Homily – 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: We’re All Called!

This Sunday’s Readings

Have you ever considered what it means to be “called” to do something?  We talk about vocations often in our diocese;  the word “vocation” is an English word which is derived from the Latin root “vocare” which simply means “to call.”   We are blessed to have a large number of men in our diocese in formation for the vocation of priest; we also have women and men who are considering consecrated life as religious brothers and sisters.  These are what we usually think of as “vocations”. 

Sometimes we refer to single life, or married life, or even our choices of profession as doctors, or lawyers, or nurses, or whatever as vocations.  And while it is true that all of these things are exercises of the gifts God has given us, even those things don’t exhaust the list of “vocations “ to which God has called His people.

Consider this:  Everyone is called.  Everyone responds.  What we each have to decide is this:  What are we being called to be?  And what are we being called to do?   

Take a look at today’s readings.  Amos, in our first reading, is being invited to get out of the northern kingdom by one of the priests of Bethel.  Basically, Amos is stirring up trouble by telling the people of Israel that Jeroboam’s kingdom will be brought down.  So naturally, the priest wants him to leave, thinking he’s one of the professional false prophets from the southern kingdom.  Amos corrects him, telling him that his job was to herd sheep and trim trees; at least, it was until God got hold of him, and sent him to be a prophet.

The Gospel gives us a little more perspective.  Remember that Jesus first called His disciples, making them “fishers of men”; He next gave them authority.  The story in this weeks Gospel picks up where Jesus actually sends them out into the countryside to exercise that authority; as the text says, “The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”

The second reading connects all of this magical, mystical stuff to us:  “In him you also, who have heard the word of truth … and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”  The writer of Ephesians is telling the Church (including us) that we have all been adopted into Christ, and redeemed by His blood, and now sealed with his Holy Spirit for the tasks we are sent to do! 

Amos received a call from God to be a prophet.  He was a simple shepherd before that, with no particular skills or distinction.  Yet God sent him to go prophesy to a king.  Likewise, the Apostles were all simple men…before Jesus called them.  He called, He gave them authority…and then He sent them to preach the gospel, to cure the sick, and to cast out demons!

God is still calling people to His service, brothers and sisters.  Someone in this very room…is being called to the sacramental priesthood.  Someone in this room…is being called to religious life.  Others among us are called to the sacrament of Matrimony, to live faithfully as members of “little churches” within our families, transmitting the faith to our children.   Still others among us are being called to life as single men and women, to live lives faithful to God’s call.

All of these “vocations” come from God.  All of them are hard.  And all are places where God sends his Holy Spirit to aid us.

 But…there’s more, brothers and sisters, and it’s important that we see it, and act on it!

At the Mass, every Mass, we encounter the Living Christ, first in the assembly of His people, then in His Word read and preached, and most importantly and most perfectly in the Most Blessed sacrament, the Eucharist.  And then, having been nourished and strengthened, we hear the priest or the deacon say, “The Mass is Ended, Go in peace to love and serve the Lord”, or similar words.  At every Mass, we are all sent out on mission, just as the disciples were, to serve the Lord.  That service can take a lot of forms, but at the end of the day, it’s a calling,  a  mission from God, to every one of us, to Love Christ and to serve Him!

And how do we serve Christ?  How do we love Christ?  We love and serve Christ by keeping His commands!  We love and serve Christ by loving one another!  And we love and serve Christ by being faithful to “the word of truth, the gospel of salvation”, that the letter to the Ephesians talks about!

This should be life-changing for us!  We have received Christ truly present in the Eucharist, and then we are sent to love and serve Him by being His presence in the world!  No matter who we are, even if we’re smelly shepherds like Amos was, God has called us to be witnesses to Christ, fed us for the journey, and sent us into the world! 

Vocations come in many shapes and sizes.  When we hear “vocation”, our first thought is often the Men in Black, our priests and our seminarians, who are public signs of God’s call to His service.  If we’re older, we also think of religious sisters and brothers, some of them in habits, donating their lives to God’s service in a specific area or field.  We might even think of our trade, or our rofession, as a “vocation”, because we feel particularly gifted by God to work in it.

