Someone contacted me (via email) last evening expressing their concern that my re-posting of Calumny (re-posted) was a bit over the top as it, in their mind, drew a comparison between the “stop the steal” movement and the unfolding of events in post-1918 Germany that lead to the fall of democracy. That was not my intent – it was a discussion of the teaching of the Catholic Church on the moral consequences of the sin of calumny. Those consequences are simply a matter of history with all the people of the world paying a horrific price. And today is another event of history in which people stormed the US Capitol Building. It is an ominous sign of the effects of calumny in our time and place and its complete disregard for the truth. I believe it is but a moment of darkness, the will of the people will prevail, but we should never forget this moment.
In this moment, let us pray for peace, a peaceful transition of power – let us use words of prayer that uplift and heal.
This originally posted in early December 2020 amidst all the “stop the steal” chatter – which has reached a crescendo not imagined. I thought the post worth repeating. We are morally bound to our words.
When asked how they could possibly feed so many people, Jesus said to disciples “in reply, ‘Give them some food yourselves.’” I often think of this as the scriptural equivalent of “how do you eat an elephant?” One bite at the time. How are we to minister to the overwhelming number of needs in our life and communities? One person at a time… always knowing the we do so we the grace of God, the love of Christ, and community of the Holy Spirit.
For those of you that were players committed to the Facebook app “Farmville” back in 2010 or 2011 (…or so), we are sad to report that FarmVille shut down last week. Daniel Victor (NYT, 12/31) commented that many technique FarmVille popularized – nagging notifications to friends and encouragements to check back daily to tend to your crops – are now being imitated by everything from Instagram to QAnon. Where FarmVille was the time-eating destination of friends and family – there are many social media apps that are as demanding, nagging, and lead one down the “rabbit hole” of lost time. Where FarmVille feared not to tread, everyone else followed. Alas and aloha.
Next Sunday, we celebrate the 
“…the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.”
Last century (literally) I was researching for my master’s thesis on early Franciscan Missions. One of the really interesting aspects of the early Franciscan missions was the one to China. The friars arrived in China in 1292 and John of Montecorvino was the first bishop of Beijing. But all that is beside the point. In the course of my research, I ran across The Travels of Marco Polo in which he describes his travels in the far east. I was scanning the text to see if he had any mention of contact with the friars or the Christian monasteries that dotted the silk road in those days. While he had no mention of either – he did recount a most interesting rendition of the account of the Three Magi. Marco Polo wrote that he encountered this version in Persia (modern-day Iran). In that account there are three magi – but they are not traveling together. Each is on his own journey following the star to Bethlehem. Melchior is an older man, Balthazar is an adult in his middle years, and Gaspar is a young man just reaching adulthood.
friarmusings 