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Month: June 2007

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Homilies,

The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
—Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you.—
Elijah answered, —Go back!
Have I done anything to you?—

In light of Jesus’ testimony to those he met on the road to Jerusalem it would appear that Elijah was quite angry at Elisha’s request.

Recall:

And another said, —I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.—
To him Jesus said, —No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.—

I would argue that neither Jesus nor Elijah were angry. Perhaps incredulous, but neither was denying one’s responsibilities. In fact they were confirming and blessing them.

Let’s examine this passage from Kings.

Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
—Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you.—

We have to understand responsibilities as they were understood by Elisha.

Israel had fallen away from the Lord. Elijah was appointed as prophet in testimony against Israel. Israel had thrown off God and was worshiping Baal, a god of stone, what the Second Book of Kings would call Ba’al-ze’bub.

Familiar name?

There were few left in Israel who honored the covenant, much less their responsibilities. Elisha, son of Saphat was one of those few. Saphat’s house was a faithful house.

Elijah knew that. Elijah knew that Elisha came from a faithful house, and was a faithful son.

When Elisha asked to go back and kiss his family goodbye Elijah was taken aback. To paraphrase, Elijah said: Of course you should go back and honor your father and mother. You are supposed to be a man of faith. What have I done to you that you would think that you shouldn’t do your duty?

Elijah expected Elisha to be faithful. Jesus asks the same.

Remember that Jesus came to paint God in a very different way. God was not far off, to be feared and sacrificed to. God was nearby. God is among us. God is our Father. We are to hold a right relationship to Him, as His sons and daughters.

Brothers and sisters,

Each of these passages is about expectations and right relationships.

Elijah expected Elisha to honor his relationship with his parents, and Jesus expects us to honor our relationship with God.

Elisha was called, but that was not an excuse for throwing off his home and parents. His home and parents were not an excuse for throwing off his call.

Many were called by Jesus, but came up with excuses so they could skip out on their commitments. They wanted the glory of God without honoring their duty toward Him. They were committed, not to their parents or the bodies of the dead, but to excuses.

In this day and age we find so many excuses. I am tired, the boss is demanding, my children are disruptive, my wife is cold, I’m so angry and frustrated. I don’t have time for responsibilities and formalities. Leave me alone; let me get on with my life.

Our excuses have been our undoing. Our excuses have weakened and destroyed families, communities, and our larger society. Many have turned to gods and spirits that always seem to give the answer they desire. When they call upon those spirits they hear the answer they expect, the self-serving excuse for doing as they please.

Look at this through the lens of St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.
But do not use this freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh;
rather, serve one another through love.

Excuses are a misuse of our freedom.

Responsibilities, in love, toward God and our brothers and sisters are gifts that come from our freedom. The gifts we receive as a result of our right use of freedom may not always be so appealing, but they are beautiful.

On the other hand, our excuses give opportunity to our weaker selves, the part of us that desires to do as we will. Those excuses are destroying our better selves.

—No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.—

Set your hand to the plow in deciding for Jesus Christ. Leave your former life, your former excuses behind. You are made new in Christ Jesus.

Look forward to a life of commitment, commitment strengthened by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, commitment that builds up the Kingdom of God in your heart, home, family, community, and in the world.

Current Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

EU Summit and a bad choice of words

If you have followed the press on the recent EU summit you probably heard that the Polish President and Prime Minister raised World War II issues in their negotiations.

The response to their raising these issues was less than positive. It’s kind of like the response a person receives when they raise a notion that no one else wants to acknowledge. “Can’t they just be quiet?”

The EUObserver notes in Polish twins accused of bad taste in Brussels:

The most controversial Polish tactic was its attempt to leverage German World War II guilt. When Jaroslaw [Kaczynski] talked ahead of the summit about using EU voting to repay Poland for the millions of Poles killed by Germany in the 1940s, it seemed like just another populist faux pas.

But Lech [Kaczynski] brought up the idea again at the EU leaders’ dinner in Brussels, in a move that may have contributed to chancellor Merkel’s threat to call an intergovernmental conference without Polish approval. In post-summit interviews, the twins kept the same line.

“There are no reasons to censor the past,” Lech said, regretting that he himself was too young to have fought the Germans. “I’m sorry, but today we still have to remind people who was the executioner and who was the victim,” Jaroslaw said in his interview.

Commenting on the rhetoric, Polish liberal MEP and historian Bronislaw Geremek told PAP that “the EU was based on the idea of putting an end to the war era…[the Polish government] tried to open wounds that have not yet fully healed.”

