Stupidity Running Wild

Boy, when the world goes crazy it tends to take a lot of folks along with it. 

For example, did you hear what John Kerry — former U.S. Senator from the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts and former Secretary of State under the incompetent Barack Obama — said today in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? His words have to be the dumbest thing said by anyone today, and believe me, stupidity has been rampant. 

Anyway, Kerry, the cowardly medal hunter of the Mekong Delta, stated that “I hope that President Putin will help us stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate.” Can you believe it? He hopes not that Putin will reverse his horrendous aggression against Ukraine and its people, but that the ex-KGB Russian dictator will concern himself with imaginary global warming and the supposed effects of what is now euphemistically called “climate change.” 

The problem, of course, is that Mr. Kerry works for our president as his “special presidential envoy for climate.” The fact that he could make such idiotic comments and still keep his job, probably indicates the president agrees with him. Although given the president’s limited awareness of his surroundings, his special envoy’s comments might have escaped his attention. And I suspect none of his aides and advisors will fill him in.

President Putin has not only taken command of the invasion, but has also effectively taken command of NATO. If his words are taken literally, he seemingly threatened NATO with potential nuclear war if they do anything to oppose him. Other than issuing a bunch of weak sanctions, NATO and President Biden seem to have caved and realized they really don’t want to do anything that might lead to an escalation. After all, for decades the European members of NATO have relied on the deterrence provided largely by U.S. military power, while cutting their own defense budgets to the bone. Perhaps it’s time, as former President Trump made clear, for the Europeans to actually spend some Euros to defend themselves. 

It’s all about will, folks. Putin has shown he has the will to act, and I expect the Ukrainians to demonstrate their own will to defend themselves. Sadly, it is the United States and it’s traditional allies who seem to lack the will to resist in any meaningful way. The next few days and weeks should be interesting.

I also noticed that the Biden sanctions did not directly affect President Putin and his personal fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars scattered throughout many global financial institutions. Why not? Nor did Biden sanction the Russian central bank or use the Swiss bank sanction, the financial nuclear option. And remarkably, we are still buying oil and gas from Russia, and the administration plans no change to this. Could our president actually fear this tinpot dictator? Who knows? Maybe we should ask Hunter, who according to the president is the smartest man he knows.

Putin, Biden and their “Plans”

I see the Ukraine-Russian “crisis” as the catalyst for some really cool conspiracy theories. And I’ll admit, I’ve probably considered most of them, at least for a time. But given what’s been going on in Moscow and Washington — sadly, the EU nations are really irrelevant when it comes to serious matters — it’s apparent our president is totally clueless. 

Vladimir Putin is obviously in control of the entire event and all its weirdness, something that has led our president to talk a lot but do absolutely nothing. Yes, President Biden has moved a few additional troops into NATO nations, something that generated a laugh or two over vodka at the Putin dacha in Sochi on the Black Sea. And President Biden has threatened all kinds of things, seemingly horrendous sanctions, but none will be implemented unless and until Putin acts…maybe. And yet, at the same time, our president is not actively considering the implementation of the most effective sanctions, things like cutting off Russian banks from access to the West’s banking system or the closure of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. In truth, the best sanctions would be for Europeans to cut themselves off from Russian oil and gas, but that’s highly unlikely. 

The very idea of preventative sanctions — i.e., sanctions to punish in advance of hostile actions, and the only kind that actually prevent — against someone who is threatening another country seems to be far beyond our president’s strategic thinking. Had I been in charge — something for which the American people have been happily spared — I would have left our advisors and trainers in western Ukraine, and wouldn’t have evacuated our embassy in Kiev. Their very presence would have given Putin pause. Of course, after the Afghanistan debacle, who knows? The administration apparently doesn’t care if Americans are slaughtered and is too cowardly to respond to attacks on American troops and civilians. I would also never reveal what we we intend to do or what we would never do. 

So, what’s the latest conspiracy theory? It’s that Biden and Putin are in cahoots. You see, according to this theory, Putin has all kinds of garbage on Joe Biden, some from his own security services and some from his new friends in China. It’s the kind of garbage that, at the very least, would evict Biden from the White House and, at worst, would send him and his not so very smart son to prison. What’s the scheme? Briefly, to do what they’ve already done. To make a very big deal out of this supposed invasion of Ukraine, but then…nothing. This way, Putin is able to get some desirable concessions from the feckless Europeans while President Biden promotes himself as the hero who single-handedly stopped the invasion of Ukraine. Interestingly, should Putin decide to invade anyway, he will likely avoid debilitating sanctions and make our president look rather foolish. For Putin, whatever he does is a win-win.

What a world! And just imagine what the Chinese are thinking, and planning, and will actually do.

God Turns All to Good

45 years ago, I was a Naval officer aboard a ship in the Philippines when I got the word that my mom was near death. The cancer she had battled for so long would finally take her. My commanding officer granted me emergency leave and I somehow managed to make it back to the states in near record time. The trip from halfway around the world involved a series of flights aboard several military and civilian aircraft. Arriving at Boston's Logan Airport, I was met by my dad and brother who drove me straight to the hospital in Hyannis on Cape Cod. 

My first look at Mom as I entered her room told me she wouldn't be with us much longer. Her words merely confirmed this. She looked up at me and said, "Okay, Lord, now I can die."

We spent some time together in prayer but at one point she said, "Dana, I've learned that everything is a gift. Even this horrid disease is a gift because it has taught me so much." 

