With Authority!

Tabernacle in progress...

Readings for Sunday, June 21/ 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Job 28:1, 8-11
Psalm 107
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Mark 4:35-41

My first experience of something like being a father came at Camp Chosatonga, where I worked as a camp counselor for two summers during my seminary formation. Unlike many camps where the kids would come for a week and then head home, the kids at this camp came for 3 ½ weeks or 5 weeks, some staying the whole 9 weeks. It was great because I was actually able to get to know the kids and because I stayed in the cabin, had to make sure they were taken care of. I had to do things that typical dads have to do: make sure they eat, clean their room, brush their teeth, shower regularly, etc. I also had to worry discipline them, encourage them, and sometimes give them guidance and direction on things at camp or back at home. Years later I continue to reflect upon those two summers, as I still keep in touch with a number of the boys, now young men, who were there. And it hits me specifically that if those few short weeks 10 years ago had such a profound impact upon those children, how much more does the relationship with their own fathers have an impact?

Looking at the world around us we see that fatherhood is in a major crisis at the moment. 1 in 3 children today are raised in homes without their biological father. Many have no father figure at all.  Add to this the media portrayal of fathers as a bunch of Homer Simpson look-alikes who are generally incompetent, angry, childish, or unconcerned about their family, and you soon have a picture of fatherhood that is anything but inspiring. The importance of a father, though, is something that continues to be shown in research even if not in the media; how the presence of a father direction affects a child’s education, behavior, proneness to depress, likeliness to engage in drug use or premarital sexual activity, fidelity in their future relationships, and even their religious upbringing. Did you know that when the father attends church weekly the child is 70% more likely to be religious as an adult? That’s huge.

I don’t want to get caught up in statistics though, because every study can be tweaked to it’s own desired end. I want to start at the beginning: “Male and female He created them; in His image and likeness He created them.” It’s about what the Church refers to as the complimentarity of the sexes, the fact that men and women were created by God to be men and women and eventually fathers and mothers, and that both are images of God. This weekend’s scriptures show us an attribute of God that is traditionally ascribed to men, namely, authority.

Years past heard the regular reference to the father as the head of the family, which rubs many people wrong these days. They hear ‘head of the family’ and shrink back because we’re in an age of equality when everyone should be on even ground and there’s no differences in anything, but the simple fact is the being equal doesn’t mean we’re all supposed to be the same. Everyone one of us is different in the church today, but we each have the same dignity, the same right, and the same value in the eyes of God. The simple fact is that men were created by God and designed to be the head of the family and that women were created by God and design to be the heart of the family. Women are naturally more nurturing and caring,. Men are naturally more inclined to discipline and direction. Have any of the ladies every been frustrated because you’re talking to a man and he seems not to understand that you just need him to listen but he keeps trying to offer advice on how to fix the situation or take some action toward a resolution? It’s written in our very sexuality as men! Unfortunately wounded humanity has often taken what is a good attribute and brought it to a sad end. Men have often exercised their authority in a negative fashion by degrading, oppressing, and becoming domineering to other, specifically their families. This is not the type of authority that God desires to be show in men. Rather, the type of authority God seeks to have us men exercise is demonstrated by the Lord Jesus in the Gospel and described by St. Paul in the Letter to the Corinthians. Jesus, knowing the need of His disciples, rebukes the wind and sea and exercises His rightful authority not for Himself but only for the service of His disciples. Here the words of St. Paul about ‘no longer living for oneself’ become particularly important. Authority has been entrusted to men, but it is an authority that manifests itself in service for those entrusted to him. Jesus teaches many powerful things and works miracle after miracle, showing His authority in each case. Not one time is it for His own glory or benefit, but always for the good of the other, out of love and concern for the other to have life here on this earth and to prepare for life in the world to come. Earthly Fatherhood is called to be a living image of the Fatherhood of God that is ever patient, present, guiding and directing us in the path that will bring us the greatest eternal reward. It’s love in a different light.

