The Law of Love

Love is a core theme in our readings for this weekend—love of God, love of neighbor, love of self. For me, these readings offer a saving grace in the face of all the noise, rancor, and fear-mongering of these elections. This year I find myself increasingly agitated at what I experience as deliberate divisiveness. I want so much for us to be one, to be united, to work for the common good, to understand each other, and to reconcile and heal. The readings teach me that love is stronger than fear and hope is stronger than despair. The risk of loving is always worth taking—even in an election year. It is a huge risk to love the unlovable, someone “different” from myself and my beliefs and values. Jesus tells us about the law of love, the greatest commandment.

In the midst of all the election distress, this prayer has helped me tremendously. I pray that it helps you too!

From the Facebook of Fr. James Martin, SJ. 

An Election Season Prayer

God, I know that I don’t have to get angry.
I don’t have to get worked up.
I don’t have to get depressed.
And I don’t have to throw anything at the TV.

I just have to use my conscience and vote.

So help me remember what Jesus taught in the Gospels,
and what our Church teaches,
especially about the poor, the refugee, the migrant,
the sick, the homeless, the unborn, the disabled,
the hungry, the elderly and the lonely.

Help me remember the “least” among us,
and help me ponder in my heart
how to cast my vote for the good of all.

God, I know that no candidate is perfect,
because I’m not perfect either,
the last time I checked.
So free me of the burden of having to
vote for someone who satisfies
all my desires for a candidate.
My candidate will be imperfect, like me.

Help me to be grateful for the ability to vote,
because not everyone has that privilege.

And when I meet people voting for someone else,
Help me to take a deep breath and
give them the benefit of the doubt,
because they are following their consciences, too.

Help me remember
that even though they sometimes drive me nuts,
I don’t have to argue with them,
I don’t have to convince them,
I don’t have to hate them,
And I don’t have to demonize them.

Then, after the election, help me work for unity.
Because I know that’s what you want.

Amen.

What is God’s?

“Our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” For me, these words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians offer such great wisdom for living through the current election process in our country. What words of the gospels inform our hearts, minds, and actions? What power—what anointing’s, what gifts of the Holy Spirit are we experiencing? And where does our passion, our conviction come from? How do we use our power—our voices, our actions, our voting?

Over the past few months, many of us have been intentionally hosting listening conversations. We have encouraged open, respectful dialogue among persons we love, and sometimes among persons who think very differently. Our respect for each other comes from our firm belief that we are all made in the image and likeness of God. We are acknowledging the pressures, the grief, and the stressors of life in pandemic times. Some of these are exacerbated by partisan politics. Others are discovering

The Pharisees tried to entrap Jesus. What is “Ceasar’s”? What is God’s? What is the challenge of sorting out this reality? How do we do it? For me, this Gospel is very real in the midst of our elections.

Pope Francis, The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops), Archbishop Gustavo, and our pastors offer us guidance in applying the gospels, listening to the Holy Spirit, and exercising our civic responsibility in voting. They instruct us on how to form our conscience—our own conscience. No one can tell us who to vote for. No one can tell us that it is a sin to vote for a particular person because of their religion, or because of our own religious beliefs. (God used Cyrus, a pagan king, even anointed him, even though he didn’t know God, to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.)

Ultimately, it is up to each one of us to vote with an informed conscience. Decisions about who to vote for are difficult given the complexity of all the issues. To help you with informing yourselves, you will find excellent, reliable, multi-issue oriented resources here: http://sfasat.org/resources-2/faithful-citizenship/.

Share these resources with others.

The reality is that there are many voices, authors, websites, groups that are trying to influence us to vote for certain candidates. Many of them use the adjective Catholic. Some of them are even priests and bishops. In most cases, they do not represent the totality of Catholic social teaching when they present a single issue, one that they claim is the most important one. The Catholic perspective and influence include many issues. I dare to say that Jesus was about healing divisions, naming injustices, making people think before they act (casting stones?). As followers of Jesus, we have much to think about! For wisdom, guidance, and courage, we pray!

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious has prepared reflections for each week from now until Election Day. They are very helpful to me, and I hope you will be encouraged and inspired.

Abundance and Need

“I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress.”

I feel like St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians was directed to me. I needed this reminder during these COVID-19 times. And I should probably just end this reflection right here.

Let me be clear—I do not lack for food. But I have missed the riches of long, drawn-out meals with provocative, exciting conversations. I have missed seeing people that I love and visiting in person. Nothing can replace the St. Francis community gathered in person. In essence, I missed the Parish Festival so much! The drive-by blessing of the animals was just a taste of what we missed. Feast or famine has become real to us in many ways. With these experiences, what we miss teaches us about what abundance means. And we are reminded about sharing with those in need.

