Tuesday, October 14, 2025

 

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

Since Vatican II many Catholics have reasoned that if God loves us, He would not condemn anyone.  Rather He will give everyone a ticket to eternal life.  Often people hold to this line of thought without even postulating the need to believe in God.  Such thinking clashes with the thought of St. Paul, especially in today’s reading.

Paul does not refrain from writing about the wrath of God.  Wrath should be understood here as an anthropomorphism, a description of God with the attributes of a human.  God does not get angry with humans as we often become irate with one another.  But He has respected human free will to accept Him or to reject Him.  Acceptance is more than lip service, but an intention and an effort to live like His Son, Jesus Christ.  Rejection is the deliberate choice not to live Christ-like.

Sounds like a challenge, no?  It is difficult to follow Christ although not impossible.  We need to pray regularly so that we might avoid the temptations of living irresolutely.  We also pray to always imitate the love of Jesus, our Savior.

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

Like St. Paul in today’s first reading San Ignatius of Antioch could say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” Ignatius died a martyr for the sake of Jesus Christ.  He is famous for having written letters to Christian communities on his way to martyrdom in Rome.  Each gives insight into Catholic life in the early part of the second century.

The paganism, which Paul critiques in the passage, stands in stark contrast to the Gospel.  It has not left the world scene.  Today it might be found around the abortion centers where the human effects of lust are exterminated.  God created the human person with dignity that comes from the ability to know what is good and to opt for it.  Disgracefully, many have chosen to ignore what is evident to their eyes because it interferes with their desires.

Hopefully, the world will come to its senses as science ever more clearly shows that a human life begins at conception.  Then men and women will need both courage and love to put into practice the logical conclusion.  Repulsion for abortion will reduce the tenacious hold of paganism on humanity.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

May we call comfort and convenience contemporary gods?  People certainly pay them much tribute.  Drive-through services, for example, abound:  bank deposits, fast food purchases, even prescription pick-ups are done seemingly as often as not without getting out of the car.  One downside of this form of convenience is that partakers deprive themselves of personal encounters and a little exercise.  Another is that fossil fuel producing greenhouse gases is being burnt.  But there may be something deeper at stake.  People need to ask themselves if the regular use of drive-ins is God’s will.  They would find St. Paul's critique of worshiping created things in today's first reading helpful in their self-interrogation.

For Paul the universe gives ample testimony to a Creator and to the Creator’s will.  For millennia the latter was called natural law and well accepted in civilized societies.  Paul also believes that God punishes those who do not abide by that law.  Venereal disease would be an example as a punishment for fornicators and adulterers.  Paul’s purpose is not to give a philosophical treatise but to introduce God’s plan of universal salvation through Jesus Christ.  Humans - he will show in the course of the letter - would not be able to abide by natural law without the grace of Jesus.

St. Theresa of Jesus believed that often religious in her day were ignoring God the Creator in favor of creaturely comforts.  She reformed the Carmelite Order so that a purer worship might be given to God.  We too might improve our worship of God by reforming our lifestyles.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

A famous line from the Declaration of Independence reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal…”  It was not entirely composed by Thomas Jefferson.  Rather Benjamin Franklin changed Jefferson’s original wording, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable,” to what is now familiar to most Americans.  Franklin’s reasoning for suggesting the change was to remove the equality of humans from the realm of religious belief to undeniable fact.  St. Paul proceeds in the same way in the first reading today.”

Paul writes that Greeks have no excuse for not believing in God.  He says that God made His power and divinity evident to them in creation.  He concludes that they refused to accept this truth out of vanity.  That is, in Paul’s mind, the Greeks refused to subject themselves to God’s authority by following natural law.  The result was sexual perversity and the absurdity of worshipping idols.

