Before I Forget&
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?" 
      ~Jesus (Matthew 16: 24-27)

     
My dear parishioners, what does it mean to walk the talk?  As followers of Jesus Christ, we are trying to walk the talk.  The gospel of Jesus calls us to an alternative way of living than the secular culture we live in.  The way of Jesus is all about the reign of God... and only the reign of God.  In a few weeks we will celebrate the feast of Christ the King.  Christ wants to present the whole of creation, every human being, as a gift to God, to be God's Kingdom.  Don't you desperately desire to be a part of that great reign of God?  And the gospel for the feast of Christ the King is Matthew 25:31-46... "whatever you did for one of the least of mine, you did for me."  ... "what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me."  Jesus Christ expects each disciple to walk the talk.
We live in a great country, but it is hardly the Kingdom of God.  Just look around.  Read the newspaper and watch the news.  We live in what is arguably the most appearance-conscious nation on earth.  From a young age, our young are bombarded by messages telling them that appearance is more important than substance.  And many have fallen into this trap.  In a May 2002 issue of US Weekly, a celebrity magazine, model Marcus Schenkenberg claims that he often gets paid $5,000 a night just to hang around top night clubs and look good.  The nightclub owners reason that Schenkenberg's good looks will draw in customers.  Is Marcus Schenkenberg a young man of character, intelligence or great talent?  We don't know.  But he looks good, and in our secular society that's all that matters.  How did society get to be so shallow and superficial?  Of Course, there's nothing wrong with looking good, but is that all that matters?  Are we just letting our young lose their soul?  But this is hardly our worst problem!
Do you ever wonder why there is such violence in our country?  Why are there so many abortions?  Why are we executing so many criminals?  Why do we have to keep building more prisons?  Why do kids in our high schools shoot their classmates?  Why are families living in poverty and why are there more homeless families?  Does our society care about the mentally ill?
The United States is a "super power" and the richest nation in all of history.  Think about that:  we are a rich and powerful country, and yet we live in a violent country.  How did this happen?  What is the price of being so rich and powerful?  Reread the words of Jesus:  "what does it profit anyone if you gain the whole world but suffer the loss of your soul?
Years ago, Jesuit Father Richard McSorley wrote that our (U.S.A.) intent to use nuclear weapons is the root cause of the violence in our society.  Do you agree with him?  I find myself agreeing with him.  Who cares about anything or anyone if the world could end today because of nuclear weapons?  How do Christians denounce and reject the continued intent to use such weapons.  We must work and pray for the total abolition of such weapons from the face of the earth.
In 1983 our American bishops wrote:  "The nuclear age is an era of moral as well as physical danger.  We are the first generation since Genesis with the power to threaten the created order."
Arundahti Roy, an Indian writer, puts it this way:  "The nuclear bomb is the most anti-democratic, anti-national, anti-human, out right evil thing that man has ever made.  If you are religious, then remember that this bomb is man's challenge to God.  It' s worded quite simply.  We have the power to destroy everything that you have created& If you are not (religious), then look at it this way.  This world of ours is four thousand six hundred million years old.  It could end in an afternoon."  (The End of Imagination.  The Nation 9/28/98)
What are we teaching our young about the sanctity of life and creation if we don't speak out against nuclear war! 

Fr. Bill