Homily: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 121:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8

_________________

The other day Walmart was packed. I tend to avoid those self-checkout lines, so I picked a check-out aisle with a relatively short line and waited patiently. I soon realized my mistake. I was behind a pregnant mom with two little ones, maybe 4 and 6 years old. Standing next to mom, holding onto the cart, the two children weren’t as patient as the deacon. The older one, a boy, began to poke his sister. She started screaming, looking to her mother for justice. The line behind us grew, people were getting antsy.

It was then that brother and sister simultaneously realized two things: First, the nearby shelves in the check-out aisle held candy and small toys; and second, they had their mom in a highly vulnerable position. They went on the attack. The boy grabbed a toy and began to beg just as his sister, cleverly grabbed a bag of M&Ms off the opposite shelf.

I was impressed. It was as if they had worked it all out in advance. This battle of wills went on for maybe a half-minute, and like any parent I pulled for Mom. She was tough. She got the toy back on the shelf but then noticed her daughter had opened the M&Ms and was eating them. Instantly, all was lost. Mom had to buy the candy, and to keep the peace, retrieved the toy and tossed it on the counter as she pulled out her credit card. The kids looked pleased. Mom simply looked relieved.

Now you might find this hard to believe, but as I watched the three of them head for the exit, I found myself thinking about today’s Gospel reading. Do you see what Bible Study does? It leads us to find echoes of Scripture in our everyday lives.

Like the widow in the parable, the children knew their persistence would eventually pay off. And like the judge, the young mom just wanted some peace and to avoid what could turn into a public embarrassment. 

In Jesus’ parable, the corrupt judge had absolute authority to settle cases before him however he chose. The young mom at Walmart had both parental authority and the credit card. And the widow and the children? They seemed to be virtually powerless, and yet actually possessed real power. But any power we possess exists only to the extent that it is recognized, accepted, and exercised.

Years ago, I used to teach a course on negotiation for corporate clients. One small element addressed something I called “the power of no power.” Centuries of martyrs have shown this to the world’s powerful. They willingly suffered death, driven by an unseen power, a power their enemies couldn’t comprehend.

Today’s Gospel passage is really a lesson on God’s power and how, through His love, He has given us the ability to tap into it. Jesus revealed to His disciples that the Father gives us access to His power through prayer. We are called to be persistent, just like the widow, and not lose heart.

Right before He related this parable, Jesus had described the time of tribulation, trials, persecutions, martyrdom, even a final failure of faith. Hearing this, the disciples were afraid. How could they endure such trials? How could they remain faithful to the end? Don’t be anxious, Jesus told them, don’t lose heart, for the power of the Holy Spirit will be with you. Then God will come and establish His kingdom in justice. He will right all wrongs. He will deliver men and women from sin and death.

20 centuries of Christian martyrs all the way back to St. Stephen, give testimony to the power God grants to those who believe in His love. In the face of a worldly power that ultimately took their lives, a power they rejected, these saints persisted in their faith. They didn’t lose heart.

One common trait shared by all the saints and martyrs is prayer. Through prayer we gain access to God, and to the divine power He desires to share with us. 

Prayer gives us strength; it helps us do things we could otherwise never do. Through prayer God invites us into His world, one very different from ours. How did Jesus put it as He prayed in the presence of His apostles the night before He died?

“I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.” (Jn 17:14)

We are called to live in the world, but not be of the world. Hard stuff when the world surrounds us and calls to us constantly. Prayer, then, takes us from the world and lets us go beyond human hopes, human reasons, human fears, human desires.

Recall Jesus in the garden the night before He died. Wracked by human fears and the vision of the world’s sinfulness, He fell prostrate in prayer to the Father. Jesus turned His eyes to the Power of His shared divinity and found the strength He needed from the Father: “Thy will be done!”

The very next day, Jesus was nailed to the Cross with arms outstretched. Did anyone witnessing the crucifixion see the image of Moses, with his arms also outstretched and “the staff of God in his hand” until the battle was won?

Moses’ prayer formed a channel for God’s power. But even then, Moses couldn’t do it himself, could he? Without Aaron and Hur holding up his arms, those pesky Amalekites would have defeated Joshua and his army, changing the course of human history.

But who helped Jesus on the Cross? What did the witnesses scream at Him?

“If you are the Son of God, come down from that cross.”  (Mt 27:40)

But Jesus would not, not until the battle was won, until He had conquered sin and death, until He had made death merely a thing of this world, a thing of time, but one that led to eternal life.

And we shouldn’t overlook that Moses needed Aaron and Hur, just as we need each other. God calls us to communion, Communion with Him in His Eucharistic Presence, and communion with each other on our journey to eternal life. Yes, we need each other. As I like to tell married couples, your primary task is to help the other get to heaven. 

Although, as Christians, we continue to wage spiritual warfare against the powers of this world, Jesus has already won the decisive battle for us…and the outcome is assured. But prayer gives us more than the strength to fight these daily battles. It gives us the insight necessary to accept God’s will in our lives.

Prayer also connects us to the power of God’s love. Prayer, driven by the Holy Spirit, focuses our attention on the needs of others instead of our own. 

And without prayer, our faith will wither and die. Mother Teresa put it beautifully, “Prayer is the oil that keeps the lamp of faith burning brightly.”

How brightly does our faith burn? Did not Jesus ask:

“But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Will we have lost heart because we’ve trapped ourselves in our world, and lost sight of God’s?

