Homily: Saturday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Mic 2:1-5; Ps 10; Mt 12:14-21

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Today we celebrate the optional memorial of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Mt. Carmel, a mountain in Galilee, not far from the Mediterranean coast, is famous in the Old Testament as the site where the prophet Elijah displayed the power of God through an overwhelming victory over the prophets and priests of the false god, Baal. Mt. Carmel is also where the Carmelite order was founded back in the 13th century. Our parish is blessed with a number of Third Order Carmelites and I'm sure many of you, like me, wear the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Given the state of our nation and our world, we certainly need Our Lady's intercession. 

Thinking about this I was struck by today’s responsorial from Psalm 10. It seemed to me so very appropriate.

“Do not forget the poor, O Lord.”

Inflation, interest rates, shortages, crime, division – it affects us all, but it’s always more troubling for working families, especially the working poor. 

Depleted savings; wages that fail to keep up with price increases; children robbed of their innocence, and taught to fear; rents and mortgages and taxes climb, but must be paid; growing children must be fed and clothed; cars must be fueled to drive to work and school. 

Yes, a troubled economy inevitably taxes family budgets and, in truth, can redefine poverty levels. And so, we pray:

“Do not forget the poor, O Lord.”

But is this prayer really aimed at our loving God? For our faith tells us that God forgets no one, especially those in need. 

And yet, the psalmist begins asking God why He hides in times of darkness, why He allows the wicked to afflict the innocent and the poor. But then he describes these wicked ones who “glory in their greed” and completely ignore God.

Of course, this is nothing new. We see it today as well. Although we hear a lot of folks talk about God and their faith, we soon realize it’s all deceit, for they live as if God doesn’t exist. You see, nothing much has changed in 3,000 years.

The psalmist reminds us that God “beholds misery and sorrow” and takes them into His hands. But God’s hands are really a metaphor for those He has called and sent to do His work in the world. This psalm might be less a call to God, than it is a reminder that it’s God Who does the calling, for God does that worldly work of His though others, through you and me.

We hear something similar in our first reading from the prophet Micah. We don’t know much about Micah, an obscure man from an obscure village in Judah. But he was a man who could recognize evil in all its disguises. He let no one escape God’s Word: the wealthy who enslave the poor for their debts; merchants who cheat everyone; corrupt judges who take bribes; even priests and prophets who prey on the faithful.

Perhaps the first words of our reading are the most telling:

“Woe to those who plan iniquity and work out evil on their couches” [Mic 2:1].

Yes, indeed, the true wheelers and dealers, even as they lay in their beds, plan ways to oppress, to help themselves at the expense of others.

What, then, are we to do?

As individuals, you and I can have little impact on the world’s, or the nation’s, economic and social realities. Oh, we can vote intelligently and try to effect change through human means…and that’s certainly good. And we should avoid serving or supporting those who, in their self-focused world, have turned from God’s way. In the same way, we can financially and actively support those who do God’s work in the world.

But I think sometimes we forget about God’s power, about the power of our faith; and that’s what the psalmist was trying to explain to us.

“Do not forget the poor, O Lord.”

We must remember that the world’s powers and principalities don’t control the future. How did Jesus put it to Nicodemus?

“The wind blows where it wills” [Jn 3:8]

Yes, the Holy Spirit cannot be contained, for He does God's work wherever and whenever God chooses. Some foolishly think they know what God can or cannot do. They forget how powerful God is, even as He chooses and uses so many imperfect men and women to do His work. Never forget, the God that created and rules all things told us:

“Behold, I make all things new” [Rev 21:5].

God likes to keep things simple; we’re the ones who complicate it, and then think we can fix the world by ourselves.

In a very real sense, though, we can conquer the world simply through our faith in Jesus Christ. St. John, in his first letter, said it well:

“Who, indeed, is the victor over the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” [1 Jn 5:5]

Brothers and sisters, this victory happens when we act as Jesus acts – when we suffer redemptively, forgive mercifully, and love unconditionally. If we do this, and call others to join us – in other words, if we evangelize – God will let His miraculous power flow into our world and bring the healing, the peace He promises.

Oh, yes, and today, let’s turn also to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, asking her to pray and intercede for us, who in our imperfections struggle to do God's work and fulfill His will in the world.

 

What's Happened?

For Dear Diane and me April and May have been strange months. 

The first thing that happened was a car accident. I was sitting at a red light when pickup truck smashed into the back of my wonderful Kia Sorento. As it turned out, the other driver was uninsured and because of the extent of damage and the age of my car (2011), the insurance company had to total the Sorento...so sad. I really liked that car and took excellent care of it, hoping I could drive it for a few more years. Anyway, we had to get another car, so on Tuesday we went to a local Subaru dealer and leased a new Outback. It cost me far too much, both the up-front and monthly payments, but we took the plunge. The car is very nice, really too nice and too luxurious for us, and with far too many bells and whistles that will no doubt take me weeks to figure out. We had thought about getting either a Forrester or an Outback, but this was the only car of either model in their current inventory. Supply chain problems have also affected the automobile industry.

Then, last weekend, right after we left home for a weekend trip to Pensacola (Diane's hometown), we got a call from a neighbor telling us a large branch (actually, a very large branch) had broken off the huge live oak tree in our backyard and fallen on top of our roof. I don't believe there's any severe damage, but I won't know for sure until someone gets up there and checks it out. (I'm too old and too smart to do it myself.) Right now, I'm trying to get someone to look at everything and give me an estimate on branch and possibly tree removal. It's all very tiresome and I expect it will be expensive. 

