All Souls (November 2)

 

All Souls (November 2)

Readings: Wisdom 3:1-9  Romans 6:3-9  John 6:37-40

            The readings for the feast of All Souls proclaim the Christian belief in God’s victory over the powers of sin and death through the resurrection of Christ and his will to save all humans who are called to turn from sin and embrace a life of self-sacrificing love. In the Roman Catholic tradition we pray for the souls of the faithful departed who at the moment of death may still need to be purified from the power of sin.  The Church provides many options for the readings at the Masses for All Souls, but all of them affirm these Christian beliefs.

            The reading from the Book of Wisdom was originally written in Greek for Jews about a century before Christ who were living in a worldly Greek culture that tempted them to give up their faith in immortality and obeying the Torah’s commands and adopt a worldly pleasure-seeking way of life.  In chapter 2, “the wicked” argue, “Brief and troublesome is our lifetime” (2:1-5) and then pursue lives of wanton pleasure, making their own strength the norm of justice (2:6-11). Finally, they decide to persecute and kill “the just one” who “reproaches us for transgressions of the law” (2:12-19).  They reason: “Let us condemn him to a shameful death/ for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”  But the author of Wisdom believes that these worldly men have erred because they did not know “the hidden counsels of God” who rewards the innocent soul of the just (2:21-22) and who formed man “to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him” (2:23-24).     

            Our reading proclaims the final fate of the just.  Contrary to the foolish thoughts of the wicked who presume that the just are dead, afflicted and destroyed, they are “in peace” with God.  Although in the sight of others they seemed punished, the just, after being chastised and tried, have been found worthy of God and shall be greatly blessed.  “As gold in the furnace, he (God) proved them/ and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.”  Their final eschatological destiny will be to “judge nations and rule over peoples” with the Lord as “their King forever.”  The just will “understand truth,” abide with God “in love: because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,/ and his care is with his elect.”

            In the second reading from Romans 6, Paul proclaims the effect of resurrection faith on the present and future life of the Christian.  Paul’s diatribe in this section (6:1-9) raises and answers a possible objection to the gospel he preaches; for both Jews and Gentiles salvation from sin’s power is through faith in the crucified and risen Christ rather than through observance of the Torah.  The question is: does Paul’s gospel, which insists that both Jews and Gentiles were under sin’s dominion when Christ died for them, encourage continuation in sin “that grace may abound” (6:1)?  Paul’s answer is a definitive no, which he substantiates by reflecting on the effect of the baptism that Christian converts received.  Paul interprets Christian baptism as an entrance into Christ’s death and resurrection, in which the old self is crucified; the Christian is to be no longer enslaved to sin but to live in a newness of life.  Christian baptism involves an ethical conversion, a “death” to sin and a “resurrection” into a life of being “alive for God in Christ Jesus.” Freed from the power of death, the baptized Christian is filled with hope.  “If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.  We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.”

            In the Gospel from John’s bread-of-life discourse Jesus solemnly announces to those who have seen his miracle of the loaves and fishes that all who believe in him as “the bread of God” come down to give life to the world shall have eternal life and be raised up on the last day.  Jesus proclaims that he has come down from heaven, not to do his own will, but that of the Father who sent him.  Then in two parallel statements Jesus affirms God’s will is to save all humanity.  First, he announces that it is the will of the one who sent me “that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but raise it up on the last day.”  Secondly, he proclaims that the Father’s will is “that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”  On the Feast of All Souls we celebrate this saving mystery in behalf of all our beloved departed. 

            We should also never lose sight of the fact that behind John’s image of Jesus as “the bread of life” stands his passion, death and resurrection.  The Jesus who is the bread that gives life to the world is the self-sacrificing Jesus who has come to lay down his life for his friends.  He is also the Jesus who teaches his disciples at the Last Supper to imitate him.

                        I give you a new commandment: love one another;

                        just as I have loved you, you must love one another.

