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Daily Scripture

+ 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Every day is a gift and a blessing.

Readings: I Corinthians 1:1-9 Psalm 145:2-7 Matthew 24:42-51

I give thanks to my god always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gifts as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [I Cor 1:4-5, 7]

My mother used to say that every day is a gift and a blessing—an opportunity for grace indeed, many graces.

I suppose it’s all according to one’s perspective. The greatest challenge in life is to find something to be thankful for every day. This is particularly difficult during stressful times and certainly during illness of one kind or another.

I think I may have shared difference between a hermit and a nightclub performer. The hermit wakes up at dawn and says, “Thank you, God!” The nightclub entertainer wakes up at noon and says, “Good God, morning?”

There is so much going on in the world at large and in our own particular worlds to bring anxiety and stress. It’s hard work to maintain balance. An active spiritual life based on the confidence that nothing can happen today that can defeat us if we are grounded in the belief that God’s presence is abiding but it’s difficult and sometimes terrifying to let go.

I still remember the first time I road my two-wheeler bike without my dad holding on to the seat. We started off—I, confident that he hand was firmly attached to the seat. I had ridden almost a full block before I realized that he had let go and there I was, gliding down the street. It’s that way with God. We just need to remain conscious that God’s ‘hand’ is not a crutch but that God’s grace within us is real.

Some days it seems as if we are starting all over again.

The Iraqi Quagmire

Tuesday June 20, 2006

I published the following commentary in our parish bulletin several weeks prior to the United States preemptory strike against Iraq in March of 2003. The tragic news of the discovery of two of our service men savagely and ritually massacred moved me to return to my files. How tragically accurate were my premonitions.

This coupled with the news of national guardsmen moving into New Orleans makes me wonder if our nation is on the right course and ponder at the direction of our leadership.

Calm Before the Storm

Was it my imagination or was the traffic lighter than usual and moving more slowly along Route 24 on the Tuesday and Wednesday following the president’s ultimatum? The grieving seemed to have begun even before the launch of the first missile and subsequent loss of life or limb.

I was saddened by the president’s words not necessarily because I disagreed with the ultimatum. At that point, along with most American citizens, I was so frustrated by the obstinacy of Hussein that I actually began to experience sympathy with the call to arms, forgetting for the moment the costs of war.

Immediately after viewing his statement, I watched a special presentation of “Frontline,” a two hour PBS chronicle of the events that in the mind of the producers contributed to the president’s decision to attack Iraq.

The program was unraveling and disturbing. It clearly demonstrated the barbarism that has characterized the Hussein dynasty and surely left no doubt about his deceptive control and violent regime. It was a shocking account of what no civilized person of any moral persuasion can justify under any circumstances. The comparison of Hussein with Hitler is not extreme. Indeed, there is strong reason to believe that his anomalous behavior is attributed to his devotion to the ruthless Joseph Stalin.

That having been acknowledged, this chronicle could not dissipate the cloud cast by the threat of immanent war. The external calm before the storm surely belied the turmoil within the soul of fervent believers and even of the most patriotic of citizens. How does one explain religious fervor in the face of battle? How does one justify patriotism and yet shrink from the preemptive unleashing of weapons of mass destruction by “good people” to prevent the initiation of the same by “bad people.” Although intended to be redemptive are they in fact retaliatory.

Moral confusion abounds against the calm façade of cold ultimatums. Does the end does justify the means after all? Have we been mistaken about the therapeutic — read “preemptive”—attack on a child in the womb for the sake of a greater good? Where does respect for innocent life begin — and end? No, not Hussein’s life but the innocent women, men and children soon to become collateral damage. If he is still alive, he has surely taken leave of the safety of his own people subjecting them to the worst fate imaginable.

I for one did not find the thought of tons of ammunition triggered by hi-tech controls aimed only at targets with pin-point accuracy emotionally consoling or morally assuring. Perhaps by the time these reflections are published, I will have egg on my face for my lack of trust in our leaders or want of confidence in their strategy. On the other hand, I am told we have made great advances since the first gulf war. Whereas only 10% of missiles were strategically accurate then, 90% are accurate now. Not only can a building be targeted with accuracy but a specific office within the particular building! So, I offer now a “preemptory” confession of my blindness and concede willingly to the rightful application of the just war theory in the light of such technological advances in warfare.

No matter where we stand as believers, no one wishes harm to those who have been called to risk their lives in service to our country, but we know that it is not possible to guarantee their safety. It is interesting that many of those who will be on the front lines in the economy of war have been at the end of the line in economy of justice in their homeland. War is a strange equalizer indeed.

I think it is also fair to say that no believer wishes harm to the innocent Iraqi victims who are caught in the crossfire. They are victims not the cause of the grave injustices heaped upon them.

Beyond the loss of life there has been much talk about the material costs of this war. It will be an irony beyond ironies that the urgings and pleadings of advocates of domestic social justice for Americans to live a more simple life driven not by consumerism but by the just distribution of wealth and the principles of equity will be addressed by default. With predictions of a flat economy for the remainder of this year and next, we will be paying more for less and forced to live more simply.

As we watch the war unfold on our TV screens, our leaders urge us to conduct our affairs as normal but the normal has become by now the surreal.

We can pray only that God’s justice prevail and that we will emerge from this war a people ready and willing to accept the challenge of peace-building rather than war-making.

We have proven our power to destroy. We now must prove our power to restore and build what human hands can no longer destroy — the dominion of peace in the human heart. Only God can guarantee it’s success.