Father Bill's Sermon, August 31st, 2008

Most of us don’t know much about sin. Oh, we think we do. We think, in fact, we can get pretty good at it! But, by the standards of today’s gospel, we’re all amateurs! Now, I know some of you may be practicing, hoping for an Olympic Gold in Sinfulness, but, frankly, I think you’re out of luck! Sort of on this topic: I remember one of my seminary professors once saying to me, after I had sneaked into the Seminary long after hours, having gone with friends to the dog races, “Axe, I believe you’re actually trying to commit an original sin! Well, stop it! They’ve all been done at least once!” My droll reply was, as I slipped past him: “We’ll see!” 

 

Why am I talking about “sin” at all, this weekend? The gospel sets us up for it. In today’s Gospel, St. Peter, by all accounts the head of the early Church, and, therefore, the erstwhile first in a long line of popes, outdid even Adam and Eve, at least in theory. Whereas Adam and Eve had done what humans do, and met the fate that humans meet, Peter had tried to dissuade Christ from the divine plan. In essence, he was trying to tempt God to give up His love for humanity, and to forsake His plan of salvation. THAT, people, takes the cake! No one can come close to that one!

 

And, I want you to look at how Jesus handles it. He says, “Oh, stop! You’re talking like Satan, not a pope!” I mean, if Peter had had his way, all humanity would have been abandoned to death. Hmmm....IF Christ had looked into the future, he might have conceded that Peter was talking exactly like some popes...but that’s for a different sermon! Actually, what Christ says is, “This is not how the head of the Church must think and talk. You’re not God; you can’t know what God knows, that’s not how “the Keys of the Kingdom” work. Follow me, and I’ll show you the path to life.” 

 

THAT’S IT!  Nothing else! All Jesus did when confronted with a sin greater than that of Adam was say, “Oh, think again. I’ll show you how to get that right.” Can you imagine what an Irish monsignor would have done with it? 

 

The point I’m making is that we think we are so almighty powerful that our sins can re-direct the power of the Master of the Universe, can stop Him in His tracks and force His attention from guiding the growth of the cosmos with its galaxies and black holes, to call out for punishment of US. WE are at the Center of ALL.  We need to hear Christ’s message to Peter, and we need to hear it frequently.

 

Does it mean we shouldn’t try? Should we just give up and sin with wild abandon? There are days I think, “Oh, why not?” But, the point of Matthew’s entire Gospel is that even on the days we feel like that, the Abiding Presence of God is with us, urging something different. Not making a big federal case of our shortcomings, but moving us on to nobler goals and higher ideals, urging us to make of our lives a benediction for the earth.

 

Today’s gospel shows us that Christ, the Redeemer of God, meets us where we are–in our lazy ordinary sinfulness, and in our gauche horrid sinfulness (and, let’s face it, most of us find ourselves there once or twice a lifetime or once or twice a week...depending). It is in our brokenness that He meets us to call us on to Greater heights, not to kick us while we’re down.  So, on this Labor Day holiday, as we are officially putting the lazy days of summer behind us, and concentrating on new projects that will capture our imagination and our energy, let us remember that while we may not always be perfect, the God of our Heart accompanies us, always, leading us gently to do better and to be more. Let's set our sights a little higher as we move into the hectic fall start up of our activities, shall we? Let's try to be more focused and more serious about our spiritual path, about the footprints we are leaving in the sands of time.

 

Today, we meet our first Pope in the lowest ebb of human history, trying to tempt God off course, and we see him touched by God’s forgiving, healing love. It is my prayer for each of us that as we come to the Ancient Table of Strength in this sacred liturgy and are nourished with the Strength of God, Himself, that we will sense ourselves called beyond where we are, to lives of greater purpose and deeper meaning. And may God bless you all. +

Father Bill’s Sermon, August 24th, 2008

XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time

This is the second time this gospel reading has appeared in the course of a few months. And, we may be getting it again, toward the end of October. Why is it occurring with such frequency? Well, it’s a quirk of the calendar, and the way we pick readings for different feasts. This may not happen again for a good long while, so let’s enjoy it while we have it, and learn from it. If nothing else, it illustrates how a “different reading” of texts can open different windows onto spiritual matters.

