Science, Technology, and God

We hear a lot today about science, largely because of the pandemic and the calls from every quarter to “follow the science.” I could be wrong but I suspect the word science has been used by the media more during the past year than in the previous five years combined. There are people who actually check such things because other people apparently pay them to do so. I suppose they could discover if I’m right about the frequent use of the word science but I probably couldn’t afford to pay them. So I’ll just take a very unscientific approach, assume I’m correct, and move on. 

This, by the way, is not unlike the approach taken by many today who claim to speak for the scientific community. “Listen to the experts,” they demand, “they’re a lot smarter than the rest of us.” But if we’ve discovered one thing this year, it’s that the scientific community is not of one mind when it comes to science. Despite the president’s claim that no respected medical professionals disagree with his pandemic team’s draconian approach, so far over 32,000 medical doctors and other health scientists from around the world have signed a petition (the Great Barrington Declaration) against lockdowns put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, saying the measures cause irreparable damage. The declaration is co-authored by Dr. Martin Killdorff, a Harvard professor and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring infectious disease; Dr. Sunetra Gupta, an Oxford University professor and epidemiologist with expertise in immunology; and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University Medical School professor and epidemiologist with expertise in infectious disease and vulnerable populations. I suppose the president doesn’t consider these folks respected medical professionals. Listen to the experts? Which ones?

As I mentioned in a previous post, regardless of the subject, the “science” is rarely, if ever, settled. Our understanding of the created universe changes constantly, and like the universe itself, our knowledge is always expanding. As for our knowledge of the coronavirus, it too has undergone much change. We know far more about this virus than we did a year ago, but there’s still much to learn. The problem, however, is that too many of our government officials, and even some of the experts themselves, seem unable or unwilling to apply this knowledge. Politicians just love to politicize everything, including science, because it provides a path to more power. Perhaps the most obvious example is the corrupt governor of New York who turned COVID-19 into a political and personal weapon that cost the lives of tens of thousands of elderly New Yorkers. But even scientists are susceptible because of one big, big reason: the money. Everyone tells us to “follow the science,” but in truth we would be better served to “follow the money.” For the new, improved Democrat Party, it’s all about power, and all that power is fueled by money.

Just consider what scientists — i.e. the “experts” — told us early last year and how their guidance has changed over time. “Don’t expect a vaccine for years,” we were told. Indeed, one expert actually claimed it wasn’t scientifically possible to develop and manufacture an effective vaccine in less than five years. But then President Trump kicked off Operation Warp Speed and within a year we had a selection of effective vaccines. Today tens of millions of Americans have been vaccinated and the numbers are growing by millions each day. This really bothers those who crave power and so they warn us against overconfidence, that things will likely get worse. 

Another example. Just a few weeks ago the ubiquitous but politically malleable Dr. Anthony Fauci told the nation that just because you’ve been vaccinated doesn’t mean you should relax your COVID protocols. Who knows? You might still spread the disease among your grandchildren. But then, on March 30, the director of the Center for Disease Control, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, stated publicly that "Our data from the CDC today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus or get sick.” She then added, “It's not just in the clinical trials, but it's also in real-world data." If this is true for someone like me who has been vaccinated — if I do not carry the virus and if I cannot get sick from the virus — then why do I still wear a mask? Is it just to make others feel better? Or maybe it’s to demonstrate the power of a government that’s been able to convince a majority of the population to do whatever they’re told. Perhaps it’s time for the people to reject politicized “science” and simply apply their common sense. 

On the same day the CDC director made her announcement, President Biden chastised governors who had relaxed their states’ mask and other protocols, even though these same states are experiencing significant decreases in COVID hospitalizations and deaths. Many have also demonstrated better “real world” results than states that have implemented the most stringent lock-downs. Yes, indeed, just “follow the science” once you’ve figured out exactly which science you’re supposed to follow.

