Cleansing Injustice

Because Jesus is a human being as we are, we can expect to see the full range of human emotions in Him. When His friend Lazarus dies, we see Him weep. As He is about to be arrested in the garden, we see Him torn by anxiety. We see Him experience disappointment as He is betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter. We also see Him rejoice when people come to believe in Him.

And we see Him get angry.

Today’s gospel is one of the most perplexing in all of Scripture. It goes against our image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. We cannot understand how this gentle and humble man could fly into such a rage. How could Jesus who was perfectly sinless, act in such a seemingly violent manner?

A little information about the customs of the time might help us to understand better what made Jesus react as He did.

The Temple in Jerusalem was the center of all Jewish worship in Jesus’ day. It was there that the people offered sacrifices to thank God for some blessed event such as the birth of a child or a fruitful harvest. It was also where they went to ask for forgiveness of their sins. The animals used in those sacrifices were sheep, oxen and doves. Because many of the pilgrims to the Temple were traveling long distances, it was less expensive to buy the animals in Jerusalem than to have to bring them from their native land. Also the animals had to be perfect with no blemish. Imagine bringing an animal all the way to Jerusalem only to find out that, when it is examined at the Temple, it had an imperfection that would keep it from being used as a sacrifice? By buying the animal at the Temple, the pilgrims could be sure that they were without blemish.

As so frequently happens, those who sold animals at the Temple began to take advantage of the people coming to there by overcharging them. They would also bribe those who would examine the animals to make sure that any sheep, oxen or doves brought in from the outside would be deemed unworthy for the sacrifice. Then they would have to buy them from the Temple at the higher price. The same was true of the money changers who offered less in exchange for foreign coins than banks outside of the Temple.

This situation outraged Jesus. Hardworking people who made the sacrifice to come to Jerusalem for the feast to worship God were being taken advantage of by unscrupulous men. And He would stand for it no longer. He would not allow the poor to be exploited for profit or to be kept from worshipping in the Temple. So He did something about it. He put an end to the unjust situation and He called the authorities to task for their corrupt behaviour.

As we reflect on Jesus’ actions, there is a question which we should be asking ourselves. How do we react when we are faced with injustice? What do we do when our brothers and sisters are being taken advantage of? Do we speak up and try to do something about it? Or do we look the other way glad that it is happening to someone else and not to us?

In today’s world there is plenty of violence and injustice. We need only to look at the poor countries of our planet where millions are undernourished while rich countries spend billions of dollars on weight-loss diets. We need only to look at countries where ruthless dictators imprison and torture those who dare to speak up for human rights while those living in democracies barely show up to vote. In so many countries Christians are forbidden from worshiping in public and often killed during their services while we take our freedom to worship and practice our religion for granted. How has such inequality, injustice and intolerance been able to go on for so long? Simply because good people failed to get angry and speak up.

This is important for us to reflect on as we continue our journey through Lent. It is important for us to make sacrifices and practice self-control. But it is more important to help others, to better the lives of our brothers and sisters and to bring relief to those who suffer. God tells us this through the prophet Isaiah: “This is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly.... Setting free the oppressed.... Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.” Are our Lenten sacrifices making someone's life better or are they just a way for us to say that we met our religious obligation? Are our penances making us more sensitive to the needs of our neighbor or are they filling us with pride? These are very important questions for us to be asking ourselves during these days because Jesus makes it very clear that we will be judged by how we treat the poor who surround us.

It is natural for us when faced with the world’s problems to feel paralyzed. If politicians cannot fix hunger, poverty and war, what can we do? How can we make a difference? The simple answer is that we must start with the people around us. Who could use my help? Is there a sick person I could be visiting, a neighbor who could use a meal or a schoolmate who could use a friend? If we could just slow down, take our minds off our own problems for a minute and look around us, we would see people crying out for help. Whatever little we are able to do, even if it is just offering a prayer for that person, is much better than nothing. And God promises to multiply our efforts through the power of His Spirit making immense blessing come out of our good deeds.

