My friends, this weekend, as you know, our country is celebrating 250 years, attempting a “democratic state,” wherein “all,” according to the Preamble to our Declaration of Independence from Britain, [humans] are created equal, and there is the understanding that we all, each of us, want to pursue “life, liberty, and happiness. 

   Many people looking back at our Declaration of Independence from Britain and our Constitutional amendments, 10 at the beginning, known as the “Bill of Rights,” marvel at what these documents actually say, of which, many weren’t being lived out at the time.

   Take for instance, “all men are created equal” – even though “men” as a term for all (including women) was acceptable in the 18^th Century, women still weren’t seen as equal to men at this time, nor were African slaves.

   But that is why those who study these documents marvel, at the beauty of them– they were written as a piece to basically grow into.  We might say the same for our Scriptures – who of us ever perfectly lives out the messages that we find there?!  And we, as the People of God, have been at it for over 2,000 years!

   So, my friends, on this weekend celebrating 250 years of “attempted” democratic living, I would like to lift up the idea of peace-filled living as today’s Scriptures speak most-assuredly to that idea. 

   The prophet Zechariah begins by telling us that we have, “a just savior,” and that “peace will be proclaimed to the nations.” Psalm 145 lets us know that our God, Adonai, is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness – compassionate – just in all ways.”  And while “peace” is not mentioned here; having a God displaying all these traits would certainly bring “peace” to all receiving these good actions.

   Paul’s letter to the Romans is quite “cut and dried,” but basically speaks of choosing that which is “spiritual” over the things of the flesh.”  Now, for myself, having lived more than seven decades, I would encourage, “a balance” – after all,  we are human beings, and I believe our God wants us to have, as spiritual people, “a human experience while here.  Balance though, I’ve found, always works best. 

   The gospel from Matthew today uses different words too, other than “peace,” and like Paul’s,  Jesus’ chosen words here, do speak to peace.  “Come to me, all who labor and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.  Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am gentle, and humble of heart – you will find rest for your souls.”

   These words of Jesus are one of the choices to share with those receiving the Sacrament of the Sick, in times of trouble – illness, end of life.  They are my reading of choice when I share this sacrament as a priest, because they are so comforting, bringing peace. 

   So, my friends, circling back to where I started this homily, thinking about and celebrating 250 years of democracy in leaps and bounds, with some setbacks, but always with, in the end, the desire to do better, as in our faith too, let’s dive a little deeper into just what “peace” means. 

   I think you would all agree that whether as a society, or a church community, striving for peace, as opposed to “following the crowd,” or simply doing nothing, is always harder than any of the above alternatives.  And when it comes to “country,” we, too often over these 250 years, in settling disputes with other people and countries, have opted for war as opposed to peaceful solutions.  War, to my mind, should always be the very last thing that we try!  Peace is harder because it demands so much from us – restraint, listening, and being willing to hear another side – this calls forth the very best in us! 

   Most of us, over our lifetimes have experienced trying to “make peace” with a family member or friend, and have had trouble doing this. Realizing this, we can understand why it is so difficult to “make peace” on a large scale, as with one country to another.  Just like, with an individual, the hard work of peace-making, at any level, begins small, and grows from there.  And just like evil actions attract followers, good actions do as well.  And it takes a great deal of faith to believe, at times, that “good” will rise in the end. 

   When we become discouraged, and disheartened about present-day trends toward selfishness, unbridled individualism, meanness, and the like, we truly must keep our eyes on our brother Jesus, and remember, and never forget, for all the good he was about in his lifetime, he, in his humanity, cried over Jerusalem toward the end, because, “they just didn’t get it!”  I always take strength from knowing that in the hard times, I can turn to Jesus, knowing that he understands.  And then, we try again.  Doing small things like saying, “thank you” and truly meaning it, “passing a good forward,” are just a couple of things that can mean a lot. 

   Before I conclude today when we are rightly celebrating the gift and challenge of democracy, 250 years ago, realizing that on some level, it was always an idea in progress, just as being a Christian follower of Jesus of Nazareth, I would like to lift up a piece of unfinished business that plagues our country every single day, and that is the proliferation of guns in this beautiful country that daily take the lives of loved ones, because we don’t have the collective will to put some safety regulations upon what is acceptable. 

   Those who advocate for their 2^nd Amendment rights should remember that when this “bill” was written, what people had at their disposal to protect themselves were single-shot muzzle loaders, not, not, weapons of mass destruction!  Balance, please! 

   As you know, I love the statement, “We are spiritual beings here, having a human experience.”  In other words, each of us came into existence as Matthew Fox has so rightly said, “an original blessing, not a sin, so we, each of us have all that is needed in both society and church, to be our best selves, for ourselves, and for others, and with that knowledge we can move into the next however many years working toward freeing our world, our church of the other evils not even mentioned here, sexism, racism, and so on…  Amen? Amen!

