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Cry of the Poor |
"How can it be that even today there are still people dying of hunger? Condemned to illiteracy? Lacking the most basic medical care? Without a roof over their heads? . . .
"Christians must learn to make their act of faith in Christ by discerning His voice in the cry for help that rises from this world of poverty."
-- Pope John Paul II
Novo Millennio Ineunte, no. 50
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Prince of Peace |
Have Mercy On Us
and on the
Whole World |
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Queen of Peace |
Pray for Us |
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 Wisdom of Saint Benedict & the Founding Fathers |
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Blog submitted by WilliamSB on Tue 17 Aug 2004 - 11:44 h |
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"Not to desire to be called holy before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called." Rule of St. Benedict, Chpt 4, no. 7
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Others may reasonably disagree, but for me this is the single most important sentence in the entire Rule of Saint Benedict. Saint Benedict understood that human pride alway moves us to think the best of ourselves; even when we're wrong. There is nothing wrong, of course, with thinking good about ourselves. But we have to be honest about our self-estimations. Just thinking I'm a good person does not make me so. And I can conceivably commit a lot of evils, the whole while thinking I'm essentially a good person. |
The drive to be holy before calling myself holy requires a tremendous amount of self-critical evaluation and the willingness to admit that I am capable of evil. Everyone agrees with that concept; and everyone knows the human condition leaves us vulnerable to being tempted to evil. But too few carry that concept through into practice with any real consistency. I think that is why even Catholics can get into some very unfraternal fraternal debates; particularly in discussions about politics. Saint Benedict understood that well. That's why he developed a spiritual school -- a monastery -- in which students -- monks -- can develop their spiritual lives through spiritual disciplines and fraternal corrections.
But this is not a problem unique to the human individual. Human institutions -- e.g. the State -- are made up of human individuals; and, are consequently, capable of committing the same acts of evil that human individuals are capable of committing. Just as the individual human person must make frequent examinations of conscience to ensure he/she is on the right track, the State must also be subjected to self-critical evaluation. To presume that our State -- America -- can do no wrong because we are 'the leaders of the free world' and a 'christian nation', is to sin against truth. Only Christ and His mother were without sin. And only Christ and His mother would have been capable of ruling a State without anyone having to worry whether their motives were right.
America's Founding Fathers well understood what Lord Acton later articulated:
"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition.... The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Our Founding Fathers did not trust our new nation in the hands of another king; because they trusted no individual man to be accountable for exercising the type of moral self-criticism necessary to sustain a government that is just, adequately considerate of the common good and faithful to its mandate to ensure the liberty of its citizens. Instead, our Founding Fathers put in place a structure whereby our government is periodically forced to face popular assessment of its policies. That is our quintessentially unique Americanism; and that is what makes us the greatest nation in the world!
So it continues to baffle me why some would claim that those who criticize our President are somehow un-American. Or that those who question the justification for war in Iraq are somehow un-American. Or that those who argue for a more just economic policy, and a more fair and responsible tax policy, are somehow un-American. Or that those who exercise their right to free assembly and protest are somehow liberal and un-American. Nothing could be more American! And nothing could be more faithful to the pursuit of truth
As Catholics, we need to be frequently reminded of the need to make honest examinations of conscience. As American citizens, it is now time to make an honest national examination of policy. Are we, as Catholic Americans, satisfied with a government that calls itself free? Or are we, as Catholic Americans, faithful to our charge to insist on a nation that first is free, then called so in truth? |
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Theodore Roosevelt |
"To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people."
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