But if want to see science run amok, turn to the People’s Republic of China, the official name of the country totally controlled by the Communist Party of China (CPC). Communist China is a country that takes its science seriously or, to be more accurate, it takes the science of other countries seriously through CPC-sponsored thievery. It steals everything and anything from anybody and everybody. And like all those on the political left, the CPC lies a lot. It has to because it celebrates policies of failure, policies it cannot defend with the truth...so it must lie.

Of one thing we can be certain, the CPC has no use for God. The CPC has expelled God not only from science but also from the very life of the Chinese people. They have removed Him from the law leaving behind the sham of a legal system with no moral foundation. Rejecting the limits of God’s natural and revealed law, their science and technology have become limitless, blind, and destructive. Today our technology leaders take much the same approach believing that because humanity has the capability to do something, it should do it. 

As for Communist China, the recent “investigation” into the origins of COVID-19, conducted by the Would Health Organization under the “guidance” of the CPC, demonstrated what we already suspected. The Chinese demanded and received veto power over the membership of the investigative team. They refused to share data from their Wuhan laboratory (the data that hadn’t already been destroyed) and controlled the team’s access. Their own researchers (the ones they hadn’t imprisoned for attempted whistle-blowing) were not allowed to speak with members of the team. There’s more, much more, but this is enough to prove to anyone but the most gullible that the virus not only originated in China but quite likely came from their Wuhan lab. Their guilt is as evident as their continued deception and lies. In the same way the CPC can justify its horrendous, genocidal treatment of the Uyghur people and other ethnic and religious minorities, and not fear reprisals from a world that has also forgotten God. 

We, too, are susceptible to these same societal sins when we accept the prevailing thinking that God is irrelevant to public life and try to construct a human community that excludes Him. Such attempts will fail because whenever a culture eliminates the “cult,” when it turns away from God, it self-destructs. And today, given the pace of change, such destruction will likely come quite quickly. 

You and I must continue to do our part but our battle is really against Satan, the father of lies. I accept that my small efforts will always be insufficient and have come to believe that the problem of the world’s agony must be left to our Creator. When we turn to the Old Testament we encounter many examples of a people who turned to their God in prayer and repentance when faced with threats to their very existence. Here’s a perfect example from the Book of Judith, at a time when the Israelites were threatened by a powerful army intent on destroying them:

“All the men of Israel cried to God with great fervor and humbled themselves...All the Israelite men, women, and children who lived in Jerusalem fell prostrate in front of the Temple and sprinkled ashes on their heads, spreading out their sackcloth before the Lord. The altar, too, they draped in sackcloth; and with one accord they cried out fervently to the God of Israel...The Lord heard their cry and saw their distress. The people continued fasting for many days throughout Judea and before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem” [Judith 4:9-13].

Perhaps today we, too, should devote ourselves to prayer and fasting, pleading with the Lord to save us from those who would lead the world away from Jesus Christ and His Church, and to save us also from ourselves. For faith is really the only alternative to the sinfulness of our age.

Homily: Monday, 2nd week in Ordinary Time

I have embedded a video of this homily below. Preached on Monday, January 20, 2020, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Wildwood, Florida, the homily's complete text (more or less) follows the video.

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Readings: 1 Sam 15:16-23; Ps 50; Mk 2:18-22

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In today’s Gospel passage Jesus used fasting as a way to remind us to order our relationships. He instructed the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist that the time for fasting is in both the past and the future. Those questioning Jesus seemed to see fasting as an end in itself, rather than a means to develop a hunger for God’s Word and His Presence.

Moses understood this. In Deuteronomy he instructed the people:

“He humbled you and made you hungry; then He fed you on manna that neither you nor your fathers had known before, to teach you that man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” [Dt 8:3].