My friends, as I studied and pondered today’s Scriptures, I found myself “latching onto” the theme of kindness, once again – a trait that I feel many of us need in our present-day world – I know I do!

   When I am being simplistic, I find myself thinking and feeling that being, “our best selves” in a world of so much bounty, beauty, and possibility –  being kind, understanding, merciful, and even loving, shouldn’t be so hard! Right? Right! 

   But then, reality sets in … and as we said last week, we find that people die every day from starvation because we don’t as a unified world have the will to share so that this is not the case.  Wars are started and fought over the need for personal gratification with no plan about what to do after the fighting – certainly not striving -after-peace, and simply “being good” as Pope Francis spoke of often near the end of his life. 

   Additionally, Francis spoke in a general way, of the need for Christians to go deeper, as we always say here, beyond “doing good things,” to more so, simply, just “being good.”  Being good allows us to not only “do good things,” but to be the type of person who will see, listen, and care about a suffering world from the get-go, and then do something to bring about the needed change.

   I heard a news story this past week about funds being cut-off to families in  this country with green cards, on the path to citizenship, having done all the right things to that end, but unfortunately, in one case, having a child with a serious medical condition. 

      When the person working with the family in question was asked what would happen to the seriously ill child without the funding, she minced no words, “the child will most likely die.”  An official in support of this decision rather, matter-a-factly said, “We must save this funding for our legal citizens! No kindness here …  perhaps in the smallest sense, a good thing is being done, but certainly we don’t see someone “being good.” 

   So, my friends, what can we glean from the Scriptures today?  The prophet Jeremiah, in the midst of his troubles and those of his people answers, “But our God is with [us] – sing to our God, praise God who has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.” 

   Now if you’re thinking, or even remembering a time when you prayed for something and didn’t get the answer you hoped for, Pope Paul VI, now a canonized saint, had these words for our reflection:  “this is how we know that God is at work.”  He was speaking about how prophets like Jeremiah and Jesus always “noticed” and “listened” to the poor and disadvantaged.  In our world today, we must do the same; we must be the change we want to see – this is how we know God is at work!

   These times my friends, call for great faith, clear vision, great mercy and understanding, along with trust in recognizing that as Jeremiah said, “Our God is with us.”  Whenever we see “good happening,” we must realize that our loving God is with us! 

   Paul, in his letter to the Romans spends too much time again speaking about sin, but ends well reminding this “apparently sinful people,” the Romans, that “the grace of God” and the “gift of Jesus” is with and for them, and us, too. 

    The psalmist in #69 also prays in faith to a “God of Kindness.”  And finally, in the gospel from Matthew, we get confirmation that our God is indeed “kind and good,”  as Jesus shares the lovely story of the sparrow wherein our God is aware of a single one, falling, and not only that, but we hear, we “are worth more than an entire flock!” 

   My friends, the fact that “in faith” we might be able to realize, even when we can’t seem to fully grasp at times, that our God is with us, perhaps a story from my life this past week will help.  It is about a woman in my outreach ministry that I have seen over the past several years, giving spiritual support.  She lives with a mental illness that causes her to believe that she is being sexually abused most nights when she is alone in her room.  She has reported the alleged abuse to the officials within the facility where she lives and they have accommodated her with periodic checks during the night, to no avail, as far as finding anyone. 

   Even though I believe that what she tells me is in her mind, I absolutely believe that what she says, is true for her.  Being that she is a strong, and for the most part, conservative Catholic, (I say, for the most part as she has no problem with my ordination), I can pray with her, use all my holy items, water and oil, to block the evil that seems to plague her. 

   During most of our visits, we share “the good of life,” pray for our family members and give each other support.  This past week, the issue of being abused was especially on her mind.  I listened, and at one point, simply said to her, “When this evil seems present, say in a strong voice, and out loud, “Be gone Satan!” And then say, “Jesus be with me!”  After a bit she said, “Thank you, that really helps!” 

   Sometimes my friends, it seems that we can’t fix a lot of what we encounter because we come at it from the wrong place … sometimes what is needed is a listening heart, faith in powers bigger than us … making ourselves available in the ways that we can, and allowing God to work through us. 

   So, my friends, I began today, “latching onto” kindness as a way to make a positive difference in our world – in the practical sense, it perhaps doesn’t solve all the issues as in the story I shared, but maybe the “difference” we can be aware of, is that by being present to others, in kind and caring ways, people can know that they “aren’t in it alone.”

Amen? Amen!