Friday, January 22, 2022

 Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr

(I Samuel 24:3-21; Mark 3:13-19)

In today’s first reading David refuses to take advantage of the opportunity to kill his deadly rival, Saul.  He recognizes that Saul is God’s anointed with a charge to protect the people.  Saul is to be supported not undermined.

We too have been anointed.  At Baptism the minister rubbed chrism, that is perfumed and blessed oil, on our heads.  We share in Christ’s ministry of priest, prophet, and king.  We too are mandated to protect God’s people.

The charge covers all people – born and unborn.  Tomorrow hundreds of thousands of people – mostly baptized Christians -- will converge on Washington to fulfill this duty.  They will ask America’s leaders to reconsider the lock on anti-abortion legislation.  Their determination goes to the extent of making considerable personal sacrifices.  They know that abortion is no less than annihilation of the most vulnerable of human beings.

Sunday, November 7, 2021

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(I Kings 17: 10-16; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44)

A writer contrasts the trajectories of two young women. She wants to show that a primary motive for abortion that feminists propose can be a lie. In the gospel Jesus will contrast the scribes with the poor widow in a similar way.

The writer tells of Patricia and Kelly. At nineteen the two were two months pregnant. Both shed tears because of their lot and considered aborting their babies. Patricia was a college student like the baby's father. Kelly worked as a receptionist. Her boyfriend also had a job.

Patricia had the abortion and continued in college. As almost always in these cases, her boyfriend left her. Later, she enrolled in law school and eventually landed a position with a prestigious law firm. From there her career took off. She worked long hours, but she also traveled to various parts of the world. Not wanting to marry, she had several lovers. However, at age thirty-five she began to worry about not having her own family. She then yielded to a man who had long sought her love. Because of having used contraceptives for years, Patricia could not conceive. Only with in vitro fertilization did the couple have a child. Patricia celebrated her fifty-fifth birthday with her husband in Europe. They had to leave their son with a sitter at home. At the age of sixty-eight, Patricia died of cancer. In her last days she had some visitors among whom was her son. Her ashes were scattered over the river in her city.

Kelly, the other young women, was unable to proceed with the abortion. Her mother was furious at first, but she ultimately helped her. As almost always in these cases, her boyfriend left her. Within six months Kelly was experiencing the most acute pain of her life with the birth of her child. She was then concerned about how she was going to attract a boyfriend if she had to always take her child with her. But in time she could not imagine life without her daughter, much less how she ever thought of aborting her. Kelly married a responsible man, and the two had twins along with Kelly's baby girl. In fifteen years the lives of the entire family were filled with soccer games and theatrical plays at the high school which the twins attended. Kelly and her family celebrated her fiftieth-fifth birthday at a Spaghetti Factory in their town. The twins already had their careers, and Kelly baby-sat the two children of her daughter and her son-in-law. At the age of sixty-eight, Kelly also died of cancer. Many family members and friends visited her before her death, and the church was filled for her funeral.

Some say abortion is necessary so as not to burden the lives of young people who become unexpectedly pregnant. But the full lives of Patricia and Kelly, which seem quite realistic, show that this assumption is at least questionable. Because life is good and full of possibilities, it is very possible that in time an abortion will seem tragic to everyone. Meanwhile raising a child will usually fill a person with great satisfaction.

In the gospel today Jesus comments on two types of people not very different from Patricia and Kelly. He says that the scribes, who seem to have everything going for them now, are to be punished.  The punishment may take place either before or after death. Meanwhile, the widow, who gives to the temple all that she has, already has found the Lord's approval. Her prize in heaven will be even greater.

Sunday, June 27, 2021

 Dear Reader, if you receive these homilettes by email, you may find the service stopped in July.  As I understand an instruction from Google, its Burnfeeder program will no longer support the service.  You can always find the homilettes on the blog site: https://cbmdominicanpreacher.blogspot.com/ . Perhaps if you send me your email address, I could send the homilettes in a mass email.  You may send your email address to cmeleop@yahoo.com. When I ascertain that the service is no longer functioning, I will start sending them to you personally.

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, June 27, 2021

(Wisdom 1:13-15.2: 23-24; II Corinthians 8:7.9.13-15; Mark 5:21-43)

Almost every Wednesday people fill St. Peter's Square at ten in the morning. They come to see Pope Francis. They listen to his teaching and receive his blessing. Then they then try to take a selfie with him.  If they can get close to him, they try to touch his hand. We can think of people acting something like this with Jesus at the beginning of today's gospel.

