By FR. JAMES ALTMAN
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Dear family, let it never be said that I don’t have a sense of humor! Every now and then something humorous comes along and I throw it into these meditations, so here you go:
“I was going to tell you a COVID Joke, but there’s a 99.696 percent chance you won’t get it!”
Dear family, as the saying goes, there’s some truth to the humor. As we brace for yet another left-wing lockdown — yet another attempt to undermine our democracy — yet another attempt to drive the final nail in the coffin of our freedom of religion, let us realize and confess the truth that relatively few people actually get real COVID-19, and fewer still die from it. Much of what is going on in the left-wing media amounts to manipulation of flawed data to achieve their ends. We only can be deeply disappointed that so many do not consider the Godlessness of it.
Many do not get what we heard twice in today’s passage from St. John’s Revelation: “Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Consequently, the many actually do go through life living very lukewarm lives, despite the crystal clear warning in Revelation: “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!” How’s that for an image?
And notice that the last book in our Sacred Scriptures is replete with admonitions to repent, repent, and put on the white garment, the white garment that is our ticket into The Wedding Feast of the Lamb. And lest we ever doubt whether repenting and putting on the white garment really matters, let us call to mind the parable Jesus specifically told about it. Remember where the King who threw a wedding feast, and when he came in he found someone not dressed in the wedding garment.
Then remember what happened to that guy. When the King asked him, “Hey, what’s the deal?,” he still did not repent. He was silent when he should have said: “+ Father, forgive me for I have sinned.” So few have ears to hear, and get, this Truth.
The entirety of this Truth is found in today’s Gospel event with Zacchaeus, the tax collector. Yet again, something struck me for the very first time. Now watch. Jesus is coming to town. Zacchaeus knows Jesus is coming to town. Zacchaeus, knowing Jesus’ reputation, really wants to actually see — this Jesus. Let our ears hear again how it all went down.
Zacchaeus, quote “…was seeking to see who Jesus was, but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. In other words, Zacchaeus had never seen Jesus before that day. Remember, this was 2,000 years before instant media and selfies. Zacchaeus only had heard about Jesus’ reputation, but Zacchaeus had never laid eyes upon Jesus. Similarly, Jesus had not laid eyes upon Zacchaeus either. And then what happens?
When Jesus reached the place where Zacchaeus was up in the tree, Jesus looked up and called Zacchaeus by name! Can we imagine how it must have been for Zacchaeus at that moment, when the “Rock Star” of the universe actually called him out by name?!
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”
Zacchaeus was stunned to be called by name. Zacchaeus repented! In fact, Zacchaeus did not just repent, but promised reparation! When he does that, what does Jesus the Lord say to him? “Today salvation has come to this house. . . .”
From this scene with Zacchaeus, we get some big lessons.
Firstly, as it was back then, so it is now: Tax collectors sin greatly when they take too much in taxes.
Over-taxation actually is sinful, it is nothing other than government forced socialism, and so it would be a very good idea if taxing authorities repented like Zacchaeus.
Yesterday my parents were watching a “press conference” where the fawning sycophants — Biden lackeys — threw slow-pitches right down the center of the plate so Biden could answer them. Biden was palavering on about mandatory masking and another lockdown, and essentially saying that if we just do that for another six to eight weeks — roughly two months — COVID danger would go away!
Some states already have started to issue yet more pronouncements under the premise that they are going to “save lives.” But this whole plan-demic caused a 14-day shutdown that was supposed to fit the danger, enabling us to “flatten the curve.” That’s all we heard for days and days, and then weeks and weeks, and now, months and months. Once again remember, as even the avowed atheist Bill Maher said, we cannot sanitize the universe. We cannot eliminate the curve!!! We only can flatten it, and flatten it we have.
In fact, we succeeded so well, dear family, we did so well at the flattening the curve, that the majority of hospitals had a staggering amount of empty beds and had to lay off a bunch of health-care workers! And remember those emergency hospital boats Trump sent to NYC and the West Coast? They packed up and went home almost immediately. And remember the emergency hospitals Trump had the military set up in big arenas — how after a couple weeks, they also just packed up and went home?
Nevertheless, lockdowns, shutdowns, restrictions, continued and got worse. And then many months into it came more lockdowns, and mandatory masking, at a cost of millions and millions each week to the residents of Wisconsin alone.
They keep hammering us about “spikes” in numbers. What happened? I thought the mandatory masking and the anti-social distancing solved the problem?! Yet a couple idiot governors of two Democrat states have issued another dictatorial requirement that people mask up — in their own homes!!! It bears repeating the words of the great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: “A nation always gets the politicians it deserves.” The liberal electorate are getting exactly what they deserve.
It is well to keep in mind that there are many false positives, and many repeat positives.
Nevertheless, let’s just go with the idea that there have been 10 million legitimate positive tests of COVID in the United States. But shop and compare, dear family. In 2009, there were at least 60 million cases of swine flu. And — this is huge — people didn’t need to get tested to find out whether they had it. If they had it, they knew it. This 10 million is minuscule in comparison. But yet, here comes a new wave of lockdowns and masking — again, even though we know — we cannot sanitize the universe.
Dear family, what the French Revolutionists did on the guillotine, and what the Mexican socialists did with the rifle, the Democrats have done without the loss of a single life: They’ve essentially closed the churches. Worse yet, so many shepherds of the Church just let them.
Dear family, enough is enough. Let those with ears to hear, hear. This is Godless and we, the faithful, have had enough.
Dear family, there is need of only one thing: Repentance. We must have a return to Faith in The God Who actually made Heaven and Earth. And we see that kind of repentance in today’s Gospel of Zacchaeus. By climbing that tree, Zacchaeus set aside all earthly pride, which is exactly why Jesus stopped, looked directly at Zacchaeus, and called him by name.
Whenever we repent and set aside our worries over worldly things, whenever we let go of our attachments to Godless worldly things, and seek out Jesus like Zacchaeus did, that is when we will hear Jesus call us — by our name. That is when we will hear Him say: Today — salvation has come to your house.
As the Angel said, let those with ears — hear.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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