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Daily Scripture

+ Fourth Week of Lent

I am in the heart of God.

Readings: Jeremiah 11:18, 12:19-20 Psalm 7:2-3, 9-12 John 7:40-53

Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will be spoken no more. [Jeremiah 12:19]

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees who asked them, “Why did you not bring him in?” The guards answered, ”Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” [John 7:45-46]

Could it be that we don’t get answers because we don’t ask the right questions? I think we spend a great deal of time, perhaps a great portion of our lives in denial about who we are and who we are to become.

I may not ask the right questions because I’m afraid of the answers. I fear the darkness but hide in the darkness in order to avoid the light. Denial becomes a way of life but in reality it is the path to death.

This is a paradox, however, because unless we willingly succumb to the dark night of the soul, we cannot find the light of God’s truth.

Jesus was not exempt from this process that peaked in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died.

True spiritual freedom is not something that we pursue but something to which we succumb by letting go and letting God. Those who were truly liberated in Christ were not those who simply understood his words but those who were absorbed into his life so that with Paul they could say, “I live no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” Or to put it another way, “Say not that God is in my heart but that I am in the heart of God.”

Editorial - Op Ed

Monday March 19, 2007

It’s a matter of conscience

For several weeks in succession, I repeated the ‘pulpit’ announcement at the conclusion of Mass at Assumption Church in Morristown where I preside every Sunday at the 8:30 AM Liturgy. “Parishioners are invited to participate in the Rally for Darfur on Sunday, March 18th at 2:00 PM on the Morristown Green.”

I’m not one for rallies and rarely participate in public demonstrations especially on a Sunday afternoon. However, a little voice inside me told me to ‘show up’ for the rally that, due to the snowstorm on the previous Friday, was moved to the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer on South Street. In recent years, ‘Redeemer’ has been on the cutting edge of social justice issues that cross religious, social and socio-economic boundaries. It was no surprise that parishioners opened their doors and their sanctuary for the five hundred Jews, Christians, and Moslems who attended. There was not an empty seat in the church and many stood for the two-hour program of brief but powerful speeches, prayer and music.

The enthusiasm in the crowd brought me back to the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War rallies of the sixties across the nation but without the rancor of those days. The mood of the gathering was indeed spirited but not raucous. As the speakers shared the memory of their experience of pillage and rape, as they described the horror of bombs, the torching of entire villages and the execution of survivors, one could hear a pin drop in the attentive congregation.

The phrase that came to mind was, “Justice delayed is justice denied!”

After the holocaust, we Americans said, “Never again!” but it happened again in Cambodia, in Bosnia, in Rwanda and now it is happening in Sudanese Darfur and the world has again looked the other way. Why does it take so long for us to recognize the ‘killing fields?’ Why has it taken so long for ME to see what is happening under our watch?

Three weeks in succession the media was obsessed and we were saturated with nightly interviews about the death and burial of Anna Nicole Smith but hardly a word about the daily genocide in Sudan. The nightly news has changed from what people need to know to what people want to know. Not good!

I don’t think we are complacent. Rather many of us are overwhelmed with the enormity of the problem and paralyzed by our assumed inability to make a difference.

I mentioned earlier that at this stage of my life, I’m not into rallies and demonstrations but I can write a good letter and I have yet to give to the point of hunger.

The theme of the rally on the 18th was “It’s a matter of conscience.” Indeed it is.

What would happen if at least one member of every website visitor in wrote a personal letter to our congressional representatives and to our UN ambassador demanding sanctions and a peacekeeping force in Sudan? And if every parish did the same, I’ll bet it would make a difference. What do you think?

This is really what is means to be Catholic with a large and small ‘C.’ This is what it means to be pro-life at every stage of life.

We can start by visiting: NJ Coalition where there are links to many other organizations helping victims of this humanitarian scandal or click on to: Save Darfur.

First inform yourself. Then write a letter to your representatives. Give to the cause through a trusted charity of your choice. We can’t afford to wait until our children ask us where we were when Darfur was massacred.

Father Lasch