Lazarus: the Raising of the Dead and Death via Division

I'm not one to post on specific political issues save the dignity of the human person (e.g., such issues as abortion) and those stances that are derived from this axiom. The Church in the US particularly frowns on clergy directly speaking for or against political persons, parties, and movements. In principle, this is not a difficult prohibition as one can always simply proclaim the Gospel and the moral message that it espouses and leave it to the congregation to draw the appropriate inferences. I say this because it is, or should be, obvious that certain positions, and therefore movements, parties, and politicians who hold them inevitably risk ignoring or outright denying elements of the Gospel. That there can be only one Gospel of Jesus Christ is not only unequivocal it is scriptural. (Galatians 1:8f)

To be a Christian is to believe. And the belief of Christianity has real, discernible content. Anyone can interpret around specific aspects of that divine corpus of wisdom we call the Gospel, but in the end, the Faith of the Fathers is exactly as described: a Rock.(Matthew 7:24f, I Corinthians 10:4, I Peter 2:8). As people are fond of saying these days, "It is what it is."

Having given this 'disclaimer' - so that hierarchical bureaucrats need not post me copies of corporate rules written in fear of losing the government granted/imposed tax exemption (READ: "politically motivated gag order") - I would draw your attention to an editorial in today's Washington Times by Jeffrey T. Kuhner, a columnist, president of the Edmund Burke Institute Washington think tank, and host of a daily radio talk show. The editorial is entitled, "Will America break up?"

Ostensibly, the piece is concerned with the ongoing US debate concerning government administered health care. The thesis is that the divisions of opinion regarding the topic of government intervention in assuring basic health care coverage for all citizens, and perhaps non-citizens needing it while on American soil, is so divisive that it can only either threaten or presage the eventual break up of the United States. How this division will unfold is not clearly enunciated in that the diverse opinions of Americans on this topic, like so many others, is not one that can be demarcated along geographical lines. Yet the author draws one illustration that I have long felt apropos to one hotly debated portion of the program recently passed by the US Federal legislature: Abortion.

Mr Kuhner says:

Moreover, the law codifies the federal funding of abortion. Taxpayer dollars will be used to subsidize the murder of innocent life. Hence, Mr. Obama has violated the social compact: He has abrogated the conscience of pro-lifers, making them tacitly complicit in the slaughter of the unborn. Obamacare is a radical assault upon fundamental religious freedoms.

The Obama revolution threatens to tear America apart. This has happened before. Slavery eventually triggered the Civil War between the industrial North and the agrarian South. Abortion is the slavery of our time - the denying of basic human rights to an entire category of people.

He goes on from this unarguably accurate analysis of the two basic positions on aborticide to conclude: "The bitter debate over Obamacare has exposed the country's profound divisions. We are no longer one nation or one people. Rather, there are now two Americas: one conservative, the other liberal. Increasingly, we no longer just disagree but we despise each other." This conclusion is itself debatable, if in no other measure than the hatred and starkness of division it ascribes.

Today is the Saturday of Lazarus for Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Christians. On this day, we commemorate the death of a close friend of Jesus, whom Jesus allows to die and lay in the crypt for four days until the stench of rot has set in. In that moment, when the crowds begin to mummer that such a great 'faith healer' should have been able to prevent Lazarus's death, our Lord prays to God the Father and through His divine command, restores, resuscitates and resurrects Lazarus. One might say, therefore, that out of the rot of human corruption God provides Lazarus a second chance (although by all accounts, Lazarus was a just man).

People may take various sides on the many issues that confront modern society. These positions may lead one to a triumphalism or else full dispairity that any hope remains. We Christians of the East, following fast the example and living witness of the Church Fathers refuse to succumb to either extreme trusting rather in the Rock that may bruise the storm tossed but also proves the salvation of all who cling to it.

I pray that everyone used the time of Great Lent for spiritual profit, take the opportunity of today and tomorrow (Palm Sunday) to reflect on the power and humility of God, and follow the hours of Holy Week to follow, imitate and grow in the Image and Likeness of the God who, in giving up all gained everything for those who accept the chance to cling to that Rock.

