Advent Duty

This year I am feeling poor and feeling as if I should curtail charitable giving to conserve the money we have. But I think that is precisely the wrong attitude. If I have less now, then others have far less than we do. I must give from what we have now, not what I think we might have or not have in the future. I read The Christmas Jar this year and I am thinking that idea is something new to do. I should gather up all the spare change we have into a jar and find someone to give it to for whom this amount of money, however much it is, will be a major blessing, maybe even a seeming miracle. God loves a cheerful giver. So especially at this time of year, Advent, when I anticipate the Greatest Gift of all, how can I be less generous in the face of His ultimate generosity?

Acceptance Part Two

I remembered another poem I pick up somewhere which beautifully illustrated that in acceptance lieth peace. This one is by Luther Patrick, a congressman who suffered the last ten years of his life with severe, crippling arthritis.

Good health was mine, robust and strong,
I met each daily task.
Great pride took I in strength I felt
'Twas all my heart could ask.
And yet a crusher struck me down
Confined me to a room.
Did I give up the fight and quit,
Surrender in my gloom?
O no, indoor turned I to search
For work I still should do
And bless all hearts, indoor I found
My living world anew.
This 'tis today, I may be cramped,
My body far from whole,
Crusher that crumpled up my frame
Completely missed my soul!

Now there was a man that knew the true meaning of acceptance!

Margaret Drabble said, "When nothing is sure - everything is possible." In working toward acceptance, nothing is sure, that is what makes it hard. But who knows what will happen? Don't give up. Like MacArthur, say, "I have just begun to fight!"

There is always hope. Julian of Norwich quotes God, "See I am God. See, I am in all things. See, I do all things. See, I never remove my hands from my works, nor ever shall without end. See, I guide all things to the end that I ordained them for, before time began, with the same power and wisdom and love with which I made them; how should anything be amiss?" if this be true, it is OK to accept because it will come right. God wills it.

Acceptance

What do you think acceptance means? I think that most often we think it means resignation. It doesn't. It means getting up, standing up in the face of something new or unknown. It means doing battle, fighting for the next right step. It is creating hope, accepting the challenge of changed circumstances. It is working through fear with a firm reliance on Divine Providence. Helen Keller is the best example of true acceptance. She did not just turn her face to the wall and refuse to try. No, she worked and worked to catch the meaning in her tudor's signing in her hand when sight and sound were denied her.

Coming to acceptance is a process as outlined by Elizabeth Kubler Ross: from denial to anger, from anger to bargaining, from bargaining to depression and finally from depression to acceptance. Don't be surprised if you are somewhere in that process now. Many life changes cause us to have to work through this cycle. I think our coming economic earthquake will cause many to have to work through the process when they would rather not.

There was an unattributed poem among my Grandpa Beach's papers called, "In Acceptance Lieth Peace" and it jas been a favorite of mine. It's words are timeless and apply as much to us as to the one who wrote it.

He said, "I will forget the dying faces;
The empty places
They shall be filled again,
O voices moaning deep within me, cease."
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in forgetting lieth peace.

He said, "I will crowd action upon action,
The strife of faction
Shall stir me and sustain;
O tears that drown the fire of mankind cease."
But vain, the word; vain, vain:
Not in endeavour lieth peace.

He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life's riot?
Shut be my door to pain. Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease."
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, "I will submit; I am defeated.
God hath depleted
My life of its rich gain.
O futile murmurings, why will ye not cease?"
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow
Which God tomorrow
Will to His son explain."
Then did the turmoil deep within him cease.
Not vain the word; not vain:
For in acceptance lieth peace.

One Kingdom

Today is the feast of Christ the King in the Catholic Church. It made me think about what Glenn Beck talked about recently, the Tower of Babble and current efforts to create a one world government. Beck and Rabbi Daniel Lapin went over the old testament story of Nimrod and the building of the Tower of Babble. Nimrod had in mind to create just one society and the symbol of that society's lack of need for God was the tower which was meant to rise above any possible flood that God could send. The tower was made of bricks not stones. Bricks are man-made while stones are created by God, each one unique. Rabbi Lapin felt that the mortar was similar to our word materialism. So Nimrod was trying to put everyone into a mold and lock them there with creature comforts, not depending on God.

