Daily Postings

One day we were having a discussion with some very close Jewish friends, and the subject of the Messiah came up.  Someone raised the question as to how Jewish people view the Messiah.  The responses varied. Some said that the Messiah was expected to come and lead the children of Israel to whole new important place in the plan of nations, and that when he came a thousand years of peace and prosperity would reign on the earth, and the Jewish people would have a prominent role to play in the new Messianic world.  Others felt that the Messiah was not a person, but the Jewish people’s rise to prominence in the world, particularly if they had their own independent state.

Then the question came up about Jesus.  What do Jewish people think about Jesus?  The response was interesting.  Some said that he was a good man and was caring and concerned about people and that he had a reputation for healing which even the Jewish writings accepted as having taken place, but he failed to convince the people that he was the Messiah or he would have established the Messianic kingdom.

Then someone made the comment, “Perhaps he was not given a chance to establish the Messianic kingdom because the Jewish religious leaders felt threatened by him and did not want him to be their ruler.  It was obvious the Jewish people loved him, but the leaders did not feel comfortable with him and did everything they could to frustrate his every attempt to convince them that he was the Messiah.”

The objection was then raised, “But, he failed to announce an interest in freeing the people from the domination of Rome, and declare the people’s independence from foreign control.”

Then, the comment was made, “Maybe his idea of the Messianic kingdom as a worldly kingdom was not what God had in mind.  And maybe if the leaders accepted him and introduced him to the people as the Messiah, perhaps his kingdom would be a kingdom where Yahweh’s dominion would be over the hearts and minds of all his children, not just the Jews.  If the Jewish people then accepted him and he was allowed to establish a kingdom over the hearts and minds of all God’s children no matter what their nationality, then Rome would not be an enemy, and there would be no need to rebel against Rome, because even the Romans, as well as other people’s of the world would have accepted Jesus eventually, and the Messianic Reign would have taken place with its capital in Jerusalem, and the promised thousand years would have begun with the Jewish apostles and the Jewish people spearheading a spiritual movement in bringing the whole world in Yahweh’s Kingdom on earth.  It would seem that that would be the kind of Kingdom that God would be interested in, not a kingdom with armies and wars and his children competing with one another for dominance over others.”

There was no disagreement that that was a nice idea, but it is more a pipe dream than realistic.  And that was where the discussion ended before the group changed to a different subject.  One person, however, commented, “Maybe not, didn’t a world-wide movement begin right at the time to win the minds and hearts of people and introduce the whole world to God’s love?”

I saw the most beautiful act of kindness today.  A poor homeless artist at a street corner, was trying to earn some money be sketching people’s portraits.  He didn’t charge much, just accepted a little donation.  I saw some of the portraits and they were ten times more valuable than what the people donated. But, what touched me was what the artist did with the money.  He went down to a local delicatessen and bought some sandwiches and coffee and brought them back to a few other homeless people who were wandering in the area.  He had no conscience problem wondering whether they were really deserving of his charity.  He just knew that they were hungry.  It is such an inspiration coming across simple Christians, who reflect such basic goodness.  As poor as they may be and so wanting of most human comforts, they rarely show the cynicism and mean spirit that so many sophisticated people express in so much of their conversation.  Was it Socrates or Plato who said, “When I come home from mingling with people at the forum, I feel less a human being than I did before met with them.”  Seeing that kind-hearted artist lifted my spirits and renewed my faith in humanity.

When I turned on the TV today to watch the news, I was first hit by an ad for the boxing matches.  When I was a kid, I loved to listen to the boxing matches on the radio, and later watch them on the TV.  Now when I watch even the ads they seem so horribly brutal I am sickened, and reminded of the gladiatorial combats in ancient Rome.  As Rome became more decadent and was disintegrating from within by losing it strong moral fiber and idealism, the emperors catered more and more to the mobs jaded craving for more and more violent amusements in the Roman arenas.  The more violent the gladiatorial combats were, the more the crowds excited the crowds got.  One of the peak dramatic shows that reached a new low in Roman degradation occurred when Nero covered living Christians with pitch and tied them to poles all around the Coliseum and then torched them to provide lighting for the games. 

