and all your deeds are just;
All your ways are mercy and truth;
you are the judge of the world.
And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me,
and look with favor upon me.
Punish me not for my sins,
nor for my inadvertent offenses,
nor for those of my ancestors.
“We sinned against you,
and disobeyed your commandments.
So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death,
till you made us the talk and reproach of all the nations
among whom you had dispersed us.
Periodically, a preacher makes the headlines for excoriating the American people. He will says AIDS is a punishment for homosexuality; or the death of American military personnel in Iraq is God's punishment for abortion. The media have a field day with these stories. They can find no cause-and-effect link between the incidents; it doesn't sound scientific; and so they hold the preacher and religion-in-general up to mockery.
Let me join that chorus of unhappy prophets and point to another punishment God has leveled upon the nation -- our churches are locked. I cannot say which sin brought down that curse upon us but I feel its burden. Millions of lost souls, fleeing from their electronically-infested warrens, search for a quiet sanctuary where they might feel the presence of God. Eagerly they mount the steps of the nearest church -- Protestant or Catholic -- only to discover the doors have been locked for years, for as long as anyone can remember.
The prophet Amos described a similar curse,
See, days are coming... when I will send a famine upon the land: Not a hunger for bread, or a thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD. They shall stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east In search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)I feel very old when I remember that I rode on my bicycle around the neighborhood of my childhood and sometimes stopped to "pay a visit" to the Lord. The nuns said Jesus was lonely in the tabernacle and any child could ease his distress for a few minutes. But I was usually not alone there. Often old men and women also prayed in the church, their rosaries in hand. The church was a second home to everyone, as familiar as a mother.
When drugs spread over the land and addicts needed to steal from the poor box, and sell electronic microphones for cash, and beg money from vulnerable people in the sanctuary we locked our churches. God's curse is upon the land.
We should pray that it be lifted.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.