Saturday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
“[Y]ou who once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.” Colossians 1:21-23a
“The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5
Piety
O God, hear my prayer. Listen to the words of my mouth. The arrogant have risen against me; the ruthless seek my life; they do not keep God before them. God is present as my helper; the Lord sustains my life. Turn back the evil upon my foes; in your faithfulness, destroy them. Then I will offer you generous sacrifice and praise your gracious name, LORD, Because it has rescued me from every trouble, and my eyes look down on my foes. Psalm 54:3-8
Study
The sacred scriptures often use images of strong buildings as a symbol when speaking about the church. Today, St. Paul glues together many such analogies in his letter to the Colossians.
Persevere in faith.
Firmly grounded.
Stable.
Not shifting.
All this points toward one end – the hope of the Gospel. Not the law of the land. Not the rules of the Pharisees. When we are firmly grounded in the hope of the Gospel, we are standing on rock solid ground.
As we read about the latest confrontation between Jesus and the church elders in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus pins the Sabbath law to his own divine persona. While it may not surprise us, at the time, this was blasphemy. Times change. Different actions in different eras can all result in dramatically different results. Before Jesus, the ancestral laws took precedence. The rules of Moses, Leviticus, and other prophets ruled life. Jesus changed that.
Action
Times change. Different actions in different eras can all result in dramatically different results.
If any one of our daughters tried to cast a ballot for President of the United States in November of 1888 instead of November of 2008, she would have been turned away at the door of the polling place…along with her sister, mother and grandmother. If former Secretary of State Colin Powell showed up at the recruiting station for the U.S. Army in 1918 instead of 1958, he would not have been enlisted let alone admitted to the ROTC…derailing a highly decorated military career. As late as 1979, you could not buy many products in Massachusetts or other states on a Sunday due to the blue laws designed to enforce religious standards for the day of rest. In many places, laws continue to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on these days. Times change.
President Harry Truman first introduced legislation which would provide health care to all senior citizens. Despite numerous attempts by Truman and later by President John F. Kennedy, similar legislation continued to fail until 1966 when legislation to provide care for our senior citizens was finally signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In a signing ceremony held in Independence, Missouri, LBJ signed up former President Truman as Medicare’s first patient.
Today, if you are not a senior citizen, a veteran or an employee granted health care insurance at work, you might not have any safety net. The poor are left in emergency rooms hoping for the charity care that they need. No one should die because they cannot afford health care, no one should go broke because they get sick. They deserve the hope of the Gospel, too.
The idea behind Catholic Social Teaching and the position of the bishops is not to write a blank check on health care reform or any issue. Some limits are necessary in order to approach some kind of common ground and avoid continuing to bankrupt our children with government debt. Additional limits are needed to protect the conscience requirements for health care workers. However, firm ground must be found in a manner that will provide health care insurance to the poor, the young, the unemployed and the uninsured.
Engage people in conversations to find common ground. Times change but only because people make things happen.
