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Living the Lessons of Love – A Meditation on the Gospel for the 6th Sunday of Easter

In the Gospel for today’s Mass Jesus gives us three lessons on love which are meant to prepare us for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They also go a long way towards describing the normal Christian life.

Too many Christians see the Christian Faith more as a set of rules to keep, than a love that transforms, if we accept it. Let’s take a look at the revolutionary life of love and grace that the Lord is offering us in three stages: The POWER of love, the PERSON of love, and the PROOF of love.

1. THE POWER OF LOVE – In the text Jesus says,  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments ……Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. ”

We must be very careful how we hear this. For it is possible to hear the Lord say, in effect “If you love me, prove it by keeping my commandments.” And this is how many hear it. And thus the text and the Christian faith is reduced to a kind of moralism: Do good, avoid evil and thus prove you love God. Loving God, then, becomes a kind of human achievement.

But understanding this text from the standpoint of grace yields a different, and I would argue, a more proper understanding. For loving God is not a human work, but the gift of God. So the text should be read to mean, in effect, “If you love me, you will, by this love I have given you, keep my commandments.” Thus, the keeping of the commandments is the fruit of love, not the cause of it. Love comes first. And when love is received and experienced, we begin, by the power of that love to keep the commandments. Love is the power by which we keep the commandments.

It is possible to keep the commandments to some extent out of fear and the flesh. But obedience based on fear tends not to last and brings with it many resentments. Further, attempting to keep the commandments by our own flesh power brings, not only exhaustion and frustration, but, also, the prideful delusion that somehow we have placed God in debt to us because we obey.

It is far better to keep the commandments by the grace of God’s love at work in us. Consider the following qualities of love:

A. Love is extravagant –  The flesh is minimalistic and asks, “Do I really have to do this.” But love is extravagant and wants to do more than the minimum. Consider a young man who loves a young woman. It is unlikely he would say, “Your birthday is coming soon and I must engage in the wearisome tradition of buying you a gift. So, what is the cheapest and quickest gift I can get you?” Of course he would not say this. Love does not ask questions like this. Love is extravagant, it goes beyond the minimal requirements and even lavishes gifts on the beloved, eagerly. Love has power to overrule the selfishness of the flesh. No young man would say to his beloved, “What is the least amount of time I have to spend with you?” Love doesn’t talk or think like this. Love wants to spend time with the beloved. Love has the power to transform our desires from selfish ends, toward the beloved.

Now, while these examples might seem obvious, it is apparently not so obvious to many Christians who say they love God but then ask, “Do I have to go to church?” “Do I have pray? How often, how long? Do I have to go to confession? How frequently?” “What’s the least amount I can put in the collection plate or give to the poor  to be in compliance?” Asking for guidelines may not be wrong, but too often the question amounts to a version of “What’s the least I can do…what’s the bare minimum?”

Love is extravagant and excited to do and give, to please the beloved. Love is its own answer, its own power.

B. Love Expands – When we really love someone we learn to love more who and what they love.

I dated a girl in High School who liked square dancing. I first thought it was hokey. But since she liked it, I started to like it, and came even to enjoy it a great deal. Love expanded my horizons.

I have lived, served and loved in Black community for most of my priesthood. In those years I have come to love and respect Gospel music, and the spirituals. I have also come to respect and learn from the Black experience of spirituality, and have done extensive study on the history of the African American experience. This is all because I love the people I serve. And when you love someone you begin to love and appreciate what they do. Love expands our horizons.

And what if we really begin to love God? The more his love takes root in us, the more we love the things and the people he loves. We begin to have God’s priorities and to love justice, mercy, chasity, and all the people he loves, even our enemies. Love expands our hearts.

The saints say, “If God wants it, I want it. If God doesn’t want it, I don’t want it.” Too many Christians say, “How come I can’t have it? It’s not so bad. Everyone else is doing it….” But love does not speak this way.

And as God’s love grows in us it has the power to change our hearts, our minds, our desire and our vision. The more we love God, the more we love his commands and share the vision he offers fro our lives. Love expands our hearts and minds.

