{"id":16938,"date":"2018-06-26T09:29:27","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T13:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16938"},"modified":"2018-06-26T09:42:20","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T13:42:20","slug":"protecting-the-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16938","title":{"rendered":"Protecting the System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Rohr<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday, June 26, 2018<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L9MxXsg9ct0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>Feast of John the Baptist<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen the economic institution is our primary lens, as it is in the U.S., religion tends to be diluted by pragmatic, win\/lose, and power attitudes. God is bought and sold more than loved, waited for, or surrendered to. This is why Jesus\u2019 anger (and even destruction of property) was aimed at those selling and buying in the temple (see Matthew 21:12).<br \/>\nI once saw a cartoon in the New Yorker depicting a pedestal holding a dollar. People are bowing to the enshrined bill, and one of them says, \u201cThe reason I like this religion is that at least we\u2019re not hypocritical.\u201d Americans have this dangerous illusion that we\u2019re a religious people. Yet it\u2019s evident that God is not on the pedestal here. Clearly our consumer system is the priority, and everything else is subservient.<br \/>\nI once was teaching a class that was to be attended by a wealthy banker. I had been warned that he might take me to task for my criticism of the American Way, so I was prepared for the worst. As I talked, I watched him listening attentively, occasionally becoming stiff-shouldered. Sure enough, at break time he headed right for the podium.<br \/>\n\u201cFather,\u201d he said, putting his hands on my shoulders, \u201cI\u2019ve got something to tell you. Not only is what you said true, but it\u2019s much truer than you even imagine.\u201d Then he explained to me a study documenting that the United States government\u2019s savings and loan bailout of 1989 was the biggest transfer of money from the poor to the rich in human history.<br \/>\n\u201cBut there\u2019s really no one to blame,\u201d he added, in spite of the visible few who went to jail for their corrupt actions. \u201cThe whole system is skewed to protect those at the top at all costs.\u201d In fact, I added, it\u2019s to protect the system itself, because the system is our goal. We abhor and denigrate welfare for the poor but hardly blink at welfare for corporations or for the banking and military systems. Money is tight for education, health care, and other public services but our military budget only continues to grow.<br \/>\nPaul Hawken, an American entrepreneur and environmentalist, shares a similar insight he learned from a farmer in Maine:<br \/>\nThe problem with the United States is that it usually hits exactly what it is aiming at. And for decades now, we have aimed for money and possessions. We got it. It was not evenly distributed and is now highly concentrated, posing as great a threat to democracy as any foreign power ever did, but that is what this country made\u2014money. In the process, we completely forgot that success and failure, when measured by currency alone, are impostors, and that our lives, the transience of which often becomes evident all too late, can have little meaning unless we feel in our passing that we were able to serve the nature and humanity [and God] that gave us our breath and soul. [1]<\/p>\n<p>____________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling<\/p>\n<p>STAY CALMLY CONSCIOUS OF ME today, no matter what. Remember that I go before you as well as with you into the day. Nothing takes Me by surprise. I will not allow circumstances to overwhelm you so long as you look to Me. I will help you cope with whatever the moment presents. Collaborating with Me brings blessings that far outweigh all your troubles. Awareness of My Presence contains Joy that can endure all eventualities.<\/p>\n<p>PSALM 23:1\u20134 NKJV; The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.<\/p>\n<p>2 CORINTHIANS 4:16\u201317; therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.<\/p>\n<p>PSALM 28:7;\u00a0The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Rohr Tuesday, June 26, 2018 Feast of John the Baptist When the economic institution is our primary lens, as it is in the U.S., religion tends to be diluted by pragmatic, win\/lose, and power attitudes. God is bought and sold more than loved, waited for, or surrendered to. This is why Jesus\u2019 anger (and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16938"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16938"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16942,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16938\/revisions\/16942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}