I know boxing is no where near that kind of horror, but one cannot but be shocked at the increase of the violence in boxing matches, where almost any kind of brutality against an opponent is acceptable, almost to the point where a match is not stopped until the opponent is almost on the verge of being killed.  It is disgusting to anyone who has a sense that human beings are the sacred creations of a loving God, and whose bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit.  To bang a person in the head endlessly does massive damage to the human brain, and ultimately over the years reduces the person to an almost mindless likeness of a human.

If such behavior took place outside the ring, a person could be indicted for assault and battery and sentenced to prison for ten, twenty, thirty years.  Why is such brutality legal in a boxing ring in our ‘enlightened’ Christian civilization?  How can decent, thinking human beings enjoy seeing a human being so brutally destroyed?  It doesn’t say much about us who tolerate such a vile treatment of a sacred child of God.

Lately I have talked with so many people who are struggling with the difficult times we are going through, and are so fearful of not being able to keep their lives together.  And I am sure they represent many others, so I would like to share something that has helped me and I think it might be a big help to others.  Going through these difficult times has not be particularly easy for me either, and I decided I was going to have to consolidate my month expenses.  I told the credit card people that they had to be more reasonable with the interest rates or I was going to have to make a drastic decision.  They responded and put me in touch with a non-profit corporation, NovaDebt.  These people contacted all the people to whom I owed money and worked with them.  I was amazed how they were able to talk them into being reasonable. What they did for me was to have my interest reduced to 6% and reduced my monthly payments to a very reasonable amount by extending the payments over a five year period.  This took a huge load off my mind, and protected what ever money I had in my savings.  

I then got a Discover card from Sam’s Club and use that only for what I absolutely need, and pay it off each month, so there is no interest.  By doing this I kept up my good credit rating.  I cannot tell you what a huge help this is.  If you are worried about your own situation, I would suggest you contact these people and at least discuss your situation with them, to see if what they offer can be of help to you.  Their number is 1-800-992-4557.

We live in difficult times, and I am speaking from my own situation as well, but, in spite of my own difficulties, I will not give in to the anxiety that can become part of hard economic times.  The most dangerous facet of times like this is fear.  If we give in to fear, it spreads like a California forest fire and the whole nation goes into underground bunkers and all economic growth stops. It is so important that we try to continue acting normally in times like this, and we can keep the engines of growth moving in a healthy, even if a slower pace. 

It troubles me deeply when people who should know better thrive on frightening the nation by continually spreading rumors that everything is bad and getting worse and there no way out of it.  That is the one thing we don’t need: intelligent people pandering to people’s fear.  It only undermines any hope of recovery.  Do not allow fear to paralyze normal living.  It is normal living that will assure a healthy and timely recovery.

I have the strong feeling that there are many Americans, even educated ones, who do not really understand our way of life, and the legal principles upon which our country is founded.  People so often say that our country is a Christian country, and that is true as far as most of our people are concerned. But to say that it was founded Judeo-Christian beliefs, is something which we have to qualify.  Judeo-Christian beliefs inspired our founding fathers when they undertook to write the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.  This is reflected very clearly in the Declaration of Independence where it states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Now this is interesting. The Declaration states that we have inalienable rights which we receive from our Creator, which is a fundamental and must be accepted as basic to our way of life, but it also states that, to assure the protection of those rights, it recognizes that the people have the authority to confer upon the government the power to safeguard those rights. It does not state that the power of the government comes from God, as used to be believed for centuries.  It states that the government receives its power from the people. It is up to the people to decide how they are to be governed and what kind of laws they choose to live under.

Thus, in the Constitution which the people have decided upon and accepted, the fundamental principles are laid down which the Government must follow.  What so many people do not even realize, and much less understand, is that the people have the right and the power to determine their own laws, and that in the framing of those laws, they must follow the Amendments decided Bill of Rights, the first of which is:

Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

While it states that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to mean that the doctrines or practices of a particular religion or denomination cannot be used as a basis in the formulation of laws.

While we might like to see the Ten Commandments be made the law of the land, that cannot be done, because it is the fundamental religious law of the Judeo-Christian religion.  Nor can the basic religious laws of the Bahai religion become the law of the land in our country, or the sharia law of the Muslim religion.  The Bill of Rights forbids that.  There are some who would like to see homosexuality made illegal and others who would like to see adultery be punishable by law.  While in Washington with friends I heard individual fundamentalist Christians making those statements, saying that such things are forbidden in the Bible.  I could not believe my ears.

