Scripture for today's reflection can be found at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062622.cfm
We have a guest blogger for today from Arlene B. Muller.
Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OFS) is a lector & Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at St. Pancras Church in Glendale, a singer in the choir at St. Margaret's Church in Middle Village, an itinerant speech/language therapist working with preschool children with delayed language development, a professed Secular Franciscan & Formation Director at St. Adalbert's Secular Franciscan fraternity. She enjoys posting on Facebook & writing reflections to connect Scripture to life & to promote the GOSPEL OF LIFE.
It has been suggested that with GOD there are no coincidences. There are times when in either our personal prayer or in the liturgy, the LORD gives us a Scripture reading that winds up being especially relevant to what is going on in our lives or in the lives of others or in our country or the world. Sometimes we call happenings like this "GOD-incidences" or "GOD winks".
A consistent "GOD-incidence" that I have observed over the years is that the second reading for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time from the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians usually is proclaimed on or around July 4th, the day we celebrate Independence Day and our freedom as Americans. This year it happened to be on June 26, 2022. The concurrence of the reading from Galatians & our Independence Day, from as long as I can remember, has struck me as very relevant to our country and Independence Day and an especially and increasingly relevant message to the current state of affairs in America.
In this reading St. Paul reminds us that it was for freedom that CHRIST set us free, and he exhorts us not to submit again to the yoke of slavery. He urges us not to use our freedom to give in to our fleshly desires but to use our freedom to serve GOD & others in a spirit of love, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to refrain from attacking one another, and to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
The United States of America was founded on the principles of freedom, on the proposition that all human beings are created by GOD Who endowed us with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (in THAT order). Added to our Constitution is our Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press. Throughout our history Americans have fought and died to preserve our freedom and to protect the freedom of people in other countries. Although the United States of America is a pluralistic nation that welcomes people of all religions, is a constitutional democratic republic and not a theocracy, and our First Amendment prohibits us from establishing a state religion, the Judeo-Christian ethic is an essential aspect of our founding and fundamental principles. Our founding fathers wrote our Constitution for a people who would be guided by the Ten Commandments and primarily for people committed to faith and Judeo-Christian morality. From our earliest days and for most of our history both our leadership and our citizens have acknowledged and appreciated the blessings and providence of GOD in America, both past and present.
For the past 60 years or so there has been a movement in America that has been a turning away from GOD, faith and religion and toward giving in to various desires of the flesh. Instead of viewing freedom as the ability to do what is right, it has been reinterpreted by many as license to do what people feel like doing, whether it is morally right or not, often with a failure to accept responsibility for the consequences. In this free country of ours many people have lost true freedom by becoming slaves to various addictions (e.g., sexual immorality, alcohol, drugs, materialism). Our politics has become increasingly divisive and lacking in civility. At times it seems that people on opposite sides of the political spectrum live on two different planets in our/their perceptions and perspectives while living in the same country and spend more time and energy attacking each other (something against which St. Paul warned us in this passage from his letter to the Galatians) than seeking to engage in constructive dialogue and seeking to brainstorm, to cooperate, and to achieve mutually acceptable compromise for workable solutions to our problems. People of various ideological perspectives have engaged in acts of violence and destruction. The fact that some have engaged in destructive acts and threatened people to fight for an alleged "right" to kill unborn babies is evidence of how far we have fallen.
In 1944 the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote in his book FREEDOM UNDER GOD that "freedom is meaningless apart from the moral law", that "if we destroy the moral roots of freedom we cannot expect to keep the fruits of freedom", and that "freedom divorced from moral responsibility--that is, freedom divorced from GOD--is anarchy". I think St. Paul might have substituted the word "slavery" for "anarchy" but otherwise would heartily agree with Archbishop Sheen.
Let us thank the LORD for the freedom we still possess in America and let us, especially as Catholic Christian Americans, recommit ourselves to true freedom, which is the freedom found in CHRIST and in following His ways. Let us pray that the LORD will help us not only to cherish & protect the freedoms we hold dear but also to avoid falling prey to slavery to sin, to addictions, and to attacking one another, and that the LORD will renew and reunite us in a spirit of mutual love and mutual respect.
Finding it very hard to live in today’s world. Very difficult to continue to hold onto one’s faith when the world keeps tumbling around us. There are many good people in this world who still believe in the word of God, but we are all being hurt by the kind of people you mentioned above. Right now I’m just hoping we survive until the next presidential election. If enough good people pray. Maybe God will reward all of us.
ReplyDeleteComment sent by e-mail by Deacon Tom Page, Local Minister of my Secular Franciscan fraternity at St. Adalbert's:
ReplyDelete"An excellent composition. It points out the root of many of our problems today and offers the only solution that will bring us back to the right track."
It is certainly true and a sad state that too many people have lost sight of the simple and most important things in life and are instead focused on things that divide people. We need to come together as one people of our nation and especially of the world to focus our efforts on the good of mankind as a whole and ensuring equality and respect for all people. I agree that we all have a responsibility to use our freedoms to follow the example of Jesus and to care for our neighbors and our planet in the best ways possible.
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