Traditionally, Thanksgiving is a period that the United States society steps back to reflect on the goodness of the year. It is a time of thankfulness and welcoming the stranger who has so little in life. Unfortunately, we have gone too far astray in our society. In a recent column, Fr. Richard Rohr of the Center for Action and Contemplation wrote: “We are finding it is nearly impossible to heal isolated individuals inside of a culture as unhealthy and unhealed as the USA, and inside any version of Christianity that supports exclusion and superiority.”
When I first read this, I was shocked that someone would think of our great society in these words. But then I reflected on how far we have strayed from the path that God wants us to follow; you know, the one Jesus lit for us in his brief time on Earth. If we accept that God lives within us, and we accept the teachings of Jesus, we are in great sin for allowing so many in our society to suffer from homelessness and poverty.
I quote from Matthew 22: 34 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had left the Sadducees speechless, they met together. 35 One of them, a legal expert, tested him. 36 “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,[c] and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
We have not done this; our self-proclaimed Christian society has failed on all accounts. We are not following the teachings of the Savior we profess to love so much. How can we love Jesus when we disregard His greatest commandments?
© Russell Kendall Carter
Meditating to Heal 