The readings for this weekend include imagery of wedding feasts, banquets, and special meals. Such occasions often require special attire, as well as a special demeanor or disposition. Such celebrations are filled with love, filled with gratitude for the relationships we share. Can you imagine that you would ever say NO to an invitation? What would it mean to show up without a “wedding garment”?

If persons are called in to the banquet out of the streets, they certainly do not have the right clothes. This is when the words from our baptismal ritual become real. “You have become a new creation and have clothed yourself in Christ. See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.”

May we all be clothed in Christ, providing and protecting, grace-filled and grateful or all that we are becoming in preparation for the greatest banquet of all!

Happy Feast of St. Francis!

All week long, as I joined you on Zoom meetings, many of you are remembering that this weekend would have been our Parish Festival! Knowing that we won’t be eating delicious barbecue chicken, drinking wine margaritas, watching the kids at the petting zoo or riding ponies or getting their faces painted, having conversations with our favorite people “across Mass lines,” praying and singing together at Mass, spending lots of money, etc.—what will we do?

Perhaps a “year off” from all of the above is good for us! We get time to re-imagine what our festival might become. Perhaps we can spend the time at home with our families creating our own festival. The fun, the conversations, the working together, the sharing of the Spirit of St. Francis can all still happen. I challenge you to create something in your family to celebrate the feast day and then share it with us in pictures!

Personally, I am going to sit in a variety of places at St. Francis and contemplate the beauty of what God has created for us at St. Francis. I will sit in gratitude. St. Francis is the patron saint of ecology, the care of God’s creation. Yes, nature and our environment—the physical creation, as well as the nature of our Community Spirit—the people who make up our parish family, who offer their gifts and talents for the good of all, those who participate in God’s act of continuous creation. God isn’t finished with us yet!

We, the people at SFA, have a wonderful opportunity to re-imagine what we will be like when we are together in force, physically present to each other. We have stories to tell about how God is changing us, molding us to be something we haven’t imagined yet.  St. Francis turned his life around. He turned his affluent lifestyle into service of others. He embraced lepers, visited a Sultan and recognized the humanity of each person and experienced a new brotherhood, and tamed a wolf and brought peace to a village. He believed in the formation of a community where Jesus Christ was the center of their lives.

What would St. Francis say to us at this parish bearing his name? What prophetic calls would he issue to us? How would he describe our being together? Remember that St. Francis heard God ask him to rebuild His Church. Bricks and mortar! And life and spirit! And individuals and community! And peace and justice!

St. Francis, pray for us! Rebuild, re-form us, our community, our world, and our universe! Praised be all of God’s creation! May we prosper and grow, and always be grateful!

No to Yes: A Profound Change

Turning away from sin and turning towards God—that is metanoia, a change of mind and heart. That kind of change comes from experiences of insight, new awareness of the plight of others, and the example of struggle and sacrifice of persons for the sake of others. We often describe ourselves as changed after a retreat, a serious illness or disaster that we call life-changing, after six months of COVID-19 seclusion, and/or after some sort of “awakening.”

Metanoia requires that we are malleable, capable of learning and being coached, able to take instructions, and willing to be humble. “I once was blind, but now I see.” It is important to give voice to the change we experience.

What would it look like in my life for me to follow Paul’s instruction to the Philippians not to look out for my own interests, but to look out for the interests of others? Who is doing this now where we live? Do we know people who are marching for racial justice? Who are putting their lives at risk in health care or education? Who are trying to change the climate crisis? Who are advocating for higher wages and good jobs for persons displaced by COVID-19? Who care about the well-being of the police as well as the policed?

Climate change, violence, poverty, prejudice: these are not your fault or mine. At the same time, we share a mutual ownership of these conditions. What opportunities we have to look out for more than my own interests, to the interests of others! How do we contribute to them by our words, choices, silences? We can no longer say that it isn’t my problem, it doesn’t touch me and therefore I don’t have to do anything except guard and protect my own corner of the world, my own family, myself.

“Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.” Will you say “yes” and never show up? Or will you say “no” and then change your mind and go? What vineyards is God calling you to work in? How can you be more responsive to God’s call? What conversion of mind, heart, and life is the Lord asking of you?

The elections are a vineyard in need of workers. Pope Francis and our bishops, as well as our local Church leaders ask us to vote with an informed conscience. Each of us is responsible for personally studying the issues—all of them—and making choices for the common good, the needs of others, not just our own. Our study of the issues should include multiple sources—Jesus and the Scriptures, the social teaching of the Church which documents our responsibility for each other—for all human beings, the research, and studies of reputable organizations who work for the common good.  Good conversations open dialogue with persons who think differently than we do can also offer clarification that informs our consciences.

With prayer, study, and reflection, all of us can become workers in the vineyard who produce good fruit. We can become more than persons who say good things, but don’t act and aren’t accountable to anyone. We can become persons who act on our commitments, whose words we can count on.

For this, let us all work and pray!