Last weekend, if you remember, the scriptures were all about plants and how the farmer sows the seed and it brings for a blade, then an ear, then the grain, and then it’s harvest time, though the farmer knows not how. That passage made me think about how while God sometimes does miraculous things, the real action of God is in the everyday stuff of life; it’s in the daily growth of the plant that’s easy to miss unless we’re very attentive. This was in my mind when I went to my mom and stepdad’s house the other day to work on building a box. I arrived and my stepdad stopped what he was working on and sat down to have lunch with me. Then we went over my ideas and he asked me all sorts of questions about different options, what I was envisioning, whether my measurements would be right, and so on. Then we went to the garage and he showed me how to use the table saw, which we didn’t have when I lived at home. He pointed to the blade and said, “Don’t touch this.” We went through it all and then he helped me make the first few cut on the large sheet of plywood I was using. Then he went back to his work. Every now and then he’d pop his head into the garage and wave his fingers at me and ask, “Still got 10?” and I’d wave mine back and say, “Yes sir!” As I worked I was filled with gratitude because my stepdad was showing me the love of the Father in the way that men do it best, by exercising self-less authority and guidance. He took time from his project to simply be with me, to guide and direct me, to encourage me in my own work, to show me what to do and enable me to reach the end that I was aiming for. It wasn’t anything spectacular or miraculous but it was a reminder that God is always at work doing the same – making a point to be with us, guiding us, encouraging us, and directing us to eternal life. The love of a father.

So, fathers, I have a simple request and it is but an echo of Pope Francis’ recent addresses: play with your kids. It doesn’t matter what you do, just make time to play with them, to be with them, to guide and encourage them. If you do, you can rest assured that they’re in good hands because they won’t be receiving just your love, they’ll be seeing and experiencing the love of the Father through you.

Real Hope

Readings for Sunday, November 10/ Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Luke 20:27-38

We love to use the word ‘hope’ these days. We use it to encourage change in politics, we use it to spur us on to victory in athletics, we use it in education and the workplace to push us toward greatness, we use it in our daily lives as we look forward to a time of peace or the attainment of some perceived good. As a priest whose life is almost entirely consumed by things of the faith, much of my hope is focused not on athletics and political things but on the things of faith in our community, our diocese and around the world. While there is much to be frustrated by in our days, there is even more to build within us the gift of hope.

Last week we concluded 40 Days for Life, a 40-day prayer vigil at the abortion clinic in Baton Rouge. The prayers and presence of people from our parish and other parishes in the Diocese of Baton Rouge helped 19 women choose life for their child instead of abortion during those 40 days. Hope.

Just a few weeks ago we mourned the death of Fr. Louis Oubre, a priest of our diocese who served across the river for some years and died in his mid-fifties. We continue to be aware of the decreasing number of priests in active ministry in our diocese. But this year 9 young men entered the seminary for our diocese, bringing the total number of seminarians to 19, nearly equal to the most we’ve ever had as a diocese – and three more already applying to enter next year to join their ranks. And we can add to that a dozen young Religious Brothers and Sisters from our diocese, ministering in other communities. Hope.

The world continually works to lead our youth away from God and the faith through so many avenues. And yet there are many youth who are devout Catholics ready to show the world the joy of the faith. Nine buses of high school students from our diocese will drive up to Washington DC in January for the annual March for Life. Nearly 1000 gathered two weeks back for our Diocesan World Youth Day. Our Catholic Schools continues from Pre-K up through High School continue to see incredible things as teachers and students alike continue to catch fire with our faith. Hope.

Those are just a few examples of many more good things going on in our diocese. I say all this to encourage you to contribute to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal, which will be used by the Bishop for various projects in our diocese to continue to build up our local Church in the faith and in hope. We can look to recent years to see some of the good that has come from your generosity in this appeal: over 45,000 individuals helped through Catholic Charities, $75,000 given for tuition assistance programs in Catholic Schools, $52,000 given to help with evangelization through our local Catholic TV programming, $100,000 given for emergency generators at parishes. I’ll stop there to keep from being too long-winded, but you get the idea. All of the things mentioned above are things that we have benefitted from directly here in our cluster. If you have received an envelope already, we have them available at the rear of the Church and invite you to continue in your support not only for our local community but also our wider diocesan community.

This homily isn’t about money though. It’s about hope. The examples listed above were things that encourage us to be hopeful about our future as a diocese. Those things are all important for us to urge us on in our faith here on earth, but we also have to remember that our true hope is not in earthly things at all. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that hope is “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (1817). True hope is focused on one thing and one thing only: heavenly life.

The Resurrection is one of those things that can be difficult to understand because it raises so many questions we can’t answer: What does it mean to have a resurrected body? How will it happen? Will I look the same? Will we have our personal attributes still? How can we have bodies in heaven, which is a spiritual reality? To those questions we could add another 1000, but the simple fact is that we cannot know the answers because we have not experienced the reality. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

In our first reading we hear this intense story of seven brothers who are killed for not forsaking Jewish laws prohibiting the eating of pork. As they undergo their torture and martyrdom, they each begin to speak of the heavenly life that awaits the righteous. Keep in mind this is over 125 years before Jesus was even born. The idea of an afterlife and even a bodily existence there wasn’t something Jesus made up but was actually a belief of many pious Jews, Jesus of course included in that group. That’s why we hear these bold proclamations from the third son saying of his tongue and hands, “It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from Him I hope to receive them again” and from the fourth son, who does likewise, saying, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him.” The Resurrection is not just a nice thought. It is a reality that all of us can and should look forward to.

