Bishop Barron's Daily Gospel Reflection Wednesday, November 30, 2016

My thoughts on today's Gospel reading...

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

1st Week in Advent, Year I

Matthew 4:18-22

Friends, today’s Gospel reports the Lord’s calling his first disciples. What is it about this scene that is so peaceful and right? Somehow it gets at the very heart of Jesus’ life and work, revealing what he is about. He comes into the world as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, a representative from the community which is God—and thus his basic purpose is to draw the world into community around him.” “He said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” There is so much packed into that simple line. Well, we notice the way that God acts. He is direct, in your face; he does the choosing. Jesus is not offering a doctrine, a theology, a set of beliefs. He is offering himself. Become my disciple. Apprentice to me. “And I will make you fishers of men.” One of the best one-liners in the Scripture. God is the creator, the one who makes us from nothing. And what he makes us is always a reflection of himself: a fisher of men.

Former workers say shuttered Texas Instruments uranium plant in Attleboro caused cancer, death - The Boston Globe

Former workers say shuttered Texas Instruments uranium plant in Attleboro caused cancer, death - The Boston Globe

Populist-Nationalist Tide Rolls On

Populist-Nationalist Tide Rolls On

By Patrick J. Buchanan

 

November 29, 2016 https://www.arcamax.com/politics/fromtheright/patrickbuchanan/s-1899050

Now that the British have voted to secede from the European Union and America has chosen a president who has never before held public office, the French appear to be following suit. https://www.arcamax.com/politics/fromtheright/patrickbuchanan/s-1899050

Stephen S. Roach

Stephen S. Roach, former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm's chief economist, is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute of Global Affairs and a senior lecturer at Yale's School of Management. He is the author of Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China.

The Achilles’ Heel of Trumponomics

NEW HAVEN – Donald Trump’s economic strategy is severely flawed. The US president-elect wants to restore growth via deficit spending in a country with a chronic shortfall of saving. This points to a further compression in national saving, making a widening of an already outsize trade gap all but inevitable. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/achilles-heel-of-trumponomics-by-stephen-s--roach-2016-11

http://lobelog.com/climate-change-and-the-priority-of-the-irreversible/#more-36905

Climate Change and the Priority of the Irreversible

by Paul R. Pillar
Anti-Trump street demonstrations since the election have had an aimless quality.  It is hard to see anything they accomplish besides expressing frustration and letting off steam.  The lack of focus is one indication that many of those united by abhorrence of a Donald Trump presidency are likely to start tripping over each other.  The different emphases that different abhorrees give to different issues will mean competition for attention, energy, and resources.  Roots of such competition can be found in the habit, displayed in much Democratic Party politics and by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, of often approaching issues less in terms of a common national interest and more in terms of the diverse demands and interests of diverse demographic groups.  There is likely to be strife as well between those who believe that cooperating at all with a Trump administration lends respectability to its underlying prejudices and Congressional Democrats who want to work with the new administration where there is at least some common ground. http://lobelog.com/climate-change-and-the-priority-of-the-irreversible/#more-36905

Pope asks scientists to find solutions, declare rules to save planet

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/pope-asks-scientists-find-solutions-declare-rules-save-planet

Walking the Camino de Santiago will change you

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/parish-diary/walking-camino-de-santiago-will-change-you

Trump Loves to Win, But American Generals Have Forgotten How | naked capitalism

Trump Loves to Win, But American Generals Have Forgotten How | naked capitalism

Rapidly Changing Arctic Braces for Destabilization

A new report documents how the effects of global warming, such as sea ice and permafrost loss, cascade throughout the ecosystem

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rapidly-changing-arctic-braces-for-destabilization/?utm_source=MIT+TR+Newsletters&utm_campaign=2e664efd08-newsletters-the-download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-2e664efd08-153856085&goal=0_997ed6f472-2e664efd08-153856085&mc_cid=2e664efd08&mc_eid=e25735476a

Huge Cracks In the West Antarctic Ice Sheet May Signal Its Collapse

https://gizmodo.com/huge-cracks-in-the-west-antarctic-ice-sheet-may-signal-1789427855?utm_source=MIT+TR+Newsletters&utm_campaign=2e664efd08-newsletters-the-download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-2e664efd08-153856085&goal=0_997ed6f472-2e664efd08-153856085&mc_cid=2e664efd08&mc_eid=e25735476a

