a very low wage that "normal" Americans refuse to do, e.g., pick crops, slaughter animals, house maids, and so on.  They wouldn't come if someone wouldn't hire them in the first place.  We want low prices for vegetables, fruits, meats, and the service industries, but complain because these jobs are filled by non-citizens who wouldn't be here unless they were hired in the first place.  I suggest that if there were no jobs available - no benefits available, it wouldn't make any sense for them to travel so far to be in the same situation that they had in their home countries.  Someone hires them, albeit under the table, so they come.  How many of these loudest antagonists utilized the services of these non-citizens anyway?  Talk about hypocrisy!

 

Once again to find the source of the problem, we must look in the mirror.  As Pogo famously stated, "We have found the enemy, and he is us!"  Our security comes from consistently and fairly applying the laws of this county to all, including the businesses and their owners who constantly subvert our immigration rules by hiring non-citizens at less that fair wages to do the menial work that apparently only they will do.  So, can the welfare issue be solved by making people work these jobs?  Partially - Perhaps - but not without the willingness to help people relocate to where these jobs are; but not without providing decent housing for the relocated people; but not without providing them living wages, so they can get their own housing and provide for their families.  But. the same should be true for anyone on a "worker visa". 

 

If we cannot provide economic security for people through good work, then something is definitely wrong with our economy.  The few shouldn't be taking the lions share of the benefits - those who actually do the work must be able to adequately provide for their families.  "Decision makers" really don't have that much skin in the game as it were.  Making a good or bad decision does affect the overall business results, but the people who do the work really have much more invested in a good result. i.e., it can ensure them of continued employment and thus providing for their families.  Henry Ford had it right when he went to the $5 @ day wage in the 20's.  Pay a living wage and everything in the economy improves.  After all, people who make the money, the workers, will spend it and because about 70% of GDP is due to this consumer spending (BLS OCT 2014) it makes a strong impact on our economy. (But I digress; this will be the topic of another day's notes.)

 

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 So it says on the Statue of Liberty.  We are and always have been a nation of immigrants.  We must remember, like Moses reminded the Israelites in  the passages at the beginning, that all of our ancestors came here from some place else - even the Native Americans migrated across the Bering Strait a long time ago.  All of our ancestors came here for the same reason - to find better opportunity for themselves and their families.  Yes, we must have regulations, but they must be tempered with compassion, understanding, and generosity.  And we must find a way to help those already here to normalize their relationship with the country and provide reasonable access to others who wish to come to our country.  Just saying "NO" (better known as border security) is not an acceptable response.  Look in the mirror and come to a reasonable, compassionate solution for these issues without the hypocrisy, prejudice,  and fear displayed in many of today's commentaries.