Why should we look forward to it? The answer is held in our Gospel passage where we encounter

another group of seven brothers, each taking the same woman as his wife. There was actually a law at the time that if a man died leaving his wife childless, his brother should marry the woman and ensure the brother’s lineage was upheld with children. It’s strange, but that was the case. That’s how we arrive at this strange question posed to Jesus about which of the seven men would be her husband in heaven. Jesus recognizes that the questioners have an idea of heaven that doesn't match with the truth and seeks to change that by jolting them a bit with his answer: there is a resurrection of the body, but there is no giving and taking in marriage in heaven! We can be a bit upset when we hear this because it seems like Jesus has a negative view of marriage, as if when we get to heaven you think ‘Well thank God that marriage isn’t here!’ That’s not it at all. Jesus held marriage in high esteem and even chose that context for His first miracle. Jesus isn’t saying marriage is bad but rather uses earthly marriage to emphasize the goodness the Resurrection of the Body and eternal life that are to come. After all, when we think of intimacy, passion and love, what do we think of most clearly – married life. It is in married life that we see a man and woman joined together in one flesh to share themselves completely with one another, to journey with one another for the rest of their lives, sharing their greatest joys, sorrows, fear, and dreams. That is intimacy! And as beautiful as that is and as life-giving as that is for that couple, Heavenly life will make that seem like nothing. That’s what Jesus means when He says that people are not married or given in marriage, not that marriage is bad but that heavenly life is going to be where we encounter life, love, and passion in a way that we cannot even begin to understand here on earth.

That is the gift that awaits us.That is the salvation that God holds out to us and longs for us to receive. That is what our hope points us toward. As we receive Holy Communion today, let us receive the fullness of grace we need to be faithful to our God here in this life, that we might be able to one day behold forever the One who is always faithful to us.

Homosexuality and the Church

Readings for Sunday, August 4/ 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Ecclesiastes 1:2; 221-23
Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21

I had some trouble this week trying to discern what to preach this weekend. This Sunday, August 4, is the feast of St. Jean Vianney, the patron of parish priests and part of me wanted to talk about his life and the priesthood. Another part of me wanted to take up that powerful first reading from Ecclesiastes, which holds a special place in my heart and conversion story, and speak to the reality of the purpose of this life. Another part of me wanted to speak of the Gospel call to simplicity and storing up true treasures that glorify God. And yet to each of those things the Lord continually said ‘No.’ What kept coming up every time I went to pray was not anything mentioned in the Scriptures but something else that needed to be addressed: the remarks of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, from the spontaneous interview on his return flight from World Youth Day. And if you’ve opened up the internet or seen a newspaper in the past week you already have a hint about the topic of this homily.

After a week among the youth of our world and the great spiritual experiences that took place during the World Youth Day celebrations, Pope Francis was gracious enough to speak with the secular media and they asked a number of great questions 99% of which was lost because of one question, the final question, regarding a particular Monsignor’s alleged connection with a ‘gay lobby’ in the Vatican.

In response to the particular situation Pope Francis also gave some interesting remarks in regards to persons of homosexual orientation which caught the attention of the whole world. Here, then, is the response of our Holy Father:

“If a person, lay or priest or Sister, has committed a sin and then has converted, the Lord forgives, and when the Lord forgives, the Lord forgets and this is important for our life. When we go to confession and truly say: “I have sinned in this,” the Lord forgets and we don’t have the right not to forget, because we run the risk that the Lord won’t forget our [sins]. That’s a danger. This is important: a theology of sin. I think so many times of Saint Peter: he committed one of the worst sins, which is to deny Christ, and with this sin he was made Pope. We must give it much thought…. I think that when one meets a person like this, one must distinguish the fact of being a gay person from the fact of doing a lobby, because not all lobbies are good.  That’s bad. If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge him?” He then went on to reference the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches that such persons “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and that “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided” (CCC, 2358). [Full text HERE.]