For government officials, among whom are public school officials, including teachers, to lead students in prayer is a difficult problem precisely because whose God are they going to lead the students to pray to?  People have their own ideas of God.  The Judeo-Christian God is one God which me accept as the only God, but other people like Hindus and Buddhists worship what they think is God, different from the Judeo-Christian God. So, in a nation like ours, where there is such a diversity of beliefs, we have to respect the beliefs of others. That does not mean that we are not free to practice our own faith, but it does mean that we are not permitted to demand that our faith be publicly proclaimed in a way that indicates a public approval of our beliefs.  But, no one can stop any person from praying privately to God in school.  And when there is an assembly, if a group of students decide to pray outloud, no one can legally stop them, because students are not school officials. Or if the players in a high school football team want to pray in a huddle no one cannot legally forbid it.  That’s their free choice.

This is why there is such a hateful animosity over the abortion issue.  Belief that the human embryo is a human being with a soul is a Catholic teaching.  It does not say that in the Bible, so people who base their beliefs on the bible, have no valid  biblical basis for opposing abortion.  And there are many people who do not believe in a soul, which again is a Catholic (and Protestant) belief.  There are other religions which do not believe the Christian belief of a spiritual, immortal soul.

So, we have to be very careful in making rash and ridiculous statements criticizing others’ beliefs about these issues as if they are just anti-religion or anti-God, or just ignorant, hateful liberals.

Even though the Declaration of Independence states that our inalienable rights come from God, the Constitution and its continuation in the Bill of Rights is based on secular principles, and not religious principles.  Therefore, laws cannot be made based on religious principles, but only on what can be based on reason and the law that in imbedded in our nature, and accepted by the majority of the citizens as something necessary or benefitting the common good.  So, if it should be proved that abortion is not benefitting the common good or is causing a dangerous shortage of labor, including skilled labor, a reversal of the law could be based on that.

Sometimes I really get upset with all the negative attitudes of some critics.  One negative complaint is particularly troublesome which criticizes those who are opposed to religion in the schools, and that the public schools are forbidden to teach the Bible or religion.  That is a crock of bull.

When I was stationed in Scotia, New York, I asked a constitutional lawyer friend of mine what the Supreme Court ruled on the Bible and religion in the public schools.  He told me that the Supreme Court decision permitted teaching the Bible as literature, and the teaching of religion as a comparative religion course. 

Armed with that information, I approached the pastors of the other churches in the village and explained this to them and asked if they would be willing to approach the school board and request such a program.  When questioned as to how this would work, we told them that the Bible could be read as any other kind of literary work, so the children could learn the Bible.  The comparative religion course would be taught by members of each of the denominations and synagogues and any other religion in the area.  A Catholic deacon or priest could teach what Catholics believe, and the Lutheran pastor could teach what the Lutherans believe, and the Episcopal priest could teach what the Episcopalians believe, and the rabbi could teach what the Jewish people believe, and so on. The children would be free to attend the courses their parents approved of.  After explaining that, and showing the school board the Supreme Court’s decision, the board approved our request and implemented the program, which continued long after I had been transferred to another place. 

This goes to prove that religion can be taught in the public schools, and the Bible can be taught in the public schools, so let’s stop all this phony negative garbage about leftists being opposed to God and Bible and religion in the schools.  If anyone wants to do it in the right way, it can be done. But, I think some people like to just complain and create chaos in our country.  It is much better to like one candle than to curse the darkness.  All the negative garbage is destroying our country, and creating fear and panic.  Our country will never get back on track and start moving again if everyone is going to listen and read all the unfounded garbage on email, and in radical publications.

I know many good Christians have little sympathy for criminals in prison.  Still they are God’s children whom He loves even though we may not.  Many times when something is lacking in my understanding of people, God teaches me in the strangest ways, like he did two years ago when I damaged my back in an area the affected my sciatic nerve.  I could never understand why some people could not rise above their pain, and why some people would commit suicide because they could no longer stand the pain.  When I suffered that sciatic pain, it was the worst pain I had ever experienced, and the only pain I could not control by my will power.  The pain was so intense I soon began to realize that that kind of pain would drive a person to insanity, and I began to realize it was beginning to do that to me.  Fortunately, after God had taught me what He wanted me to learn, the pain disappeared.   The medicine was supposed to only help, and I was supposed to continue taking it, but the pain stopped.