The German press was less kind. The biggest selling paper, Bild, called the twins “poisoned dwarves” and referred to their “sickening double game…”

Speaking of ‘poisoned dwarves,’ probably a bad choice of words for the German Press.

Among Mengele’s favorite experimental subjects were Jewish dwarves and identical twins.

From The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments by Baruch C. Cohen at Jewish Law Articles.

— or —

Many people with disabilities became the subject of medical research both before and after their deaths and were used to enrich the profits and prestige of medical institutions, doctors, and German and Austrian universities and researchers. Corpses of patients that had been marked before gassing as being of potential “scientific interest” were separated out and delivered to a nearby autopsy room. Young German physicians performed autopsies on these corpses to earn academic credit. Many organs from murdered disabled victims, brains in particular, were recovered for scientific study at medical institutes. Researchers sent lists of desiderata to killing centers requesting the brains of dwarves and people suffering from “idiocy” and rare neurological abnormalities, presumably with the belief that such disabilities would be scientifically interesting. Although many organs were harvested, the brains of murdered victims were the ones most utilized. Some of Germany’s most prestigious institutions benefited from this hideous use of the body parts of murdered people with disabilities, including Breslau University, Heidelberg University and the medical schools and psychiatric departments at Bonn, Cologne, Berlin and Leipzig.

From Forgotten Crimes – A Report by Disability Rights Advocates.

But then again, Bild is not exactly about journalism…

Christian Witness, Perspective,

Pontifications est fine

The Rev. Al Kimel has discontinued his blog, Pontifications.

In his final article, Namárií«, he notes:

Becoming [Roman] Catholic has brought many blessings, but it has not healed the sorrows of my heart. Indeed, in some ways it has intensified these sorrows. But this is all very private. All I need say is that I often find them overwhelming. God is silent. I am reduced to silence.

While reading his last lines I was struck by an allusion to the film Moscow On The Hudson.

As you might recall, Robin Williams character, Vladimir, defects to the United States. At first he is overcome by the vast differences between his experiences in communist Russia and life in the United States. He is joyful and giddy, full of dreams. As the film progresses he is overcome by remorse over his decision to defect. He wants to return to his ‘home’. But, he cannot go back. In his dread he cannot go forward.

To a certain extent I imagine that the Rev. Kimel faces such a struggle. We have an inherent discomfort with our decisions, especially when faced with the realities of the world.

Past the decision, you must find your place. The Rev. Kimel will certainly find his one day. The Lord is always merciful and just.

quaerite Dominum et virtutem eius quaerite faciem eius semper recordamini mirabilium eius quae fecit signorum illius et iudiciorum oris eius semen Israhel servi eius filii Iacob electi illius ipse Dominus Deus noster in universa terra iudicia eius recordamini in sempiternum pacti eius sermonis quem praecepit in mille generationes

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Sad end to a rich history

It appears that seven predominantly Polish R.C. parishes will be closing on Buffalo’s East Side. For more check out Seven Buffalo churches to merge into two: East Side closings stir some protests from the Buffalo News.

Among the churches to be closed is Holy Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, my mother’s home parish and the parish my grandparents helped to found. It was initially a mission parish for St. Stanislaus, the mother church of Buffalo’s Polonia – a parish designed to serve the Poles who had moved to farther flung neighborhoods.

The most shocking closure is that of St. Adalbert’ Basilica.

Yes, a Basilica.

St. Adalbert’s was the first church designated as a basilica in the United States (1907). You don’t find many of those laying about in the United States.

The genesis of the independent Catholicism in Buffalo occurred at St. Adalbert’s as noted in the history section of the Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral website:

An Independent Polish Catholic parish was first established in Buffalo in August, 1895, when a rejected group of parishioners at St. Adalbert’s Parish decided to form a separate church just a block away. These discontented souls were forced to decide their own fate when their requests were rejected by the Roman Catholic Bishop and his advisors.

More on the history of St. Adalbert’s and its tie in to the PNCC here, here and here.

As a grade school student I attended a magnificent Mass at St. Adalbert’s. It was held in honor of the International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Philadelphia in 1976. I had family who attended Holy Mother of the Rosary and St. Adalbert’s.

It would appear that those who chose to have a voice and a vote in the destiny of their parish made a better choice. Their parish still exists.