The media upon hearing the words “who am I to judge?” immediately burst into an uproar – THE CHURCH HAS CHANGED HER TEACHINGS!!! Headlines all over spoke of Francis being ‘Okay with gays’ and other such catch phrases. As they came in I was struck by it because what Francis said was the same thing the Benedict XVI said, and the same thing that John Paul II, John Paul I, Paul VI , John XXIII, and every other pope back to St. Peter himself have said. The teaching has not changed. The world just doesn’t know what the Church teaches to begin with, and neither do many Catholics. What Pope Francis said didn’t change the teachings of the Church; it simply restated once more what we have held from the beginning and that is the distinction between the person and the sins a person commits.

In the Book of Genesis when God was creating everything He did so and saw that it was good. When He created us and continues to create us generation after generation he looks upon us sees that we are good. This is where we get our human dignity – not from what anything we’ve accomplished or where we live or our family history. Our dignity comes in that we are all created and loved by God. The reality though is that while we are all loved by God, we are also sinners. Every one of us has pierced the Lord’s heart by our sins but His love doesn’t change. St. Paul reminds us that “God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While we were sinners He died for us. Christ, being God Himself, knew everything that would take place in human history. As He hung upon the Cross He knew in His Sacred Heart every sin that we would commit and that every other person in history would commit and yet He remained there on the Cross for us. He loved us to death. And by that He challenges us to do the same.

That call to love, however, is often not what takes place in our society. Instead labels are given and individuals are isolated and rejected rather than received and loved. This is a major fault on our part because rather than encourage people who bear the cross of same-sex attraction we increase the weight and refuse to permit any room for growth, change, and conversion. Rather than help them on their journey of faith, we do exactly that which Pope Francis warns against: refusing to forget things of the past and thus possibly condemning ourselves as we pray week after week to be forgiven as we forgive others. We must learn to love, not condemn, to show compassion, not to marginalize. Does that mean that we approve of homosexual actions? No. We have to speak the truth, but we must do so with love and strive to love the individual. Just because we don’t approve of an action doesn’t mean we can’t love and accept people. After all, if we’re honest with ourselves as a community we can look around and see that there are a number of people in our community that have a tendency to abuse alcohol. Do we approve of it? No. Do we still love them? Yes. There are some who have been unfaithful to their spouses. Do we approve of it? No. Do we still love them? Yes. And we could go down the list of every sin we have committed, recognizing that while we cannot approve of our sins we are still in need of love.

This issue of homosexuality has been a hot topic for many months now – between the Boy Scouts, the striking down of the Defense of Marriage Act upholding traditional marital values, and the numerous states and countries discussing legalization of so-called gay marriage. It would be hard not to recognize it is something important to discuss in our culture. But it’s not just something out there away from us. It’s something close to home too, sometimes in our own homes. I don’t know about you but I have family, close friends, and people to whom I minister that are very close to my heart who struggle with these inclinations themselves. And that doesn’t change my love for them.

In the end, as much as one may want to ‘fix’ this group or that group that has this or that problem that they don’t approve of, that is not something we are called to do. God created every one of us and it is His task to mold our hearts to resemble His own. Our task is to be loved by Him and to share His love with others. Blessed Mother Teresa was once asked what needed to change most in the Church. Her response was simple: you and I. The problem with the world isn’t other people, the problem with the world is you and I. It’s me. It’s us as individuals. We need not worry about others’ problems so much as we need to worry about ourselves. That’s what Pope Francis was stating by saying, “who am I to judge?”

As we celebrate this Eucharist today let us lift up those who struggle with these inclinations that they might be freed from past sins and know God’s peace. And let us pray for ourselves that recognizing our own sins, we might be compelled to greater love and compassion for them and for all, in accord with the witness given to us by Christ.

For more information:

The Vatican's Letter to Bishops on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons

Courage Group for Support and Information

Lifeteen's 'Myth Debunked' on Catholicism and Gay Persons

HWP: O Domina Mea

Happy Easter! For the past couple of months I've been reflecting much more on the role that Our Blessed Mother has in my own life and in all of our lives, so my prayers have taken on a much more Marian theme - both spontaneously and in rote prayer. One of my favorite practices is the triple-recitation of the Hail Mary with the O Domina Mea as a concluding prayer. I was introduced to this threefold petition to Mary via a book on chastity, wherein the author recounts the story of people being freed from sinful lifestyles by the daily recitation of this prayer. As I'm always in the market for a powerful tool against sin, I took up the practice myself and have found that it fits perfectly with the Marian spirituality as encouraged by St. Louis de Montfort and which I attempt to live. So without further rambling on my part...

Recite the Hail Mary three times, praying after each the simple prayer: 

By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, purify my body and sanctify my soul.

