The US Bishops have called on Catholics throughout the country today to engage in a day of prayer and fasting for Religious Liberty.
We should be clear that this is not about what is derisively known as "obamacare" nor is it about whether or not people have a right to basic health care. The church is clear that the later is true.
This is about our belief that every human being has a right to practice their faith. The Second Varican Council December 7, 1965 in its document Dignitas Humanae proclaimed
This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.
Yes, those last three words admit that, like every right, this right has legitimate limits. Human sacrifice, for example, in the name of religion could not be called a right, because it violates the most basic right to life.
Sixteen words in the first amendment of our own constitution reflect this same belief:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
This day was spurred into being by the HHS mandate. Like many drugs, it is true that the hormones pills commonly referred to as birth control pills, can be prescribed to treat a number of conditions. To force Catholic institutions to provide them as birth control, however, would be a violation of our right to free exercise of our faith. For women who want them for that purpose there are many other ways to have free access.
Today is about more than this single bill or a single faith. Our church does not teach that Christians alone have a right to religious freedom. Adherents of all faiths share that right. Today is a day of prayer about a human right.
Let us unite our prayers with all our faithful brothers and sisters.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Fear vs concern
whoever keeps my word will never see death.
Does anyone really believe that?
If so, why is so much of our political talk grounded in fear. It seems that almost all of our foreign policy debate starts with fear of someone and fear of death. Why did we start the two wars we are in now and stay for over a decade? Why are so talking about attacking Iran?
Regardless of the military outcome, if the goal if terrorism is terror then it appears that they won.
Jesus teaches us not to be afraid, even of death, in part because fear robs us of our reason. Basic Catholic anthropology– what makes an act a human act are the faculties of intellect and will. Fear impairs both, and our most primal fear, is fear of death.
If we believe that we will never die we are then truly free. We are free to use our God given faculties to think, to pray, and to act in a truly human way.
This does not mean that we are indifferent to the real problems, and the existence of evil in the world. As Christians we know evil exists. But instead of reacting out of fear, we act out of a sense of true concern not only for ourselves but for others, concern for the common good.
Through prayer we stay grounded in Christ, and make rational choices,striving in everything to do the will of God.
As John tells us, "There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out all fear"
Does anyone really believe that?
If so, why is so much of our political talk grounded in fear. It seems that almost all of our foreign policy debate starts with fear of someone and fear of death. Why did we start the two wars we are in now and stay for over a decade? Why are so talking about attacking Iran?
Regardless of the military outcome, if the goal if terrorism is terror then it appears that they won.
Jesus teaches us not to be afraid, even of death, in part because fear robs us of our reason. Basic Catholic anthropology– what makes an act a human act are the faculties of intellect and will. Fear impairs both, and our most primal fear, is fear of death.
If we believe that we will never die we are then truly free. We are free to use our God given faculties to think, to pray, and to act in a truly human way.
This does not mean that we are indifferent to the real problems, and the existence of evil in the world. As Christians we know evil exists. But instead of reacting out of fear, we act out of a sense of true concern not only for ourselves but for others, concern for the common good.
Through prayer we stay grounded in Christ, and make rational choices,striving in everything to do the will of God.
As John tells us, "There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out all fear"
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Who's your daddy?
What does it mean to be son or daughter? Again we seem to use the phrase "God's Children" without much thought as to what it actually means.
In life we're born to or adopted by our parents and we are their children, period.
Jesus in today's gospel reflects on two aspects of the parent/ child relationship: permanence and responsibility.
A child unlike a servant is always in relationship to the parent and nothing can change that. That's the good news.
The less attractive part is that a child also has a responsibility to the parent. Until our modern age, sons followed in their fathers' footsteps with regard to work. The many occupational last names(i.e. Miller, Fuller, Shoemaker, Wagoner, Wright) have come from this tradition. He goes one step further says that we show whose child we truly are through the work we do. As is always the case in John's Gospel it is a simple binary choice: child of God, child of Satan.
While we may not find the imagery to our liking, it is sometimes helpful to cut through our tendency to nuance and rationalize our way out of calling something just plain sin.
