who's tired of the bullshit?

"Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait 'till their judgment day comes"
                                             -- War Pigs by Black Sabbath

People of goodwill:::

Yet again, we are at war. Innocent people are being killed by the United States and Israel with bombs paid for by you and by me. A girl's primary school was bombed, killing 160 children.
​

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
  wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
  she refused to be consoled,
because they are no more.”
-- Matthew 2:17-18
​

"Death and destruction all the time," says Pete Hegseth. Trump and his sycophantic psychopaths spent 1.4 billion (with a "b") on the first 24 hours of war: $779 million on the strikes and $630 million more in preparations. Trump wants to increase next year's defense budget (better called the aggression budget) by $500 billion to a disgusting total of $1.5 trillion, more than a 50% increase.

Let me be real-fucking-blunt: If males are the pinnacle of creation as nutters like Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Kevin Roberts and others claim--indeed, as the Roman Catholic Church itself claims with its deeply flawed theology of the human person--then why isn't there peace and justice and flourishing across the world? Males have been ruling the planet through patriarchy for millennia, steadily claiming superiority, yet it is the same trash over and over: blistering war, devastating hunger, extreme poverty, severe exploitation for the almighty dollar, all manner of physical and sexual violence, and now climate catastrophe added on top of it all.

Jesus gives us a simple yet poetic test in Matthew 7:18 for discerning what comes from God and what does not: "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit." How much more bad fruit do we need to choke on before we get it through our thick skulls that males are not the pinnacle of creation and that patriarchy is a total failure that is incapable of providing conditions conducive to life and flourishing? When are we going to learn that God is calling people of all genders to be true partners in the co-creation of life on earth with God, and that our life with one another and within creation must be organized in ways that facilitate such partnership?

I will say this: while we are living under an openly evil administration that shows contempt for life in large and small ways, do not be deceived into despair. The election of Trump is backlash to the very deep awakening in human consciousness that has been ongoing for quite some time. Humanity is on the edge of a true breakthrough that is already dismantling the idols of old. This is why this wave of darkness is particularly intense and truly insane: it is the lashing back of idols desperately grasping to hang onto their principal place in our lives.

But this movement of darkness cannot ultimately succeed. The flow of God’s love, fidelity, and goodness is always pouring into time, creatively penetrating history and material reality to heal the damage we inflict upon ourselves, to call us back to love, to orient us to right relationship. Again and again down through history, we see God's Holy Spirit inbreaking through systems of death and domination to bring about life.

It is indeed true that we are in an especially dark Lent, and that this Lent will last for some time to come. All of us must have the courage to pick up our collective cross--the cross of America--and carry it for the sake of the world. It is our role to carry the cross; it is God's role to receive our willing sacrifice and transform it into the resurrection. This is what God does, this is who God is. Indeed, this is God's enduring promise that beats in the very heart of the Gospels. Even now, if you look carefully through your sharpened spiritual senses, each day you can see the resilient resistance of God's Holy Spirit erupting into time to bring about that which is good. Pause a moment: where did you see God at work today?

In this difficult season in our country, we must sink our roots deep into the heart of God and be a people of hope. There is no other option. For, as St. Paul proclaims in this Sunday's readings, "hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). To carry the cross is to love as God loves: may God give us the grace to suffer for one another so that God may bring about new life.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

In prayer,
Father Anne +