Catholic values in a hostile political climate

2 Timothy 4: 1 – 5
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Matthew 5: 13 – 16
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There are many deceivers about in the world, refusing to admit that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and not get the reward it deserves. If anybody does not keep within the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he cannot have God with him: only those who keep to what he taught can have the Father and the Son with them. If anyone comes to you bringing a different doctrine, you must not receive him in your house or even give him a greeting. To greet him would make you a partner in his wicked work.

From today’s office of readings

Ephesians 4: 17-24

 In particular, I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Intellectually they are in the dark, and they are estranged from the life of God, without knowledge because they have shut their hearts to it. Their sense of right and wrong once dulled, they have abandoned themselves to sexuality and eagerly pursue a career of indecency of every kind. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.

A reading from yesterdays Divine Office which helps us to understand the political environment we find ourselves in. We must remain faithful to Christ and the Church’s teaching and not fall for the lies that are spread by Satan and his pawns.

Psalms
Chapter 37

1 Of David do not be provoked by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong.

2 Like grass they wither quickly; like green plants they wilt away.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good that you may dwell in the land and live secure.

4 Find your delight in the LORD who will give you your heart’s desire.

5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust that God will act

6 And make your integrity shine like the dawn, your vindication like noonday.

7 Be still before the LORD; wait for God. Do not be provoked by the prosperous, nor by malicious schemers.

8 Give up your anger, abandon your wrath; do not be provoked; it brings only harm.

9 Those who do evil will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD will possess the land.

10 Wait a little, and the wicked will be no more; look for them and they will not be there.

11 But the poor will possess the land, will delight in great prosperity.

12 The wicked plot against the just and grind their teeth at them;

13 But the LORD laughs at them, knowing their day is coming.

14 The wicked draw their swords; they string their bows To fell the poor and oppressed, to slaughter those whose way is honest.

15 Their swords will pierce their own hearts; their bows will be broken.

16 Better the poverty of the just than the great wealth of the wicked.

17 The arms of the wicked will be broken; the LORD will sustain the just.

18 The LORD watches over the days of the blameless; their heritage lasts forever.

19 They will not be disgraced when times are hard; in days of famine they will have plenty.

20 The wicked perish, the enemies of the LORD; Like the beauty of meadows they vanish; like smoke they disappear.

21 The wicked borrow but do not repay; the just are generous in giving.

22 For those blessed by the Lord will possess the land, but those accursed will be cut off.

23 Those whose steps are guided by the LORD; whose way God approves,

24 May stumble, but they will never fall, for the LORD holds their hand.

25 Neither in my youth, nor now in old age have I ever seen the just abandoned or their children begging bread.

26 The just always lend generously, and their children become a blessing.

27 Turn from evil and do good, that you may inhabit the land forever.

28 For the LORD loves justice and does not abandon the faithful. When the unjust are destroyed, and the children of the wicked cut off,

29 The just will possess the land and live in it forever.

30 The mouths of the just utter wisdom; their tongues speak what is right.

31 God’s teaching is in their hearts; their steps do not falter.

32 The wicked spy on the just and seek to kill them.

33 But the LORD does not leave the just in their power, nor let them be condemned when tried.

34 Wait eagerly for the LORD, and keep to the way; God will raise you to possess the land; you will gloat when the wicked are cut off.

35 I have seen ruthless scoundrels, strong as flourishing cedars.

36 When I passed by again, they were gone; though I searched, they could not be found.

37 Observe the honest, mark the upright; those at peace with God have a future.

38 But all sinners will be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.

39 The salvation of the just is from the LORD, their refuge in time of distress.

40 The LORD helps and rescues them, rescues and saves them from the wicked, because in God they take refuge.

Footnotes

1 [Psalm 37] The psalm responds to the problem of evil, which the Old Testament often expresses as a question: why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer? The psalm answers that the situation is only temporary. God will reverse things, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked here on earth. The perspective is concrete and earthbound: people’s very actions place them among the ranks of the good or wicked. Each group or “way” has its own inherent dynamism–eventual frustration for the wicked, eventual reward for the just. The psalm is an acrostic, i.e., each section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has its own imagery and logic.

Today’s first reading shows us that the world has not changed much in 2000 years. Our political leadership is still trying to silence those who follow Christ.