The Heart of the Matter

In another part of India . . .

India is known for its pluralism and multi-ethnic harmony; but in an age of terrorism madness is like a cancer.

Raphael Cheenath is the Catholic Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, in India's troubled region of Orissa.  Archbishop Cheenath and other bishops in the region are leading an effort to halt the persecution of Christians at the hands of Hindu extremists.  The region is plagued with violence against Christians and with forced conversions, compelling Christians to “accept Hindu Samskaras under oath and under pain of divine punishment.”  The area has also seen the burning and looting of Christian homes, churches, and institutions.

The bishops have rejected attempts to characterize these attacks as an ethnic conflict:  “Hindu Fundamentalist groups have been trying to name the communal violence as an Ethnic Conflict between the Tribals and the Pano Christians. A cursory look at facts reveals that this conflict is a calculated and pre-planned master plan to wipe out Christianity from Kandhamal district, Orissa, in order to realize the hidden agenda of Sangh Parivar of establishing a Hindu Nation.”

The madness spreads.

Here we feast; there they grieve

As we enjoy our glorious 4 day Thanksgiving weekend, we also care about the suffering going on in Mumbai in India.  While others are suffering, grieving and terribly afraid, we ask the Lord to encourage, console, and give hope to the world.

It's a scary world out there; and we who are pro-life need to pray wholeheartedly for our newly elected president, that he may be given the grace to be the leader we need to face and conquer so much death and terror.  And may we all come to see the connection between a world of terror and a lessening in our reverence for life itself. 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey day!

From those who have been given much, much will be expected

At this point in the liturgical calendar, between the end of one church year and the beginning of a new one, the aura of judgment and the end times are reflected in the Scripture readings at this time of year.  Smack in the middle of this year's liturgical transition is Americans' favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. 

A visual image that combines for me these elements is the central mosaic in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.  It's a massive image of Christ as Judge, wearing red, with red beams shining from His halo.  The look on His face is stern and a bit unsettling.  I remember seeing this mosaic when I was a seminarian in nearby Baltimore many years ago.  I was stunned by the expression on His face and at first thought it was too harsh.  As I have matured, however, the expression is now very appealing to me.  I see it now as the expression of the Lord addressing Americans with His great admonition: "From those who have been given much, much will be expected." 

These last few months with all of the financial turmoil provoke, I hope, a closer feeling with the world's have-nots.  Perhaps as our resources become more constrained we may become more grateful for what we do have, and more willing to take on a sense of responsibility for those who are less fortunate.

If you receive this blog posting by e-mail, the picture of this mosaic probably won't come through, so to see it click www.fatherbillsblog.com and scroll to the 11-25-08 posting.  Then click the picture and let it be today's meditation.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King - November 23, 2008

One of our parishioners has witnessed the death of all of his children and the long, lonely goodbye of his wife’s deterioration through Alzheimer’s disease.  Another member of our parish had relatives who during World War II were tortured before being killed.   Other people’s lives were cut short by an act of violence.  Still others, facing starvation for their families, crept across the border under cover of night to find a better life for their families, and yet now face deportation and the separation of their families. 

                Going beyond our own parish, think of the injustices people all over the globe face every day; think of the people who live in countries where civil rights are ignored and trashed by cruel regimes; think of the families whose education is nearly non-existent and whose children seek a sense of belong by joining a gang.  And the initiation rite for a new gang member is to commit a random act of murder, like the man who was shot and killed while driving over the Davidson Mesa on Rte. 36 a few years ago.

                Have you ever been unjustly fired, or unjustly the victim of gossip?  Think of all the wise people who invested their savings in companies that are now going bust while those companies’ CEO’s receive multi-million farewell packages.  Think of the people who cannot afford health care and face some catastrophic illness.

                Is the universe insane?  Is there no justice to be had?  Is it all a matter of the survival of the fittest; and sorry, Charley, for those who are the less gifted, less talented, less affluent?  

Are all the world’s injustices a loud shout of proof that there is no rhyme nor reason to human existence? 

                Is there no justice for the victims of injustice?    

                Oh, yes there is!  It’s called the Last Judgment, so powerfully described in today’s Gospel.

                Actually we are having, right now, a bit of a foretaste of the Last Judgment.  In the worldwide economic turmoil we are living through, are we not now realizing the ramifications of what unbridled greed has done not only to the greedy, but also to the rest of the world? 

                We are beginning to see what we will clearly see in the Judgment, that my personal choices throughout life impacted not just me, but the whole of mankind.  Slowly, bit by bit, we are coming to realize that my choice to be wasteful impacts the entire world.  My choice to ignore the carbon footprint I’m leaving impacts not just me but the whole environment.

                My choice to be petty, allows the world to be less magnanimous.  My choice to be less and less generous leaves the world a meaner, less caring society.  My choice to abort a child, leaves the world with less reverence for human life.  My choice to seek security in money leaves the world teeter-tottering on a financial brink of misplaced security.

