Abraham, Lawyers and Tevye

In this weekend’s Liturgy we read the account in Genesis of Abraham’s bargaining with God for the preservation of Sodom, out of love for his kinsman, Lot.  I have enjoyed reading, hearing and proclaiming this Scripture reading countless times, since I’ve been serving as a lector in my home parish since March 1974, when I was a junior at Marymount Manhattan College.

As always, my reaction is “Just gotta love Abraham!”  Although it would be centuries before JESUS, our Messiah, Savior and LORD, true God and true Man, would come to repair the breach between God and human beings and the veil of the temple that represented God as too holy and unapproachable for us to encounter one-on-one would be torn in two, Abraham’s dialogue with the LORD represents the kind of intimacy and confidence with which the LORD desires us to approach the Throne of Grace to receive mercy and favor in time of need—in needs both big and small—in EVERYTHING!  The transcendent God is also immanent, and He desires to walk with us every step of the way.

If you will notice, Abraham is confident, but he is not casual. God is not his “buddy” or “the man upstairs”. There is no doubt that Abraham has not forgotten Who God is and who he is (and we are). God is the LORD of the universe, while we are but dust and ashes.  God is Creator.  Abraham is (and we are) creature.  And still Abraham can speak with Him in his own language, can appeal to Him in his own words, can be fully himself, and can understand that the LORD is a patient listener Who is kind, understanding and compassionate, and even has a sense of humor!  So Abraham’s dialogue with God and his concern, his intercession on behalf of those he loves, and even his bargaining can be a model of how we can confidently (while never disrespectfully, irreverently or casually) come to God with everything—and even more so now that we have our Savior’s own Word for it that God is our Father and we are His beloved children.

I love to read the dialogue: it would make a great one act play!  Although out of respect for the sacred text and sacred Liturgy I refrain from imitating a Jewish accent, I do proclaim it somewhat as I imagine it to me.  As I was listening to the lector proclaim it at this evening’s Mass I could imagine that it could be not unlike one of the memorable scenes of Tevye addressing God in the wonderful musical play FIDDLER ON THE ROOF performed by MAGGIE’S LITLE THEATRE in St. Margaret’s parish last Sunday with a marvelous cast, particularly the actor who made us believe that he WAS Tevye.  And perhaps the responses from God could have come from a voice that resembled Charlton Heston of Biblical epic movie fame.

I perceive Abraham, our father in faith and the father of the Jewish people as the first Jewish lawyer, and Jewish people have excelled in the law profession ever since!  The ability to negotiate seems to be a charism generously bestowed by God on the Jewish people from the very beginning!

Abraham, the first Jewish lawyer, the father of the Jewish people (including “Tevye”), and our father in faith, is a wonderful model for us all in His approach to God in this passage. Ultimately his greatest descendant (in terms of his human origins to which St. Paul refers in his letter to the Romans), would become the greatest Mediator of all Who still serves as Mediator for us at His Father’s throne. For don’t forget that in His human origins, JESUS CHRIST, LORD of heaven and earth, Who came to save all of the human race, Jew and Gentile alike, my LORD and Savior, is Jewish.  After all, as Tevye would say, that’s what “the Good Book says”.

May the words of my lips (and pen and computer) and the meditation of my heart find favor with You, my LORD and Redeemer.  Thank you for allowing us to approach Your throne with confidence and naturalness, as we truly are, to receive mercy and grace in all our needs and the needs of those You have placed upon our hearts.  AMEN.

(c) Copyright 2013 by Arlene B. Muller, OSF.

A Plea for Balance and Conversion

I will probably irritate both my friends on the "right" and on the "left", but I am a strongly pro-life, level-headed, hope-filled Catholic Christian American who believes in God, in the Truth of God's words and in our nation's founding principles in the Judaeo-Christian ethic.

Yes, I believe that Americans made a mistake in re-electing Barack Obama, and it is clear I have NEVER been and NEVER WILL BE one of his supporters, because of his extreme pro-abortion agenda, his ties to Planned Parenthood, his threat to our religious freedom, his support for the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, his "tax and spend" economic policies and extravagant personal spending at taxpayer expense that add to our spiraling national debt and perpetuate the cycle of dependence upon government assistance, and his position that it is the role of government to redistribute wealth.