But brothers and sisters, we all have a much more basic call, one that every single one of us shares:  We are called to love and serve God in the world in which we live.  We each have a religious vocation, to witness Christ in our lives, no matter where we’ve been placed.

Everyone is called, without exception.  Every time we attend a Mass, we receive Christ, and we are sent on a mission by God.  And no matter what the obstacles appear to be, God has given us the strength to do all He’s called us to, through the Christ whom we receive.

At the end of Mass, you’ll hear me say it:  “Go; you are sent!” 

God is calling us, all of us, and sending us somewhere.

What do you hear God calling you to do?

Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter: What Is Love?

Audio will be here when I get it posted later today; sorry I have been kinda quiet lately, but trust me, it’s been for the best!

Homily:

If you Google search on the word “love”, you will come up with a list of about one billion, seven hundred twenty million entries.  To print the definitions page alone takes twenty-three pages! 

And the page hits are all over the map.  Some describe physical love, some describe philosophical underpinnings of our different approaches to love, some make fun of love, and some don’t really seem to have anything at all to do with love.  Maybe that just goes to show that looking for love on the Internet is a sure-fire way to get confused about it.

In the New American Bible, the Church’s official English translation of Sacred Scripture, the word “love” occurs 537 times.  In the New Testament alone, the word “love” 251 times.  Love is important to us as Christians.

But knowing what love is…that’s even more important.  Understanding what love is, and what it is not, makes living the life Jesus calls us to live that much easier.

But what is it?  What is love?

The world we live in equates love with a lot of the wrong things.  The world, for example, would have us believe that love, and sex, are the same thing.  Particularly on television, and in the movies, we know that two people care for each other because they are in bed together!  Most of the time, the people aren’t married to each other; they sleep together because they “love” each other.  Love equals sex, in this view.

Commercials are a different story.  Advertisements often equate love with…stuff.  The more we give someone, our spouse, our “significant other”, our children, our older parents, the more we love them, the propaganda goes.  The stuff replaces the relationship.  The stuff substitutes for time.  And the stuff becomes the reason to work even harder, to work longer hours, in order to pay…for more stuff.  Love…equals stuff.

According to our times, a lot of things are supposed to be true expressions of love.  But they aren’t.

It’s interesting that when Jesus speaks of love, He doesn’t talk about any of the things I’ve talked about.  For Jesus, love is simple.  What does He say in the Gospel?  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  Love…is self-sacrifice for others.  Love…is putting the other’s life ahead of one’s own.  Love…is caring for the other!  It’s pretty simple, really!

John explained more in the second reading.  He said: “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”  Our example of love comes from God!  God loved us.  God sent His Son to die for us, so that our sins would not land us in Hell.  And God calls us to love him, and to love one another, as He loves us. 

Jesus asks the apostles to remain in His love.  And He tells the apostles that the way to remain in His love is to keep His commands.  He even tells them why:  “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and your joy might be complete.”  Finally, He tells them what His commandment is:  “This I command you:  love one another.”  So by loving one another, by laying down our lives for each other, we achieve what God has planned for us:  eternal life!

But it seems so hard, doesn’t it?  “Laying down one’s life for one’s friends” sounds so…final.  It sounds like we’re supposed to literally die in order to prove we love God!

But that wasn’t his point, brothers and sisters.  Most of us are living the kind of life to which Jesus was referring every day!  Parents who work hard to provide for their families and to teach their children the ways of God are laying down their lives for their families, and loving as Jesus loved!  Those who care for an ailing spouse or child;  those who help to take care of an elderly parent or neighbor; those who volunteer in our school, are all sacrificing some of themselves, laying down their lives to an extent, and obeying Christ’s command! 

Some among us are doing even more.  Our priests are married to us all, and serve our community by completely donating their lives to us.  Consecrated men and women, those in serving the Church in religious vocations, lay down their lives for the Kingdom every day.

Do we fail sometimes?  Absolutely.  Sin, by it very definition, is selfishness.  And whenever we fail to love the other more than ourselves, whenever we place our own interests above caring for another, we sin.  But God still calls us to that radical love Jesus expressed in dying for us:  he calls us to lay down our lives for our friends.

