Hold Fast to the Hope

January 20, 2009

Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

“…we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner.” Hebrews 6:18b-20a

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28

Piety

Giving Thanks for a Committed Life

A Prayer by Martin Luther King

O God, our heavenly Father, we thank thee for this golden privilege to worship thee, the only true God of the universe. We come to thee today grateful that thou hast kept us through the long night of the past and ushered us into the challenge of the present and the bright hope of the future. We are mindful, O God, that man cannot save himself, for man is not the measure of things and humanity is not God.

Bound by our chains of sin and finiteness, we know we need a savior. We thank thee, O God, for the spiritual nature of man. We are in nature but we live above nature. Help us never to let anyone or any condition pull us so low as to cause us to hate. Give us the strength to love our enemies and do good to those who despitefully use us and persecute us.

We thank thee for thy Church, founded upon the Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon thee. Then, finally, help us to realize that man was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity.

Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace, help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all of God's children -- Black, White, Red, and Yellow -- will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the kingdom of our Lord and of our God, we pray. Amen.

Study

Authority and Promises: appropriate themes to reflect upon this day when we experience the forty-fourth consecutive peaceful transition of power over the last 233 years.

The First Reading from Hebrews reminds us of the promises and covenant that God makes with us. Because of the original covenant and the new covenant, God is our anchor for the future. All people live under come form of civil government. Some of those forms may be better than others, some more peaceful, some more prosperous, some more just. But the society envisions by those who hold fast to their hope in God, is the kingdom that he promises us and which we pray for every time we recite the Our Father.

The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:31-34

Now that is the promised fulfilled in Christ who dwells within each of our hearts. Every political candidate makes promises…but nothing like that! Sometimes the successful candidate lives up to the promises made on the campaign trail. Other times, they disappoint some of us or all of us.

Our political leaders say that they are like us but they are not really the common man or woman. To run for political office, it takes millions of dollars, a lot of luck and maybe good weather on Election Day if you hope to win. Jesus was different. He was a common man, the son of the carpenter from Nazareth. He not only felt our pain, he felt pain that none of us will ever freely choose to endure as he washed away our sins for all time. He came right out and admitted that he was going to be a divider.

“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Luke 12:51-53

Those are pretty harsh words when he said them and pretty harsh words even today as we struggle with their meaning.

James Morrison reminds us on his web site Scripture Insights explains it this way:

Jesus never sought to be "politically correct." He did not say what people wanted to hear, but what was true. He did not adapt to people; he expected people to adapt to God's truth as he spoke it…God's truth is a sword which divides truth from falsity, right from wrong, good from evil, and much else. It confronts us and requires us to make decisions. The way we make those decisions can divide us.

On Good Friday, it seemed that all of Jerusalem was united against Jesus as he hung on the cross like a criminal between two thieves. Herod and Pilate sent Jesus to his execution just like anyone who would oppose the empire.

Yet, there was the One who had dominion over everything in the heavens and on earth. Jesus is the only one with true authority everlasting. Others may have some power for a while but terms start and terms end. Only Jesus is the one who is Lord of all, lord even of the Sabbath. So let us all hold fast to the hope in Jesus.

Action

The USCCB has outlined the issues which it has set as priorities for communicating with the new administration and Congress. Here are the priorities from a weekly update provided by the bishops:

As the new Administration and Congress begin their work, the USCCB is working hard to communicate the church’s concerns about issues of human life, human dignity, justice and peace. At the bishops’ November 2008 meeting, Cardinal Francis George, President of the USCCB, issued a statement expressing the bishops’ commitment to work with our new leaders to advance the common good of all. On January 13th, Cardinal George sent letters to President-elect Obama and members of the 111^th Congress outlining a range of issues of concern to the Catholic community. These include:

• Economic Justice—We support a clear priority for poor families and vulnerable workers in economic recovery measures, including new investments and strengthening the national safety net.
• Health Care—We support comprehensive action to ensure universal health coverage which protects all human life including pre-natal life, provides access for all with a special concern for the poor, respects pluralism, contains costs, and respects the moral and religious convictions of patients and providers.
• International Affairs—We support a responsible transition in Iraq and U.S. investments in foreign aid to overcome poverty, hunger and disease. We also support action on climate change to address the disproportionate impact of climate change and proposed responses on those who are poor.
• Immigration Policy—We will work to fix a broken immigration system and support comprehensive reform that includes a path to earned citizenship.
• Marriage— We support the legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
• Education--We support initiatives which provide resources for all parents, especially those of modest means, to choose the education that best addresses the needs of their children.
• Faith-based Groups—We support efforts to strengthen the partnership between government and faith-based groups in ways that do not encourage government to abandon its responsibilities and do not require religious groups to abandon their identity and mission.
• Protecting the Lives of the Most Vulnerable—We will work to defend the right to life from conception to natural death, especially for unborn children and those who are disabled or terminally ill. We will seek common ground on morally sound ways to reduce abortion and will oppose all efforts to expand it or require participation by taxpayers or others.