RBWords - Volume 32 - Number 9: September 2019
Something to Think About
A pandemic, violent demonstrations over racial justice and a presidential, etc. election year are enough to weary anyone. When will we reach “the next normal?” And what will that next normal be? Will there be a new virus or bacteria to replace the COVID-19? Will there be a peaceful transition of political power? Will there be sufficient conversion of minds and hearts so that public law enforcement can occur without unnecessary tragedy. Will the debates between the candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency of our country shed any enlightenment beyond creative name-calling and outlandish claims? Will the new supreme court nominee be as evil as some people are making her out to be?
One of the favorite dictums of political philosophy comes from a 19th century Catholic English nobleman known as Lord Acton. He wrote a letter to an English bishop in which he said, “Power corrupts. Absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” He was writing about Pope Pius IX and the then proposed doctrine of infallibility, but his statement has been enshrined in political philosophy on many levels and its truth can be observed in any organization or society, whether it be the U.S.A. or the Catholic Church. The political founders of the U.S.A. strove to design a “balance of powers” in the way our country is governed. That balance is rather wobbly right now and it is hard to know if another election will stabilize it, making one wonder if the “next normal” will be a wobbly one! The prophet Ezekiel quotes God has saying that God will remove our stony hearts and replace them will living hearts. [Ezekiel 36:26] The Holy Spirit will be working overtime for some time to come. IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
It Has Been Said
To preserve the silence within---amid all the noise. To remain open and quiet, a most humus in the fertile darkness where the rain falls and the grain ripens---no matter how many tramp across the parade ground in whirling dust under an arid sky.
From MARKINGS by Dag Hammarskjold