I believe that only God truly knows his heart, his intentions, and all the motives behind his behavior. I do not believe that it is his intention to be a dictator like Hitler or the antichrist, even though I believe that his continuation of his policies could put us further down the slippery slope of the culture of death. I believe that it is more likely that he is guided by political expediency, misguided compassion, and spiritual blindness. He believes in the "quick fix"--hand out money (which has to be done for the short term, but we need more effective long term solutions), promote birth control and abortion (he only sees the need of the woman in a crisis pregnancy but not the humanity of the unborn baby who also is a person in need of protection and he sees fewer births as a solution to poverty and birth control and abortion rather than chastity as the means), and appeasement as a means of reconciliation and peace (we need to avoid violence and war whenever possible, but the solution is NOT to APPEASE TERRORISTS--he forgets what happened when Neville Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler).

I do NOT believe that he is in any way responsible for the acts of deranged human beings in recent shootings except in a very limited, distant way of perpetuating a culture of death--if we de-value human life in any area, it adds to the lack of respect for the sanctity of human life for anyone in our culture. These killings were the acts of troubled, deranged individuals influenced by the power of evil--not by Obama and not by our government. I believe that action to prevent weapons from getting into the hands of criminals and crazed individuals is one of the necessary constructive actions in trying to stop this kind of violence, along with promoting greater respect for ALL human life, providing better diagnosis and treatment and, when necessary, confinement in mental hospitals, for potentially violent mentally ill people for as long as necessary, and a end or at least curbing the violence in all forms of media (film, TV, music, computer games, video games) and that this is Obama's intent--NOT the desire to take over the government and render citizens helpless. I do not believe that an executive order is the way to go--I believe that executive orders can be an abuse of power--but that it should be via an act of Congress not to ban all guns but to enact legislation that would help America to a better job at preventing these tragedies.

I believe that speculation about his citizenship and eligibility is just that--mere speculation--and it is unproductive. Regarding alleged "election fraud"--this has happened before, probably more than we realize, in previous elections. This, too, is speculation and unproductive.

What do we do now? This is America with a two party system, a strong Constitution, and a strong Bill of Rights. This is NOT Nazi Germany. We still have various legitimate forms of legal and political recourse, so we don't need to stockpile guns or consider civil war or secession or other forms of paranoia! So we need to make use of the constructive means available to us to keep America good, strong and free. We are also a nation in which a significant percentage of citizens believe in God, in the Judaeo-Christian ethic, and the power of prayer. We need to keep a close watch of what is going on in our nation and in the world and make use of opportunities to petition and contact our Congressional representatives and use our freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly to make our voices heard. We need to support the legal process in our courts and organizations like American Center for Law and Justice who fight threats to our religious freedom. And we need to pray and repent for our personal sins and the sins of our nation. A morally strong nation centered in God and His Word that worships God rather than the "almighty dollar", that demonstrates compassion for the poor and oppressed and that avoids lust and sloth is a nation that is less likely to be taken over by dictators. A morally weak, self-indulgent nation that forgets God and engages in all sorts of immorality and that fails to respect the sanctity of all human life is a nation that has made its vulnerable. So we need to pray and repent. Each day pray that God will turn us back to Him and the Gospel of life and away from the slippery slope of the culture of death. For better or worse, God allowed the American people--whether rightly or wrongly, justly or unjustly--to re-elect Obama, so let us pray fervently for his conversion and let us pray for God's wisdom to help us discern the difference between necessary pragmatic compromise and inexcusable moral compromise. Let us work hard to restore respect for ALL human life, from conception through natural death and reverse the downward spiral toward the culture of death, because a nation with a strong respect for all human life will NOT turn into a nation like Nazi Germany.

We need to trust God and cooperate with HIS work in our lives and in our country and support godly leaders. If we cooperate with God and seek to follow His will, He will never abandon us and He will help us to grow into what we seek to be "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We also need to try to put aside our petty differences and encourage all who believe in the essential values of the Judaeo-Christian ethic, regardless of our denomination, to work together, because as a united front we can defeat the evils of the culture of death, moral relativism, communism and fascism. "United we stand; divided we fall". God bless America!