Jesus is drawing attention to himself. He talks about the long-awaited Kingdom of God and how it gradually appears like wheat sown in the field. Then Jairus, the head of the synagogue, comes to ask for a favor. His daughter is seriously ill; wouldn't Jesus come with him to touch her? Jairo has put his faith in Jesus like the many women fighting abortion today. Just as Jairo wants his daughter to live, so these women recognize in hidden fetuses images of God that are worth saving.

On the way to Jairo's house, Jesus meets another person who puts his faith in him. A woman with hemorrhages believes that Jesus’ mere touch will heal her condition. However, she does not expect Jesus to touch her.  Rather than that, she looks for an opportunity to touch him. When it comes, she seizes it and, in fact, experiences healing. No longer will she remain hidden in the crowd.  When Jesus asks who touched him, she tells what happened. The Letter of James says that faith without works is dead. Here the woman does not fail to act on her faith. Another comparison can be made with women working to end abortion. They also act on faith, in their case to save babies lives.

Unfortunately, the women who ask pregnant mothers to give birth to their children are not always successful. Perhaps in nine out of ten cases the women’s hearts are found so distorted that they continue to procure an abortion. The valiant women trying to save babies have to believe that God will provide them with eternal life. It is one of the greatest tests of our Christian faith: to believe that God will raise the dead to eternal life. As Jesus takes the hand of the girl in the gospel to raise her from the sleep of death, on the last day he will raise those who have been faithful to him.

The first reading says that death did not originate with God but with the devil. We can expand this concept by saying that the culture of death originated with the devil. He tempted Eve and Adam with the promise of making them like gods. The result was death for them and for the rest of humanity. Today the devil tempts people with pleasure.  The results are millions of abortions, suicides, and wasted lives. Pope Saint John Paul II asked that we transform the culture of death into one of life. Our efforts will consist not only of campaigns against abortion but also of new ways of living.

First and foremost, like Jairus, we will live looking for Jesus. We will find him and really touch him in the Eucharist. With his support we can live valuing every human being from conception. As the girl receives the hand of Jesus, we will take the hands of all kinds of people in friendship. Finally, like the woman with hemorrhages, we will act on behalf of life. We will speak the truth about the culture of death and how it is for us to transform it into one of life. It is up to us to form a culture of life.

Sunday, January 24, 2021

 

THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(Jonah 3: 1-5.10; I Corinthians 7: 29-31; Mark 1: 14-20)

One day towards the end of this year we will turn to our neighbors at Mass to shake their hands. We will take the Blood of Christ from the cup. And we will see the smiles on the faces of the children in church. The Corona-19 virus will be arrested. We will be able to rejoice in the Lord. In the gospel we hear of the arrest of John launching another chain of good news.

John is treated in this Gospel of Mark as the last prophet of Israel. Like Isaiah and Amos, John has preached justice to great and humble alike. He even he faced King Herod with inconvenient truth. His arrest means the end of ancient times. Jesus says in truth: "'The time has been fulfilled.'" The new age introduces the Kingdom of God. In other words, the love of God the Father will no longer remain as a memory. It won't just be the story of the victory over Pharaoh or the exploits of David. Rather, it will be as palpable as the warmth of a fireplace when temperatures drop to zero. God will caress all men and women because we are created in his image. Like the one-time popular song said: "He has you and me, brother, in his hands ... he has the whole world in his hands."

We can rest safe now because God has come. But before we rest we have to fulfill Jesus' command: "'Repent and believe the gospel.' In other words, we have to leave selfishness and greed behind to take care of others. We have to protect the dignity of each person, particularly the most vulnerable. A nun tells of her father who was a gynecologist. One day the daughter asked her father if he had ever performed an abortion. He replied, "Yes." "How many?" she asked again. “At least a dozen when I was in my residency - he said - then something happened that made me stop. After doing an abortion one day, I went to tell the patient's sister that the surgery was over. Before I could leave, she asked me if it was alive. I knew that if I answered "no," it would have been a lie and if I answered "yes," I just killed someone. It was the last abortion I ever did”.

