Homily
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
5 October 2014
Christ the King Topeka
Daily Readings
Audio
Now is the time to double down on the Church's teaching on sex, marriage, life and the family. It is not the time for the Church to shy away from her challenging yet true and life-giving teachings, entrusted to her by Christ. It is not the time for the Church to shy away from building the culture of life and love that is her privilege and duty to build with Christ. It is not the time to water down out of fear that her teachings are out of date with modern morality, that they are unrealistic, or that they offend many and distance others from the Church. We should be afraid instead that we are telling our children to make good choices in an environment where we are afraid to stand up for, and to point out to them, what is true, and good and beautiful and holy and worth striving for. Now is the time to double-down on the Church's teaching on sex, marriage, life and the family, for the sake of our society, for the sake of our future, and most especially, for the sake of our children. It is time to double-down.
To give this homily on Respect Life Sunday in the Church is never easy. Because to preach against abortion, artificial contraception, sex before marriage, artificial methods of producing children, and same-sex marriage is to preach against things that have personally affected all of us in this Church, to one degree or another. It is never my intent to judge anyone or their actions. God's mercy is bigger than anything we can do to go away from his mercy. Everyone in this Church, no matter what we have done, is loved radically by God, beginning at our weakest point. Mercy is God's deepest attribute, and he wants to heal and strengthen us always, and is always ready to forgive and to help people move on and bear the fruit in their lives no matter what. So I want everyone to feel loved, not judged, especially on Respect Life Sunday. I willingly count myself as the greatest sinner in this Church, for I have failed in so many ways to be a good steward of the life that God has given me.
Yet it is not loving to fail to preach the truth on matters that affect the lives and happiness of so many. It is never either to preach God's mercy or his truth. It is always both. There are some who say I should focus instead on war, violence, poverty, health care, immigration, or the death penalty instead, and certainly all of these issues touch on the fullness of life outside the womb. In preaching about the more fundamental issues pertaining to life, it is never to the neglect of anything else. Again, it is never either/or, but both/and. The enormous amounts of food brought by Christ the King parishioners last month shows that you all know the importance of elevating and sustaining human life. But until we get the fundamentals right regarding our witness to life, our support of life in other areas will always be incomplete and will limp.
We can't shy away from focusing on abortion, contraception, and marriage because these are more personal. Our defense and promotion of life must begin here, must be strongest here, because it is in these areas where life is threatened at its smallest, most vulnerable stage. The strength of any country lies in how it supports its greatest resource, its children, and by this analysis, the United States is a cowardly country. We have discarded 50 million of our children now, and have shied away from the obvious and fundamental truth that an unrepeatable human life begins at conception. Your life started there and was protected beginning there. So was mine. If you do not say that every child has the same right to life that you had, and fail to stand up for that right, then you should lose your voice.
We have discarded our children because our society and Church have failed to produce courageous and sacrificial men who desire to become husbands and fathers. We have done this because we fail to recognize the truth that children have a right to be conceived as much as possible within marriage, within the loving embrace of a man and woman who are promised to each other and their children for life. We have failed to promote that children are safest, and do best, when they have a mom and a dad, and we welcome children into the world, or discard them, based on the will and convenience of adults, not based upon whether God wants to bring children into the world, or whether their are children wanting to be born. We do this because we dilute the meaning of family to whatever adults change it to be. So too we have diluted the meaning of marriage to whatever two adults want it to be, and so have not added to the definition, but subtracted from it, We shy away from the truth that marriages do so much better when there is chastity before marriage and no artificial contraception, and assume instead that everyone is the exception to the rule. It is is this confusion that we tell our kids to go out and make good choices, and to do whatever makes them happy. We are preparing them for unhappiness, because we do not have the courage to form them anymore in what we once knew to be true.
We wonder why our vineyard is producing sour grapes. We shouldn't, nor should we be surprised if the Lord takes the vineyard away from us, and gives it to others who will produce its fruit. The Church teaches clearly that our bodies are not our private possessions, they are gifts from God, and we cannot ignore or kill the teachings of the Church, which are the key to fruitfulness and happiness and love. None of us lives these teachings perfectly. Yet we must love and welcome them. They are not to control us, but for our good! Not all is lost, but woe to us if we shy away from the Church's beautiful and life-giving teachings, that strengthen our country, our society, our families, and most of all, are essential to the happiness of our children. For the sake of our kids, now is not the time to shy away. It is the time to double-down. Amen.