Sometimes we excuse ourselves by saying we haven’t the time to pray. And yet we manage to find the time to eat, to study, to work, to play. We nourish our bodies and our minds. We fill our lives with activity, but we starve our souls and deprive our lives of their fruitfulness.

St. Paul instructs us to “pray without ceasing,” because he knew our lives must be a continual prayer. Like breathing, prayer is a necessity. For only through prayer can we receive the help and strength we need to get safely through this life to our true home in heaven.

One pressing problem is that we just love to tell God what to do. We pray only for what we want, never considering what we need…and then we expect instant results. 

Sisters and brothers, we can tell God nothing He doesn’t already know. He won’t refuse what’s good for us, and grants what we ask in His time, not ours. 

But always remember, it's His will, not ours, that will bring peace and goodness. When we get our prayer right, it’s always a prayer that God’s Will be done, in our lives and in the world. Then all will fall into place. 

It doesn’t matter if we’re joyful, depressed, or angry. It doesn’t matter if we’re confused or aimless, if we’re giving thanks or need forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if we’re ashamed of how we’ve lived and sinned. When we pray, we’re in the presence of a dear friend who understands and forgives, a dear divine friend who shares in our humanity.

God, in His Love, always listens. For love calls for love in return, and prayer is an act of love. So maybe we can keep all of this before us and rouse ourselves to love our merciful God – Father, Son, and Spirit – through prayer. Don’t lose heart, brothers and sisters. Believe in His love. Believe in the power of your prayer.

Oh…and please pray for that mom in Walmart. I think she needs lots of prayers.

 

Homily: Saturday, 21st Week in Ordinary Time (Year 2)

Readings: 1 Cor 1:26-31 • Psalm 33 • Matthew 25:14-30

__________________

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. She is known for her amazing patience, the depth of her prayer life, and her ability to deal with the challenges of a difficult marriage and rebellious children. Her pagan husband treated her poorly, but eventually was moved to become a Christian thanks to God's grace and Monica's kindness and patience. She also prayed for the conversion of her son, Augustine, who lived a dissolute life for many years. But after almost two decades of Monica's prayer and motherly love, God led him to the Church, where he became not only a bishop but one of our greatest theologians. St. Monica is the patron of wives, mothers, abused women, and patience.

And most interestingly for us at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, it was on her memorial eight years ago that our new church was dedicated by Bishop John Noonan...another good reason for us to celebrate today.

___________________

I usually preach on the Gospel, but St. Paul took me captive the other day as I thought about this homily, and he brought back the memory of an old friend.

Years ago, back in my Navy days, I developed a friendship with another pilot. I was in my mid-20s and he was in his early 30s. Mel was a very competent pilot and naval officer, a man who taught me a lot. He was also an agnostic and found it hard to believe I could believe. One evening, after night flying, we stopped by the officers’ club for a beer, and got to talking about Christianity.

“Just look at the universe,” Mel said, “and how unbelievably immense it is. That you actually believe it was created by this God of yours is in itself truly amazing. But you Christians don’t stop there. You also believe this remarkable God decided to become one of us and came down to this tiny planet tucked away in a non-descript corner of the universe. And then he allowed us to kill him in a particularly brutal, savage way on a Cross. Isn’t that what you believe?”

“Well,” I agreed, “that’s certainly part of it. But you left a few things out. It was all done out of love for us, for those He created. It’s a bit like us. Why do we do what we do? Why are we willing to sacrifice our lives in this weird profession of ours? Because we love our country and think it’s worth dying for and we love our countrymen and think they’re worth saving. You see, Mel, we’re a little like God, created in His image and likeness, and at our best we come close to expressing the love He actually is.”

I really thought I had done pretty well, but Mel just shook his head and downed the rest of his beer. With that we headed back to our homes.

I lost touch with Mel years ago, so I don’t know if he ever changed his mind; but he came to my mind as I read today’s first reading. And I’m sure Mel would agree with Paul that the Cross is a sign of foolishness. How did Paul put it?

“For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith” [1 Cor 1:21].

But that’s not all, Paul went on to add:

“…we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” [1 Cor 1:24].

Yes, indeed, the message of the Cross – the Creative Word of God murdered by those He created – is for many a truly foolish message, so foolish it must be believed. But not just believed, dear friends; it must also be lived.

It is the Cross that saves us eternally, for the Cross is the Tree of Life: from Eden to Calvary, from Sin to Redemption. But the Cross also saves us in the here and now. Through the foolishness of the Cross we are given purpose in life. It saves and frees us from our deepest fears, from bitterness and despair, from hatred of others and hatred of self. It brings a forgiveness that saves marriages and families, and it beings healing of body, mind, and spirit.

Believe me, the power of our God – the power of Christ’s passion, death, and Resurrection – the power of His Cross is so far beyond our understanding, that in our humanity we can’t help but underestimate it

Over the years I’ve struggled to minister in hospitals and hospice, and in my weakness have come to appreciate God’s wondrous gifts to those He draws to Himself. I’ve seen anger turn to joy, despair to hope, fear to faith – all driven by God’s enduring love, a love manifested on the Cross, a love nailed to the Cross.

Do you see how real, how very serious, the foolishness of the Cross is? The rulers of the world, those filled with worldly wisdom, always try to tear down and destroy the Cross, but they will always fail.