Sea ice hits record lows at both poles. What does it mean?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/11/22/sea-ice-extent-hits-record-lows-both-north-south-poles-what-means/F4jVvYvDzNHwINckkM3wVL/story.html?utm_source=MIT+TR+Newsletters&utm_campaign=2e664efd08-newsletters-the-download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-2e664efd08-153856085&goal=0_997ed6f472-2e664efd08-153856085&mc_cid=2e664efd08&mc_eid=e25735476a

Donald Trump Should Embrace a Realist Foreign Policy

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/donald-trump-should-embrace-realist-foreign-policy-18502

Donald Trump Should Embrace a Realist Foreign Policy

But can he take on the infamous Washington “Blob”?

John J. Mearsheimer

November 27, 2016

There are many reasons to be deeply worried about a Donald Trump presidency. But if he makes the right choices, he could fundamentally alter U.S. foreign policy for the better.
Trump campaigned against America’s powerful foreign policy community—what one of President Obama’s advisors derisively labeled “the Blob.” Its members include prominent Democrats and Republicans with similar views on foreign policy. He accused them of producing “one foreign policy disaster after another,” and promised to “develop a new foreign policy direction for our country.” This was precisely the message many voters wanted to hear, and the president-elect now has the opportunity to change how the United States deploys its power around the world.
Over the past twenty-five years, American leaders have pursued a policy of liberal hegemony, which calls for the United States to dominate the entire globe. This strategy assumes every region of the world matters greatly for American security, and it calls for extending the U.S. security umbrella to nearly any country that wants protection as well as trying to spread democracy far and wide. In practice, this objective means toppling regimes and then doing nation building. Small wonder the http://nationalinterest.org/feature/donald-trump-should-embrace-realist-foreign-policy-18502United States has been at war for two out of every three years since the Cold War ended.

Maintaining Inner Peace

http://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/maintaining-inner-peace/5330/

Winning
Trump Loves to Do It, But American Generals Have Forgotten How
By Andrew J. Bacevich
President-elect Donald Trump’s message for the nation’s senior military leadership is ambiguously unambiguous. Here is he on 60 Minutes just days after winning the election.
Trump: "We have some great generals. We have great generals."
Lesley Stahl: "You said you knew more than the generals about ISIS."
Trump: "Well, I'll be honest with you, I probably do because look at the job they've done. OK, look at the job they've done. They haven't done the job."
In reality, Trump, the former reality show host, knows next to nothing about ISIS, one of many gaps in his education that his impending encounter with actual reality is likely to fill. Yet when it comes to America’s generals, our president-to-be is onto something. No doubt our three- and four-star officers qualify as “great” in the sense that they mean well, work hard, and are altogether fine men and women. That they have not “done the job,” however, is indisputable -- at least if their job is to bring America’s wars to a timely and successful conclusion.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176215/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich%2C_the_swamp_of_war/#more

Populist-Nationalist Tide Rolls On – Patrick J. Buchanan - Official Website

Populist-Nationalist Tide Rolls On – Patrick J. Buchanan - Official Website

BishopBarron's Daily Gospel Reflection: Tuesday, November 29, 2016

My thoughts on today's Gospel reading...

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

1st Week in Advent, Year I

Luke 10:21-24

Friends, today in the Gospel we witness Jesus in intimate conversation with his Father. We are being invited into very deep mysteries by this passage. Jesus addresses his Father and thereby reveals his own deepest identity within the Holy Trinity. He says, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, you have revealed them to the little ones.” It is most important to keep in mind that this is not simply a good and holy man addressing God, but rather the very Son of God addressing his Father. We are being given a share in the inner life of God, the conversation between the first two Trinitarian persons. And what are the “things” that have been concealed from the learned and revealed to the little ones? Nothing other than the mystery of Jesus’ relationship to his Father, the love that obtains between Father and Son, the inner life of God. From the beginning, this is what God wanted to give us.