SILENT MORNING

(For the Parents of the Children Killed @ Sandy Hook School on December 14, 2012)                                                                                                                          By Arlene B. Muller

This year a silent morning will follow their silent night,

As their tear-worn eyes view your empty bed as they walk to the Christmas tree.

They remember Christmas mornings, when yours was the first face they’d see,

When your glowing face and your shining eyes were like lights on their Christmas tree.

How could it be Christmas!  What a silent day it could be!

No squeals of delight, no child opening presents under the Christmas tree!

How could it be Christmas!  It feels like a mockery!

For you were their light; you were their angel; you were the star on their tree.

Nothing is calm.  Nothing is bright.  Darkness is all that they see,

As they kneel before an empty manger under their Christmas tree.

A Child was born.  A Son was given.  But their child was taken away.

Come, JESUS, come, fill their aching hearts as they kneel by their Christmas tree.

Then it could be Christmas!  Then a healing day it could be,

Though no squeals of delight or child opening presents kneels under their Christmas tree.

Come, come fill their Christmas! Let it not be a mockery!

You came as a Child.  You came as the Light—

Be born in their lives—Be born in their hearts—As they kneel by their Christmas tree.

© Copyright 2012 by Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OSF)

  

Post Election Angst & Advent Hope

I'm grateful for the testimonies in Scripture which reflect what I am feeling now.  

I relate to Martha in John 11, in which JESUS had waited to come to Bethany until after Lazarus had died & asked, "WHERE WERE YOU, LORD!  IF YOU HAD BEEN HERE, THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. BUT YET EVEN NOW I BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL DO WHATEVER YOU ASK."  God had a better plan to raise Lazarus--a plan that she could not understand.  

Once again I relate to the apostles who left Calvary on Good Friday & to the disciples on the road to Emmaus who were disheartened & crushed that the unthinkable evil--the cruel murder of the Messiah upon Whom they had placed such hope--had happened.  But God had a better plan--a spiritual rather than a political redemption, the suffering of the Innocent One to atone for the sins of the guilty, and the joy of Resurrection.  

I'm sure that it was hard for the early Christians to have assurance that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church as they were being thrown to the lions in Rome.  

Soon we will begin another Liturgical Year & another Advent & recall & spiritually relive the many centuries in which those faithful to God waited with eager longing for the time when Messiah would come & set His people free.  

Thank the LORD last night we had our choir practice for LESSONS & CAROLS & practiced songs with strains in a minor key that reflect our longing for God to come & make things right, along with strains in a major key that reflect the hope that, in His timing, He will.  

It feels as if in this 2012 Presidential election in America God abandoned His people who struggled so hard to promote His righteousness and His glory, to protect the lives of those most vulnerable from being slaughtered because of "inconvenience", to protect the right of people not to "enable" all forms of sexual immorality and to restore the Judaeo-Christian principles of God-given inalienable rights upon which our nation was founded with His providential blessing.  The false messiah who endorses & enables all sorts of evil has won the election (for those who share my convictions, contrary to the false propaganda, this has nothing to do with the color of his skin or "bigotry", but it is about the content of his character and the sin he endorses) & God once again allowed this to happen.  

It is only the testimony of Scripture that gives me a glimmer of hope to continue to believe in "the substance of things hoped for--the evidence of things unseen"--that somehow even this tragic mistake of the American electorate can be a piece of the puzzle of God's plan as we wait in joyful hope for the time when the LORD & His righteousness & peace will prevail upon the earth & when the kingdom of this world will finally become the kingdom of Our LORD and of His Christ & He shall reign forever & every knee, even that of Barack Obama and his allies, must bow & every tongue proclaim the JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

Franciscan Spiritual Gifts– Joy and Hospitality

There are various aspects of the life, personality and spiritual gifts of St. Francis of Assisi which attract people to follow his way of following JESUS CHRIST, either in the First Order (friars), Second Order (Poor Clares), Third Order (Secular Franciscans for laity and also priests and religious who follow the Third Order rule), or simply as Christians who admire him.  Many people speak of his commitment to radical poverty and may be inspired to live more simply.  Others marvel at the story of his conversion and his commitment to a life of penance.  Others marvel at his deep life of prayer. 

