[1]A young woman named Caroline once wrote an unusual letter to the New York Times. She was twenty-five, working at home as a
free-lance company editor, married to a successful young businessman, and the
mother of two children. In it she says,
“I am faced with the crisis of finding some meaning in life. No, my family is not enough. Yes, I want to make their lives as happy as
possible. The question is, how do you
find something to look forward to?
Basically, what are goals of any kind in the face of death? How is it possible to be happy in the
present, if there is no sense of accomplishing anything?”
This young woman was confronting her own mortality. People who knew her probably thought of her
as someone who “had it all.” But she is
asking the most basic question about the meaning of life, what’s the point, if
it all ends with death?[2]
The question that came to my mind while praying with today’s
scriptures is what do the Maccabees know that Caroline and so many of us
struggle to understand? Caroline seemingly has it all, yet struggles
with understanding her purpose, her goal in life. The Maccabees are arrested and subjected to
the cruel sport of their captures just to get them to renounce their faith yet
they willingly, even boldly, offer their words and bodies knowing the end
result, that “…the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.” (2 Mc 7:9) which has a
familiar tone to what we heard from the gospel during the All Souls Day liturgy
where Jesus says, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees
the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the
last day.” (Jn
6:40)
We are constantly presented with alternative courses of action
(choices) some are easier, like the choice between right and wrong or good and
evil. Some, not so easy, where each
choice seems attractive to some degree, and we’re not blessed with the gift of
a clear certainty about what to do. In
these cases, St. Ignatius says that we can discern the right choice by
attending to the inner movements of our spirit. In particular, feelings of “consolation” and
“desolation” will signal the correct course of action. St. Ignatius always carefully puts the word “spiritual” before consolation and desolation. For him spiritual consolation is our
experience “when some interior movement in the soul is caused, through which
the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord.” St. Ignatius more simply describes spiritual consolation
as every increase in hope, faith, and charity. Spiritual desolation is just the opposite.[3]
Tuesday, November 8th, Election Day. We’ve talked about choices between good and
evil, and the choice between two uncertainties.
What about choosing between two imperfect choices? PRAY,
DISCERN, ACT.
In Bishop Noonan’s letter, published in the Florida Catholic, he
writes to the faithful, “While St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians to speak of
his prayer for them, I also pray like St. Paul for you. These are difficult times. In a [couple days], we will have our presidential
election. Many of you have written to me
about the election and your questions regarding the consequences of your vote
for either candidate. Some of you have
stated that you won’t vote at all, because of your uncertainty about which
candidate to choose.
Voting in our country is a privilege and one in which I encourage
your participation to the fullest. This
means taking care to know all the candidates, including those running for your
city or county council, your judges, your state legislators, and other local
candidates, as well as your presidential choices.
The opportunity to vote in our country is a gift to us. It is by these choices that we can offer our
world the opportunity to be guided by the tenets of faith, as best as
possible. We recognize that the
candidates may not be people of faith, and because of that, they may not live
according to our faith, or if they exhibit an essence of faith, it might be
humanistic in its approach. It is our
responsibility not to judge them, but to determine if their platform will allow
us to practice our faith and to bring about God’s love of us and His command
for us to love our neighbor as ourselves to thrive.” The Church, for over 2000 years, has remained
constant in her moral teachings concerning: life; the dignity of every human
person; marriage; stewardship; and the environment. She asks her believers to utilize this moral
code to vote with a fully informed conscience.
The Church will not tell you who or what party to vote, nor will she
condemn you in your act of exercising your fully informed conscience vote. PRAY,
DISCERN, ACT.
The Eucharist is an expression of our belief in the good news that
Christ is risen and has won for us a life stronger than death. Participating in this feast is an act of love
and “if you are choosing love then you’re choosing the eternal element that
exists forever. If you’re choosing to
love and serve this world and your neighbor, you’re already in Heaven. Maybe it doesn’t always feel like it, but in
fact it’s the foretaste of the promise.”[4]
Yes, Caroline, there is a resurrection. Death does not have the last word and those
of us who believe can sing with the psalmist, “Lord, when your glory appears,
my joy will be full.” (Ps 17:1)
[1] Scriptures: 2 Maccabees
7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38
[2] DiGiacomo, James, SJ, Sundays
with Jesus, Reflections for the Year of Luke. © 2006. Paulist Press, Mawwah, NJ.
[3] Fleming, David L. SJ, What
Is Ignatian Spirituality? © 2008.
Layola Press, Chicago, IL
[4] Taken from Hungry, and You
Fed Me: Homilies & Reflections for Cycle C. by Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M. ©
2012. Clear Vision Publishing,
Manalapan, NJ
No comments:
Post a Comment