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Posted by on Nov 6, 2022

Playing the Long-Game on God’s Team

Playing the Long-Game on God’s Team

Several things have been on my mind this week. We have just celebrated All Hallows Eve, All Saints, and All Souls. The weather is changing. In the Northern Hemisphere we are settling into our school and colder weather routines. It’s getting darker. We’re beginning to get rain on the Central Coast of California. Other areas are seeing snow already.

While much of the hemisphere settles in for a long winter sleep of the vegetation, here the grass is sprouting after a long, dry summer and early fall. By Christmas, all will be green and beautiful. Wildflowers will be in bloom and it will feel to someone from farther north to be spring already. I must admit, it took me a while to get used to this.

But despite the appearance of spring outside, it is dark earlier and colder. Rain gear is needed and with the humidity, warm coats are a must.

We play the long-game in our lives in the natural world. Nothing happens overnight. Things just begin, grow, and reach their term over an extended period. Sometimes what develops is objectively good. Sometimes not so much.

On the grand stage of international relations and the history of peoples, the long-game of God becomes even more important. We are all called to play our part in it.

In the second century before Jesus was born, Greek warriors, led by Alexander the Great, conquered much of the known world. Palestine was one of the conquered lands. The Greeks were not a people who encouraged the peoples of conquered lands to continue their own religious beliefs and traditions. Conquered people were expected to worship the Greek gods instead of their own. This applied to the people of Israel as well. Some of the Jewish leaders encouraged the people to go along with their new rulers. But not all agreed to that and resistance arose, led initially by Mattathias, son of John, and later by his own son, Judas Maccabeus. It was a time of great turmoil and struggle. Eventually, the Greeks were conquered by the Romans, who allowed Jews to worship as they pleased, as long as they did not contest Roman rule. But that’s a story for another time.

As we near the end of our liturgical year, we listen to the witness of a group of Jewish martyrs during the years of Greek rule of their land. Their story is told in the second book of Maccabees. (2 Mac 7:1-2, 9-14) Seven brothers and their mother had been ordered to eat pork, in direct opposition to Jewish law. All refused. One by one, they were tortured and killed, with their mother being the last to die. Each brother got a turn to speak and each testified of his willingness to die rather than to break God’s law. They spoke of their trust in “the King of the world (who) will raise us up to live again forever.” The Sunday reading only includes the stories of the first, third, and fourth brother, but the story of all is found in the complete text.

The brothers and their mother recognized their place in God’s long-game. They knew that whatever happened to them, God was still in charge and would not abandon them. They might not/would not survive this time of witness/martyrdom, but God would raise them back to life – a life that would not end.

St. Paul recognized by the last months and years of his life that the return of the Lord was going to be part of God’s long-game too. Originally, Christians thought and taught that Jesus would return during their lifetimes. The end of the world was coming soon. But as time went on, it became clear that it was going to take longer.

Paul writes to the people of Thessalonica (2 Thess 2:16-3:5) to encourage them to keep up their hopes and good work, encouraged by the grace and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. He asks God to bless them and strengthen them to live in faith through good deeds and words. They are to carry on Christ’s work in their families and communities. He also asks them to pray for him, for protection from those who have lost faith or never believed. Finally, he prays that the Lord will continue to guard them and guide them in their lives of faith, helping them to carry on their lives of faith with the strength of Christ.

Jesus too speaks today of the reality of life after death. (Lk 20:27-38) A group of students of the Law, the Sadducees, did not believe in life after death. The concept was one that had developed slowly in Jewish thinking and was not accepted by all. Trying to trap Jesus into falling into either the camp that believed or the camp that didn’t, and thereby enter into the religious politics of the day on one side or the other, they presented a case study.

A man was married, but his wife had no children before he died. According to the Law, the man’s brother was to marry his brother’s widow. (It was allowed to have more than one wife at that time.) He too died without her bearing a son. The son would have been considered the child and heir of the first brother. This continued through a total of seven sons and marriages. The woman never had a child. Eventually, all had died. They asked Jesus, “Now at the resurrection, whose wife will that woman be?”

Jesus answered, but from a totally different perspective than consideration of inheritance of family position or heritage. Those who die no longer are bound by traditions such as marriage. They are free like angels. They are children of God and cannot die again.

Jesus knows that God’s approach is to act over time, touching the hearts and minds of people, so that gradually humans come to live as members of the Kingdom of Heaven in their daily lives. It’s a long-game strategy, but it is consistent with the reality that God created us to be free to make up our own minds about what to do and how to act. God doesn’t force anyone to act justly or lovingly. No one is forced to forgive or to accept suffering or criticism rather than act evilly or curse the opponent. Each person must decide personally how to react in good and hard times.

It’s a bit like the struggle sometimes waged in households over what kind of language is acceptable for children and adults to use. If everyone is using foul language at school or at work, is it OK to use it oneself? What alternatives are there? How can one be part of the group and not behave exactly like everyone else? Does it really make any difference in the long run?

Pope Francis, speaking to the Catholic community of Bahrain recently, encouraged them and all of us to do what is good “even when evil is done to us.” He continued, “There will be cases of friction, moments of tension, conflicts and opposing viewpoints, but those who follow the Prince of Peace must always strive for peace. And peace cannot be restored if a harsh word is answered with an even harsher one. No, we need to ‘disarm,’ to shatter the chains of evil, to break the spiral of violence, and to put an end to resentment, complaints, and self-pity.”