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
5 October 2014
Christ the King Topeka
Daily Readings
Audio
Now is the time to double down on the Church's teaching on sex, marriage, life and the family. It is not the time for the Church to shy away from her challenging yet true and life-giving teachings, entrusted to her by Christ. It is not the time for the Church to shy away from building the culture of life and love that is her privilege and duty to build with Christ. It is not the time to water down out of fear that her teachings are out of date with modern morality, that they are unrealistic, or that they offend many and distance others from the Church. We should be afraid instead that we are telling our children to make good choices in an environment where we are afraid to stand up for, and to point out to them, what is true, and good and beautiful and holy and worth striving for. Now is the time to double-down on the Church's teaching on sex, marriage, life and the family, for the sake of our society, for the sake of our future, and most especially, for the sake of our children. It is time to double-down.
To give this homily on Respect Life Sunday in the Church is never easy. Because to preach against abortion, artificial contraception, sex before marriage, artificial methods of producing children, and same-sex marriage is to preach against things that have personally affected all of us in this Church, to one degree or another. It is never my intent to judge anyone or their actions. God's mercy is bigger than anything we can do to go away from his mercy. Everyone in this Church, no matter what we have done, is loved radically by God, beginning at our weakest point. Mercy is God's deepest attribute, and he wants to heal and strengthen us always, and is always ready to forgive and to help people move on and bear the fruit in their lives no matter what. So I want everyone to feel loved, not judged, especially on Respect Life Sunday. I willingly count myself as the greatest sinner in this Church, for I have failed in so many ways to be a good steward of the life that God has given me.
Yet it is not loving to fail to preach the truth on matters that affect the lives and happiness of so many. It is never either to preach God's mercy or his truth. It is always both. There are some who say I should focus instead on war, violence, poverty, health care, immigration, or the death penalty instead, and certainly all of these issues touch on the fullness of life outside the womb. In preaching about the more fundamental issues pertaining to life, it is never to the neglect of anything else. Again, it is never either/or, but both/and. The enormous amounts of food brought by Christ the King parishioners last month shows that you all know the importance of elevating and sustaining human life. But until we get the fundamentals right regarding our witness to life, our support of life in other areas will always be incomplete and will limp.
We can't shy away from focusing on abortion, contraception, and marriage because these are more personal. Our defense and promotion of life must begin here, must be strongest here, because it is in these areas where life is threatened at its smallest, most vulnerable stage. The strength of any country lies in how it supports its greatest resource, its children, and by this analysis, the United States is a cowardly country. We have discarded 50 million of our children now, and have shied away from the obvious and fundamental truth that an unrepeatable human life begins at conception. Your life started there and was protected beginning there. So was mine. If you do not say that every child has the same right to life that you had, and fail to stand up for that right, then you should lose your voice.
We have discarded our children because our society and Church have failed to produce courageous and sacrificial men who desire to become husbands and fathers. We have done this because we fail to recognize the truth that children have a right to be conceived as much as possible within marriage, within the loving embrace of a man and woman who are promised to each other and their children for life. We have failed to promote that children are safest, and do best, when they have a mom and a dad, and we welcome children into the world, or discard them, based on the will and convenience of adults, not based upon whether God wants to bring children into the world, or whether their are children wanting to be born. We do this because we dilute the meaning of family to whatever adults change it to be. So too we have diluted the meaning of marriage to whatever two adults want it to be, and so have not added to the definition, but subtracted from it, We shy away from the truth that marriages do so much better when there is chastity before marriage and no artificial contraception, and assume instead that everyone is the exception to the rule. It is is this confusion that we tell our kids to go out and make good choices, and to do whatever makes them happy. We are preparing them for unhappiness, because we do not have the courage to form them anymore in what we once knew to be true.
We wonder why our vineyard is producing sour grapes. We shouldn't, nor should we be surprised if the Lord takes the vineyard away from us, and gives it to others who will produce its fruit. The Church teaches clearly that our bodies are not our private possessions, they are gifts from God, and we cannot ignore or kill the teachings of the Church, which are the key to fruitfulness and happiness and love. None of us lives these teachings perfectly. Yet we must love and welcome them. They are not to control us, but for our good! Not all is lost, but woe to us if we shy away from the Church's beautiful and life-giving teachings, that strengthen our country, our society, our families, and most of all, are essential to the happiness of our children. For the sake of our kids, now is not the time to shy away. It is the time to double-down. Amen.
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