When we saw this reading last, the focus was on the location of Caesarea Philippi as a religious center, where all the history of humanity’s quest for God could be seen in the architecture as Jesus walked his disciples down mainstreet. Do you remember that one? There were the ancient Canaanite high places, the idolatrous temple of the Northern Kingdom set up by Jeroboam when he broke away from the rule of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, there was a temple to the Greek god Pan, and the temple to Caesar, as a god. And, it’s in that context that Christ asked the disciples, “Who/what do you think God is about? And who do you think I am?” And, that question came alive as we walked silently along with them, and WE had to answer: what is God and His Christ about for US? Is religion just about “getting something”–wealth, or power, or “the right answers?” OR, is it an invitation to see God differently? Can we see God as the Father Who made us, infinitely in love with us, and drawing us to Himself? One view of religion is all about what “I” get, the other is about “What/Who” I get. One is about feeding my ego, the other is about finding my authenticity in being created in the image and likeness of perfect love. How differently those two ideas play out in living, don’t you see!

And, if this reading comes up in October, about the time Protestants celebrate what they call “Reformation Sunday,” we will be looking not at the context, or the question to the disciples, but the statement of Jesus to Peter, “I give to you the keys of the Kingdom and whatever you bind is bound and whatever you loose is loosed.” And, then, the emphasis will be on the role of Peter and order in the Church. And we’ll be looking at the special role given to authority, and how it is used for our growth in spiritual health.

But, today, as the reading arises and it’s not near Reformation Sunday, when we talk about authority in the church, and the role of leadership, especially the “throne of Peter,” in Rome, and it’s not the feast of the building of our first church, which I think was the reason it appeared a few weeks ago, when concentrated on the nature of healthy religion. This time it comes in the midst of a series of weekend Bible readings dealing with the topic of discipleship. And so, we are to look at what it says about US...the disciples.

And what do today’s readings say to discipleship? The reading from Isaiah recalls royal processions through the streets of Jerusalem, where the “Master of the palace,” (in Isaiah’s time, a man by the name of Shebna) carried ceremonial keys–huge things that could be seen a block away, as a symbol of his office. He held the keys to all the rooms of the royal palace and the temple, its chapel. He alone had ALL the keys! To ALL the closets, and nooks and crannies, and secret passageways. He could get anywhere he needed to go. If you wanted something quickly, or access to someone, immediately, you came to him. He could move you swiftly through the maze of passageways and secret rooms to the place you needed to be.

Well, today’s readings let us know that we, the Church, are entrusted with those keys. We have the “keys” to the mysteries of the deep, inscrutable and unsearchable God, and access to ALL the passageways of Grace, all the avenues to God, and to help from above. These are ours. They are given in love to each of us.

When it comes to authority, perhaps we don’t all have the same kind–that’s a topic for a different Sunday, but today, the focus is not on that. It’s on discipleship. And we, the Disciples of the Prince of Peace, have the means to move through the eternal mysteries, we have total access to the power of the Master of the Universe. We can slip into his throneroom, and stand before him at any time, anywhere. We have the keys to His heart, which we can open and beg His blessing for our earth.

This is a truth about the Disciple that is so profound that it needs it’s own Sunday, just to meditate on this Wonder. You, a piece of cosmic dust on a third rate planet in a second rate galaxy at the edge of the universe, hold the keys to the very Heart of God. Use them well. Beg His blessings NOT selfishly, just for yourself, but magnanimously, seeking the good of all the earth. And the longer you pray for that, miracle of miracles, the more your soul will conform itself to your prayer, and your own heart will opened wider and your soul made greater, and through you the Divine Blessing will touch countless others.