C. Love excites – Imagine again, a young man who loves a young woman. Now suppose she asks him to drive her to work one day because her car is in the shop. He does this gladly and sees it as an opportunity to be with her and to help her. He is excited to do so and glad she asked. This is so even if he has to go miles out of his way. Love stirs us to fulfill the wishes and desires of the beloved.

In the first Letter of John we read – For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3). Yes, love lightens every load. And as we grow in love for God, we are excited to please him. We keep his commandments, not because he have to, but because we want to. And even if his commandments involve significant changes, we do it with the same kind of gladness as a young man driving miles out of his way to bring his beloved to work. Love excites in us a desire to keep God’s law, to fulfill his wishes for us.

2. THE PERSON OF LOVE – The text says, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.

In this text Jesus tells us that the power to change us is not just an impersonal power, like “The Force” in Star Wars. Rather, what changes us is not a “what” but “who.” The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, living in us, as in a temple will change us and stir us to love. He who is Love, will love God in us. Love is not our work, it is the work of God. We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:10). God the Holy Spirit enables us to love God the Father and God the Son. And this love is the power in us which equips, empowers and enables us to keep God’s law. He, the Holy Spirit, is the one who enables us to love extravagantly, and in a way that expands and excites.

The Lord says, He, the Holy Spirit, remains in us. Are you aware of His presence? Too often our minds and hearts are dulled and distracted by the world and we are unaware of the power of love available to us. The Holy Spirit of Jesus and the Father is gentle and awaits the open doors we provide (cf Rev 3:20). But as we open them, a power from his Person becomes more and more available to us, and we see our lives being transformed. We keep the commandments, become more loving, confident, joyful, chaste, forgiving, merciful, and holy.  I am a witness! Are you? This leads us to the final point.

3. THE PROOF OF GOD’s LOVE – The text says, I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.

The key phrases here are: You will live .... and ….. You will realize. For the Lord says that he will not leave us as orphans, that he will come to us and remain with us.

How do you know that these are more than just slogans? Simply put, you and I know because of the new life we are receiving, which causes us to realize that Jesus lives, is in the Father and in us.

To “know” in the Bible is more than intellectual knowing. To know in the Bible is to “have intimate and personal experience of the thing or person known.” I know Jesus is alive, and in me through his Holy Spirit because I am experiencing my life changing. I am seeing sins put to death and graces coming alive! I am a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). This is what Jesus means when he says, “You will realize that I am in the Father and in you.” To “realize” means to experience something as real.

The proof of God’s love and its power to transform is me! It is my life. In the laboratory of my own life I have tested God’s word, and his promises, and can report to you that they are true. I have come to experience as real (i.e. “realize”) that Jesus lives, that through his Holy Spirit I have a power available to me to keep the commandments and embrace the new life, the new creation, they both describe and offer to me.

I am a witness, are you?

Photo Credit: “The Love of the Father for the Prodigal” from the Josephite collection.

This song says, “He changed my life and now I’m free…”

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Just Doing Our Job

Few of us welcome being challenged, criticized, or told that something about us needs to change. Instead of keeping an open mind, we usually react with defensiveness, anger, or fear. We might make excuses, stop our ears, or dismiss our critic as being off-kilter or a “goody two-shoes.” It’s easier to silence the challenging voice, than it is to listen. That’s why dictatorships squelch a free press! It’s also why Jesus was nailed to a cross.

Those who speak uncomfortable words to the world, or challenge it by their way of life, inspire some, but threaten many more. Prophets are typically unappreciated and misunderstood in their lifetimes. They’re often ridiculed, jailed, or even assassinated.

As God’s Son, Jesus is a prophet, because he revealed God’s sometimes uncomfortable truth to the world. As members of his body, the Church, we share in Jesus’ prophetic ministry. We shouldn’t be surprised then, that the harsh reception given to Jesus, is also given to us. “If the world hates you,” Jesus insisted, “realize that it hated me first.”

We don’t hate the world in return, we witness to it; we engage it, without embracing it; we challenge it, but are not conformed to it. Doing this will make us friends, but enemies too. It’s painful when that happens, but there’s also a silver lining: it means we’re doing our job, as Jesus did his.

