The Importance of Loyalty

No servant can serve two masters.  He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Economics is not my field of expertise.  I do not pretend to know much about the stock market, the board of trade, or even how much gold there is in Fort Knox. Some say that money is just the way we keep score in the game of life. Perhaps this is true, but if it is then money is more than just a scorecard, it is something to be grasped at no matter what the personal cost.  It is in effect our master. 

As the people of God, we cannot allow money to be the master over us.  While it is necessary to use money in the world to attain what is necessary to sustain our lives and the lives of those that depend on us, it should not be the be-all and end-all of all of our work. Our loyalty should not be to money but should be to God.  

Okay, so we personally won't serve money as our god.  We see that we must serve God before man.  But look at the churches, especially the Catholic Church.  It is not exactly ready to send her curia to stand in line at the soup kitchen.  She seems to have a ton of money and between what our parish shares with the diocese and what the diocese shares with Rome there seems to be a lot of money floating around, more than many of the other denominations put together have on deposit.  Then they come at us once a year to donate to Peter's Pence to help the pope in his charitable works.  It seems that there is an awful lot of cash floating around.  And, how about the Vatican Bank?  It has a reputation for helping out people in need of dry cleaning services for their cash.   Where is the curia's loyalty?  So they serve their God or is their god money? 

The truth be told, the Vatican usually operates at a deficit.  For example in 2015 the revenue received was 315 million Euros against expenditures of 329 million Euros.  Remember, that the Church very often is the first organization there when a disaster strikes.  She feeds the hungry and uses the funds entrusted to her in Godly projects that help people.  In Francis, we have a pope that will give up the pomp and circumstance of his office so that those that need help are not deprived.  Francis just announced that duty-free cigarettes will no longer be sold in the stores in Vatican City, depriving the Vatican of about ten-million dollars of revenue each year.  The reason?  Francis says that the Church should not profit from a product that is bad for peoples health so, on January 1, 2018, you will not be able to buy smokes in Vatican City.  This small act shows where the loyalty of Francis lies. He values people over money. 

For us, we should not be mastered by money, we should be the master of it.  Sharing our time, talent and treasure will help us keep our loyalties straight.  We owe to God much more than money can buy.  No matter what, we will always be at least one penny short when it comes to the ticket price of heaven and that extra penny is worth more than all of the money that has ever been minted because the only source of it is the love that God has for each of us.  So, yes, money is important.  Earn it and use it wisely taking care to pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God that which is owed to God. 

Can you do me a favor?  Will you take a moment out of your busy day to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory?  While they are filled with joy, they suffer greatly and depend on your prayers.   "As they are, perhaps one day you shall be."  

Putting All Of The Cards On The Table

I make no secret that I love the Catholic Church and know that it is the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ as opposed to any and all other denominations which were founded by mere ordinary men.  I believe that the scandal of the moment is not any indication of a lack of holiness on the part of the Church because the Church gets its holiness from its founder, Jesus. I also am aware that Jesus has promised that His Church will stand the test of time because it will be protected by the Holy Spirit from teaching error.  I do think, however, that it is the time to put all of the cards on the table and make an end of this sex scandal that has affected the Church over the last decade or so. 

One of the first things that Pope Francis should do is to kick Bernard Law out of Italy and send him back to the United States where he can answer for his criminal conduct in covering up the abuse of young people.  His presence in Italy is an embarrassment to the Church and an affront against justice.  Next, each ordained person must be questioned in writing under oath and asked straight out if they had ever committed any sort of sexual offense against either children or adults in violation of their vows or if they participated in any cover-up of any abuse.  I am not naive enough to think that the guilty will confess. But if later it is found that they did indeed engage in some sort of sexual crime or coverup, the written testimony where they perjured themselves could be used as evidence against them to defrock them from their priesthood. 

The Church has made remarkable progress in safeguarding young people.  For example, I participate in an adult choir where we might have contact with young people one or two days out of the year and I had to take training and pass a background check to remain in the choir. 

