a reflection from the archives of The Saturday Morning Post
February 20, 2016
Good Morning, God and All...
You've probably seen the phrase "God accepts Knee Mail." A roundabout, techie-type reference to reverent, personal prayer - and one which seems to pop-up on social media with greater frequency...that is, if you've 'liked' pages with quasi-religious and/or quasi-patriotic content. You see, in order to give you the best 'experience' online, the folks behind Facebook and Twitter and the rest work tireless hours developing and tweaking code to provide you with nearly all the content you want to see with just the right amount of advertising, regardless of relevance, that pays for your experience.
Did you know Pope Francis was within 100 feet of the US border last week? Probably. Most of it would have escaped observation. On Wednesday he concluded his trip to Mexico with an outdoor Mass in Ciudad Juarez, just over the border from El Paso, Texas. A contingent of American Catholics, not to be denied a chance to get close to His Holiness, watched from behind the border fence and via theater-screen TV.
The pope spoke to the Mexican people present - and those who watched from elsewhere - about several issues, issues he's spoken on elsewhere in the world; topics much aligned with turning toward God and seeking his mercy and forgiveness. He visited a prison and blessed crippled children. At the border in Ciudad Juarez, he brought up migration. It would be expected because it is something locals know a lot about; but migration and refugees are also issues elsewhere in the world right now. Of course, being a particularly frequent topic of conversation in that locale, the pope's remarks were certainly a considerable topic for conversation and discussion. That enough would have kept the pundits busy.
However, once Francis and his press entourage were on the plane back to Rome, there was the inevitable opportunity for candid remarks. Indeed, I believe this sort of conversation is exactly what Jesus would do with his apostles after any sort of public interaction. The subject having been brought up because of immigration, Francis was asked for his thoughts about the situation here in the US, and about candidate Donald Trump's pledge to build an $8 billion wall to close off our southern border. The pope remarked, "A person who only thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian." That brought about comments from the Trump campaign that Francis was being manipulated by the Mexican government. I note that Francis also spoke about unfair labor practices and the prison system, as well as immigration while in Mexico. Reading the transcripts of the homilies and addresses given by the pope, I don't see where the Mexican government was shown in a privileged light. If anything, he challenged Church and State authority as well as individuals; exactly what Jesus would do.
What takes the cake, though, is this response from The Donald himself:
"No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man's religion or faith."
I don't know about you, but this absurd statement flies in the face of religious liberty concerns every bit as much as what progressive liberal Democrats have been doing for years. If I understand this in the proper context, Mr. Trump would not be friends with Saint Paul...or either of his 2 Corinthians or 2 Thessalonians. And he would have a hard time with Jesus...a very hard time, indeed; for the Gospels are filled with references of the Lord's questioning the faith of many, especially the Pharisees, the leadership among the Jewish people who also exerted as much authority and oppression in the name of God and the faith as their Roman occupiers would allow. I know some of you will make the jump to labeling Jesus as a 'socialist'; but he didn't fill that description any more than 'liberal', 'Democrat', 'conservative', 'Republican', or even 'evangelical Christian'.
We DO have the right to question principles of all kinds; even those steeped in religion or faith. But we must do that by determining and questioning our own principles first. We must also realize that we're called to grow in faith. It's not possible to determine our own faithfulness, let alone the faithfulness of others, without constant connectivity to the source of our faith. That leads me back to where I started this reflection. As busy as we are, as confounding as our political processes have become; it is time to put ourselves in touch with the Truth. Whatever your spiritual practices are, I hope the next time you see a reminder to pray for our nation, or to get yourself in touch with God, that you will 'take a knee' and give Him a minute or two of precious time.
Until we meet again, may God be with you...and may God have mercy on us all.... +the Phoenix
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