Welcome to Magazine Premium

We greatly appreciate your interest in the Electronic Voice sponsored by Nativity Church of Fargo. The work we have done through this site has been an effective ministry in sharing how our parish lives out the mission of Jesus Christ. The number of visitors to this website has grown in leaps and bounds since it’s inception.

At the same time, we have found that Electronic Voice is a duplicate of our main website and divides the energy of our staff trying to write for two websites. We feel this is not effective stewardship regarding our time and talents and in this case two websites are not better than one.

So we are beginning the process of integrating the two websites. Our regular writers, such as Fr. Kevin, Chris, and Cathy will begin to post on our main website (www.nativitycatholicchurch.net) instead of the Electronic Voice in the near future. We ask for your patience and prayers as we make the transition.

We will leave this site active for sometime, as an archival site.

If you have any questions regarding this change, feel free to contact our Office Manager, Frank LaLonde at frankl@nativitycatholicchurch.net.

Zechariah 9:9-10; Romans 8:9,11-13; Matthew 11:25-30

This weekend we celebrate the 235th anniversary of our independence as a nation.  As nations go, we are relatively young historically.  Even so in the short 200+ years of our existence we have grown to be the most powerful nation on earth.  We have access to (and also consume) the vast majority of the natural resources of the world.  We have the most powerful armed forces of any nation in the world.  We have the greatest financial resources of any nation in the world.  By human standards, we are the greatest. 

Because of this it is important for us to listen well to today’s readings that speak not of power and greatness but rather of meekness.  The prophet Zechariah gives us an image of the messiah riding on a baby donkey.  This is not a symbol of human power like a great warrior horse.  This symbolizes instead a savior who brings in the reign of peace.  And how are we to achieve that peace?  By following the way of Jesus, our Savior, who is “meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29)

Let’s look a little closer at the word meek.  Now some might consider meekness as weak.  They think that if one is meek others will take advantage of them.  Others might even hurt or abuse us if we show any meekness.  The Greek word for meek (praotes) does not mean that one is weak.  Rather, it means that one is “not easily provoked.”  It is like the perfect balance between excessive anger and complete lack of anger.  It is the quality of having power under control.  Being in control of our power gives us to the capability of learning.  As a virtue of faith, meekness allows us to be open to God.

Those who lack meekness are so convinced of their own knowledge that they are incapable of being taught.  When Jesus invited believers to “learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart,”(11:29) he was in effect professing his own openness and obedience to the will of his Father.  He is calling us to follow his lead.

True meekness is the ability to recognize the power that dwells within us and to keep that power under control, under the control of God.  Thus, today’s readings really do speak about power.  They help us to realize that true power comes only from God, and true human power reaches its fullest potential only through doing the will of God.

America was founded on a basic belief in a supreme being who is at the center of this nation.  Our Pledge of Allegiance speaks of us as being “one nation, under God.”  Our Declaration of Independence speaks of us being “endowed by our Creator.”  Many qualities of our nation truly do exhibit our belief in a God who guides us and blesses us.  On the other hand we do not always exercise meekness as a nation.  We do not always follow the will of God.  Instead we tend to get caught up in what we believe to be true, and thus our human power sometimes gets in the way of God’s power.

An example of this is the 19^th century principal of “manifest destiny.”  This was the commonly held assumption that it was our God-given destiny to expand America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from “sea to shining sea.”  With this attitude the American political machine succeeded in claiming all the land between the two great oceans.  In order to do this we flexed our financial and military arms.  We used the human power we had accumulated to buy from, or conquer, those who first were on these lands.

In the end we accomplished the task of gaining these lands but history shows also the many injustices which were allowed to accomplish this task.  To attain this vision of manifest destiny we found ourselves interfering in politics in Central and South America.  We also treated unfairly the native peoples who first lived on this continent.  Because of this it is important for us to ask the question, “Was it really God’s will that we were destined to attain these lands, or was it more about human power and greed?”