The words of Jesus and Moses and echoed as well by Samuel in our first reading when he instructs Saul that obedience to God’s will is more important than any ritual:

“Truly, obedience is better than sacrifice… presumption a crime of idolatry.” [1 Sam 15:22,23]

For so many today obedience is far from easy, for it demands humility, doesn’t it? It asks us to accept that God, and not you and I, knows what’s best for us. How often, like Saul, do we presume to know God’s will, when in truth we are merely substituting our own desires, our own will? Perhaps this is the worst form of idolatry: instead of striving to be like God – How did Jesus put it? “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” [Mt 5:48] – we instead try to create a god in our own image.

Remember God’s words from our responsorial psalm?

“When you do these things should I be silent? Do you think that I am like you?” [Ps 50:21]

It’s as if we are determined to misunderstand God. Just as Jesus’ disciples often misunderstood Him, it seems John’s disciples also failed to understand all that John taught them through word and deed. It would seem they really hadn’t comprehended that John fasted to persevere before the Messiah’s coming, to watch for His Presence. This, indeed, is the Presence Jesus speaks of.

Because He is present, it’s a time to celebrate His Coming, a time of joy. For the disciples, fasting will come with the Passion; for us it’s the fasting of Lent and Good Friday. But do you and I fast simply because the Church tells us to fast? Or, like Jesus in the desert, do we fast to ready ourselves, to ask for the strength we will need to answer Jesus’ call to discipleship?

Of course, our Lenten fast is followed again by the joy of Easter. Indeed, to emphasize this, the Eastern Church encourages the faithful not to fast and kneel throughout the Easter season. The time of repentance has passed.

Jesus goes on to remind the disciples that His Presence is something supremely new. He uses brief parables to make His point. He describes the joy of wedding guests in the presence of the bridegroom; then continues with examples from the people’s domestic lives: 

A patch of new, strong cloth will tear an old piece of clothing if it undergoes any stress.

And new wine, still fermenting, will expand and break an old wineskin. 

Jesus uses these common examples, asking those who hear Him to apply them as well to their spiritual lives.

To accept Jesus’ Presence, then, demands a new receptivity, a new way of thinking, the kind we hear proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount. God’s love for us is like new wine that always demands new wineskins. In other words, we must continue to renew our relationship with Him, always ready to receive God’s call to enter more deeply into the new life that God wills for us.

Our prayer life, too, must be a continual process of renewal – renewing our relationship with Jesus, recognizing all that our loving God wants for us. 

We live in a time of expectation, brothers and sisters, a time of renewal, a time to strive for holiness, a time to turn from all that prevents us from deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Homily: Saturday, 13th Week in Ordinary Time

I have embedded a video of this homily below. The complete text follows the video.

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Readings: Gen 27:1-5, 15-29; Ps 135; Mt 9:14-17

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Years ago back in the 60s, I took a course on the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Our professor was a Jesuit who had spent years in a Chinese Communist prison.

In one class, as we discussed Isaac and Rebekah, this wonderful priest said, "Poor Rebekah. She was so very unbalanced." It took some time - maybe 10 or 20 years - for me to understand exactly what he meant.

You see, it was Rebekah's sense of love, her human love, that caused her life to lack balance, to be, in a sense, disordered. Rebekah loved her son, Jacob, more than anyone or anything else, even more than she loved her husband, Isaac. She had taken her motherhood and lifted it far above her marriage. And because of this unbalanced, disordered view, she led her son, Jacob, into a confusing web of deceits and outright lies.

That Esau seemed to care little for his birthright really doesn't mitigate the sin. And the result was not good for Jacob. Yes, he received his father's blessing, but his lies brought him much grief in the years that followed. As he later became a victim of the same sins committed by others, he learned of and lived with the often tragic consequences of deceit.

Sin is nothing less than disorder, a lack of balance and order in our souls. And so it always has consequences. Sin also points to disorder in our relationships. I suppose the key question for all of us is: How have we ordered our relationships?

Do we always place our relationship with God first and foremost? That doesn't mean that we ignore others. Not at all. It simply means that God must always come first. And when we do that, when we place God first, it inevitably leads to an improvement in our relationships with others.

