Light in the New Dark Age

The Dark Ages (500-1000 C.E.) were not a Disneyland Time. Religious oppression, torture in the name of God, stultified learning, overwhelming poverty, plagues, military conquests, great separation between rich (the few) and the poor (the many), and more.

We are in a New Dark Age. The rich are getting richer and the middle class and poor are getting poorer. A proposed tax policy which is good for the middle class, fantastic for the rich, but adds hundreds of billions to our national debt is being debated. Then there is a proposed altering of the estate tax rate giving mega-bucks to the wealthy and eliminating billions or trillions from national common good usage. Now let's talk about three wars, slipping education opportunities, failing schools, recession, unemployment, ever increasing debt, foreclosures, pension theft, banks unwillingness to loan at decent rates, unconscionable CEO salaries, deteriorating infrastructure, no bi-partisanship, inadequate White House leadership, and.... How about the European debt crisis, Iran trying to build a bomb, North Korea rattling its missiles and starving its people, Al Qaeda still planning for the "big one", inequitable international trade agreements, and .... The New Dark Age is upon us.

There are echoes of Psalm 146:3-4: "Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to earth; on that very day their plans perish." Whom can we trust? Does anybody know the truly right thing to do? Does anyone feel a passion for justice and peace and not simply profit?

I am weary, sad, and angry. Where is there light?

Again, I turn to Psalm 146: "Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob....God sets the prisoners free; God opens the eyes of the blind. God lifts up those who are bowed down; God loves the righteous. God watches over the strangers; God upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked God brings to ruin." I take heart that God's promises are alive and well. God's Word is still the Final Word.

Yet, it is we who are called to make God's Word and promises real for today. The Psalmist presages JFK's remark: "The crises of the world were created by [humankind], and can therefore be solved by [humankind] (paraphrase)". In the movie, The Devil's Arithmetic, based on Jane Yolen's book of the same name, the people within the concentration camp could still worship and celebrate Passover. They could still show compassion for each other. They could still speak up. They could still encourage one another. They could still share the little food they had. They could still imagine another, better life.

And so can we. We can pray for each other and for the stranger. Moses prayed, the People of Israel prayed, Jesus and his disciples prayed, Paul prayed: Augustine, Assisi, Luther, Aquinas, King, Wallis, Berrigan, Ann Hutchinson, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day....

We can act.

We can hope. This is Advent, the time of hoping for deliverance, liberation, in the Christ of Freedom! In the words of Paul in Romans: "Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us." (Romans 5)

Christ is Light! Christ is hope! There is Light in the New Dark Age!

Peace!

Ron