In modern times we can often look back upon the events of the Protestant Reformation and the division in the Mystical Body of Christ in light of the call that St. Francis received from the LORD while praying before the San Damiano cross, “Francis, rebuild My Church, which is falling into ruin”. There was corruption and materialism in the Church at the time of St. Francis.  Francis worked to rebuild the Church, obedient to the LORD’s call in a way that was still totally loyal and obedient to the Church.  He did this not by criticizing or condemning anyone or pointing fingers or breaking away, but by his own example and message of simplicity and devotion to God’s Word and his integrity.  Unfortunately, not everyone learned from his example and there was still materialism and corruption in the Church (e.g. abuses such as the selling of indulgences)—factors that helped provoke the Protestant Reformation.  So if people had paid greater heed to Francis’ preaching and example and lived more simply, with greater integrity and greater devotion to Scripture and living the Gospel, perhaps there would not have been a Protestant Reformation, because there would have been less of a need for reform.

Others cite St. Francis’ great love for God’s Creation and his special relationship with animals.  Still others marvel at his identification with the Crucified Christ in the gift of the stigmata, his life of prayer, his devotion to the Eucharist that was so great that it even caused him to honor the most sinful priest, his representation of the events of the Birth of Christ at Greccio, or his dedication to the cause of peace and reconciliation.

Even one of these—and particularly the combination of all of the above—provide good reason to love and admire St. Francis of Assisi and even seek to follow his example of living the Gospel in our various states in life (priesthood, religious/consecrated life, diaconate, married life or the single vocation and in various professions and occupations).  However, although these are all very significant, I think that with the possible exception of Francis’ call to rebuild the Church, I don’t think that any particular one of these are what attracted me most to our beloved seraphic father Francis.

In the interview preceding my profession as a Secular Franciscan almost 20 years ago, I stated that my deepest admiration for St. Francis and sense of connection with him is that he was so in love with the LORD that he was not afraid to appear foolish.  Many are attracted to Francis as one who embraced suffering and embraced a life of poverty and penance (all of which still scares me). However, I am more attracted to the other side of Francis, which is equally true:  a man so full of life and love and joy—the love and joy that led him to burst into song and to tell people he encountered, “The LORD is in love with you!” This Francis so desired to share his love and joy that one of his great delights was that the LORD gave him “brothers” and “sisters” who were drawn to follow his way of life.  In the process of formation I read a few books about St. Francis that inspired me to draw this conclusion, particularly GOD’S FOOL by Julian Green.

Although many would see the obvious contrast between the pre-converted playboy “party animal” Francis and the saint committed to penance and poverty, it is also true that in the conversion of Francis the LORD actually sanctified Francis’ “joie de vivre” and transformed this ringleader of late-night revelry and carousing into the “Troubadour for the LORD” and the jovial host of a feast of bread crumbs at the Chapter of Mats.  I think that it is generally true that the “new creation” God works in each of us is often not a stark difference that makes us “other” than ourselves but a sanctified actualization of the person God created us to be—our “true selves”—much of which can be seen in our pre-conversion life.  After all, Saul/Paul was always characterized by great zeal bordering on obsession-compulsion:  the Pharisee zealous to “protect” the God and religion of Israel from those “followers of the ‘Way’” on the road to Damascus became the zealous Christian compelled to preach the Gospel and consider his suffering and even martyrdom nothing in comparison with the joy of union with Christ.

Why did I become a Secular Franciscan?  Quite simply, I came because God called me (and showed me in various ways that He was calling me), and I came for the joy.  I came for the joy of falling in love with the LORD, of praising and worshipping God for and with His awesome creation, of singing the LORD’s praises, of preaching the Gospel always and using words when necessary, and the joy of sharing with and serving my brothers and sisters.  I suppose that this connection with joy can be viewed to be consistent with my character and personality and the working of the Holy Spirit in my life, since people throughout my lifetime have referred to me as “the one who’s always smiling”.  It is consistent with the way God made me and the way I was raised.  As I see it was with Francis, I see that in myself this joy finds its fulfillment in sharing community and fellowship and in praising the LORD in song.  Shared prayer, shared song in harmony, and shared food and fellowship in an atmosphere of warm welcome, good conversation, laughter, and gracious hospitality is, for me, a foretaste of heaven.  After all, it has been written that in heaven we will share in the heavenly BANQUET.