I've often told married couples that the primary task of each is to help the other get to heaven. And when couples take that attitude, their marriage and their relationships improve. Rebekah failed to understand that it is through her marriage, this sacred bond with Isaac, that God's will is manifested in their lives. And Jacob, by going along with his mother's plan of deceit, damaged three of the key relationships in his life: that with his father, his mother, and his brother.

I sometimes think we forget that God is omniscient, that He knows everything. He can take our sinfulness and the chaos it brings into our lives, and turn it to good. Yes, God can certainly write straight with the crooked lines we give him.

And so Jacob, who stole his brother's birthright, can become a patriarch, one of the foundation stones of our faith and that of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Indeed, as Jesus once reminded the Sadducees, our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [Mt 22:32].

Of course, God's ability, His willingness, to bring good into our lives, despite our sinfulness, doesn't mean we go around sinning, all the while exclaiming, "Well, God will take care of it." He might well take care of it, but in the meantime there will be serious consequences.

In our Gospel passage today Jesus uses fasting as a way to remind us to order our relationships. He tells the disciples of John the Baptist that the time for fasting is both in the past and future.

John's disciples seemed to see fasting as an end in itself, rather than a means to develop a hunger for God's Word and His Presence. Moses understood this. In Deuteronomy he instructs the people:

"He humbled you and made you hungry; then He fed you on manna that neither you nor your fathers had known before, to teach you that man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" [Dt 8:3].

This is why John the Baptist fasted: to persevere before the Messiah's coming, to watch for His Presence. It is this Presence that Jesus speaks of. Because He is present, it's a time to celebrate His Coming, a time of joy, not a time of fasting. That will come with the Passion, and the fasting of Lent and Good Friday, followed again by the joy of Easter. Indeed, to emphasize this the Eastern Church forbids fasting and kneeling throughout the Easter season. The time of repentance has passed.

Jesus goes on to remind the disciples that His Presence is something supremely new. He tells of the joy of wedding guests in the presence of the bridegroom, the patching of old garments, of new wine poured into wineskins. His Presence demands a new receptivity, a new way of thinking, the kind we hear proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount.

We live in a time of expectation, a time of renewal, a time to strive for holiness, a time to turn from all that prevents us from deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Homily: Ash Wednesday

Readings: Joel 2:12-18; Ps 51; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Mt 6:1-6,16-18
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Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, the 19th Century Jesuit poet, frequently corresponded with the poet laureate of England, his friend Robert Bridges. In one of these letters, Bridges, an agnostic, asked Hopkins how he could learn to believe, expecting, I suppose, some deep theological answer.

Hopkins replied in a letter with only two words: "Give alms."

What a wonderful answer! Even though it was probably lost on Mr. Bridges. You see, in his own search for truth, a search that ultimately led him to the Catholic Church, Hopkins had learned something most people never grasp. He hoped to show his friend that the love of God is experienced most fully in our love for others.

Only in loving others that we recognize and experience the source and being of all love.

Only in loving others can we see in every other person the divine image.

Only in loving others can we come face to face with Jesus. 

How did Jesus put it? 

"...whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me" [Mt 25:40].

But Jesus didn't stop there, did He? For in today's passage from Matthew, He tells us not only to give alms, but to take it a step farther, to do what doesn't come naturally: He tells us to give alms in secret.

Imagine that? Being charitable but telling no one. Taking no credit for the good we do? No bows, no bouquets, no recognition, no thanks. Why, it's almost inhuman. Well...actually...it is inhuman, because it's what the Father wants, and He will repay us.

As we begin this Lenten season of repentance, this season when we look forward to the joy of Easter, let's remember that in giving up we're also called to give. But real almsgiving is a giving of ourselves, a giving of time, a giving of talent, a giving of our presence to others in need...

...to those who are ill and suffering

...to those who hunger and thirst, not only for food and drink but for the Word of God

...to those who are dying and afraid, who need the touch and reassurance of another

The opportunities are all around us, brothers and sisters. The question is: will we respond? Will we be the ambassadors for Christ that Paul says we are?

