Saturday, July 28, 2012

God is Near


God is Near 
~Psalm 145:19

Of all the issues that the Church can consider, contend for, fight over, present, or defend, the one issue above all others and at the heart of the matter is this; “God is near”. 
The expression comes to us from the Psalmist. But it was there in the Beginning even before there was light and there was only a formless void. The Spirit brooded over the nothingness that was there when God spoke and The Light caused Being to come into Existence. Time and Space began their ascent into the vast expanse of Interstellar Space.
All of Existence, all of the Life of the world and humanity itself came into being and God was there in the heart of it all.
Abraham and Sarah’s childless despair came before God so God made them laugh in their old age and they had a child whose name Isaac means “laughter”, and they became the Father and Mother of countless numbers like the stars of the sky or grains of sand upon the earth.

God noticed the hardships of the Children of Israel in slavery and called Moses from the Burning Bush to go down to Pharaoh and say; “Let my people go!” And God brought the people into the Promised Land. 
God then began to move in the heart of Moses and the Word that was there in the Beginning that Word that Brooded upon the waters was then engraved upon the Tablets of Stone and we learned the Law of God.
There came then a period of Judges and Kings. God had hoped we could learn to live by the Law that was written into our hearts. God had hoped we could live without politicians. But we insisted. So he gave us King David. It has been the way of politicians since.
The Prophets warned us to return to God when we strayed from God’s ways. We often broke The Law. We played the Harlot with other gods especially that Golden Calf that keeps cropping up in history. Whether its a Bull or a Calf its still the same thing and we worship it. The Prophets warned and taught us about Justice and we often ignored them. And when we did, there was a National Catastrophe.

The warnings are still there as are the Prophets and mark my words, God is near! God will not be mocked and if the people suffer, God will remember.
So many sneer like Serpents and they tell us to go ahead and eat that Big Apple. God won’t do anything about that. You’ll be like gods. You can decide what’s right and wrong. In fact you can write your own laws, and ignore that inconvenient Truth about Justice. That works out fine until we recognize our nakedness and we run and hide from what we recognize all too late was there from the beginning. It is wrong to make so many suffer. We recognize the Truth that has also been there from the beginning. Because, God is Near!
Then in the middle of history, Gabriel spoke to Mary and there was then this Story above all stories and a Child was born. His Mother mild loved him so as did Joseph and the animals and the Shepherds! Kings came to worship him and brought him gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. 
Not only was God near then, but God became Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory, the Glory as of the Only Begotten of God.
He taught us on the Hillsides of Galilee and made us sit down in a lovely grassy spot and he fed us with the bread of angels. It was the Passover and never was there such a meal. Such an abundance of love that day as has never been seen before or since. Those five loaves symbolic, I’m sure, of the Five Books of Moses, and those two fish making us mindful, I’m also sure, of the Law and the Prophets. It meant that not only did Jesus feed us with the Bread of Heaven, he fed us with every single word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Everyone’s heart opened that day and the world have never been the same since.

You will remember what he said to us. “Blessed are the poor, the meek, the ones who mourn and those who seek peace, and justice and those too who must suffer persecution in order to see the right prevail”. He told us we were the Light of the Word, the Salt of the Earth, and taught us to pray “Our Father”, to love our enemies, to love ourselves as we do our neighbors as we do our God.
And in these everyday kinds of things; in the learnings of love, forgiveness and the ministry of reconciliation, Jesus taught us that, of course, God is near.
Turn around, he said, repent, look there, see? The Kingdom is near, it is at hand, God is closer to you than even the next breath you take!
Not only then but when the going is so hard, and stormy winds arise and we drive hard against high and perilous seas. Our hearts melt like wax within us and we are stricken with fear and terror, and then look, walking on the waters of all life’s perils there is this Jesus, unafraid, reassuring with words that contradict our reality and experience he says; “It is I; do not be afraid”. 
And immediately the boat comes to shore and we are safe. When we recognize the Truth that is in all this, we join the crowd and follow him because there is so much to learn, much to be healed, and so much more to be forgiven.

It all looked so good. We were on a spiritual roll, weren’t we, when he then told us about the business of going up to Jerusalem. He was going to die there and we kept trying to change the subject or telling him not to think such thoughts.
But no sooner than he got there that he caused a commotion in the Temple Precincts, overturned the tables of those money changers. Money changers can be problematic, can’t they! Well Jesus threw all that into a tizzy and that, as the saying goes, was that. 



