Francis says our most dangerous riches are not so much material possessions as our attachments to ourselves and our own ideas. “We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home any who have lost their way.” That is why real holiness doesn’t feel like holiness; it just feels like you’re dying. It feels like you’re losing it. And you are! Every time you love someone, you have agreed for a part of you to die. You will soon be asked to let go of some part of your false self, which you foolishly thought was permanent, important, and essential!
You know God is doing
this in you and with you when you can somehow smile and trust that what you
lost was something you did not need anyway. In fact, it got in the way of what
was real.Many of us were taught to
say no without the deep joy of yes. We were trained to put up with all
the “dying” and just take it on the chin. Saying no to the self does not
necessarily please God or please anybody. There is too much resentment and self-pity
involved. When God, by love and freedom, can create a joyous yes inside of
you—so much so that you can absorb the usual noes—then it is God’s full work.
The first might be resentful dieting; the second is a spiritual banquet.
My stomach hurts and my head aches when I hear sanctimonious members of the opposition party link their political scheming over the budget - and, yes, their irrational hatred of the President - with their Christian faith. Look, all is fair in love and war and politics is war played out without physical weapons. So, much as I dislike it, I don't denigrate the opposition party using all the resources and wiles they can muster to win. The majority party is doing the same thing - that's how the war is waged.
What IS offensive and morally contemptible is to link shutting down the government with the way of Jesus. There is a Face Book poster making the rounds of former president Jimmy Carter saying if you don't want to care for the poor then quit speaking of the US as a Christian nation. The wise old fool, Stephen Colbert, made much the same point earlier, too.
And this is where the insights and witness of Francis suggest a much healthier alternative: Our most dangerous riches are not so much material possessions as our attachments to ourselves and our own ideas. “We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home any who have lost their way.”
I am no longer a big fan of Thomas Friedman - used to like him when he was reporting from Jerusalem - but have lost patience with his overly optimistic devotion to the free market. But his most recent column in the NYTimes has a Franciscan flavor to it. What's more, it called me to let go of some of my opinions and biases towards brother Tom because he cuts to the heart when he writes: This time is different. What is at stake in this government shutdown forced by a radical Tea Party minority is nothing less than the principle upon which our democracy is based: majority rule. President Obama must not give in to this hostage taking — not just because Obamacare is at stake, but because the future of how we govern ourselves is at stake. (check it out @ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/opinion/friedman-our-democracy-is-at-stake.html?_r=0)
The time has come for people of faith who understand our calling to be about healing wounds, uniting what has come apart and welcoming home those who are lost to call out those who celebrate mean-spirited division as the way of the Lord. This cuts beyond the almost irrelevant divisions of Republican and Democrat. What does the Lord require but to DO justice, LOVE mercy and WALK with humility in the presence of our God.
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