Oh, yeah, I also broke a tooth and have to find a dentist that takes our insurance. As I said, strange times.

But then I realize how well we have it compared to so many others and all these personal worries and concerns just fade into the background. It's probably a lot easier for a retired couple like us to cope with all the problems the world has tossed our way. Today's younger generations must not only deal with a challenging economic situation, but also navigate society's moral decay and its effects on families. 

When we look at our economy, we find increasingly high inflation exacerbated by growing shortages of needed products including basic food items, baby formula, diesel fuel, equipment parts, almost everything. The supply chain problems likely resulted from the draconian COVID shutdowns of our economy, combined with the so-called Green New Deal and incentives that have kept people out of work. These policies -- along with continued massive spending by the Biden administration, the total lack of an energy policy that reflects reality, and a Fed that for too long has provided cheap money -- resulted in the gift of high inflation and a depressed stock market.

Society's moral decay is a whole other matter that must be fought through courageous action and prayer. I'm nearing the end of my life -- not real soon, I hope -- but young families today must be very worried about the future. My only advice is to hold tight and vote for those who are willing to fight legislatively for the soul of our nation. Vote, too, for those who actually understand the roots of inflation and its solution: tax cuts, less intrusive regulations, true energy independence, and most important, decreased government spending. We have survived similar periods -- just ask Jimmy Carter -- and we will survive this too, provided American voters don't go stupid on us and the current Congress practices a little restraint during the final months of 2022.

Pray for our nation.

Vatican Bank President on Higher Taxes

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the president of the Vatican Bank, has been saying interesting things lately. In his latest comments, he offers his thoughts on the tendency of governments to address their indebtedness problems by simply raising taxes:

"During a prolonged crisis, inheritance taxes, new forms of taxation or similar alternatives reduce or wipe out resources for investments, discouraging the trust of investors, penalizing the cost of the public debt and the possibilities of its renewal at its expiration. In this context, imposing taxes on property and on income is equivalent to a suicidal anti-subsidiarity of the state to the citizen...High taxes penalize saving, generate distrust in the ability to stimulate recovery, hit families and prevent the formation of new ones, as well as creating uncertainty and precariousness in employment...In short, they lay the foundations for another phase of unsustainable development."

I really like this guy...

Here's a link to his complete comments: L'Osservatore Romano


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Location:The Villages, Florida, USA

Economics 101 - Soup Kitchen Version

I'm no economist, although I did shuffle my way through a few graduate courses in economics way back when. Indeed, my only vivid memory of any of those economics classes was the day my macroeconomics professor stated that the government should encourage high trade deficits. In his words, "Those other countries give us all those cool Toyotas, and Sony TVs, and BMWs, and Italian suits, and we give them worthless paper (i.e., dollars) in return. Sounds like a good deal to me." I'm still trying to figure out whether he was right or not; although, right or worng, I suppose he's very pleased these days.

Anyway, as you might guess, when I want to get a sense for how the economy's doing, you won't see me pulling out the demand curves or Laffer curves or statistics on personal income and outlays or any other kind of curves or traditional economic indicators. No, I have far more personal and, I believe, reliable data upon which to draw my conclusions. I use two metrics. First, I just count the number of meals we're currently serving at the soup kitchen and compare the total to the totals of previous months and years. And then I compare how tired I am and how many muscles ache at the end of a six-hour soup kitchen shift compared to the previous week.

Now I realize that my indicators don't sound very scientific, compared to those used by economists, but we all know that the intelligence of most economists is highly overrated. Since they never agree with each other, I don't see how all of them can be smart. And so I figure any conclusions I come up with are likely just as valid as theirs.

Now to the nitty-gritty. What's been happening at the Wildwood Soup Kitchen? Exactly the opposite of what I'd like to see. The demand for meals has been increasing, and at a steep rate. It wasn't long ago when 200 meals was a very busy day. Now we're regularly preparing 250 or more meals daily. Last Thursday we served and delivered 254 meals (a record for our Thursday team), and today the total was 250. On some other days this week the totals exceeded 260. These are very large numbers for us. But that's not all. Reinforcing what these numbers seem to represent, is the pain I am currently experiencing. My back and legs muscles, the associated tendons and bones, even my skin, are all aching at unprecedented levels. My day at the soup kitchen, you see, interrupts the calm of my sedentary life and forces me to use body parts that are normally protected from such abuse. Usually the two aspirins I take each Thursday at 1 p.m. do the trick. But not today, and not last week.

And so, after bending my extraordinarily non-scientific mind to focus on these numbers and my aching, aged muscles, I have concluded that the economy is going down the toilet. I really don't think any of those hundreds of billions in stimulus dollars have made their way to Wildwood, Florida; and I suspect they never will. The poor in our area, particularly the working poor, seem to be losing ground and I fear the numbers and my pains will only increase.

Of course, the Wildwood Soup Kitchen doesn't rely on government at any level for anything. We can continue to feed the hungry only because of the generosity of individuals, churches, local businesses, community groups, and service organizations who provide us with the money and the food to do God's work in our community. How fortunate we are to have such generous donors, along with a corps of approximately 150 self-sacrificing volunteers, an ecumenical group from nearly 30 local churches. Last year we served over 62,000 meals and this year we will surely exceed that figure.

As President of our Board of Directors my primary task is to raise money; and so if you happen to experience a sudden urge to donate, you can go directly to our website and donate via PayPal, or you can send a check to our P.O. Box address listed on the website. Every penny counts. And because we have NO paid staff, you can be sure that every one of those pennies will go directly to the work of our ministry.

http://www.wildwoodsoupkitchen.com

Blessings...