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/052811.shtml

Photo credit: Know Malta via Creative Commons

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Picturesque and Pilgrim Papa – Two Lighthearted Videos on Pope Benedict

I don’t know why, but it’s funny to see the Pope on the phone. I am not sure where I got this photo. It has just been in my collection since shortly after Pope Benedict became Pope.

But again I say, that it strikes me as odd to see him on the phone, and I don’t know why. But, as I look at this photo, I think of the following caption as he speaks into the phone with his soft German accent: No, Really! This is the Pope! I really mean it! Please deliver three pizzas, extra cheese with Italian Sausage to the Vatican… No really! I am not kidding….This is me!

I have always thought that Pope Benedict is very photogenic. His face is wonderfully expressive. A couple of years ago, I put together a brief video of some of the more humorous photos of the Pope. I hope you might enjoy a one minute diversion.

I also put together another video of the Pope as a pilgrim and world traveler set to Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Enjoy a toe tapper of a song with photos showing the Pope’s far flung travels.

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God in the Midst of the Storm – A Meditation on the Mystery of God’s Providence

We are all struck by the fury and devastation in the Midwest this year. And we are left to wonder why and how God allows it. And old song says,

Does any one know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours? ….And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters. In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed, in the “Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral.” The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald….. “Superior,” they said, “never gives up her dead when the gales of November come early!” [1]

Yes, where does the “love of God go?” There are no simple answers, those that attempt them know not of what they speak.

There is a story of St Antony of Egypt wherein he pondered such things and received an answer of sorts:

The Abbot Antony, being at a loss in his meditation on the depth of the judgments of God, prayed, saying, “Lord, how comes it that some die in so short a space of life, and some live to the further side of decrepit old age: and wherefore are some in want, and others rich with various means of wealth, and how are the unrighteous rich and the righteous oppressed by poverty?” And a voice came to him saying, “Antony, turn thine eyes upon thyself: for these are the judgments of God, and the knowledge of them is not for thee.”

It was an answer in its “non-answer.” For our minds see so very little. Wittgenstein famously said in his Tractatus, Whereof one cannot speak, one must pass over in silence [2].

I suppose if God were to advance an explanation we would hear only thunder, for our minds cannot conceive such a thing. Sometimes we must remain humbly quiet before our God. Job thought question God, and God did answer, with a non-answer:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know….! (Job 38:1-4)

Then comes the great litany of creation, one of the most painfully beautiful passages in the Old Testament (it goes on for chapters). At the end, Job can only say,

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [You asked,] ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. (Job 42:1-3)

Another song (a gloss on Psalm 104) speaks of God’s glory in creation but also of its fearsomeness:

O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy, space,
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm. [3].

I have often meditated on the “non-answer, answer” and concluded that, while I cannot understand God’s ways, I have also been the situation where I cannot explain what I do, and yet do them, I must.

  1. At times I must take my Cat Daniel to the vet f0r shots. At the mere sight of the cat carrier, he darts under the bed and begins caterwauling and digs his claws into the carpet to resist my persistent tugs to pick him up. I tell him we are only going for a visit and he will be fine. But he does not understand, even though I speak to him. So loud and awful are terrified protests that neighbors look out the widows as I take him to the car. He moans and caterwauls all the way to the vet who puts him the front of the line since the waiting room is so disturbed with his cries. He moans all the way home and, upon emerging from the cage avoids me for days out of fear. Talk about trauma. But no explanation is possible for him. I act for his good, and the good of others but he does not, cannot, see that.
  2. At times I do “violence” in my garden. Roses must be pruned, old and dying plants must be removed. Fruits must be picked. Some flowers are cut and brought inside to be enjoyed. The soil must be broken and turned. One can imagine that if the garden and plants were sentient this is all very unsettling. I would like to explain what I am doing, but they are only plants and soil and cannot understand. When I break the soil I only enhance its ability to give life, but it does not understand this, it “feels” (in my imagined scenario) only pain. The pruning is “painful” to the roses and temporarily diminishes their glory But I know what I am doing and in Spring the glorious results show forth. Even to the clipped flowers I intend no indignity, rather it is a great dignity that they are brought into the house to enjoy special favor and admiration.

