The days of creation

This essay was brought on by a posting in Facebook on the U.S. Politics Catholic Discussion group sponsored by America Magazine. The posting was about packaging extra school lunches for the homeless.

As someone who has been, and still is, an object of public charity because of my disabled status I am grateful for food assistance. Until my benefits began, I received both Food Stamps and meals at centers for the homeless.

I am still eligible for a monthly box of food from a local pantry, although nowadays I don't take advantage of the benefit, nor for meals on wheels. Without children at home, I do not have to, but I can testify on the quality if the food provided. The frozen meat can be quite good, although shelter meals tend to be low on meat content and the vegetables are often on the verge or past spoilage.

Canned food tends to be what others, including, have discarded because they are not particularly attractive options. Like fruitcake, some of It may go from Church to pantry to back to Church.

Not to sound ungrateful, but the relevant scriptures are Matthew Chapter 25, the last judgment and Genesis Chapter 4, Cain and Abel. In Matthew, when we feed the poor, we feed Jesus. In Genesis, Abel offered the first fruits and his sacrifice was accepted. Cain did not and his sacrifice was rejected, causing him to murder his brother.

If we actually believed we were feeding the actual Christ, would we serve leftovers or spoiled food. Is our giving a condescension, althoughthis is better than giving nothing at all.

Both should be seen as part of the obligation of hospitality in the desert culture of the time (although not much has changed for Palestinians and Syrians in today's Middle East).  Both stories were written down in the period between the Babylonian exile and the occupation of Rome.

There continue to be Christian writings, from the early writers and Desert Fathers though the Great Councils in Asia Minor and the modern Councils from Trent to Vatican II, none is given the status of scripture.

Today is the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Latin Church calendar. Next week is Christ the King, marking the completion of all things in the kingship of Jesus. Before kingship comes Apocalypse, although we know that Jesus was probably talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Diaspora, not the end of time.

John of Patmos was a post-Diaspora Jewish Christian hoping for a resurrection of Zion in a New Jerusalem as a center of Christianity, rather than pagan Rome. He wrote well after the execution of St. Paul, who founded Gentile Christianity. John's side lost the debate.

In the current epoch, both St. Malachy and Our Lady at Fatima, the city of Rome is due for its own Apocalypse. In a very real sense, the sins of a misogynistic clergy who coddled the abuse of minors is its own Revelation. The Church cannot die, but it must change. It is an act of supreme hubris to think that this would cause the universe to collapse at this time.

All creation myths in the ancient world go from some imagined beginning to the current day. The Jewish tradition is based on the Sumerian/Babylonian story, which has each day of creation ruled by a God who killed his parents. On the seventh day, man was created to serve the gods, including the god kings of the ancient world.

The Hebrew version was monotheistic as written during the exile. In Canaan, the time of the judges began with the escape from pharoh and the time of the Judges, who ruled Canaan after the overthrow of the god king of Salem.  So what day are we in?

If the Seventh day was the Sabbath, are we still in it or did the Axial Age mark the start of the Eighth until the fall of Rome, with the dark ages being the Ninth day or the night between the days. If course, the world was not a backwater in those days, just Rome. The Tenth day would then be the high Middle Ages until the Early Modern Era. That puts us in the Eleventh day. Whether that age has ended and we are in a new age is yet to be seen. The reality is that we have made up the whole thing anyway. We will one day know if our current crises will continue or a new day is dawning. Are we in the 12th Day? The future will know, if there is one. Happy Apocalypse.