In our world today there is plenty of anger but little action. Jesus has shown us the way and given us the power to transform the world through love. As He offered Himself to be the perfect sacrifice for sins, so let us offer ourselves to one another to relieve the burden of the oppressed and to bring relief to the suffering. That is the Lenten sacrifice that most pleases our Heavenly  Father. That is the true religion Jesus came to reveal. The world is counting on us to bring them nothing less than Jesus. Let us not keep Him to ourselves but share Him freely with a hurting world.

It's Not Fair!

It isn’t fair!

How many times have we heard those words on the lips of children after they have been punished? How many times have we seen those words on the placards of protesters marching for better conditions and equal treatment for workers? Or how many times have we said those words ourselves when we received a grade on a test that we did not believe we deserved or were passed over for a promotion at work?

The thought, “it isn’t fair”, may have also crossed our mind when we heard the parable of Jesus in today’s gospel.

How we hear Jesus’ words and how we react to them has much to tell us about how we understand ourselves and our relationship to God.

If we heard the parable thinking that the landowner treated his workers unfairly, it could be that we think that God has not been fair with us. We may think that we have just had too many obstacles placed in our way to ever experience true joy and happiness in life. Perhaps we have lost loved ones in tragic circumstances or experienced illness ourselves. God has seemed to be there to help other people, why has He not helped me? Other people credit their faith with helping them through tough times, why do I feel alone? Like the workers in the parable, we feel shortchanged and unappreciated.

However, there is another way to hear the parable. Instead of identifying with the workers who labored all day, we could sympathize with those who worked only part of the day. We realize that God has been exceedingly generous with us. Though we have made many bad choices in life, our Heavenly Father has always provided for us. Because of His great love, we have come to depend on His mercy and generosity. Though we experience the same difficulties and tragedies that others do, we face them with a sense of confidence knowing God will continue to provide for us. Rather than feel punished, ignored or unappreciated by Him, we feel uplifted, protected and strengthened. Like the workers who only labored part of the day, we understand that we are only humble servants who are happy with whatever God chooses to give us.

Which category of people do we most resemble? If we are honest, we are most likely a mixture of both attitudes.

As we reflect on Jesus’ parables, let us ask ourselves, “What can we do to be more like the second group of people?”

The first way is to cultivate a spirit of gratitude. God showers us with so many blessings and gifts that it is easy to take them all for granted. Beauty surrounds us  in nature and in other people. On top of that, we have the gift of sight to be able to enjoy them. When we take a second to appreciate it and thank God for it, we begin to realize how richly blessed we are. If we take it a step further, we can even thank God for the challenges we face. Rather than blame Him for everything difficult in our lives, we can turn to Him in trust saying, “Lord, I know that you will eventually provide for me” or, “Father, I trust you to bring good out of this bad situation.” Doing so will give us peace when we are feeling insecure.

Giving thanks in all circumstances combats a spirit of entitlement that is so common to our society. When we feel entitled, we believe that we deserve whatever we want. Every time we do some good work or put out the slightest effort, we believe that someone should give us a medal for it. Such an attitude can lead only to frustration, bitterness and conflict. When we are driven by an attitude of entitlement, we can never experience happiness because, like the workers in the parable, no matter what we have we will always feel cheated. We can never be the thankful and joyful people that Jesus challenges us to be in today’s parable.

The second attitude to cultivate is generosity. When we are thankful for all that God has given us, it is natural that we will want to share it with others. We will never understand why our Heavenly Father has given more of the earth’s goods to some people rather than others, but we can even things out by donating to charities or helping those in need. If we do not have many material blessings, then we can share our faith by praying for the sick, visiting prisoners or comforting those who are lonely. Faith is the greatest of God’s blessings and we never do so much good as when we share it with the lost, the lonely and the afraid.

