What To Write About

As I prayed for a topic to write about this week, I found myself without any fresh ideas.  There is always a lot going on in the world.  Yet, there are two challenges in finding ideas for articles. 

The first is that much of what one hears in the news is the same ongoing activities that I have already written about.  At times, there is something new that provides a different perspective to write about.  This is not the case this week. 

The second challenge is trying to avoid being political.  There is a lot going on in the world but much of it falls within the political realm.  While I may have a personal opinion about political ideas, it is not my objective to write for political motives.  I write to present Christian morality, spirituality, and how we are called to live as Christian disciples.  This often overlaps with political activity but the perspective and objective is very different.  The line can be a difficult one to walk.  Pray I walk it well (as God defines it).  My desire is for us to work together to do God’s Will.  Political activity often has…, well, politics as its objective. 

Looking at the state of the world can cause distress.  I know it does for me.  I think of the words from the Serenity Prayer, “taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it” (see my article “The Serenity Prayer” for the full prayer).  It is hard for me to accept things as they are.  I would like to save the whole world but it is not for me to save the world, at least not on my own.  We all need to do our part.  My desire is to keep the words we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy will be done.”  Saving the world is not about me getting what I want for myself.  It is not about a political party getting its way or a political figure getting their way.  To save the world requires us to let go of our own desires so that we may do God’s Will. 

Yesterday, I was reviewing my markings in a book I read a few months ago, Augustinian Spirituality for Today by Fr. Emmauel-Marie LeFebure du Bus (San Francisco: Ignatius Press.  2019.)   Fr. LeFebure writes about what led St. Augustine to become the great theologian and bishop that he was.  Fr. LeFebure writes, “What a winding road!  Augustine had had to experience the deep dissatisfaction of his heart in order to find at last the peace of God (my emphasis).   

I find myself struggling to find God’s peace in my heart.  Why?  Because I find deep dissatisfaction in my heart at what is going on in the world.  I think of the conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas.  I think of the present unrest within Iran and what our own U.S. president is saying about it.  I think of Venzeula.  I think of the polarization and division within our own country. 

In the midst of it all I want to be like John the Baptist.  “It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: “A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” (Matthew 3:3).  I feel deeply a calling to be a voice that speaks for the Lord.   

Feeling this way, I was confused by the words, “not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street” in this past Sunday’s first reading (Baptism of the Lord, Year A”).  At times I find I want to shout out to the world all that the Lord teaches us.  God wants us to speak peacefully of justice, the justice that the first reading also says of the suffering servant, “he shall bring forth justice to the nations.”  It is not human justice that our Lord speaks of.  It is not vengeance.  It is the Lord’s justice, to ensure that each person has what they are due as a child of God that the Lord speaks of. 

As I look for a way to serve the world’s problems, I think of what St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions, “I yearned for an immorality of wisdom” (as quoted in Fr. LeFebure, 24).  From the Holy Spirit, we receive gifts of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding (see Isaiah 11:2).  Yet, we need to realize that no single one of us has all the answers.  Here “we” includes me but it also includes our president and every leader in the world.  We need to listen to one another with the love that Jesus calls us to love when He tells us that second greatest commandment is to “love your neighbor.”  This is true between individuals and it is true between nations.  We must do it also remembering that He tells us the greatest command is to love God.   

We must love God totally if we want to find his peace in our hearts.  There is no holding back. 

With that in mind, I ask you to think about your own political views.  Are your political views shaped by your faith?  Why not? 

Do you answer by saying your political views are unrelated to your faith?  How does that correspond to Jesus’ instructions, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37)?  Jesus holds nothing back when He gives his life for you on the Cross.  Why do you hold back from letting your faith and love for God and neighbor shape your political views? 

We live in a conflicted world.  This should not surprise us as Jesus told us to expect persecution.  In fact, He says, “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).   

Those who disagree with the teachings given to us by our Lord speak of the freedom all people must have to make their own choice.  They tell us to be silent to allow people to make their own choices.  How is a person supposed to make a choice for themselves if they have not heard what their choices are?  Are those who tell us to be silent really pro-choice?  Some of the same people who tell us to be silent in the name of choice want to force healthcare workers to perform abortions and provide gender transitions against their own beliefs.  How is that pro-choice? (see my article “Pro-Choice or Not?”) 

I write with great concern for our nation and for the world.  I write as one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness (see Matthew 5:6). 

We hear the phrase “make America great again” yet I find some arrogance in the statement saying America as if the United States was the only nation in America.  I want the US to be a great nation, but it is for God, not me or any other human being to define what makes a nation great.  To think we can define what makes a nation great is national pride and we must remember that pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.  We also hear the phrase “America first.”  This phrase troubles me because it seems selfish.  Does it stand in the way of Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor? 

There seems to be an effort by some in political positions to rule by force.  I thought being a bully was wrong. 

I acknowledge at times force may seem necessary.  Before rushing to use force, we must exhaust all other means.  When so, the use of force, even when not a war, must still respect the concepts found in Just War Theory. 

For example, I think of the military attacks on Venezuelan drug boats.  There is another way to fight the war on drugs.  We need to work on helping people eliminate their desire to use drugs. 

When we look for peace, we need to understand peace as more than just the lack of war.  St. Augustine searched for happiness in the “here below” until he realized that “Only eternity will fill us completely and unify us” (Fr. LeFebure, 70).  Only when each of us individually and collectively make God’s peace our greatest desire will we find peace in the here and now. 

They say if you want to avoid conflict, don’t talk about religion or politics.  If we don’t talk about religion, then how will we ever share the gospel?  It may not be easy but the world needs to hear the gospel.  Ask God for the words to speak.  Let the Holy Spirit do the talking (see Mark 13:11)  Ask God for the courage to speak whatever word He gives you.  Sometimes it begins with simply saying I don’t agree.   

When you don’t know what to do, remember everything begins with prayer.  In seeking peace, one important step is found in the words of St. Paul, “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.  This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4). 

I end offering the words said at Mass by the priest following the Lord’s Prayer. 

Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, 
graciously grant peace in our days, 
that, by the help of your mercy, 
we may be always free from sin 
and safe from all distress, 
as we await the blessed hope 
and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Peace, 

 Fr. Jeff