Well … here goes!

You may not realize it, but there’s going to be an election here in the United States in eighteen days.  (Bazinga!  That’s sarcasm, people in comas know there’s going to be an election in eighteen days.)  Throughout the blogosphere, particularly in the American Catholic corner of the blogosphere, folks are weighing in with strident opinions about the impact this election will have on our future well-being.  These opinions are often accompanied by dire warnings, outlining the horrible things that are going to happen if the wrong guy gets elected.  Salvation itself, apparently, hangs on the outcome!  For heaven’s sake, if you care for your soul, send out alarms to everyone you know, everyone you see, and tell them, “Get to the polls!  Get to the polls!  And VOTE FOR THE RIGHT GUY!!!!”  

The Wisdom of the Father

Respect Life Sunday, 2012

What comes to your mind when ‘Respect Life Sunday’ arrives as it does this time each year?  What sort of associations do you make?  What sort of feelings rise to the surface? Do you consider it a time for peaceful contemplation; or is it — as it is for a lot of folks — an occasion for conflict and dispute?  Are you inclined to take an attitude of openness and affection toward other Catholics, and toward your fellow Americans; or does your stomach tie itself in a knot in anticipation of encounters that will tax your ability to show respect for others and which will lead you to feel disrespected?  Do you ever find yourself wondering, as I do, why respect is in such short supply on ‘Respect Life Sunday’?  

Seeing As God Sees

Respect Life Sunday, 2011

Today is Respect Life Sunday, so we ought to think a little bit about what ‘Respect Life’ is all about.  For a lot of people – people on both sides of the issue, actually – ‘Respect Life’ has to do with where you stand on the abortion issue.  This is unfortunate because if you begin and end your understanding of ‘Respect Life’ with a consideration of abortion you’ll miss  out on an awful lot.  For one thing, a commitment to respecting life informs the way you decide about any number of contemporary issues, but more importantly a respect for life gives light and satisfaction to every aspect of all our relationships – our relationships with other people, our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with animals and our relationship to the earth itself.  I’d even go so far as saying that life doesn’t do us any good unless we orient ourselves to it with an attitude of respect.