improve

Monday October 28^th, Sirach 35: 14-17  Do not offer him a bribe, for he will not accept it and do not rely on a dishonest sacrifice; for the Lord is the judge, and with him there is no partiality. He will not show partiality to the poor; but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged. He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint.  From this list one could also assume that the Lord will listen to the one who has fallen behind on their mortgage, the one who was sold the pipe dream of a too big house and an interest only, or five year arm mortgage.  Seriously, did anyone ever think these were good things save the ones making a killing on the scam, and the ones scammed?  One need only to look at the recent scam of big banks buying up local tax debts in order to foreclose on properties which they can then sell at a profit (many of the same banks that came begging for bail-out money for their last failed scheme of derivative sales on bundled sub-prime mortgages) leaving homeowners with huge handling fees which force them into foreclosure.  And the dream of the wealthy rip-offs continues in the pipe dream of the TEA party. The Lord might not listen to the supplication of the poor over anyone else, but those made poor (Oscar Romero) are of special concern.  Those who make profit off those made poor just may get a little extra special attention from that Lord, which may not be a good thing.  The recent attempt at government shutdown may have hurt everyone, but Cruz made a bundle in contributions.  Perhaps it is time to restore our society to a world in which we care about the concerns of God, a world in which we care for the least, lost and lonely.  The commandments call us not to steal.  As Luther defines this, we are to fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor's money or property, or get them in any dishonest way, but help them improve and protect their property and means of making a living.