In a particular way, we imitate God’s generosity when we share what we have with those who do not seem to deserve it. We do that when we forgive those who harm us even when they do not show any remorse. We reflect God’s mercy when we are kind to those who gossip about us behind our backs and refuse to say a bad word about them. When we help beggars on the street even though we do not know what they will do with what we give them, we are imitating God who showers His blessings on us even though we so often abuse them. Unlike God, we can never know what is going on in another person’s heart. We can never know what he or she is struggling with. However, like God, we can decide to always be generous even when we are unsure the person deserves it or even when the cost seems high.

It is true that there are many times we feel cheated by God. Sometimes the burdens of life seem to outweigh the blessings. However, everything we have comes from Him including our very life and being. So often we offend our Heavenly Father by not noticing the beauty and goodness all around us and daring to act as if it were not enough. By cultivating a spirit of gratitude and generosity we can be like the workers in the parable who were elated with the pay they received knowing that it was more than they deserved. We can also translate that gratitude and generosity into concrete action by sharing what we have with others and treating them gently and mercifully. Then the Kingdom of God which Jesus came to bring will be more of a reality in our lives and in our world.

Just Desserts

What do we mean when we say we deserve something? Don’t we mean that we have somehow earned it or that we are entitled to it because of our hard work and efforts?

And how do we feel when we do not get what we think we deserve? Don’t we feel angry and hurt? Don’t we feel as if our rights have been trampled on and that we have been disrespected?

Then we can completely understand the anger of the workers in Jesus’ parable. They felt they were entitled to more pay because they had worked longer hours. Unlike the laborers who had shown up at the last minute, they made an effort to show up early at the marketplace so that they would be hired first and be able to earn a whole day’s pay. They were not asking for a hand out. They simply wanted what they thought they deserved for the labor they put in.

All of us can feel sympathy with these workers. We have all been in situations in which we thought we were being taken advantage of or when we felt we had gotten the short end of the stick.

It is natural for us to get frustrated with others when we feel we have not received what we deserve. But are there ever times when we feel that same anger and frustration with God? Are there ever times when we think we deserved a better life than the one God gave us? Are there times when the burdens of life weigh so heavily upon us that we ask, “Why me, Lord? What did I ever do to deserve so much heartache?”

When it comes to our relationship with others, it is possible that we do not always receive what we are entitled to. But we can never make the same claim as regards our relationship with God. When it comes right down to it, God does not owe us anything. Who here today is so important that he or she deserved to even be born? Who here is so good that he or she deserves to go to heaven? Who here today has lived such a virtuous life and performed so many good deeds that he or she deserves a seat in the Kingdom of God? No one. If such a thing were possible, Jesus would not have had to die on the cross for us.

The fact is that we are all beggars before our Almighty God. Everything we have and everything we are is his gift to us. It may not always seem as though we have enough. It may be painfully clear to us how small and weak we are. But each of us has more than enough to accomplish God’s plan for our life. He never fails to provide us with whatever we need when we need it. It may seem that we could do better things for God if we had more resources or were more talented, but we have just what we need to live the life He has set out for us.

It is a very subtle trick of the Devil to try to convince us that we deserve more than God has given us. He succeeded in convincing Adam and Eve that all the delights of Paradise were not good enough. They had to have the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. He also convinced the Israelites in the desert that they would have been better off if they had remained slaves in Egypt. So they rebelled against God by worshipping a golden calf. He tried to pull the same trick on Jesus telling Him to provide bread for Himself because God had abandoned Him. But Jesus saw through it proclaiming that what God gave Him was all that He needed, for it is not be bread alone that we live but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. The Devil works hard to do the same to us - to try to convince us that God somehow is holding back from us and that we cannot trust Him.

Brothers and sisters, if we are going to make any progress at all in the spiritual life we have to stop complaining, stop bickering and begin being grateful for what we have. Even if it does not seem like much, everything we have is a gift from a good and generous God. In all things, we need to thank our Heavenly Father. Even if it is just for the fact that we have lived to see one more day, we must praise God.

