Family
Today’s Second Reading:
Romans 4:13, 16-18,22
It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,
and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not to those who only adhere to the law
but to those who follow the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all of us, as it is written,
I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness
On St. Joseph’s Day we honor the father of Jesus and the patron saint of fathers but it is no accident that we also hear about the early church explaining our unity through Abraham.
We are family, afterall.
Friday was a dreadful day for our “family” though as a gunman slaughtered 50 people in a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. So our Abrahamic family has recently lost Christians during Bible Study in South Carolina, Jews during Sabbath Services in Pennsylvannia and Muslims during prayers in Christchurch.
Our family is not doing well and all members are under attack by what appears to be other members of our family.
We can ask, “what is happening?” but I think we all know. The undercurrent of evil, that which we try so often to keep at bay is being fed by people with powerful platforms. It is dangerous and it puts us all at risk.
Last year in my bible study there were some older people that really believed that Islam was to blame for all of the world’s discord. It was difficult to try and clarify how untrue that really is.
It is a very convenient lie.
Evil is insideous and works its way through our weakspots. When I was much younger I remember mulling over the validity of this thinking because I simply didn’t know any better, but there is no longer an excuse. I was ignorant in my youth, but there is no excuse to be ignorant as an adult in 2019.
None.
This is where it becomes sin. Racism is a sin. In my estimation it falls under the deadly sin of Sloth because it is lazy thinking and an avoidence of spiritual work necessary to grow. Does that sound harsh? Good. People’s lives are at stake here.
How do we change all of this? What can we do.
The first thing we can do is recognize that we have a moral obligation to call out racism and not abide anyone trying to feed this evil. I know in some circumstances it can be hard because people don’t believe in evil or another life or our connection to one another, but that doesn’t matter because we do. We believe in all of that. It is up to us to witness what is most right and most important to our faith…that GOD loves each and every one of his creations. That as representatives of God’s love in this world and at this time, we won’t tolerate our family being attacked to falsely feed someones ego.
We owe this to our family members who are all in their respective “mansions” long before anyone expected them to be. More importantly, we owe it to God who is our creator and theirs.
Peace and blessings to you.