At the end of the days whose child will we show ourselves to be. If we were judged by our words and actions of the day,could we truly say they were Our Father's work.
In life we're born to or adopted by our parents and we are their children, period.
Jesus in today's gospel reflects on two aspects of the parent/ child relationship: permanence and responsibility.
A child unlike a servant is always in relationship to the parent and nothing can change that. That's the good news.
The less attractive part is that a child also has a responsibility to the parent. Until our modern age, sons followed in their fathers' footsteps with regard to work. The many occupational last names(i.e. Miller, Fuller, Shoemaker, Wagoner, Wright) have come from this tradition. He goes one step further says that we show whose child we truly are through the work we do. As is always the case in John's Gospel it is a simple binary choice: child of God, child of Satan.
While we may not find the imagery to our liking, it is sometimes helpful to cut through our tendency to nuance and rationalize our way out of calling something just plain sin.
At the end of the days whose child will we show ourselves to be. If we were judged by our words and actions of the day,could we truly say they were Our Father's work.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Knowing your history
Today's gospel makes reference to the "Feast of Tabernacles" (sukkot). Not a spring festival in the Hebrew Calendar but a Fall Festival, a harvest festival, literally the in-gathering. This year it begins Oct 1. For seven dates the people gives thanks for what they have received from God's bounty.
As important to the festival is its commemoration of the 40 years wandering in the desert. To mark this they eat outside in a sukkah, a temporary dwelling, reminiscent of the tents of their ancestors. It must have 2 1/2 walls that will not blow away and the roof should be made of something that has grown from the ground (branches).
We must be careful as Christians, particularly when reading John's gospel. Because of the time when it was written, it tends to paint a dark picture of those he simply refers to as "the Jews" and was at various times used out of context as a basis for antisemitism. Blessed John Paul dedicated a great deal of his life to healing the wounds of the past and we should continue to strive to understand more deeply the faith from which our own faith grew.
As important to the festival is its commemoration of the 40 years wandering in the desert. To mark this they eat outside in a sukkah, a temporary dwelling, reminiscent of the tents of their ancestors. It must have 2 1/2 walls that will not blow away and the roof should be made of something that has grown from the ground (branches).
We must be careful as Christians, particularly when reading John's gospel. Because of the time when it was written, it tends to paint a dark picture of those he simply refers to as "the Jews" and was at various times used out of context as a basis for antisemitism. Blessed John Paul dedicated a great deal of his life to healing the wounds of the past and we should continue to strive to understand more deeply the faith from which our own faith grew.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Telling truth to power
The first reading today is another example from the Old Testament that understood at merely face value can seem odd.
On the surface, God gets angry and threatens to destroy the world. Moses calms God down. God changes his mind.
On a deeper level it is something much more. All human beings want to be accepted, want to be loved. The ones who say "I don't care what others think" are often the ones who care the most.
God in this reading has no intention of destroying Israel. He makes the statement as a test. He wants to see what kind of man Moses really is. Or perhaps better said, he wants Moses to see what kind of man Moses is.
All human beings are social by nature. We all have in us a fear of rejection whether we admit it or not. We will sacrifice the truth in order to fit in.
Most often we do it by silence. Moses proved to be a man dedicated to the truth. Let us pray that each of us can have that same dedication.
On the surface, God gets angry and threatens to destroy the world. Moses calms God down. God changes his mind.
On a deeper level it is something much more. All human beings want to be accepted, want to be loved. The ones who say "I don't care what others think" are often the ones who care the most.
God in this reading has no intention of destroying Israel. He makes the statement as a test. He wants to see what kind of man Moses really is. Or perhaps better said, he wants Moses to see what kind of man Moses is.
All human beings are social by nature. We all have in us a fear of rejection whether we admit it or not. We will sacrifice the truth in order to fit in.
Most often we do it by silence. Moses proved to be a man dedicated to the truth. Let us pray that each of us can have that same dedication.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Shock and Awe
The gospel today opens with the first great scandal of Christianity, the one that first got the rouges wagging against Jesus and his followers.
