Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, two disciples of Jesus are our teachers. James advises us on what to do. Beloved Peter, as so often is the case, shows us what not to do.
James tells us to show no partiality. He makes clear that he is talking about impartiality toward those who are materially poor. It’s a maxim that Jesus gave us time and again in the Gospel.
James reminds us that Jesus is not just impartial toward those who are poor, he actually has a preferential love for them. So Jesus was partial to the poor, right? Hmm!
Yes, I think that’s right. In order to balance our human inclination to the richest, best, strongest, etc., Jesus teaches us to go all out in the other direction.
It’s like this great cartoon that popped up on Facebook a while ago:
Our Gospel picks up the theme.
Because of his great love for the poor and his passion for mercy, Jesus tells his followers that suffering is coming. Peter doesn’t like hearing that. Can you see Peter take Jesus aside and say, “Listen, Jesus, negative talk is going to hurt your campaign. You’re God! You can just zap suffering out of your life!”
Jesus responds to Peter definitively: “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
James Tissot: Get Thee Behind me, Satan
Wow! That must have stung! But that’s how important it was to Jesus that his followers understood his mission: to preach Mercy to the poor, sick, and broken by sharing and transforming their experience.
Jesus wants us to understand that too.
Prose: from St. Oscar Romero
It is no honor for the Church to be on good terms with the powerful. The honor of the Church consists in this, that the poor feel at home in her, that she fulfils her mission on earth, that she challenges everyone, the rich as well, to repent and work out their salvation, but starting from the world of the poor, for they, they alone are the ones who are blessed.
Yesterday in Vatican City, St. Oscar Romero was canonized. This holy man was Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 until his assassination while offering Mass on March 24, 1980. After Archbishop Romero’s death, a twelve-year civil war ensued in El Salvador, killing an estimated 75,000 people.
The Catholic Church in El Salvador, during these years, became deeply involved in protecting the lives and land rights of the poor who were severely oppressed by a militaristic government. This corrupt government engaged the assistance of the United States to suppress the people by interpreting their struggle as “communism”.
For years, the Salvadoran government received US supplied arms and military training at the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia.It was someone trained with these arms who martyred St. Oscar Romero – and thousands of his poor, over many years.
Romero was not a politician. He averted confrontation wherever possible. But he could not stand by as thousands of his flock were slaughteredbecause their human rights threatened the status and greed of the powerful.
Sometimes we hear the empty adage that religion should never mix with politics.
St. Oscar Romero is one of hundreds of women and men who became saints because they believed the opposite.
Our faith is irrevocably entwined with the rest of our lives. Our Gospel demands that we embrace and honor the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. We may not be called to the level of witness that Oscar Romero was. But we, each in our own way, are called to understand issues of justice, and to act as Jesus would.
We are called to challenge our government, as did many activists during these years, when it is blind to its own sins. The USA is still selling arms to oppressive governments, still supporting regimes and practices that ignore human rights. Our voices and our votes need to be informed, clear, and faith-filled. I find Network and excellent source of education for me on these issues:
Please read the lyrics below first, as they are a little difficult to understand. The images in the video are painful to view, but offer testament to the gross injustices the Salvadoran people endured.
There’s a sunny little country south of Mexico Where the winds are gentle and the waters flow But breezes aren’t the only things that blow In El Salvador
If you took the little lady for a moonlight drive Odds are still good you’d come back alive But everyone is innocent until they arrive In El Salvador
If the rebels take a bus on the grand highway The government destroys a village miles away The man on the radio says ‘now we’ll play South of the Border’
And in the morning the natives say, We’re happy you have lived another day Last night a thousand more passed away In El Salvador
There’s a television crew here from ABC Filming Rio Lempe and the refugees Calling murdered children the ‘tragedy’ Of El Salvador
Before the government cameras 20 feet away Another man is asking for continued aid Food and medicine and hand grenades For El Salvador
There’s a thump, a rumble, and the buildings sway A soldier fires the acid spray The public address system starts to play South of the Border
You run for cover and hide your eyes You hear the screams from paradise They’ve fallen further than you realize In El Salvador
Just like Poland is ‘protected’ by her Russian friends The junta is ‘assisted’ by Americans And if 60 million dollars seems too much to spend In El Salvador
They say for half a billion they could do it right Bomb all day, burn all night Until there’s not a living thing upright In El Salvador
They’ll continue training troops in the USA And watch the nuns that got away And teach the military bands to play South of the Border
And kill the people to set them free Who put this price on their liberty? Don’t you think it’s time to leave El Salvador? Songwriters: Jim Wallis / Noel Paul Stookey
Lavish Mercy 