The keys are ours. We can lock ourselves out, or open the Treasury of Mercy to all. It’s in our hands as disciples. And the hardest task of discipleship is learning to pray for the enemy, the one we fear and dread. And yet, it is this repeated action that opens us and enlarges our heart and soul so that through us the world can be lifted a little higher and a bit of light may come into the darkness.

So, on this weekend that asks us to look at ourselves, let us pray for larger hearts and greater souls, and most of all, for the courage to use the keys given us to open the Treasury of God’s mercy to all. And may God bless you all. +

Father Bill’s Sermon, August 17, 2008

Are you having trouble with someone, or some group, right now? Most of us have at least one angry moment a day, but usually those moments pass without our cutting someone out of our life. Angry moments come, but they pass quickly enough, usually. Today’s readings don’t really address the normal, run-of-the-mill angers and frustrations of life–other readings do that, but not these.

These readings are all about living charitably with the people we’d really like to “cut out of our life,” out of our dialogue, and, if possible, never have to see or hear from them again. Holidays can create such tensions in families if we aren’t emotionally vigilant. And we have one coming up at Labor Day. Families get together, they have a few drinks, and when the “guards” are down, the claws can come out. Children can hear gossip about relatives that they shouldn’t have to hear, for most of it is “packaged” information, to make whoever we’re “on the outs with” look bad while making us look saintly. People, let’s face it! Everyone in this room is loved by God, and everyone in this room is trying to be a decent person, BUT no one has proposed our canonization YET! What we say to and about each other can “poison” the minds of the young, and poison our earth in the process.

And, just as family holidays can create “trainwrecks of hatred and mistrust” for individuals, so can election years exacerbate national divisions for a nation, creating vicious speech and downright dishonesty instead of a common search for the good of the country and the entire earth. And we are in an election year.  We are going to hear the dumbest things said about both the current candidates and their possible running mates. We will hear horrible things that shouldn’t be said about anyone, things that both parties know are not really true...but information is packaged in such a way that a candidate and the running mate look somewhere on the gamut between foolish or naive, and absolutely evil.

Just like families need to approach holidays with Emotional Vigilance, we all need to approach our national issues with Emotional Vigilance, too, or we end up hating the people sitting next to us, when what everyone wants is merely something good for the country. We don’t disagree on goals, only strategies to achieve those goals.

How fortuitous that as we are returning from vacations, and getting ready to start up school year routines, again, and the regular round of committees and meetings, that we have THESE readings to set a tone and guide us into the fall. The readings beg and PLEAD for Emotional Vigilance, for a deep care about how we use words, how we talk about people we have fundamental disagreements with. The readings do NOT call for obscuring our differences with others, but they DO call for Emotional Vigilance in approaching those issues and people. For people are not, according to the Scriptures, “evil”–no matter how misguided we think their opinions may be. They, too, have hopes and dreams of greatness, dignity and worth. There has to be room for difference, or whatever we are standing for isn’t worth the effort we are putting into standing for it.

In the first reading a poet of the soul who has lived through a living hell of being marched off across 600 miles of desert to slavery in Babylon, and who has seen his royal family tortured and slaughtered, and who has seen the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the entire nation of Judah, can say to his fellow-sufferers: “These foreigners CAN BE JOINED to the Lord, and in doing so, IF WE ARE BIG ENOUGH, EMOTIONALLY, we can create a “house of prayer for all peoples.” In other words, an avenue of unity with each other and with God CAN BE built as we build good faith with those we have always thought of as “enemies.” If we can learn to see them differently, to name them differently, we can change the world!

