Amos has some stern words for us in chapter 6 of his book. It is a dire warning to the rich who anoint themselves with the finest of oils and drink the choosiest of wines while “Joseph†[their country] goes to ruin. They are complacent. They lie on ivory beds. The eat lamb and beef and make music on the harp. They are complacent! Continue reading
Today’s Gospel dealt with the sower and the grain. Much of the seed that was sown did not come to full maturity. The rocks, the shallow soil, or the snares of daily cares and anxieties kept the seed from taking root. Jesus wants the seed to fall on rich soil. He wants us to accept his word fully and without qualification. How often we fall short individually and collectively. Continue reading
One of our great problems is to see clearly what we have to resist. I would say that at the moment we have to understand better than we do the Cold War [War on Terrorism] mentality. If we do not understand it, we will run the risk of contributing to its confusions and thereby helping the enemies of man and peace. The great danger is that under the pressures of anxiety and fear, the alternation of crisis and relaxation and new crisis, the people of the world will come to accept gradually the idea of war, the idea of submission to total power, and the abdication of reason, spirit and individual conscience. The great peril of the Cold War [War on Terrorism] is the progressive deadening of conscience. (Thomas Merton, Cold War Letters, pp. 47-48) Continue reading
This is the letter I emailed to President Bush and my representatives in Congress. Do you have a letter you would like to share?
Dear President Bush and Members of Congress,
As a citizen and Christian, I am writing to all of you. You will soon be receiving a report from General Petraeus on “progress†in Iraq. Will he paint a rosier picture of progress than the GAO painted a few days ago? Will you, Mr. President, go into denial mode because your unilateral invasion of Iraq has been a miserable failure—a quagmire shall we say? Will you, members of Congress, go along with this continued refusal to face the facts? Continue reading