This is long-game language and strategy. We are all called to play the long-game on God’s team.

I pray that you and I will have the courage and strength to make decisions that lead to reconciliation and peace in our families, our communities, and our world in the days and weeks to come. We are going into the holidays soon. A new year will begin for our Church community in just a couple of weeks. 2023 will be upon us before we know it. Now is the time to commit ourselves to the long-game of God’s kingdom, to build a world of peace, forgiveness, and mutual care and support.

Go team!

Readings for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C

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Posted by on Oct 14, 2018

Mercy in the Life of St. Oscar Romero

Mercy in the Life of St. Oscar Romero

Archbishop Oscar Romero came from modest circumstances in a village in El Salvador. His family did have somewhat greater financial circumstances than most others, but they were still poor. He attended a school in the village which only went to the third grade and then was tutored at home. During those years he worked as a carpenter with his father who had taught him the trade. After he decided he wanted to be a priest, he went to the seminary from age thirteen on. At one point he left the seminary for three months when his mother became ill. While he was home, Oscar worked in a gold mine with his brothers.

After he was ordained, Fr. Oscar Romero worked in a village parish for 20 years. Eventually his superiors saw his talent with administration and his high level of pastoral care. Ordination to bishop followed and he was the Secretary-General for the Catholic Episcopal Secretariat of Central America. By the time he was appointed as Archbishop of San Salvador, he had had broad exposure to the repressive policies and actions of a number of national governments against the poor. But he remained traditional and conservative.

As Archbishop, Oscar was aware of the poverty and terrorizing of the poor by the military in his country. He was also aware that a number of the priests under him were organizing protests, teaching organizational skills to their parishioners, and some were advocating violence. For a number of years he advocated the unity and interior conversion of all as a way to remedy the injustices and bring forth mercy. Archbishop Romero was well loved by many families of the ruling class. He tried not to “rock the boat.” He was worried that would bring on more repression.

After a close priest friend, Rutilio Grande, was assassinated, Archbishop Romero stepped forward much more strongly. His homilies and weekly radio broadcasts then emphatically identified the marginalization and injustices and even ordered the perpetrators to put down their arms and refuse to take orders from their superiors. Romero visited and ate with both the rich and the poor. He baptized the babies of both social classes, often in the same groups, which infuriated the elite. He had very little support, including from church officials.

He was a loving and very pious man. He wrote in his diary that he examined his conscience every day and strove constantly to be a son of the Church. This was very difficult because many of the church hierarchy were of the wealthy class in power. They knew there was injustice and torture, but the official policy was tolerance. Active mercy was the last thing on their minds.

Archbishop Romero was suspected of being an extremist or at least of backing them. He was no such thing. In fact, he ordered the extremists, priests and laity, not to confront the governmental violence with violence. He further did not subscribe to the Latin American versions of Marxism, although he was accused of this. His entire focus was on the suffering of the poor and the peril of the souls of the perpetrators. On March 24, 1980, after attending a day of recollection for priests, Romero celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel. As he raised the consecrated Host, he was shot.

This was an unlikely man, called to something which was foreign to his background, personality, and his superiors. Romero did not go looking for controversy or seek to be famous. Rather, in his diary he wrote of his desire to follow Jesus and for holiness. He saw Jesus particularly in the faces of those suffering. His willingness to be available to God opened his heart to mercy.

Today he is recognized as St. Oscar Romero.

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Posted by on Feb 2, 2016

Dirty Macaroni for the Feast of St. Blaise

Dirty Macaroni for the Feast of St. Blaise

Dirty Macaroni

  Dirty Macaroni

In the city of Dubrovnik, since the days of the Republic, on the Feast of St. Blaise, folks from the countryside traditionally came into the city to celebrate the life of their patron saint with Mass and processions. Families living in town were expected to provide a meal for their visiting relatives. As this could get quite expensive, families opted for a simpler dish, with less expensive ingredients that would be both tasty and filling. “Dirty Macaroni” was the result.

How did it get this name?

The sauce was prepared the day before the feast, with the macaroni left to cook fresh on the feast day itself (February 3). Those who arrived early to eat got a nice serving of both meat sauce and macaroni. Those arriving later got more macaroni and less sauce. Eventually, when the kettle of sauce was pretty much empty, the macaroni got a light coat of sauce and came to look like it was not quite clean anymore. Hence the name, Dirty Macaroni.

Recipe please!

 

Dirty Macaroni

Ingredients:
(serves about 5 people)

1 lb elbow macaroni
1 lb ground or chopped beef (or other meat)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, including liquid
½ C red wine
2 cloves garlic (or less, to taste)
2-3 cloves
1 bay leaf
Pinch cinnamon
Chopped parsely
Shredded cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute onion in olive oil or lard until lightly yellowed, then add the meat. After the fluid has evaporated, add the tomatoes, including the tomato juice and let it cook a bit more. Add the red wine and a bit of water and simmer, stirring from time to time. Add parsley, garlic, cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon, salt and pepper and simmer for around 2 hours. Add warm water as needed. Cook until the meat is very soft.

When ready to serve the meal, cook the macaroni, drain, cover with the sauce and let sit for about 10 minutes to allow the sauce to soak into the macaroni.

Serve with a bit of grated cheese and enjoy!

 

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