Good Morning Digital Neighbors!! Blessed Advent! More O Antiphon & Messianic goodness for this Friday morning! Root of Jesse – In short, it is a declaration of God's fidelity to His promises. Not a promise to make everything right in the here and now, but rather a promise to remember His covenant with King David about a future and faithful descendant to rule with justice and righteousness. Christians say that is Jesus; our Jewish brothers and sisters, not so much; and many more just treat the whole Jesus story as an interesting "meh." Your mileage may vary, but these days more seem to be wondering if faith in a Higher Power is a better path than blanket trust in pharmaceuticals and therapy for your wellness.
Following up on yesterday's thoughts about authority, one has to wonder about the nature of promises from anyone in authority. Most of us experience such promises as laughable. There is campaign season, when promises are made, and the rest of the time, when they are for the most part ignored or compromised. It is difficult not to be entirely doubtful and cynical about those in the political world—seeing them as nothing but manipulative liars incapable of even understanding their own hypocrisy. Ever a skeptic, never a cynic: I think that is the only way I can keep my sanity, along with lots of prayer and laughter to help insulate the mind and soul. I say this often—one ought to be mindful, but not consumed by concerns about the political world. Too many substitute political drama for religious devotion in their life. Personally, I think that is a terrible trade-off. It is hard to balance attentiveness that affords us some degree of preparedness while avoiding getting sucked into the mire of politics. Everything becomes politicized. And a humble reminder from our Elitist Overlords: they are calling the shots and you are taking them. Back in 2020 they really did call the shots, and too many took them. But surprises can happen, and to have a system that allows for that without tons of bullets and bloodshed is hopeful.
On a lighter note, I hope the people in your real life—the elbow people among you—are people of trust, promise, and joy. Trustful souls make all the difference. They don't have to be perfect (none are), but when there is a ready trust that can be given and shared, that makes most everything bearable if not better. It can make up for all the failed moments of promise and trust in the past. Joy does not depend upon the happenings of life, but rather the awareness and realization that one is fortunate, and if a believer, blessed by God. Good, real people of promise can create some of the most memorable and beautiful chapters in our life and can provide a much-needed shelter from the storm. I hope you have people of promise in your life and that you, in turn, are able to be one to others. Happy Friday, my friends & neighbors.
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
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XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