Eventually the physician became a Catholic and discerned the call to treat his patients according to the teachings of the Church. He went to train in a city far from his place of origin. The change meant a drastic reduction in income, but it seemed like God's will. He was like the fisherman brothers in the gospel. Simón and Andrés and Santiago and Juan receive a call from Jesus that means great sacrifices. Simón and Andrés leave their nets behind -- their livelihood. Santiago and Juan leave their own father in the boat.

Jesus tells the fishermen that they will be "’ fishers of men. " He is going to teach them how to call others to the kingdom of God. He does not stop calling with the apostles but calls us today. Could it be that we are called to tell others about God's love? Why not? The world needs to hear that God's love reaches every human person. The scope includes aborted fetuses and also their mothers. Somehow we have to convey to women who have had abortions that God still loves them. We have to inform them that if they recognize abortion as a mistake, God will forgive them so that they have peace.

Abortion divides political parties and increasingly religions. It's not leaving anytime soon. As disciples of Jesus, we have to defend human life from conception to natural death. But we don't want to alienate anyone. Rather, we want to be fishermen and women of others by extending the spirit of reconciliation. Yes, it is difficult, but we have Jesus as our teacher.

 

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

(Hebrews 6:10-10; Mark 2:23-28)

The “law of the jungle” merely acknowledges  that people with power get their way.  As a society develops, it makes laws to protect weaker members.  There is a law against robbery which protects people from being held up by ruffians.  Likewise, a law protects a debtor from being forced into prison or, worse, slavery.  For the same reason a mature society has laws to protect the unborn.  These innocent human beings require protection just to survive.  In striking down virtually all laws prohibiting abortion the Supreme Court betrayed this nation’s heritage of protecting the weak from brute force.

Today’s gospel speaks of the Sabbath law, which we know as the Third Commandment.  God established it to protect people from overwork.  In fact, all just laws are for the good of the people.  For this reason the Supreme Court decision’s forty-six years ago has been so distressing.  It ignores the good of the people.  In fact, it disregards the need of society’s weakest members for survival.

From its beginnings the Church has condemned abortion.  It will not stop doing so today.  It asks its members to pray for legal protection of the unborn.  It also encourages them to do more than pray.  We might join a march protesting the Supreme Court decision.  We might donate to organizations that are working to establish laws protecting different categories of the unborn.  We should tell our children about the evil of abortion.

Monday, January 22, 2018

(see below for a reflection on the readings of the day)

Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

Last Monday the United States celebrated a significant social achievement.  In honoring Dr. Luther King, Jr., the nation recalled with pride its revocation of unjust laws that rendered African-Americans inferior.  Social equality among the races in this land is not perfect, but denying that great progress has been made toward that goal is the rhetoric of fools or of revolutionaries.

As advancements in racial equality were being made, the United States slipped into another kind of moral pitfall. Forty-five years ago today its Supreme Court struck down virtually all laws prohibiting abortion.  The decision has led to the wanton taking of human life at its most defenseless stage – over sixty million human beings!  It has also accelerated sexual promiscuity as most abortions involve unmarried women.  Why else would men and women conspire to allow such a horrific amount of killing if not to assure sexual libertinism?

Since its beginnings, the Church has opposed abortion.  But only in more recent years has it commented on abortion at length.  St. John Paul II was especially articulate in describing the evil.  Our former pope saw the right to life as basic to all other rights.  He said that when a society allows the taking of life at any stage it denies equal protection before the law.  This, of course, is what the African-American quest for racial equality sought.  That project has not yet been completed, but it has even farther to go now than fifty years ago.  Legalized abortion has statistically jeopardized the lives of African-American babies more than of others.

Today we pray for an end to the tragedy of abortion.  We ask God to open the eyes of all to its evil.  We also might resolve to support the right-to-life cause politically, financially, and morally.  It too has extremists with whom we may not wish to associate.  But it also has, in far greater numbers, sainted men and women to whom we owe our allegiance.

Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

(II Samuel 5:1-7.10; Mark 3:22-30)

Last month President Donald Trump announced that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  The declaration caused much criticism since rights over Jerusalem are contested by Israelis and Palestinians.  The beginnings of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city are found in today’s first reading.

