2208AFC022522 – Darkness Imitates the Light
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Sirach 27:7 – 7 Do not praise anyone before he speaks, for this is the way people are tested.
1 Corinthians 15:58 – 58 Therefore, my Belovéd, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Luke 6:45 – 45 The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Perhaps you have heard it said, “Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.” I think the key word in that second sentence is “hear.” Perhaps it could be restated as “until you listen to their speech.”
Recently we experienced a discussion during lunch about “The Hammer Song.” Those of a certain age will remember hearing it sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary who recorded it in 1962. The discussion centered on, “What does it mean ‘if I had a hammer?'” The words in the last verse help explain that: It’s the hammer of justice / It’s the bell of freedom / It’s the song about love between / My brothers and my sisters / All over this land. That sounds a lot like something we could all aspire to as an expression of Catholic Social Justice (↔ Click Link and save the PDF.) I played and sang this song dozens of times over the years, happily convinced I was speaking out for the marginalized, for those discriminated against, for the Glory of God. Then, recently, I found out how the song came to be.
The song was first sung by its composers Pete Seeger and Lee Hays at a benefit for Communist Party leaders (↔ Click Link) on trial in 1949. The lyrics were considered so controversial that no commercial publisher would accept responsibility for making it public. And so it lay around for ten or more years outside the hearing of the public and performed only within what we would call today “Leftist supporters.” It was picked up during the turbulent years of protest in the sixties. Bob Dylan also covered it. In fact LOTS of popular musicians sang it, and most of them were singing it as a protest song. I was in High School when PP&M recorded it, and I thought we were talking about segregation and intolerance. We were, in a way, actually promoting extreme leftists’ positions. Seeger allegedly quipped, “The song talks about the tools [of revolution], and we have the tools, and we know how to use them. And we’re going to win.” Everybody will perhaps recall a statement attributed to Soviet Leader Nikita “We will bury you!” What he actually said was “We must take a shovel and dig a deep grave, and bury colonialism as deep as we can.”
PP&M were frequently supporters of these leftist protests, and appeared to support the protests against the Viet Nam war, racism and segregation, Government “interference,” and any perception that America’s place in the world was as crisp and clean as the Government tried to make it seem. We see some of this in our lives today, only it’s even more complicated by the immediacy by which information – and misinformation or disinformation – can be transmitted via MSMOs, social media, and (here in Hawaiʻi) the coconut wireless. Added to that we have the radicalization of participants in the extreme left and right, and then radicalized “religious” zealots, and on top of all that the remarkable, and truly appalling, degree of apathy among a large segment of America, and – well shucks – WE’VE GOT A REAL MESS ON OUR HANDS! There’s an APP for that (I’m not tired of that yet; are you?)
We are in the biggest, baddest, most terrible war humanity has ever faced, and maybe 80% of the World is completely unaware of what’s happening. The Prince of the Air is smashing us to bits, and likely giggling about it every moment. Things we should like to believe in – like the presence of Angels in our lives, or apparitions of Saints (Like our Mother Mary for example) – are condemned and mocked. We hear allegations that such events are works of the Devil, and to prove it the accusers quote the Bible from this passage: 2 Corinthians 11:14 – 14 And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. The darkness can imitate the Light.
It’s a guaranteed fact Brothers and Sisters that Evil is in the midst of all this uproar. Consider this, also from John: 1 John 5:19 – 19 We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. Now, the World would have you believe that every living soul is a child of God. Those who have not studied Catholic Social Justice will perhaps say, “You even state that in the first principle of your doctrine.” NOT SO! The Baptized are the Children of God – all who have received him and accepted him (See John 1:12-13) and are therefore reborn of the Spirit of God. What the principle says is, “The foundation of all Catholic Social Teaching is the inherent dignity of the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God. The Church, therefore, calls for Integral Human Development, which concerns the wellbeing of each person in every dimension: economic, political, social, ecological, and spiritual.”
Our job then Belovéd, is to shed our Light on that darkness! Yes, WE have the Light of Christ if only the Spirit of God is in us; we are born of the Holy Spirit as children of God (see Romans 8:9-10). Belovéd, we must not listen to the World! Remember John 10:27 – 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. Add this as well: 1 John 4:1-4 – Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4 Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Do we see now how to test the spirits? Belovéd, at this point in history there is a plethora of earthlings employed as the antichrist.
“But what if someone gets up on National Television, says ‘Jesus Christ is Lord,’ and then we find out he’s just another crooked politician or fake ‘televangelist’?” Use this axiom: What we do says who we are. Actions speak louder than words. “By their fruits you will know them.” (← That’s from the Readings for 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time Luke 6:39-45) James 4:7 – 7 Submit*[i] yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Does someone you see claim to be a child of God yet openly supports the “Right to abortion?” That kind of bad fruit comes from ‘a rotten tree.’ My dear friend in Arizona says, “Bloom where you’re planted.” Are we planted in the Word or are we planted in the World? Let’s go back to Noel Paul Stookey for an example.
In or around 1967, Stookey was approached by an unnamed fan who told him “I need to talk to you about God (I’m paraphrasing). After a long conversation, Paul’s life was changed (he prefers to be called Noel so I will do that hereafter). He lived as the “Born-Again Christian” about whom we all rejoice. It affected the dynamics of PP&M, but they worked it out. Later, Peter Yarrow asked Noel to write a song for his wedding. Noel came up with “The Wedding Song.” (↔ Music Link) It was a song written after a prayer by Noel asking God to give him the song that would please God most. That tune is the most famous and covered song he ever wrote. He could have made millions off of it. He didn’t do that. He gave it all away to charities because the song was a commissioned song – commissioned not by Peter Yarrow but by God himself. By their fruits you will know them. I cannot listen to that song without choking up, especially at the lines “woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.” That deep, clear, spiritual Truth is indeed inspired by and consistent with God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan. We’ve heard Noel speak in his lyrics and his actions. He deserves our appreciation and understanding for his works. Here’s something else that came up. He continued to be an activist, continued to support the marginalized, downtrodden, and those who had lost hope. He does so now from a better perspective – God’s.
If we will bloom where we’re planted, and if we stay planted in the Word and all that derives from it, we will be always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Darkness can indeed, through the highest Evil, imitate light; but it cannot BE Light. 1 Thessalonians 5:5, 8-9 – 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ so: Bloom in the Light of the Word who is our Lord. Then what we say, what we do, what we think, in whatever ways we live in God, we will be like The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. We must be abundant in the rich Light of the Word. Darkness will flee before us. We know that Evil will dominate everything at some place and time in history – His Story. Some might say we are coming close to that time. Belovéd it is upon us, the tsunami we have been expecting has washed over us because “Impending doom is none the worse / for having fallen / as expected, in darkness.” (See Poetry for Going Home pages 11-14 “Expectations on my 29th Birthday”
Let the Vinedresser prune so the light will shine among the branches.
If you would like to read more about Noel Stookey please click this link.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[i] * hupotassó – Properly, “under God’s arrangement,” i.e. submitting to the Lord (His plan – the APP)