Then conclude with the O Domina Mea:

My Queen, my Mother, I give myself entirely to you, 

and to show my devotion to you I consecrate to you this day (or night) 

my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, and my whole body, without reserve. 

Wherefore, good Mother, as I am your own, 

keep me and guard me as your property and possession. 

Amen.

***It is a good practice to make the Sign of the Cross over your eyes/ears/mouth/heart similar to the way they are signed during Mass at the Beginning of the Gospel and then to make the regular Sign of the Cross over yourself as 'my whole body'. ***

Social Costs of Pornography

Available at Amazon.com

Readings for Sunday, October 28/ 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Jeremiah 31:7-9
Psalm 126:1-6
Hebrews 5:1-6
Mark 10:46-52

“Every priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.”

This passage has always stuck out to me, especially as I discerned and pursued a vocation to the priesthood, because it clearly reminds me of who I am. I am a sinner, beset by weakness. I’m not better than anyone because I’m a priest. I’m not holier than anyone because I’m a priest. I have a past, parts of which I’m not particularly proud of, but I am not confined or defined by it. Rather, I am defined by the life I choose to live as my life moves forward and the same goes for all of us. We have all done things in our lives that were sinful, but the reality is that God’s grace is bigger than anything in the past and the Mercy of God is so generous that even the most grievous offenses are forgiven instantly when we simply come to open our hearts to the One who died to ransom us for Heaven. There is always hope.

For the past several weeks we’ve all been hearing the presidential and vice-presidential debates, the ads on TV, the news, webpages and other media sources talk about all of the things going on in the world today, particularly the problems that must be addressed. We’ve heard endless discussions on things such as the economy, foreign policy, energy, and a list of other things. But one thing that I haven’t heard a word spoken about is actually one of the most destructive forces in our world today, and that destructive force is the reason you received those white ribbons when you came into Mass today: pornography.

I came across a book a while back that really interested me because it was a book entitled The Social Costs of Pornography, but which wasn’t written from a religious perspective. For the Catholic Church or a group of religious people to write a book against it would be for the world to chalk it up as religious belief trying to justify itself by coming up with facts to back up beliefs. Instead, this book is written by regular people who have to deal with the effects of pornography in our world: lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, computer techs, and other professionals who see it every day in the people they serve. This book comes together to give us some disturbing information.

 A few facts to show the scope of its reach:

-$100 billion dollars is spent on pornography each year.
-45% of teens view it regularly; not occasionally – regularly!
-90% of children between 8 and 16 years of age have viewed online pornography.

Some might see those numbers and be unconcerned because they think pornography isn’t really a problem. It is simply a private thing that doesn’t affect anyone and those who act it out are doing so freely, so what’s the big deal, right? Well, the big deal is that it is destroying the culture around us by destroying the way that we interact with other people.

For starters, the people who are in the videos or images are often there not because they enjoy it but because they’ve been coerced. Many who have been able to get away from this industry describe how drugs were offered to the actors and eventually they became dependent upon them, such that they were willing to do anything for the camera in order to get another high. Also, human trafficking is a major problem, as there are an estimated 13,000-15,000 people who are bought and sold into this market of sexual exploitation each year; slavery is still going on in our world today.

The part that is more notably affecting the world outside of those actors and producers is not much brighter. The statistics and findings of the report in that book on the social costs of pornography indicate a number of very serious problems – and below is just a small portion of the findings. The fact that internet pornography is so readily accessible on phones, notepads, computers, and every other electronic device means that it is there at our fingertips 24-hours a day, which encourages addictive behavior. Divorce lawyers indicated that nearly 25% of divorce cases indicated pornography use as a major factor in the separation.

But more fundamentally, it distorts the view of the human person. It has been noted that the problem with pornography not that it shows too much of the human person but that it shows too little. A picture or video cannot capture the soul of a person, it cannot show the whole person who is there but rather reduces them to their body parts. Pornography essentially makes people who are meant to be loved into objects that are used instead and this transfers into normal social interaction. Thus, users of pornography find it more difficult to enter into actual intimate relationships because they are unable to truly love but rather are gratifying themselves at the expense of the other. This means that faithfulness in marriage and relationships in general is drastically decreased. Also, users are constantly fed lies that distort the reality of true intimacy, hide the negative effects of unfaithfulness and extra-marital sexual encounters, and fail to provide any accurate depiction of what it means to be a man or woman and how to interact with the opposite sex. In general, pornography takes everything that can build up the human person and strengthen family life and does the exact opposite. Is it any wonder that as the dignity of the human person is denied in our world we see an increase in violence, promiscuity, and addictive behavior? This evil silently destroying our country and unless we personally and communally take a stand against it, we will continue to see the family and human person become less and less honored in our world.

