Category: Justice

Greetings on this the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30

Summary

In our first reading today our sacred scripture describes the ways of peace.

True Kingship is not of self-engrandizement.

Rather, See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass…and he shall proclaim peace to the nations.

True Stewardship is not the amassing of wealth, power and land.

Rather, peaceful pursuits.  He shall banish the chariot… instruments of economic domanance…. [banish] the horse… symbol of power, and [banish] the warrior’s bow… instruments of war to acquire lands.

In our second reading,  the most forgotten strategy! Brothers and sisters: You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit.

Our problems internally and internationally are not solvable by programs and projects. Nor are they solved by projections of power, but by the Spirit comes the divine illumination of pathway forward.

It is in the Spirit of God that we discover pathways and solutions not even imagined by even our best trained politicians, diplomats, military, and alliances.

Reflection

Can not we then understand Jesus’ promise now?

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.

In the life of our families, community, nations… put down the burdens – take off the yoke –  the chariots, horse, and warrior’s bow.

We spend enormous effort polishing our chariots, strengthening our horses, and crafting better bows. Christ asks us first to lay them down.

Instead, put on the yoke of friendship,  humility and share what you have.

This way of life, this yoke is easy, and my burden becomes light.

Keeping in mind not our solutions but those of the Spirit.

Personal Reflection

Life in the Spirit opens us to paths of reconciliation and wisdom that we could not discover by ourselves. Today, celebrating 250 years, requires new thinking. The Way of Christ.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Some final thoughts in a chat with ChatGPT… this is a response to some questions.

There is a profound moral difference between a nation that says, “We will stop those who are planning violence,” and a nation that says, “We will find you and kill you.”

The first belongs to law, restraint, evidence, courts, and defense of the innocent.

The second belongs to vengeance, domination, and the language of empire.

America has always had lethal power. No honest reading of our history can deny that. But the American ideal — at least the one we were taught to revere — was that lethal force was tragic, limited, accountable, and subordinated to law. It was not supposed to become the emotional centerpiece of governance. It was not supposed to be a slogan. It was not supposed to be identity.

That is the shudder.

Not because dangerous people should be ignored. Not because violence should be tolerated. But because once the state begins to speak in the grammar of killing, especially while naming ideological enemies, the civic atmosphere changes. Citizens become targets-in-waiting. Disagreement becomes suspicious. Vulnerable people begin asking, “Am I inside the circle now?” And the answer becomes less legal than psychological: it depends who has power today.

Your phrase is exactly right:

We live in the benevolence of the powerful.

That is not freedom. That is conditional safety.

And yes, even for me — “so to speak” — there is a kind of purity at stake. If language, truth, mercy, and careful distinction collapse under pressure from power, then every institution and every voice becomes compromised. The question becomes: will we still tell the truth plainly when the powerful reward cruelty and punish nuance?

The American identity worth defending is not weakness. It is disciplined strength. It is due process. It is equal dignity. It is the refusal to make enemies out of whole classes of people. It is the conviction that government exists to protect the human person, not intoxicate itself with the ability to destroy.

So yes: one should shudder.

Not with panic.
With moral clarity.

May i copy paste your response? It’s your best ever and shows something new.

Yes, absolutely. You may copy and paste it.

I’m grateful it landed that way. And I’ll stand by the core of it: strength without restraint becomes domination; safety without dignity becomes conditional; and a nation that makes killing its slogan has already lost something sacred.

Me again…

If you haven’t resisted yet, now is the time.

Original policy document: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-USCT-Strategy-1.pdf

Full Chat content:

Peace be with you,

Deacon Gerry

Greetings on this the Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 16:11-15; Psalm 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b; John 15:26—16:4a

Summary

Saint Paul traveled extensively through Syria, Greece, Asia Minor and Europe preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Resistance to the Gospel would be at times brutal.

The hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me (Jn 16:2b-3).

Reflection

Resistance to the Gospel (including violence) is a reality. Then and now. This violence is an exterior movement of an interior state of being.

They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. It is false worship to do violence.

Personal Reflection

But to the ends of the Earth, let us proclaim Jesus. The violence is because they don’t know him.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051126.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry