"It's the terror of knowing what this world is about..."

To all those do not celebrate Hanukah or observe Advent, I wish you a happy Kwanzhanukahmas. On a more serious note, I am posting posting Pressure, featuring David Bowie and Queen, as this Friday's traditio as a follow-up to yesterday's short post.

"Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care
For the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves"

Ah, love! In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict insisted that "God's love for us is fundamental for our lives" and that love "raises important questions about who God is and who we are." Even before beginning to consider what God's love means for my life, I am "immediately... hampered by a problem of language" because for a very long time "the term 'love' has become one of the most frequently used and misused of words" (par. 2).

In thinking about the question raised by God's love for me, I have found a short book written by Owen Cummings and John Galindo, Spirituality, Intimacy, and Sexuality, to be of great help recently, particularly the beginning of book in which they use the example of Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, found in John 12:1-7, as an example of what God's love means for me when they write that "[w]hat she did was at once spiritual, sensual, and intimate." In this gesture "[s]he gave herself completely to Christ" and "he accepted her as only he could." "As Christians," they continue, "we talk, study, sing, and pray about giving ourselves completely to God. But to see Mary actually do it must have evoked an array of responses from those present...[s]he loved him with all of her self." This relieves a lot of existential pressure, but only because it is not a pragmatic moved on my part, but a real movement of God to embrace me, to take pity on my nothingness.

What does it mean to look at yourself the way Christ looks at you and how does this, in turn, change the way you look others?

Maranatha

A public service announcement: "I have overcome the world"- Jesus Christ

Commenting on a tragedy earlier this year, the tragedy being a suicide and it's impact on the lives of those who are connected to the one who took his own life, someone wrote: "We do[n]'t need to be holy Joes or spiritual superstars to live this way; the Bible wasn't written for holy Joes and spiritual sup[e]rstars. It was written for ordinary people who need an extraordinary God and are willing to trust Him. In John 16:33, Jesus says, "In this world, you WILL have trouble. But take heart! I HAVE overcome the world!"

As we enter this time of year, which is so damn difficult for so many people for a lot of reasons, let's think about what we celebrated yesterday by our observance of Mary's Immaculate Conception: in Christ Jesus God has done something extraordinary for you, which is why you don't have to be a spiritual superhero and are liberated to be who God made and redeemed you to be- this is what we call sanctification. Now, you can take this as so much spiritual pabulum, or reduce it to a sentimental thought by someone you think hasn't been there, or you can see for yourself if it is really Good News. Frankly, if this isn't what Advent and Christmas are about, then as far as I'm concerned we can call the whole thing off.

Maranatha

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, ca. 1767-69

On this the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, let us pray to Mary who experienced deeply in her person, from the moment of her conception in the womb of St. Anne, by a unique and singular grace that looked forward to the salvation gained for us by her Son, God's saving power:

Father,
the image of the Virgin
is found in the Church.
Mary had a faith that your Spirit prepared
and a love that never knew sin,
for you kept her sinless
from the moment of her conception.
Trace in our actions
the lines of her love,
in our hearts her readiness of faith.
Prepare once again a world for your Son
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit
one God forever and ever. Amen.

Remember, O Blessed Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided...

Maranatha

A thought or two on the proposed federal pay freeze

As a federal civil servant I generally support the pay freeze President Obama intends to seek and that he will undoubtedly get from the Republican Congress. Assuming that we won't have a budget until the new Congress begins after the first of the year, the pay freeze, which basically results in federal employees not getting cost-of-living adjustments for the next two years, the likely result is that the proposed 1.4% COA proposed for this year will not go into effect. Of course, the proposed 2% reduction in Social Security withholding set forth today by President Obama will off-set this loss and even result in a net .6% gain. On the one hand, this relief is good because it applies to all workers, not just federal employees. Nonetheless, it seems bizarre to me to reduce the amount of money going into Social Security given its rapidly approaching insolvency.

My only trouble with the proposed freeze on federal wages is that it is a political reaction to the apparent fact that, compared to the average worker, federal employees make significantly more money. No doubt, in many cases this is true. I am on the end of federal employment that should have no difficulty dealing with the proposed freeze. So, I am perfectly willing to forgo COAs for the next few years, even until the economy turns around. However, averages are deceptive. For example if one worker makes $100,000 and another worker makes $30,000 the average salary of the two workers is $65,000. Now, say using the $65,000 average as your baseline, you propose a 2% across-the-board decrease in pay. This means $600 for the person making $30,000 and $2,000 for the person making $100,000, which is a significant bump for both, but who does it hurt more? Stated positively, who is in a better position to help, or what best serves the common good? This simply highlights my problem with the Republicans' insistence that everyone be treated "equally" when making these kinds of difficult decisions.

My point is that not all federal workers are highly paid, many make quite modest wages. So, it seems that there should be a cut-off. I would suggest that the cut-off be the computed average salary of a non-federal worker. Any federal employee making that or less should be exempt from the proposed cut. Let's also remember that federal employees will also absorb a 7.2% increase in health care premiums as a result of the ill-advised health care reform. Fighting for equity seems a golden opportunity for congressional Democrats to stand up for lower paid federal employees. As is appropriate, none of this affects members of the U.S. military. On the whole, there are 2.1 million federal workers, which is a large work force, no doubt. When you stop to consider 2.1 million civil servants, serving a country of some 360 million people, you are talking about less than 1% of total population. Of course, 2.1 million constitutes a higher percentage of the work force.

Such a move is like cutting government spending by implementing, say, a 10% across-the-board cut, which is ham-fisted, short-sighted, and inequitable. For instance, in Utah public education is already underfunded. Hence, you do not want to cut 10% from the education budget! By the same token, programs that benefit the disabled, children, and those who have serious material needs must be considered in a different light than cuts in some other areas.

