Observing Shabbat

Last week I attended Jewish Orthodox and Conservative Sabbath (Shabbat) services for my Intro to Judaism class. It was interesting to see. Different is the word. As a Catholic, it really wasn't something I'm used to. Going in there I expected some prayers in Hebrew and a sermon. That isn't what I got. What I got was Hebrew prayers and songs. The entire service was a half hour, maybe 45 minutes, of Hebrew songs and prayers.

Even though I didn't understand what they were saying, I rushed through the English translation to keep up with the Hebrew. Just hearing the Hebrew itself was beautiful, but knowing the history of these prayers, the Psalms, and the history of the Jewish people made it much more beautiful. Here are a people who have been persecuted and exiled for over three thousand years and here they are gathered to pray and give thanks to their God.

After each service we talked to the rabbi or a member of the congregation. Something struck me when I heard them: How seriously they take the Sabbath and the command to keep the Lord's Day. To a Catholic, observing the Sabbath means to go to Mass for an hour. The rest of the day is like any other. However, to Jews their entire day is for the Lord. They just don't go to synagogue for an hour then get into their cars and go out to dinner at a nice restaurant or to the mall. They walk home after synagogue because you can't drive. Their day is a day spent with family and in prayer to God and remembering and honoring Him.

That is something I have been thinking about ever since. We Catholics seem to no longer do this. We no longer remember that the Lord's Day is not the Lord's Hour, but the whole day. We have let our culture and society dictate our lives. What's wrong with having one day where you do nothing but spend time with the people you love and care about while remembering and thanking God for all He has given you?

Don't just go to church, observe Shabbat!

Prayers for a Ruthless Dictator

"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles"

~Proverbs 24:17

I first found out that Muammar Gaddafi was killed where most people get their news, Facebook. I couldn't believe it. It took a while to get Saddam, and even longer to get Bin Laden. I'm not used to going in there and getting the guy done in a few months. Though I should say that from day was I was against the Libyan War, and to this day I am still against our presence in Libya. You won't see me flip-flop on the issue like so many Republicans have now that Gaddafi is dead.

At first I was surprised that we got him. Then I was a bit happy. A ruthless dictator- some would say terrorist- is dead. But then I thought, "No, wait. Didn't Gaddafi deserve his day in court like Saddam?" A NATO drone hit where Gaddafi was which caused him to hide in a hole. Libyans found him, grabbed him, dragged him through the streets while beating him. Mind you, he was still alive. He was then shot in the head by a Libyan. 

No matter what the man did, he was still a human being. Just because he didn't value human life it doesn't mean that we can treat the man like this. It's inhumane. I still haven't seen the video. I can't believe CNN showed it. The description alone is graphic. I don't want to see someone go through this whether he was evil or not.

A couple weeks ago I was at Sunday Mass and during the Prayer of the Faithful the lector read, "For those who have passed away." Usually, I like to think of a person who has died and pray for them. And when I was thinking of who had died I remembered Gaddafi. So I prayed for him. You may say, "How could you pray for such an evil man? What about those that he's harmed?" I pray for them too. From birth to his death Gaddafi remained a creature created by God with dignity even though he didn't acknowledge that same dignity in others. It doesn't mean he forfeited it.

When Saddam was captured I remember watching the news with my grandfather and I said something to the effect of, "I hope they kill him and he burns in hell." His response was, "No, I hope he repents and goes to heaven." We talked a bit about it, but I was young so I don't remember the entire conversation. We then turned to Fidel Castro. My grandfather, a Cuban exile, left Cuba at the age of 16 without his mother or father and placed with a family in Washington state. He barely knew English. If there was anyone my grandfather would be "justified" in wishing eternal damnation and worse on, it would be Fidel Castro. His response, "No, I hope that he repents before God and is allowed into heaven."

