Faith During Trials and Debates April 5

Prayer

Jesus, many times we face trials in life. When they get us in a legal bind, we turn to a lawyer. When they put us in a physical bind, we turn to a doctor. When they put us in a financial bind, we turn to a lawyer.

Give us the faith during these trials to turn to you so you can set us free from what binds us.

Like Lazarus, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were bound. You commanded an angel to unbind them. Like Lazarus, they faced death. You saved them from that fate. Like Lazarus, you called them to come out and witness their faith in the world.

Jesus, we are bound by many things mostly the limits of our human hearts and minds and our love of you and your people. Please! Unbind us!

Jesus, we are tripped and trapped by the many trials we face in life. Please! Set us free!

Jesus, we are timid in our public proclamation of your Word and works. Please! “Co-mission” us to carry out your mission in communion with you each day.

Make room in our hearts and minds to hear your word and act as you command us. Amen.

Study

God offers to us sacred scriptures for today to read, to study and to hear.
You are invited to study and reflect on today’s readings:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/040706.shtml

The stories of trials and debates continue. And the importance of trust and faith in God above all else as the path to salvation is once again reinforced.

In the reading from Daniel, we witness the “attempted” capital punishment of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego cast into the white hot furnace. Yet, once cast into the furnace, they experience a close moment with the son of God and survive to sing his praises.

The three servants are conscientious objectors -- refusing to follow an order from their secular king which conflicted with their religious beliefs. When facing trial, they accepted their fate as Christ did when before Pilate.

The “truth set them free” from the fires of the furnace because “the angel of the Lord went down into the furnace with Azariah and his companions, drove the fiery flames out of the furnace, and made the inside of the furnace as though a dew-laden breeze were blowing through it. The fire in no way touched them or caused them pain or harm.”

Their close moment with God was witnessed by the King and his servants who was converted by seeing this action. Later in Daniel, we see that that conversion caused the King also to evangelize about the goodness of the Lord in a letter to all his people and the nations of the world.

“How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures through all generations.” Daniel 3:100

In the Gospel reading from John 8, the debate between Jesus and the “Jews who believed in him” continue. This passage is laced with irony starting in the first line. If these Jews truly believed, then the debate might not have continued nor resulted in the trial, death and crucifixion.

The Jews went on to claim that they were not enslaved. Throughout history, we know that they were enslaved almost continuously. So here the verse is probably more irony, about slavery to sin.

Jesus points out that “Slaves get released; sons do not…always can return from sin…But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you.”

For me, this harkens back to the human birth and incarnation of Jesus. When he came into the world, there was no room for his physical body and his family in Bethlehem. Now, as he approaches his human death, there is no room among the people or in their hearts and minds for the words of freedom and salvation that Jesus delivers.

“If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.” If you truly believed, then you would love Jesus.

Action

Have you ever been asked by your secular government to do something that conflicts with your faith? How did you react?

Do you sometimes see your government taking actions which may conflict with your faith? Did you speak out in the public square like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, King Nebuchadnezzar, and Nicodemus? Like Jesus?

Today, the immigration debate continues to escalate. Will you make room in your day to contact your legislators about this issue?

http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2006/06-069.shtml

According to a news release this week posted at the link above, in a letter to the full U.S. Senate released April 4, Bishop Gerald R. Barnes, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, called the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA) of 2006, reported to the U.S. Senate last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee, “a good start” and called upon Senators to “support efforts to bring the Judiciary committee-reported bill to a vote.”Bishop Barnes expressed support for Titles IV, V, and VI of the legislation, which would create a temporary worker program, reduce family-based immigration backlogs, and establish an earned legalization program for 11 million undocumented in the nation. “The earned legalization program…represents sound public policy because it would not only enhance our national security while stabilizing the labor force in many important industries, but it would also allow families to remain together,” he said.

However, the release continues, Bishop Barnes pointed to several provisions in Title II of the bill which the USCCB finds questionable, including mandatory detention provisions, the expansion of expedited removal, restrictions on judicial review, and the increase in the authority of local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law. The Bishop asked Senators to “eliminate or ameliorate these and other highly problematic provisions in Title II as the Senate debates this legislation.”

Will you make room in your heart to encourage our Senators to act on these same principles to assure that our immigration system “is humane, secure, and reflects the values upon which our nation- a nation of immigrants-was built?”