...he hs anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor!

Today in the Gospel, Luke gives us the Mission Statement of Jesus.

Even today corporations and banks have their own mission statements often framed upon their walls.

Mission statements are meant to be short, pithy statements that give the main purpose of a business.

Add so it was with Jesus, when he unrolled the scroll and quoted Isaiah, he intended to point out in a very clear and precise statement the puroose of his mission:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

because He anointed me:

to bring glad tidings to the poor,

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives.

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

And to proclaim a year acceptael to the Lord!'

In his Mission Statement, Jesus Christ gave to us Christians OUR mission as well/ He intends us to try to accomplish this mission in our own daily lives, including all the decisions we make and that even includes our political choices. We are to weigh even our political choices in the light of His Mission Statement.

Yes, Gospel values of Jesus are to be emulated in our lives. They are to be our guiding star.

And yet today as we prepare to elect a president, these values are mocked and spurned by most of the people seeking our highest offive.

It was not always so.

In the past there were no perfect candidates as there are not today, but at least there were some who tried to bring about some key values found in the Gospel"

FDR promised and established Social Security,meant to be a safety net for the old and poor.

This meant "glad tidings for the poor."

Lyndon Johnson, established Medicare which let those oppressed by hugh medical bills to find relief from such burdens.

George Bush II espoused Compassionate Conservatism which would have made room for citizenship for migrant families, if Congress had approved.

And this would have allowed "the oppressed to go free."

No more! For the majority of predidential candidates.

Never in our times have so many politicians proclaimed a set of proposals so diametrically opposed to Gospel values,and Donald Trump leads their way.

His Mission Statement is clearly articulated,

and it could be summed up in these words:

"I have been anointed by the Spirit of Greed!

"I have been sent to bring good news to the billionaire class!

It has sent ME to erect walls to expell refugees,

to incarcerate the multitudes.

and  to be blind to the suffering in our midst,

And to proclaim a year of demogogery and of male supremacy!

favorable to the uprght white majority."

This pretty much sums up in a concise way what he is preaching and could wll be called his Mission Statement. It has echoes of Benito Mussolini, the leader of Italy in the 1930's whose followers shouted:

"Il Duce! Il Duce! He will make us great again!"

January 25: The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul 

Monday is the Feast of the Convesion of Saint Paul and the last day of the Church's Prayers for Christian Unity Octive.

Last week, in the Spirit of Christian Unity, The Lutheran Bishop of Finland led an Ecumenical group from that country in a pilgrimage to visit the Bishop of Rome.

He was warmly received by Pope Francis who praised the the theological agreement by Lutheran and Catholic theologians regarding the theology of Justification.

 Last week Pope Francis also visited the major Jewish synogue of Rome where he was warmly welcomed.

and so we prauy:

 O God of Unity,

deliver us from the demogs who would divide us.

Let us walk with Saint Paul to the besieged city of Damascus.

Remove he scales from our eyes, as you did for Saint Paul.

Help us to see more clearly, and love more dearly,

the people pf different creeds, races, and sexes.

Amen