                        By this love you have for one another,

                        everyone will know you are my disciples.  (John 13:34-35)   

 All Saints (November 1)

Readings: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14  1 John 3:1-3  

Matthew 5:1-12

            The feast of All Saints marks a shift in the character of the readings proclaimed in Ordinary Time from the theme of the Christian community’s growth in grace to a concern with the last things.  The readings for all Saints reflect the feast’s original character as a celebration of Christian martyrdom in connection with the Easter season; they present the challenge of a way of life modeled on Jesus and the great heroes of the faith in the context of belief in the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom over sin and death.

            The reading from Revelation 7 offers a consoling vision of the future that awaits the saints who have endured trial and persecution from the powers of evil in the present world order.  Revelation is an apocalyptic work written in the late first century C.E. by the prophet John of Patmos for seven churches in Asia Minor who were faced with Jewish hostility, public suspicion, sporadic Roman prosecution, imprisonment and even execution.  Many believers were tempted to renounce their belief in Christ and conform to the decadence of Roman society.  John’s visions of God and the lamb’s ultimate triumph over the forces of evil, especially Rome, are meant to strengthen Christian whose faith was wavering, by assuring them that death for Christ is not defeat but victory.

            Revelation 7 is part of the vision of the seven seals (6:1-8:6).  In an interlude between the sixth and seven seals, John describes two visions which assure the faithful that they are protected from God’s judgment.  Following a pattern found in Ezekiel 9, John describes the instructions for sealing the servants of God (the faithful) before the four angels ravage the land and sea.  A symbolic full number of 144,000 from every tribe of Israel are so marked.  In the second vision, John sees a huge crowd from every nation, race, people and tongue joyfully participating in the heavenly liturgy before the throne of God and the lamb (the crucified and resurrected Jesus).  They are dressed in long white robes of glory and are holding the palm branches of victory in their hands.  The vision’s climax comes when John learns from one of the elders that “these are the ones who have survived the great period of trial; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

            The second reading from 1 John 3 is a theological reflection and exhortation based on what God has bestowed on Christians through the act of divine love given in Christ.  In the tender language of first-person plural address, the author reminds us that we are already “children of God,” and though the mystery of what we shall later be has not yet come to light, we may be confident that we shall see God as God is.  This hope should give us the assurance to keep ourselves pure, that is, to love one another as Christ has loved us, in the face of the world’s hostility which does not recognize us just as it failed to recognize the son.

            The Gospel is the beginning of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, the first of the evangelist’s five great discourses proclaiming the prophetic fulfillment of God’s law (Matthew 5-7).  The setting and tone are solemn and apocalyptic.  Jesus goes up a mountainside, a place of revelation like Sinai in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 19-40).  Seating himself in the position of teacher, he proclaims the fulfillment of the law in the way the Lord first announced the law on Sinai (Ex 20:1-17).  His disciples will have the role of Moses: handing down the revelation to the nations (Matt 28:16-20).

            Jesus’ proclamation begins with the beatitudes, a joyful announcement of God’s final blessing for the `anawim who totally depend on God for their vindication.  Five of the beatitudes reflect what might be called “passive” qualities: being spiritually poor, mourning, hungering for justice and being persecuted.  Three are more active: showing mercy, being single-hearted and making peace.  All mirror Mathew’s Jesus, the truly happy person who embodies the joy the kingdom brings and, obediently trusting his Father, suffers death for the sake of the kingdom (see Matt 10:24-42; 11:25-30).

 31^st Sunday of Ordinary Time A

Readings: Malachi 1:14‑2:2,8‑10  1 Thessalonians 2:7‑9,13  

  Matthew 23:1‑12

            This Sunday's liturgy is concerned with leadership in the community of God's people.  The reading from Malachi is a stinging indictment of the Levites for careless neglect of their duty to instruct Israel in Torah, while Paul provides a positive example of a leader who was willing to share his very life in preaching "God's good tidings."   Finally in Matthew, Jesus attacks the teaching of “the scribes and Pharisees” because “their deeds are few” and “all their works are performed to be seen.”  Let us be mindful that true leadership in the Christian community is service to God and others, as we sing the  responsorial psalm, "In you, Lord, I have found my peace" (Ps  131).