So I end with this – pornography affects each and every single one of us. If it is affecting you or has in the past because of your use of it, there is always hope. As I said at the beginning of the homily, there is no sin that Christ won’t forgive and for that reason we don’t have to be bound up by the sins of the past. In fact, Christ longs to free us from these sins and to bring us to wholeness because we weren’t created for slavery and sin but for freedom and life eternal. We simply need to come to Him with open hearts, recognizing that Christ has the power to do anything. Like Bartimaeus in the Gospel today, we must cry out for the Lord and know that we are heard and He desires to effect the healing the same as He did for Bartimaeus.

For those not affect by it personally, thank God and pray for those who are. Pray for our youth who are being bombarded with it. Pray for families being broken apart by it. Pray for those still caught up in the industry themselves. God’s love is being our understanding and His grace works in powerful ways if we call upon Him and Our Blessed Mother is a perfect reflection of that love and all grace passes through her hands, so let us also pray through the intercession of Mary, Undoer of Knots, that the bonds of sin might be broken and true freedom would be known by all.

 

*****

For more information on pornography and getting help:

Website - Resources from IntegrityRestored.com

Book - The Pornography Epidemic: A Catholic Approach

Online Accountability Program

Face-Melting Quote of the Day

Why do I love Venerable Fulton J. Sheen? Because of statements like this:

"A woman is capable of more sacrifices than a man. Man is more apt to be a hero, through some great passionate outburst of heroism. But a woman's love makes a thousand small sacrifices, sprinkling them through the days and the months; their very repetition gives them the character of the commonplace. Not only her soul, but her body, has some share in the Calvary of Redemption; furthermore, she comes closer to death than man, whenever she brings forth a child." 

-Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, Life is Worth Living

Contraception

Readings for Sunday, June 24/ Nativity of St. John the Baptist: 

Isaiah 49:1-6

Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15

Acts 13:22-26

Luke 1:57-66, 80

As I begin this homily today I ask that you would join me in a prayer to our Blessed Mother:

Hail Mary…

Thank you. The reason I asked you to join me in prayer is that what I am preaching on today is difficult to say and for some of you it may be difficult to hear. For months the topic of contraception has been on my heart and after much prayer, it seems to me that this weekend is the time the Lord desires me to preach about it since we celebrate the birth of a child and hear readings reminding us that it is God who creates us and who invites us to take part in carrying out His divine plan.

When the Church’s teaching on sexuality – and particularly contraception – is brought up, it is often said that the Church just needs to ‘get with the times.’ But the reality is that Truth is not determined by periods of time nor does it change according to majority opinion. Truth is eternal and it has been entrusted to the Catholic Church, who is guided by the Holy Spirit. For two thousand years the Church, our spiritual mother, has told us that contraception is not only sinful; it is also unfulfilling.

The problem, though, is that our culture has given us this idea that freedom is absolute. If we want to do something, then we ought to be free to do it and to say otherwise intrudes on our freedom. But that logic is based on a false concept of freedom, one that sees freedom as license to do anything. The true concept of freedom, the Catholic concept of freedom, is not the freedom to do what we want, but the freedom to do what we ought to. True freedom allows us to follow the teachings of Christ that bring fulfillment. Rather than being a restrict list that shows God’s harshness, the law of God is actually a guide to happiness that reveals His great love for us. After all, what parent would say that not allowing their child to touch a hot stove, drink something poisonous or run into a busy street is an intrusion upon their freedom? God our Father is no different, and so he tells us to do and not do certain things because He Himself knows the real consequences.

Now, this may be news to some of you who have never heard this preached before or read much on the topic, but the reality is that the Church maintains that the act of contraception is gravely immoral and that every sexual act (which ought only to happen within marriage) must be open to human life. Because contraception within the sexual act is contrary to God’s plan for life, love and marriage, it is ultimately a big ‘no thank you’ to God’s plan for us, whether we intend it to be so or not.

The Gospel today reminds us that God seeks to have us join in His plans. The birth of the forerunner and the subsequent ministry of preparation for the savior’s coming depended upon the ‘yes’ of Elizabeth and Zechariah. We miss a part of the back story, but when the angel Gabriel first comes to Zechariah in the Temple to announce the good news of John’s conception, Zechariah doubts God and is struck mute. With the child’s birth and Zechariah’s cooperation with God’s plan to name him John, Zechariah is once again able to speak and we see the blessedness that accompanies our choice to trust in the Lord and His plan for us.