As Paul went on to reveal, Christ crucified is “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” It is a power and a wisdom that Satan and the world cannot comprehend; for it is a Eucharistic power and a divine wisdom.

As you receive Jesus Christ today, contemplate your crucified Lord and Savior. For through that Communion, you receive His Body sacrificed for you and His Blood poured out for the forgiveness of your sins and the sins of the world. Filled with the grace of God, we will be well-armed to wield the only weapons that matter: truth and love and justice.

Life is a wondrous gift, brothers and sisters, and God wants us to experience the joy of a life well-lived. He wants us to savor the gift of each day just as a young child does. Then, like the good servant in the Gospel, we too might hear those words: 

“Well done, my good and faithful servant…Come share your master’s joy” [Mt 25:21].

 

Future Gulags - Part III

I could go on and on writing about Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago and its remarkable blend of the historical and the prophetic, but you need only open the book yourself, give it a read, and measure his portrayal of the reality of Soviet socialism against the guile and hatred expressed by today's leftists who, like their Soviet mentors, crave power above all else. You don't need me to point this out.

But because I'm on kind of a roll, in this last post on the subject I'll just leave you with a few more of Solzhenitsyn's observations that particularly struck me as I reread the book over 40 years after my first reading. 

The Usefulness of the Mob. Let me begin by starting a truth about the lack of truth: the left must always lie. In fact, the lie is perhaps their primary rhetorical tool. Because their ideas are bankrupt and have led consistently to failure, the left cannot justify or even support them through rational argument or in a debate. And so, they lie. They lie repeatedly and loudly, and they do so in concert; i.e., they all join in to ensure we all hear it. Bombarded with the lie from every direction, the uninformed and unthinking begin to believe it.

Stalin realized the mob could be useful in spreading the lie, because the mob, all screaming the same thing, provided a public legitimacy to useful lies. To this end his minions created mobs to storm the streets and shout the lie.

Solzhenitsyn offers an example related to the famines that struck the Russian people and led to so many deaths. Of course, the famines resulted directly from Stalin's policies, but that truth could not be admitted. He, therefore, found convenient scapegoats, and before the predetermined court verdict mobs were formed:

The workers and employees wrathfully voted for the death penalty for the scoundrels on trial. And by the time of the Promparty trail, there were universal meetings and demonstrations (including even schoolchildren). It was the newspaper march of millions, and the roar rose outside the windows of the courtroom: "Death! Death! Death!" [GA, p. 48]

Yes, the people demand it! And the "newspaper march" indicates how useful it can be for those in power when they also control every media outlet.

Today many of our cities continue to be plagued by the rule of the mob, mobs of Antifa and Black Lives Matter supporters, a mob that strikes fear into the hearts of weak, leftist officials. And so, these mayors and governors dishonestly label the mob's destruction and murder as "peaceful protest" and then cave to their demands. The media, of course, ignores it all because the chaos comes from the left. It wasn't until the January 6 debacle at the Capitol that the media rose to the occasion and sharpened its pens to attack the rightist wackos who accomplished nothing. But the left and the media screamed: "Insurrection!" These "Trumpers" were obviously planning to overthrow the government. Exactly how they could accomplish this has never been explained. 

I guess mobs are handy things, but it really depends on whose mob it is.

Crush Them All. Solzhenitsyn, in a masterful description of Article 58 of the Criminal Code of 1926 [GA, p. 60-67], shows his readers how this all-encompassing code could, in effect, convict anyone of anything or of nothing. For example, the interpretation of Section 10 of Article 58 was particularly broad. It stated:

Propaganda or agitation, containing an appeal for the overthrow, subverting, or weakening of the Soviet power...and equally the dissemination or preparation or possession of literary materials of similar content [GA p. 66].

In describing Section 10's application, we are told:

The scope of "agitation containing an appeal" was enlarged to include face-to-face conversation between friends or even between husband and wife, or a private letter. The word "appeal" could mean personal advice...  "Subverting and weakening" the government could include any idea which did not coincide with or rise to the level of intensity of the ideas expressed in the newspaper on any particular day. After all, anything which does not strengthen must weaken..."preparation of literary materials" covered every letter, note, or private diary...Thus, happily expanded, what thought was there, whether merely in the mind, spoken aloud, or jotted down, which was not covered by Section 10 [GA, p. 66].

Interestingly, Article 58 also treated the murder of a Party activist far more seriously than the murder of an ordinary citizen. Solzhenitsyn explains:

If a husband killed his wife's lover, it was very fortunate for him if the victim turned out not to be a Party member; he would be sentenced under Article 136 as a common criminal, who was a "social ally" and didn't require an armed escort. But if the lover turned out to have been a Party member, the husband became an enemy of the people with a 58-8 sentence [Article 58, Section 8 would likely result in execution instead of receiving a 10-year prison sentence. GA p.65]

Solzhenitsyn sums it well up by quoting the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky:

        And he who sings not with us today

            is against

                        us!

They go on to arrest the innocent, especially those who innocently speak the truth. Indeed, the very concept of guilt or innocence are "out of date concepts" that mean absolutely nothing. It's all related to the "social prophylaxis" mentioned in my previous post (Future Gulags -- Part II). One wasn't arrested for what one had done, but for what one might do. At the end of World War II, those Soviet citizens who had lived under German invading forces were given 10-year sentences, just as captured Soviet soldiers who were POWs were sent to prison for at least 10 years after they were liberated. 