            The prophecy in the Book of Malachi was spoken after the Jewish people returned from their captivity in Babylon and rebuilt the temple.  Unfortunately in the post‑exilic community the Levitical priests did not provide proper leadership.  The prophet castigates them for their failure to "lay . . . to heart" the glory of Lord's name and for "turning away from the path" of the Torah which they were obligated to teach.  Because the Levites were partial in their judgments in legal matters, the prophet condemns them in the name of the Lord of hosts:

                        You have made void the covenant of Levi . . .

                        I, therefore, have made you contemptible

                        and base before all the people . . .

            In sharp contrast to the negligent leadership of the post‑exilic Levites, Paul defends his preaching of the gospel among the Thessalonians by recalling how he and his apostolic co‑workers "were as gentle as any nursing mother fondling her little ones."  Rather than being a financial burden on the Thessalonians, Paul's group "worked day and night" while they were preaching the gospel.  Paul can look back at his preaching to them with gratitude to God because they did not confuse it with "the word of men" who use rhetoric and teach for a fee; rather, they received his message as "the word of God."

            In the Gospel Jesus tells "the crowds and his disciples" not to follow the example of leadership set by “the scribes and Pharisees.”  This means that Matthew intended this warning for his own Christian church.  Although the scribes and Pharisees are to be respected because their teaching office goes back to Moses, they are not to be imitated because of their hypocrisy in using their authority to oppress others and to advance themselves.   The first example Jesus cites is that “Their words are bold, but their deeds are few.”  Rather than teaching a heartfelt love for the important commands of the Torah, the scribes and Pharisees “bind up heavy loads . . ., while they themselves will not lift a finger to budge them.”   Secondly, Jesus laments that “all their works are performed to be seen.”  They have made religion a matter of prestige rather than service.  Jesus cites several examples of their concern for status symbols: their wide phylacteries and huge tassels which give them higher visibility at prayer and their fondness for places of honor and for obsequious greetings and titles.

            In contrast to the oppressive and pompous hierarchy of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus tells his disciples that there is to be no rank and hierarchy among them.  The reasons are simple.  They have only one teacher, “the Messiah,” and they have only one father, “the One in heaven.”  Greatness in the community of Jesus' followers is based on service and humility rather than prestige of office.

                        The greatest among you will be the one who serves

                        the rest.  Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled,

                        but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

 Readings: Exodus 22:20‑26                                         

1 Thessalonians 1:5‑10           Matthew 22:34‑40

            In today's Gospel Jesus, facing an extremely hostile situation, teaches that the whole of the Jewish Torah and the teaching of the prophets can be summarized in the twofold command to love God and neighbor.  Because the love of God cannot be separated from the command to love the neighbor, the Lord's Torah is a source of protection for the weak and needy.  Let us thank God for the gift of the Torah in the words of the responsorial psalm: "I love you, Lord, my strength" (Ps 18).

            The laws in our Exodus reading are from the Book of the Covenant which is a law code designed for Israel's settled agricultural life in the land of Canaan.  They all protect the rights of the weakest members of ancient society.  Israelites are forbidden to molest resident aliens; they are not to wrong widows and orphans, and they are not to demand interest from the poor who are forced to go into debt.  Two reasons are given for these laws.  First of all, the Israelites should remember their own experience of being oppressed aliens in Egypt.  Secondly, God is compassionate, and therefore he hears the cries of the oppressed and will act to vindicate them.

            In the reading from Thessalonians Paul continues his defense of his apostolic work in that community by recalling the great success that his preaching of the gospel had among them.  He goes on to praise them for "receiving the word despite great trials."   He notes that they have become a model for the churches in Macedonia and Achaia because of their sincere conversion from idolatry to the service of the one "living and true God" as they await the return of the resurrected Jesus.

