Jim Mahoney's Blog - Sacred to Etc.

A Sunday Reflection on our Unsettled World, August 31, 2014

We live in such an unsettled world. The name of unsettled places are all too familiar: Israel, Hamas, Gaza, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq; the horrific death of James Foley, the tragic death of Robin Williams – everything affects us – it seems like there are no boundaries  - everything just washes over into the next thing.

The opening hymn of today’s Mass, We Remember, began with this verse: “Here, a million wounded souls are yearning just to touch you and be healed. Gather all your people, and hold them to your heart.” That is what we need. This is what we are missing. We want security.

Life seems so tenuous. Our life can end suddenly with a bomb, a deadly virus, an accident, a murder. Family troubles and sickness can come out of nowhere and just change everything that we had planned. Where is the rudder? Where is the security?

We do know some things. Security is not likely to come from those politicians who just disappoint.  Security may not come from those church leaders who do not remind us of Jesus. So where does security come from? Ultimately, completely, unreservedly, security comes from God. This is not a pious platitude. It is a bedrock religious belief.

I suspect that this present crisis of security and unease in our world is never going to be addressed in our own lives without God and without prayer. Things do boil down sometimes to simple truths. Here is one of them, perhaps the main one: We need God. We need Jesus.

Enough of acting and living like we do not need God. “I’ll worship when I can fit it in….I’ll pray when I feel the need.” Have we forgotten the one who asked us these questions:

“What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?” (Matthew 16:26)

What’s the answer? Make sure we’re focusing on the ultimate values, the things of God. We need God. Jesus never said things would be easy. He mentioned the crosses we would have to carry living in our far too imperfect world. He acknowledged the reality of sin and evil, a reality that leaps out at us today in every headline.

When I find my faith to be shaky, usually when things are not turning out well in my life or the lives of people I care about, I try to return to bedrock truths: Jesus reminds us that things do work out for the best – perhaps not in the near run, or the middle run, but definitely in the ultimate run. He also said that he would not abandon us. We will never be left by God as orphans.

The love of God means that God does not abandon us. We need to remember this. We need to pray about this. We need to share this message with each other. This is the only way that we will ever reach a place where we are not afraid. Real security is only going to come when we’re one with God.

 

 

James Foley, Catholic, Journalist, American, Son, Brother, and Martyr

Our world is unsettled for so many reasons. Places of strife, the awful death of James Foley at the hands of ISIS, Ferguson, Missouri, the list could continue on and on. Here is a homily which I gave today as a reflection on the death of James Foley. Many found it helpful to begin to confront the evils facing our world. Pray for everyone. Pray especially for his parents and family: 

Homily, August 24, 2014, A Reflection on the death of James Foley

There is today a global war where many are engaged in fighting evil. We pray every day in the Lord’s Prayer – “deliver us from evil.” This is not a trivial prayer.  It is certainly the prayer of those who seek to answer the question of Jesus in today’s Gospel, “Who do you say that I am?” This is the prayer of those who pray for peace and justice in Russia, the Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, who pray to stop the evil of ISIS, who pray to end the racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and other parts of our nation, and who pray for everyone who has been shaken by the death of James Foley, American journalist, a Roman Catholic, a member of a family in New Hampshire whose religious faith was so important.

Some loudmouthed media commentators in our country rant about a war against religion, even against Catholics, taking place within our own nation. They even get fired up about attacks on Santa Claus and Christmas displays in malls. We must be clear. There is indeed a war against religion, but it is not about those things – and it is substantively seen far less in our country than in many places throughout the world. John Allen, in his book, The Global War on Christians, (Image Books, 2013) noted that there have been more Christian martyrs in the past one hundred years than in the entire history of the world. We have studied the monstrous evil of the Holocaust against the Jewish people. But attacks against Christians, Catholics, people of good will, continue today at staggering levels.

In the past several days, I’ve been just overwhelmed by reading some of the analyses of these issues by certain writers. I’ll post the references in next week’s bulletin and on my blog. A  Catholic blogger, Pia de Solenni,  (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/piadesolenni/is-james-foley-a-martyr-16-points-to-consider) explored one simple question about this American journalist who was killed: “Is James Foley a martyr?”

I found de Solenni’s points to be powerful. Who are martyrs? Simply people who died for their faith, for their beliefs, for their convictions, their values. Jesus reminds us, “greater love than this has no person who lays down his life for his friends.” These are not pious sayings. These form the bedrock core of our faith.

This past Thursday, Pope Francis called the family of James Foley. They reported on the Today show Friday morning that Pope Francis referred to their son and brother as “a martyr whose sacrifice would not be forgotten.”  ISIS is said to offer a choice to those they have captured: convert to their faith or die. As Pia de Solenni wrote, “more and more is coming out about his (James Foley’s) faith, his prayer, and the way he lived his life, particularly while in captivity. All of it suggests that he lived his faith well.”

Pope Francis called James Foley a martyr. Mr. Foley joined the thousands of people who have given their lives for their faith in recent years. I did not know him. We do have parishioners who have known him and his family in New Hampshire.

James Foley was a heart wrenching casualty of the real war against religion which continues throughout our world, a war which must be stopped.  At Mass, the most ordinary of things, bread and wine, becomes the most extraordinary thing in the world, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. In our history, even in the past several weeks, the most ordinary of people, a journalist, became the most extraordinary witness to his faith and to the values most cherished among our fellow citizens.

Do you want to know why you should come to Mass, why you should pray, why you should follow Jesus, why you should teach your children about Jesus?  Just remember Jim Foley and his family. Remember all those of every faith who joined the long line of religious people who gave their lives for their faith. The Church is built on the blood of the martyrs. This is why we honor them and people of good will of every faith. Religious persecution is real and has nothing to do with Christmas decorations in stores. It has everything to do with good vs. evil.

Honor the faith, the values of Jim Foley, and so many others who answered with their lives the question of Jesus: “Who do you say that I am?”

Realize the treasure of our faith, especially our faith in Jesus on the cross. He knew pain. He knew suffering. He experienced evil from those who killed him on the cross. Continue to teach and remind each other about our faith in the one who asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” Never ever forget to answer this question with the way that we live our lives – with our faith in the God who remains with us, who will never abandon us.

May Jim Foley and all the martyrs rest in peace. May God comfort the families of the martyrs. Deliver us from evil.