"he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God."
Today we think nothing of it. We pray the Our Father without even thinking about it as strange. I would love to thing that it is because we are so steeped in Christian theology but I concern it is something else. I wonder if the reason we aren't shock is because we haven't really grasped what we are saying.
Sometimes I hear "We are all God's children." which is a kind sentiment but not really Christian.
Are we all created in the image and likeness of God? Yes.
Are we all loved by God? Yes
Does God love Christians more that Muslims and Jews? No
But when we speak of being God's children we mean something more.
As the new missal corrected, we do not believe as Christians that Jesus is the only Son of God. He is the only-begotten Son. We are adopted children.
How are we adopted? The adoption takes place at our baptism.
It's always struck me as odd that some question infant baptism and yet aren't most adopted children adopted as infants?
This adoption means more than just "God loves me." Like civil adoption it means our most basic identity is changed.
As our baptismal rite says, "You have become a new creation"
We are reborn.
Jesus was the first to be able to rightly call God his father but not the last. To the Gospel invites us to reflect on the deepest meaning of our baptism, our adoption and the new identity we were given on that day.
"he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God."
Today we think nothing of it. We pray the Our Father without even thinking about it as strange. I would love to thing that it is because we are so steeped in Christian theology but I concern it is something else. I wonder if the reason we aren't shock is because we haven't really grasped what we are saying.
Sometimes I hear "We are all God's children." which is a kind sentiment but not really Christian.
Are we all created in the image and likeness of God? Yes.
Are we all loved by God? Yes
Does God love Christians more that Muslims and Jews? No
But when we speak of being God's children we mean something more.
As the new missal corrected, we do not believe as Christians that Jesus is the only Son of God. He is the only-begotten Son. We are adopted children.
How are we adopted? The adoption takes place at our baptism.
It's always struck me as odd that some question infant baptism and yet aren't most adopted children adopted as infants?
This adoption means more than just "God loves me." Like civil adoption it means our most basic identity is changed.
As our baptismal rite says, "You have become a new creation"
We are reborn.
Jesus was the first to be able to rightly call God his father but not the last. To the Gospel invites us to reflect on the deepest meaning of our baptism, our adoption and the new identity we were given on that day.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Trust or Fear
In the first reading today we have the vision of Ezekiel who is taken by angel to a body of water and walk with him. The water is first ankle deep, then knee deep then waist deep, then over his head.
How far will we go? How much real trust do we have?
Water is one of the most interesting symbols in the bible in that it has a variety of opposing meanings. It represents life and is a necessity. It represents death, as in the great flood, and was feared. Drowning is still one of those primal fears in the human psyche.
How far into the water will I go with God? How far before I fear? At what point does the fear turn into panic?
In Exekiel's vision after the deep water the scene jumps. We are transported to the bank of the river teeming with life, along whose banks are lush trees filled with fruit.
Each day brings its own challenges. Some days ankle deep, some days knee deep, and some days over our head. Through it all what should continue to resonate in our heads are those words of Jesus we hear at mass, "my peace I leave you, my peace I give you."
In truth we have nothing to fear, if we hold tight to the belief that He really is always with us. Even in the deepest water, we will not drown, we swim. We swim in the ocean of God's abundant grace.
How far will we go? How much real trust do we have?
Water is one of the most interesting symbols in the bible in that it has a variety of opposing meanings. It represents life and is a necessity. It represents death, as in the great flood, and was feared. Drowning is still one of those primal fears in the human psyche.
How far into the water will I go with God? How far before I fear? At what point does the fear turn into panic?
In Exekiel's vision after the deep water the scene jumps. We are transported to the bank of the river teeming with life, along whose banks are lush trees filled with fruit.
Each day brings its own challenges. Some days ankle deep, some days knee deep, and some days over our head. Through it all what should continue to resonate in our heads are those words of Jesus we hear at mass, "my peace I leave you, my peace I give you."
In truth we have nothing to fear, if we hold tight to the belief that He really is always with us. Even in the deepest water, we will not drown, we swim. We swim in the ocean of God's abundant grace.
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