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The Georgia Bulletin
November 26,1981
Reagan’s Giant Step
The free world was surely united in
one gigantic cheer last week. The
occasion was the historic offer made by
President Reagan to the Soviet Union
on disarmament. The President’s offer
covered both conventional and nuclear
arms.
The European countries have been
hotbeds of demonstrations for peace in
recent months. The long processions,
demanding an end to the threat of
nuclear exchanges, were obviously on
the mind of the American President.
All too well do leaders in the West
remember the peace movements of the
sixties. Current street demonstrations
in Europe are replicas of those insistent
voices.
We commend the President for his
pioneer words. We heartily concur that
a big power agreement would be “like
the first footstep on the moon ... a
giant step for mankind.” We can only
emphatically agree that this sweeping
reduction in arms would reduce the
lethal threat that hangs over the people
of Europe and the rest of the world.
The Soviet Union did make a
response. It was one of rebuff along
with disgraceful accusations of
propaganda. The world has noted this
response. With unanimous accord
voices of concern have clearly stated
that the ball is now in the court of the
playmakers in Moscow.
Political games are played with most
unconventional rules. A rebuff today
may mean a round table conference
tomorrow. Threatening words uttered
today can signal preparations for treaty
signings tomorrow. We must wait and
see and pray.
Right now we stand proud and
pleased that the call to actually disarm
came from us, that in our name,
President Reagan responded to the
concerns expressed on the streets of
Europe. His message to the Soviets was
so clear. Come let us sit and reason.
It was a giant step in the right
direction.
--NCB
Watt Whimsy
The environment whimsy of
James Watt has begun to take its toll.
The misplaced head of the Interior
Department and his cavalier cronies
have issued the premier leases allowing
energy companies to pursue oil
exploration in wilderness areas. The
leases were granted WITHOUT any
preparatory environmental study.
Over 9,000 acres of public lands are
covered by the leases, including areas
near New Mexico’s Capitan Wilderness,
where a little bear cub later named
Smokey was found after a forest fire.
This is the first time in the history of
the I nterior Department that a lease has
been granted for oil exploration within
lands specifically designated as
wilderness preserve.
James Watt, responding to criticism
by Congress and environmentalists
throughout the country, has assured us
that no further leases will be granted
without environmental impact studies
and consultation with the legislative
branch.
How nice.
Watt evidently believes that his
antics can continue as long as he
throws a few conciliatory crumbs to his
public.
But he has clearly marked the road
he intends to follow in his tenure as
head of the Interior Department -- a
one-way street that can only lead to a
wholesale violation of the honor of the
American environment.
Smokey would be ashamed.
-TKJ
Resound ... Resound
To the Editor:
How nice to read about the two bishops in
Minnesota who wrote the pastoral letter
calling sexism “a grievous sin” and calling for
an end to sexist attitudes and practices.
(Georgia Bulletin, November 5,1981). I am so
grateful that some of our church leaders are
coming to a deeper awareness of what it
means to be human ~ what it means to be one
in the Risen Christ. By their actions it is
evident that they respect each individul child
of God so much they are willing to work to
change the structure that violates anyone’s
dignity. How I wish we would all develop that
sensitivity and deep respect toward one
another.
Rosanne Bowen
Atlanta
To the Editor:
Congratulations from the Atlanta Jewish
Federation on the 25th Anniversary of the
Archdiocese of Atlanta. This community has
been blessed with the service of Bishop
Hyland, Archbishop Hallinan, Archbishop
Bernardin and Archbishop Donnellan. These
persons and all the loving workers of the
Church in this area have made Atlanta and the
region of the Archdiocese a better place in
which to live.
We appreciate you as wonderful neighbors.
Ted V. Fisher
Chairman, Community Relations Committee
Atlanta Jewish Federation
“I’ll bet our father can beat
your father!”
\ ueinny ia
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Thanking God Through People
Dolores Curran
Some people just can’t say thank you. I
taught once with a man like that and a bunch
of us had a contest to see who could get him to
say thanks first. As I recall, nobody won. He
was utterly unconscious of the need to thank
others. We deliberately held the door open for
him when his arms were loaded with books,
we brought him dozens of cups of coffee in
the teachers’ lounge and we even chipped in to
buy him a birthday gift, waiting breathlessly
(and in retrospect, unkindly) to see what he
would say.
He opened it suspiciously and said,
“What’s the joke?” We smothered our
laughter and he never realized the point of our
gesture, thank God.
Some others can’t accept thanks. They
brush off any attempt with embarrassment or
humor. I suppose a psychologist would have
an explanation for these behaviors, but I
believe that being able to thank others and to
accept thanks is the basis for being able to
truly thank God. It begins early in family life
where simple expressions of gratitude are as
natural as asking for a snack.
Parents are the original models here. If
they show simple appreciation for each
other’s actions as in, “Thanks for dinner” or
“I appreciate your running that errand for
me,” the kids are bound to imitate.