I remember learning from Jesuit retreat masters (and one of the early experiences of my calling to become a Secular Franciscan came at a Jesuit retreat house with a Sister of Charity of Halifax as my director) that St. Ignatius of Loyola initially called his followers “Companions of JESUS”.  I was taught that “companion” literally means someone with whom one shares bread.  I think that this applies not only to the Eucharist but to earthly bread as well.  The Francis I admire has often been depicted as inviting people to share in the fellowship he enjoyed with the LORD and his family of followers.  It has been said that evangelization is actually “one beggar showing another beggar where the bread is”, so, in that vein, evangelization is actually a high form of hospitality.

The Francis I admire has often been depicted engaged in extending hospitality.  The Francis who was once extravagant with material riches became extravagant in the context of his poverty, as in the feast with bread crumbs at the Chapter of Mats.  Francis loved God and loved people extravagantly, desiring to share and give all he had, and putting the needs and comfort of others ahead of his own, as, we, too are called to do in demonstrating the virtue of hospitality!  Francis embraced and welcomed all in a spirit of joy and gratitude for everything as coming from God, which is a wonderful example for each of us.

Although St. Francis and the friars fasted both when required by the Church and for times of voluntary penance, he also thoroughly enjoyed celebrations and feasts (e.g. Christmas) and encouraged others to enjoy feasting, in contrast with others who were more ascetic. For Francis, there was a time to fast and a time to feast, which is in keeping with the spirit of Ecclesiastes 3 (“To everything there is a season…”).  When St. Francis heard a friar crying out in the night, “I am dying, I am dying!” and learned that the friar meant he was dying of hunger, Francis awakened the whole community and gave them all something to eat so that the friar both would be fed and spared embarrassment.  This is another example of Francis’ gracious hospitality expressed in concern for the needs and comfort of all and his gift for turning an occasion of meeting a brother’s need into an impromptu celebration!

I believe that the joyous hospitality of Francis is fully realized when members of the various branches of his family come together to share prayer, song, food and fellowship, and when all share in love and joy together as brothers and sisters in one Franciscan family.  Perhaps this is a foretaste of the joy Our LORD desires for ALL His children that will finally be fully realized in heaven.

Arlene Clare Muller, OSF – September 25, 2012

We Lay People Must BE The Church In The Secular World

I imagine there has always been a serious discernment issue concerning the role of us Christians in secular matters, especially in the world of politics.  In everything we must be centered in Christ, who is the Author and the One Who completes our faith, and we must not be trapped into focusing on power, position, and prestige or looking to any political leader as a savior or messiah in place of Christ.  Only JESUS CHRIST is our Savior.  I have been reminded that “salvation is through the Church” and not through politics. However, I think that there is a difference between the role of the institutional Church/hierarchy/clergy and our personal salvation and the role of the laity within the Church called to act as a bridge between the Church and the secular world not only to evangelize and help bring people to Christ and the Church but also to do our part in impacting the world and seeking to right what is wrong, especially in a nation like America where the government is “of the people, by the people and for the people” and where citizens have the power to make a difference.

The role of the institutional Church/hierarchy/clergy is to send missionaries into the mission field and to "equip the saints" by providing us with teaching on the Church's perspective of what is going on in the world, by facilitating our understanding of the Scriptures, by presiding at Mass, giving us the Eucharist, hearing our confessions and providing counsel when and where needed, and administering the other sacraments.  The pope and the bishops publicly declare the Church's position on the issues.  

We as Catholic Christian lay people are thus equipped to go out into the world in our various professions and live the Gospel and make a positive impact on the world.  I believe that it is essential that we Catholics go to Mass, receive the sacraments, get married* and *lovingly and faithfully raise children (*if we are called to marriage—some people, like myself, have been called into the single vocation), fulfill the duties of our specific jobs, and take care of our parents.   Although it is very important to do all these things well first and foremost, I do not believe that our role as lay people necessarily ends in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, and our parishes.  I believe that we are called to do more for our country and for the world than to wait in our homes while people in the world who have not come to Christ or nominal Christians who are not living according to Gospel values continue to make the world worse and worse and we all die and go to heaven while those whom "the Church" has not reached goes to hell and the rest of the world goes to hell in a hand basket!  If we are true Christians, the Gospel should permeate every aspect of our lives, and as Christian lay people we are called to permeate the various walks of life and the social and political climate of our times with the values of the Gospel that we have heard and believed and that are nurtured by worship, Word, and sacraments in the institutional Church.

