|
Connections&
NOVEMBER 3, 2002- 31ST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
"... do and observe whatever the scribes and Pharisees tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen...
"The greatest among you must be the servant. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled; but those who humble them selves will be exalted."
Matthew 23:1-12
ARMED WITH NEEDLE AND THREAD
Senator John McCain, who was imprisoned by the Communists during the Vietnam War, tells the story of fellow POW Mike Christian, a navy sailor from Alabama.
Toward the end of the war, the guards would allow the Americans to receive modest packages from the Red Cross that included articles of clothing. Mike fashioned a needle out of bamboo and, taking red and white scraps of cloth from the packages, sewed an American flag onto the inside of his blue prisoner's shirt. Every afternoon, before eating their daily meal of thin soup, the Americans would hang Mike's flag on the wall and together recite the Pledge of Allegiance. No other event of the day had as much meaning for McCain and the Americans.
One afternoon, the guards discovered Mike's flag and confiscated it. That evening they dragged Mike out of the cell and beat him severely, breaking several of his ribs and puncturing an eardrum. The guards made sure the other Americans could see and hear exactly what was happening. When they had finished with him, the guards dragged Mike bleeding and nearly unconscious back into the Americans' cell, McCain and the others helped Mike to his place and cleaned his wounds as best they could.
McCain remembers:
"As I was drifting off, I happened to look toward a corner of the room lit by one of the four bulbs that always stayed on. There in the dim light was Mike Christian. He had crawled there after he thought we had all fallen asleep. With eyes nearly swollen shut from the beating, he picked up his needle and thread and began sewing a new flag."
CONNECTION: For Mike Christian, the flag was more than just a decoration and the Pledge of Allegiance more than a collection of words. Especially in the difficult circumstances of their imprisonment, the flag was a testament of the beliefs they were willing to sacrifice their lives for, the Pledge was a covenant that binds a nation's people together under the principles of life, liberty and happiness under God. In today's Gospel, Jesus warns us against words devoid of any action, of rituals empty of meaning. Our identity as Americans, as Christians, as members of the human family is found in the humble compassion and joyful service we give to others, in our commitment to the common good over self-interest, in our uncompromising advocacy of the moral and ethical principals we cherish in the holiness of our souls.¦
|
|
