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Malachi 1:4. "If Edom says, 'We are shattered but we rebuild the ruins,' the Lord of hosts says, 'They may build, but I will tear down, till they are called the wicked country, the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.'"

 

Building back without turning back is futile. Edom was the land of Esau, Jacob's brother. The people of Edom were thus relatives to the Israelites, but they had a long history of turning away from God and antagonizing God's chosen people (later in this chapter God says of Edom, "A son honors his father ... where is my honor?" Malachi 1:6). So God here says that He will be angry with Edom forever and each time they try to rebuild, He will destroy what they build.

 

It seems appropraite to me today to apply this to our country. We are a nation formed on Judeo-Christian values. Our founding documents refer to all people being valuable, free, and having certain unalienable rights because they are created by God. The United States has made mistakes, but at its core it was made up of people who were striving to form a good and moral nation, and God blessed America. But now we are turning away from the very principles of our founding and going in the complete opposite direction. We celebrate the right of a mother to destroy her child, not even seeing that the child is a child - it is claimed to be nothing, an invading clump of cells in the woman's body; we promote the mutilation of children and encourage their denial of what God created them to be. I could go on and on with all of the ways the United States is going very far astray right now, but in their essence, they tell a story of a nation of people who have turned away from God, dismiss Him in every way, and celebrate themselves, money, power, gender, sexual preference, fame, and a myriad of other things, esentially elevating them to god-like status, since they do not have God Himself.

 

We as a nation are lost, and if we are not already shattered (many are - just look at the mental health, addiction, and suicide crises), we are about to be, I think that is obvious. Any promises to "Build Back Better" here, or in any country that has gone astray like us, is hollow, it cannot be done. Whatever we try to build will be destroyed. We are trying to build a house without a foundation - we will fall again, and continue to fall unless and until we turn back to God.

 

In fact, I think, as a nation, we may be past the point of no return for turning back, but there is always the Church. That is the institution we know will survive. That is where those from all nations can and should turn and find refuge. The Church herself is struggling mightliy right now, but if we are going to rebuild anywhere, it must be there. We know God will not stay angry at His Church forever, we know it is the ship that will see humanity theough the sea of time, even if it is, as now, a strugglng lifeboat!

 

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After I wrote the above, I realized today is the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. The second reading for today is 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11; 16-17, which includes "According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."