Israel was never a well united nation.  Before David the various tribes claimed different parts of the land.  The united kingdom did not outlive the reign of David’s son Solomon.  But for almost seventy years the southern and northern tribes thrived under these monarchs.  The reading indicates David’s capital from Hebron to Jerusalem corresponded to the unification of the nation.  Jerusalem is farther north and thus closer to the lands of the northern tribes.

We should see Jerusalem as a symbol as much among peoples of different religions as among Jews.  Palestinians with its Muslim majority sees the city as its center.  They still have hopes, as did the United Nations at the time of Israel’s founding, of making Jerusalem an international city.  The United States’ recent recognition of Jerusalem may have been just accepting the de facto reality.  But still the goal, which certainly is our prayer today, is that the city – whose very name is associated with shalom or peace – may become a place where Jews, Muslims, and Christians live peacefully together. 

Monday, January 23, 2017

Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Abortion

(Hebrews 9:15.24-28; Mark 3:22-30)

Abortion is a grave crime.  It is the intentional taking of a human life in its most vulnerable stage.  The extent that the crime is committed is even more egregious.  Every year more or less one million abortions are performed in the United States alone.  Around the world there must be tens of millions.  Despite the atrocities Jesus in today’s gospel indicates readiness to forgive all these sins.

The passage is famous for Jesus’ observation that accusing him of being in league with the devil is like saying that a house is divided against itself.  Also noted many times is Jesus’ prescription of an unpardonable sin.  But what should interest people most is his statement, “…all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.”  He does not mean that they will be forgiven without repentance, but he assures that God is quite ready to forgive even heinous crimes.

Today we pray for abortion victims and its perpetrators.  We make a communal act of penance for the unborn who will never see the light of day.  We beseech the Lord to change the minds and hearts of those who seek, perform, and allow abortion.  Finally, we ask the Lord to stop this slaughter of innocents.  

Friday, January 22, 2016

Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 24:3-21; Mark 3:13-19)

The man sat down.  He said that he had five children -- four still living.  He said one died in childbirth and gave his name.  He resembled Jesus in the gospel today naming his apostles.

Jesus gives special names to three of the troupe.  He will call Simon “Peter” or “Rock” because of the latter’s dependability.  He names James and John “Boanerges” because of their impetuosity.  Jesus does not equivocate like many others.  He names his disciples as he finds them with their various virtues and vices.

Today we remember fifty million or so mostly nameless victims of abortion.  We cannot give each an individual name like the man who still has a large place in his heart for his stillborn.  But we can offer a prayer for them collectively.  We can also name the crime that blithely allowed them to die.  Let’s call it “irresponsible individualism.”  By doing so, we are saying that their right to life has been denied so that their parents might forsake the responsibility of caring for them.  But let us not condemn those parents too quickly.  No doubt, many of them were victimized in different ways that moved them to do such a horrible thing.  So we want to include them also in our prayer today.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Exodus 11:10-12:14; Matthew 12:1-8)

We may recognize the first reading today as what is given on Holy Thursday when we commemorate the Lord’s Supper.  Just like Jesus on the night before he died and most Jews throughout their history, we hear the story of God’s liberation of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt.  God accomplished this mighty feat by means of a plague that took the lives of the first-born of the captors. 

Perhaps a recent innovation, contemporary Jews sometimes include a prayer for their persecutors in the retelling of the story.  They recognize how terrible it is for parents to lose any child and pray that God will ease the suffering of those who suffered loss on account of Israel’s liberation.  Certainly Jesus has us praying for our enemies in this spirit.

Recently the Texas Legislature passed a bill that will restrict the number of abortions in the state.  The measure was deeply contested with many people both for and against the legislation coming forward to promote their cause.  We cannot help but be thankful for the legislation that will save human lives.  But at the same time we should pray for those who opposed it and those who in despair may pursue dangerous methods of aborting their babies.  

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

(Hebrews 6:10-20; Mark 2:23-28)

The famous South Rim of Big Bend National Park used to have sections cordoned off so hikers could not pass. The park curators wanted to create sanctuaries so that eagle hens might successfully hatch their offspring. Unfortunately our society does not insist on the same treatment for its human offspring.

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s infamous decision to allow abortion on demand. For some inchoate reason the majority decided that a woman’s choice to have or dump her already conceived offspring trumps that baby’s right to life. We can see Jesus in the gospel today as protecting that right against the lesser claim. His defense of his disciples’ picking grain to eat on the Sabbath preserves their right to food against the charge of the Pharisees that absolutely no work should be done on the Sabbath.