The world needs to take to heart Paul’s observations.  Living righteously is difficult enough with a belief in God’s power to judge.  Without that belief, atrocity will always be just around the corner.  The gospel brings depth and eloquence to our knowledge of God.  The more we live it, the more the world should accept the God it proclaims.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

May we call comfort and convenience contemporary gods?  People certainly pay them much tribute.  Drive-through services proliferate:  bank deposits, fast food purchases, even prescription pick-ups may be done without getting out of the car.  The downside of this convenience is that partakers deprive themselves of exercise and fossil fuel is being burnt.  Certainly such partakers should ask themselves if they are doing God’s will.  Paul in the selection from his letter to the Romans today states that some indeed choose to worship created things rather than the Creator.

For Paul the universe gives ample testimony to a Creator and to the Creator’s will.  For millennia the latter was called natural law and well accepted in civilized societies.  Paul also believes that God punishes those who do not abide by that law.  Venereal disease is a typical example.  Paul’s purpose is not to give a philosophical treatise on law, of course, but to introduce God’s plan of universal salvation through Jesus Christ.  Humans, he will show, would not be able to break away from their tendency to infringe natural law except for the grace of Jesus.

St. Theresa of Jesus probably wondered if religious in her day were not ignoring God the Creator in favor of creaturely comforts.  She reformed the Carmelite Order so that a purer worship might be given to God.  So we might adjust our lifestyles to improve our worship of God.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

The trajectory of Dominique Strauss-Kahn sheds some light on St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Mr. Strauss-Kahn is the French diplomat who was accused of raping a hotel worker in New York a few months back. It turned out that most probably the two engaged in consensual sex, but the public reaction did not die down with the dismissal of rape charges. Once talked about as a candidate for the French presidency, now the people of France, according to one press report at least, have dismissed Strauss-Kahn as a viable choice. They ask, do we want a man who would engage in casual sex to be our leader?

In the reading from Romans today, Paul shows how those who ignore God’s revelation in natural law will similarly be left to their own ruin. People should realize from the way the world functions sex outside of marriage is not okay. Rather humans must strive to overcome the inclination to lust. The gospel, described by Paul as the “power of God,” offers humans the best possibility of accomplishing the task. It gives people not just a community as a support group or eternal life as an incentive but the grace of the Holy Spirit to act virtuously.

Then why do some Christians remain seemingly imprisoned by sex? The human psyche is an area more complicated than the traffic of a city. It is possible that some need specialized help to forego the urge to pleasure. For all in such need, we pray for special intervention. After all, for many of them it is a question of hell in the hereafter but, for all the guilt they experience, of living hell on earth.

Homilette for Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)

“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...” Most Americans recognize these words from the Declaration of Independence almost as surely as they recognize the red, white, and blue. However, by speaking of truths that are “self-evident,” the words imply a reality that many Americans have trouble seeing. That reality is natural law governing human actions.

In the reading from Romans today, Paul refers to natural law. He writes, “...for although they knew God, they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks.” He means to say that Greek and Roman pagans should be aware that their carnal excesses are offensive to the Creator by their observance of human nature. For this reason Paul exhorts Roman Christians not to follow the example of their neighbors.

Today law courts and law schools increasingly deny natural law in favor of the idea that law is the agreement of citizens. The failure to recognize natural law is subversive for it not only has led to such a pernicious practice as physician-assisted suicide but also can easily deny an ideal so fundamental as human rights. The Church, citing St. Paul among many other sources, benefits society greatly by insisting on the existence and the pertinence of natural law.

Homilette for Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Tuesday, XXVIII Week of Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:16-25)

“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...” Most of us recognize these words from the Declaration of Independence almost as surely as we recognize the American flag. By speaking of truths that are “self-evident,” they imply a reality that many Americans have trouble seeing. That reality is the existence of a natural law which governs human actions.

In the reading from Romans today Paul makes reference to natural law. He is not talking about Jews when he writes, “...for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks.” Rather, he is referring to pagan Romans and Greeks who from observing human nature should be aware that their carnal excess is immoral. For this reason Paul is exhorting Christians Romans not to imitate these people.

Catholics especially believe that society should heed the natural law. We do not claim that it is always easy to discern its contents although its tenets in some cases like the prohibition of abortion and of so-called homosexual marriage are obvious enough. We also see the Ten Commandments as embodying the natural law and therefore there is no real need to ban its image in public courts.