Solzhenitsyn also mentioned Stalin’s apparent willingness to learn from Hitler when it came to Jews. Like his other internal targets, the innocence of Jewish citizens was ignored because of their “social origin” and their religion with its international presence. To be “cosmopolitan” was to be anti-Soviet, and a crime in itself. Solzhenitsyn describes another “wave” of arrests, this time of Jews.

During the last years of Stalin's life, a wave of Jews became noticeable. (Form 1950 on they were hauled in little by little as cosmopolitanites. And that was why the doctors' case was cooked up. It would appear that Stalin intended to arrange a great massacre of the Jews.) 

But this became the first plan of his life to fail. God told him -- apparently with the help of human hands -- to depart from his rib cage [GA, p. 92].

Yes, Stalin died in 1953, probably helped along on his journey by those tired of his capriciously deadly ways. 

Sadly, those who aide and abet the ideological left forget or have never thought about all of this. Once the revolutionary left seizes power, the first ones they come after are usually the liberals, those who helped them get there. These are the most dangerous, the ones who know too much, the ones who must be silenced, must be crushed. I’ve written about this in another post (Madness Rising) describing the dozen years preceding the 1917 Revolution.

It's All About Power and Evil. Solzhenitsyn addresses the first, as the motivator, and the second, and the underlying attitude. 

Power is a poison well known for thousands of years. If only no one were ever to acquire material power over others! But to the human being who has faith in some force that holds dominion over all of us, and who is therefore conscious of his own limitations, power is not necessarily fatal. For those, however, who are unaware of any higher sphere, it is a deadly poison. For them there is no antidote [GA, p. 147].

And speaking specifically of those in the Soviet Security Services, those who had near-ultimate power over others, he writes:

You have a power over all the people in that military unit, or factory, or district, incomparably greater than that of a military commander, or factory director, or secretary of the district Communist Party.  These men control people's military or official duties, wages, reputations, but you control people's freedom [GA, p. 148].

As for the presence of evil and its perception by those captivated by it, Solzhenitsyn rejects the usual depictions of evildoers found in literature, citing Shakespeare, Dickens, and Schiller:

The trouble lies in the way these classic evildoers are pictured. They recognize themselves as evildoers...Iago very precisely identifies his purposes and his motives as being black and born of hate...Macbeth’s self-justifications were feeble — and his conscience devoured him. Yes, even Iago was a little lamb too. The imagination and spiritual strength of Shakespeare’s evildoers stopped short of a dozen corpses. Because they had no ideology. [GA, p. 173]

Rejecting these literary evildoers, Solzhenitsyn then describes the very different kind of evil driven by ideology:

But no; that’s not the way it is. To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good, or else that it’s a well-considered act in conformity with natural law. Fortunately, it is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions. [GA, p.173]

Ideology — that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others’ eyes, so that he won’t hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors...Thanks to ideology, the twentieth century was fated to experience evildoing on a scale calculated in the millions. This cannot be denied, not passed over, nor suppressed. How, then, do we dare insist that evildoers do not exist? And who was it that destroyed those millions? Without evildoers there would have been no Archipelago. [GA, p. 174]

Only the ideologue can take an active part in the slaughter of millions and do so willingly and without remorse because his ideology justifies it. This is the danger of ideology, whether of the left or right. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Xi Jinping, Ho Chi Minh, Castro, Pol Pot, Osama bin Laden, Kim Jung-un, and so many others, including their thousands of followers, are happy to kill entire populations so long as it supports their ideological ends. Ideology permits anything. In the same way the pro-abortion zealots — who perpetrate the lie by calling themselves “pro-choice” — inevitably align politically with leftist ideologues. As I have often stated, someone who supports abortion will support absolutely any evil.

Enough! 

Read Solzhenitsyn as he describes the last century and learn about the century we’re facing today. And as you read, pray for our world and its conversion. Only the hand of God can heal us.

The Bishops’ Choice...a Postscript

Some thoughts today, as a postscript to yesterday’s post...

Anyone who supports, or even tolerates, abortion will support or tolerate any evil.

I’ve believed this for years, ever since the U. S. Supreme Court permitted abortion in 1973. Abortion is the linchpin, the key that provides us with a clear understanding of the true motivation behind all the policies of the left. Without it, these motivations would be muddied. But because the left, including almost the entire Democrat Party, supports and encourages the unlimited slaughter of innocent unborn children, we can confidently identify why they do what they do. Because they support abortion, we know that human life means absolutely nothing to them. How could it? Their only concern, their one, overriding motivation is power. They will do whatever is necessary to gain and maintain political power. 

Many bishops have long praised the Democrats for their seeming support of refugees, immigrants, minorities, the poor. But they fail to understand that these Democrat policies do not stem from an altruistic concern for these unfortunates. The left doesn’t give a damn about the lives of others.  Remember, if they support the murder of innocent children in the womb, they will support anything. To the left, refugees, immigrants, minorities, and the poor represent only one thing: votes, the means to power. Just consider the many programs of the "war on poverty." They did little to eliminate poverty, but did much to ensure a perpetual underclass dependent on the government. And for whom do they vote? Guess.

Once the left gains power and controls the instruments needed to wield it — the courts, the mass of federal agencies, the military, the police, etc. — the voters become meaningless, as does the Constitution, a mere scrap of paper. One recalls when President Obama said the Constitution mostly "says what the states can't do to you...what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or sate government must do on your behalf." Uh, Mr. President, that's because the Constitution is all about liberty, about the freedom to conduct one's own life without government interference.