The leadership of the Church in the United States has asked all Catholics to pray today for an end to abortion on demand. Of course, such a prayer would be in vain if we do not at the same time nurture an ethic of life. We should refrain from harsh judgment and action. Let us also take care of those in need especially by assisting those women with troubled pregnancies.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs

(I John 1:5-2:2; Matthew 2:13-18)

The word “Holy Innocents” this year will be mostly associated with the child victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The hearts of people the world over go out to their parents who like “Rachel weeping for her children” cannot be consoled “since they (are) no more.”

But because its carnage of innocent babes continues to mount, something must also be whispered about the depenalization of abortion whose anniversary will be commemorated shortly. In forty years the Supreme Court decision has led to the slaughter of around fifty million human lives in their initial formation in America. In many of these cases the parents weep in silence since they ultimately caused their own heartache.

Jesus is born to take away our tears. His law, written in the gentlest manner on our hearts, frees us from enslavement to the passion at the root of unwanted pregnancy. It is the rule of true love which undergoes sacrifice for the real good of all.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

(II Samuel 5:1-7.10; Mark 3:22-30)

The bishops of the United States ask Catholics to do penance today. They do not prescribe a specific action but expect some form of self-denial. Perhaps Catholics might skip a meal or sacrifice dessert. The bishops’ motive is to express sorrow for the carnage caused by the Supreme Court decision barring laws that prohibit abortion. Undoubtedly they hope that communal action against abortion will end in, as Jesus says in today’s gospel, “(tying) up the strong man.”

Jesus’ words are puzzling. It is not clear at first to whom he is referring when speaking of the strong man or the one who plunders the strong man’s house. It may seem like the strong man is just and the plunderer of his house is doing evil. But this line of thought reverses Jesus’ meaning. The strong man represents the devil whose house is the world where he holds humanity hostage. Jesus comes as the thief who will release humans from bondage after he puts the devil under arrest.

“Abortion rights” has regrettably become the rallying cry of many struggling to uphold the dignity of women. The Catholic Church has repented complexity in the oppression of woman in the sense that both its human leaders and many of its adherents have openly demonstrated sexist behaviors. Church leaders like Blessed John Paul II have done all that they find possible to assure justice for women. Nevertheless, the Church must point out the contradiction in pro-choice proponents claiming a right to destroy a human being. It denies the most basic of rights – that of life itself. Ironically it has further led to the slaughter of a majority of women.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Memorial of Saint Benedict, abbot

(Exodus 1: 8-14.22; Matthew 10:34-11:1)

A man tells the story of his daughter. When she was a teenager, she became pregnant outside marriage. She wanted to have her baby, but her mother encouraged her to have an abortion. For the elder woman, the girl was too young to take on the responsibilities of motherhood and needed to finish her education. The girl desperately turned to her father who was divorced from his wife. The man believed in his daughter and promised to help her keep her baby. Relieved, the girl said that she had bought a bus ticket to another town in case no one would support her at home. Whether she knows it or not, this girl is following Jesus’ instructions to his Apostles in today’s gospel.

It is not that Jesus has abortion in mind as he lectures his Apostles. Rather, he foresees that his way of life will bring opposition to his followers just as the Pharisees oppose him. When Jewish-Christians are ejected from synagogues in the late first century, some at least will be opposed by their strict Jewish parents. They will have to choose between Jesus and their families; between the eternal life he offers and the relative peace life of following family customs. It is not a desirable choice, but one whose selection is obvious.

Fortunately, most of us today do not have to choose between family and Christ. More often, the choice must be made between Christ and the desires of our own hearts. Will we follow common sexual impulses or will we refrain from pornography and contraception as the Church, Christ’s body and the keeper of his ways, ordains? Confronting these issues, we realize that Jesus does not bring the perpetual peace of mind that we may desire.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 14:2-10; Matthew 10:16-23)

Often the Church is criticized for distinctions she makes in moral theology. For example, many eschew the difference the Church sees between taking contraceptives, which she condemns, to avoid conception when a couple cannot afford to have a child and, as she recommends, using natural family planning. A similar objection is made to the Church’s condoning the possibility of removing a cancerous uterus even when it contains a fetus to save a woman’s life and her forbidding the direct killing of the fetus for the same purpose. We, however, should understand these distinctions as the Church’s putting into practice Jesus’ admonition in the gospel today to be “shrewd as serpents and as simple as doves.”