Paul, in Romans is writing to Gentiles who are NOT getting along with the Jews of Rome. Paul has told them that they are “grafted into the olive tree” that is Israel, and are acceptable to God, but “ISRAEL” doesn’t want to have much to do with them! And tensions are brewing faster than bubbles appear in boiling water! And Paul says to them, “You know, you’re not better than they are...get that out of your heads.......they may not “see” what God is up to, but that’s between God and them!....YOU BE NICE! In other words, the Gentiles needed to learn to see the Jews as the Jews saw themselves, and respect that. THEN, dialogue can begin. It can’t begin in bitterness and slander.

What do you think was going on in the Gospel reading where Christ called a Syro-Phoenician woman a “dog?” LOTS of ink has been spilt over that one, let me tell you! You know how both McCain and Obama have made verbal gaffs during the campaign......and they’ll make more...both of them..........but then the “SPIN DOCTORS” try to clear it all up and tell us why they didn’t mean what they, obviously, said? Well, we get that over this gospel reading, too. It should give every Catholic some humility as we listen to the candidates, if nothing else. Anyone can say something others find offensive.

Now...how have the “Spin doctors” (theologians) handled it? The early Fathers seemed to think that Christ was merely “building” up suspense, playing to what He knew the disciples were thinking, only to reverse the argument, and show them DRAMATICALLY that God is broader than we thought!!! Modern scripture commentators who find “the miraculous” difficult to accept, and who think Christ had to “mature” into His role, that He couldn’t have possibly had all knowledge from the cradle, are saying that this is evidence that He, too, grew in His self-formation, putting the Divine Wisdom into practice. You can use either, as far as I’m concerned. The point is that by the end of the lesson, everyone in attendance saw that this Arab woman from Beirut, of all places....ENEMY TERRITORY...was spiritually gifted, Graced by God, and worthy of all respect and miraculous intervention. The “UNacceptable to humans was MOST ACCEPTABLE and MOST LOVED by God....hence, the need for “Emotional Vigilance” which one way or the other, Christ taught in the story. We can’t let our “preconceived notions” of people’s backgrounds and beliefs close our minds and hearts to their worth and value, for, as Isaiah would tell us, it is only in mutual collaboration with them that we will create “a House of Prayer for all peoples!”

This weekend’s message seems to be that God is calling each one of us..........His beloved children.......to be broader in our respect, and to be especially Vigilant Emotionally as we move through life’s shoals. We can create friendships or enmities...so much depends on what we say, and how we “label” things. Are we facing “animals?” Or, are we facing God’s “pets?” Christ taught us how to “re-lable” those we’ve been calling enemies, so that they can be seen in a new light that might lead to friendship and deeper collaboration in goodness for the world.

My prayer for each of us is that as we are fed Divine Strength, and Divine Wisdom in the Holy Sacraments, this weekend, that we will have the wherewithal and the creativity to follow in the Footsteps of the Prince of Peace and allow our lives–our words and our deeds–to be benedictions of goodness and peace in our world.......building bridges to those who were once “far off” so that, together, we may create a Sanctuary of Spiritual Strength in our earth. And may God bless you all.+

Father Bill’s Sermon, August 10, 2008

Mountains of prayer filled with noise and loneliness, and seas of distress, filled with winds, waves and fear form the context for the first reading and the Gospel narrative, this weekend.

The context for the first reading might be helpful, I’m not sure....Elijah had just had a marvelous success over the priests of Baal (“the” rival religion of the day), but his success had infuriated the Queen, and he was, now, under a death sentence and a hunted man. He is at the place where Moses stood, hoping to “find” or “re-find” the God of Strength. And the context for the Gospel seems to be a “parallel” to that of the first reading. John the Baptist had just been killed by Herod, and this put those in any way connected to him on the defensive, and, according to the text of Matthew 14:13, “Jesus ‘withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place, by Himself.’” But, He was discovered, and crowds came...and then He, too, had a great “success,” in that He had just fed 5,000 from very little. But, this meant that his whereabouts would become public knowledge, and how long before “troops” or somebody arrived to shackle Him and drag Him off to a fate similar to that of John the Baptist? So...he sent the disciples away, sent the crowds away, and like Elijah of old, went to the mountain alone.............