What is that? (Τι είναι αυτό;) 2007

Thanks to a poster on one of the many forums I follow....



And a belated "Happy Christmas" to all following the Julian Calendar!

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

The Manhattan Declaration

Manhattan Declaration -

You can also read, download it and find out more about it here.

Sacrifices, Priorities and What the New Year Offers

Today is the first Sunday of the new Liturgical (Church) year. As we noted last week, the Church year begins on September first. With September the first two of a series of Holy Feasts begins to unfold. The first of these is the Nativity of the Theotokos (The “Birthgiver of God”) the Virgin Mary. The spiritual significance of this feast becomes apparent as the year progresses and we come to realize the great role the Virgin makes in our salvation. Next week we will celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the anniversary of St Helena, the mother of St Constantine, finding the True Cross in the fourth century.

Together, these Feasts (two of the Twelve Great Feasts that along with Pascha are our holiest annual celebrations) remind us that our Faith is not tied to fables of a never-never-land. The Truths of Christianity are solidly grounded in the rock surface of real history. The Holy Trinity does not inhabit a make believe era cut off from reality, He reveals Himself in the sweat and blood of human life.

This should immediately alert us to the fact that Christ can be active in our lives today. I say can be because we actually have a say so in our own salvation. Because God is Love, it is against His Nature (so to speak) that He would impose Himself on us. To be real, love must be freely given and freely received. Therefore, God offers us His saving Love, but it is up to us whether we will accept it or not. And just as we must prioritize our lives for any earthly thing we truly want, we must also make choices and decisions about how to live if we are to accept God’s love and the salvation that comes with it.

We all know that certain earthly goals require us to spend time, money and sweat if we are to achieve them. “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and it took effort and determination to put the first stone on top of another to get things started. Growing in the image and likeness of God requires no less of us. Keeping the fasts and taking the time for Holy Day celebrations; giving to the Church of our time, our talents and earthly resources are but minor sacrifices in comparison to the spiritual rewards we can achieve in Christ, both here now and tomorrow.

Our Lord sacrificed Himself on the Cross for us, and is it not a little thing for us to make the small sacrifices of effort, prayerful focus, offering of our time, or giving a few dollars for Him? And the best part? The abundant life our Lord wishes to give us now in this world is but a foretaste of the fullness of eternal life He is offering on the Day of Resurrection in exchange for our commitment to Him today!

Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through Faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on Faith; that I may know Him and the power of his Resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3.8-14)

Thanks be to God!

The Birth of Christ - Hope and Contradiction

The Holy Father's talk at the general audience today touched on the Mystery of the Incarnation. The unity of the Pope's thought and theology is breathtaking. (I've pondered recently that while John Paul the Great was Pope for a very long time, even accounting for that, his literary theological output was voluminous and complex. Benedict, on the other hand, while only Pope for a brief time thus far has revealed a genius for compact, clear and challenging theological reflection. Witness the immediately accessible Deus Caritas Est and Spe Salvi in comparison to any one of John Paul's Encyclicals.)

The Vatican Information Service has released a summary of his talk. One can hardly wait for the whole text! Below are a couple of excerpts.

"Hoping for justice in the Christian sense means ... that we too begin to live under the eyes of the Judge, ... creating justice in our own lives. ... In this way we can open the world to the coming of the Son and prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord Who comes."
...

"Moreover," he added, "we have formed a view of tolerance and pluralism such that to believe that Truth has been effectively manifested appears to constitute an attack on tolerance and the freedom of man. If, however, truth is cancelled, is man not a being deprived of meaning? Do we not force ourselves and the world into a meaningless relativism?"

He continued: "How important it is, then, for us to reinforce the mystery of salvation which the celebration of Christ's Nativity brings. In Bethlehem the Light that illuminates our lives was revealed to the world; we were shown the Way that leads us to the fullness of our humanity. If we do not recognize that God was made man, what sense does it have to celebrate Christmas? We Christians must reaffirm with profound and heartfelt conviction the truth of Christ's nativity, in order to bear witness before everyone of the unique gift which brings wealth not just to us, but to everyone. "
...