Things escalated in a whole hurry up and by the end of the week, there was this trial, there was this crucifixion, then there was this Death.
We all ran away and resigned our posts; all except the women. They did their thing and with the help of Joseph of Arimathea and laid Jesus to rest.
We mourned his death and our own and God seemed not to be there then. It was as if God died. We were inconsolable, stricken with utter despair and grief. 
Until that Third Day. You all know what happened then. We discovered that God had been there all along.
We began to remember what Jesus had taught us and how he healed us, and forgave us. Now we know that we have work to do to bring the Nearness of God to ourselves and others.
So Jesus Baptized us and Fed us in this Sacred Passover Meal. Not now by the thousands but by the Billions. 
I pray as my namesake Paul would pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts, that you may be rooted and grounded in love so that you too may be filled with all the fullness of God. 
You see, God is near!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Guns and the NRA

The Debate
Shall we have any kind of controls on the ownership of guns in the United States of America? 

The debate on this question usually degenerates into a shouting match between two intractable opposites; the one denying any kind of regulation whatsoever, the other wanting an outright ban. Neither position will move us forward as a nation.

In response to the massacres at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and now most recently, in Aurora, Co, I have finally put to print some thoughts and convictions I’ve held about Gun Control for a long time.

In an effort to be calm and cool and measured in my own response to the issues before us I have prepared the following statement.
The Second Amendment says as follows; "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."


The NRA says of its own mission statement; The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is an American non-profit that advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense in the United States.
In point of fact I agree with everything that is said both in the Second Amendment and in the Purpose statement of the NRA. The Second Amendment begins with the words “Well Regulated”. 
Let us assume that we can agree with legal ownership of guns and rifles and ammunition for the purpose of self defense, hunting, sportsmanship, marksmanship etc. So far, so good.

It would follow then that legal gun owners in this country have a right to a license to own a gun. In order to protect the gun owner and the public, such a license shall be mandatory. Police Chief’s and Sheriff’s around the country shall issue such licenses under procedures adopted by various jurisdictions and under protection of the law.
Folks deemed dangerous to themselves or to the public may be denied a such a license in a manner to be approved of by a court of law. 
The NRA goes on to say that firearm safety is a matter of core concern to its own existence. In the interests of firearm safety, licensed gun owners shall belong to a local gun club and maintain a level of gun safety proficiency as approved of by the NRA. This shall also be mandatory.


All firearms shall be registered with the local police and sheriff's departments. This registration shall include a “print” of the firearm’s ballistics report to make tracking of each firearm identifiable.
Thus all persons wishing to bear arms in the United States shall have the right to do so as a matter of due process and under the protection of the Second Amendment. 
All weapons shall also be known and identifiable to local police and sheriff’s departments.
Purchase and sale of all ammunition shall be tracked and reported to local police and sheriff’s departments. 
There shall be a ban on the private ownership of assault weapons, except that there may be some use and ownership of assault weapons at gun clubs under the supervision of the NRA. Assault weapons shall not leave the premises of of such gun clubs. 

 One of the most telling bits of information that has come out about this most recent tragedy is that this perpetrator was even denied membership in a local gun club because of the bizarre nature of his behavior. Therefore it stands to reason that to protect the goal of firearm safety, gun club membership must be made mandatory. If one cannot measure up to the standards of a gun club in good standing with the NRA, such a person's right to bear arms certainly needs to come under question by the local police/sheriff and may go before the court for adjudication. 

I offer these thoughts as a matter for discussion and conversation. 

Fr. Paul Bresnahan.

And let me offer this helpful chart to see ourselves in comparison to other nations