Now, Elijah experienced the storm, himself, on the mountain. In Jesus’ case, the storm awaits Him until he descends in search of his disciples, who are caught up in the midst of that storm. And it is into that storm’s center that Christ walked, as He ALWAYS walks into the storms in the lives of His disciples...

Now, I want to jump over the walking on water, and the sinking of Peter, to note that when both Christ and Peter get into the boat, the winds calm down...and the same stillness reigns that enveloped Elijah, and in the stillness the voices of the disciples whisper: “You are the Son of God."

Several lessons seem to “emerge”:

1) Success often brings us the opposite from what we hope for; we think it will make us loved and respected, whereas it often brings only envy and hatred, and folk plotting our downfall. So...a healthy approach to success is always to “go to the mountain” to wait out the “noise” of self-congratulation, so that in the stillness we may touch again the Source of the Power, which is NOT us, but God. This gives us the humility to deal with the fallout of success.

2) When life is storming about us, it simply isn’t safe to step out of the boat! DUH! The “ark” that carries us over the sea of turmoil is the “center” that knows its God........we abandon that center at our own risk.............a risk we take when we begin to think that we ARE God!!! And can do what God does!!!

 To see that more clearly, let’s go back to the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Christ asked what was available, then blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples who distributed it............What Christ blessed and broke were 5 loaves and 2 fish. What the disciples distributed fed 5,000!!!!!! WHO “did” the miracle???? Can you hear them in that boat??? Peter might have said, “Did you SEE what happened? I had a fish and I fed a thousand people! John would have countered, “Well, I had a half a loaf, and fed 3,000!!! And on and on....THAT’s the “noise” the “self-congratulation, the “storm,” that led them to think “THEY” were God...it was “THEM” who’d done it!!! And, so, when Christ came walking....of course they thought they could do that, too! They were miracle-workers, right? Well, such thinking leads to drowning!!!!!!!!!! It’s only when we are “in the boat”...back in the “center” where God is in control, that safety and peace come.......

So, the questions for us, today, are:

#1) What has our success been? And, how are we living with it? The only “Grace-filled” path is
 to live with it VERY humbly...
  

I rarely can speak of “humility” and myself in the same breath, for it is NOT one of my virtues...I’m sad to say! Pride has always been my downfall. But, I remember ONE time: I had created a way to teach Bible to classes of Fundamentalist students in a Catholic university that did not “rob” them of their knowledge and expertise.

Let me explain: I taught in at Xavier University in New Orleans, a historically Black college, where lots of African-American kids of all religions–Baptists, Pentecostals, Apostolics, Church of God in Christ, as well as Catholics and Lutherans and Methodists, came to study, often from small towns throughout the south, where they had used textbooks that were 30 or 40 years old, and there were all sorts of “holes” in their education that had to be remedied quickly if they were to succeed. BUT, the ONE THING they came with that they KNEW backwards and forwards, was their BIBLE! They had memorized much of it. Then, they got into a Catholic classroom, of “Historical-critical method,” “literary-reader-response theory,” “political-theological stances,” like Liberation Theology, and they were lost.....not to mention the “dogmatic” thing, and how our Roman Catholic reading of certain texts goes back to the earliest centuries, long before their denominations were even thought of........The ONE THING that they THOUGHT they had going for them, all of a sudden was robbed, and they found themselves getting C’s and D’s in biblical theology classes, and it was so depressing for them.

I said to myself, “There HAS to be a way around this!” There has to be a way to teach an academic approach to the Bible that honors everyone’s “expertise.” And, finally, I figured it out. It took 4 years of teaching, there, and experimenting. But, finally, I had it. And the lines to get into my classes were some of the longest at enrollment! Imagine, a “theology enrollment line” being longer than the Pharmacy line!!! Oh, that was rich!!!