If one wants to see what unconstitutional governments decide they "must do," look at the former Soviet Union, Communist China, Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea, and every other “socialist paradise” in which leftist leaders, once they gained power, focused on the elimination of those among their own people who opposed them. It’s all about power, folks. 

 

Sadly, few politicians are immune. Too many Republicans, folks like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, who have been in Washington forever, are just as guilty. They might not be leftist ideologues, but they thrive on the power and the perks that come with the territory.

If yesterday’s elections in Georgia turn out as expected and hand the Democrats both congressional and executive power, and if history is any guide, the party’s leadership will move quickly to consolidate that power. We can expect moves to neutralize the power of the Supreme Court, to eliminate the filibuster and other legislative obstacles, to disarm the people through prohibitive “gun control,” to assign new, supportive civilian and military leadership in the Department of Defense, and to create a quick path to citizenship (and voting rights) for immigrants who have entered the country illegally, and so much more. Will a “moderate” President Joe Biden resist these power moves? That remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t count on it. How does the old saw go? He who hesitates is lost. Gained power means little if it is not retained. 

To consolidate their power the left must confront and overcome many obstacles, among them Christianity, specifically the Catholic Church. Because it is so fragmented, Protestantism is likely seen as a less serious threat. The belief is that it can be dealt with piecemeal, one denomination at a time. That, of course, might not be so easy. After all, the Holy Spirit moves where He wills. But the Catholic Church is big. It's worldwide. It has a hierarchy and an authoritative center. Of course, in the past the left never really took the Church all that seriously. How did Stalin put it when told of the Pope’s concerns? “The Pope? How many divisions has he?” Yes, indeed, it was all about power, the application of pure physical power. But things changed in the 1980s, as shown by the personal alliance between Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. The communists learned that political and military power, when united with spiritual power, could be a formidable enemy, one that almost put them out of business. 

Admittedly, because of the abuse scandals, abetted by the weakness of so many bishops, the Church has lost much of its influence, even among Catholics. Not too many years ago, when a bishop spoke, people listened. Today too few listen and many don’t even know he has spoken. To this we can add decades of weak catechesis in which the Truth was hidden from the faithful, buried beneath layers of psychobabble and secular argot. And so, today, we encounter a Church almost as divided as the nation.

What the Church and the world need today are courageous bishops willing to set an example for the faithful, bishops willing to sacrifice position and reputation, even their lives, to uphold the Truth.  We need bishops willing to take meaningful action against Catholic politicians who publicly embrace evil. We need bishops willing to be faithful witnesses to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whatever the opposition. 

 

Recall those of the last century who did just that and confronted the evils of both fascism and communism. Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary, Blessed Aloysius Stepinac of Yugoslavia, Blessed Vasile Aftenie of Romania, and so many others, including thousands of priests, religious, and faithful laypeople, who sacrificed their freedom and their lives for the Catholic Faith. They knew that on their own they could do nothing, but with God all things are possible. 

 

As Diane recently reminded me, maybe it will be the faithful, the Body of Christ, that will do the leading and shame the bishops into doing what Christ asks of them.

The Real Reason

This will not be a particularly long post because what I have to say can be said fairly briefly...unless, of course, I manage to ramble on.

I have known many people who call themselves socialists, but I've never been able to get any of them to admit that communism is not a good thing. In other words, they believe what all true socialists believe: socialism is just a step along the path to full-fledged communism. 

 

We must understand that socialists and communists are all Marxists. This single fact is a key that explains much of what we are experiencing as the China virus wreaks havoc in this country and around the world. It explains why New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, an avowed Marxist, wants to use the virus as a means to destroy small businesses. Marxists, you see, despise those small business owners, the budding capitalists who represent the middle class, what they like to call the bourgeoisie, because the middle class are avid free-marketers. Indeed, the middle class could not exist for long without a free market.

 

Marxist power brokers want everyone to be counted among the proletariat, everyone, that is, except themselves, the Marxist elite. Without a thriving middle class, the proletariat, the workers, must then turn to the state for everything. They must also be conditioned to do whatever the state tells them, even though these orders violate their God-given freedoms. "It's for your own good. We know best!"

 

The non-ideological governors, mayors, city councilors, and others -- those who seek only to feather their own nests and gain power -- unwittingly fill the role of Lenin's useful idiots. Because they are motivated solely by power and money, they gladly follow the policies of their advisors -- the "experts" who will lead them to the power they crave. Of course, once the public cedes power to the politicians, the Marxist experts usually act quickly and remove the puppets from office. After all, once in power the ideologues can disarm the citizenry, leaving themselves with far more than mere political power.

 

It's just a series of variations on the same story, repeated whenever socialism was tried and inevitably found wanting. Socialism does indeed lead to societal equality, except for the Marxist elite, for it brings everyone else down to a common material and spiritual poverty. It's truly remarkable that a system with an unbroken record of failure can still attract so many.

Modern Gnostics

(This is the second -- and probably the final -- post on gnosticism and its presence in today's world, a sequel to my earlier post: Roots of Modern Gnosticism)

_____________

When we examine ancient gnosticism's modern successors, we encounter a change, or a progressive movement that renounces God, or really any belief in a vertical, other-worldly transcendence. Gone, then, is the “hidden God” of the ancient gnostics, replaced by a horizontal belief in a closed historical process manipulated by a revolutionary elite. According to these elitists, these modern gnostics, only they can understand the process as history moves inexorably forward, one step after another. 

