Archbishop of Nassau
           Delivered at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral
           on the occasion of the 165'" Anniversary
                      of the
 

               Royal Bahamas Police Force

                   6'" March, 2005
 

Readings:
1 Samuel 16: 1b, 6-7, 10-13
Ephesians 5: 8-14
Psalm 23: 1-6
John 9:  1-41

Beloved in Christ,

Allow me to add my word of welcome to those already expressed by our Rector Fr. Kendrick Forbes and our Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Cynthia Pratt.

On behalf of the Catholic community, I take great pleasure in welcoming you to St. Francis Xavier Cathedral. I am especially pleased that the Royal Bahamas Police Force should choose to come here to celebrate two significant milestones - the 165th Anniversary of the founding of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the 40th year of women on the Force.

One cannot allow this opportunity to pass without noting that 165 years of continuous, positive, presence in any community is an outstanding achievement in itself.

No doubt the institutional memory of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, as contained in its records and its archives, is a valuable source of information and wisdom on the life of the Bahamian Community over these past 165 years.

In time, no doubt, some of the talented and creative members of the Force may tap into that memory to provide us with a history of Law Enforcement and Crime Prevention in Bahamian Society. This would offer an interesting insight into Bahamian Life. It would also be a valuable addition to our National Literature as well.

This occasion also presents me with an opportunity to thank all of the men and women police officers, whose faithfulness to duty and bravery, help to keep our persons and property safe.

Our debt of gratitude must be even greater because of the personal sacrifices you make in answering the call to duty - the sacrifice of personal safety, the sacrifice of family time and the sacrifice, surprisingly, of community goodwill.  How often don't law enforcement officers hear themselves referred to by such phrases as "the cops", "the man" and other terms less worthy of being aired in this assembly.

Your contribution to community peace is all the more praiseworthy when we consider the climate of the times. Peacekeeping grows more challenging, as evil appears to be growing like a cancer. It is manifested in an increasing departure of men, women and children from the paths of truth, self control, respect for law and, sadly from excellence and any concept of civic responsibility or an obligation to preserving the common good. According to the principles of Catholic Social Thought, the common good refers to the social conditions that allow people to reach their full human potential and to realize their human dignity. It also presupposes the maintenance by public authority of peace and security.

The proper enforcement of the law is an important aspect of the common good. If we fail to enforce the law consistently and persistently we will have to face the consequences. That is the lesson which this current frenzy about the long- standing challenge of illegal immigrants is teaching us.

We have not done a good job of enforcing our own laws. For far too long we have allowed our borders to become too porous. Now we have many illegal immigrants among us. But they are people! I emphasize the word people intentionally.

An illegal immigrant, Haitian or otherwise, is still a person. Being an illegal immigrant does not erase a person's human dignity. If we ignore the human dignity of the alien among us it may not be long before we do the same to our own. We will have proven that our respect for human dignity is shallow. Enforce the law, of course, but treat the illegal immigrants exactly the way you would hope to be treated if you were in their position in someone else's country. That is the right thing to do! That is the righteous thing to do!

The falling away from righteousness or right action yields a bitter harvest. How many businesses and public offices in our country do not lose efficiency and profitability because employees steal time and, in many cases goods and money from their employers?

To the despair of many, this tendency to rewrite the laws of God and man operates in many areas of Bahamian life. We see it everyday in the drivers for whom the red Light has become no more than an annoyance, which they have every right to disregard to the harm of their fellow road users. We see it in those who believe that their access to the halls of power is meant to be their opportunity to feather their nests rather than improve the life of this community we all share. Sadly, we see it in law officers who break, rather than uphold the law. And what is even more indicative of the breakdown of morality in our society is the fact that some offenders actually justify sinful behavior by claiming entitlement or by blaming others.

This concentration on self and the personal agenda, whether right or wrong has a natural consequence - in a community of fewer than a half a million residents, in a country that boasts loud and long of being 'Christian', our newspapers and media broadcasts seem to be filled with little more than a litany of needless road accidents, robberies, assaults, murders, drug peddling and substance abuse. On the world's stage, the departure from all the things that build peace is leading to what appears to be a new Dark Ages, characterized by intolerance, terrorism, war and interpersonal and self-inflicted violence of the most disturbing variety.

Some of the best minds in this country and worldwide are focused on the challenge of stopping the advance of darkness and restoring peace. They propose new social theories, new weapons, new technologies, new hierarchies and new management with short-term or no effect at all. These strategies fail because they rely on external authority - the power of status, the power of the office or rank, the power of weapons, the power of prisons, the power of ego or self.

No matter how dark it seems, however, I assure you today that we have reason to hope. There is a light which can dispel the darkness and it is a light to which we all have access if we desire it.

Our Scripture Readings are rather long today. But that is part of the rhythm of our worship at this time of year. As we move through the Season of Lent toward Easter, the readings become longer until Passion Sunday where the entire Passion of the Lord is proclaimed.

