No Lasting City

I just moved to Maryville, Tennesee in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Just around the corner is a used book store and coffee shop. Having lived in San Francisco, Denver, and Ann Arbor a place like this is familiar territory.

While enjoying a great cup of coffee yesterday I had to tolerate jubilant gushing over the "new attitude" sweeping the country being attributed to the new President. It's as if all the hopes and dreams of the sixties have become incarnate in the new Messiah, I mean, President.

I think that the kindness and goodness was always there. Look at the recent catastrophes and how people came out to assist total strangers. What I think has happened is that the usually pessimistic and fault-finding left is finally able to see the positive in society. They are finding that it's not all doom and gloom. If anything, at least the hallucinogenic kool-aid they're drinking has altered their perception in that respect.

Hopefully the euphoria will result in a loss of the victim mentality that plagues segments of our American society. The staunch pro-death position of our President does concern me. His socialist ideas seem compassionate, but I know that socialism never works and results in a dependent nanny-state.

Christian hospitals will close down rather than be forced to perform abortions if policies like the "Freedom of Choice Act" go through. It bugs me that my tax dollars once again fund abortions in the Third world whether I like it or not.

But I am comforted by this fact: "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come." (Hebrews 13:14) A man made Theocracy is just as bad as a Socialist Utopia. I'm just as weary of the fundamentalist culture warriors as I am the kum-bah-yah kool-aid drinkers.

So what am I to do during my brief journey through this world? "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." (Hebrews 13:16) And as Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

Regardless of the political climate and the current regime, I still must do what I can to help my neighbor. My identity as a follower of Christ and my responsibility to be His hands and feet does not change. Even during times of persecution Christians throughout history continued their acts of kindness and love.

Government will not solve all our problems. Sorry to burst your bubble America. But in this world I know there will always be problems, but the true Messiah will guide me safely through them.

The new era has begun

“Comment is useless. It is enough to say in one short sentence that the new era has begun, to which prophets and kings, and the suffering, the dying, all who labour and are heavy-laden, have aspired in vain... Of him who has been the herald of its inauguration we have nothing more to say. Time alone can show what is yet left for him to do.

“It is understood now, by fanatic barbarians as well as by civilised nations, that the reign of War is ended. 'Not peace but a sword,' said CHRIST; and bitterly true have those words proved to be. 'Not a sword but peace' is the retort, articulate at last, from those who have renounced CHRIST’S claims or have never accepted them... There shall be no more an appeal to arms, but to justice; no longer a crying after a God Who hides Himself, but to Man who has learned his own Divinity. The Supernatural is dead; rather, we know now that it never yet has been alive. What remains is to work out this new lesson, to bring every action, word and thought to the bar of Love and Justice; and this will be, no doubt, the task of years. Every code must be reversed; every barrier thrown down; party must unite with party, country with country, and continent with continent. There is no longer the fear of fear, the dread of the hereafter, or the paralysis of strife. Man has groaned long enough in the travails of birth; his blood has been poured out like water through his own foolishness; but at length he understands himself and is at peace."

No, this isn't another media orgasm over the election of Barack Obama. It's from "Lord of the World" written by Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson in 1906. The book takes place in the distant 21st century and describes the rise of a charismatic leader from the midwestern United States who becomes "President of the World". Some of the book is a bit neurotic, sometimes ridiculous, while many aspects are eerily familiar.

It's worth checking out and can be read online:

http://www.authorama.com/book/lord-of-the-world.html

The Obama Victory

As someone who voted pro-life, that means for John McCain, I was disappointed by the outcome of the election. So, how to respond? The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said this in their congatulatory message:

"Our country is confronting many uncertainties. We pray that you will use the powers of your office to meet them with a special concern to defend the most vulnerable among us and heal the divisions in our country and our world. We stand ready to work with you in defense and support of the life and dignity of every human person."

I don't know if the President-elect will catch the subtle message to defend and support life, but we must pray for him, so let's pray for a miraculous change of heart. We must look for ways to work within the new regime. The epistle reading from today's Mass includes this appropriate advice:

"Prove yourselves innocent and straightforward, children of God beyond reproach in the midst of a twisted and depraved generation – among whom you shine like the stars in the sky while holding fast to the word of life." (Philippians 2:15-16)

My friend Oswald very eloquently sums up how Christians should respond to this election:

"What do we do then? What do Christians do in this predicament? We will do what we have always done: we will pray for the conversion of the nation and its very, very badly chosen leaders--and for our own continuing conversion... We will do so without bitterness or anger or resentment because the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit has been and is continually being poured into our hearts regardless of external circumstances, whether political or personal. We will smile because we have reason to smile: Jesus and only Jesus saves and He does so here and now regardless of the extremely bad and self-destructive choice made tonight by the nation's voters."

For Oswald's complete analysis visit his Political Asides blog. Also, check out his always insightful Catholic Analysis blog.

Election Petition to Mary

This excellent prayer to the Mother of God appeared in the Sunday bulletin of my parish, Christ the King, in Ann Arbor:

O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, at this most critical time, we entrust the United States of America to your lovingcare. Most Holy Mother, we beg you to reclaim this land for the glory of your Son. Overwhelmed with the burden of the sins of our nation, we cry to you from the depths of our hearts and seek refuge in your motherly protection. Look down with mercy upon us and touch the hearts of our people. Open our minds to the great worth of human life and to the responsibilities that accompany human freedom. Free us from the falsehoods that lead to the evil of abortion and threaten the sanctity of family life. Grant our country the wisdom to proclaim that God’s law is the foundation on which this nation was founded, and that He alone is the True Source of our cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. O Merciful Mother, give us the courage to reject the culture of death and the strength to build a new Culture of Life. Trusting in your most powerful intercession, we pray… Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, we fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, our Mother. To thee do we come, before thee we stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer us. Amen.

Merton on Politics

Perhaps in the end the first real step toward peace would be a realistic acceptance of the fact that our political ideals are perhaps to a great extent illusions and fictions to which we cling out of motives that are not always perfectly honest: that because of this we prevent ourselves from seeing any good or any practicability in the political ideals of our enemies--which may, of course, be in many ways even more illusory and dishonest than our own. We will never get anywhere unless we can accept the fact that politics is an inextricable tangle of good and evil motives in which, perhaps, the evil predominate but where one must continue to hope doggedly in what little good can still be found.

... I believe the basis for valid political action can only be the recognition that the true solution to our problems is not accessible to any one isolated party or nation but that all must arrive at it by working together.

We must try to accept ourselves, whether individually or collectively, not only as perfectly good or perfectly bad, but in our mysterious, unaccountable mixture of good and evil. We have to stand by the modicum of good that is in us without exaggerating it.

~Thomas Merton