For the gnostic, the old world -- that is, traditional society and its institutions -- must be destroyed to make way for the new. Change, then, means destruction. This transformation will take place thanks to the knowledge -- the gnosis -- possessed by the elite who will manage the process. We see shades of this gnostic thought among politicians, intellectuals, academics, revolutionaries, media pundits, and others who desire to transform the world through programs run by experts, by those in the know. In other words, the gnostic, rejecting the God who acts in and redeems the world, believes in self-salvation through human knowledge.

Eric Voegelin, one of the more stable and believable 20th-century philosophers, reminds us of the gnostic's "prohibition of questions." Using Karl Marx as an example, Voegelin describes Marx's unwillingness to answer questions as central to his philosophy. To paraphrase Marx: For socialist man, questions become an impossibility. When socialist man speaks, man must be silent. Indeed, for Marx, questioning his thought "becomes a practical impossibility." 

Interestingly, Rudolf Hőss, the commander of the infamous Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, when asked at trial why he did not question or disobey the horrific extermination orders, replied that such a thought would never even occur to him. "Something like that was just completely impossible...I had to carry it out," he said. Yes, indeed, for all socialists questions become "a practical impossibility." It matters little whether they are communists (international socialists) or Nazis (national socialists) or run-of-the-mill socialists (democratic socialists), since they employ identical tactics -- some just more subtle than others -- when it comes to exerting power over others. Too many people have forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that the word, “Nazi,” was shorthand for the full name of the political party founded by Adolph Hitler, the Nationalsozialtische Deutsche Arbeiterpartie, or the National Socialist Workers Party. There is really very little difference between extremists on the left or right. 

[Note: If you have about 22 minutes to watch a homily that addresses the role of Divine Mercy in the conversion of Rudolf Hőss before his execution, watch the video I've embedded below. As my eighth-grade teacher, Sister Francis Jane, often said, "You might be surprised whom you meet in heaven...assuming you get there."]

We see this prohibition of questions, too, in the response of today's leftists to serious questions, a response that inevitably centers on attacking the questioner. The gnostic mob -- regardless of what it calls itself -- silences its questioners with personal attacks, both verbal and physical, and with noise. It screams it’s irrational chants as it tries to destroy the symbols and ultimately the foundation of the existing society.

The gnostic "spirit", however, is largely a revolt against God. Marx, in his doctoral dissertation, provides us with the perfect example of this. Like Prometheus, Marx writes:  

In a word, “I hate all the gods” is its own confession, its own verdict against all the gods heavenly and earthly who do not acknowledge human self-consciousness as the supreme deity. There shall be none beside it.

The Marxist, a true modern gnostic, rebels against the cosmic order created by God and, therefore, rebels against God Himself. But today's gnostic knows that such a revelation might well undermine his legitimacy in a world that still largely accepts a transcendent God who cares for His creation. And so, the gnostic must deceive, knowingly deceive, and perpetuate an ideological shell game. It's a game that cannot  succeed in the long run; but in the short-run some very nasty things can happen, as they have in the past and are happening in the present.

Fascism and communism are both manifestations of the modernist and socialist ideology that rejects God. In a sense they embrace the first sin in Eden — “you, too, shall be like gods” — and like all evils attempt to imitate good but ultimately embrace the culture of death. From the beginning of recorded history to 1900, governments murdered an estimated 133 million of their own citizens. Between 1901 and 1987, governments killed nearly 170 million of their own citizens. Stalin slaughtered 41 million, Mao 35 million, and Hitler 21 million. Another 38,5 million died in state-sponsored wars during the same period. 

If you can make your way through such modern philosophers as Heidegger, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Marx you will encounter the core of modern gnostic thought. Marx was probably the most influential, although Nietzsche was certainly the most readable. Yes, they were all intellectuals, but those who took their ideology into the streets — Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and all the rest — were really just thugs. In fact, once the thugs gained control, the intellectuals and the academics were usually the first to go. During the so-called “Cultural Revolution” in Communist China (1962-1976), Mao first adopted the slogan, “Never Forget Class Struggle.” Under this slogan Mao encouraged the students to rise up against their teachers who were labeled bourgeois intellectuals. The students, who evolved into the infamous and brutal Red Guards, beat and imprisoned their teachers. Mao even attacked the party itself because he believed too many of its functionaries were insufficiently revolutionary. This phase was spurred on by the slogan, “Sweep Away All Monsters and Demons.” Mao later demanded the Red Guards erase all vestiges of the old culture, which led these young thugs to attack virtually everyone. Destruction was universal — churches, temples, shops, libraries, cemeteries, museums, monuments, statues, even pets were destroyed — and countless people were slaughtered. The entire process was orchestrated by Mao as a form of directed anarchy, violence from below but with approval from above.

Under Marxism — and, folks, socialism, even Bernie’s and AOC's so-called “democratic socialism,” is founded on Marxist principles — human beings are seen as socially determined by their historical and material circumstances; they are not defined by their infinite worth before a transcendent God. According to Marx himself, Marxist revolution implies “the replacement of religion by politics as the source of man’s liberation, since evil is a consequence of society...and not of an original sin,” and it ultimately leads to an ennoblement of violence and the extinction of ethics. 

