PEACE AND HOW TO ACHIEVE IT

August 26, 2015

PEACE AND HOW TO ACHIEVE IT

            At any gathering where people pray together, the presider invariably asks “And for your own intentions_____?”   At that we all take a deep breath and get ready for the onslaught of woeful requests for health, for relatives in trouble, for the unemployed and always, always there is the plaintive prayer for peace, in particular for peace in the Middle East.  You’ll notice that prayer has gone unanswered for several thousand years.  I used to wonder about that until I realized that peace on earth does not rest with God but with us.  Peace is impossible as long as we the people are stubborn, intransigent, and blind to other’s viewpoints, angry, vengeful and sometimes just downright mean.  We are the reason there is no peace.  God will not intervene.  Why would God create human beings, give them intellect, talent, reason and the power of free will and then interfere?

            God does not look upon us and think, “Ok. If you won’t do it, I will”.  No. Peace rests solely with us.  We are the agents of peace.  We have all the tools to create peace but somewhere inside us all that nugget of ego thwarts our resolve. We carry grudges and nurse them like newborn babies.  We hug them close and relive the cause.  We resolve to never forgive or forget.  Multiply that by the billions who make up this world and it’s a wonder any peaceful settlements are ever achieved. 

            Don’t despair.  Along with all the other gifts God has given us, is the power to think and to control our own actions.  To work for peace in our own hearts requires some resolve.  Resolve not to jump to conclusions, not to jump on bandwagons until we know all the facts, not to view absolutely everything by how it affect us but take into consideration the needs and feelings of others.

            We’re not going to solve the Mideast Crisis but we can work for peace in our little corner of the world and when we pray say this: 

“Almighty Father, thank you for the gifts you have given me to solve the problems of my life.  I pledge to you that I will use those gifts to bring as much peace to others as I can.  I ask only that you guide me, nudge me even, to discern the right actions which will achieve that peace.”  Amen

With love, Carol

WHAT MORE CAN I DO?

AUGUST 19, 2015

WHAT MORE CAN I DO?

            The day after my husband died, my sons and I went to Staples to buy the poster boards, glue sticks, etc. for the Photo array which seems to have become de rigeur for funerals these days.  While we there my son said, “I think this will change how I see people in stores for the rest of my life.  You never know what people are going through even as they are doing mundane things like this.  This is the worst day of my life and I’m in Staples!”

            I thought of this as I read Matthew 19: 16-22 where the young man asks Jesus what more he should be doing to find favor with God.  Jesus told him,  “Come, follow me.” Now the young man had said that he obeyed the Commandments, gave to the poor and did all the things an honorable person should do.  But Jesus responded, ”Come follow me”.  Well, isn’t that what the young man was doing?  Aren’t the commandments and good works all that is needed to live a life in Christ?   

            Not according to Jesus. A life lived in Christ requires us to see each human being as just that, a human being exactly like ourselves and to act accordingly.  Wars, civil strife and crime all have one thing in common.  It is required that we dehumanize one another in order to kill.  Many years ago, John Donne wrote, “Every man’s death diminishes me”. That is a true statement.  We are all alive on this planet; all the creations of God, bound by our common origins and connected intimately with one another. 

            So how do we go about this?  Does this require heroic effort?  Not really.

It is pretty simple.  Give up the grudge, forget past hurts, forgive, ask forgiveness, blow the horn less, be patient, genuinely look at people as you go about your life and remember that you don’t know anything about anybody’s true life so you have no right to judge.  In every situation if you listen you can hear Jesus say, “Follow me”. 

With love, Carol

           

KEEPING AN OPEN MIND

AUGUST 12, 2015

KEEPING AN OPEN MIND

            As we grow more experienced in life we have a tendency to think we’ve got everything figured out.  We’ve seen enough examples of how people behave to be pretty sure we know what’s coming next.  The problem with that attitude is that while we may think its wisdom, it is in fact the closing of the mind to possibilities.

In our society we have been faced with issues that previous generations never thought of or if they did, they swept them into dark corners, but we aren’t going to do that.  We ‘re going to face them and do everything we can solve them.  We, the followers of Christ, have an obligation to bring the mind of Christ into the discussions.  We cannot sit back and let the loudest voices prevail.  We must speak for justice, reason, and love.

            John the Baptist and Jesus both urged people to open their minds and with them their hearts to new thoughts about old things.  Both paid with their lives, taken by those whose minds were closed and locked tight.  But enough minds were opened to further their message.  We have historical evidence that no matter how strong the opposition, the mind of Christ will prevail.  Closing our minds eventually results in cynicism, which is the enemy of faith and the end of hope.  The mind has no borders; it can’t be x-rayed or even given a physical description.  As far as we know then, the mind is a spirit.  It is pretty obvious that God uses our minds to communicate with us. That being so, if our minds are closed how will we hear Him? 

With love, Carol

SWIMMING UPSTREAM

August 5, 2015

SWIMMING UPSTREAM

            The daily readings lately have been about Moses and the Exodus.  Talk about swimming upstream!  Moses who had it all at one time, put it all behind him and set out to free his people and return them to their homeland, which they hadn’t seen in many centuries.  He faced one obstacle after another not the least of which was the attitudes of the people he was trying to lead.  No matter how hard Moses tried to make the journey possible they complained and rebelled.  They were hungry, so at Moses’ request, God supplied Manna to eat.  Then they complained there were no cheeseburgers!  Well maybe not cheeseburgers but you know the story.  At that point, Moses said, to God:

                        “I cannot carry all these people by myself,

                        for they are too heavy for me.

                        If this is the way you will deal with me,

                        then please do me the favor of killing me at once,

                        so that I need no longer face this distress.”    (NM 11:15 )

                  Who among us has not had that thought?  We swim upstream a lot more than we would like but such is life.  No one wants to do it but there are times when we are called to do it. As Christians we are called to speak for peace and justice.  We are called to stand up for the poor, for those who voices are weak, for those who don’t know how to stand up for themselves.  We are called to stand up for Christian principles.  Not the fake kind, the kind that seeks to discriminate using the Bible as a weapon.  We are called to speak for the rights of all individuals to live and prosper because we are all the children of God.  We must stand strong in the face of opposition, which will be louder and more violent.  Our examples are Paul, Peter, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Medgar Evers, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, and Pope Francis to name a paltry few of the millions who have swum upstream to remind everyone to follow the call of Jesus to love one another. We can’t hide behind fear or discomfort or shyness, we have to say the words.

With love, Carol