"In these days leading up to Christmas," said Pope Benedict, "the Church prays more intensely for the realization of hopes of peace and salvation, of which the world today still has such urgent need. Let us ask God for violence to be defeated with the strength of love, for contrasts to give way to reconciliation, for the desire to dominate to be transformed into a desire for forgiveness, justice and peace. May the wishes for goodness and love that we exchange over these days reach all areas of our daily lives."

UPDATE: Zenit now has the full text online.

The Meaning of Life and Hope

From Canada, Michael Coren writes in the National Post on life without meaning. The Kanuck commentator aptly notes the denigration of life as the central and essential value in modern Western society.

Problem is, life is considered one of the least significant issues in Western culture. Compared to opinions on the state of the market or the state of Paris Hilton, the notion of a person's inalienable right to live appears rather meager. Or to put it another way, life is only assumed to be significant when it is thought to be of quality. (Emphasis added)

Being old, handicapped or even unattractive are at best unfashionable and at worst unacceptable. Life is not precious in itself but measured to the degree that it is ostensibly glamorous, stylish or important. And none of these characteristics are instantly applied to the dying, the severely disabled and the very old. Which leads us to the cult of euthanasia.

Implicit in Mr Coren's argument, which is no more than speaking clearly about the situation, the relativistic secularism that currently rules our society ultimately is vacuous in re values, leaving irrational hedonism at the ultimate determinant. If it can't be enjoyed it is to be avoided or ended.

The general view is that all depends on will. In other words, if a person does indeed ask for death it is their body and their choice. Yet surely the very last people who can make calm and balanced decisions about life and death are those who are suffering or are in pain. (Emphasis added) Anguish and emotion are powerful factors and they make for an often gripping story. But by their very nature they obscure clear thought.

This is such an obvious point that I'm surprised so few have stated it in such succinct terms before. Ignoring the influence of pain and stress on such important decisions leads to a de facto ethical callousness in which "my" inconvenience in dealing with the one suffering ultimately trumps the value of the very personhood of the sufferer.

It is no coincidence that the most outspoken opponents of euthanasia are the handicapped. They are justifiably concerned about how they will be treated in a society increasingly obsessed with ending what is seen as life lacking in quality. They also know that for every seemingly compelling story of a dying person merely wanting closure, there are innumerable cases of the vulnerable being coerced into assisted suicide and the powerless being murdered.

The the whole article here.

I would also note that the one monk who is interviewed in the magnificent "Into Great Silence" (the elderly blind monk) also speaks eloquently to the meaninglessness of life when God is taken out of the equation. (If you haven't seen it yet, don't wait for Nativity, get it now as inspiration for your Advent Fast!)

In yet more related news, the Holy Father has released his second Encyclical called Spe Salvi, which like its predecessor, Deus Caritas Est, should be read, contemplated, and treasured.

Amongst the many vital things noted in the Encyclical, the Holy Father speaks to the failure of atheism and modern relativistic materialism.

We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.

(Spe Salvi, no. 37)

Atheism precisely fails due to the elimination of objective values it entails. A Godless universe is truly a universe without purpose, blindly moving from chaos to vacuous darkness. Similarly, human life requires purpose and direction. Progress without purpose is mere careering in the void.

If progress, in order to be progress, needs moral growth on the part of
humanity, then the reason behind action and capacity for action is likewise
urgently in need of integration through reason's openness to the saving forces
of faith, to the differentiation between good and evil. Only thus does reason
become truly human. It becomes human only if it is capable of directing the will
along the right path, and it is capable of this only if it looks beyond itself.
Otherwise, man's situation, in view of the imbalance between his material
capacity and the lack of judgement in his heart, becomes a threat for him and
for creation. Thus where freedom is concerned, we must remember that human
freedom always requires a convergence of various freedoms. Yet this convergence
cannot succeed unless it is determined by a common intrinsic criterion of
measurement, which is the foundation and goal of our freedom. Let us put it very
simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope.

(Spe Salvi, no. 23)