Ordinary Time
If someone asked you why the date of Easter changes so much, what would you answer? It
is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a
fact which I only know because someone told me! We celebrate Jesus as the light of the
world at Christmas when in the northern hemisphere, we’ve experienced the longest
stretch of night and the fewest hours of daylight. His light breaks through the darkness.
You’ll remember that Jesus makes use of the Jewish feast of Passover and in the
context of that special meal, gives himself to his friends on what we’ve come to know
as Holy Thursday. By his death and resurrection, he and we “pass over” from
death to life and are set free as were the Hebrews when they escaped from Pharoah and
crossed the Red Sea. Spring is always associated with new life, thus the date of Easter
varies to coincide with the full coming of springtime.
And backtracking, since Easter is March 27, Ash Wednesday
falls on February 9 to give us our 40 days of preparation called Lent. So we have
only four weeks of “ordinary” or “counted” time, beginning today.
It’s mostly in the ordinary events of our lives that we find God breaking through, so
be alert, even though you’ll be reminded of that on Ash Wednesday! And keep praying
and helping the victims of the tsunamis whose faith must be challenged, regardless of
their religious beliefs.
The State Budget
“Our moral, political and economic responsibilities do not stop at the moment of
birth. Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible
in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us: the old and the young, the
hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed
worker…Consistency means we can’t have it both ways.”
These words of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on the eve of the 1984
presidential campaign seem apropos as Governor Schwarzenegger releases the state budget.
Regardless of what we say our values are, one way they are expressed is through the
financial backing we put behind them. I’m not so naïve as to think that the budget
process is a simple one, but surely our values as Catholic citizens ought to come into
play with such an important matter as the ways in our taxes are spent for the common good.
What will it mean that our children and grandchildren will be burdened with tremendous
debt as Californians, in addition to the national debt? What will the consequences be if
our educational system is not funded enough to prepare our children adequately for the
jobs of the present and the future? Can we honestly ignore the fact that tens of thousands
of our fellow citizens are working two jobs with no healthcare benefits for themselves and
their children? Should decisions about where the budget gets cut be made solely on the
basis of political reality? I remember being appalled a couple of years ago when it was
proposed that basic services for severely handicapped children be slashed. Do we really
want to make cuts only where there is no organized opposition? Since I’m part of a
religious community, the Franciscans, I don’t pay personal income tax. But I am a
citizen of this state and have some responsibility for the care of “the powerless
among us” as Cardinal Bernardin says. Read over the budget in the light of your faith
and see where that leads you; discuss it with friends or neighbors and send an e-mail
expressing your views.
