It is Sunday, and I have just done a walk with the boys post church: It is late winter and relatively warm; a day to be outside before the pressure of study and work means that we have to look at computer screens and paper abstracts. At church this morning we discussed the body of Christ after inducting new elders: and one of the points made is that we are called to show loving-kindness, righteousness and justice.

But the question of today is what does this look like? How does this happen? The missionial can think they are so loving as to never confront sin and destruction: the righteous can be so rigid as to be uncaring and not bleed when they discipline: and justice generally hurts.

So I come home (Kirk is early) and look at the readings for this day: which are both missionial and just.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

	“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

(Matthew 25:31-46 ESV)

	Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

	Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

(Romans 12:9-21 ESV)

Coming back to the sermon for a minute (different text: it related to David wanting to build a temple) one comment was that neither David nor Nathan, the prophet, prayed as to if they should build. The illustration was that David had built a rich house akin to those above the cliff at second beach — that drain into the outlet I photographed yesterday — and the tent of God, frayed and worn, was down at a campground next to the beach, vulnerable to the next storm surge. So they thought they better build a temple to keep the ark safe. As if the ark is God, or the house of David his palace and not his descendants.

For we want to build. We want to triumph. We want to see righteousness proclaimed, and unity in the people. We want Jerusalem to be where the Dark Satanic Mills now sit.

But that is not our calling and that is not our witness. We are to pray, we are to care, and we are to do good without discriminating, particularly to those who hate us and persecute us, true. Some now call that missionial. But there is a need to abhor that which is evil, to disdain sloth and coldheartedness, which can leave us arrogant and uncaring, and that is righteousness and justice and truth.

We are not to sacrifice righteousness and justice and truth for a false sense of inclusion: we are not to disbar people from our care because of a false sense of righteousness.

Wow, what judgement from our brothers in Christ. Smacks of Calvinism. In the past, especially in Dublin last summer, I bought lunches for obvious alcoholics who sat next to the cash points begging. I would not give money, but buy nice things to eat from Marksies.

Why not? As someone who does not have a permanent home myself as I am very poor and there is an eight year waiting list for housing in this part of Iowa, and judged harshly by the world because I am poor, I can assure you that judgment is not from God.

One of the most wonderful thing a Dublin alcoholic said to me was that he was happy I kept my word, as so many people say they would feed him and did not. I was very touched, as if Jesus Himself was speaking to me. Imagine, a man on the street thanking me. ... I was humbled.

I could be that person sitting there, and each one of us could. So many people here in the States are one paycheck away from homelessness. The fact that there are homeless people in any country is an indictment to all of us Catholics. There should be no homeless at all. There should be no Pauls, no supertradmums without permanent housing.

God allows some of us to suffer just because He wants others to respond. Duh. Chances for grace and sacrifice, brothers, chances for merit. 


The socialist wants to “make poverty history” (thus forgetting, or insulting, Our Lord), because for him poverty is the fruit of an injustice. In so doing, he makes Charity history. In vast parts of the world he will, soon enough, make Christianity itself history. But poverty will, of course, remain; together with the social envy, the social conflicts, the untold economic damage, and the general selfishness that this entails. As always, God will not be mocked.

God wants a world in which charity, not envy, is the engine of social thinking. A world in which the “social engineering” is made not by evil Socialists, but by good hearts. In His Goodness, he has always cared that in Christian societies, for an abundance of poor there was also an abundance of rich with a generous heart. This is why Christian Europe was always spared from the atrocious need, and the atrocious way of dealing with the poor, that you saw and still see among the heathens, for example the heartless Hindu.

Of course, the expropriation of the goods of the rich (or of the “haves”) has brought to the modern “poor” an unprecedented level of unearned prosperity. But are they happy with it? Are they one tad happier than their poor forefathers? No, they aren’t. On the contrary, where their forefathers lived a life in charity and humble serenity, they live a life in resentment. Wanting more, and more, and more, of that which they have not earned, of that which others have earned. And thinking that this more, and more, is theirs by right. And thinking it is an injustice that they do not have more of what is not theirs. But they still feel poor! They still are resentful! They still see rich people among them, and call this inequality, and declare it bad, and an evil to be destroyed!

Oh, the posters are coming from an Indian magazine: peak hatred of man has happened, and the backlash will come. In this time we have to protect those who have been broken by the current antipatriarchal and antifamily system, and then protect the very victimisers, so that they will live, repent, and be saved. Souls are more important than Schadenfreude.

We need to think carefully about the memes of this world that proclaim empathy, but are disguised envy: love, but go beyond the bounds of morality. We need to confront: for our duty is to be zealous in wishing the best for each other, and putting the other first. Love is a terrible and holy thing. It is pure light: it exposes, makes us naked and ashamed. Much better to have false tinsel on top of the tinsel and sparkle, and proclaim this is right and good and proper.

For true love is wishing the best for another. It is to build them up, not to demean or corrupt. Look at the results of the memes we have: by the consequences you will know if the teaching produces righteousness and loving-kindness and justice. And let not your hatred of evil and injustice mean that you forget your enemy is as loved by God as you are.

____

P. S. In the first quote someone accusing Mundabor of Calvinism (as if Calvin was evil) and making two errors.

The first is the second quote is from him, and Mundy does believe in charity, but uses hyperbole as part of his rhetoric. The man is not a Calvinist.
The second is that he assumes that Calvinists do not understand the duty to charity: I am a Calvinist, and I would rather give to beggars than to a charity which I know is primarily funded by the state and part of the dark satanic mills, even if it has a cross in its logo.