We need the Church, of course!  But we also need to BE the Church and to pervade the world with the Gospel in every area of life!  Politics is one of many areas.  The Church can teach us that abortion is wrong, and Church organizations can minister to women in crisis pregnancies and their babies.  

But the Church doesn't change the laws--we need people in government to change the laws.  It is for the Christian politician to end the funding of Planned Parenthood, to make laws restricting and hopefully ending abortion, to discern how best to exercise compassion and social justice to those who are poor and marginalized, and to discern how to deal with the scourge of terrorism.  The pope can tell a president, "don't go to war", but it is the president who has to decide how to protect our country from potential acts of terrorism--something that the pope cannot do.

It is for the Christian filmmaker, producer, director, actor, actress to decide not to make films or TV shows that glorify immodesty, premarital sex and/or homosexual activity but to make and promote films and TV shows that show how young people can be chaste and wait to have sex until they are married, how married couples can meet the day-to-day challenges and trials that can occur during their married life and remain faithful and devoted to each other and have true joy rather than "the pleasures of sin for a season" and to raise their children to be godly people who love and serve God and people, and how a person struggling with same sex attraction can find healing and live a chaste life that might have its ongoing struggle but can be happy and fruitful.  It is for the Christian singer/songwriter/musician to write,  perform, and produce music for both the Church and the world that will honor God and reflect Gospel values, whether it is music written for the Church, contemporary Christian music, or secular music without specifically religious content.  

It is for the Christian doctor, nurse, and other medical professional to insist that he/she will never perform or enable an abortion, to counsel a woman carrying a child with Down syndrome that although this child's life will present many challenges, he/she is still a valuable human being who has potential to achieve more than he/she realizes--with the proper help--and can be more of a blessing than she can ever imagine, to insist that a patient with diminished brain function or in a coma be provided with nutrition and hydration, and to affirm by word and actions the Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life at all stages from conception through natural death.  

It is for the Christian teacher or therapist in a Catholic or other Christian school who can teach religion but also the Christian teacher or therapist in a secular school who is not permitted to speak directly about God, Jesus or religion to love the children he/she teaches, to affirm the value of each child and his/her gifts, to teach sharing, caring, and other Gospel (while not specifically “religious” in areas where this is not permitted) values by his/her love, word, and example, and to wear his/her cross so that someday hopefully this child will grow up and see a cross and make a connection between that cross, the teacher who loved him/her and provided a beautiful example, and JESUS and the Church.

It is for the Christian working in the corporate environment to demonstrate integrity, hard work, the value and dignity of every human being above numbers and production, charity, good will, and joy in an atmosphere that has become increasingly de-personalized and demoralizing.

We also need Christians who will report the news to help us see what is happening in the world from a Christian perspective rather than the liberal views of the secular media.  

Obviously we are concerned about the salvation of individual souls—especially of the souls the LORD has put in our care and those who are dear to us-- but we must also be concerned about making a positive impact on the world in our various professions (which, I realize, include areas more numerous than those  to which I have referred in this blog), in our voting decisions, in communicating with our political leaders, in supporting candidates who represent our values, and by speaking out and writing in accordance with the gifts and calling given to us by the Holy Spirit.  The hierarchy and clergy have their important function of bringing people into the Church, helping individuals achieve salvation, nurturing us through Mass and the sacraments, and communicating Church teaching, but for the most part it is up to Christian lay people to take what we have received and “go in peace to love and serve the LORD” by trying to save our broken world.  I would suggest that it is often through a lay person's influence that a person not of our faith becomes interested in coming into the Church.  

I would also suggest that in addition to our participation at Mass and in our individual ministries within our parishes, we lay people need to be able to get together in a kind of "holy huddle" to pray and support each other in our mission, whether it is in a prayer group, a Bible study, the lay expression of a religious order, or a combination of these.  The priests give us the sacraments, which are essential for us to be nurtured, they preach and teach us, which is essential for us to know how to apply the Gospel to life (which is how I view the purpose of homilies), and they provide the counsel we need, but they don't walk in our shoes, so we not only need the priests, deacons and religious, (as essential as they are), but we lay people also need each other.  