List of countries

Country
Total firearm-related death rate
Homicides
Suicides
Unintentional deaths
Year
Sources and notes
74.57
74.57
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
51.77
51.77
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
50.36
50.36
NA
NA
2009
OAS 2011[2]
47.44
47.44
NA
NA
2009
OAS 2011[2]
46.70
46.70
NA
NA
2007
OAS 2011[2]
38.52
38.52
NA
NA
2009
OAS 2011[2]
37.16
37.16
NA
NA
2004
UNODC 2006[2]
14.15
10.58
0.73
0.28
1993
Krug 1998[3]
12.74
8.07
3.13
0.93
1994
Krug 1998[3]
12.92
12.92
NA
NA
2010
OAS 2011[2]
12.07
9.88
0.91
1.27
1994
Krug 1998[3]
10.27
4.14
5.71
0.23
2004-2006
CDC[4]
9.46
9.46
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
9.19
2.11
3.05
0.32
1994
Krug 1998[3]
7.35
7.35
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
7.14
7.14
NA
NA
2007
OAS 2011[2]
6.86
0.86
5.78
0.12
1994
Krug 1998[3]
6.82
5.24
1.34
0.12
1994
Krug 1998[3]
6.4
0.58
5.61
0.13
1994
Krug 1998[3]
6.35
0.44
5.14
0.11
1994
Krug 1998[3]
4.78
0.76
3.72
0.22
1992
Krug 1998[3]
4.75
4.75
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
4.56
0.42
4.06
0.05
1994
Krug 1998[3]
4.39
0.3
3.95
0.12
1993
Krug 1998[3]
3.72
1.28
1.28
0.21
1994
Krug 1998[3]
3.48
0.6
2.56
0.06
1990
Krug 1998[3]
3.32
3.32
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
3.24
3.24
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
3.07
0.35
2.51
0.2
1994
Krug 1998[3]
3
3
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
3
0.72
1.84
0.13
1993
Krug 1998[3]
2.95
1.66
1.11
0.11
1992
Krug 1998[3]
2.94
0.44
2.35
0.11
1994
Krug 1998[3]
2.66
0.17
2.14
0.09
1993
Krug 1998[3]
2.6
0.23
2.25
0.04
1993
Krug 1998[3]
2.36
0.18
2.09
0.03
1993
Krug 1998[3]
2.17
2.17
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
pastedGraphic_36.pdf Peru
1.87
1.87
NA
NA
2009
OAS 2011[2]
1.77
1.77
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
1.57
0.22
1.17
0.04
1994
Krug 1998[3]
1.5
0.59
0.84
0.04
1994
Krug 1998[3]
2.38
1.47
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
1.28
1.28
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
1.25
0.36
0.06
0
1995
Krug 1998[3]
1.21
0.23
0.88
0.09
1994
Krug 1998[3]
1.21
0.03
0.94
0.11
1991
Krug 1998[3]
1.2
1.2
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
0.93
0.93
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
0.9
0.21
0.43
0.25
1993
Krug 1998[3]
0.77
0.77
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
0.7
0.36
0.31
0.01
1994
Krug 1998[3]
0.58
0.19
0.33
0.02
1994
Krug 1998[3]
0.47
0.47
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
0.46
0.46
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
0.42
0.13
0.12
0.11
1994
Krug 1998[3]
0.38
0.38
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
0.35
0.35
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
0.29
0.29
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
0.46
0.07
0.33
0.01
2002
Krug 1998[3]
0.24
0.07
0.17
0
1994
Krug 1998[3]
0.19
0.12
0.07
0
1993
Krug 1998[3]
0.19
0
0.09
0.09
1993
Krug 1998[3]
0.18
0.18
NA
NA
2000
UNODC 2000[1]
0.13
0.04
0.02
0.05
1994
Krug 1998[3]
0.07
0.02
0.04
0
1994
Krug 1998[3]
0.06
0.06
NA
NA
2002
UNODC 2002[5]
[edit]
Sources
  • (Krug 1998) EG Krug, KE Powell and LL Dahlberg. "Firearm-related deaths in the United States and 35 other high- and upper-middle-income countries.", International Journal of Epidemiology 1998. [3] Statistics among 36 countries between 1990 and 1995.
  • (UNODC 2002)The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2001 - 2002). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2005.[5] This report provides more updated information on homicide by firearms, but not on suicide by firearms.
  • (UNODC 2000)The Seventh United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (1998 - 2000). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2002.[1] This report provides more updated information on homicide by firearms, but not on suicide by firearms.
  • (Barrow 2000) Greg Barrow. "SA gun deaths rise", BBC, 2000-02-15.[6]
  • (Kaiser 2004) Deaths Due to Injury by Firearms per 100,000 Population, 2004. StateHealthFacts.org, 2008-04-08 [7]
  • (GunCite 2008) International Homicide Comparisons. GunCite.com, 2008-04-08 [8]
  • (CDC 2012) Fatal Injury Mapping (2004-2006). CDC.gov, 2012-02-05 [4]
  • (GunPolicy 2012) Global Impacts of Gun Violence. GumPolicy.org, 2012-02-10 [2]
The figures are based mainly on surveys and reports by government agencies and subject to their reliability. In addition, the figures may vary significantly over the years due to changes in crime rate trend. The death rate is also sensitive to fluctuation if the absolute number of incidents is small and for countries with relatively small population such as Mauritius and Singapore
[edit]
There is a very significant advocacy for additional gun controls from hundreds of Mayors of American cities. The violence we see in urban areas as dangerous as it is, is now growing in rural areas, as I can attest to having seen some of the carnage during my time in West Virginia.