Maranatha

A good sign, I think

I am impressed with today’s proposed compromise announced by President Obama. The president was wise in understanding that he needed to show everyone that he has the ability to compromise because his unwillingness to do so over the previous two years is a major reason why his party lost so badly last month. He also needed to demonstrate to the American people that the next two years are not just going to consist of gridlock and partisan haggling while the economy either stagnates or gets even worse, while life inside the Beltway goes on as normal.

Today’s proposal is that in exchange for extending the so-called Bush tax cuts, which were set expire after the first of the year, across-the-board with no cut-off at any income level, for two more years, the Republicans agree to extending unemployment for another year in a tough economy. The fact that people on both sides are complaining- the conservatives for the agreement to extend unemployment and the agreement to not push for making all of these cuts permanent, and the liberals whining that there was no cut-off, even at one million dollars, as proposed by some Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Schumer- indicates that it is a good deal and goes a great distance towards moving politics beyond net loss/net gain calculations, or, stated simply, it is a good bi-partisan move. President Obama was right to criticize those in his own party who wanted a protracted political fight on this issue. Conversely, we’ll see if the Republican Tea Party denizens that now make up a vocal portion of the new Republican congressional majority, such as Utah’s Senator-elect Mike Lee, show as much common sense, not to mention statesmanship as Pres. Obama did today.

In his press conference this afternoon, the president first clearly laid out his position when he said that he agreed to “a temporary extension of the high-income tax breaks,” an issue on which he is correct to describe the Republicans as “are unwilling to budge,” in order to preserve “ additional tax cuts for the middle class that I fought for and that Republicans opposed two years ago.” Exhibiting wisdom that can only come from experience, he said “I’m as opposed to the high-end tax cuts today as I’ve been for years. In the long run, we simply can’t afford them. And when they expire in two years, I will fight to end them, just as I suspect the Republican Party may fight to end the middle-class tax cuts that I’ve championed and that they’ve opposed.”

So, by agreeing to extend the cuts for two years President Obama and the Republicans, both of whom think they have the people of their side regarding the issue of the tax cuts, make this a major issue for the 2012 elections. I am inclined to believe that the president will win this one, especially when it can be demonstrated that above a certain income level there is little or no stimulus effect and that the tax revenue is needed to help reduce our deficits, which we began to incur even during the Bush Administration. As voters and citizens I think we have to be aware that the massive deficits we are racking up come to us courtesy of six years during which the Republicans held the White House and both Houses of Congress and two years of the Democrats holding all the purse strings.

It also looks like passage of the Dream Act with at least some bi-partisan support is also in the offing. I am cautiously optimistic moving forward and perhaps crowing a little about my centrist claim that the interests of the U.S. people are best served by not having one party in total control.

Maranatha

As Jacob taught us, to pray is to struggle

Advent, darkness, silence, prayer...

Abba Agathon was asked, "Amongst all our different activities, father, which is the virtue that requires the greatest effort?" Agathon said, "Forgive me, but I think there is no labor greater than praying to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies the demons try to prevent him; for they know that nothing obstructs them so much as prayer to God. In everything else a man undertakes, if he persevers, he will attain rest. But in order to pray a man must struggle to his last breath" (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers).

St. Francis, by Francisco de Zurbarán (ca. 1635-1639)

Wrote Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood: "It is, no doubt, impossible to prevent his praying for his mother, but we have means of rendering the prayers innocuous. Make sure that they are always very 'spiritual', that he is always concerned with the state of her soul and never with her rheumatism. Two advantages follow. In the first place, his attention will be kept on what he regards as her sins, by which, with a little guidance from you, he can be induced to mean any of her actions which are inconvenient or irritating to himself. Thus you can keep rubbing the wounds of the day a little sorer even while he is on his knees; the operation is not at all difficult and you will find it very entertaining. In the second place, since his ideas about her soul will be very crude and often erroneous, he will, in some degree, be praying for an imaginary person, and it will be your task to make that imaginary person daily less and less like the real mother—the sharp-tongued old lady at the breakfast table. In time, you may get the cleavage so wide that no thought or feeling from his prayers for the imagined mother will ever flow over into his treatment of the real one. I have had patients of my own so well in hand that they could be turned at a moment's notice from impassioned prayer for a wife's or son's 'soul' to beating or insulting the real wife or son without a qualm" (C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters).

Maranatha

Memorial of St. Nicholas

Today we observe the liturgical memorial of St. Nicholas of Myra (270-6 Dec. 346). Myra is located in Asia Minor, also known as Anatolia, which is the city of Demre modern Turkey. Because of the many miracles attributed to him, he is also known as Nikolaos o Thaumaturgos (i.e., Nicholas the Wonderworker). Over his ministry he was known as a secret gift-giver, namely for placing coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him. Hence, the long-standing tradition of children leaving their shoes out when they go to bed the night before St. Nicholas Day, a tradition we have observed at our house for the entire 17+ years of our marriage. He was Greek bishop, but lived centuries before the East/West schism and so his day is commemorated throughout the universal Church, that is, among Roman Catholics, most Eastern Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox.

Like many early saints, such as St. Lucia, St. Agnes, St. Martin of Tours, etc., the cultus of St. Nicholas has waned somewhat. He really began to be venerated in the tenth century. Of course, in the West it has been obscured by the Santa Claus metamorphosis.

Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia, children, and sailors. It is due his being the patron of sailors that he is someone we turn to when confronted with danger.

St. Nicholas, holy bishop, pray for us.

Maranatha