 

What is love?  Love is sacrifice.  What is love?  Love is following God’s call to put the other first.  It may take Google over a billion and a half pages to explain love, but it only takes us as Christians a few.

What is love?  John said, “God is love.”  He also said:  “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” 

God sent Jesus to make the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, so that we could live forever with God in heaven.  This is love.  And we love by doing the same thing.  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”, Jesus said.

Who are we laying our lives down for?  Because that’s who we love. 

Let’s go love someone.

Beginning Apologetics – How To Answer Tough Moral Questions 5/6 – Contraception

Audio of Classes:   Session 5
                                      Session 6

How to Answer Tough Moral Questions

Contraception

February 15/22. 2009

•I.Introduction

•A.  The controversy surrounding the Church’s teaching on contraception has created a great crisis in the Catholic Church.

•1.    Stubborn refusal on the part of many to accept Church’s absolute prohibition on all types of contraception.

•2.    Polls indicate the vast majority of the laity, and a large % of clergy, reject Church’s teaching on contraception.

•B.  Humanae Vitae (1968) was greeted by a chorus of dissent.

•1.    Secular media condemned HV as hopelessly out of date.

•2.    Response of many bishops = lukewarm; some openly opposed it

•3.    Public dissent weakened the Church at a time of fighting secularism and the sexual revolution

•4.    History will record that HV was one of the most important documents of all time; rebellion against it was one of greatest tragedies suffered by the Church.

•II.History

•A.  Humans have a strong sexual instinct. Not surprising that people would want to contracept to avoid responsibility.

•1.    Ancient Egyptian docs (1900 – 1000 BC) give recipes for contraceptives.

•2.    Onanism (premature withdrawal) common in ancient world. Gen 38:9-10 (1500 years BC)

•3.    Ancient Jewish Talmud mentions contraceptives, as do Aristotle (Greek) and Pliny (Roman historian)

•4.    Contraception was widespread in ancient world. And the Church condemned it

•a)     Didache

•b)    St. Hippolytus (Refutation of all Heresies): condemned women who take drugs to make themselves sterile

•(1)  St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom all condemned contraception.

•(2)  All Church Fathers who mention contraception condemn it. NOT ONE APPROVES IT.

•(3)  Likewise, NO Catholic Bishop or theologian condoned it until modern times.

•B.  Problem of contraception isn’t new; dates back to the beginning of the Church. Reasons for becoming so entrenched toady:

•1.    Birth control pill appeared on the market in the 1960’s.

•2.    Sexual revolution.

•3.    World-wide uprising against authority.

•4.    Governments began to lift restrictions against contraception.

•5.    Counterfeit moral systems were substituted to justify sexual sins.

•C.  A Deluge of evil influences drowned out the Church’s defense of the truth until she seemed like “a voice crying out in the wilderness”.

•III.Methods of Contraception

•A.  Barriers: condoms/diaphragms

•B.  Spermicides: kill a sperm cell before it can fertilize an egg

•C.  Birth Control Pills

•1.    Hormones (estrogen/progesterone) with three functions:

•a)     Prevent ovulation

•b)    Prevent fertilization

•c)     Prevent implantation (abortifacient)

•D.  Intra-uterine devices (IUDs)

Change the character of the uterine line to prevent implantation (abortifacient)

•E.  New products:

•1.    Depo-provera = injectable depot-forming progesterone

•2.    Norplant

•3.    RU-486 (abortifacient)

•F.   Sterilization

•1.    Vasectomy

•2.    Tubal ligation

•G.  Correction/Explanation

•1.    There may be some conditions for which a woman needs to take hormones found in birth control pills.

•2.    This use would fall under the principle of double effect; the INTENT has to be to ONLY to treat the medical condition, NOT to contracept. 

•3.    If ANY other means of treating condition are available, they should be chosen FIRST.

•IV.Church Teaching on Contraception

•A.  Church teaching is based on the natural law.; public revelation enriches/enlightens.

•B.  HV teaches the following:

•1.    Marriage and intercourse are by their nature designed for procreation and rearing children.

