1/10/21

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

I’m now back at St. Joseph’s and out of quarantine. 

It’s been a troubling week as all of you know. The political climate in this country has become truly troubling, especially from a Christian perspective. We have seen groups resort to political violence in the past months, and the latest iteration included the unbelievable storming of the US Capitol building. I fear a general unraveling of the political traditions of this country through the resort to revolutionary violence and a desire to overturn the democratic norms of our country by groups both left and right. 

Fear and resentment seem to drive many today. Many seem to focus on false narratives and conspiracies driven more by hatred of enemies rather than love of truth and neighbor. People are quick to assume the worst about those who are different or hold different opinions. People interpret others’ statements and actions in the worst possible light. Hypocrisy seems to be the norm. There seems to be no desire to find common ground or common principles to bring us together as fellow citizens. Hatred of one’s supposed enemies seems the main motivation of many. This sad state of affairs will only bring disaster.

We must not succumb to these temptations. We must live by our faith and show a different way of life: a life based not on fear and hatred, but a life based on love and hope. As Christians, our hope is not in politics or worldly success, but in Jesus Christ. Our hope is not mere optimism that secular events will always turn out well, but rather that no matter how bad things get we know that Christ is still God and He is our savior, and despite the bitterness of this world we are still called to eternal life. Any evil we endure cannot separate us from God’s love. 

That hope is strength because we can accept worldly setbacks and even catastrophes. Whatever disaster the world confronts us with cannot undermine our foundation set upon God, unless we let it. That gives us the strength to love even our enemies. That gives us the strength to live in truth, even when the truth is hard. And that means that we have the strength to resist the temptations of fear and hatred and violence. In our lives, we can stop the cycle of violence, even political violence, and call it out as the evil it is. 

The politics of this country have become dark. The hatred and violence should shock us as Christians. We must live by a higher standard than what we see on cable news. We must be a people of hope and love, a people dedicated to the truth rather than ‘narratives,’ a people who love even those who may be our bitterest enemies in political and cultural terms. We must find a way to live together as Americans, Americans in all our diversity. Our faith shows us the way to rise above partisanship, fear, and hatred because our hope gives us the ability to truly love as Christ loves. Let us show in our lives another way to live – let us be salt and light.

This Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord where Jesus took upon Himself all the evil and sin of this world in order to defeat it upon the cross. That is the basis of our hope and strength: that Christ has conquered. We live in hope of the full realization of Christ’s victory at the end of time. That hope gives us the strength to face all the evil of this world for we know that in the end, Christ is victorious. We have no need for fear or hatred, but instead the foundation for hope and love.