But Jesus talks about more than almsgiving, doesn't He?

He also calls us to prayer. And here too he tells us to act in secret, to withdraw from others, to pray to the Father in the intimacy that comes from contemplative prayer.

Public prayer, the faithful coming together, as we assemble here today, is a necessary and holy act. But as Christians we're also called into an intimate, personal relationship with God. Now that certainly takes place through the Communion we experience through the Eucharist. Indeed, can anything be more personal, more intimate?

But this relationship must also be continually reinforced through prayer, through the private prayer commanded by Our Lord. This is the kind of prayer that leads to the interior transformation for which we strive during Lent.

And that's not all. Jesus continues by telling us to fast; and here, too, He urges discretion, to fast without ostentation, to avoid praise.

Once again we're in conflict, because the world admires only the spectacular, even when it comes to sacrifice. It places little value on hidden and silent sacrifice.

The Church, then, following Jesus' command, fasts during Lent.

As a worldwide community of faith, then, we give alms, we pray, and we fast.

We recognize and turn away from our sinfulness.

We reject self-absorption and greed, hate and despair, and once again heed the first call of our baptism.

Pope Benedict, on the day he announced his resignation, wrote few words on his Twitter account:

"We must trust in the mighty power of God's mercy," he said. "We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new."

Yes, we are all sinners, and only God's grace can transform us. Only through God's grace can we do as the Prophet Joel proclaims: "Rend your hearts..." [Jl 2:13] allowing God to tear open the secret places of our hearts so He can enter and be present to us. 

"Rend your heart..."

To rend our hearts: to see ourselves as God sees us, to let Him shows us our innermost being. And that can be a scary thing, to come face to face with the real me, to come to an understanding of who I really am. For whom do I live?  Do I live just for me, or do I live for the God who brought me into being? 

To rend our hearts: to open ourselves up to others because God's infinite love demands it.

To rend our hearts: to perform the great works of Lent - almsgiving, prayer and fasting.

Yes, we are all sinners, but we are still called to mirror God's love and forgiveness in our own lives. 

Lent is an opportunity to share in and alleviate the sufferings of others. But Lent is also an opportunity to be forgiven for our refusal to forgive; to be cured of our secret pride and hatreds.

"Repent, and believe in the Gospel" [Mk 1:15].

Moments from now, as your forehead is marked with the sacramental sign of ashes, you will hear those words of Jesus. 

Yes, indeed, we are called to repent and to believe the Good News, the promise of redemption, the gift of eternal life. 

We need only open our hearts to God's healing presence.

A Day for Prayer and Fasting

Today, election day, is a perfect day for prayer and fasting, a day when we should step away from the busyness of our lives and turn to God in praise and thanksgiving. 

No one can predict the results of our national election, but whatever the outcome we, as a nation, will face challenges unlike any we have encountered in our lifetime. We cannot address these challenges alone. We will need God's help; or, perhaps more accurately, God wants -- He certainly doesn't need -- our help. He wants us to turn to him in humility and to seek His will for us as a nation and as individuals. He wants us to abandon ourselves completely to Him. But, sadly, too many of our fellow citizens have evicted God from their lives, rejected any thought of humility before their Creator, and actually believe that man can solve all the world's problems without divine help. 

Take some time today to pray together as a family. Spend a few moments in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. He's there in the Tabernacles of every Catholic Church, waiting for you in silence. And fast! Let God be your food today. Let Him fill you with His goodness.

Early this morning as I prayed the Morning Prayer of the Church's Liturgy of the Hours, I was struck by the appropriateness of the selection of the prayer of Azariah from Daniel 3, the prayer he offered from within the fiery furnace. The Church selected the following verses to include in its Morning Prayer:

O Lord, do not withdraw your favor from us.

Blessed are you, Lord God of our fathers: your name is glorious for ever for you are just in all you have done to us.

