Ordinary Time, 27th Sunday (A) America has been blessed with many abundant natural and human resources. But justice doesn't seem to be one of them. God looked to America for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry! God is allowing our nation to be trampled. Many faithful Christians are praying the words of the psalm: "O LORD, God of hosts, restore us."

With things so bad, and getting worse, how can St. Paul tell us to have no anxiety at all? We can have no anxiety because we are just stewards. God is the master. We should be tithing 10% back to God for all he has given us. Most importantly we are stewards of the gift of human life. Do you believe that Black Lives Matter? Then you should be defending the lives of unborn African-Americans. Do you like to say that All Lives Matter? Then you should be defending the dignity of all, including illegal immigrants. Christians need to be standing up for every human life, but particularly those who cannot speak for themselves.

With so many attacks on human dignity, how can we possibly make a difference? We can stand up by exercising good manners. Saying "Please" and "Thank You" and "Pardon Me" is not just a relic from a bygone era. It is a concrete way that we communicate to the people in front of us: "It is good that you exist. I've never met you, but you are precious and valuable." When we stand up for the dignity of others, we also learn to cherish our own dignity.

(4 Oct 2020)

Going Deeper: “Let us learn, first of all, to defend our belief without hating our adversaries, to appreciate those who do not think as we do, to recognize that there are Christians in every camp, and that God can be served now as always! Let us complain less of our times and more of ourselves. Let us not be discouraged, let us be better.”
Read more at https://www.wisconsincatholic.org/faithful-citizenship/