Life can be difficult and challenging. There are many times when our suffering gets the best of us and we lose hope. But God has a plan for our lives. He sees the big picture. What seems like a crushing humiliation for us today or an impossibly heavy burden is God’s way of preparing a great blessing for us. He knows what He is doing. It may not make sense to us now, but there will come a day in the not too distant future when we will look back and be able to see why things turned out the way they did in our lives. Then we will be grateful. For now we can only accept what God gives us - both the good and the bad - in complete trust that “His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways.” But He will make all things work for the good for those who love Him.

It is true that God does not treat us as we deserve. Because of our sins, we deserve judgement and punishment, but in His goodness He sent His only Son, the sinless One, to die in our place. We deserve to be imprisoned in slavery to sin, but He has opened the treasury in Heaven to shower us with grace upon grace so that we can know the truth and live it with joy. There is only one way that God knows how to treat us - with mercy, love and lavish generosity.

We gather here today to celebrate that love and to commit ourselves to work in His vineyard and to be grateful for however much He deigns to give us.

Influencing Society

A few years back on a Friday evening, my wife and I walked into an Applebees Restaurant in Fall River for supper. We expected a long wait, but were surprised to find the restaurant nearly empty. When we mentioned it to the waitress she replied, “Oh, this is typical for a Friday in Lent.”

Since then I have noticed that many restaurants do try to accommodate Catholics who faithfully observe the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent. Jillian’s Restaurant in nearby Swansea has changed its sign promoting $2.00 drafts and replaced it with “We now have a Lent menu.” And McDonalds rolled its new “fish bites” on Ash Wednesday. All this in response to loyal Catholics practicing their faith.

Now imagine if Catholics were just as zealous and faithful when it comes to issues that really matter. What if we insisted that our government protect the dignity of all unborn human life? What if we demanded that our legislators honor the sanctity of marriage? What if we unfailingly held politicians accountable for their failures to see that justice is done for the poor? What if we made the common good our highest priority whenever we stepped into the voting booth? Then we would witness a real and lasting change in our society that would accomplish much more good than making sure that scrod and haddock are offered as special at our favorite restaurants.

Jesus Drives out the Money Changers

This article first appeared in CONNECT! magazine




I tend to feel uncomfortable around people who are angry. I often wonder if I'm to blame for their foul mood or if I should do something to make the situation better. Anger is a difficult emotion to experience whether in oneself or in others.

The gospel doesn't tell us how the crowds reacted to Jesus' prophetic expression of anger in the temple. No one tries to stop Jesus. No one voices outrage at his extreme actions. Though it would seem to be the perfect opportunity for the authorities to apprehend Jesus for causing a disturbance, they appear to be fearful of inciting the crowd. It could be that the crowd agreed with Jesus about the greed of the moneychangers. It could be that they were already used to Jesus' forceful words against those who manipulate religion for their own profit. Whatever the case, Jesus' action does not appear to provoke outrage on the part of the people. He exercises the same authority in the temple which he does in his teaching, freezing in awe those who witness his actions.

As a good and pious Jew, Jesus loved the temple which he called "my Father's house". His outburst of anger makes no sense otherwise. Jesus is not having a temper tantrum, but expressing real disgust and disappointment at the commercialization of his Father's house. His anger is an expression of love not an assertion of power. It is the anger of a father who sees his children in harm's way and the passion of a jilted lover.

The religious leaders,however, require of Jesus a sign proving his authority. It is then that we hear Jesus' strongest identification with the temple: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up ." It is a cryptic message only understandable in the light of his death and resurrection. Like so many of Jesus' other words in John's gospel, they would have to be guarded in the disciples' hearts until his resurrection. The Temple is Jesus' body - Jesus himself - victorious in death and risen in glory.