In order to do God’s will though, we must first know what it is. In the Book of Genesis, we see the blueprint of God’s plan for sexual love. In the beginning, one man and one woman came together in an inseparable union and gave themselves to each other freely, faithfully, fruitfully and totally. The problem is that when the marital embrace is contracepted, it can be free and faithful, but it is never intended to be fruitful or total. The entire purpose of contraception is to exclude the fruit of the marital embrace, namely, children. The act of contraception is of itself anti-life and thus against the plan of God who is the giver of life.

Moreover, the choice to contracept is one that keeps love from being total. No right-minded person seeks a spouse who is going to love them only under certain conditions. Everyone wants to be loved unconditionally and to love the other unconditionally in exchange. Unfortunately, contraception takes the most beautiful act of total self-gift and makes it a lie. Because of the contraceptive mentality that a child is something to be avoided, barriers are put in place – sometimes literally, sometimes chemically - to ensure that a child does not result from a particular sexual act. Without words the partners say to one another, “I love you, but not enough to allow this action to bear its proper fruit.” These barriers keep the partners from total self-giving and tries to take the act of procreation out of God’s hands and place it in our own, effectively kicking God out of the act that most vividly represents the mystery of His own nature: love giving itself to another unconditionally.

In the end, contraception is not about following laws. It’s about finding love and fulfillment. I’m sure that some of you gathered here today are currently using contraceptives, using contraceptive methods or engaging in sex outside of marriage. I’m not here to pass judgment or point fingers. What I am here for is to invite you to see a different view of things. The Church has a rich teaching on the gift of our sexuality. It doesn’t mandate that every couple have ten kids, it doesn’t mandate risking a woman’s health to have a child, and it doesn’t say that every marital act should conceive a child. It does invite us to see that the God who created the gift of marriage and told us to multiply and fill the earth has a plan for us. If we carry out that plan and follow those loving guides set up for us, we will indeed find fulfillment in this life and the next, where we will join Elizabeth, Zechariah, John the Baptist and all the saints as we behold God face to face and enter into the great mystery of the God who is love poured out unconditionally.

Receptivity to Love

Readings for Sunday, May 13/ Sixth Sunday of Easter:
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Psalm 98:1-4
1 John 4:7-10
John 15:9-17

Before my seminary days, when I was dating, my mom would often lament the fact that she would one day be replaced by another women – my future wife – and would be sure to tell me, “Brent, just remember. Momma loved you first. And Momma loved you best.” After I entered the seminary, she happily told me that if she had to be replaced by another woman, Mother Church was definitely the most satisfying choice from her point of view.

At the time I thought it was a bit funny to hear my mom say these things, but I also knew that there was truth in what she spoke to me. With those words she was letting me know of her unconditional love for ‘her baby boy,’ as I’m introduced even to this day. In spite of all the things that I did wrong and all the trouble that I got myself into as a child and adolescent – and even now as an adult! – she never stopped loving me and she never quit showing it. I think this is a beautiful illustration of one of the most essential attributes of women – their receptivity.

Women, by their nature, are more receptive to things that men. The women in my family can recount events and details that I would never think to notice in the moment, much less ten years down the line. They can tell when something is going on and have an incredible sense about what it is and how to deal with it. But I think most of all, they are more receptive to the God who created us all. By default, women are more open to the love that God pours out upon us and are thus compelled to share that love. Love is compelled to share itself with others. And that is one of the greatest gifts of women to the world: signs of the unconditional love of our God and models of how to share that love with others.

While some in the world think that God is some tyrant who is constantly seeking to condemn and judge us, the truth is the exact opposite. God is a Father, a friend and love itself. And He desires that our joy be complete by remaining in that perpetual outpouring of His unconditional love. As St. Paul says, nothing in the world can separate us from the love of Christ. But the reality is that we must choose to remain in that love. It’s a conscious choice we must make and live.

As you may know, this past week the priests of our diocese went to Lafayette to a series of conferences by Fr. Ronald Knott, a priest of the diocese of Louisville, KY. In one of his conferences he looked at each of us and told us that one of the hardest days of his 42 years of priesthood was the Monday after his ordination. Ordination day on Saturday was full of excitement with the ceremony taking place and the reception afterward. Sunday was the big day to celebrate Masses of Thanksgiving and rejoice in the gift of priesthood. But on Monday he woke up and the honeymoon was over. There were no more parties, no more celebrations; he was simply faced with an incredibly difficult parish assignment and dozens of obligations that were far less exciting than ceremonies and after-parties. He was faced with a choice: either call it quits and walk away from all that was in front of him or to choose to remain a priest out of love for his people, despite the sufferings that would be part of that choice. He chose to remain.