Then, the dean met me in a “creative thinking seminar,” one day, & wanted to talk about this “phenomenon.” And INSTEAD of bowing and taking the limelight, I had the good sense to say, “We all had a hand in it! The department chair gave me some freedom to experiment, and my office mate–another Scripture professor, gave me loads of advice and feedback. The other teachers let me know what they needed to have covered in Bible so that when a kid got into Moral theology or Systematics, he or she would be adequately prepared. WE ALL DID THIS TOGETHER. And, then, we all shared the limelight. And that led to more cooperation, and shared teaching. The success didn’t stop with that one class....it spread.....because EVERYONE was empowered.  
 
#2) Where has our pride distracted us, and created a storm that is about to drown us? The only
 “Grace filled” way to deal with storms is to stay centered....and if we’ve gone “off the
 deep end,” as it were, we need to get back in the boat! We need to re-find our humble
 center.
  I remember I was once a part of a team of three creative people in a small rural parish, planning for the future of our congregation, and we dreamed of an ecumenical venture that would touch our youth and our elderly, and after getting some local Protestant clergy to get “on board, we were able to secure a $25,000 Faith In Action grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. But, the envy that grant caused! Other parish council committees in the parish felt “overshadowed” by the “planning committee,” and found ways to be uncooperative. Pretty soon, other congregations wondered why the “Catholics” had so much control of the Grant, EVEN THOUGH all agreed that our property was the only one where this outreach could unfold!!! It was just one mess after another...and before long, I was beaten down, and wished we’d never got the darn thing! AND, I fear I deeply hurt and lost a friend by not trying to continue the grant! Oh, the STORM that raged all ‘round that success!!!!!!!!! None of us lived with humility in the midst of “success,” and our pride nearly destroyed us!

What do you need, today? Do you need to go to the mountain to re-learn “humility?” Or, do you need to hop back into the “boat” before you drown???

The readings of the weekend are all about our inner life, and they ask us to walk softly on the earth, while we empower others to do GREAT things. My prayer for each of us is that we will have the humility to be good servants of the Master, and that our lives will, indeed, become benedictions of goodness in our world. And may God bless you all. +

Father Bill’s Sermon, August 3, 2008

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

For the English speaking crowd, one of our favorite hymns is a musical setting for Isaiah’s elegant words, “Come to the water.” The prophet reminds his hearers and readers that the “Water” is always free, given at no cost whatsoever. What does he mean?

Were some religions “costly religion” in his day? Actually, yes, they were.  They were the competing religions of Israel’s neighbors–pagan ideas, but ideas that were seductive to the soul–and sometimes the “core” of those ideas even “slipped into” the “Judaism” of the prophet’s time, and made Israel’s religion “costly,” too. So, what were these “seductive ideas?”

Well, first, there was Baalism, the traditional religion of the area, a religion centered in how to get and keep wealth, with a soupcon of “sex” thrown into the mix! It was a religion of fertility, so it was a sexually charged religion, but it’s “end goal,” was the fertility of the crops, the herds, and the family–all of which meant Wealth (with a capital “W.”) Now, don’t get them wrong, in the minds of the prophets and the Torah, itself, there is nothing wrong with wealth; in fact, it’s a wonderful blessing, and something most people are willing to strive for. BUT, it has to be kept “in its place.” When it is the ultimate good of a human being, horrid things happen. Learning to live with both wealth and poverty is the mark of a person of spiritual depth. A religion that makes wealth it’s god, is a dead ended and soul-empty creed, unworthy of a human being created in the image of the Master of the Universe. This is an ancient longing of the human heart: to be wealthy enough not to “have to” do anything. Oh, we might want to go on being productive, but we’d sure like to be relieved of all “worry” about tomorrow. And, so much of our religious devotion is all about “securing ourselves” and those we love, economically. This “religion” has been seducing the human heart as long as anyone can remember.........