It is rather creepy how the European Union building looks just like drawings of the Tower of Babble. Certainly the progressives in all the countries of the world are trying to make people into exchangeable units, bound by their cultural materialism. God is thrown out and His laws scoffed at. Technology has gone around God's creation of life. Now people want to say when or if a baby should come into the world. And they also want to decided when people are too old and should be denied care or simply euthanized. They are playing God.

But there is a king who was meant to rule the whole world: Christ. He alone can rule over every country. His people follow him in service. He leads them in peace and justice, in love and mercy. Would that this kingdom would come! It is the only one that will unite all peoples and last forever. Viva Christo Rey!

Temper tantrums

It seems to me that the rioting in the streets in Greece, France and England is very much like a child throwing a temper tantrum when they don't get their way. The parent knows what can be afforded but the child doesn't and doesn't care about that, just wants what he wants. These rioters don't look at the bigger picture of their country's economy so they have no clue that what they are demanding is out of reach for a bankrupt or nearly bankrupt government. Unfortunately these spoiled brats live in our country too. They are used to their government giving them everything they demand. They don't look into the future, as most children do not, and see that it is not possible to go on the way it was.

St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:10-15 "For when we were with you, we gave you this command: if any one will not work, let him not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living. Brethern, do not be weary in well-doing. If any one refuses to obey what we say in this letter note that man, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not look on him as an enemy but warn him as a brother." When the incitement to riot comes to this country, as it will, we will do well to remember these exhortations from St. Paul. We must do our work so we can eat. And we must encourage our brothers and sisters to do this as well for they are not the enemy. Let none of us be spoiled children throwing a tantrum in the streets but rather perseveringly in well-doing.

Words of wisdom

Recently, I decided that I was not really reading the Bible enough. I usually read a brief passage which was part of a daily reflection. I decided that I need to read the whole chapter instead of just the verse or two recommended. Yesterday, I was reading 2 Timothy 3 and found that the 1-5 verses could have been written for today. "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderous, profligate, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people." This sure seems to describe people all over the world right now.

But how are we to be in this world? I hadn't gotten far in that days readings in the Magnificat when I came to Titus 3: 1-2 "... be under the control of magistrates and authorities ( I interpret this to mean obey the law), be obedient, open to every good enterprise. Slander no one, be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone." With troubles sure to come with the economic earthquakes, it is good to have in mind principled behavior so that one doesn't give in to the heat or fears of the times.

Christ says, "Do not be afraid, I have overcome the world." But as St. Leo points out, even if we have our Lord's encouragement - the battle still rages, the struggle continues. We just know who the winner is!

Facebook is not enough...

Just this morning I realized that Facebook and Twitter just won't allow me to express my views - the posts just can't be long enough. I am really thinking about how my faith and my conservative political views should intersect. For the last several years I have seen that the time for sitting on the sidelines politically is over. If the citizens of this country, The United States of America, don't take an active roll in their government, then others who care more will. The result will not be pretty. I was talking to a friend this week about whether the government will have a controlled crash of our economy or let us crash into the wall full speed, still spending like crazy. She said the government must keep spending because if they don't, there will be a depression like the 1930s. At this point, we'd be blessed to have only a depression like the 1930s! It will be much, much worse even with a controlled crash, and if the government does a full speed crash, we will be in a place that we have never been before. This is coming. I have no doubt. So I realized that I need to begin to think seriously how I will deal with the coming economic earthquake. I am convinced that the actions need to spring from my faith. Violence must be avoided at all costs because that is what the radicals will push for. You are seeing it in France, Greece and England right now. Those people in the street are fools. They are not looking at the bigger economic realities. Things can't go on as they were and they will never be as they were. Those times are gone! So what is to be done? I take as good advice what Matthew Kelly said, "Just do the next right thing." So what is the next right thing? That is what I am thinking about and looking for. I intend to share my reflections with you in this blog and perhaps you, too, will think on these matters and decide for yourself what you should or should not do. Let the journey begin...