Wed., Sept. 7, 2011
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Gospel: Luke 6:20-26 “Blessed are you when men hate you … on account of the Son of man!”
Summary: In the reading today, St. Paul talks about how Christ is central to the world. We all need a Messiah, and we will have either a true Messiah or a false Messiah. That is why superheroes who wear capes are so popular today.
Any society that clings and holds to Jesus Christ is a holier and happier society. Every time we get away from Jesus, we have terrible wars. World War I, between 1914 and 1918, was started by atheist governments, by Masons and secularists. There is a true story about that war when French and German troops were stationed in their foxholes, fighting. One year, at Christmas, a soldier started singing Silent Night. And then someone in the opposite trench joined in. After a while a number of soldiers on both sides, French and German, started singing together.
They put down their guns, climbed out of their foxholes, and began sharing their chocolates and rations among each other. It was their own Christmas truce, even though the officers did not agree to it. The truce lasted until the end of Christmas day, and the next day the two sides went back to fighting.
There was a time when Jesus was the center of society. There was camaraderie. Let us pray that Jesus will be brought into the world more and more.