The Church has paid a heavy price for what a minuscule number of renegade priests and their supervisors did. The Church will recover because the good she does vastly outweigh the effects of the scandal and it is Christ that said that the Holy Spirit would protect her through the ages. 

Change The Mass - An Ex Catholic with a Bad Idea and Lets Play Spin the Bottle Spin The Priest

Proposal By A Fallen Away Catholic

This week I skimmed over an article written by a young lady that styles herself as a former Catholic which in the olden days we would have called "fallen away."  She decided to take it upon herself to recommend to Pope Francis that the Catholic Church remove from the Mass the words of the Roman soldier, "Lord I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, only say the word and my soul shall be healed."  Like many fallen away, excuse me, former Catholics she has suddenly become an expert on the Bible, sacraments, and the liturgy.  In her treatise she says that Jesus died for all and His death made us worthy so we should not say these words as they are not true and an affront to our humanity.  As many former Catholics, she has become blind to the beauty of the moment of when those words are said in the Mass.  She obviously does not or perhaps she chooses not to remember that this prayer is said as part of the communion rite, right before we receive.  She obviously has no respect for the Eucharist. I am sure that in her denomination any remaining grape juice and saltines are simply disposed of along with the stale cupcakes and used Styrofoam coffee cups used in the fellowship after their preacher finishes his sermon.  She should remember that in the Catholic Church the Eucharist is the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ who enters into us in the form of transubstaniated bread and wine.  The words of the soldier are very apt for each one of us. Because while it is true that we are saved by the Cross of Jesus, each one of us falls short, misses the mark, in some ways.  So the words confess that we are but a shack of a temple with a leaky roof and mud floors and in faith it shouts that when Jesus enters us in this most intimate way we become greater than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome because Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, the Triumphant Jesus, the Very Word of the Father  is physically within us.  This makes me just a bit on the humble side, as it should. 

SPIN THE PRIEST AROUND?

Since the reforms of Vatican II the priest has lead us in prayer by facing the congregation.  Prior to this the presider would face the altar with his back to the people.  First of all, let me say that whatever way the priest faces makes no difference to me.  But, if I had my choice, if the Church left it up to me, I would keep the priest facing the people, sharing prayer and better able to communicate with the people.  Some conservatives want to go back to the old way.  This week the Pope said that while it is permissible to face the altar instead of the people, it is not mandatory that the priest do so.  With Christians being slaughtered in the Middle East I think we should have more to worry about than this.  I will take what comes.  I have to confess that I was a bit put out when Pope Benedict vetoed using the name of God, "Yahweh" in our worship because I love the song "You Are Near" and really got into it when it came up as part of the music selected for worship, I put this in its place and realized that in the long run, this was something that does not matter.  I classify the position of the priest in the same way.  I would not be pleased if I started to have to watch the priest from behind, but I certainly would not stop going to Mass or give up the Catholic Church because of it.   What I say now, I say with all due respect to the Pope and to the Magistarium, but sometimes I think that breathing that holy rarefied air that seems to fill presidential offices, board rooms, and executive meeting chambers the world over sometimes makes those who inhale it lose sight of the little people below them that do not really care one way or the other.  So let's play spin the priest if we must but my fellow little people, let us not get caught up in a minor change in ritual that only makes a real difference to the Pope, the Cardinals, and the Bishops who make their living in and through the Church. Now, changing the words of songs to make them "inclusive," well, don't get me started on that...........

The Death Penalty

On June 21, 2016 Pope Francis that "No matter how serious the crime it is an offense to the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, as well as a contradiction if God's plan and His Merciful Justice." (Catholic News Service) He went on to say that the death penalty is not justice, it is revenge.  
The pope is correct in his thinking here.  Although there are many examples of people being condemned to death and being executed in the Bible, let's look at the first reported murder, the case Cain versus Able. The motive for this killing was simple jealousy and Cain slew his brother because he was jealous because God did not accept his sacrifice.  God of course knew what Cain had done.  Did He apply the death penalty? Actually no he did not. He sent Cain off to exile. 