Revolutionary ethics sees its own version of violence as liberating, unlike what it claims is the repressive violence of the established order. Marxism approves of the former as the means to overcome the latter. We will continue to encounter this "liberating" violence so long as those who should know better continue to support and bankroll violent revolutionaries.

Barack Obama called for the "fundamental transformation of America" but to the far left these words simply mean total revolution. And in total revolution violence becomes just fine, a necessary tool to achieve the complete alteration of the society. Ethics, too, at least ethics as we know it, becomes meaningless, since such concepts as justice, freedom, and morality are incompatible with revolution because they represent and legitimize the existing order which must be destroyed. Oh, these words and others like them will be parroted to recruit those who believe society is oppressing them, but to the revolutionary they mean little. 

Because the modern gnostic elites believe they know better than the masses, they really can’t stand the thought of the uninitiated being free to use the gifts God has given them. For the same reason, elitists, whether of the liberal or revolutionary variety, always crave power. For the revolutionary, the only acceptable form of democracy is mob rule, the democracy of violence which for them is the pathway to power. Liberal elites are more subtle and strive to convince the masses to trust them because they know better, all the while working within “the system” to undermine the people’s freedom. Publicly they minimize the violence of the revolutionaries, although they fear it could get out of hand and threaten their personal power. And yet this same fear leads them to continue their quiet support of the revolutionaries.

A recent Rugters University study found that the social media profiles of some anarchists gained hundreds of thousands of followers since May. According to Pamela Paresky, one of the study's co-authors:  

"The systematic, online mobilization of violence was well-planned, coordinated (in real tme), and celebrated by explicitly violent anarchy-socilaist networks that rode on the coattails of peaceful protest...The ability to continue to spread and to eventually bring more violence, including a violent insurgency, relies on the ability to hide in plain sight -- to be confused with legitimate protest, and for the media and the public to minimize the threat."

As I mentioned in a recent post -- Madness Rising -- the similarities with the early years of the Russian Revolution are striking. 

What’s behind it all? For the true believers, it”s driven by their ideology and their quest for power. For the followers, Lenin’s “useful idiots”, I really believe that too many today simply refuse to recognize that which is good, that which is beautiful. Modern education has taught them that the world of man lacks goodness, and the wonders and beauty of God’s creation escapes them. Lacking moral imagination, the concept of sin and disorder in the human soul means nothing to them. How can it, since they reject the very idea of the goodness of creation by a transcendent, loving God who acts in the world? One gets the impression they’re just bored with it all.

There is much evil in the world today, but that’s nothing new. The evil — and that means Satan and all his followers — are unable to fathom the motives of the good. We see evidence of this in the way so many haters simply cannot understand religious values, particularly Christian values. One need olny read the mainstream media's coverage of things Christian, and especially that related to the Catholic CHurch.

We who believe, though, live on in trust and in hope; and hope is knowledge, the firm knowledge that "all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose" [Rom 8:28]. God will indeed bring all things to good because the good is far more powerful than any evil and will emerge the victor.

Homily: Monday, 10th Week in Ordinary Time

I've embedded a video of this daily Mass here -- a video which includes the homily text posted below.

_________________________

Readings: I Kgs 17:1-6; Ps 121; Mt 5:1-12
_________________________

How many times have I preached on the Beatitudes? And how many homilies have you heard addressing these wonderful words with which Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount? I’m guessing… a lot.

Anyway, I thought I’d spare you another and preach instead on today’s first reading. Actually, my homily really addresses only the first verse of the passage. 

It’s good for us occasionally to take a brief walk through the Old Testament, and our reading from 1 Kings is really pretty special. For today we are introduced to a prophet named Elijah.

How special is Elijah? God answered that question for us when, among all His prophets – and there were a lot of them – He chose Elijah to join Moses and be present with Jesus at the Transfiguration. I guess that sums it up. Elijah was special indeed.

Interestingly, most of the other prophets, the major and minor prophets, have books of the Bible named after them: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Micah, Daniel, and all the rest. But not Elijah. Although considered the greatest of them all, he appears in only the last few chapters of 1 Kings and the first two chapters of 2 Kings. 

Although his story may be brief, just a few chapters, Elijah’s presence seems to extend throughout all of salvation history. Even his name, Elijah, is in itself prophetic, and means “The Lord is my God” and always reminds me of Thomas’ recognition of the risen Christ: “My Lord and my God” [Jn 20:28].

Elijah's story begins when he presents himself to Ahab, king of the northern kingdom, Israel. Who was Ahab? Well, it’s enough to know what Scripture has to say about him: 

“Ahab, son of Omri, did what was evil in the LORD’s sight more than any of his predecessors.” [1 Kgs 16:30]

Elijah confronting Ahab

Yes, indeed, Ahab, influenced by his pagan wife, Jezebel, worshipped not the God of Israel, but Ba'al, the god of the pagans. Ahab and Jezebel were a dangerous duo, not good people. But Elijah, God’s messenger, goes to Ahab without fear, speaks God’s word, and inflicts a punishment on Israel. Listen again to what Elijah says to the king:

“As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word” [1 Kgs 17:1].

Elijah, you see, has presented himself to Ahab with two words: truth and service. Beginning with the truth – “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives” – he continues by declaring his relationship to God, one of service – “whom I serve.”