We cannot understand – I realize that humans are not cats or garden plants. But I suppose we are no better able to understand God’s ways than my Cat Daniel can understand me, or my roses comprehend my pruning. I have thought however, that the non-answer of God is not a refusal to answer us, so much as it is a manifestation of our inability to fathom God’s ultimate plans. He knows what he does and why. We are often left to cry or protest. Even if He did explain, we would hear only thunder.

There is an old song that says:

We are often tossed and driven
on the restless sea of time;
somber skies and howling tempests
oft succeed a bright sunshine;
in that land of perfect day,
when the mists are rolled away,
we will understand it better by and by

Trials dark on every hand,
and we cannot understand
all the ways of God would lead us
to that blessed promised land;
but he guides us with his eye,
and we’ll follow till we die,
and we’ll understand it better by and by.

Yes, by and by, but not now. Jesus says as much:

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear….You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. On that day you will have no more questions to ask me. (John 16, varia)

For now, all we can do is pray for those who were lost and those who are suffering. We can send our help, but too many simplistic answers for why only make the suffering worse. And so we respect the mystery of God’s providence and trust by faith that All things work together for good to those who love God and are called, according to his purposes (Romans 8:28), somehow, in ways we know not.

Photo credit Paul McEnany via Creative Commons

This song says, When the oceans rise and thunders roll, I will soar with you above the storm. Father you are king over the flood, I will be still, know you are God.

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What’s Next? A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Philip Neri

A young man once approached St. Philip Neri for advice. He shared with the saint his plan to study law and become an attorney. St. Philip pressed him for more information. “And then?” he asked. “And then,” the young man replied, “I will be a successful lawyer.” “And then?” the saint asked again. “And then people will speak well of me and I’ll have a good reputation. “And then?” came the question once again. “And then I shall lead an easy life and be happy.” St. Philip asked a final time: “And then?” As he considered the end of his life, it dawned upon the young man that in all of his life’s plans and dreams, he mad made no reference to the will of God at all.

And don’t we sometimes do the same thing? We make our plans, we go about our business, without giving God’s will for us a second thought. You might say that we so often take the “short view”, while God asks us to take the “long view.”

St. Philip Neri reminded the young man, and he reminds us as well, that as we live out our Christian lives we need to always keep one eye on eternity, since it’s our hope to one day look upon God face-to-face.

Photo Credit: Special*Dark via Creative Commons

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It is the Decision of the Holy Spirit and Us….On the Council of Jerusalem and the Catholicity of the Early Church

 

In the first reading at Today’s Mass we have recounted for us the Council of Jerusalem which scholars generally date to around the Year 50 AD. It was a pivotal moment in the history of the Church since it would set forth an identity for the Church that was independent from the culture of Judaism per se, and it would open wide the door of inculturation to the Gentiles. This surely had significant impact upon evangelization in the early Church.

Catholic Ecclesiology is Evident here: in that we have reflected here a very Catholic model of the Church in terms of how a matter of significant pastoral practice and doctrine is properly dealt with. In effect what we see here is the same model the Catholic Church has continued to use right to our own time. What is evident here, and in all subsequent Ecumenical Councils, is a gathering of the Bishops presided over by the Pope which considers a matter and may even debate it. If necessary, the Pope resolves debates where consensus cannot be reached. Once a decision is reached, a letter is issued to whole Church and the decision is considered binding.

All these elements are seen here, though somewhat in seminal form. Let’s consider this First Council of the Church in Jerusalem of 50 AD, beginning first with the remote preparation –

1. Bring in the Gentiles! – The Lord, just before he ascended gave the Apostles the great commission: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). Hence, the Gentiles are now to be summoned  and included in the ranks of discipleship and of the Church.

2. But it looks like the Church was mighty slow in beginning any outreach to the Gentiles. It is true that on the day of Pentecost people from every nation heard the Sermon of Peter and 3000 converted. By they were all Jews (Acts 2). In fact, it seems the Church did little, at first, to leave Jerusalem and go anywhere, let alone to the nations.

3. Perhaps as a swift quick in the pants the Lord allowed a persecution to break out in Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7). This caused the gospel to begin a northward trek into Samaria at least. Samaritans however are not usually considered Gentiles, since they were a groups that had intermarried with Jews in the 8th Century BC. There is also the Baptism of an Ethiopian Official but he too was a Jew.