In Jesus' day, the temple was the pulsing center of Jewish life and worship. It was there that God dwelt in all his glory. It was there that sacrifices of oxen, sheep and doves were offered in atonement for sin. Its sheer size and the beauty of its adornments were sources of pride for the Jewish nation. The idea of it being destroyed was offensive, and any suggestion of it being rebuilt in three days was ridiculous. Just imagine someone saying the same thing about Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome! There's no doubt that Jesus' actions in the temple began the chain of events which would lead to his passion and death.

Before the building of the temple under King Solomon, God's presence among his people was symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant which housed the tablets of the law written by God himself on Mount Sinai. There was no permanent place to keep the Ark of the Covenant. Rather, it traveled with the people in a tent. God walked as his people walked. They lived in tents and so did he. When the people took up more permanent residence in the land and established a dynasty in Jerusalem through King David, then God took up a more permanent residence in a temple of stone.

Jesus is the new temple of God's glorious presence among us. The Ark of the Covenant and the temple symbolized God's desire to walk with his people. In Jesus, God takes up the tent of our human flesh and builds us up into a living temple whose permanent place is heaven. Jesus becomes both the altar and the lamb of sacrifice. It is a temple located wherever God's people are located. It is a sacrifice which requires no moneychangers. It is a temple which can never be destroyed.

We can bet that Jesus has the same passion for his people, the new temple, that he demonstrated in the temple of Jerusalem. Whenever God's people are denied access to the saving mysteries, whenever obstacles are placed in the way of their expression of faith and whenever they are denied justice, Jesus' ire is raised. And, ours should be as well. We think of those living in countries like China and Saudi Arabia where Christians are denied the free expression of their faith. We think of Christians who are persecuted in India. At home, we think of parish leaders who make access to the sacraments and the religious education of children needlessly burdensome. And, we think of ourselves when we deny the right of a good example to those who know us to be Christians. Under such circumstances, those who share the love of Jesus ought to start knocking some tables over.

The Catholic convert, Dorothy Day, often commented on the lack of passion she witnessed on the part of Christians as compared with her atheist friends. And, the criticism is often leveled that we are too busy looking forward to heaven to stoop down to help our brothers and sisters on earth. We can get angry, but it is often directed at trivial issues such as whether the bells should be rung during the Eucharistic prayer or who will get a solo at the Christmas pageant.

However, as we grow into the sense that we are members of Christ's body, forming a temple which spans the globe, we can no longer fail to be interested in the sufferings of others whether they be close by and within reach or in other countries. We will be unable to walk past the panhandler or overlook the stories of persecution. It will mean making a contribution, writing a letter to a Senator or even walking a picket line. It will mean holding them always in prayer at the temple of the Eucharist.

When we reach out to others, we are helping to build the New Temple. The same Dorothy Day once wrote: “People say, 'What is the sense of our small effort?' They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.” That is the work of Christ in the Holy Spirit to raise us up as a temple where his mercy is manifest to the world.

(image by Boris Olshansky)

Holy Spirit - Advocate and Guide

No one has ever said that we need more lawyers. Yet, we can't function as a society without them. When we find ourselves in trouble, we need experts who know how the law applies to our case. Lawyers are unrelenting in seeking recompense when we are injured and in arguing for leniency when we injure. When we lack knowledge or are timid even in the defense of our own rights, a lawyer's expertise and tenacity are greatly needed and appreciated.

During his Last Supper with his apostles, Jesus made the case that we do indeed need one more Advocate and Counselor. It is the Spirit of Truth who is kept on retainer for us who love Jesus and obey His commands. The Spirit of God works pro bono to remind us of everything Jesus said and did. It is a Spirit that the world cannot see, but who makes a home in the heart of the believer.

Enlightened by this Spirit, we ourselves become advocates. Since the world cannot see this Spirit at work in us, we have to make it known by being ever ready to give witness to the hope we have. The school of the Spirit gives us competency to be tenacious in protecting the rights of society's weakest members and seeking justice for those routinely exploited. People, restless because of the injustices done to them, raise the human cry throughout the streets of the world every day. The Spirit we have received compels us to stand with them and be their advocates.