            The Gospel continues the controversies between Jesus and the religious leaders in the Temple which have been the subject of our readings from Matthew for the last several Sundays.  In this week's Gospel the Pharisees, having heard Jesus silence the Sadducees in a debate about resurrection, "attempt to trip him up" on a matter of major concern to them: the importance of the Mosaic Torah.  A lawyer, representing the Pharisees, asks him, “Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?”   One must remember that the Torah contains 613 precepts.  Some rabbis held that all were equally important, while others offered some sort of summary or gradation of the commands.  Jesus' answer is deeply rooted in the traditions of his people.  He names as the greatest command the love of God demanded in the greatest Jewish prayer, the Shema`: "Hear, O Israel . . . You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole self, and with all your mind" (Deut 6:4‑5).  Jesus then goes on to link this to a second command taken from  the Holiness Code in the Book of Leviticus: "You shall love your  neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18).  For Jesus these commands are the two pegs on which hang the whole of the Torah and the prophets.  All their teachings are founded on these two commands, and all the details of the Torah legislation are reducible to them.  When we are confused by the endless controversies and hostilities that tend to swirl around religion, Jesus' simple and straightforward teaching provides a welcome guide.

29th Sunday of the Year A

 29^th Sunday of the Year A

Readings: Isaiah 45:1, 4‑6  1 Thessalonians 1:1‑5  Matthew 22:15‑  21

            Throughout much of the biblical period the Jewish people were dominated by various foreign powers: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, the Greeks, and finally Rome.  In today's readings both Second Isaiah and Jesus offer us visions of how God's power and demands are operative, even in situations where the chosen people have no political power.  As we listen to the wonders of God's power in shaping human events for his saving purposes, let us acknowledge his greatness in the words of the responsorial psalm: "Give the Lord glory and honor" (Ps 96).

            The Isaiah reading is the famous Cyrus oracle of Second Isaiah in which the prophet announces that the Persian king Cyrus is God's "anointed" agent for freeing the exiled Jews from their captivity in Babylon.  Although Cyrus does not even know the Lord's name, from the prophet's perspective, his victories over nations, including Babylon, are the Lord's actions "for the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel, my chosen one."  

            The prophet's vision separates God's saving plan from Israel's political ambitions.  Many exiles may have preferred a Jewish deliverer like Moses or David, but Second Isaiah daringly gives the pagan king, Cyrus, the title of "anointed" or Messiah.   If God can use an unbelieving, foreign king to further his saving purposes, then Israel's task is not to become a great political power.  Rather, she is called to be a "servant" and "witness" to the one true God (see chapters 42, 44-45, 53).

            For the next several weeks, the Epistle reading will be taken from the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, probably the earliest writing in the New Testament.  This Sunday we have Paul's greeting at the beginning of the letter.  Because of tensions within the community, Paul had to leave Thessalonica rather abruptly, and therefore in the traditional thanksgiving section, he assures the Thessalonian Christians of his continued union with them in prayer and encourages them to maintain their commitment to the Christian virtues: faith, love and hope.

"We keep thanking God for all of you and we remember you in our prayers, for we constantly are mindful before our God and Father of the way you are proving   your faith, and laboring in love, and showing constancy in hope in your Lord Jesus Christ."

            There has also been some criticism of Paul since his departure, and, therefore, he begins to defend the way in which he preached the gospel among them.  Paul insists that his preaching was not a matter of mere rhetoric but an authentic preaching of the gospel.

                         "Our preaching of the gospel proved not a mere matter of words for you but one of power; it

was carried on in the Holy Spirit and out of complete conviction."

            This Sunday's Gospel continues the controversies between Jesus and the religious leaders who are attempting to "trap him in speech" during his last days in Jerusalem.  The question of paying taxes to the Roman emperor is raised by two groups who had very different views on the question.  The Pharisees, as devotees to the Jewish written and oral law, opposed the tax because it forced them to admit Israel's subjection to pagan Rome and to use coinage bearing the image of Caesar.  But the Herodians, who supported the descendants of Herod the Great, advocated cooperation with Rome.  In this situation, Jesus apparently cannot win, when the disciples of the Pharisees ask: “Is it lawful to pay tax to the emperor or not?”  Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by asking them for a coin of tribute.  He does not carry such coins; they do.  His question goes on to intimate that to carry such coins, bearing Caesar's image, is to cooperate with the emperor’s rule.

