Monday of the Second Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 230

"Lord, great and awesome God,
you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you
and observe your commandments!
We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;
we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.

The USCCB website explains that the Book of Daniel, 

"...was composed during the bitter persecution carried on by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167–164 B.C.) and was written to strengthen and comfort the Jewish people in their ordeal. The persecution was occasioned by Antiochus’s efforts to unify his kingdom, in face of the rising power of Rome, by continuing the Hellenization begun by Alexander the Great. Antiochus tried to force Jews to adopt Greek ways, including religious practices. Severe penalties, including death, were exacted against those who refused."

A secular reading of the era would say that the region had been overrun by the Alexander's Hellenist empire, and suffered the oppression of foreign invaders. Not believing in the God of the Jewish People, the Hellenists expected the Jews to be persuaded by force and cruelty to worship their Greek idols and pay their taxes accordingly. 

Daniel, however, takes a different tack. The author insists that we will not submit, that the invaders have no authority over our hearts or our country, and if they seem to have power it's because God is punishing his people. The Hellenic rulers may think well of themselves, but they are nothing more than tools in God's hands. 

We might expect a work which should "strengthen and comfort" God's people would not recall their sins or suggest they had brought this punishment upon themselves; but that would not explain the abuse they suffered and God's apparent silence. What is happening is not the result of blind forces or human activity. Nothing happens in God's world that God does not see. 

If they want the foreigners to go away, they can do something about it. They can repent of their sins. There is no power in heaven or earth that can prevent their turning to the LORD. 

Many people are complaining about the silence of the Church in the United States as we hear of federal violence against unarmed citizens and assassination of foreign rulers. Why are many bishops and priests not condemning  from the pulpit these illegal acts? Although many Catholics have spoken out, the clergy's silence seems more than the usual avoidance of partisan politics. 

I for one see the situation as a manifestation of God's anger against this nation. The United States set out on the road to today's distress when it incorporated slavery into the Constitution, when it decided that abortion is an acceptable form of birth control, when it permitted serial polygamy, and so forth.... All of these violations of human dignity and many more anticipate an evil harvest of widespread violence. 

Rather than addressing the issues with prayer, fasting, and works of mercy, Catholics locked up their churches against solitary worship and complained about Pope Saint Paul VI's Humanae Vitae. Catholics sought divorce and abortions like their neighbors; many opposed the civil rights of African, Asian, and Native Americans. 

Daniel got it right:  "We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from Your commandments and Your laws." 

Like our ancestors in ancient Judea, Catholics can repent, confess our guilt, and turn back to the Lord. No government can stop us.