Unveiling the Light

The nice thing about being Catholic is that we don’t do things small and we don’t follow conventional wisdom. For most the world the Christmas season was the few weeks leading up to December 25th and the big celebration occurred on Christmas day. For Catholics and some of the larger religions, the time before Christmas is called Advent. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. Christmas begins the evening of December 24th but does not end on the 25th. Instead we continue to celebrate Christmas until January 17th.

During the Christmas Season we celebrate Christmas Day, the Holy Family and the Epiphany (Three Wise Men) all within one celebration of Christmas that lasts 23 days. The season celebrates the intervention of God into human history with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. It ends with the Baptism of the Lord which is on Sunday, January 24th and marks the first Sunday of Ordianary Time. The largest celebration comes at Easter when, after paying the price for our sins by His cross, Jesus goes on to lead us to everlasting life by His Resurrection. Easter too is celebrated as a season and it is our greatest celebration, lasting 50 days, until Pentecost.

So when you go by a Catholic Church or the homes of many of its parishioners, don’t be surprised to see Christmas trees and bright lights well into January. We are still celebrating the birth of Christ. It is a celebration that can’t be constrained within one day. We may be slow to join the festivities but they last longer with us than with any other religion. So have a nice day and celebrate the birth of Christ well into January. It is a great act of love by our God who loves each of us as His own child. Out of that love God humbled Himself to enter the world as a helpless child dependent on human parents. That child would right all human kind has done wrong in the eyes of God. For this we indeed should be grateful and joyous. How can we restrain the celebration of this act of love to one day?

Have a very Merry Christmas, yesterday, today and tomorrow! God is with us.

Father Steven Foppiano

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rockets are sent across the border into Israel everyday and we get a picture of a three Palestinian teens throwing a rock from behind a plaster barricade at Israel troops who are “unseen”. Massive homicide bombs are strapped to Palestinian women, children and young men to kill or wound Jews 50 to 100 at a time and we get a picture of a Palestinian youth with a rock in a sling aiming at Israel troops who are “unseen” in the picture. Thousands of automatic rifles, grenades, mortars and tank busters are sent to Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists and we get a picture of a Palestinian youth using a wrist rocket with a rock as ammo at Israel troops “unseen.” Do you think that maybe the media is being used, perhaps willingly, as a propaganda tool of Israel’s enemies?

I would like nothing more than to have peace in the Middle East but do not believe the media is doing justice to the situation and the bias shown can only add to Israel’s sense of isolation. They are a powerful force and if they get their backs against the wall, they will strike out. How would we feel if enemies were sending rockets across the Canadian border on a daily basis with the objective of killing as many Americans as possible? Would we allow our leaders to sit by idly while our fellow citizens are being killed and maimed? Maybe if the media spend an equal amount of time detailing the terrorist’s efforts to kill Jews and the results of their attacks the Palestinians would feel some pressure to enter into and keep peace agreements as well.

The Middle East gives us one of the oldest and bloodiest conflicts of history. It dates back to biblical times but the current problems can be traced most directly to 70AD when the Romans reacted to Jewish revolts against their foreign rule by destroying Jerusalem, exiling the Jews from their homeland and renamed the country of Judah and Samaria to Palestine. No matter how we cut it the Jews have the first dibs on this land, followed by the Christians and then the Muslims. The Christians have been forced out almost entirely but after the Holocaust and other persecutions around the world, we cannot expect the Jewish people to give up the only country that has fought to protect them, their own!

There are solutions to these problems. That was proven when Israel and Egypt entered into a peace treaty in the 1970s that still holds today. The problem is that little pressure is put on the Palestinians and much is on the Jewish people. Until we recognize all atrocities in this area we can expect the problems to continue. The United Nations never said a word when missiles were flying into Israel killing Jews but now is suddenly up in arms because Israel has struck back. Just as the media turns a blind eye to atrocities against the Jews and highlights any real or faked atrocities in the Gaza, the situation will continue. We need to have outrage at all those who advocate violence in the Middle East. We also need to stop supporting those who allow this conflict to continue by supplying the terrorists with weapons and explosives. Israel seems willing to negotiate but this is hard to do when your people are being killed and your opponents continue to advocate your total destruction.

Let us be true advocates of peace by having outrage at all atrocities and only supporting those parties which have a true desire for peace and demonstrate their desire for peace with actions towards ending the carnage. Jerusalem is considered a Holy City by the Jewish, Muslim and Christian people. Surely we can find a way to live there in peace. Surely both the Jews and Palestinians can have their own homeland and there must be a way for these people of the Middle East to find a life of security where futures can be planned and most live to see their grandchildren thrive.

We should all work for peace by realizing that all parties should have a hand in making that peace happen, praying for that peace and by being unbiased and fair in supporting negotiations. We have to ensure that the Israel people are secure but can still be a good mediator for peace. We can’t do this though if the media allows itself to be manipulated as it currently is and government bodies react only to the carnage caused by one side while the other is given sympathetic coverage.