That day I learned something. No matter who you are, how bad you've been, no one deserves hell. I mean, hell wasn't made for humans, it was made for the devil and his followers. Our Christian faith tells us that we are to love our enemies and pray for the conversion of sinners. A prayer St. Maximilian Kolbe would pray was, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee, and for those who have not recourse to thee..." We are to love our enemies and pray for them. We are to acknowledge that they have dignity no matter what and don't deserve to be dragged and beaten through the streets. We are called to pray for others, no matter how bad they are. Remember, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

I found this video by Pastor Francis Chan (author of Crazy Love) on the death of Bin Laden, and I think this equally applies to Guddafi and any evil person.

Debate Yelling and Claiming Pro-Life

picture taken from NY Daily News

Two things prompted me to write this post. Both revolve around Republican Presidential debates. First off, for full disclosure, I am a Ron Paul supporter and a libertarian-Republican. Secondly, while I like the TEA Party message of lower taxes and less government intrusion, I find some of them (which I call the Sarah Palin TEA Party) hypocritical because they want less government intervention, but with some exceptions. Though I do like the TEA Party message.

The main news coming out of the last three Republican debates haven't been what the candidates have said, but rather, what the audience did. The last three debates have been criticized not for the policy issues of Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann, but for what the audience yelled.

At the CNN/TEA Party Debate Ron Paul was asked by Wolfe Blitzer about a hypothetical man who didn't have health insurance but fell into a coma. Under President Paul, Blitzer asked, will the man be left to die? Right before Dr. Paul said, "No." A couple of people in the audience yelled, "Yes!" Mind you, Dr. Paul yelled out "NO!" after this, but the media reports the next day read "Ron Paul Would Let Man Die." I almost expected them to call him "Dr. Death."But Paul said no. To be fair, a few articles I read did defend Paul. Other articles decided to take the one man (or two) who yelled, "Yeah!" and said, "The TEA Party audience would let a man die." No one questioned it. After all, it fits into their Tea Party-profile: heartless racists who would let a man die. But we have to remember, it was only about one or two people. When I heard it, I thought they were joking so I laughed. I still do think they were joking. And just because of one person, an entire movement is demonized.

Then there's the latest controversy revolving around the debate audience. At last week's Orlando Fox News/Google Debate a gay soldier asked the candidates about the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The question was given to Rick Santorum. When the soldier finished he was booed by a few members of the audience. Again, it was painted by the media as "Republicans Boo Gay Soldier" and claimed that the Republican Party is despicable because they booed a gay soldier because he is gay. Actually, it was only a few people who, according to witnesses, were told to be quiet by those around them. Also, the boo came after he asked the question. So it wasn't booing the fact that he was gay, it was booing the loaded question he asked. Look, I'm all for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but I have to admit, it was a loaded question. Again, a handful of people are painted as representative of a whole group.

Now here's my favorite. Mainly because there is no explaining this. There is no brushing off the audience response in this case. It was the MSNBC/Politico Debate at the Reagan Library. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was just a couple weeks in the race and this was his first debate. In it he was asked about his support of the death penalty. His response to the question was an affirmation in the belief in capital punishment and that it works. This time, the ENTIRE audience gave Gov. Perry a big round of applause. Not just one or two people. The entire audience.

Why is this my favorite? It's because Perry describes himself as the pro-life candidate. In fact, in the last debate in Orlando, Perry actually said, "I will always err on the side of life." Really?? You're pro-life and will always stand for life? How about the 234 lives that were executed in Texas under your administration? Yes, I know that there's a difference between an innocent fetus in the womb and a convicted murderer. But it is still a life. God did not say, "Do not kill unless he is a murderer." According to Christian theology, we are all guilty of sin and ALL deserve death. Some denominations make no difference between mortal and venial sins and say they're all the same. To God, and hopefully to the Christian, all life is sacred. No matter what. Just because a person didn't respect others' right to life, doesn't mean that that person's right to life is forfeited.

Another issue I have with Perry's stance is that the governor has expressed his belief that he is skeptical of government. He doesn't trust government on many issues, but somehow he does think that you can trust the government on who can and can't be executed. To me, this is the ultimate trust of government: deciding life. If we pro-lifers are to believe that only God, the author of life, can take life, then why do we think that it's O.K. for the government to do it? God's law is greater than man's law, you say. This includes, "Thou shall not kill." The same government who is having trouble delivering mail!

