“He may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self.” Ephesians 3:16
"I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Luke 12:49, 51
Piety
Let us pray: Lord, set us on fire with your love so that, strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit, we may spread your light to illuminate everyone on Earth.
Guide the work of the physicians operating today on our brother, father, husband and friend Tom Copeland. Bless their skillful hands and eyes and minds that they may successfully work to restore Tom’s heart to more fully function until a suitable transplant donor comes forward to share with Tom and Rae the life-saving gift of a donor heart. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/102606.shtml
Fire.
When controlled in love, produces warmth against the cold of wintery weather.
When controlled in love, provides light to break the dark of night in schools, libraries, hospitals and nursing homes.
When controlled in love, helps us turn our energy into good work by preparing food for others and ourselves, by transporting people form place to place, by helping us to learn about each other.
Fire.
When not controlled in love, leaves people cold and unprotected from the elements of nature, or leaves stomachs aching and empty with a hunger for satisfaction, or inflicts the sin of illiteracy on a world crying for education.
When not controlled in love, results in the napalm burning the skin off children in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When not controlled in love, results in Pearl Harbor and Auschwitz, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 9/11 and 3/11, Rwanda and Bosnia, and Dafur. And Darfur.
“We have grasped the mystery of the atom, and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” General Omar Bradley
Today, let us reflect on the divisions left in the wake of the baptism, confirmation, and resurrection of the Lord. These actions paved the way for our own baptism, conformation and re-birth in the Spirit.
One of those divisions has to do with war, a subject much in our headlines these days. Also a subject that Jesus challenges us with today. “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51)
After a recent posting (Encourage Our Hearts August 29) noted the arrest of peace activists at the Pentagon, Cursillista Mark Clemente reminded me that there are more "anti-war" people working IN the Pentagon, than OUTside of the Pentagon. He wrote:
“The people who have to put their lives on the line -- for the most part -- are more sober in the judgment to wield this instrument of power. We are not a perfect nation, just like we are not perfect people ... we all have our weaknesses and are humbled before the great truth that is our Lord.
“That said, there is a long and Catholic (if controversial) tradition of what constitutes a just war and just conduct in war -- and it goes back to St Augustine, and St Thomas Aquinas. This is often a difficult and conflicting calculus -- and the final counting will be done by Someone with more computing power than we'll ever know. But the theory is simple. Life is precious ... and an END in itself. It can never be used as a means to another end. That means that people can't kill other people ... unless ... they forfeit their right by threatening yours. The usual formulation is to extend the personal to the state. If an intruder broke into your house, killed your wife, and started going one by one through your children -- it would be morally permissible to take his life because he has forfeited his right to live in civil society. Of course if he could be restrained and imprisoned -- this is a better solution. The fact that we have a police force and fortified prisons is how one makes the argument that even though capital punishment is permissible in the catechism -- it's probably NOT morally permissible in our country. (It may be permissible on some desert island with no ability to remove the individual from society -- but that's not the case in the Western world in general).
“This theory extends to the state. A good discussion on the pros and cons on this theory can be found below. One follow-up point to this piece. Atomic weapons or weapons of mass destruction were a product of the last century and one could make a good argument that they go against just conduct of war theory -- and I would agree. The U.S. military has done more in the last 20 years to increase the precision of our war making capability so that we can avoid mass destruction and the killing of non-combatants. So as imperfect as we are ... we are still basically trying to follow and improve upon the theory laid out centuries ago by some of greatest saints. Our enemies do not ascribe to this theory however, as they consider ALL civilians (as well as combatants) fair game.
“If you're a pacifist, I respect that, but do realize that there are a LOT of God fearing people in the military that only want to preserve the peace, protect the innocent, and advance the Kingdom. Sometimes that means stopping bad people from doing bad things. And as in everything, this must be done with humility and a LOT of prayer.”
http://www.monksofadoration.org/justwar.html
De Colores,
Mark
Action
We live in a society, a world marked by division. Economic divisions are as stark as an hour glass. Political divisions are as defining as the red state-blue state mentality of soccer moms and NASCAR dads. Cultural divisions born out through a chamber ensemble playing in a Gothic cathedral or a high school student dressed in goth black listening to heavy metal music.
Jesus predicted as much. So he wanted to leave us ablaze with His love to do His remaining work on earth. How do you plan to use that fire in your plan of evangelization for this week? Next week?
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