4. Fifteen Years?! The time line of Acts is a bit speculative. However if we study it carefully and compare it to some of what Paul says (esp. in Galatians) it would seem that we are dealing with close to 12 or 15 years before the baptism of the first Gentile! If this is true then it is a disgrace. There were, of course, strong racial animosities between Jew and Gentile that may explain the slow response to Jesus’ commission. It explains, but does not excuse it.

5. Time for another kick in the pants. This time the Lord went to Peter who was praying on a rooftop in Joppa, and, by means of a vision, taught him that he was not to call unclean what God had called clean. The Lord then sent to Peter an entourage from Cornelius, a high Roman military official who was seeking baptism. He, of course was a Gentile. The entourage requests that Peter go with them to meet Cornelius at Cesarea. At first he is reluctant. But then recalling the vision (kick in the pants) that God had given him, he decides to go. In Cesarea he does something unthinkable. He, a Jew, enters the house of a Gentile. Peter has learned his lesson and been guided by God, as the first Pope, to do what is right and just. After a conversation with Cornelius, and the whole household, and signs from the Holy Spirit, Peter has them baptized. Praise the Lord! It was about time. (All of this is detailed in Acts 10)

6. It is a  fact that many were not happy with what Peter had done, and they confront him on it. Peter explains his vision, and also the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and insists that this is how it is going to be. While it is a true that these early Christians felt freer to question Peter than we would the Pope today, it is also a fact that what Peter has done is binding even if some of them don’t like it. What Peter has done will stand. Once Peter has definitively answered them, they reluctantly assent and declare somewhat cynically: “God has granted life giving repentance even to the Gentiles!” (Acts 11:19)

7. Trouble Brewing – So, the mission to the Gentiles is finally open. But that does not mean trouble is over. As Paul, Barnabas and others begin to bring in large numbers of Gentile converts, some among the Jewish Christians begin to object that  they were not like Jews, and began to insist that they must be circumcised and follow the whole Jewish Law; not just the moral precepts but also the cultural norms, kosher diet, purification rites etc. That is where we picked up the story in yesterday’s Mass.

8. The Council of Jerusalem – Luke is a master of understatement and says “Because there arose no little dissension and debate….” (Acts 15:2) it was decided to ask the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem to gather and consider the matter. So the apostles and some presbyters (priests) with them meet and,  of course,  Peter is there, as is James who was especially prominent in Jerusalem among the apostles, and would later become bishop there. Once again Luke rather humorously understates the matter by saying, “After much debate, Peter arose” (Acts 15:7).

In effect Peter arises to settle the matter since, (it would seem), that the apostles themselves were divided.  Had not Peter received this charge from the Lord? The Lord had prophesied: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you all like wheat but I have prayed for you Peter, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:31-32). Now Peter fulfills this text, as he will again, and every Pope after him. Peter clearly dismisses any notion that the Gentiles should be made to take up the whole burden of Jewish customs. Paul and Barnabas rise to support this. Then James (who it seems may have felt otherwise) rises to assent to the decision and asks that a letter be sent forth to all the Churches explaining the decision. He also asks for and obtains a few concessions.

So there it is, the First Council. And that Council, like all the Church-wide Councils that would follow, was a gathering of the bishops, in the presence of Peter who works to unite them. A decision is then made, and a decree, binding on the whole Church,  is sent out. Very Catholic actually. We have kept this Biblical model ever since. Our Protestant brethren have departed from it for they have no Pope to settle things when they dispute. They have split endlessly into tens of thousands of denominations and factions. When no one is pope every one is pope.

A final thought. Notice how the decree to the Churches is worded: It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us (Acts 15:28). In the end, we trust the Holy Spirit to guide the Church in matters of faith and morals. We trust that decrees and doctrines that issue forth from Councils of the Bishops with the Pope are inspired by and authored by the Holy Spirit Himself. And there it is right in Scripture, the affirmation that when the Church speaks solemnly in this way it is not just some bishops and the Pope as men, it is the Holy Spirit who speaks with them.

The Church – Catholic from the Start!