Of course, as a 30-something Navy pilot, I didn't have a clue. How could she say that? A gift? No, this was a tragedy! Still in her sixties, she had suffered too much for far too long. I simply didn't understand what she meant and didn't try to grasp her meaning.

It took some time, actually a couple of decades, for her words to make sense to me. Sometimes that's how God works in our lives. He waits until we are properly disposed to understand His Word and then He reveals it to us in ways we can accept. In my case it came thanks to many others who, like Mom, were seriously ill and facing death. Their attitudes and words mirrored Mom's, forcing me to seek understanding. 

And then, one day, I read a letter by one of my favorite writers, Flannery O'Connor. Throughout her adult life, O'Connor had suffered from Lupis, a disease that would ultimately take her at the age of 39. Referring to her illness, O'Connor wrote these words to a friend:

"I have never been anywhere but sick. In a sense sickness is a place, a very instructive place, and it's always a place where there's no company, where nobody can follow. Sickness before death is a very appropriate thing and I think those who don't have it miss one of God's mercies." [The Habit of Being, p. 163]

"...one of God's mercies." One senses that O'Connor, too, realized all is a gift for those who strive to accept God's will for them. 

This morning I was reminded of this again. Listening to the news, we were told that Rush Limbaugh died a year ago today. As the news show briefly covered this anniversary of his death, they showed a video of Limbaugh, apparently just days before he died. Speaking to his nationwide audience, it seemed as if he were consoling them as he said:

"There's good in everything that happens, if you look for it."

Yes, indeed, we encounter many examples of people who came to realize and accept the goodness in so much the world considers bad. Of course, St. Paul said it best, didn't he?

"We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose" [Romans 8:28].

God's peace...

Homily: Saturday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: 1 Kgs 12:26-32;13:33-34 • Ps 106 • Mk 8:1-10

Mark’s Gospel has often been described as a Passion narrative with a long introduction. And that introduction moves right along.

Mark also offers us the story of the disciples and their often confused response to Jesus’ call. Moved by the Spirit, the twelve attach themselves to Jesus with little understanding of His teachings or what His call to discipleship really entails. It’s a story, then, of spiritual growth, of gradual formation, a time when the Spirit plants seed after seed in the hearts of these friends and followers of Jesus.

Like every seed planted by the Spirit, these sprout and bloom according to His schedule, not ours. The Spirit can move quickly indeed, or He can lead us to the truth over a lifetime. And it’s our response that makes all the difference. We see signs of this in today’s Gospel passage.

4,000 people, a huge crowd, have been with Jesus for three days, and have eaten nothing. But we hear no complaints from the crowd, for in their hunger for Truth they have been fed with the Word. They seem satisfied. For them it has been three days of contemplative prayer, for what is contemplative prayer but placing oneself in Jesus’ presence and listening, listening to the Word so He can alter one’s very being.

It’s also a time of fasting. But in his compassion, Jesus knows once He leaves them, their fast will end, and they will return to the world hungry. They will need to be restored so they can carry the Word to their homes, into their everyday lives where they can live from faith.

Jesus turns to His disciples and simply states a truth: “They have nothing to eat.”

“How can we get bread in the desert?” they ask.

They have not yet understood that He is the Bread of Life, that wherever Jesus is, there is Bread. Yes, Jesus is the Eucharist, a gift He will institute at the Last Supper – the bread, His Body – the wine, His Blood – the gift of His Presence until the end of the age. But as yet they don’t know this.

Have they so soon forgotten His earlier feeding of the 5,000? Miracle upon miracle, healing upon healing, and yet they ask: “How can we get bread in the desert?” Does Jesus answer their question? No. Instead, He asks the disciples another. “How many loaves have you?”

This, brothers and sisters, is a moment of grace and the loaves are its image. Grace is present because Jesus is present. It flows outward from Him to all who are open to receive it. But grace can never be a private possession. It must be passed on, flow from one to another.

Yes, how many loaves do you disciples have? How much faith do you have? Do you have enough? Are you instruments of grace?

“Seven,” is their one-word reply. Does it point to the Spirit’s seven gifts they will receive at Pentecost when the full meaning of their discipleship is revealed? Perhaps so.

Jesus takes the loaves, but He takes nothing without thanking the Father. He gives thanks for the disciples’ bread, bread meant for them and for Him, but now destined for thousands. He breaks the bread, as He will break Himself in the Eucharist, and hands the bread to His disciples. They, in turn, distribute the bread; doing the miraculous, as the Bread received from the Church carries His miraculous Presence into the world.

Here we see the Church in the process of becoming, for the Bread it is given, the Eucharist – it, too, is blessed, broken, and multiplied. Jesus, through the work of the Holy Spirit, offers Himself, but His disciples carry Him into the world.

Jesus also blesses a few small fish so the people can eat an ordinary meal, the same kind of meal the disciples would eat with the Lord. This meal, this everyday experience, becomes for the people an extraordinary, miraculous experience. Were those few small fish a sign, a reminder that Simon Peter and the others must soon abandon their boats, their nets, their lives and become fishers of men?

Did the disciples learn this day that when they give all that they have – even if it’s only seven loaves and a few fish – God will multiply it a thousand fold?

And what about you and me?

Can we abandon everything in our lives that is keeping us from true discipleship?

Can we, too, hand the loaves and fish of our lives to the Lord and let Him bless, break and multiply them – so we can carry Him into the world?

Will you let God work His miracles in the everyday ordinariness of your life, so you can be an instrument of His grace?

We are all called, dear friends.