Mother of God ~ Bright Antidote to Hate

The icon shown here is of Our Lady of Kazan. A magnificent riza (ree-za) of stones and pearls has been created and placed over the image as a heart-gift. We might take a few moments to consider the tender face of the Mother of God; Jesus gazing out at us from a blanket of pearls. The holy Mother's crown is placed by golden angels. 

Now there is news about a group of devil worshipers who are scheduled to hold a "black mass" on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, at the Oklahoma Civic Center and Music Hall in Oklahoma City. This will be the second time the group has been able to secure the spot, despite over 100,000 signatures petitioning the mayor to prevent it.

But there are First Amendment rights that make it legal to hold a "black mass" as no one is being threatened with physical harm.

Not only is there going to a "black mass" (which often includes the desecration of a stolen host) but following, there will be a ritual called the "Consumption of the Virgin Mary", in which her statue is covered with blood, sulphur, insults and whatever else. Catholics could enter into all kinds of outrage and threat, but Jesus has told us what to do. 

You have heard that it used to be said "An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth", but I tell you, don't resist evil. If a man hits your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If a man wants to sue you for your coat, let him have it and your cloak as well. If anybody forces you to go a mile with him, do more - go two miles with him. Give to the man who asks anything from you, and don't turn away from the man who wants to borrow.

You have heard that it used to be said "Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy", but I tell you, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Heavenly Father. For he makes his sun rise upon evil men as well as good, and he sends his rain upon honest and dishonest men alike."

"For if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax-collectors do that? And if you exchange greetings only with your own circle, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do that much. No, you will be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5: 38-48

This is a stunning and completely new teaching, yet how many Christians really apply it to their lives? We hear it, but do we do it? 

So here the Mother of God and the Holy Infant are decorated with pearls and stones, but all the more with love, tender-mercy, compassion and forgiveness for humanity in its folly, toxic hatred, ignorance and stupidity.

Here's a Prayer to Forgive Enemies found in the Episcopalian Book of Common Prayer. We might make it part of our morning prayer between now and the Feast of the Assumption. 

O God, the Father of all,
whose Son commanded us to love our enemies:
lead them and us from prejudice to truth;
deliver them and us from hatred,
cruelty and revenge; 
and in your good time enable us all to stand 
reconciled before you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Intercessions ~ Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August Sunflower

Summer is the season of plenty./ We pray for those who suffer from fire,/ drought or storm./ For the safety of summer travelers and vacationers,/ but also those who get no relaxing summer break/or time away./ We pray to the Lord.

While in Poland for World Youth Day,/ Pope Francis fell during Mass./ We pray for his stamina,/ good health and safety,/ and for the many hundreds of thousands of young people who joined the pope during those prayerful days./ We pray to the Lord.

Heal the nation where there is division,/ discourtesy,/ or where we have forgotten how to trust/ and love each other./ We pray to the Lord.

Give healing,/ clarity and strength/ to families where there is illness,/ dysfunction and brokenness./ We pray to the Lord.

The Summer Olympics are being held in Brazil these days./ We ask for its spirit of friendship,/ joy and cooperation to extend around the world./ That the Olympics would be an antidote to hate./ We pray to the Lord.

For those whose minds are sick with terrorist plans,/ and for those who work to keep us safe./ We pray too for Christians who in many places around the world are feeling vulnerable these days./ We pray to the Lord.

And to those who have died recently,/ mindful of those lost in terrorist attacks,/ give gifts of life,/ light and joy-restored./ Give comfort and hope to those who mourn./ We pray to the Lord.

Priest-Martyr Jacques Hamel ~ pray for us

Heaven with us in our alarm...

I love these statues of the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus that have survived from the Middle Ages: the Holy Infant sitting on Mary's slung-out hip, the way mothers do. And the brilliant colors of Mary's outfit reveal that what we casually call The Dark Ages - wasn't. 

But here, while Mary is playing with Jesus or perhaps getting ready to cut up the apple she's holding in her other hand, something has got her attention. Indeed, she seems startled or alarmed. We might imagine some danger is near or something unpleasant. She might hide him in the folds of her great mantle and pull him in close. Perhaps her gaze and stance reveal to us that heaven knows and shares our own sense of alarm.

It's a wonderfully alive part of the Catholic imagination that we are all her children in the life of faith. Her motherly antennae are up and receptive when we invoke her in life's alarms:

• Terrorism which spares no one: not children, not babies in strollers, not the elderly, not a priest offering Mass is alarming.
• Science deniers are alarming.
• Our veneration of weapon-guns that anyone can get hold of and which leaves law enforcement vulnerable is alarming.
• Religion which covers its eyes and ears is alarming.
• The degradation of our  planet is alarming.
• Religion twisted into an ideology of hate and death is alarming.
• The bizarre and fearsome talk coming out of this election time is alarming.
• The re-birth of racism and the new depth of hate is alarming.
• That a great country still knows so much poverty is alarming.
• Machinations to get hold of power is alarming.
• Legislators who don't legislate, even on behalf of children is alarming.
• Our inability to extract ourselves from war is alarming.
• The casual acceptance of "collateral damage" is alarming.
• The sex exploitation of children around the world is alarming.
• The normalizing of lies is alarming.
• The loss of the Christic-center is alarming.

And now? How are we not to become utterly depressed? Well, Pope Francis has just wrapped up five days in Poland which politically has taken a sharp right, nationalist turn. Catholic news sources report it's no secret the Polish clergy don't even like Francis with his themes of openness, even though it was Polish born Carol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, who said at the very start of his papacy, Open the doors to Christ. 

How bad is it? There is an alarming report of an Orthodox Jew and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, being burned in effigy in Poland. and that the Catholic Church is warm and friendly towards this new nationalist government. We might hope that by now the Church would have learned not to align itself with any government, as the Church falls hard when the supportive government falls. The Russian and French Revolutions bear this out. 

But before leaving Poland and World Youth Day last week, Pope Francis said to the hundreds of thousands of young people:

"Believe in a new humanity which refuses to  use  borders as barriers and spurns hatred among peoples."

"God demands of us real courage, the courage to be more powerful than evil, by loving everyone, even our enemies."

When I was a sophomore in high school I was living in a very deep sense of inner collapse, lonely fear and failure. And one evening, escaping to the public library, hiding in the stacks from a thousand fears, I came across a vinyl recording of Bach's Easter Oratorio. 

I took it home and listened to it again and again, especially the very beginning which I've shared with us here. If you can, listen to it a second or third time (full screen/full volume). Listen for the base line, the bottom layer with the heaviest instruments. I like to imagine this underneath, expresses the feet of the Risen Jesus trampling on death and fear and all that exhausts and distracts us with alarm. See if you can detect that too, and let Jesus, our Champion, give you some reassurance and peace.