Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100911.cfm

On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
the web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from every face;
the reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.


This Sunday's message of consolation -- the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face -- is spiced with threats of doom for the wicked, 

The king was enraged and sent his troops,destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

I am a baby boomer; I grew up in the aftermath of World War II. I remember my uncles being away to fight in Korea. I wondered why we fought in Vietnam and walked in a few protest marches. I didn't know why human life must be marinated in violence. I still don't, but I have come to believe that every age and every generation is violent in their own ways. Just as human beings are sinful, though we are not created to sin and there is no law that says we must sin; so are we violent. Those who think they are not stand so far behind the  trenches they cannot hear the artillery that protects them. They live in the pleasant illusion that their privileged consumerism costs them nothing. 
I recently attended a Tribute to American Valor at the Yum Center in Louisville. There we celebrated the young men and women who imperil their lives to protect our freedom. No mention was made of the taxes we must pay to support our government and its military. Americans are willing to spend young lives for freedom, but not money. As our infrastructure erodes and our schools deteriorate and our Gini Coefficient worsens, we will need more willing heroes to guard the perimeter around our costly way of life. 


I'm sure many object to the violence laced into today's gospel. Apparently Jesus does not doubt the necessity of violence. Rather, he will voluntarily walk into the kill zone of Jerusalem. 
His promise is not that there will be no violence, or that violence should not happen. Rather, he promises:

You spread the table before mein the sight of my foes;you anoint my head with oil;my cup overflows.I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

If anyone wants to live peacefully, and to bring about the Kingdom of God, she should learn from Saint Paul the simple life: 

I know how to live in humble circumstances;I know also how to live with abundance.In every circumstance and in all thingsI have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,of living in abundance and of being in need.I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

I will take a needed vacation from this blog for a few days. I hope to be back during the last week of October. I have managed 21 of daily blogs without a break; often keeping a week or more ahead of the schedule. But with a three week vacation/retreat in October, it's finally caught up to me. 
I am grateful to my patient readers for your perseverance and encouragement in this project and will be back at the desk in a week or two. 


I have posted at the top of this page a link to Pax Anima, a wonderful 16th century treatise on prayer by a Spanish Franciscan. It is not terribly long and is written in short chapters. I hope you enjoy reading this invitation to life in the Lord as much as I have. 


God bless you!