But this doesn't change anything. Gov. Rick Perry is still the "most pro-life candidate" in the race.

I ended up seeing the Fox News/Google Debate with the College Republicans. I saw the MSNBC/Politico debate with the Campus Libertarians and that was a fun experience since I typically agree with them more than not. However, watching the debate with the Campus Republicans made me feel like a Democrat. And trust me, I'm the furthers thing from a Dem. One thing that struck me was that I had to defend Dr. Ron Paul as a pro-life. Yes, that Dr. Ron Paul. The Christian Republican OBGYN who delivered more than 4000 babies. I had to defend him because to some there, he wasn't pro-life. Never mind the fact that Dr. Paul continues to introduce legislation to overturn Roe v. Wade, which he says Congress has the Constitutional authority to do so. He is still pro-choice. (Here's a link to the We the People Act, which Dr. Paul wrote and introduced.)

Now, Dr. Paul's philosophy is pretty straight forward. If it isn't in the Constitution, the federal government shouldn't be doing it. He appeals to the Tenth Amendemnt: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Pretty much, "If it's not here, let the states decide it." And this is his stance on issues like gay marriage, drugs, and even abortion.

Most pro-lifers believe that we need a federal amendment to the constitution because anything less would be pro-choice and supporting abortion. However, following that logic, if we don't have a federal amendment or federal ban on all murder, you are pro-murder. Did you know that? There are no federal laws against the typical murder. It's up to each state to make those laws themselves. We already trust the state with outlawing murder, can't we give them abortion too?

Then there's also the fact that it could be easier for pro-life groups to concentrate on local laws. It's always easier for activists to work locally than to go change things in Washington. If we were to give it back to the states, activists in Florida can lobby Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican legislature and probably outlaw it. More conservative states would already outlaw it leaving activists to work on the more liberal states. Within 20 years, at most, abortion would be outlawed or almost.

Personally, I think there's a reason why many politicians are against this: They depend on abortion to get elected. Republican politicians know that once abortion is no longer an issue, they will lose a large voting bloc. So they claim that they'll do something, but never do. They don't want to let go of the one-issue voters. It's tragic because they are playing politics with the lives of millions of innocent children.

The Republican Party has to make a couple decisions: will it be pro-life in every sense of the word, or will it continue to be pro-some-life? Will they continue to cheer for executions while calling an obstetrician pro-choice? Will they decide, it's time to listen to the Constitution and save the lives of these innocent people, or will they continue to play politics as usual?

One thing is for sure,  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are LIFE, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

¿Que bola, asere? An Introduction

The title of this blog may be a bit misleading. By exile I don't mean that I've left Miami to seek refuge (though I guess you could say I'm seeking refuge from the heat, humidity and the occasional hurricane), but rather, just that I'm away from home. I've lived in Miami my entire life. Technically, most of my life. I was born just outside of Tampa until my family moved to Orlando when I was a few months old and eventually Miami when I was a year old. So for all intents and purposes I am a "Miami boy".

Now I'm in the beautiful city of Chicago. Don't get me wrong, Chicago's an amazing city, but it's not Miami. There's just something about Miami that makes it different from every other city in the United States.

A few years ago I heard a commentary on Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Egypt when they were escaping King Herod's slaughter of infants. The question arose, if the Holy Family spent a few years in Egypt, wouldn't they have lost some Jewish customs and adopted more Egyptian customs? The commentator's answer was no. In fact, according to this commentator the Holy Family would have reverted more to their Jewish customs and learn to have a deeper appreciation for them more in a new country.

Likewise, I'm one of those people who criticizes Miami and what's wrong with it. I couldn't wait to get out of Miami and go to the real United States. Now that I left Miami I'm starting to miss it. Don't get me wrong, I love the Second City and don't regret my decision to leave, but there are things about Miami I do miss. Food and Cubans being two of them. Leaving has given me a greater appreciation for South Florida. Though I can't state this enough: Chicago is one of the greatest cities in the country (Second only to Miami).

So this blog is just going to be my thoughts on different aspects of Miami, Chicago, politics, faith, music, film and just about everything else. I hope you enjoy it.