Jesus promised the apostles that He would not leave them orphaned. The Spirit - Advocate and Counselor - would make Jesus Himself present and active in the believer. To a world who cannot see Him, we make Jesus alive and active when we love Him and obey His words. God puts it in our power to assure those without power that they are not alone. They have an advocate and a counselor in the Spirit working through believers. And, we certainly need more of those!


PRAYER

Almighty Father,
Your Spirit at work in us
accomplishes infinitely more
than we can hope for or imagine.

May our "Yes" to your commands
lead us from complacency and self-indulgence
to a restlessness for equity and righteousness.

We ask this in the Spirit and through Christ our Lord.

Amen

(artist: Albrecht Durer)

Remembering Dr. King

This piece originally appeared in the January 2008 issue of "Celebrations" magazineOne summer I had the opportunity to speak to a group of religious women in London, England. Taking my cue from the readings of the day, I based my talk on forgiveness.

Later that day, I learned that two of the sisters had recently returned from Liberia where they had been beaten and raped by rebel soldiers.

I was shocked. I had to ask myself whether I would have had the courage to speak so freely about the need for forgiveness if I knew that among the listeners were women struggling with that level of victimization. It challenged me to ask myself if I really took to heart the words of forgiveness I spoke so easily.

Every Sunday, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood before a congregation which knew deep victimization. They experienced discrimination on a daily basis. Most of their grandparents had been enslaved. Many of their family members had been imprisoned and even executed unfairly. And yet, every Sunday, he looked them squarely in the eye and preached the gospel of forgiveness.

For Rev. King, non-violent resistance was not a political strategy, but a gospel. Inspired by Jesus' words and life, he kept his eye on a deeper liberation, a deeper type of freedom: one born of reconciliation rather than revenge; of cooperation rather than dominance.

What if his congregation failed to listen to him and follow him? Rev. King would then be one of thousands of unknown Southern Baptist preachers. But, his congregation and countless others were moved enough to forgive, to seek reconciliation and to claim their rights in a non-violent way.

While it's certainly courageous on their part, we shouldn't be surprised by it. The human heart longs to hear God's Word of reconciliation and forgiveness. The human heart leaps when it hears God's Word proclaimed in uncompromising terms. That is the foundation of our confidence: not in our own cleverness or glibness, but in the power of God's Truth.

There are Christians who everyday take Jesus' words of forgiveness and reconciliation to heart. It happens in families between spouses, it happens in work places and it happens in prisons. God's Word of forgiveness is embraced by His People in great and small ways because the human heart understands that it is the only path to true peace. This holiday is an opportunity for us to celebrate the witness of so many Christians and citizens while at the same time re-committing ourselves to work for justice through reconciliation.

Get ready! It's coming!

As we recommit ourselves to advocating for the rights of the unborn, the question will increasingly be raised: What about the death penalty? The argument will be made that if the Church is willing to publicly upbraid Catholic politicians who promote abortion, it should also be prepared to give the same treatment to those who support the death penalty.

We need to be ready with some answers.

I have to admit at the outset that I am against the death penalty. As I see it, our legal system is simply not perfect enough to ensure that every person who is sentenced to death is really guilty of the crime he or she is being accused of. The likelihood of an innocent person being put to death - no matter how remote - gives me pause. A life sentence in prison can always be reversed, but a death sentence is permanent.

Furthermore, I think Catholics who do support the death penalty should examine their consciences to ensure that their support is not a result of ignorance, prejudice or vengeance.

That being said, I can't say that I find the death penalty to be a morally equivalent evil to abortion. Nor do I think that there should be an equal urgency to end the practice.

First of all, capital punishment is an extension of a government's responsibility to protect its citizens. It can be argued that capital punishment acts as a deterrent, that is, that people are less likely to commit violent crimes when they know that they may be put to death as a result. Just as the police are authorized to use deadly force to protect citizens and the armed forces to protect the nation, so the legal system may be allowed to use the death penalty to protect the public from criminals.