                Yes, my choices impact the whole world.  Failure to recognize this fact of life will result in our hearing the Lord say, “When I was hungry, thirsty, ill-clad, a stranger, sick or imprisoned, you did not care for me.”

                On this last Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year we are invited to come to terms with the difficult truth that we are responsible for the choices we make, and we will be held to account for those choices.  The universe is not insane.  There is, in the end, a rectifying of all injustices.  

There will indeed be justice for all those who were among the people who faced a famine, or who had no clean drinking water, or who lived in dire poverty, or who faced illness without insurance, or who faced deportation, while the world did not care.  There will be justice.

                This is what Paul means when he says that Christ will put all enemies under his feet.  The lack of caring for the woes of others is an enemy that must be trampled on.  Our Good Shepherd leads us beside restful waters of a humanity that cares for each other, and He guides us in right paths so that when the trumpet is sounded and all the nations are gathered together His holy people will hear Him say:  “When I was in need you cared for me.”

Homily for Sunday, November 16, 2008 (1Thess. 5: 1-6)

In our reading from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians we are reading from the first piece of NT writing – only 23 years after the first Pentecost.  The crisis the early church was facing was a test of faith in the second coming of the Lord Jesus.  People were dying; the day of the Lord had not yet come; how can we go on believing in this?  Today’s selection from chapter 5 deals directly with the day of the Lord, that is, that day when the Lord will return in glory and in judgment, also known as the end of the world.

            Sleepwalking through life.  That’s what some of us do.  We’re not asleep as in slumber, but asleep to the presence of God in our lives, unaware, oblivious to God’s grace.

            Suppose you learned from your doctor that you had about a month left to live.  And suppose you learned that just now.  Would we see things differently?  Do you think we’d let go of some things that right now preoccupy our minds?  

            Do you think we’d want to settle some old fights by forgiving people who perpetrated some severe injustices upon us?

            Do you think we might want to make sure we are right with the Lord?  Do you think, if we only had 30 days left to live, we’d keep doing what are known as deeds of darkness?  

            Do you think we might take more time to be with those we most love?  Do you think we’d be so very busy about things that don’t ultimately matter?

            Well, Paul is telling us to live as if the end were very near.  Live in such a way that you will be ready for the Lord when He comes because the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

            We are to be children of the light and children of the day.

            I once heard that a grandmother would tell her grandchildren, “Nothing good happens after 2 AM!”  Why?  Because that’s when deeds of darkness happen, deeds that we wind up being ashamed of.  One can also do deeds of darkness in the daytime, so Paul says: stay alert, and be sober, be aware, don’t sleepwalk through life, don’t relax on knowing what is good and what is bad.  And when we do what is wrong, repent, and go to confession.  

            How can we know what is good and what is bad?  Our informed conscience will tell us.  If we have interiorized our Catholic faith, if we have sincerely desired to know the Lord and serve him and do His will, then He will speak to us in the inner recesses of our conscience.

            We can kill our conscience, you know.  Yes, we can stifle the Lord’s voice within by choosing again and again to ignore what our deepest, truest self is telling us about right and wrong.  We can be like that “wicked, lazy servant” who went off out of fear and ignored the Lord’s call to use his talents.  Instead he buried that inner voice from within.

            An example from our first reading: suppose you are a married man and you go day after day without letting your wife know what an unfailing treasure she is to you.  Don’t you think that if you knew that day of the Lord was right around the corner, that you’d tell her again and again how important she is to you, how much you love her, how she is God’s best gift to you?

            Why wait until your deathbed?  Why wait until it’s almost too late?  

            And for the rest of us, why put off doing the good we know we are called to?  Live as if it were all about to come to an end.  Living as if the day of the Lord were very near makes life so precious, so full of extraordinary gifts, so pregnant with possibilities, so much to be aware of.  And, yes, so much to confess. 

            Remember, in the Gospel, it is the fearful man, the fellow who thinks he has not been given enough talents, who wastes what he has been given and winds up seeing God as demanding and harsh, harvesting where he did not plant, and gathering where he did not gather.  Now, that is truly living in the darkness!

            Instead, live as children of the light, believe that you are blessed!  Because you are!

They all fall down!

They all fall down!  

   

How many times is Wall Street going to take a nose dive?

Years ago there used to be a certain respect for and loyalty to institutions.  Large banks, investment houses, companies, government agencies, and the Church earned great allegiance because of the benefits that came from the institution: a sense of belonging, respect from valued people who held the institution in honor, a track record of doing good and attending to the people involved.  

In our age of individualism more and more people are choosing to value their privacy and aloneness than, as in days of old, value the sense belonging and contributing to something grander than oneself.  This drift away from institutions is exacerbated by so many institutional failures, be it in Wall Street, government, business, athletics, academia or the Church.

It’s popular today to say, “Oh, I believe in God but I don’t need the Church,” until some crisis hits when we do indeed need the Church!  Maybe our present economic crisis will entice people to rethink such disdain for the Church.  Our Catholic Church has lived through such times before, so we have some accumulated wisdom on how to survive in an anti-institutional era.  