The Bible says "Whoever sheds the blood of men shall his blood be shed for God made man in His image."  The catechism says that the death penalty may be used if there is no other way to protect society from harm from the perpetrator.  Today we have such a method, it is called "Life in prison without the possibility of parole."  We can take the worst of the worst and keep them away from others until such time as God calls them home in order to answer for their crimes before His tribunal. 

Maybe we are too concerned about the perpetrators here and are not considering the victims?  Let's talk about them a bit. Very often it is claimed that the execution of the one that hurt their loved one brings closure.  If you do a little bit of research you will find that, in America, the long time between conviction and the ultimate execution keeps the wound fresh red and raw in the victim's family.  Then when the execution finally does occur there is no closure because many of the families realize that this second killing did not bring back their loved one. 

What are Christians such as you and I supposed to do?  Jesus is very clear on this.  We are to love one another as ourselves and we are to include our enemies in this.  We are to turn the other cheek.  But since we are to love others as we love ourselves we are also allowed to deal a lethal blow to defend our lives against an aggressor.  What I think we are being asked to do is to err on the side of mercy.  

Let me tell you a personal story.  My mother, Violet, was a wonderful woman. She had a hard life growing up during the depression.  Her mother wasn't especially good to her during her childhood.  She grew up, dropped out of high school and obtained work in a defense plant.  After the war she met my father, married, and gave birth to me and my siblings. She was always looking for happiness to come into her from outside, she never learned that happiness comes from within. She ended up divorcing my father and she went to work for our family doctor. When he retired she continued working for the doctor that bought the practice.  Part of her compensation package was that she was to receive free health care from them.  This doctor apparently took this obligation with a grain of salt.  She misdiagnosed a growth on my mothers skin and prescribed an ointment to fix it.  It was not going away but she really could care less because she was not receiving any money for treating my mother.  Mom was getting very concerned and she went to see her former employer who recognized it as what it was, cancer.  She was immediately put into the hospital where she received the news that it would have to be removed.  The surgery went well and afterward the follow up showed no return of the cancer.  Then on the third follow up it was discovered that the cancer had indeed returned and had invaded her lungs and that her condition was terminal.  She went to a surgeon who said she could buy herself more time if she had the tumors removed.  She was scheduled for surgery and the doctor came to see us and gave us the good news that it had gone well and that she might have as much as a year or a year and a half to live.  Three days post op she went into a coma and died.  At the funeral a lady came up to me and offered condolences which I accepted.  My younger sister came up to me and said that that was the doctor mom had worked for.  I looked at this so called doctor and my heart filled with hate and rage.  I never knew I could feel such negative emotions as I did at that minute.  I nurtured those feelings over the next months.  I also went into a deep and dark depression that lasted for six months!  Then one day I realized that I was a Christian and Jesus was calling me to forgive.  I did forgive this worthless excuse of a doctor, gave her an unconditional pardon and at that moment my depression lifted and I felt once again the warmth of God's love filling my heart.  Don't get me wrong, I wound not cultivate a relationship with this doctor, I would not take her to lunch, or play Parcheesi with her, but I no longer wished her any harm and placed her under God's care. 

Jesus knew that forgiving brings its own rewards and that is why he asks us to do not the impossible, but the very, very, very, difficult and forgive those that do harm to us. 

What are my views on the death penalty?  In general I am against it.  I think there are some people whose offenses are so heinous that the death penalty has to be on the books to deal with them.  I cannot imagine the world would be better off if we kept people like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, or others like them alive.  But they are the exceptions to the rule. 

The death penalty is fraught with the danger that an innocent person will be put to death.  IF you are poor, black, living in Texas, or California, Alabama, or Florida you are likely to get the death penalty if you are found guilty of murder.  In Texas there is was a ruling that a capital defendant is entitled to a lawyer but they don't have to be awake during the trial.  This is true I swear it.  Let's face it, once you are dead, you are dead even if ten minutes or ten years later DNA evidence proves that you are not guilty.  And let's not forget if you execute the wrong person, the killer is still at large. 

So I guess I for the most part agree with Pope Francis. Let's get rid of the death penalty.  It's time to prove that we can be better that the people we jail.  It really makes no sense to kill people to teach them not to kill.   What do you think?