The Catholic Calendar shows a March 4th is the last day of 'Ordinary Time' for 2025. For Catholics in America I got to say that doesn't feel right. We have not been living in Ordinary Times for a while now.
I can't pinpoint when the Interesting Times started, but certainly when the unprecedented shut down of US AID that drained Catholic Relief Services from the funds they use to reach 200 million lives wasn't ordinary. This act was instigated by the richest man alive with no clear position in our government. US AID makes up less than one percent of the federal budget and it supports the poorest people on the planet. Why was this the first place DODGE looked for cuts?
That's when J.D. stepped in to be spiritual advisor for our times:
There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.
I'm a strong believer that when preaching the gospel the example you live is always the louder context than you're words. I never read Hillbilly Elegy but suffice it to say J.D.'s love of his family, neighbors and community have been complicated. He has made it clear his feelings about immigrants do not extend to his wife. But she none the less has made many sacrafices in his carrer of bullying immagrants. For J.D. prioritizing love isn't just about with holding aid. The Trump administration is spending money hold families prisoners off American soil.
If this is Catholicism in America, I guess Lent is canceled then. Imagine 40 days of paying alms when we have families right here paying more than they want for bacon. Only a woke leftest fool would expect their families to suffer the indignity of less bacon. While some Catholics will undoubtedly embrace this change there will always be some who complain this tradition is like super old. In fact the idea the 40 days of self sacrifice for the good of world was started by the far left radical Pope Gregor... Jesus! Yeah actually I guess it was Jesus who left his earthly family and went into the weirdness for 40 days. And then he was crucified. But how do we know this sacrifice was for the whole world; surely Jesus would prioritize his disciples first.
Mathew 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,”
Yeah apparently if you read more into that “going” for many of the disciples meant being persecuted and killed in foreign lands. Its probable that some of them did create widows in the process. But I guess if we looked hard enough we were bond to find some contradictions with Vance's Prioritize. Its not like any important versus...
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Hey does anyone know if JD Vance is reliable source? No I could go through scripture all day that contradicts JD Vance's warped theology but the bottom line is John 3:16. If love were meant to be a hierarchy then the incarnation itself wouldn't make since. JD Vance has no privileged relationship to the define. He is sinner. I am sinner. We are sinners. If Gods love can reach JD Vance enough to let his own son take on crusafiction than JD Vance should have enough love for the strangers in his land to at least not make up racist lies about them.
In fact the idea of having enough “love” to go around is complete heresy in the Catholic faith. Love is NOT a finite resource. And Catholic love doesn't come from out own wills. It was grace given to us through the Eucharist, the inexhaustible supply. Catholic love actually works like this. God loves for us calls us to love our family. The love of our families empowers us to love our neighbors and communities. The love of our communities calls our communities out into the margins. Our love for the margins causes us to love all the nations of the world. Until our love has no exceptions we have not yet tasted the fullness of Gods love. But whatever love we have demands that we love more.
If we are ever going to return to Ordinary Times in our nation we need to remember what got us here. My grandmother gave up meat. To be clear, she (like all Americans) rationed meat, tires, and metal all to support her country; while she waited hopefully for my grandfather to return from a Prisoner Of War Camp in Nazi Germany. Now that's a Lenten discipline isn't it? If there was a time when America was great wouldn't the time when our country asked all our families to ration their wants and needs to save the the lives of people a world away. We sacrificed to fight fascism. We sacrificed to secure religious freedom for the the nations of the world.
Now our president says he's going to make our country great by unlocking the treasury to some dude giving Roman Salutes. Does that make your blood boil as much as it does mine? How did things get so turned around. Sacrificing to make a better world is “unchristian” . Moving immigrants into camps is “great”. Love is a finite resource we need to hoard lest it be received by the least among us.
I have come to an unsettling conclusion. America sold its soul for gas stoves. Ok that didn't happen all at once bear with me. If we're honest wit ourselves we know American Luxury has a cost. The grocery bills we have guarded so jealously are already subsidized by the blood of migrant workers. The phones we can't step away from were striped mined out of Eden. Future generations will have much less creation to stewed. Our Church was tasked with bringing the world the fullness of truth. And these are uncomfortable truths.
But we didn't want to be uncomfortable. So we turned the dial from the truth. We found a station that told us we could keep our luxuries. The silliest being our damn stoves. Gas stoves were never actually under threat. But someone still had to shout that every American had a right to a “Gas Stove”. We made “Gas Stoves” a a part of American life we could not sacrifice. Our grandparents rationed meat! How spiritually weak is our nation today that we create an idol out of stoves! We let media lies rob us of our power to fight fascism taking root in out own hearts!
The modern “far left” that Vance is so scared of is actually only superficially better. The liberal answer whenever its time to sacrifice something is so repetitive I have it memorized. “Personal sacrifice is just a distraction we need systematic change.” Yes; we need systematic change. Our grandparents had a system of rationing to confront fascism in the fairest possible manner. We need new systems to make out economy sustainable and just. But can you see the uncomfortable truth liberals want to avoid. Systematic change doesn't replace changes in personal lifestyle; it just systematizes it.
If the majority of persons aren't able to sacrifice for the new system it will systematically fail. You can't expect all the change to come from inside corporations and to have no effects trickle down. So while I whole hardheartedly support Liberals advocacy efforts for systematic change; they need to stop selling that as an alternative to personal change. These go hand in hand. In my humble opinion to be effective advocates for systematic change Liberals should be the first to take on personal change. This doesn't need to be the only way they change the system but they shouldn't allow this contradiction in their message.
So in a way I think it all went wrong in our unwillingness sacrifice. No one wanted to give something up for the greater good. We created the perfect theology for Catholics who just want to skip Lent. If we want to find hope at the end of Interesting Times we have to pass through Lent. This season can be our journey back. If it is the fear of discomfort that got us here let us turn to the discipline of discomfort to heal us. This is what is required for the next 40 days. Fast from OUR desires. Give alms to the POOR. And pray to understand why this IS THE HOLY ORDER of love.
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PS I would be remiss if I ended my reflection on Lent without highlighting the Lenten message of our Most Holy Fr. Francis. Let no one say our Pope was not chosen for a time such as this.
In 2025 he has instructed the faithful:
It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father. This would be a good “examination of conscience” for all of us wayfarers.
I recommend you read this timely message in full.
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/lent/documents/20250206-messaggio-quaresima2025.html