As doves, the Church holds that her members must not directly do evil. Rather, we must endeavor to act righteously at all costs. Yet this does not mean that we cannot make shrewd determinations to navigate through an often murky moral world. Natural family planning requires sacrifice to forego sexual intercourse during the considerable time when the wife may conceive; but, more importantly morally, it does not frustrate nature by constructing barriers to conception. Similarly, removing a defective uterus to save the life of a pregnant woman may result in her baby’s death, but it does not directly destroy the nascent life as abortion ruthlessly does.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 24:3-21; Mark 3:13-19)

The bishops of the United States have designated today as a day of penance for violations to human dignity. Of course, they have in mind the infamous decision of the Supreme Court, made on this date in 1973, to effectively disallow all laws banning abortion. The bishops also permit the Scriptures from the Mass “for Peace and Justice” to be read, but today’s first reading provides a fitting context for appreciating the somberness of this memorial.

A jealous King Saul has been pursuing David with the intention of killing him. For a moment, however, David is given the upper hand. As Saul enters alone the cave where he is hiding, David could murder him and assume leadership over Israel. But loyalty to the king deters David from regicide. At the end of the day Saul comes to realize David’s innocence and blesses him for it. However, in short time Saul will once again pursue his deadly intention.

We may see the Supreme Court’s abortion decision as being like Saul’s pursuit of David. Its sweeping scope has meant the deaths of tens of millions of fetuses in the United States. Every once and a while, however, the nation recognizes its folly. Like Saul acknowledging David’s innocence in today’s reading, the people make the insight that a fetus is not extraneous tissue, which might be eliminated at will, but a real human being whose right-to-life is inalienable. Yet consumed by the desire to somehow upend the inequality women have suffered at the hands of men, the state keeps in place the comprehensive ban on laws protecting the fetus. In time, we hope, our society will come fully to its senses. It will admit that injustice may not be undone BY further injustice, ban abortions, and address the inequality of women in suitable ways.

Homilette for Thursday, April 23, 2009

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 5:27-33; John 3:31-36)

“We must obey God rather than men” (or women, we should add). This maxim from the first reading today may be delusive since God sometimes speaks through others and since our sense of God speaking to us may be mistaken. Discernment guided by Scripture and Church teaching provides necessary assistance in determining what God expects of us when the dictates of others conflict with our own ideas and actions.

A recent development in government points to an impending conflict between obedience to God and compliance with civil law. The Obama Administration has called for inquiries on whether the protections of medical workers and institutions from prosecution for not performing abortions should be lifted. In other words, the Obama Administration is contemplating pressuring Catholic facilities, doctors, and nurses into doing abortions. Catholic bishops have raised their voices decisively and vigorously in defense of freedom of conscience. Removal of protections, they claim, would mean violation of many consciences, non-Catholic as well as Catholic. It would also facilitate the taking of human life in its most vulnerable period.

Many Americans are pleased with policy changes introduced by the Obama Administration. His friendly overture to the Cuban government, for example, seems productive and right-minded. It is also in line with the approach the Church has taken in recent years. But Catholic Americans especially should be wary not to allow their enthusiasm for positive change allow them to overlook areas where the Administration may tread on sacred values upholding the common good.

Homilette for December 28, 2007

Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs

(Matthew 2:13-18)

In Europe you might find your car’s tires without any air today. Or perhaps there will be three unordered pizzas delivered to your door. The Feast of the Holy Innocents is Europe’s equivalent to the American April Fools Day. It is a time to play practical jokes on good-natured people.

We may be shocked by the European frivolity on a day that memorializes the slaughter of children. But perhaps Holy Innocents Day jokesters just take to heart the belief that the infants have gone to God. “So why not rejoice?” they might ask. Somehow, however, that is just too casual an attitude. It does not recoil at the grotesque injustice of the blood of children. It would mock, for example, the outrage at a public policy which permits abortion on demand. It also begs the question: why live at all?

