Deamers to Pelosi: We Will Not Wear The Mark of The Beast"
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Dreamers to Pelosi: “We Will Not Wear The Mark Of The Beast”
Fifth Week in the time of the Harvest
Every day we make decisions, some small, some big. When someone irritates us we decide whether to respond with understanding or with hostility. When we are assaulted with intimidation at school, at work or in the community, we decide whether to submit to it or to stand up to it. When we find ourselves in conflicts with each other, we decide whether to resolve the conflict with truth and forgiveness or let it continue to grow, causing separation and sometimes violence. Some of our decisions are more long range: decisions of what we will do with our lives, what we will dedicate our lives to.
All of these decisions – small and large – define us, even if we don’t think they are that important. Decisions accumulate and change us. This is because we live in a larger context, a spiritual context – and a spiritual conflict that can sweep us up into becoming something we don’t want to be or which can give us peace – and justice.
We are living in the Harvest time of the year. It is a time of great spiritual struggle. The scriptures from the Book of Revelations, with the dramatic cataclysms of the prophet’s vision, seem to come alive in the Hurricanes, Earth Quakes, Fires and Tornados that have ravaged the Americas and the Caribbean in these last weeks.
Yet the actual revelations of spiritual struggle in these cataclysmic events are very clear. We see the direct conflict between the solidarity of the response of the people to these mass tragedies and at the same time the narrow, selfish and openly racist manipulations of the rich and powerful. It is as if nature is screaming at us, demanding solidarity among men and women.
We see the Spirit of love as thousands join together to save a child buried by a collapsed building in Mexico City or in the rescue of an old grandmother from the roof of her home in Puerto Rico. There is love and solidarity everywhere on the streets. And yet in the backrooms of finance and government, men plot how to take advantage of the storms and earthquakes, buying up land cheaply and removing thousands of people from their communities – deciding where to send resources and where to deny those resources or planning to take advantage of government recovery moneys while millions receive no help at all!
We see Puerto Ricans joined together in Chicago to help their people on the island – but we see that Island in colonial status, put under the control of bankers in New York City, not even able to borrow money to get through this crisis, to get the electricity turned on again.
That is a spiritual struggle manifesting in the world around us today! On the one hand there is love, justice and cooperation. On the other hand, there is a demonic greed, deception and intimidation. These two forces set the terms of the conflict, the spiritual conflict and the conflict in the world around us. It is our task to understand the spiritual conflict which reaches into our own hearts and the hearts of our people. For us to be victorious in the world we must first win the spiritual conflict in our own hearts.
On Friday I was at a meeting about the crisis in Puerto Rico convened by Congressman Gutierrez. The vast destruction was laid out. From the Congressman to others at the meeting, all reflected on the harsh fact that they could not even make any contact with their family members on the island! The island may well be without electricity for six months. Many have run out of water. Because the Bankers have strangled the island, five thousand doctors had already left. Many of those who are sick, especially the elderly, will die in the suffocating humidity - and in the darkness. One woman spoke about her mother, who was paralyzed, in a town where the winds had torn off roofs and the water had risen to the second floor. She cried as she said “All I can do now is pray.”
On Thursday, at our Youth Health Service Coordinating committee we were hearing reports of the children trapped in collapsed schools in Mexico and I saw a tear running down the face of one of the young committee members.
That tear and that prayer should tell us something about this spiritual struggle. In the face of the indifference of the powerful, the intimidation of the authorities, the greed and selfishness, millions of Latinos in this country are yet bound in their hearts with those who suffer in Puerto Rico and Mexico. The spiritual struggle teaches you who you are and many, if they think about it, are part of a diaspora of Latinos in the United States, tied still to their people in the south.