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Remain with Me

My father was a naval officer. When I was a boy, my dad was often away at sea for months on end. These times were hard on our family, and we missed each other terribly. It’s hard being apart from those we love. We want to spend time with them; we want to be close to them; we want to be together.

This is exactly how Jesus feels about us. “Remain in me,” he asks us in today’s gospel, “as I remain in you.” In John’s gospel, “remain” is a special word that speaks of closeness and intimacy. By wanting to “remain” in us, Jesus is saying that he wants to be as closely united with us as he is with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t want us to go away; he doesn’t want us to live apart; he doesn’t want to have a distant or casual relationship with us. Jesus loves us deeply, and wants us be with us, always.

A popular reflection God’s love, “Just in Case You Forgot,” reflects the message of today’s gospel. It concludes like this: “God could live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. Face it, friends, he’s crazy about you! He loves you very much.”

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/052511.shtml

Photo Credit: Official US Navy Imagery via Creative Commons

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Little by Little, the Tide is Turning. But We have to Keep Working

Most of you probably heard of the Gallup Poll released yesterday that showed that 61% of Americans want all, or most abortions, to be declared illegal. There remains for further study, the oddity that some Americans who take this position still say they are “pro-choice,” but in the end they still want most abortion to be illegal. If you are unaware of this report you can read it here: Gallup Poll

The upshot of the report is: that, despite their labeling of their own abortion views, a majority of Americans clearly not only oppose abortion and believe it to be a morally improper “choice,” but they believe the legal status of abortions should change and all or virtually all abortions should be prohibited [1].

The lesson here,  is that we ought to take heart. Our prophetic stance in the Church and in the wider pro-life community is having good effects. At times the battle seems long and the results seem distant, but little by little, the tide is turning. There will be set backs and troubles, but we have to keep working. Gently the tide is turning.

An old African American Spiritual says, Keep-a-inching along, Jesus will come by and by, Keep-a-inching along, like a poor inch worm, Jesus will come by and by. So the song says, keep working for justice, it implies, don’t give up. And those slaves of old saw slavery end. Many of the same arguments for slavery have been redeployed by abortion supporters, but keep inching along, Jesus will come, by and by, and the truth will out.

When we look back at slavery, most Americans are embarrassed that we ever thought such an abomination was fine and legal. But it took time to turn the tide in that great struggle. And even after slavery, the struggle continued, through years of Jim Crow and many indignities.

We look back on such things with shame now, how could we have been so foolish and have betrayed American principles so badly, as to enslave, and later segregate and exclude, a whole race. Slowly conversion has come upon this land. But it only came because some were willing to be prophets, and to keep insisting on what was just and right.

It will be the same with abortion. One day we will look back with shame on this era, and wonder how we could ever have been so sinfully wrong as to think abortion should be legal, and even funded it with state money. But it will take time and continued work. The poll shows we are on the way. Keep inching along, Jesus will come by an by.

Another example of how the tide can turn on an issue is smoking. The videos at the bottom of this post are hilarious ads from the 1950s entitled: More Doctors Smoke Camels. The ads, at the time they were produced, did not intend to be a comedy, but now they are. The ads show a doctor puffing up a storm and it assures us of the “benefits” of smoking Camel Cigarettes.

Looking back at ads like this we think, How could we have ever been so stupid? But of course it has taken us time and effort for us to come to our senses. The anti-smoking campaign was long, and at times, loud. I remember more than a few times being annoyed at the “anti-smoking Nazis.” Though I never smoked myself, I became especially alarmed when the government started telling restaurant and bar owners what to do. But in the end, and all discussions about Government intrusion aside, smoking has really been kicked to the curb in our culture. Some still smoke, but everyone today sees it for what it is, poisonous and, frankly, stupid. Those, who are sadly addicted, puff away, but most of the rest of us look to them with a kind of sadness.

This sea change came as the result of a sustained effort, often on an unwilling public. It was multi-pronged as well, using the media effectively, and even the legislative process.

For those of us in pro-life work there are important precedents to be seen in the fight against slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and even in the anti-smoking campaign. Consistent, persistent and organized action brings eventual results. This is often a battle for inches, but inches become yards, and yards, miles. Keep a inching alone like a poor old inch worm, Jesus will come by and by.

Enjoy these silly ads.