Here’s a photo from St. Adalbert’s 120th Anniversary celebration in 2006. The next to last celebration.

adalberts_120.jpg

Current Events, Perspective

Tingling ears – gnats or drats

I couldn’t resist this one 🙂 .

Shawn Tribe, of the very classy NLM Blog, posted Roman Ears are tingling on June 25th.

This is, of course, about the long awaited Motu Proprio from the Bishop of Rome re-establishing the Tridentine form of the Holy Mass for (most) Roman Catholics.

His article points out that ‘sources’ were convinced that the Motu Proprio was being printed and was ready for release.

According to the NY Times, BBC, AP and others the sources were right, at least in part: Pope Tightens Voting Rules for Election of Successors

ROME, June 26 —” Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules for electing a pope by reinstituting the traditional requirement that two-thirds of the cardinals in the conclave agree on a candidate, no matter how long the process takes.

…

In a document [given Motu Proprio], in Latin, Pope Benedict said he was returning to the traditional voting norm, requiring a two-thirds majority throughout. The document was signed by the pope and dated June 11…

Should the other Motu Proprio ever come, I imagine it won’t be for a while. They don’t release these things like candy…

Then again, I haven’t been left wanting. I already have the Traditional Rite of the Holy Mass, in the vernacular, as has always been practiced in the PNCC.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Annoying Polish spam

The Young Fogey has written a few posts commenting on the spam he receives.

As a person attached to organizations with the word “Polish” in them, being part of Polish newsgroups, and perhaps by my Polish last name alone, I get hit with Polish E-mail spam.

Everyone knows something of the Nigerian scams, the I’m the wife, daughter, girlfriend, cousin, of a deposed dictator, and the have we got meds, potions, cures, and ‘enhancers’ for you pitches.

As Serge has often said, the poorly crafted language is enough to let you know these aren’t genuine.

Anyway, let me tell you about Polish scams.

In a way, they are the most devious and cruel of all scams.

They play on the long tradition in the Polish-American community of helping our poor, suffering, downtrodden brothers and sisters in the old country.

We all recall grandma and grandpa, or a parent, or an aunt or uncle sending money to cousin Jan. You may have known Jan as your poor rural cousin, down on the farm. He allegedly had nothing and needed everything. In many cases this was true in the years following the Second World War and under communism. í‰migrés were exceedingly generous, and those dollars stored in cupboards or in the mattress really helped in bringing Poles out from under the economic destruction caused by the Communist system.

The typical Polish scam has these lowlights and variants:

  • The person lives in a small community (although I’ve seen a few from major cities).
  • The family is poor and the father (if one exists) is unemployed.
  • Someone has a serious medical condition (typically a small child, sometimes a woman with several children – and the husband is desperate).
  • There is a picture of the sick person (typically black and white, with a seal or stamp of some type in the corner of the picture – hey it must be authentic…).
  • There is cryptic medical documentation attached, and sometimes a lot of it (statements from doctors, usually from the big city, clinics, specialists – all stamped, sworn to in front of a notary, and certified).
  • There is a request for money so little Magda can get medicine, rehabilitation, or specialized therapy.
  • There is information regarding a bank account and instructions for initiating an electronic transfer of funds to help the poor waif.

Just prior to leaving for Poland for the first time, back in 1991, our group leader, Dr. Ryszard Sokolowski (Ричард Соколовский) (the link is from the Tver/Твери group he founded), gave me some of the best advice I ever received. “Don’t be romantic about Poland” or words to that affect. He joked that we wouldn’t be met by girls in ethnic costumes dancing the Polka.

The communist system in Poland had just breathed its last breath a year-and-a-half before. There weren’t many consumer goods, that is, there wasn’t a vast selection of stuff. But there was stuff. I remember buying cans of Coke for about thirty cents off the back of a truck. There were VCRs in almost every home. There were mini satellite dishes on homes and apartment buildings (how many folks in the U.S. had mini dishes in 1991? Back then we were still buying the giant dishes that took up your whole backyard).

In other words, our perception of our poor cousins was part truth and part the fabrication of cold war propagandists. I’m not downplaying the suffering that existed and the repression that was very real, but we tend to paint things very black and white, and they weren’t.

If you are ever hit by one of these Polish scam artists looking for help ask this all important question: If they are so desperate for help, and entangled in illness and suffering, how did they find the time to establish a bank account, set-up electronic transfers, and mass spam thousands of folks (with scanned documents) from their poor rural village? The bandwidth alone would eat-up their life savings…

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