I suggest a bit of wisdom from Carlo Carretto, an Italian 20^th century priest, mystic and writer, who articulates what, for many people today, will beautifully and honestly describe our love for the Church, especially in an age of crisis:

How much I must criticize you, my church, and yet how much I love you! You have made me suffer more than anyone and yet I owe more to you than to anyone. I should like to see you destroyed and yet I need your presence. You have given me much scandal and yet you alone have made me understand holiness. Never in this world have I seen anything more compromised, more false, yet never have I touched anything more pure, more generous or more beautiful. Countless times I have felt like slamming the door of my soul in your face - and yet, every night, I have prayed that I might die in your sure arms! No, I cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even if not completely with you. Then too - where would I go? To build another church? But I could not build one without the same defects, for they are my defects. And again, if I were to build another church, it would be my church, not Christ's church. No, I am old enough, I know better.  (Translation from Forgotten Among the Lilies – Learning To Love Beyond Our Fears, by Ronald Rolheiser)

So, here's what the American Bishops have to say

The US bishops of the have been meeting this week.  With the election of pro-choice President-elect Obama, they have come to an agreement on the approach bishops will be taking in regard to the new administration that will assume power on January 20, 2009.  It is as clear as it could be, worth reading in its entirety.  Here’s the document the bishops produced today:

   

Statement of the President of the

United States

Conference of Catholic Bishops,

Cardinal Francis George

“If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil.” (Psalm 127, vs. 1)

     

The Bishops of the Catholic Church in the US welcome this moment of historic transition and look forward to working with President-elect Obama and the members of the new Congress for the common good of all. Because of the Church’s history and the scope of her ministries in this country, we want to continue our work for economic justice and opportunity for all; our efforts to reform laws around immigration and the situation of the undocumented; our provision of better education and adequate health care for all, especially for women and children; our desire to safeguard religious freedom and foster peace at home and abroad. The Church is intent on doing good and will continue to cooperate gladly with the government and all others working for these goods.

 

The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the Bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.

        

In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any “interference” in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

   

Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated. The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life.

    

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.

            

The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.

    

This statement is written at the request and direction of all the Bishops, who also want to thank all those in politics who work with good will to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Those in public life do so, sometimes, at the cost of great sacrifice to themselves and their families; and we are grateful. We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation. The common good is not the sum total of individual desires and interests; it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all.

    

Our prayers accompany President-elect Obama and his family and those who are cooperating with him to assure a smooth transition in government. Many issues demand immediate attention on the part of our elected “watchman.” (Psalm 127) May God bless him and our country.

The Night of Broken Glass - 70 years later

On the night of November 9-10, 1938 Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda for Adolph Hitler, organized the systematic destruction of synagogues throughout Nazi Germany.  Besides the sacrilegious destruction of houses of Jewish worship, Jewish businesses and shops (with their storefront glass windows, hence "Kristallnacht") were also destroyed.  During this orgy of violence 30,000 Jews were taken prisoner that same night and sent off to concentration camps; and the remaining Jews were fined $400,000,000 in damages. 

This news was detailed in newspapers all over the globe.  Since it was still Hitler's stated position that Jews were free to leave Germany if they wanted to, the reality was that other countries, including our own, refused most of them entry. 

American Jews begged our US government to allow their persecuted kinsmen entry, but American officials stated that the law only allowed a quota of 30,000 Germans that year, and the quota had already been reached - mostly by non-Jewish Germans.

So, the laws in Germany were terrible; and that particular law in the USA was used to deny entry to those who would soon be exterminated in Nazi concentration camps.

70 years later we still need to recognize that laws are born of the soil of values, prejudices and attitudes of the people who make up the society.  How, then, can we influence our society's values when it comes to the sanctity of life?  Only when that influence is received and accepted will our laws reflect a culture of life. 

A more effective conversation on life

There's a meeting of the American bishops this coming week; and one of the hot topics, probably behind closed doors, will be the fact that only 45% of Catholic voters voted for the pro-life candidate, John McCain.   In other words 55% voted for Barack Obama.  One of my fellow dinner companions on Saturday night, an attorney, argued that the bishops' pushing the pro-life agenda by means of changing the law is counter-productive and ultimately futile.  She argued that what has to change is the culture of our country and cultural change should be the focus of the bishops' energy instead of trying to impose a legal approach to address the issue of the sanctity of life.  The legal approach smacks of the bogeyman sense of the Catholic Church as imposing its opinions on the rest of the world, especially by using the force of law. 

I think there were many pro-life Catholics who were among the 55% who voted for Barack Obama.  I also think they, with their reverence for life, would appreciate a new way of discussing how to augment in America the sanctity of life in the womb.  Not with threats of excommunication and refusals of Holy Communion, but some new way that speaks of winning people over to a greater reverence for life, a new way of expressing that we are all free to make choices, but we can help each other make good choices.