Have we lost our sense of shame?

For his sermon the priest talked about a conversation he had with a friend wherein both friends related their views of the evils of our times in the world.  After a while, both realizing the darkness of their conversation, they switched to lighter topics – but not before his friend summarized his view of the world in these words “we have lost our sense of shame”.

After the priest and his friend parted, the priest had to reflect on what his friend meant by our sense of shame being lost. It took some time to realize that indeed we have lost our sense of shame. When we watch any game of sports we see fights and brutal plays in which one player  may intensionally injure an opposing team player, counting on the referee not seeing the violation while we fans roar our approval when our side has done the deed.  Some such plays are considered not even in violation of the rules, but simply part of the game − in reality, we are watching a gladiator contest, rather than a game of sports.  Too many fans, sports writers, coaches, radio and television personalities express no shame over accepting such violence as normal.

When we encounter violence on the streets − one person brutalizing another, how many of us simply stand and watch for fear of being injured ourselves if we interfere to stop the violence? If we see a woman being gang-raped while many of us stand and watch presumably, again, out of fear for ourselves if we try to help; when we see someone on the sidewalk bleeding from some injury or writhing in pain, how many of us walk by and leave it to some Samaritan to help that individual?  When we act in this manner we have lost our sense of shame − a shame that, out of charity for another stricken person, would drive out fear of involving ourselves with helping strangers in need of help.

When we tolerate corruption in the workplace, in government and its agencies whose mission is to legislate and administer such legislation to benefit its citizens, but who too many times are more interested in helping themselves, then we have lost our sense of shame if we do not take reasonable and responsible actions to remedy such corruption.   If we do not vote responsibly by rejecting corrupt officials and supporting those who by their actions have proved to be servants of the people, then we can say we have lost our sense of shame.

When we tolerate the abuse of women through the dissemination of pornography through all types of media, when we tolerate advertisements used to sell practically anything by displaying in an unseemly way the female body which borders on pornography − but a seemingly acceptable “mild” pornography,  then we can say we have lost our sense of shame if we do not take measures to reform these abuses and restore a greater respect for the place of women as the true nurturers of society and not mere objects of pleasure and objects presumably to be used to increase sales.

Finally the priest reminds us that only through our return to a belief in God and a trust in God whose plan for us involves that sense of shame that we human beings are all His creatures who, good and bad alike, are showered with His love, mercy and grace every moment of our lives, which in turn, through His Son, Jesus Christ as our example, requires no less than our love, mercy and kindness to all our fellow human beings.

Who will be the savior of our nation?

Throughout history there are many instances of the sacrifices of women to save their families, their children, even an entire people. In the book of Esther of the Old Testament, Esther sacrifices her body to the King in order to save her Jewish people from a planned extermination by an important and powerful official of the King. Esther reveals to the King the plot to kill the Jews and pleads for her people; the King puts his official to death and thus the Jewish people are saved from extinction by the heroism of Esther.

Just recently a more modern sacrifice of a woman's body in order to save Jews occurring during the second world war has come to light. The woman, a Christian, was the housemaid of a high ranking German officer in his home. Unbeknownst to the officer this woman was hiding Jews from the Gestapo in the cellar of his home. She was able to keep this a secret for quite some time; unfortunately the officer finally discovered the presence of the Jews in his home.  He gave his housemaid the following choices: either she was to become his mistress, or the Jews would be turned over to the Gestapo. She made an Esther-like decision to become the officer's mistress in order to save the lives of the Jews.

A much different kind of rescue of a people from tyrannical abuse was the appearance of the mother of God, Mary, not in her usual regalia we often see her as the mother of Jesus in Palestine. During the early 1500s, Spanish conquerors had overthrown the Aztec Empire in what is now Mexico, killing and raping at will. Catholic priests sent over with the soldiers to convert the natives had very little success. The Aztec peoples were worshipers of a Sun God and the Christian religion was much too foreign to them.

Mary now appeared to a poor peasant whose family had accepted Christianity. She sends the peasant to the local bishop clothed in a cape, which when opened, reveals the image of a woman with the complexion of a native with a background of the sun and its rays emanating from her. When the native Aztec Indians saw this woman's image so obviously connected with their Sun God traditions, they understood that this woman, the mother of God, was giving respect to their traditions and humanity. Almost overnight word spread of this apparition and millions upon millions of Indians became baptized Christians in a miraculously short time..

I believe our nation will be saved by a woman who will have sacrificed herself and her family from the ravaging of the godless self-appointed's tyrants who rule without mercy at this time and will present herself embodied in the godly traditions of our people for over two centuries.

No Violence

On the Neal Boortz radio talk show last week, Neil reported violence perpetrated by black youths against whites indiscriminately; this was reported in some major cities but was not reported by the media of the Left in any dramatic way.

Neal was asking his listeners whether reports of these events should be widespread in the media. My opinion would be that many times too much inflammatory news of violence against a class of people can result in retaliatory violence against the perpetrators. Should this happen, America could be engulfed in class and race violence which would not be of benefit to those who see the possibility of our predominately leftist government cracking down on all people, for example with martial law, and in the extreme case exercise such stringent control over the populace that the upcoming general election of 2012 would result in  a continuation of the economic and social disaster we have had for almost 3 years, under the Left,  for another 4 years. This would be a disaster for America, still the home of the free and the home of the brave.

There must be an understanding that the left is eager to foment violence to disrupt the possibility of the leftist politicians now in office being sent into retirement and replaced by those who do not see elected office as merely a way of garnering wealth and power.

It is patience and forbearance we need using what ever legal means now available to curb such violence. Prayer to God for his help at this time is vital; not retaliatory violence.