Gaudete Sunday: DB and JB

Father Philip Berrigan wrote:  "The poor tell us who we are.  The prophets tell us who we can be.  So we hide the poor and kill the prophets."  Father Phil was himself a prophetic figure.  Born in New York, after high school he went to work on a railway, then joined the U.S. Army in World War II, and served in the Battle of the Bulge, which began on this date in 1944.  After the war he discerned a call to Priesthood, went to seminary and became a Roman priest.  He quickly established a reputation for activism.  The Church kept moving him around and he kept doing remarkable things, like founding the Catholic Peace Fellowship and organizing lobbying efforts for the poor.   After the American invasion of Vietnam he became an outspoken opponent of what he called an unjust war.  For that, he was beaten and imprisoned repeatedly and gladly, for the Gospel's sake.

After the U.S. withdrawal from that country, he devoted his life to opposing nuclear proliferation, a development that could have -- and still could -- destroy the human race. Surprisingly, Father died of cancer before he could be killed.  But we look at his life as an excellent example of telling truth to power, both to his Communion and to his country.

John the Baptiser, the feature of our Gospel reading today, also spoke truth to power in the religious and political establishment, but in his case it cost him his life.   John knocks the props out from under his culture's favourite excuses for not getting real with God.  First, he attacks inherited religion.  In his view, that doesn't count unless it relates to how you live your life.  Second, spiritual or sentimental feelings that ignore the real-life needs of others are bogus.  Third, passing on ethics, in order to get by is religious treason.  In their place, we must have real repentance that leads to action in our relationships.  He tells people how to live.  Everybody is to give their second coat to the poor, to share their food.  Tax agents are to collect what is actually due.  Soldiers are to avoid extortion.  And, as well know, all of that simply boils down to implementing the Golden Rule.

I fear that many in our culture have psychologized their faith.  The Gospel is just a feeling, not a call to build the Kingdom.  And the Kingdom is just a mood.  And the Messiah is just our mascot who can be pressed into service to affirm our political and cultural false values, instead of transforming us.  We do not need a mascot.  We need a Saviour.