13th
Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 2, 2017
I
–Elisha is a holy man of God, let him remain.
R
–I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
II
– Buried with Christ in baptism, we shall walk in the newness of life.
A
– You are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation; announce the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light.
G –Whoever
does not take up his cross is not worthy of me. Whoever receives you, receives
me.
+ The “Magna Carta” and “Constitution” of the Church founded by
Christ is “The Beatitudes.” – pure and simple. Each
of these three documents encourages those who follow them, and adhere to them,
something to live by and to die for. Each of these involves not only “freedom”
of the human spirit, but also “responsibility and accountability” to enter into
the “giving/receiving” dynamic that is part of the “dance of human life on this
planet.”
In
the divine plan – which created and inaugurated the “dance” –
no one is to live alone, no one is to dance alone, no one is to die alone.
The gospel passage today
outlines for us the rationale behind this dynamic: it is in giving one’s life
entirely “for the cause” “for the plan of another” “for good and welfare of
another” – that we will gain an experience of life that was meant to be, a life
of receiving reward, and a feeling of satisfaction, but at the price of
self-sacrifice, (carrying our own tailor-made cross), even to the extreme point
of physical death. This is how a Christian should live, this is how a private
citizen of the United States should live, this is how those volunteering to
defend and protect our freedoms, especially in military service do live and
die.
On
this particular Fourth of July in our nation’s history – we
have reason and cause to pause our traditional care-free and party-like
celebratory activities – and to reflect, if only for a brief moment, in our
family picnics and hometown parades, entertainment and fireworks – in a moment
of profound silence - on the fact that at no other time in our nation, and our
world’s history – have political and
governmental systems been so out of whack, so out of control, so out of touch
with the reality of right human interrelatedness that is part of our innate
genetic makeup – no matter our race, nationality or personal creeds.
The utter contempt and vulgar
banality of the president of our beloved country, for example - the utter and
complete disregard for this sacred, God-given role that he holds, and the
ramifications that penetrate the entire fabric not only of our own country but
all of the countries on earth which interact with us, and depend on us and our
intelligent participation in world balance of power and sharing of resources:
is a catastrophic dismantling of everything we hold dear, sacred and true – and
those who kowtow to him, and hide behind his office to save their own political
necks are guilty by association – and ought to be ashamed of themselves for
putting politics about the true needs of their constituents who put them into
office.
It is time, dear people of
God, to “storm the citadel” in many ways great and small to make known our rightly
educated and conscience formed objections to what the heck is going on in DC. It
is time to “march on Washington!” It is time to cry out: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ALREADY!
As St Paul tells all who bear
the name of Christian in the second reading today: a Christian is one who has died with Christ, has been buried with him,
and has risen from the waters of baptism a new creation, a joyful and happy
creation, a clear thinking, and rightly motivated creation: service of
others being a number one priority. Now is the time to BE ACTIVELY CHRISTIAN,
to BE A NEW CREATON, to be THE PARENT where circumstances warrant it, to BE
CLEAR THINKING and RIGHTLY CONSCIENCE MOTIVATED and to “banish the bully” in the White House, to ensure his removal
from office, for his sake and safety, and for the good of the presidency, the
nation and the world. If there is no provision in the Constitution of the
United States for such removal – due to sheer unmitigated and blatant
disrespect of the office and inability to govern and guide in a way foreseen by
the founding fathers – then it is broken – and needs to be fixed NOW!
As Christians, our native land
is now heaven, but we do live here on the earth that God commissioned us to
“take care of and master in an intelligent way” – now is this time to do that – NOW IS THE TIME!
We have been chosen by God to
be a holy nation - GOD HAS BLESSED AMERICA – and now we need to announce the
praises of this blessing God who has called us out of darkness into his
wonderful light!
Let
us therefore live in the light – let us each reflect the glory of God in all we
think, say and do!
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