Young Adult Catholics

This Sunday’s Readings:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/070608.shtml

Marty Haugen, the liturgical musician, tells the story of how, months after the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001, he continued his travels around the country doing concerts and workshops and saw all the billboards and signs that said in big bold letters, “GOD BLESS AMERCIA.” He said that when he saw these signs that he thought it always looked like a command rather than a prayer – a command for God to bless America. Then, he said, one day, on his travels, he saw another billboard, with the same bold type, that said “AMERICA BLESS GOD.” That one, he said, seemed to make more sense to him.

The message of Marty’s story echoes in the readings this Independence Day weekend, as we give thanks to God for the many gifts and goodness of our land, and the freedom we enjoy, but also are aware of its challenges and troubles. The prophecy, from the book of Zechariah, is of the king-savior of Israel coming into the great city of Jerusalem, not on a warrior horse of triumph, but a simple donkey, a beast of burden, proclaiming peace. It is an image not only meant for a distant future, but a hope for the present that this prophet had. It was his hope that his beloved land could put its history of wars, exile, and suffering behind it, and bring forth a leader who would be humble, wise, and peace-filled. (Apparently, such leaders were as hard to find then as they are now!) Yet I don’t think the prophet who penned these words in Zechariah’s name wanted only that. I think the point of this prophesy is much deeper.

Looking right before this passage in the book of Zechariah, we find an oracle against all the other nations around Israel and the way they had been or would be destroyed. (Some scholars think this is the prophet’s way of recounting the result of Alexander the Great’s conquests.) In the midst of that tale of woe, comes this passage, full of hope and promise — but the contrast is clear. It is a message spoken by Y_HW_H from the beginning, from the time of the covenant on Sinai, and repeated throughout the Scriptures: You have a choice – life or death, community or chaos, peace or violence. And you know that the ones who choose violence only find destruction and emptiness. You don’t have to be like Alexander the Great. Live in the ways of peace, be ruled by peace, seek after justice, and God can gather you together as a people once again.

It is always God’s desire to bring forth peace and reconciliation, justice and healing, though, as we all know, it is no easy task. We know the fate of Jesus. We know the fate of those who participate in the struggle for justice in society in various ways, and we know the sacrifice that is involved. And we have learned that it is truly God that has given us the strength to hold fast to the truth. Because if God’s will truly is for justice, it will find its completion, as it did for Jesus; as God has promised will happen for us. Nevertheless, we must choose that path if it is to truly find a home in our heart — and in our nation and world.

All the other readings are examples of what our lives and our world can be like if we embrace that promise of God. It seems that when we make a conscious choice, deep in our hearts, to think, act, and pray peace, we come to understand the graciousness of God. like the psalmist. We come to understand the power of the Spirit to heal all that is not of that Spirit in our lives. We are spiritually “fortified” to stand firm in the promises of God, even when it seems the struggle is failing, or even lost.

Paul uses the images of spirit and flesh in contrast in the second reading, not because they are opposed in themselves, but because he knows that we can, and usually do, operate out of mixed motives. (Remember his own story, and that of Peter, from last weekend!) He knows it takes a great deal of integrity to clarify in our own lives how we are to live in a complex and difficult world. The truth we are to live is not always unambiguous. It is interesting that is precisely on this point that many of our brothers and sisters who view the world in very absolutist terms appeal to a form of absolutist religion to fend off any moral ambiguities. That certainly wasn’t the view of Paul.

Finally, in the Gospel from Matthew, we who are well-educated and have been blessed with great opportunities to learn, and get advanced degrees and good careers, are often scandalized if we really hear Jesus’ words, not as a pious platitude, but as reality. “Father, you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little ones.” Like the evangelist, who will remind us in chapter 25 that serving the “little ones,” the “least ones” is serving Christ, Jesus’ teaching reminds us here that those who are most easily victimized by the machinations of the mighty hear all that he has said and done – and they get it. And they rejoice. Others (i.e. us) might get it eventually, but only if we are willing to struggle in the midst of our daily ambiguities and find the spiritual center that will keep us stable in the pursuit of peace, justice, mercy and reconciliation in a society that always seems to want to distract us. (Who was it who said that we in the United States have the most freedom and are the least free?)

So, as we celebrate our nation’s independence this weekend, let us pray that we can take upon our shoulders the gentle yoke of Christ, who also lived in an ambiguous time – between faith and politics, religion and Empire. Let us pray that we might know God’s promise of peace more fully: in our hearts, often broken in the pains we bear ourselves and feel with others; in our families, where old wounds keep people apart or where abuse and violence have crushed spirits and bodies; in our workplaces, when doing the right thing can sometimes cost friendships or job security; in our nation, which we hope and pray remembers that our freedom is freedom for service and not just freedom from coercion.

God … bless America … please. Amen.

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Speaking of Marty Haugen, here is a piece called “Stand Firm,” an alternative litany of saints and witnesses all of whom lived God’s promise of peace and justice fully in their lives.