•2.    Our sexual instinct must be kept under control even in marriage.

•3.    Sexual acts are noble and worthy in marriage, even if couple infertile due to factors outside the will.

•4.    For legitimate reasons (physical/economic/social/psychological) a couple may limit the number of children through moral means.

•5.    The marital act (yuck!) has two essential meanings/purposes, both of which must be safeguarded/respected:

•a)     Unitive (love-giving)

•b)    Procreative (life-giving)

•c)     A spouse who pressures his partner to have intercourse without regard to her condition violates unitive/love-giving aspect.

•d)    A couple who engages in intercourse while contracepting attacks the procreative/life-giving aspect

•6.    Direct sterilization is prohibited.

•7.    No action taken before/during/after intercourse intended to render it infertile is permitted.

•8.    Both Direct sterilization AND contraception are intrinsically evil, always wrong, no matter the circumstances/intentions.

•9.    When a necessary medical treatment renders a person infertile, this is not immoral (double effect).

•10. If spouses have legitimate reasons to limit number of children, NFP is permissible. (Explain NFP)

•11. There is an essential difference between NFP and contraception:

•a)     With contraception, intercourse is perverted from natural purpose/meaning by blocking the procreative aspect.

•b)    With NFP, intercourse takes place in an entirely natural way. Women are periodically infertile; couple chooses to have sex only during those times.

•c)     Nature eventually renders a woman infertile; sexual relations remain moral after that time.

•d)    Limiting family size only becomes evil when our intentions or our methods are evil in themselves.

•V.Answering Objections to the Church’s Teaching

•A.  Two Categories: Christian/Non-Christian

•B.  Christian objections break down further into Catholic and non-Catholic

•C.  Catholic objections

•1.    I accept the Church’s authority, but the teaching on contraception has never been proclaimed ex cathedra.”

•a)     Arises from a misconception that the only infallible doctrines are those proclaimed by the solemn Magesterium (general councils/ex cathedra definitions)

•b)    The Church also teaches infallibly through the ordinary Magesterium. (ref. CCC 891-892, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium 25); most infallible teachings come from here.

•c)     Church’s teachings against contraceotion have a 2000-year history; Bishops virtually unanimous in condemning contraception.

•d)    Vademecum for Confessors on Certain Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life, section 4, describes teaching as “definitive and irreformable”.  This means infallible.

•e)     Clear papal teaching is still always binding even if one does not accept HV as infallible. 

•2.    “I have a right to follow my conscience.”

•a)     Yep.

•b)    But before the right comes the duty to properly form one’s conscience.

•3.    “I am choosing the lesser of two evils.”

•a)     This only works when the only choices are BOTH evil.

•b)    There is a NON-evil choice available: Natural Family Planning.

•4.    “It might be wrong, but I am doing it for a good intention.”

•a)     Some pastors will misguide couples and tell them that it’s OK to contracept if both spouses agree.  It may lessen their subjective guilt – they really just didn’t know – but it’s still objectively evil. (example of murder)

•b)    Some pastors will say that we shouldn’t disturb couples who contracept “in good faith”. Quoting theological concept that it’s better to leave people alone if there is no hope they will accept the Church’s teaching, otherwise we turn an objective sin into a subjective one. Must be properly understood.

•(1)  MUST not presuppose that someone will not accept the Church’s teaching.

•(2)  A confessor may NEVER tell a penitent that contraception is OK. At most, he can defer the question until the penitent is more open.

•(3)  Even if he decides to leave someone “in good faith”, he must patiently catechize, exhort and admonish in hope of bringing the person to the truth.

•c)     Leaving someone “in good faith” (a valid concept) is frequently misapplied to let people who know better off the hook.  If a couple know the Church’s teaching, they cannot contracept “in good faith”.

•D.  Non-Catholic Christians

•1.    Non-Catholic Christians will not want to hear about the Magesterium, or about natural law.  But they accept the authority of the Bible.

•2.    History: 

•a)     Before 1930, not ONE Christian denomination accepted contraception. No theologian, no denomination supported it before the 20^th century.