Or, there was Dagonism, the religion of the Philistine neighbors to the west, which was the religion of power and how to get it and keep it. The Philistines had always sought power. They nearly overcame Egypt, itself, and had it not been for Ramses III, they probably would have! They had been fierce “sea peoples” to the north in the Aegean, and in the late 1400's BC, they had been displaced, and came south in naval armadas and invaded Egypt. Ramses barely overcame them, and though he wasn’t strong enough to send them back where they came from, he was strong enough to keep them out of Egypt, proper, and put them on the coast of Canaan, where they remained in what is, today, the Gaza Strip, and via the Romans, who fancied themselves to be “history buffs,” their name became attached to the entire land: Palestine (is from Phlilstia.) These people had had control of the “atomic bomb” of the day–they knew how to make and finish IRON–this was also the dawn of the “Iron Age.” They kept this secret well guarded, and profited from it. Their “religion” as the Samson/Delilah saga recounts was all about controlling power. Now, I suppose, there is nothing wrong with having power, don’t you see? Someone is always going to have a bit more than others, BUT, with it comes responsibility. A religion that centers itself on gaining power is usually a scourge on the earth. Theirs proved to be such. This is an ancient human struggle, and I imagine each of us struggles with it. I do. We want to place our lives at the disposal of God and service to others........BUT...there ARE limits beyond which we can’t seem to give up our “control!”

Then, there was the lovely religion of Egypt, with its mysteries that sought out the meaning of the heavens as it tried to secure an afterlife; it was always tempting. We always want to know what God knows! We want to peel back the layers of the universe to understand it, and in doing so, perhaps come to an understanding of ourselves. But, what the prophets teach Israel is that there is nothing wrong with wanting to understand God and His Marvelous Plan for us, BUUT when we approach God, we are not approaching impersonal forces and static designs in the heavens, rather we are approaching a PERSON, in a sense–the Person in Whose Image we have been fashioned. It is the “fingerprint” of God that is our nature. So, to reduce religion to formulas, no matter how intricate and beautiful, is to make shallow the Deep, and to make profane the Holy. Most of us “fuss” with this, dichotomy, today, don’t we? On the one hand we want to “know the Lord,” and grow in His love, and on the other, we want the “formula!” “What do I have to do to be saved?” was Nicodemus’ misplaced question, but it’s ours, too, too often! And Christ’s answer is always there.........“Oh, this birth is from Above...God does it!” And we want to scream, “BUT WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?” We find “trust” so hard...we want to tie down all the options and cover every base!

The religion of the Ammonite neighbors to the east, Molechism, was a religion of rage, vengeance and disrupting all order to one’s gain. This was, on its dark side, the equivalent of purchasing a voodoo doll and putting a pin in it! Why would good people turn to it? For the same reason we often do ugly things! People wanted “justice” in a world that is so often unjust! And they tried their hand at getting it quickly! Now, even a quick perusal of the Bible will tell you that Justice IS, indeed, something to be striven for, but only in a just manner. Ends never justify means, don’t you know. We, as a nation, are living with this conundrum right now, in issues involving torture of prisoners of war.

Don’t yo see? We have those religions with us, today, too; now they bear different names, and some of them have coopted the name of the Prince of Peace as their champion. But they always were, and they still are, terribly costly, not only to the practitioner, but to the whole society.

Then, along side them,  there was Torah, the “Water of Life,” teaching simple justice in the "here and now," there for all to read and to study–free of charge, like water from a brook, free to all. And when one delves into the Scripture and finds one’s Life there, there is nothing that holds us back on our path to each other and to God, as Paul would say. Matthew’s Gospel wants to say to us that the teaching of Jesus is nourishing to the Nth degree...water of life and bread of life, and, it, too, is there, for free–at no cost, other than the time one must invest in studying it and learning to enter into it so as to embody it. So, what’s stopping us? Hmmmm.