                         "Why are you trying to trip me up, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax . . . Whose head is this, and whose inscription?"

The Pharisees are forced to say the image is “Caesar's,” and they thereby concede that they recognize the claims of Rome on their lives.  This makes the meaning of Jesus' final challenge something like this.  Because you carry Caesar's coin, it is clear that you "render to Caesar what is Caesar's," but I challenge you hypocrites to "give to God what is God's."  

            Throughout Christian history many have been tempted to identify a particular political cause with God's will.  Jesus' challenge forces us to be aware that God's demands and purposes for universal salvation transcend any particular political project.

28th Sunday of the Year A

Nikola Saric

 28^th Sunday of the Year A

Readings: Isaiah 25:6‑10  Philippians 4:12‑14, 19‑20  Matthew  22:1‑14

            In today's Gospel Jesus attacks the chief priest and elders with the parable of the wedding feast.  As we hear the repeated  invitations to come to God's joyful banquet, let us sing in hope  the refrain of this Sunday's responsorial psalm: "I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Ps 23).

            Isaiah's vision in the first reading gives a joyful picture of the final messianic banquet on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.  There are places for both Jews and Gentiles at the "feast of rich food and choice wines."  The prophet envisions "the Lord of hosts" providing "for all peoples" and destroying "the veil that veils all peoples."  He also speaks of the Lord God removing "the reproach of his people" (the Jews) who rejoice in his salvation.     

            On that day it will be said:

                          "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!

                          This is the Lord for whom we looked;

                           let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"

            The second reading continues the selections from Paul's letter to the Philippians with a "thank you note" to the community for the care package they have sent to him in prison through their brother Epaphroditus.  It reflects Paul's understanding of the "share" that he and the church at Philippi have in the spreading of the gospel of the crucified Christ.  Paul, somewhat proud of  his capacity to suffer for the gospel, is almost embarrassed by the gift, and therefore begins by insisting that in Christ, he  has "learned how to cope with every circumstance‑‑ how to eat well  or go hungry, to be well provided for or do without."  But, almost despite his tendency to rugged independence in Christ, Paul is grateful for the Philippians' "share" in his "hardships," and he prays that God in turn will supply their needs in Christ.

            The parable of the king's wedding feast for his son is the last of three parables that Jesus addresses to the chief priests and elders, condemning them for their failure to respond to God's repeated calls to repentance and entrance into the kingdom.   (Recall the two previous Sundays in which we read the parables of the two sons and the wicked tenants.) 

            The allegory of the wedding feast begins with great joy as the king issues a twofold invitation to the guests who have been invited to his son's wedding feast.

                         “Tell those who were invited, See, I have my dinner

                         prepared!  My bullocks and corn‑fed cattle are killed;

                        everything is ready.  Come to the feast.”

Sadly, the invited guests refuse both invitations out of worldly concerns and even react violently against the king's servants.

                 Some ignored the invitation and went their way,

                        one to his farm, another to his business. 

                        The rest laid hold of his servants, insulted them,

                        and killed them.

At this point, it is clear that the parable is an allegory for the religious leaders' repeated refusal to respond to God's invitation to the son's kingdom and the joys of the messianic banquet.

            The king's response is twofold.  In anger, he sends his army against the leaders' city to destroy it, an allegory for the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies in 70 A.D.  And secondly, he sends his servants “into the byroads" to "invite to the wedding anyone you come upon."  For Matthew, this is an allegory for the spread of the gospel message among the Gentiles. These new guests fill up the wedding hall, but, we learn, they are made up of both “bad as well as good.” 

            For Matthew, to be invited to the banquet is not enough.   One must also respond with the proper deeds of repentance and good works (see Matt 5:13‑48), and therefore he adds a second  parable about the man without the proper wedding garment who is asked by the king, “My friend how is it you came in here not  properly dressed?”  Those "invited are many," but they must respond properly if they are to be considered the elect who will fully enjoy the wedding feast of the son.