Today we heard from the First Book of Samuel.
              "Not as man sees does God see,
               because man sees the appearance
               but the Lord looks into the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

Then from the Gospel of John we heard the words of Jesus.
              "I came into this world for judgment,
              so that those who do not see might see
              and those who do see might become blind." (John 9:39)

The season of Lent and the glorious period of Easter that follows give the children of God that assurance of salvation and peace. Lent recalls Our Lord's sojourn and fast in the desert following his baptism. It was his way of preparing himself for public life and the ultimate sacrifice of the cross, which, in turn, led to the ultimate symbol of hope, the ultimate assurance of light and peace - the resurrection of our Lord that we celebrate at Easter.

If we wish to participate in these fruits of our faith, to make the journey from the harsh conditions of the sojourn in the desert to Easter, to engage the passage from chaos to peace, we must begin by seeing as the Lord sees. But know this - we can only see as Our Lord sees, if we let go of self, let go of the false light of external authority. For peace to prevail, we must learn to rely on that internal authority, which means opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit and conforming our will to the Lord's will.

Today's readings give clear indication that human beings often see things quite differently from the way God sees them. Our way of problem solving is often far removed from the Lord's. A key phrase in the first reading is "I have chosen my king from his [Jesse's] sons." (I Samuel 16:lb) When the Lord sent the prophet Samuel to anoint the chosen one, Samuel thought his commission would be easy to fulfill because he believed a king would be easy to spot.

Like most of the people of his era, Samuel expected a king to have certain attributes - a dominant stature, prominence in his community and skill as a warrior. He looked on Eliab, Jesse's oldest son and probably thought, "Oh, this is easy!" As seen through Samuel's human eyes, Eliab had all the attributes of a king. So imagine the prophet's puzzlement as the Lord rejects not only Eliab, but the next six of Jesse's sons as well, all apparently fit candidates for the throne of Israel.

However, as Samuel was truly God's servant, he eventually did what we all should do - turn heart and mind to the internal authority, which is the Holy Spirit. When Samuel did so, he insisted on meeting the eighth and youngest son of Jesse. David was such an unlikely candidate that he had not even been invited to the ceremony but left to mind the family's flock of sheep. But David, the untried young shepherd was God's choice.

The Gospel of John leads us to another example of the importance of seeing through the eyes of faith, which leads to physical and spiritual healing. Note the words of the man born blind addressed to Jesus, " 'I do believe, Lord' and he worshipped him." (John 9:38) This most unlikely person reaches faith in Jesus, while the high-ranking Pharisees, though deeply religious and steeped in the Law of Moses, remain afflicted with a kind of blindness that will not go away because they were not using the eyes of faith.

Today's readings contain a second message for those who are chosen of the Lord to do the work of bringing light and peace to our community, none more so than you, the designated peacekeepers of civil society. "Brothers and sisters," St. Paul writes, "you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:8-10)

How do we know what is pleasing to the Lord? Scripture leaves us no doubt as to what pleases our Lord and what does not. I am persuaded that we dishonour him when we give less than our best to family, to employers or to our country. I am persuaded that we displease God when we fail in charity towards any of our fellow men, whatever their national origin, creed, sexual orientation, race or politics. I am persuaded that the way illegal immigrants are treated in our land is not pleasing to a God who is no respecter of persons, who died to save the whole world regardless of nationality, creed, race or any other difference.

It is clear that no small country can permit unlimited immigration. However, it does not mean that having the status of illegal immigrant causes a man, woman or child to lose the right to his or her essential human dignity. If we are truly followers of Christ, we will understand that such persons cannot be separated from that dignity, because we know that it comes from their participation in the divine essence of our Creator. While we humans are different in our talents and our appearance, we are equal in our right to life and to justice.

God created difference out of his infinite wisdom, but social and cultural discrimination are not and never will be a part of his plan.

I implore you to empty yourselves of the human vanity and arrogance, which makes human beings believe that we, on our own can solve the world's problems. I invite you this season of Lent to place your needs, your fears, your failures, your hopes and your very lives in God's hands. In this way, you will allow his transforming grace not only to bring you, internally, to a place of peace and hope, but also to enable you to act in righteousness towards the people who have been placed under your civil authority and, indeed, under your protection.

The journey to Easter begins in ashes. We must begin it as penitents, not as arrogant lawbreakers. It is no good giving up meat or smoking or any fleshly pleasures for Lent, if we do not emerge with changes of mind and heart. The healing of our country will begin only with a change from a 'me-centred' attitude to an attitude of personal commitment to right action, to forgiveness and care for our neighbours, to constant penitential prayer and repentance.

I can think of no better words to leave you with today than a few of the Beatitudes which are said to describe the conditions that constitute the very heart of Christian perfection:

· Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.

· Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

· Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

· Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3-10)

There is no shortcut to peace and justice, no fancy new philosophy that will end mankind's problems. There is only the way of the cross and acceptance of our Lord's grand and perfect design for his creation.

For the difficult yet necessary work you do as police men and women, we say thank you! As the Royal Bahamas Police Force moves toward its next 165 years of existence I say to each one of you, God bless you!