We do have a great power in our nation but only if we choose to use it.  This power can correct injustices.  This power can be used to keep under control our massive consumption of natural resources and accumulation of wealth.  This power can use diplomacy instead of war to settle our differences with others.  This is the power of our freedom to worship God and to live according to God’s commands.

Worshipping God, and doing God’s will is the only way that we can truly hope to fulfill God’s destiny for our nation.  This is the only way we can truly build God’s kingdom.  God’s kingdom does not come through revolutionary movements or wars.  God’s kingdom does not come about through conquering and suppressing other peoples.  God’s kingdom comes about one person at a time.  As Pope John Paul said in his 1996 visit to America, “Freedom consists not in doing whatever we want, but rather in being free to do what we ought.”

It is important then, each time we have a decision to make that we turn to God for guidance.  We need to ask whether it is God’s will or own will that guides our decisions and action.  We need to ask how our actions will affect the lives of others for the good, or for the bad.  Are my choices only concerned about my own wants and needs, or do I consider how my choices affect other people?  To become Christ-like we need to look daily at ways to serve those who come across our paths.  Each time that a single person becomes more Christ-like in his/her attitudes towards others God’s kingdom reigns.

When Jesus’ mission was to come to fulfillment through his death on the cross, he entered the city of Jerusalem on the first day of the week riding on a donkey, a symbol of meekness and humility (cf. First Reading).  In this gesture he was showing us that true freedom and power comes through doing the will of the Father.  When Jesus died on the cross he fulfilled the Father’s will by becoming the sacrificial offering that grants us the forgiveness of our sins.  This is what he needed to do to fulfill the Father’s will.

Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we are commanded to do the Father’s will.  Through the Eucharist we receive the grace we need to know and do God’s will.  God’s will is that we become the body of Christ.  And so today Jesus says to us, “Take my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart”(11:29).  Today, as you eat his body and drink his blood, ask for the grace to know and do God’s will.

Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12

“Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1).  These words, spoken by our Lord at the Last Supper, were intended to bring courage, strength, and hope to the disciples.  They would have needed courage before the night was over and throughout the next day as they saw our Lord arrested and crucified.  Later, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, they would have found strength from these words in the hope of resurrection and the promise of the heaven to come.  This hope and promise was essential to their ability to boldly proclaim the gospel to others.  This hope and promise gave them the courage and strength to eventually die for their faith.

We know the story of Christ’s life, passion, death and resurrection.  The story is planted deeply into our hearts and minds.  And if we truly believe in Christ, then we know without a doubt that there is a heaven for those who do His will and a hell for those who refuse Him.  And so why is that we have such difficulty letting go of our anxieties and worries?  I think a key to this can be found in other words that our Lord spoke, “Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Mark 10:15).

Many times Jesus spoke of the importance of being like children.  He referred to the disciples and those who followed Him as His children.  A key to understanding this image is in seeing the world through the eyes of a child.  First, children have no concept of time.  They live primarily in the moment.  They can be angry and upset one minute, and in the next minute be filled with joy and laughter.  They can fight with each other and vow to be enemies in the morning, only to be best of friends again in the evening.  As for the future they don’t understand tomorrow, or next week, or next month.  All they really comprehend is today.

Children also have no concept of space.  We live in a material world and we need certain things in this world just to live.  We need basic food, shelter and clothing.  Children never think about where these things come from or what they cost.  That’s why your father might have said to you, “Do you think money grows on treesAs we begin to understand the concepts of time and space we begin to plan for the future.  This oftentimes is a cause for anxiety.  This anxiety can begin in children when we first ask them, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

When we seriously begin to formulate a response to that question, we begin also to plan.  Parents begin saving money for their children’s college education.  High School seniors choose which college they want to attend or what kind of job they want to pursue.  Upon graduation, whether it be from high school or college, we get a job and immediately begin plans for owning a home.  If it has not already happened by this time most people also begin plans for marriage and a family.  Eventually we begin planning and saving for our retirement.  But in all of this planning and choosing there is the uncertainty of not knowing what the future holds.  “What if I don’t get accepted into college?  What if I don’t find the right spouse?  What if my savings is not enough to sustain my retirement?   Add to this the uncertainty of accidents, natural disasters, or health problems that can leave us homeless or disabled, and it seems that we have plenty to worry about in this world.