All Catholics born before Vatican II should easily recite the answer to this last question. We live to know, love, and serve God in this world and to be happy with him in the next. If this is so, the tragedy of children dying is the irreversible condition of their minds being wasted. Dead children cannot come to know God very well. Yes, they should receive the beatific vision. And there might be something marvelous about seeing God through children’s eyes. But just as the art connoisseur will appreciate aspects of a Rubens painting that completely escape the uncultured so growing in wisdom should make us more enthralled at God’s glory. It is good to grow old then if we accordingly grow in wisdom. Reciprocally, it is a tragedy when one dies young.

Homily for Sunday, March 25, 2007

Sunday, V LENT, Cycle C

(John 8)

It was a regular Sunday morning. People filled the cathedral for mass. After reading the gospel the preacher began his homily. All of a sudden there was a furor in the front of the church. Someone started shouting as he neared the pulpit. Gun in hand, he demanded a hearing. The scene is not much different in the gospel today. The scribes and Pharisees interrupt Jesus’ teaching with what corresponds to a loaded pistol.

Into the midst of the assembly before Jesus the scribes and Pharisees parade a forlorn woman. She has been caught in the act of adultery. The passage does not describe how she looks, but it takes little imagination to see her as partially dressed. In any case, she is likely flush with shame. She has been exposed to a large crowd who look on her with contempt. Even if the people do not see naked flesh, they ridicule her for being caught in sin. We should be able to appreciate the hell the woman is experiencing. Most of us have probably had the nightmare of being exposed in a similar way.

Hopefully, if we were in the Temple area with Jesus that morning, we would have looked away. The scribes and Pharisees, however, take no note of the woman’s feelings. They don’t even care about her sin. They are using her to attack Jesus. They will mount a two step assault. First, they will cite the Scriptures: “...in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.” Then, expecting Jesus to have a contradictory judgment, they will seal his fate with the question: “What do you say?” It is the devil’s strategy of turning Scripture on its head. The Law proposes to form a righteous people. Here its supposed defenders show themselves as anything but righteous as they seek to undermine a just man.

Jesus, however, remains as composed as an iceberg in the Artic winter. In modesty, he bends to the ground and turns his head away. Then he demonstrates how divine mercy tempers justice. He challenges the whole crowd, “Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Significantly, Jesus does not make an excuse for adultery. He does not argue that the woman might need the money if she is a prostitute. Nor does he inquire about her partner in crime as if that would remove her guilt. No, he confronts everyone present – including us – with his or her own sinfulness. When we face our own guilt, we recognize a need for leniency. Pope John Paul II cast a cold eye on the death penalty for this reason. Seeing how abortion has eroded the sanctity of life, he pleaded for an end to capital punishment which calls into question the sanctity of the criminal’s life.

The pope’s declaration twelve years ago has been a moment of illumination for the world. It has enabled pro-choice advocates to see the cruelty of giving a woman the option of killing her own flesh and blood. And it has opened the eyes of pro-life proponents to admit that their field of concern needs stretching. We see this same enlightenment taking place as everyone leaves the Temple area -- scribe, Pharisee, and Jesus listener. Jesus has touched all with his plea for mercy. No one merits the right to cast a stone.

Alone with the woman Jesus can finally look at her. His eyes are void of judgment and filled with compassion. She has committed a grave sin which cannot be ignored. But she has already suffered the stiff punishment of shame in front of the crowd. To be forgiven she must also display what the Church calls firm purpose of amendment. “Go, and from now on do not sin any more,” he gently tells her. She will avoid the sin in the future. After Jesus narrowly saves her from a brutal death, how can she fall again? Unfortunately, we often forget that Christ has similarly rescued us. In confession we likely think of Jesus more as a traffic cop than a savior. He seems to stop us, ticket us, and tell us to speed no more. We depart ready to exceed the speed limit as soon as he is out of sight. But Christ has died a more gruesome death than stoning to save us from the punishment our sins deserve. How can we sin any more? No, we want to avoid sin. More than that, we want to become just and merciful like Jesus.

A striking incident occurs only in the Passion according to Luke which we will read at Mass next Sunday. Just after Jesus dies on the cross, “all the people...return(ed) home beating their breasts” (Lk 23:48). Scribes, Pharisees, and Jesus listeners show remorse for Jesus’ death. Just so, we face our guilt at Mass by striking our breasts at the Confiteor. We must cast a cold eye on our sins. They undermine our righteousness. They merit for us a brutal death. Now is the time to plead that mercy temper justice. Now is the time to plead for mercy.