Bishop Robert Barron's Advent Reflections: First Tuesday in Advent: I'm Waiting, I'm Waiting

My thoughts on today's Gospel reading...

First Tuesday in Advent

I’m Waiting, I’m Waiting

Advent is the liturgical season of vigilance or, to put it more mundanely, of waiting. During the four weeks prior to Christmas, we light the candles of our Advent wreaths and put ourselves in the spiritual space of the Israelite people who, through many long centuries, waited for the coming of the Messiah. In the wonderful avant-garde German movie “Run Lola Run,” a young woman finds herself in a terrible bind: she needs to gather an enormous amount of money in a ridiculously short period of time. Throughout the movie she runs and runs, desperately trying through her own frantic efforts to make things right, but nothing works. Finally, at the moment when she finds herself at the absolute limit of her powers, she slows to a trot, looks up to heaven and says, "Ich warte, ich warte" (“I'm waiting, I'm waiting”). Though she does not explicitly address God, and though there has been no hint throughout the movie that Lola is the least bit religious, this is undoubtedly a prayer. And in the immediate wake of her edgy request a rather improbable solution to her problem presents itself. Lola's prayer has always reminded me of Simone Weil, that wonderful and mysterious twentieth-century French mystic whose entire spirituality is predicated upon the power of waiting, or, in her language, of expectation. In prayer, Weil taught, we open our souls, expecting God to act even when the content of that expectation remains unclear. In their curious vigilance and hoping against hope, both Lola and Simone are beautiful Advent figures. “I’m waiting, I’m waiting,” they both exclaim. And so are we.

Unbound Prayer Partners: Seeing through the lens of Advent

November 28, 2016

Seeing through the lens of Advent Throughout the Advent/Christmas season, our weekly ePrayers include a special series of reflections on the upcoming Sunday readings. This reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent is from Unbound Writer/Editor Maureen Lunn. I recently took an online quiz that scored me based on how much of a "bubble" I live in. It asked questions like what type of work my parents did when I was growing up, what type of restaurants I like to frequent and how often I use public transportation. It was an interesting process of self-discovery, and I realized how many of my day-to-day habits prevent me from interacting with people who are different than me. The point the quiz made was that everyone sees the world through a certain lens, and we have to work hard to see things differently. Unbound provides a path for many of us to do just that — see things differently. When I first started working here, a communications staff member in Latin America, Henry Flores, shared that in the Unbound community, sponsored members are our bosses. He expressed that those of us who are employed by Unbound wouldn't have our jobs if it weren't for the thousands of sponsored members around the world who are working hard to lift themselves out of poverty with the help of their sponsors. How about that for a shift in perspective? In this week's second reading, Paul writes to the Romans, "May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus. …" His appeal reminds us that the hard work we must apply to broaden our horizons, to see others through a lens different than the one that comes naturally to us, is not through our own power but through God's endurance and encouragement. We can prepare the way of the Lord this Advent by taking a moment to think about our own lens, our own perspective that might be separating us from others. In becoming one with the human family, Christ broke down divisions and ushered in peace and justice. As we continue in the season, let us be intentional in preparing the way for him by breaking down the divisions in our own hearts.

God of endurance and encouragement, help us to think in harmony with one another. As we seek to prepare the way for your Son during this season, empower us to see others through the eyes of Jesus and welcome one another as he has welcomed us. Through this perspective, may we glorify you. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen.

Blessings,
Unbound Prayer Team
P.S. We welcome you to submit your prayer requests to us. These prayers are offered in the chapel at Unbound's headquarters in Kansas City and are not shared publicly. Submit a prayer request.

Washington Post’s ‘Fake News’ Guilt

November 27, 2016 | https://consortiumnews.com/2016/11/27/washington-posts-fake-news-guilt/

Exclusive: The “fake news” theme has captivated The Washington Post and the mainstream U.S. media so much that it is stooping to McCarthyistic smears against news outlets that don’t toe the State Department’s propaganda line, says Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/11/27/washington-posts-fake-news-guilt/

Donald Trump’s Line on Cuba Unsettles Latin America

Threat to reverse Obama’s detente with Havana draws negative reaction from already wary region

http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trumps-line-on-cuba-unsettles-latin-america-1480372939