Living alone ninety percent of the time is like being a hermit.  Your world shrinks.  You notice little things around you.  Although I never get lonely, it is nice to see life around the grounds, like the turkeys, the deer, the chipmunks, the weasel, the birds, the mountain lion, the cats, the fox, the rabbits, even the squirrels. Having life around us I realize is important for our mental health.  Some times there are no animals around, like this morning, when there was a heavy fog that covered the whole vast valley spread out before me.  Everything was dark, except for the floor lamp lighting the room.  I noticed that on the rug at my feet was a fiddle-shaped bug, walking around my chair.  Ordinarily it just walks slowly around the room during the day, but, for some strange reason when I am offering Mass in the morning, it is always at the foot of my chair and climbs up the chair and works its way up to my arm and ends up on my hand resting on the table, and turns around facing me, and just stays there. 

That has happened the last two mornings.  Only this morning did it take on a meaning.  As insignificant as that bug is, it was a living presence.  For some reason, I felt a comfort in the presence of that little bug that just stayed there on my hand until I finished Mass. Was it God telling me something? I tried to think why that should mean anything to me, and I remembered something I had read about a man in prison, alone day and night in his cell. The only company he had was a little insect that he kept in a tiny box and tried to find things the insect could eat that might keep it alive.  I could never understand how an insect could mean anything to anyone.  I could understand a dog, or a cat, or a bird, but an insect? To that lonely prisoner that insect was his only living companion.  And I realized that God was again teaching me something significant in some people’s lives that I could never understand before, but something that was important to God.  It was as if it was important for me to realize that some people have been so reduced to such an inhuman loneliness, that something as insignificant as a tiny insect becomes their only connection to life.   And then the thought crossed my mind, does anyone really care? God does, and perhaps we should.

What role does faith play in our lives?  Faith is the living seed, which, when planted in fertile soil, begins to grow, especially when nurtured by prayer and a mind open to God and his inspiration.  So, as our life with God grows and gradually matures, our understanding of God grows and matures.  We no longer see God and view him as we did when we were children.  We see him as much bigger, as not a being we think of as an ancient version of a human, or as having a human body, because we have learned that he is a spiritual being with the eternal essence of intelligence and love. We know by faith that he created each of us special, and that he loves us with an infinite love that is not conditioned on whether we are good or bad.  He loves us as we are, and will continually work within us to bring us to a more perfect image of his goodness.  He knows that process of transformation into goodness is long and arduous, but he is patient with us as we gradually change, first by learning to think differently, then by living and thinking the way he inspires us.  In time, even though we cannot see it happening in ourselves, we do change, and become more and more beautiful in his sight, living reflections of what God is like.  And because we cannot see that we are growing, our humble understanding of ourselves makes us even more precious to God.  That is what faith means to us, even when we do not understand what is taking place within us. 

So often we hear people say when some one has a serious illness, “You have to have faith.”  But, it would be more precise to encourage the person to have hope.  Faith is accepting what someone says because you know that person to be truthful, and knowledgeable.  Hope is trusting God because of his love and compassion and mercy, and because so often he uses his healing power to make us whole again even when we are at death’s door.  Also, we hope that God will have mercy on us and forgive us for the mistakes we have made throughout our lives. 

Our hope is based on the realization that Jesus, out of love, has suffered and died for us, and by his death and resurrection has won eternal life for us.  Trusting in his all forgiving love for us, we hope that when we die, he will have mercy on us and bring us home to live with him and our loved ones forever.

Hope is a beautiful and comforting virtue, because it bonds us to God in the same way a needy child bonds with its mother for everything.  Hope implies trust and it is that childlike trust that Jesus praised in the little children when he said, “Unless you become like a little child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  The humility which underlies trust and hope recognizes our total dependence on God, and that humble, childlike trust is what touches God’s heart, because it is empty of all self-righteousness and smugness.