Father Steven Foppiano

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Merry Christmas is such a simple message that perhaps we have lost some of its meaning. We speak these words without reflection on what they mean; do we mean what they say? It is far more than the generic “Happy Holidays” which really doesn’t make much sense this time of the year. “Happy Holidays” is so generic that it is best suited in the European sense where it is likely to indicate one is going on vacation. It has little to do with a specific celebration.

But Merry Christmas is a loaded greeting that few take the time to ponder. We are asking someone to be merry as in happy, joyful and light hearted. It means that we should not take the world so seriously and realize that life will go on, despite our current problems and anxieties, the world will continue to move on. The world’s continuation is not reliant upon what we do in the next few minutes, days or weeks. We have to make plans and work for a better future but we also have to put things in perspective. Enjoy the day! Know the good things God has gifted you. Don’t live for happiness tomorrow; allow it to penetrate your heart today!

Christmas of course is a powerful word. It refers to the Mass of Christ that celebrates the coming of the Lord into the world. It speaks of humankind being so esteemed by out God that God came to live among us as one of us! God was born as an innocent child dependent on human parents for His security. He was watched over by angels but was entrusted to the Holy Family of Mary and Joseph. In doing so He gave great dignity to all families and hope for all human kind. God humbled God’s self so as to exult His human creation. He would lead us into salvation and would pay the price so that we could have everlasting life despite our sinfulness. How blessed we are.

When you say Merry Christmas, remember what you are doing. You are telling the person to realize how blessed we are and to know that God loves us so much that He was born as one of us to leads us to the salvation we celebrate at Easter. Merry Christmas tells us to enjoy this gift of life and the gift of now being called brothers and sisters of Christ and thus Children of God. We live in the Kingdom of God that exists in the believers and followers of Jesus Christ. We are the People of God, made that way by our God who loves us so much that He would become one of us! We await that Kingdom coming to its fullness when that child born on the first Christmas returns in glory to set all things right and make them here on earth as they are in heaven.

Have a Merry Christmas and remember that God has given you this life to enjoy. Those around you that make up your family are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. Don’t let another day go by without making that reality true in your heart. If you have no family with you at home, know you have one in God’s people for in the Kingdom of God we are all brothers and sisters to each other and to Jesus, with one very loving Father in heaven. How blessed we are. Have a very Merry Christmas indeed!

Father Steven Foppiano

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It is reported that U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd has called on the head of G.M. to resign in exchange for G.M. receiving bailout money from the federal government, while it is also reported that a new “Auto Czar” is to be appointed along with any bailout funds. This illustrates the problems with government intervention in the private sector. The intervention is done unevenly, with government officials suddenly thinking they know more than shareholders and boards and a few “public targets” taking the heat for the many, all for the sake of a political show.

How is it that we can give hundreds of billions to the banking industry and never ask for a resignation, restructuring or even a plan as to how these executives plan to get out of the mess they created; but for a relatively small $15 billion, the senate demands that the automaker submit restructuring plans and Senator Dodd insists on a chief executive’s resignation? I am not against these leaders paying the price for poor decision making but why is it so unevenly distributed? Could it be because Wall Street banking firms have become revolving doors for politicians and their cronies? Both the outgoing Bush administration and incoming Obama team is filled with Wall Street bankers who have made and continue to make tens if not hundreds of millions from banking and financial arbitrage firms. Few revolve into and out of the automakers.

Also, if we are asking those responsible for the current financial mess to resign, should we not begin with those of the Senate Banking Committee? They were responsible for the oversight of the financial system and they stood on the side lines while the industry not only self destructed but allowed its greed to nearly destroy the entire economy. Chairman Dodd, Barney Franks and a host of others should resign their positions on the Senate Banking Committee if not their seats in the Senate. Where is their accountability? How about the regulators in the FDIC, Federal Trade Commission and others? There has been no accountability for their actions and lack of actions. They are guilty on all counts.

These agencies failed to place controls on new financial instruments such as derivatives that drove the market into its collapse. What is worse is that they failed to take some basic steps such as increasing the equity requirements on margin trader accounts and encouraged banks to look past the eligibility requirements of lenders. During the Clinton administration Congress decided to eliminate the “Up Tick” rule which had held many arbitrage firms in check. Since its elimination so called “Bear Raids” where a firm bets that a company’s stock will fall in price and then causes it to do so by causing it problems with insurance and market firms; have run rampant causing a few to make hundreds of millions if not billions while firms suffer and stockholders lose their investment. This is not the fair and open trading field government is supposed to provide.

The fact is that our government has been corrupted and no longer looks for the just or fair answer. It is always seeking a political solution that enables the favored parties to prosper, often at the cost of the general economy and country as a whole. It is clear that both parties have lost all sense of financial responsibility as they cooperate to spend over a trillion dollars beyond a budget that was already in deficit. Some day the future taxpayers of this country will curse us all … hardly the legacy we should desire to leave them. The solution will only come at the voting box, when we have the courage to kick them all out and start over again. It is the only just option left and the only one that will give hope to future generations.

Steven Foppiano

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)