Truth and service. Elijah offers an example to those who follow him – a gift to all of us. For we, too, must always speak the truth, especially the truth to which Elijah points: to the living God, to "the way and the truth and the life" [Jn 14:6], to Jesus Christ. Like the prophet, who confronts Ahab, we must courageously speak the truth to the unbeliever, to those who have strayed, and to each other. But if our lives don’t reflect the truth we speak, if we don’t serve the living God, the truth will never be well-received, indeed, it will be rejected.

But the truth Elijah speaks cannot be rejected. His service to God is so apparent that he need not talk of any special command of God; he need not utter any words of proof. His mere presence is enough, for he embodies God’s power through his mission. God makes this apparent:

“…during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word” [1 Kgs 17:1].

“…at my word,” Elijah can exclaim this, for God has given His power to the one He sends, to the one who serves Him. The prophecy begins with God and ends with Elijah and his word.

Israel, the nation, has fallen deeply into sinfulness. Were Elijah to preach, he would be ignored, just as Israel and Judah would ignore the many other prophets God sent to them. Israel’s sin has blocked the path to God; it has blokced "the way," and the people neither understand nor love.

Only through punishment will they learn to be open to God’s Word, a Word of both power and hope. The truth will become evident through the power of Elijah’s word – “…there shall be no dew or rain.” But then they are offered a slice of hope: “…except at my word.”

They hear the “except” – and realize it’s in Elijah’s hands, but he doesn’t tell them when and how. That will demand repentance and acceptance, but only after days and months and years, after seeing the truth of Elijah’s word unfold in a punishing drought. When they confess the truth, when they admit that God is truly the living God, when they return to His service, the mystery enfolding Elijah will be revealed.

In truth, it’s a call, isn’t it? A call to the acceptance of God’s gift of faith. The path Israel is called to follow is no different from that which lies before you and me, one that quite likely lies before many nations, including our own.

Afterwards we see Elijah acting in perfect obedience – “Leave…go east and hide” [1 Kgs 17:3] – for in perfect trust he knew God would care for him. Ravens brought him meat and bread and a stream offered refreshing drink.

Once again Elijah teaches us. His call, his mission, that which gives him power in the sight of men, strips him of that same power in the sight of God. And so, from Elijah we learn that to serve God is to obey, to abandon ourselves completely to His love, to develop an attitude of perfect submission.

Brothers and sisters, to better understand the Beatitudes, just look to Elijah. He shows us what it means to be poor in spirit – to look only to God for salvation and to trust in His mercy. Like Elijah, we become mere children in the presence of God. Like children, we own nothing, for everything comes from and belongs to God.

This is the spiritual poverty that Jesus asks of us.

Power and Precedent

I suspect some of my regular readers might not be pleased with this post, but that's fine. We can always agree to disagree. But I thought this had to be said, given some of the comments I've received during the past few weeks.

COVID-19, this microscopic virus, has apparently generated so much fear in the hearts of so many that they're willing to stop working, avoid public worship, and hide in their homes, unconcerned that doing so may well bring about a future far worse than the present. So many brush aside any concern for the abdication of their freedoms, that they willingly allow government officials at all levels to control the minutia of their lives. They have apparently concluded that our Constitution applies only when things go well. Once faced with a societal hiccup, they toss aside those God-given rights, all for the sake of safety.

Now don't get me wrong. I understand the need for precautions when dealing with such a nasty disease as the coronavirus. But to use it as an excuse to shred the Bill of Rights is a very dangerous precedent. Things might well return to some version of normal once the pandemic has passed -- although I doubt it -- but the die has been cast. The American people, at least a good number of them, have demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice freedom for safety. By doing so they display more than ignorance of their constitutional rights; they also display ignorance of human nature. 

People to whom we delegate power -- and since in this nation "we the people" are sovereign, the government has only the power we give it -- will almost always tend to abuse that power. James Madison recognized this when, in the Federalist Papers, he wrote:

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary" [The Federalist, 51].

Men, of course, are not angelic, so we need the controls Madison mentions. The internal controls on government are found in the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, while the controls external to the government are most evident when people petition the government or protest its abuse of power. And we've certainly seen much of the latter in recent weeks.

James Madison (1751-1836)

It's the violations of the First Amendment that most trouble me. Have you read the Bill of Rights lately? Just check out the language of the First Amendment:

"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."

How does forcing us to close our churches and prohibiting the public celebration of the Mass and other sacraments not violate the prohibition of the free exercise of religion? 

Churches, like citizens, can adapt to the needs of safety without giving up their most basic rights. Believe me, once we allow government to ignore its foundational documents for the sake of a viral pandemic, it will find other reasons to do so in the future. When I encounter such corruption in government, I cannot help but recall the famous words of another of my heroes, Lord Acton:

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Lord Acton (1834-1902)

According to Acton power "tends" to corrupt. In other words, if it isn't resisted, it will lead to corruption. But when it comes to absolute power, Lord Acton believed it is simply too great a temptation to resist. Several of our nation's governors and mayors have apparently fallen prey to this desire for absolute power. One can only hope that "we the people" reward them the next time they're up for reelection.

What's the solution in the face of a pandemic? I don't know. I'm not smart enough. But I do know there are enough intelligent, honest, and humble folks out there who can offer us reasonable means to achieve an acceptable degree of safety while still protecting our rights from those who would abuse them.

My biggest concern, though, is that too many folks seem to be afraid for their lives, while so few are afraid for their eternal life. Faith over fear!