That diaspora, planted here in the soil of faith by God, if it is conscious, can challenge the indifference of this nation towards those who suffer even today in Puerto Rico and Mexico. The numbers are here – and they are growing. They are a mighty force against greed and injustice. They are joined spiritually to the African Diaspora here and throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. We know there are forces that would remove every Latino from this country if they could. They are the forces of White Supremacy who have put their representative in the White House. We are witnessing the policies of ethnic cleansing coming out of this administration. But if this diaspora of people of color perseveres, if it demands its place here, it has the power to change the relationship with this nation of great wealth and the people of the south.
In the scripture we read from Revelations today, the prophet talks about the rise of a new beast, one the scripture names “the false prophet.” The false prophet comes to intimidate the people – or fool the people – into giving up their identity and wearing the mark of the beast on their foreheads, which is 666. The false prophet is a new Pharaoh. He works to win people to the beast which was wounded and which the false prophet healed. They complete the Unholy Trinity: the dragon (who is Satan), the beast (which is the society of injustice and inequality), and the false prophet (who forces the people to accept the society of injustice and inequality). The Spiritual terms of the battle are set: the Unholy Trinity at war with the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The wickedness we have seen in Donald Trump confirms for us the spiritual reality of the Unholy Trinity now in control of this government. The solidarity of the people, the unity of love between Latinos in the north with their families in the south, those whose hearts turn towards the south today no matter who they are, represents the spirit of the Holy Trinity – to which they pray!
Beneath every one of our struggles, struggles to keep families together, struggles to provide a future for the next generation, the struggle for health care and life for all - beneath all these struggles is a spiritual struggle and a decision that each person must make. Each person must decide if they will let the False Prophet put the sign of 666 on their forehead – or if they will commit their lives to the work of the Holy Trinity.
In this Harvest time we have been reminded of the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, prophesied in the Book of Revelations. She brought the gift of faith and courage, of communities joined together in faith, to the people of those in diaspora. She brought it to us. She taught us to form our churches, our communities of faith and resistance – and to find that TRUTH has a refuge there. We have seen Pharaoh’s heart harden in the rejection of DACA and the attempt to deny health care to millions. But the scripture teaches that if the people persevere each time Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, then they will gain the spiritual strength to win their freedom!
The Virgin healed Juan Diego’s uncle – so that Juan Diego could complete the challenge to the conquerors she asked him to make. Through the centuries many have found healing through her. These healings remind us that Jesus brought the message of the Kingdom of God through healing. Jesus taught that the people did not have to submit to wickedness because the power of the Kingdom of God could exist between them if they came together in faith. When Jesus was confronted with the authority of his oppressor he explained that “My Kingdom is not of this earth. I came here to testify to the truth.” For the Kingdom of God is a power of its own. It is a power that can live in the hearts of those who make the decision to take the side of the Holy Trinity in this spiritual war!
One of the healings which Jesus performed was of a young boy. The boy had been taken over by a terrible spirit that made him roll on the floor in agony. This evil spirit kept the boy from speaking. After Jesus healed this boy – after he made him able to speak – Jesus turned towards his own journey to Jerusalem to confront the authorities. Healing the boy so that he could speak was an act that showed the purpose of his journey to the cross: to give a new generation the courage and the freedom to speak the truth!
Last week something happened that should give us all hope. Congressman Pelosi had a press conference to which she invited some of the dreamers. The Congresswoman, who is the leader of the democrats in Congress, had met with President Trump and had gotten an agreement that DACA might be passed in Congress – as long as the democrats compromised with more repressive actions and more deportations. I think Pelosi thought she had done something for which the young dreamers, the DACA recipients, would certainly praise her. She thought she was their hero. She thought wrong!
Instead, the dreamers took over the press conference. They told Pelosi that they would not be put on the auction block, their security to be traded for the deportation of their parents. They wanted very much to win the battle over DACA in the Congress, to be able to stay with security and work and go to school. Yet they said, “Our parents sacrificed so much for us. We will not be used to get them deported. We want DACA but it cannot be tied to more deportations of our families. We want legalization for ALL the eleven million.”