St. Therese of Liseux

In a similar way, each one of us must make the conscious choice each day to get up and remain in the love of Christ Jesus by choosing to love those that He places in front of us that day. This will entail some suffering on our part, as St. John reminds us: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” Love manifests itself by placing the needs and desires of others ahead of ourselves, which means that we must take a back seat. The beautiful thing is that if it is truly love that compels us, the suffering will be a joy to us because of the love that flows through us. St. Therese beautifully put it this way, “I can no longer suffer, for all suffering is sweetness.” She knew that suffering was simply love being poured out of ourselves for the good of the other.

As we celebrate today the great gift of our mothers and those who have been like mothers to us, may we be thankful for their outpouring of love upon us and be mindful of the God who seeks to have us remain in His love by doing the same to others.  

Facebook and Bikinis?!

Loved this post from Mary over at Young and Catholic blog:

4 Reasons to Keep Bikini Pictures Off Facebook 

Even though the weather in my neck of the woods as of late would seem to indicate otherwise, the calendar is telling me that summer is just around the corner.  You know what that means: Beach Season!

If you recall, last summer was My First Summer Without a Bikini, and honestly, I haven’t looked back (and am even a little surprised that it has only been a year since I stopped wearing bikinis).  Even still, I remember and understand the desire girls have to show off that new beach body and especially that new summertime swimsuit.  And in the age of Facebook, what better way to show off than by uploading a picture?  It seems harmless, and everyone else does it anyway…

But before you upload those pictures this summer, you may want to check out these 4 reasons to reconsider the bikini pictures:

1)   Because EVERYONE that you are friends with (and more, depending on privacy settings) can see these pictures.

Let’s stop and think about this for just a minute.  Think carefully of all 812 of your friends.  I’m sure you will come across at least one person that you wouldn’t want staring at you in a bikini.

To put it another way: imagine putting on your bikini and knocking on the front door of random Facebook friend—we’ll call him “Bob”—‘s house, and then just saying, “Feel free to stare at me.  I’m just going to stand here smiling.”

Are you sufficiently creeped out?  Unfortunately, that’s really not much different than what you’re doing by posting that “super cute” bikini picture of yourself on Facebook.

(If you’re having trouble thinking of who looks at your Facebook, here are some ideas to start you off: Uncle Jim, that kid you went to highschool with, the random guy you added because he kind of looked familiar but you’re not really sure you know in real life, potential employers, your lab partner, etc.)

2) Because the good guys (i.e. – the guys you want to date) will choose to “hide” those pictures from their newsfeeds anyway

We ladies can be so naïve.  That picture we took at the beach with our friends last Saturday?  We see it as a great shot of us with our friends just having a good time, looking cute in our new bathing suit, and are thankful those crunches have paid off because our abs look darn good.  We even often post these pictures with the hopes of catching the attention of that cute guy from school.

This is so misguided though.  Assuming the guy you’re interested in is a good guy trying to do the right thing, he will not want to objectify you by reducing you to a mere collection of body parts.  But asking a guy not to reduce you to a collection of body parts and then presenting him with an image of basically nothing but body parts is sending some seriously conflicting signals.  (That picture is not inviting him to admire your beautiful smile…)

In other words, if the guy that you want to see this picture is a good guy with some discipline, he is going to hide the picture from his newsfeed because it’s an occasion of sin that he is wise enough to eliminate (and I have this on the authority of some pretty spectacular dudes).  If he’s not, well then he’s just going to objectify you without a second thought.  It’s a lose-lose situation.  Either way, you’re definitely not getting the kind of attention you want.

3)   Because you’d never post a picture of yourself in your bra and underwear on Facebook

Right?  Of course right.  Let’s stop pretending that a pictures of us wearing material covering the exact same amount of skin looks any different.

4)   Because your beauty is more than your body

Like I said, you will definitely attract attention from guys by posting pictures of yourself in your bikini, but they’re not going to be focused on your beautiful smile or your magnetic personality.  Don’t believe me?  Just check out the comments on anyone of you or your friends’ current bikini pictures.  I’ll bet they all read something along the lines of, “Dayyyum, girl!” and use words primarily like, “hot,” or “sexy.” You’ll be hard-pressed to find a “beautiful” or a “lovely,” but isn’t this the kind of attention we want far more than being referred to as, “hot”?

It’s a cheap way to get attention, and let’s face it: it’s beneath you.  You’re beautiful, and you don’t have to post a half-naked picture of yourself on Facebook to prove it.