Time for a pope talk
September 14 2024
Weeding took the entire day, after doing her ten thousand steps walking and talking via a phone messaging app to Little Miss in Knoxville Tenn. The conversation with the three year old centered around flowers, her green dump truck that had broken and mom had glued it, and the things she liked to eat versus the things she might not like to eat.
By the time the call was ended, Filly was already hot from the humidity and the sun but since her back yard was still shady, she had promised herself that she would weed. The day before Filly had hired a worker to place out the twenty eight bags of mulch she had purchased at Home depot and to do the weeding. She had offered to pay him for the work to do the weeding and the mulch. But at the end of two hours, the man expected to get a full days wage, and not only that he had deposited all the mulch in the parts of the flower beds that were already weed free, avoiding all the beds that needed weeding first.
Filly had known this man from the last time he had helped her. He had a problem with his arm and held it close to his body like a broken wing. But the man himself was strong, muscular and articulate. Filly remembered him and remembered that the last time, the arm had not slowed him down and he had done a great job. But this time, he said he did not feel like working.
“Do you think you did a good job” Filly asked as they stood in the driveway surveying the front yard that still needed mulch. “I don’t know, maybe ok, I unloaded the mulch and put it out” He said.
“But that only took you an hour and you are asking a full days wage and you did not do the weeding that I needed you to do.” Filly said. Do you think you can still do the weeding?”
“No I have to get my medicine” he said, cradling his arm.
“I know it must be hard for you with your arm injured, Do you remember we prayed for you and your arm last time and I gave you a rosary” Filly said. “Your arm is much better now and I am happy for you, but it seems like you worked harder when your arm was hurt than you worked today”. “I have to take care of my household and now I also have to weed because you do not want to. I am going to pay you because I said I would but I do not think I will agree to use you again…Is that fair” She asked.
“Yes” he said. “Up to you”.
Letting people have access to her home and her yard was something she determined based on what she could know about the person. Filly would not willingly bring someone to her home who was not willing to work or not competent, or someone who was a criminal.
Likewise she felt that her country was like her home, only on a bigger scale. Most people agreed that it was responsible, NOT CRIMINAL, to prevent people from coming into their home country until they had been interviewed, verified and documented. That was the very least that should be required of a person wanting to enter someone else’s home.
In other countries, a person wanting to enter has to be able to speak the language, has to have employment, has to have a sponsor, has to have knowledge about the local laws and customs, etc. Filly could think of very very few if any countries that allowed open access into their homes just like she did not know many families or individuals that left their doors open for anyone who wanted to, be able to just walk right in.
And yet in spite of that, Filly had heard that the Pope compared aborting/murdering babies, which is a crime against the ten commandments, to illegal migration, which is no crime on any measuring tape. Even Joseph and Mary had to go back to their land during the census. And Christians homes are the owner’s “temple”. Jesus did not want buying and selling in “the temple”.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
“Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Bringing over “dens of robbers”, by promising Free Education, free housing, free cell phones, free transportation, free gender surgery, Free medical care and free citizenship, without any documentation, is a crime against humanity while the act of documenting migrants is NOT a crime. Jesus recognized that the role of government was to protect and defend, and said to give to Caesar what was Caesars.
To Pope John Paul, all sin is evil, but comparing documentation of migrants to abortion is a gross diminishing of the value of human life. The bible says to choose life. That was the easiest guide to making a decision on voting, Filly thought. Pretty straight forward. Was Pope John Paul complicit in fueling “the den of robbers”? Was there some under the table deal? Filly did not understand the wrong direction being given by the leader of the Catholic church. It was clearly not how Catholics should be viewing the election.
Filly and Tater and Mister and B all went to dinner at Lubys. There were homeless people right there in the parking lot, when they arrived, American citizens who were in need…with no phones, no medical care, no free house, no free education, The reason there was a push for letting in undocumented workers was because the robbers in the den of thieves were profiting from this. The citizens were being damaged.
It did not take a rocket scientist to see this. And Jesus destroyed the den of thieves then and would destroy it again. Filly knew this because she had a dream about it. IN her dream she was in her fathers house. She went up to his room and had left a sandwich. BUT NO ONE ATE IT. No one died. No one good suffered… particularly not the presidential candidate whose life had already been threatened.
Instead Filly knew that Trump was going to win. There was nothing the den of thieves could do to change that fact. God was on her side. Because Filly and the rest of most of the USA, DID care about choosing Life, and preventing abortion and DID accept migrant immigration if they had been screened, and documented. Pretending that her viewpoint to require documentation was evil, was the work of evil. The money changers would be cast out.
The churches were doing much good work supplying aid to citizens and migrants that needed help. However, Jesus did not expect people to invite money changers into their country or into their homes. Jesus rejected evil as well on the mountain top, when evil told him he could rule all the people if he would just listen. Jesus did not listen to false promises of power, because he knew God was the only power, and he said BEGONE SATAN.
Filly looked at the people in line at Luby’s. The steaming food looked great, and everyone was choosing the chicken fried steak and gravy, or the beef tips and gravy, or the baked chicken or tilapia with four bacon wrapped shrimp. The sides were equally inviting, broccoli cheese casserole, Sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes with cream gravy, spinach, fried okra, corn, mac and cheese, and more. Then there was tea or lemonade or soda and rolls and butter and jello for the kids. It was their favorite place to go on the weekend.
Filly watched as Tater immediately started eating her blue jello as she sat down at the table with her tray of food. “I stabbed my throat with my boba tea straw and the jello feels good on my throat” Tater said. She squished the jello between her teeth. Mister sat looking at the phone for a minute watching a video about black holes. He only got to look at it for about five minutes. Filly did not like too much phone time.
Mister had started life liking cars. That was at age three and under. That love of cars had turned into a love of all big equipment, including back hoes, dump trucks, etc. and that fascination had gone to a love of Pikmin, and from there he had started to love space and black holes. Mister also loved to cook and make honey tea.
Tater, in contrast, loved dolls, tea parties, makeup, fancy dresses and shoes, reading books, doing gymnastics and Taekwondo. She loved to chat, and listen to grown ups and both kids were good swimmers.
Filly thought about things that made a person welcome at her home or in another place. For Filly, the children were respectful, careful, obedient, and law abiding. The cost of their care was a small imposition, compared to the benefit of helping raise people who would be intelligent, who would use their talents, and who would contribute to the system, instead of being a drain on the system. Raising such people, required an investment, and who better to do that then that child’s own family. Not another country, not government, not by force should home be “invaded”. That would stop. Because it was wrong.
Documentation implied an invitation to come in. It was respectful, loving to both sides, and still following the laws of God. Filly looked for her bible verse to see what God said.
“And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’
Filly knew God was saying that those people who do their best to obey God, would be given the kingdom. God gave the best pep talks Filly thought.