There’s more to this than good manners. It
indicates a deep appreciation and respect for
others. One of the most likable men I know is
a highly successful 75-year-old man who
always makes people feel appreciated. Every
time we are with him, whether it’s in a
restaurant or a meeting, he leaves in his wake
people who feel better for having had the
privilege of being around him for a little. He
isn’t obsequious nor is he perfunctory in his
thanks. If a waitress brings a menu, he smiles
at her and utters a simple thank you. If a
subordinate disagrees with him at a meeting,
he reflects and says something to the effect
that he’s grateful for an opposing perspective
on the subject.
People like him who thank so naturally are
people who have a focus outside themselves.
They don’t thank others because it’s polite to
do so or to curry favors. They thank them for
making their lives a little fuller, a little more
pleasant.
Sometimes when I work with parents, I ask
them to keep a record of how often they hear
thank you in their home on a routine day.
Some never do. One of the most common
complaints I hear from mothers is that they
don’t feel appreciated. Yet many show little
appreciation for their children’s or spouse’s
routine contributions around the home.
If I am grateful for peace, then I must be
grateful to those who work so hard to insure
it. God is working with and through them.
(Why is it easier to thank God than to thank
them?) If I am grateful for family, then I need
to thank God for them and them for being
family. If I am thankful for work, then I need
to thank both God and readers. And I do.
Publicly. Here and now.
Thanksgiving is a season when we focus on
our gifts from God. We thank Him for our
country, our bounty and each other. We
thank Him for our health, our faith and our
work. But often we fail to thank others for
their role in His gifts. Our gratitude to God
extends from our gratitude to others —
whether it’s community servants, church
servants, teachers, bus boys or bus drivers. If
God works through people, then it follows
that we can thank God through people.
First Sunday in Advent (B)
November 29, 1981
THE TW7 ORD
THIS TT EEKEND
Paul Karnowski
Isaiah 63: 16-17, 19; 64;
1 Corinthinas 1:3-9
Mark 13: 33-37
The world is full of sleepers: people or
things that were previously disregarded and
have now unexpectedly achieved success or
recognition. Professional football is always
good for a sleeper or two a year. Last year
Brian Sipes, a quarterback for the Cleveland
Browns, led his team to more than a modicum
of success as he dazzled fans everywhere with
his aerial displays of the football. He sat on
the bench five years before he got his chance
to start.
Movie buffs know all about sleepers. The
critics get first shot at the new releases and
many a movie is doomed to an early death
before it even has a chance. But there are
exceptions. “Airplane,” a sleeper panned
almost unanimously by the critics, was a box'
office smash.
As we begin the season of Advent we
anticipate an event that can be considered a
sleeper: the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
Surely this humble birth was overlooked by
almost everyone as people went about their
daily business. It was not until after the
Resurrection that the event became the most
significant birth of all time. The feast of the
Incarnation is a true theological sleeper.
Jesus has a few words to say about a
different kind of sleeper in today’s gospel, as
He returns to an old and familiar theme. He
reminds us that God appears in our lives at the
most unexpected times and in the most
unexpected places. Jesus compares God to a
man who leaves his estate. The master
appoints his servants as sentries over his
property while he is away. The servants must
be alert for they know not when the master
returns, whether at dusk, at midnight, or at
early dawn.
When a football player’s talents are
overlooked and he is allowed to sit on the
bench, twiddling his thumbs, we can
legitimately wonder who the real sleepers are.
The members of the coaching staff? Or when a
movie is routinely dismissed as a failure and
yet, goes on to become a success, we suspect
that the critics have been napping. '
As we look forward to our celebration of
Christmas at Advent’s end, let us heed the
words of Jesus: “Be on guard!” Christ’s
coming does not always coincide with our
calendar. If He is “born” into our midst
unbeknownst to us, then we-not He-are the
real sleepers.
A Time For Gratitude And Generosity
Father Gerald Peterson
Archdiocesan Rural Life Director
Thanksgiving Day is an American feast,
and a beautiful one, indeed. The annual
observance we are keeping this week goes
back, I believe, to 1623 in Massachusetts,
when our forefathers knelt to give thanks to
God for the meager crop they harvested their
first year in the new land. They were very
much aware of their dependence on God for
their livelihood through that winter..We have
grown to become the most affluent country in
the world. Are we aware of our blessings or do
we take them for granted?
Two attitudes are most appropriate at
Thanksgiving time. In the first place is
-ratitude. St. Paul reminds us: “Dedicate
yourself to thankfulness . . . Give thanks to
God the Father through him (Christ)” (Col. 3:
15& 17).
We are a Eucharistic people. Therefore in
this period of the autumn harvest, those
words which are repeated when Catholics
gather for the Eucharist seem to be so
appropriate:
“Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation.
Through your goodness we have this bread to
offer which earth has given and human hands
have made.”
Through the vast grain belt stretching
across a large portion of our nation, God has
entrusted to us some of the earth’s most
productive soil, with a mild climate and
sufficient rainfall for an abundant harvest.
At Thanksgiving time, not only the
farmers, but all of us who share in the fruits of
their labors, with humility and thankfulness
should make our own the prayer of Jesus:
“Father, Lord of heaven and earth, to You I
offer praise” (Luke 10:21).
