Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - St. Thomas More
[2 Kings 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36 and Matthew 7:6, 12-14]Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets.
I may have mentioned this story here before, but I think the irony is worth a repeat. When I was a grade school student so many eons ago, the State of Louisiana had the policy of giving Catholic schools books and school supplies. Included in this bounty were foot long rulers with the Golden Rule printed on them! "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!" Of course, being school kids, we found other things to do with those rulers that had little to do with measuring! I was unable to appreciate the fact that the "Golden Rule" was more than a bit of folk wisdom. Jesus says it includes all the Law and the Prophets!!!! We school kids simply thought, "whack and whack back!" Unfortunately, much of the way individuals and nations behave toward one another shows that the "whack and whack back" policy is the usual rule instead of the Golden Rule. Such things as "mutually assured destruction," "deterrence," "preemptive strike" govern our ways with each other. Political and economic power are rapidly becoming incompatible with human life, let alone other forms of life! Those things which have been given to us by a provident God to help us learn have been turned into instruments of destruction or else items to be destroyed. This would all seem impossibly gloomy were it not for the kind of faith that seems time and again to overcome circumstances that appear to be overwhelming. (Just read the stories from the Book of Kings that have been the first daily scriptures for the past few days!) If the only way to bring about the Golden Rule is to change hearts and minds one at a time, then that is what we must do! AMEN
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