As Christians IN the world but NOT OF the world, and as lay Christians who “bridge the gap” between the Church and the secular world, we are the ones who are best in the position to CHANGE THE WORLD! 

May the Holy Spirit quicken each one of us in our hearts and give each of us the wisdom and courage to know and do what is ours to do to shine the light of Christ into every corner of our world, especially here in America.

© Copyright 2012 by Arlene B. Muller

Living Between Good Friday and Easter: Awaiting Easter Dawn

With the election of Barack Obama, the strongest pro-abortion president in US history, and especially with the passage of Obamacare without the Stupak-Pitts amendment (the amendment that would have guaranteed that no abortions would be funded except under the conditions of the Hyde amendment), under the guise of a promised executive order, the pro-life movement in America was dealt two very severe blows.  As I experienced feelings of disillusionment, disappointment, frustration, and discouragement after all the prayer and written communication to try to ensure that unborn babies, people with disabilities, people who are elderly, people with chronic or serious health conditions, and the conscience rights of health care personnel and facilities that oppose abortion would be protected, I needed to relate this experience to something in the Gospel.  I recognized that my feelings in some respects were in some degree connected to my perception of what the apostles must have felt with the realization that JESUS, their Master, had actually undergone crucifixion, had died on the cross, and had been buried.  It was in some way connected to the feelings of the women who left the tomb where the lifeless body of JESUS had been placed.  How could this have happened?  How could God have let it happen?  How could He have abandoned them?

History and faith demonstrate that this was not the end of the story.  While the unthinkable (yes, unthinkable to them, even though JESUS had tried to tell them several times) had happened and while all seemed lost, the LORD was, in fact, doing the great work of gaining the salvation of all who believed and would come to believe in Him and rescuing the just souls from the prison of Sheol and bringing them to heaven.  God had already arranged that the event of great horror and suffering, which appeared to be the worst thing that could ever happen, would be the way to the best thing that could ever happen, our salvation and the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST from the dead.  Death was to be swallowed up in victory at a time when faithful followers could only feel mired by defeat.  However, in the absence of understanding, it was as if a deep cloud had covered the area and deep fog hung over the land.

Although people in the pro-life movement, unlike the disciples who hid for cover in the Upper Room, have continued to press on and even gain several important victories, there still hangs a veil of gloom over our land while a strongly pro-abortion president remains in residence in the White House, promoting his pro-abortion agenda and showing a serious lack of respect for religious freedom, the right of conscience, and the rights of the unborn.  Where is God in all this?  What is He doing?  Will He ever reveal His Presence and once again act on our behalf?

The election of a genuinely pro-life President in November would be a sign of our vindication.  It would reassure us that God still raises up people who are determined to seek and follow Him and to work to defend the most vulnerable.

It seems to me that God is raising up Rick Santorum for such a time as this.  Rick Santorum is not God, not a messiah, not a savior, and not even a saint, but a fallible human being like the rest of us.  If elected President his goals would still be subject to the decisions of Congress, and he would still be attacked by the liberal secular media. However, he is a genuine Catholic who strongly believes in the rights of those most vulnerable and has a great track record of defending the unborn.  He is a father who is concerned for the life of his precious daughter who has a chromosomal abnormality whose continued existence on this earth is very fragile and who, due to severe developmental delays, has a life that is not always valued by medical professionals and whose plight would probably become even worse if Obamacare goes into effect.  At first his campaign yielded a small percentage of support until he almost miraculously beat the odds and won the Iowa primary.  This was the first sign of hope that perhaps the dawn is near, and there have been many subsequent signs of victory as well.

At present it appears as if the odds are still against Rick Santorum, but sometimes Easter miracles still can happen.  We do not yet know if God will intervene miraculously in this upcoming election or will once again allow Americans to be left to their own devices to choose the candidate that appeals to the worldly and fleshly concerns.

For me, if Rick Santorum wins this election it will be as if the clouds have lifted, the rainbow has appeared and an Easter morning will have finally dawned.  It will be a sign that God is  smiling on America and the pro-life movement once again.