Just on the material level, we can count our
blessings in this land of plenty. The majority
of the people of the world are not so fortunate
as we are. We can be proud of the fact that our
country produces 25 percent of the world’s
food. Very few of us have ever experienced
real hunger from a lack of enough to eat. Yet
one out of every four people in the world goes
to bed hungry.
Therefore, along with a spirit of gratitude
at Thanksgiving time, we need the virtue of
generosity, “a generosity which arises from
the fact that ‘God destined the earth and all
peoples so that all created things would be
shared fairly by all mankind under the
guidance of justice tempered by charity’.”
(Homily by Pope John Paul II at Living
History Farm in Iowa on Oct. 4,1979).
As Americans blessed with such productive
land we are stewards of a gift from God which
must be shared with all mankind. We have the
potential to provide food for the millions who
have nothing to eat and thus help to rid the
world of famine.
“Recall the time when Jesus saw the
hungry crowd gathered on the hillside. What
was His response? He did not content Himself
with expressing His compassion. He gave His
disciples the command: ‘Give them something
to eat yourself’ (Mt. 14:16). Did He not
intend those same words for us today, for us
who live at the closing of the 20th century, for
us who have the means available to feed the
hungry of the world?” (Pope John Paul II’s
Iowa address.)
Personally, I feel we would be living more
in accord with Jesus’ teachings and would be a
more secure nation, if our government’s
Recently I walked the road from Ai to
Michmash, biblical towns a few miles from
each other. The road is still very much the way
it was when Jesus walked here 2,000 years
ago.
During the weeks of Advent, I ask you to
walk along with me in the land of Jesus. We
will look at the land, we will listen to Jesus’
words and, I hope we will better be able to
prepare for Christmas.
This road from Ai south to Michmash:
What is it like?
Think of the rolling, dry hills, with their
camel-colored grasses, so common in
California. On the slopes of these hills place
olive groves. In the valleys, in between the
hillsides, imagine small plots of reddish-brown
earth, not much larger than a good-sized
building lot, and on these plots, plant grain.
Everywhere, just everywhere, imagine
broken stones, from the size of a fist to the
size of a football.
These stones play a very important part in
our story. Each year, as the local farmers say,
their first crop is stones. When the plows cut
through the soil they turn up more stones.
The smaller ones are left lying where they are,
but the larger ones must be carried to the
edges of the fields where they are placed in
piles.
Over the years, these piles of stones have
become walls running along either side of the
roads.
In the Holy Land, good soil is scarce, so the
roads don’t cut across the small plots of usable
soil - they go around them. The roads, as a
result, are curved and winding, skirting fields,
diverting around groves of olives and figs and
grapes, and shunted onto the plates of stone
where the bedrock that forms the hills has
been exposed by rain and wind erosion.
Furthermore, the roads are not wide.
Between the shoulder-high walls of piled
stones they are not more than 10 to 12 feet
wide, just enough to allow passage in either
emphasis was on feeding the hungry of the
world instead of on building MX missiles,
Trident submarines and B-l bombers. We have
the capability of alleviating hunger and
starvation. All that is needed is the generosity.
Gratitude and generosity go hand in hand.
God has blessed America, our beloved
country. “Let us give thanks to the Lord, our
God.” May the spirit of “Thanksgiving”
motivate us to be generous stewards of God’s
gifts.
direction. W’here the roads wind up steep
slopes or pass over the exposed bedrock, they
are no different from the backpackers’ trails
found in some of our mountain ranges.
Why do I mention this? Because Jesus said
“I am the way,” and I want to give you a
picture of what he meant. When we hear this
statement, I suspect that we think of a way of
life, we think of moral values, or a spiritual
outlook on life.
This, of course, is all well and good. But it
would be a mistake to overlook the obvious.
For the people of Jesus’ time, “the way”
meant something more. It meant the hours
spent on roads like the one from Ai to
Michmash.
My party’s journey led first over long
sections of hard-packed earth strewn liberally
with rocks the size of baseballs. They were so
close to one another that I could not avoid
stepping on them, turning my ankle in every
possible direction with each step.
My expensive, thick-soled, well-designed
American walking shoes barely provided
enough protection against serious bruises.
And yet Jesus and his people would have gone
over this same road barefoot.
Our way led then through
clothes-penetrating limestone dust, and up
across a promontory of exposed, uneven
bedrock, the sun hot on our heads and
shoulders. Jesus’ people would have walked
this way both in the summer’s fierce
semidesert heat, and in the cold rains and
winds of winter.
They had no choice. Travel meant the use
of these roads, these “ways.” Jesus said, “I am
the way.” An image emerges of foot-bruising
travel through a difficult landscape.
Why do I mention this as we begin Advent?
Because the rebirth of Christ’s life in us
requires effort. I invite you to make that
effort - the effort of following Christ on his
way.
Together, we will listen to his words, and
together we will prepare for his birth at
Christmas. (NC News Service)
The Road From Ai To Michmash
Father David K. O’Rourke O.P.