Fading Glory

The sun is shining quite brightly here but our country seems to be going through a dark, wintry night. As trees are stripped down in the winter, I believe America is in a period where it will be stripped of its hypocrisy and the bitter fruits it has sown will be  "bared" for all to see. We've already seen this to a degree and I believe it will continue until "eyes are opened" to the truth of our sinfulness as a nation. Let people accuse me of a lack of patriotism but I won't pretend for the sake of the label "patriotic" to be blind to the sins of my country. I belong to the Kingdom of God first. People accuse Christians of negative thinking but I think we are more concerned with truthful thinking than whether it's  positive or negative. Besides, what is negative about purification and becoming more aware of our sins? Seems like a great thing to me and it brings about healing to boot.

I was reading an article yesterday on the recent shootings  and was shocked by the anti-Christian sentiment in the comment section. Do people really believe that God is to blame for this horror? Sin is to blame. And the author of sin is NOT God.

On occasion I get negative comments on my blog too. I usually delete them but once in a while I save them as a reminder of just how far people will go to offend Christians. As a Catholic I've been told that I'm going to hell (or worse). Once, a man left me a comment after a post about abortion and when I clicked on his link I landed on a site in which the author's sole purpose was to blaspheme God in any and every manner possible. I deleted him as a follower but could not understand why someone would go to such lengths to harass those who have Christian blogs. Or maybe I do know...he was as repulsed by my blog as I was by his. My blog, especially my post on abortion, deeply offended him; his blog and his post about Jesus (you wouldn't even want to know the scenarios he put Jesus in - perverse to say the least) deeply offended me. He wanted me to see his blog and knew I'd be disgusted by it.

The spiritual war going on reminds me of one of my favorite poems:


To the Immaculate Virgin, On a Winter Night
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lady, the night is falling and the dark
Steals all the blood from the scarred west.
The stars come out and freeze my heart
With drops of untouchable music, frail as ice
And bitter as the new year's cross.

Where in the world has any voice
Prayed to you, Lady, for the peace that's in your power?
In a day of blood and many beatings
I see the governments rise up, behind the steel horizon,
And take their weapons and begin to kill.

Where in the world has any city trusted you?
Out where the soldiers camp the guns begin to thump
And another winter comes down
To seal our years in ice.
The last train cries out
And runs in terror from this farmer's valley
Where all the little birds are dead.

The roads are white, the fields are mute.
There are no voices in the wood
And trees make gallows up against the sharp-eyed stars.
Oh where will Christ be killed again
In the land of these dead men?

Lady, the night has got us by the heart
And the whole world is tumbling down.
Words turn to ice in my dry throat
Praying for a land without prayer,

Walking to you on water all winter
In a year that wants more war.
         
         Thomas Merton

If the Shoe Fits...

I loved the readings for Mass, Wednesday the 4th.  "How fitting!" I couldn't help but think. "Both the readings from the Old Testament and the New!"

And then I wondered, "Are people REALLY hearing them and letting them sink deeply into their hearts or do they imagine that they do not apply to each of us who live in this day and age?"

I decided to post these readings.


Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts,
be with you as you claim!
Hate evil and love good,
and let justice prevail at the gate;
Then it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts,
will have pity on the remnant of Joseph.

I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the LORD,
I take no pleasure in your solemnities;
Your cereal offerings I will not accept,
nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings.
Away with your noisy songs!
I will not listen to the melodies of your harps.
But if you would offer me burnt offerings,
then let justice surge like water,
and goodness like an unfailing stream.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 50:7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 16bc-17

R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Hear, my people, and I will speak;
Israel, I will testify against you;
God, your God, am I."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"For mine are all the animals of the forests,
beasts by the thousand on my mountains.
I know all the birds of the air,
and whatever stirs in the plains, belongs to me."
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"If I were hungry, I should not tell you,
for mine are the world and its fullness.
Do I eat the flesh of strong bulls,
or is the blood of goats my drink?"
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
"Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?"
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Gospel Mt 8:28-34

When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes,
two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him.
They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.
They cried out, "What have you to do with us, Son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?"
Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding.
The demons pleaded with him,
"If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine."
And he said to them, "Go then!"
They came out and entered the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
where they drowned.
The swineherds ran away,
and when they came to the town they reported everything,
including what had happened to the demoniacs.
Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.
                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


America reminds me of this town in the Gospel reading that begged the Lord to "leave their district".  We have systematically removed God from almost every area of our lives here in the U.S.

But then again, we didn't beg Him to leave...

We booted Him out.