As people of faith we also have one more thing that can cause us anxiety.  When we come to the realization that we were created by God, we come to the awareness also that God did not have to make us.  We have no fundamental right even to exist.  And in the grand scheme of the cosmos, and in the natural order of the world in which live, as individual persons we are pretty insignificant.  Our individual life here in Fargo, North Dakota, seems pretty unnecessary to order of the universe.  The psalmist hinted at this in the words, “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place –  What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them? (Ps. 8:4-5).”

When we finally come to the realization of our precarious existence in this world, and of our relative insignificance in the cosmos, we have an opportunity to face our anxieties and worries.  We can let our hearts be troubled and anxious, or we can have faith in God and faith in Jesus. 

This means trusting first of all that Jesus truly is who He said He is, the Son of God.  This means also that we trust that all He taught us is true and we simply need to order our lives toward that truth.  This means turning away from, and letting go of whatever patterns of sin and selfishness are in our lives that are leading us away from Jesus.  This means also turning over every single part of our life, every choice we make, to Jesus.  Everything we have been given in this world comes to us from God.  And so the best way to not have these things control us and cause us anxiety and worry is to give them back to God.  We do this by ordering our family, our home, our work, our recreation, our finances, our entire future, to God.  Absolutely nothing in this world belongs to us, and so nothing in this world deserves even one minute of our worry and anxiety.

But when God made the universe God had a plan for the human race.  And God has blessed each one of us to be a part of that plan.  As a Christian people we have been given this knowledge that God has a plan for us and that God will grace us for whatever it is that we are to do.  All that we have been given is a gift to us from God for our use in this life.  So pray for the grace to use it wisely.  Pray for the grace to live as God intends you to live.  When you do this, you will find that all anxiety and worry of the things of this world will simply disappear.  In its place you will have the peace that comes with knowing that you are doing things as God intends.  The only concern we ought to have is that we live our lives according to God’s plan for our existence.

This is the realization the psalmist came to that inspired the words, 

           “Yet you have made them little less than a god,

                        crowned them with glory and honor.

            You have given them rule over the works of your hands,

                        put all things at their feet . . .

             O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!” Psalm 8:6-8,10

The following letter from Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services, shares crucial information about the growing disaster in East Africa:

You are probably starting to hear about a humanitarian crisis unfolding in East Africa, mostly affecting Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Catholic Relief Services staff in the region report dreadful conditions. This just came in from a refugee camp in Kenya:
They’ve walked for days or weeks from Somalia, and their shoes show it. Dusty and worn, the sandals of a little boy dangle in his hand as he wails in the center of the camp. Nearby, his exhausted 22-year-old mother, Momina, rocks her sobbing baby. “We had sheep, goats and cattle—over a dozen,” she says. “They all died from the drought…. Food was running out. So, we left.”
These terrible conditions have sparked an exodus of refugees—mostly women and children—pouring into Kenya and Ethiopia in search of food.
East Africa’s worst drought in more than half a century is causing extreme hunger for more than 11 million people. Severe lack of rainfall has resulted in failed crops, critical shortages in food and water, and countless numbers of livestock dying from dehydration and starvation. Further compounding the crisis are drastic increases in food prices.
All this brings to mind sobering images from the Ethiopian famine of 1984. Who can forget the pictures of emaciated, listless children on TV? The full scope of such a humanitarian catastrophe was not fully realized until after so many had died.
This time is different. This time, we know what is likely to come as the disaster unfolds. I am asking you to help CRS with a generous gift so that we can quickly increase the scope of our efforts there to feed and provide water to as many needy people as possible. Help us prevent another tragedy.
Since 1960, CRS has provided water and agricultural programs in Kenya and Ethiopia, where current drought conditions are not as dire as in Somalia. Your previous gifts are already saving lives because those programs helped us dig deep wells that have helped lessen the drought’s effects. But this drought is so widespread that our existing efforts are not enough. We need your help.
I ask you to please give now and help prevent another disaster like the 1984 Ethiopian famine. Please help our brothers and sisters in East Africa, who so desperately need our help.