            Although Matthew understood this parable as an allegory for the rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders of his time, we, Christians living in the early twenty-first century, should hear the parable as an invitation and warning not to miss the joyful summons to experience God's kingdom in the midst of our busy lives.  In the parable some of those invited respond violently, but others miss the invitation simply because they are distracted by the ordinary affairs of life.  “Some ignored the invitation and went their way, one to his farm, another to his business.”       

27th Sunday of the Year A

Richard Vervoorn

 27^th Sunday of the Year A

Readings: Isaiah 5:1‑7  Philippians 4:6‑9  

Matthew 21:33‑43

            Nothing hurts us more than the ingratitude and irresponsibility of loved ones.  In this Sunday's readings both Isaiah's song of the vineyard and Jesus' parable of the wicked tenants tell us that God too is wounded by ingratitude and expects justice from the people who have received his bountiful blessings.  Aware of our sins in failing to respond to God's favor, let us pray for the opportunity to begin again in the words of the responsorial psalm.

                        Once again, O Lord of hosts,

         look down from heaven, and see;

                        take care of this vine,

                        and protect what your right hand has planted.  (Ps 80:15‑16)

            Isaiah's allegory gives a poignant picture of the Lord's disappointment in Jerusalem and Judah during the 8th century B.C. when both the city and nation were corrupted with injustice and violence.  Using the figure of a "friend" who planted a "vineyard," the prophet begins the lyrics of a love song by describing how his friend lavished care on his vineyard (his beloved). 

         He spaded it, cleared it of stones,

                        and planted the choicest vines;

                        within it he built a watchtower,

                        and hewed out a wine press.

Sadly, when he "looked for the crop of grapes," the vineyard only yielded "wild grapes."  Now the prophet, speaking for his friend, asks the "inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah" to "judge between me and my vineyard."  Surely their sympathy is with the friend who asks "What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?"  They can then understand why the friend decides to give up on the vineyard that yielded wild grapes and "Take away its hedge, give it to grazing,/ break  through its wall, let it be trampled." 

            The parable's punch line comes at the end when the prophet announces:      

          The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,

                        and the men of Judah are his cherished plant;

                        He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!

                        for justice, but hark, the outcry!

            The second reading continues the selections from Philippians with Paul's appeal to the community to settle their disputes by coming "to a mutual understanding in the Lord" (Phil 4:2).  He suggests two ways of doing this.  First of all, they are to present their "needs to God in every form of prayer and in petitions full of gratitude."   Their common prayer will give them "God's own peace, which is beyond all understanding."  Secondly, their "thoughts should be wholly directed to all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent,  virtuous, or worthy of praise."  Paul again promises that if they live in this way, and in imitation of what he has done and taught, "Then will the God of peace be with you."

            The parable of the wicked tenants continues Jesus' attack on the chief priests and elders which began with the parable of the two sons in last week's gospel.  Using the imagery of Isaiah's song of the vineyard, Jesus' parable is an allegory for the religious leaders' repeated rejections of God's call for justice and their plans to now kill Jesus.  The parable begins with vineyard owner's attempts to collect rent from his tenants in the form of a share of the grapes at vintage time.  We hear that twice the rebellious tenants not only refused to pay the owner but also seized his slaves and “beat one, killed another and stoned a third.”  Finally, the vineyard owner decides to send his son, thinking, “They will respect my son.”  When the wicked tenants see the son, they recognize him as the heir and decide to kill him so that they may “have his inheritance.”  The parable ends with the tenants apparently succeeding in their plan.  They seize the son, drag him outside the vineyard, and kill him.  But the tenants have tragically miscalculated, for the vineyard owner is still alive, and so Jesus asks the chief priest and elders, “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to those tenants when he comes?”  With great irony, the leaders condemn themselves by saying, “He will bring that wicked crowd to a bad end and lease his vineyard out to others who will see to it that he has grapes at vintage time.”

            Rather than simply limiting this parable to a judgment of the chief priests and elders of Jesus' time, let us hear it as a warning to ourselves.  We, as tenants in the Lord's vineyard, have the responsibility to respond to God's call for the fruits of right judgment, justice, and peace.  Have we met the challenge or have we attempted to steal the inheritance for ourselves?