Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord, Who Made Heaven And Earth

And His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Today at Gaston Hall (Georgetown University), John Podesta, CEO/Founder of the Center for American Progress invited the esteemed His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to address an audience which included the Papal Nuncio Pietro Sambi, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Ambassador to Greece, and many other dignitaries. John Podesta's mother was Eastern/Greek Orthodox and his father Roman Catholic so his very existence embodies an Ecumenical Peace of sorts (much like my Presbyterian mother and Irish Catholic/German Lutheran hybrid Dad-which might explain my poor catechises which I hope to make up with more Heart.)

The first thing I noticed was the Nuncio pointing to the prominent "IHS" insignia well visible above the podium. It looked newly painted in fact with a cross atop it. The significance of this will elude you unless you followed the right wing blogsmearers following Obama's speech at the same venue where they accused the President of Georgetown of obscuring it or "painting it over."


His All Holiness Bartholomew (can I call you "Bart?"- on second thought...) gave a really wonderful biblical exegetical foundational explanation of the moral underpinnings of three policy areas. Like a lawyer, this apostolic successor of Saint Andrew, made his three oral argument points, he broke down the scriptural commands motivating action in the areas of (a) Non-violence, (b) Philanthropy/Health Care and (c) the Environment. He demonstrated how a conservative religious body with a quarter billion people following Christ can have what in America might be viewed as "progressive" ideas about these issues.



Christianity, properly understood, is really a revolutionary religion, he opened with. It contained within it a radical notion that inspired the martyrdom of the first century after Christ's death- the notion that one should not curse one's persecutors but bless them and pray for them. Do not return evil for evil. This departed from the old 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' notion that retribution must be sought as a foundational justice principle. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 expresses a radical new way of living that required a transformation of heart, an expansion into forgiveness of the undeserving (because that same undeserved Grace is given to you) more into the character and likeness of God in whose image man is created:



- 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying: 3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.





Forgiveness meant something different- it meant turning the other cheek. Hard to grasp- easier to punch back. The more one understands the depth of one's soul's need for God the easier it should be to show God's Mercy to the offending person. This notion transformed understandings of Justice, such that it had to be understood in the context of mercy and the tender-heartedness of God's everlasting Love for those in covenant with Him through Christ.


In the first century the Romans mercilessly killed off many Christians. Nero was a mad nut-job making teaki torches out of Christians burning them at the stake to light his gardens and making a different kind of "special olympics" to see who could wrestle a lion and last the longest while being delimbed as the lions were cheered by Roman crowds. Constantine made Christianity an official state religion. (mother "Hellen of the Cross, etc...history lesson for another day.) The Martyrdom of these early Christians enforced the belief that love was stronger than death and this love could and would conquer the evils of the world and the Grace of God that saved souls compelled the forgiveness of one's persecutors. Christianity spread, noted the Holy Man, "like a cleansing fire" throughout the Empire on this principle. The good Holy Man then noted that Martin Luther King derived his ideas of non-violence directly from scripture and from those inspired by it. He studied Ghandi who in turn was guided by an Orthodox Priest and the writings of a Russian Orthodox writer Leo Tolstoy with whom Ghandi was in communication. All these writers, thinkers, activists informed Martin Luther's belief that hatred could be conquered by Love- non-violently.



Secondly, he noted that the word "Philanthropy" means Love of People. Philos (love of a friendship bonding kind as distinguished from eros or agape) and Anthropy- People.

He noted that Matthew 25, the "Parable of the Last Judgment" passage gives us clear instructions on how we are to construct social policy-if we Love our Neighbor as Ourselves truly.



It is detailed. Leaves little room for fudging or loopholes -it's clear as day.



34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'



I was ill and you looked after me.

In so much as you did this to these, the least of my brethren (brothers) you did it to me.

It's really simple.

This statement seems to be a direct hit across the bows of those high browed high financed lobbying outfits that would try to quash the Health Care legislation for the political sport of it and to shame Obama for 2010 gains.

This taking care of ill people is foundational to a society trying to live in covenant with Christ.

The Holy Man noted that Saint Basil (370 AD) was the first known man to have a hospital with professional staff-all free in Cappadoccia (now Turkey). Healing is clearly part of what Jesus did to demonstrate his love for people- and he didn't charge them.

He gave his apostles and disciples powers of healing also. You too will lay hands on the sick and they will be healed. People passing merely the shadow of the cloak of Peter were cured. Merely touching the hem of Jesus' garment cured a woman of a 12 year hemorrhage. He cured anyone who got near him or anyone who asked him for healing. The act of asking was an act of Faith.

[The Eucharist has healing power because it embodies the force of the whole ONE creator within it.-my editorial aside, he didn't say that]

This Patriarch noted that universal access to free medical care is something that as a society we have a moral obligation to instill. It is more than an obligation- it is a command.

The third area he touched upon regarded our stewardship of the environment and the requirement not to be tyrants over the earth but caretakers of it. He indicated that environmental polluters were "sinners"- and greed out of control motivated a lack of regard for
the fellow planet-roommates as they poison the ecosystems of the earth.



Who said, we should not ask whether God is on our side but rather whether we are on God's side?

BIG THANK YOU to John Podesta and the CAP for the invite. As I sat there I recalled I attended my Georgetown Law School graduation Mass in Gaston Hall 22 years ago and can't believe I am still standing (blogging!) 22 years later.