In 1945, President Harry Truman said, “Fascism did not die with Mussolini. Hitler is finished. But the seeds from his disordered mind have firm roots in too many fanatical brains. It is easier to remove tyrants and destroy concentration camps than to kill the ideas that give them birth.”
On the first day in January, we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God. That is wonderful. We honour her for being chosen to be the Mother of God and for being obedient to his will.
However, something most of us tend to forget or simply brush is that on this day, eight days after the child was born, the infant Jesus was circumcised. For as long as I can remember, apart from just a simple sentence in the Gospel reading, nothing whatsoever is mentioned in homilies about that special event in the life of a Jew.
Yes, Jesus was a Jew and so was his Blessed Mother. From these two very special people came our salvation, a Redeemer promised by God the Father. From these two Jews, the redemption of mankind began. We must also recall that from the Jewish people sprang the apostles, her foundation stones and pillars as well as the early disciples who proclaimed Christ to the world.
In spite of this, no word about Christ being a Jew is mentioned on the day of his circumcision. The Jews are the chosen people of God. Christians believe this but many also believe that Jewish rejection of Jesus resulted in that special status being made null and void.
So, for centuries Catholics have prayed the Good Friday liturgy asking God to take away the blindness of their hearts and to accept Christ as Lord. It took more than 1,900 years (during Vatican II) for the Catholic Church to put an end to the belief that the Jews had committed deicide.
It also stressed that Jews should not be presented as repudiated or cursed by God. The Council further explained that even though Jewish authorities pressed for the death of Christ, all Jews should not be blamed for his crucifixion.
This incredible document of Vatican II, Nostra Aetate, should have put an end to that sad period of Christian history. Unfortunately, it has not. Today, as President Truman warned in 1945, anti-Semitism has reached an all-time high. Jews have been shot, stabbed, and brutally assaulted. The discrimination, the racism, the hatred has soared to frightening heights.
Those who still consider communism the greatest threat fail to realize that synagogues and Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized and desecrated with swastikas, not the hammer and sickle. The Jews cannot even rest in peace.
Jews are the chosen people of God. In his infinite wisdom he chose them. He owes no one any accounting for his choice. We will do well to remember that any hatred directed to these people is directed to God. The day of reckoning will surely come.
Leslie Michael
Maple Ridge
