Advent Trilogy Part 2

Most Sundays I preach and being in the midst of Advent I started a three part series entitled HOPE against hope. St. Augustine said that Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger and courage. Anger at things as they are and courage to change those things. Advent is a season of HOPE and a time to unmask false hope. The theme for the third Sunday in Advent is Joy and the reading from Philippians has the apostle Paul urging the followers of Jesus from Philippi to "rejoice in the Lord always" later on he adds, "again, I say rejoice!" This message seems to be is sharp contrast to the Gospel lesson where John the Baptist as a good prophet warns people about impending doom. His speech starts with a very direct insult "You brood of vipers, who warned you flee from the wrath to come? In spite of this greeting the crowds remain and manage to ask "What then shall we do?"

SHARE
In time of danger, of occupation, people need to come together and share. Jesus was born in an occupied country, John the Baptist preached to people in an occupied sector. Scarcity accompanies occupation so it was natural that the Baptist would suggest to people that survival would depend more on sharing than on hoarding. This applies today to both those who live under the occupation of foreign troops and those who finance soldiers to occupy far away lands. We must share with one another at this time of scarcity, of foreclosures, of hunger and want. Hoarding will not insure the countries prosperity, it will only offer the false security of money and position.

REFORM TAXATION
Tax collectors were also in the crowd of people who stayed to hear the rest to John's incredible message and who came forward to be baptized. To them the Baptist said change the way you operate as tax collectors. In other words reform the tax system. Tax collectors were collaborators with the occupying forces from Rome. They were required to collect X and their salary came from whatever they added to X. Jesus reached out to tax collectors partly because they were so despised and partly in an effort to continue the task his cousin John the Baptist had started. Nicodemus changed his ways and paid back the extra taxes he had collected. This translates to our day into converting our taxation into a fairer system where the wealthy and the corporations pay proportionately to their exorbitant incomes. If corporations and rich people paid what is "prescribed" the middle class would not have to pay as much and we would have enough to go around, especially if we end our wars of occupation.

MILITARY REFORM
Strangely enough soldiers are also convinced by the harsh words of the Baptist and ask And we, what shall we do? It is most interesting that soldiers are included in this passage. The only soldiers there would have been the soldiers who were part of the occupation forces! Romans, kids far away from Rome and family forced to work in the dusty hinterlands of the Empire. They knew they had much to repent from. They had to "obey orders" and probably had tortured and crucified people abusing the power they had. The Baptist advices these occupying soldiers not to abuse their power, not to bring people into "justice" though lies, not to exact money by force, not to accuse people who were innocent and to be satisfied with their wages. Soldiers, then as now, looted and raped and hurt others but they were doing that because of policies established in the heart of the Empire. Our young soldiers too are in Iraq and Afghanistan and many act in ways contrary to their best judgement because our policies have put them in a position where they find it hard to distinguish between friend and foe. Many mistakes are made in such situations and the reason we have such high rates of suicide is that we have forced these young, poor people to be in unnatural situations. PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is rampant and I read in the NYTimes that the rules for military psychologists exclude true confidentiality. Naturally many of these young soldiers cannot talk freely about their feelings and cannot express their doubts. Wars of occupation hurt the locals and the invaders even if the effects for the occupiers takes longer to appear, they also linger for a much longer time. We have not had an honest, just war since WWII. All other military engagements since 1945 have been most questionable.

It was particularly sad to read what President Obama said in West Point and in Oslo. Never before had the Nobel Peace podium been turned into a bully pulpit to justify wars of occupation. I urge you to read those speeches, take time to read them, do not let the Empire of Illusion distract you with Spectacle. Read, turn off your TV, read. Images can be manipulated more easily than words, you can re-read paragraphs, you can't always rewind and re-play deceitful image laden messages.

Father John Friend, a Jesuit wrote a great statement about our New War President. You can read the whole article at http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/our-new-war-president. I love Jesuits if for no other reason than they are members of an order established by a great Basque, Ignacio de Loyola. Please read his post, I am most impressed that the National Catholic Reporter published his writings, I applaud them and commend you to his wisdom. His message is in keeping with John the Baptist's word for this Third Sunday in Advent.

Ignacio Castuera