This statement spread across the country like a fire. For over a decade, politicians have been trying to use the “dreamers” against their families. “Oh”, they say, “the dreamers were brought here when they were too young and they are Americans in everything but their papers. It is their parents who broke the law and should be deported.”
Well, those dreamers – and young people across the nation who have joined them – are refusing to wear the mark of the beast, the 666 on their foreheads. The immigration issue is not just about politics. It is about a people in diaspora struggling for their humanity. Intimidation and compromise cause deep wounds, none deeper than the division between a mother or a father and a son or a daughter. Standing on truth, standing in solidarity, those wounds are healed.
I believe that we will win DACA in the Congress. I believe that if we are strong in the truth we can win much more. In this fight we need to respond to intimidation with cooperation, with the cooperation between all the undocumented, between all Latinos – between all the human beings!
Christians especially should support these dreamers because Christians know in their faith that the Kingdom comes, that this nation will only be saved, when we take a stand with ALL those who have the least status in society, with “the least of these my people.”
You see, those young men and women were saying to Pelosi what Jesus said to the Romans: “My Kingdom is not your Kingdom, Nancy. We came to testify to the truth!”
The truth is that millions of people did not come here for the American Dream. They were not “Dreamers”. Those millions of people came here because of what the American nightmare did and continues to do to the countries of the south. Yet, brought here, planted in the soil of faith here now by God, they can join in a unity of righteousness and solidarity to transform this country and free themselves and the people of the south from intimidation and exploitation and injustice.
The truth is that Frances standing now in sanctuary is not a criminal. She is a mother, a wife and a worker. The truth is that Miguel is not a criminal: he is a veteran, a son and a soldier in the struggle of this community and thousands of other vets like him. The truth is that Luis is not a criminal on a gang list: He is a son, a worker – and the future of this country!
We will win the struggle we are fighting. We will win because we each can win the spiritual struggle in our own hearts. Oh yes, God has hardened the heart of Pharaoh; but we will not wear the sign of the beast on our foreheads! We will persist and grow stronger. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are gathered by the Lady that appeared in the heavens and we are protected and sustained in her communities of faith. We reject the Unholy Trinity – the dragon that chased mothers across the desert, the beast of a system of white supremacy – and the false prophet that sits now in the White House. We choose instead the Holy Trinity: God the Father, who sent his only Son that we might know his Kingdom, his love, his justice and the Holy Spirit that we might have the courage and the wisdom to decide to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
Every day we make decisions, small and large. We must realize that we are walking in the midst of strong winds. Every decision we make throws us into one of the directions the winds are blowing. When we choose to serve our community in the Youth Health Service Corps, we put ourselves into the winds of righteousness. When we fight the criminalization of young people that places labels on them to deprive them of their rightful place here, the winds of justice are with us. When we choose cooperation over conflict and join together against intimidation, we have the winds of righteousness at our backs. When we stand up against fear to tell the truth than that truth sets us free.
The Blessed Lady has given you a refuge for truth and protection from the wicked here. She asks you to build to her temples, sanctuaries, not of stone but of love and solidarity. Help us to build these sanctuaries! Bring those you love through these doors. Bring them tomorrow. Bring them next week.
Yes, it IS Harvest time: God’s Harvest. He wants to separate the wheat from the chafe. He wants a harvest of a people who He can call his own. He awaits your decision – but he will not wait long. Decide today for your people, for justice, for love, for forgiveness, for commitment, for Christ – decide for The Holy Trinity and tell the dragon and the beast and the false prophet to go back where they came from, down there Donald, where the sun don’t shine and the wicked burn eternally!
Amen? Amen? Amen!
Holy Scriptures for the Fifth Week in the Time of the Harvest
John 18: 18-37 Jesus Before Pilot
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Mark 9:17-27 Jesus Heals a Boy Possessed by an Impure Spirit
A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech… So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
Revelation 13:11-17 The Beast out of the Earth
Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.