In the case of abortion, the government fails at its responsibility to protect the innocent. Those who are the most vulnerable, who have no voice, are the very ones who are excluded from protection.

Secondly, people do not find themselves on death row for no reason. Police and prosecutors do not randomly pluck people off the street and sentence them to death. Rather, people receive the death penalty because they chose to commit a crime. Furthermore, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, they are presumed to be innocent and are entitled to be represented by an attorney and to be tried by a jury of their peers. The death penalty is not founded on a presumption that the guilty do not have a fundamental right to life. Rather, the lengthy appeals process afforded to them indicates just the opposite. It can be argued that the judicial system is unfair and can inadvertently prosecute innocent persons (I certainly believe it's a possibility). Nonetheless, it does support the basic right to life of the accused by requiring a high threshold of certainty before leveling a sentence of death.

While the death row inmate gets her day in court, the unborn child has no advocate and no appeals process. Until an attorney is appointed to defend the rights of every unborn child, then I cannot agree that the death penalty is an equal violation of human rights.

Finally, the sheer numbers of abortions as compared to capital deaths is staggering. In 2007 there were 42 inmates put to death in the United States while there were approximately 1,370,000 abortions committed. While only one unjust death of an innocent person is too many, the fact that there are so many abortions each year convinces me that it is a moral issue requiring much more urgency than the death penalty. So many more lives are at stake. At current rates, if it took us ten years to end the death penalty, 420 lives would be lost in the interim. However, if it took us ten years to end abortion, 13,700,000 lives would be lost. If over a million inmates were put to death annually in U.S. prisons, then I might agree that it is a morally equivalent issue. But, given the sheer numbers, it is impossible to argue that the death penalty is as urgent or more urgent than abortion.

In his book, Render Unto Caesar, Archbishop Chaput of Denver argues that abortion is the "foundational" moral issue of our time. It challenges us as a society to decide whether we will be a nation in which the rights of all persons are honored or whether we will be a nation in which the powerful can veto the rights of the weak. The death penalty, pre-emptive war, social justice and other moral issues are certainly compelling. All people should examine their consciences and their attitudes regarding these questions. But, like civil rights in the '60's and slavery in the nineteenth century, abortion is the defining moral question of our time. Because it is premised on the denial of a right to life for a class of people and because of the sheer number of its victims, I cannot foresee any rational argument being made that another moral issue demands equal or greater attention or urgency.

A Hope Full of Immortality

The ancient Greeks believed in the immortality of the soul. It was a natural consequence of their understanding of the human person being composed of body and soul. The body, like all matter, decayed and died, but the soul, which was immaterial, lived on in some fashion.

The ancient Hebrews came later to the idea of the soul's immortality. Unlike the Greeks however, Jews never divided the human person into sections such as body and soul. The human person is always an indivisible whole in Scripture. Rather than a philosophical conclusion, the immortality of the soul developed from faith in God's unfailing justice. Through the centuries it became painfully evident that full justice was not possible in this life. Wealth and a long life were not always the lot of those who walked in the Lord's ways. Poverty was not a punishment for sinfulness and neither was wealth the fruit of sanctity. If God is just, then his justice must make itself manifest in another life after death.

Pope Benedict XVI takes up this theme in his encyclical on Christian hope, Spe Salvi:

A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope. No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world....I am convinced that the question of justice constitutes the essential argument, or in any case the strongest argument, in favour of faith in eternal life....Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so.

As Christians, we have an even deeper understanding revealed to us by Jesus. The promise of everlasting life is a manifestation of God's love and desire to not lose anyone to death. As we hear in one of the suggested gospel readings for this coming Sunday: "And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day" (John 6:39). In Jesus, God reveals that his justice is not ultimately about what each of us deserves, whether good or bad, but about the loving mercy with which he desires to welcome us to the inheritance he has promised us through faith. God's mercy perfects his justice.


Pope Benedict XVI continues:

This great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life.