For more information or to help, go to http://www.crs.org.

As I write this article, I’m enjoying a lovely North Dakota summer day. The sun is shining, the blue sky is dappled with whispy white clouds, and the gold and orange lillies are blooming outside my office window. It’s a good time to think about the simple things to do to care for this beautiful world God has provided for us.
Here are a few suggestions from the World Wildlife Fund:
 

• Put on a sweater, or take one off. Since the pendulum in N.D. seems to swing between furnace and air conditioning and rarely stops in between, this can help conserve energy.   

• Walk the walk. Drive less, enjoy bicycling, or get to know your neighborhood better by strolling through it

• Go for seconds – guilt free! How many items can be reused instead of thrown away? Padded envelopes, the plastic cell-packs from our seedlings, a plastic water bottle…

• Watch your waste. Oil, paints, ink cartridges, batteries do have special disposal procedures.

• Paper or plastic? No thanks! Bring your own bags along for shopping. Many have commented that bringing cloth bags to the grocery store has now become a habit.

• Flip the switch. As we are enjoying the longer days of summer, we still need to remember to turn off unneeded lights (and other energy-using items).

• Plant a seed, or a tree, a shrub, a tomato plant. The benefits are many and varied.
   
• Return to sender. if you receive too much mail or too many catalogs, contact the companies and have your name removed from their lists. Less clutter at home is an added bonus.

The leaders of more than fifty Christian denominations and organizations, including the presidents of Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities, and Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice, have signed the document printed below, calling for our political leaders to protect poor and vulnerable people, as they act to reduce the deficit.

A Circle of Protection: A Statement on Why We Need to Protect Programs for the Poor

In the face of historic deficits, the nation faces unavoidable choices about how to balance needs and resources and allocate burdens and sacrifices. These choices are economic, political — and moral.

As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up — how it treats those Jesus called “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45). They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard, to join with others to insist that programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world are protected. We know from our experience serving hungry and homeless people that these programs meet basic human needs and protect the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable. We believe that God is calling us to pray, fast, give alms, and to speak out for justice.

As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people. Therefore, we join with others to form a Circle of Protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad.
1. The nation needs to substantially reduce future deficits, but not at the expense of hungry and poor people.
2. Funding focused on reducing poverty should not be cut. It should be made as effective as possible, but not cut.
3. We urge our leaders to protect and improve poverty-focused development and humanitarian assistance to promote a better, safer world.
4. National leaders must review and consider tax revenues, military spending, and entitlements in the search for ways to share sacrifice and cut deficits.
5. A fundamental task is to create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty, and restoring growth is a powerful way to reduce deficits.
6. The budget debate has a central moral dimension. Christians are asking how we protect “the least of these.” “What would Jesus cut?” “How do we share sacrifice?” As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people.
7. As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people. 

  8. God continues to shower our nation and the world with blessings. As Christians, we are rooted in the love of God in Jesus Christ. Our task is to share these blessings with love and justice and with a special priority for those who are poor.

Budgets are moral documents, and how we reduce future deficits are historic and defining moral choices. As Christian leaders, we urge Congress and the administration to give moral priority to programs that protect the life and dignity of poor and vulnerable people in these difficult times, our broken economy, and our wounded world. It is the vocation and obligation of the church to speak and act on behalf of those Jesus called “the least of these.” This is our calling, and we will strive to be faithful in carrying out this mission.

To learn more about the Circle of Protection and to sign your name to it, go to the Sojourners site- http://www.sojo.org/