~ by Father Ron Camarda

I am hoping to bring good news to the poor…by voting responsibly!

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Beloved, we have all been given many gifts. We are called upon by God to be good stewards of our gifts. Here in the state of Florida, we are more interested and motivated by March Madness than we are about the “madness” going on with our politically elected supposedly servants of the people. More people voted for their favorite “American Idol favorite” than for our next mayor or city council representatives.

Last night, I was at a party where three wonderful people had to pass on the sweets because they gave them up for Lent. I was impressed that some people still take these forty days (not including Sundays) before Easter seriously. This is a start. However, all Lenten observances should lead to Jesus’ quote above.

How does what we do for Lent bring glad tidings to the poor?

How does giving up sweets, Facebook, TV or alcohol that bind us, proclaim liberty to captives?

How does our Lent cause us to truly see that some if not many of our elected officials are only trying to stay in office by helping the rich to get richer and the poor and foreigner to go away empty handed?

And how does my vote help the oppressed to go free?

Yes, it is important to vote. But it is also important to vote only after taking the time to research and figure out whom to vote for. If we give up TV or computer games, or social networking, what are we doing with the time we saved? This morning I read three things in the Florida Times Union that truly disturbed me. My friend, Mark Woods who used to be a sports writer, consistently writes articles in the Metro section about things that affect our community. He is extremely challenging, but he does it with a great sense of humor. Before he wrote “The best Christmas ever” about my time in Iraq on December 25, 2005, he wrote about Haiti and how my eighth graders at St. Patrick’s were learning about the situation of the poor. I had called Mark and shared how distressed I was about how they were calling the election of President Aristide flawed, when there was no proof of it. Our government eventually participated in taking out an elected official in the winter of 2004.

Now President Aristide is back in Haiti from his forced exile seven years later. He had been for the poor like no other elected official had ever been. The people voted him in for two terms.

With all these wars going on in the Middle East, the weapons industry (complex) is making huge and disgusting profits. Sure they might throw a few dollars in the way of token microscopic donations to Wounded Warriors and similar items. However, at the same time Veteran benefits, homeless shelters and other helps are being slashed first. It is totally irresponsible and blasphemous to speak of all these budget cuts without first looking to the sacred cows of lobbyists for weapons and our military budget. As long as our taxes go down, we vote for our own selfish interests.

And this is my dilemma. Jesus was crucified for bringing these types of issues forward. He was dangerous to the religious leaders and to the Roman Empire, which is eerily similar to the United States of America. The Roman civilization was a wonderful contributor to making life wonderful. They gave us sewage systems, politics, arts and such. However, they gave into sins like greed, oppression, arrogance, excess and a huge gap between the rich and the poor. They crumbled from within. They lost their ability to look at themselves critically.

Jesus simply told them the direction they were going.

The people put their hands over their ears and voted for the original March Madness. As the Jewish people “marched” toward the Passover, the madness increased until they simply voted for a murderer over Jesus. Jesus lost the election because the religious leaders invested in negative advertising. The governor, Pilate, gave the people the vote. They didn’t think or study the words of Jesus. When Pilate asked them what they should do with Jesus, they “voted” for the death penalty for the loser of the election.

“Crucify him! Crucify him!”

This vote of the people eventually led to their own tsunami of war and hatred when Jerusalem was flattened and the Diaspora of the people was born in 70 AD…just forty years after Jesus was crucified.

Saint Augustine of Hippo (modern day Libya) states the following:

“Every soul of every walk of life and creed receives the just sentence of death and the curse from which Christ our Lord has delivered us. We are all brothers and sisters at war with one another. Whenever we suffer affliction, we should regard it both as a punishment and as a correction. Our holy Scriptures themselves do not promise us peace, security and rest. On the contrary, the Gospel makes no secret of the troubles and temptations that await us, but it also says that he who perseveres to the end will be saved.”

Beloved, I am scared and afraid.

The whole chapter 21 of the Gospel according to Saint Luke is helpful if you get the chance to read it. Jesus IS coming soon. In fact, he is already here. There is nothing to fear if we put all our trust in Him. Jesus is the way, the truth and the light. He loves us all dearly, but he warns us to truly repent from our heart and soul, not just on the outside. Jesus says in Luke 21:25-36,

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”

He taught them a lesson.

“Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

“Be aware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Beloved, Our Blessed Mother has a mission statement too. It is similar to Jesus’. In the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) while Jesus is less than a month in the womb and John the Baptist is six months in the womb of Elizabeth, Mary cries out:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior…

…He has shown might with his arm,

dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.

He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones

but lifted up the lowly.

The hungry he has filled with good things;

the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy,

according to his promise to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.

Beloved, I pray that you find the strength from God to survive this Lent and desert experience. Don’t wait for the next disaster, manmade or natural, to strike. Trust in Jesus and remember what he said,

“Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Have a blessed week in the love of Jesus.

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com

Father Ron Camarda is a retired Naval Chaplain and author of “Tear in the Desert,” a powerful book containing his memoirs of life and death at the Battle for Fallujah. Father Ron appears on EWTN and recently won the Silver Medal from the Military Writers Society of America.