For we have sinned and done wrong, we have deserted you and done all things wrong.

Do not give us up for ever, for your name’s sake we beg you, do not dissolve your covenant.

Take not your loving kindness from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved; and Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one.

You told them you would multiply their seed like the stars of the sky like the sand on the shores of the sea.

But we, Lord, are made the least of all nations.Today we are brought low over all the earth on account of our sins.

Today there is no prince, no prophet, no leader, no holocaust, no sacrifice. No offering, no incense, no first-fruits offered to you – no way to obtain your mercy.

But in our contrite souls, in a spirit of humility, accept us, Lord. Like a holocaust of rams and bulls, like fat sheep in their thousands, let our sacrifice be like these before you today.

Bring to fruition the quest of those who follow you, for those who trust in you can never be confounded.

And now we follow you with all our heart and we revere you and seek your face.

Yes, indeed, "Today we are brought low over all the earth on account of our sins." We stand in a fiery furnace of our own making; and so, let us too call out to God "in the spirit of humility" and follow Him wherever He leads us.

Pray for our nation.

God's peace...

Syria, Prayer and Fasting

On Saturday Pope Francis joined 100,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square for a four-hour prayer vigil. The vigil was in response to the pope's call for a day of prayer and fasting for peace. The focus of this call for peace is, of course, on the civil war in Syria and the planned strike now being debated here in the U.S. Throughout the world the Church's bishops joined Pope Francis in proclaiming the fast and holding similar prayer vigils. The response, however, extended well beyond the Church. Even in St. Peter's Square the crowd was swelled by many non-Christians who expressed solidarity with the pope. One man, a Hindu, said, "This is already a success, the fact that all of us here, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, atheists made an effort to fast, not to do many things, and come here from all over Italy and Europe. This is already a success." Muslims, too, were present. Indeed, several hundred members of Italy's Arab community joined in the prayers. And in Damascus, in the very heart of Syria, the grand mufti wrote a letter thanking Pope Fancis for all he had done and invited Muslims to fast as well. In his remarks to the crowd the pope said,

"This evening I ask the Lord that we Christians, and our brothers and sisters of other religions and every man and woman of good will, cry out forcefully: Viloence and war are never the way to peace." 

Earlier in the week the pope issued a plea for peace in the plain and clear language to which we have become accustomed:

"There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming. I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! I think of many children who will not see the light of the future! With utmost firmness I condemn the use of chemical weapons: I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable."

The pope offers the world a strong moral argument favoring restraint. But there are also geopolitical arguments that should be raised. At this point we must ask ourselves whether a strike on Syria will achieve anything positive. Will it lessen the fighting? Will it stop the civil war? Will it stop the use of chemical weapons by either the Assad regime or the rebels or both? Will it bring about a significant shift in the balance of power in the country and the region? If an air strike leads to the eventual end of the Assad regime, what will replace it? Who exactly are the rebels and what are their motivations and goals? Are any of the armed rebels truly moderates? If we attack Syria, what might be the short- and long-term ramifications on our key ally in the region, Israel? How will Assad's ally, Iran, react? And then there's the wild card, Russia, a nation ruled today by a former KGB apparatchik. Can anyone predict the full range of unintended consequences of an American attack on Syria?

The fact that the answers to these questions do not come easily only reinforces Pope Francis's argument for restraint. That few if any of these questions have been answered publicly by the Obama administration is additional cause for concern. Indeed, one gets the idea that strategic issues are decidedly secondary, that the president's primary motivation is to save face, to salvage his personal credibility regardless of the consequences.

The above comments were written last Sunday morning before the real weirdness set in, before Secretary of State Kerry's gaff, before Putin's diplomatic coup, before the president's odd speech to the nation, before Putin's New York Times op-ed...before this strange concatenation of events. It all leads me to believe that prayer and fasting have had a positive result. Keep it up. And while you're praying, take a moment to read this story about Fatima and world peace.