•b)    All the Protestant reformers condemned contraception as unbiblical.

•c)     The Anglican Church was the first Protestant denomination to allow contraception in 1930.  Ask: Why would they follow the Anglican Church?

•3.    Sacred Scripture: There is only one Bible passage that explicitly describes a contraceptive act.  Gen 38: 6 – 10 (Onan is struck dead for contracepting with his dead brother’s wife)

•a)     Levirate law prescribes a mild punishment for not raising up children for a dead brother

•b)    Onan was KILLED.

•c)     Reasonable to conclude that he was killed for his contraceptive actions.

•4.    Fruits of Contraception:

•a)     Any reasonable person can look at the results of widespread contraception and see it isn’t in accord with God’s will.

•b)    Many are seeing the connection between contraception and rampant divorce/sexual immorality.

•c)     Many in the pro0life movement see that the contraceptive culture planted the seed for the abortion culture.

•E.  Conclusion

•1.    Once Protestants recognize the evil of contraception, their next step should be to abandon the error of “Bible-alone”.

•2.    It was the Magesterium that has held the line against the evil of contraception, infallibly interpreting Sacred Scripture, the natural law, and Sacred Tradition.

•3.    The fruits of the 20^th century :abortion, widespread homosexuality, pornography, genocide, world wars, and massive apostasy from Christianity, coincide with the prevalence of contraception. 

•4.    Contraception is no the product of enlightenment:  it’s simply the product of an evil age.

The Adoration Schedule on Google Calendar is finished!

Here’s the link:  http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=echipj%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago

Go take a look, please, and let me know when you’d like me to add you to the list!

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent – Repent and Believe!

Gospel Audio

Homily Audio 

Repent and Believe!

Repent…and believe. “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” That’s what He said in to today’s Gospel reading.

“To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life.” This is how the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the word, repent.

“Believe in the Gospel”. To believe (Also from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) is “to accept as true, genuine, or real”.

So by textbook definition, Jesus’ call as He returns form the desert is pretty easy to understand: “Turn from sin. Amend your life. And accept God’s Gospel as real and true.”

This is all God asks of us as Christian men and women: “Be good. And believe Me.” That’s it!

But if that’s it…then why’s it so hard? And how are we supposed to do it?

Well…the forty days of Lent can help us to get our arms around that.

Today’s readings give us a push in the right direction. The first reading reminds us of the promise God made after the Great Flood was over; God had just finished “rebooting” the Earth because of the evil of the people. He only saved eight, according to the story; Noah and his family had been the only people on Earth to avoid sliding into the evil of the times. The Flood punished the sin of the people, and washed that sin away through forty days of rain, so that humanity could start over with God.

In the second reading, Peter tells us that God renewed His relationship with humanity again with Jesus: “Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.” Christ’s death gave us a chance for a new life in God. And Peter tells us that the baptism we receive is not just a bath for the body: that baptism saves us: we make “an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.

The Gospel brings back the forty days with Jesus’ time in the desert being tempted by Satan. When Jesus returns from the desert, He goes to Galilee and proclaims that “the kingdom of God is at hand.” Then what does He tell the people? “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

The forty days of Lent begin with these readings because they set the tone. Lent should be all about two things: repentance, and belief; turning from sin, and believing in Jesus Christ and His saving work on the cross. This is the constant call of Lent: Repent…and believe.

All of us who are baptized have promised these things before, or had them promised for us. The Rite of Baptism recalls the time of the Flood as a sign of our baptism. And after the prayer over the baptismal font, those to be baptized are asked to do two things: to renounce Satan, and to profess their faith in Jesus. Repent…and believe.

This baptismal call to repentance is the same call we hear during Lent. Lent is a reminder for us that we have already been cleansed and reborn to life in Christ, but that we often fall short of living out the new life we received through baptism. Lent calls us to recall what God has done for us through Jesus; Lent calls to us make a return to the faith we professed at our baptism. We are called to repent…and believe.

But what do we need to repent for? What is it that we’ve done that’s so bad, so serious, that we need to turn away from it and do something different?

That answer is different for each one of us, I think. And no, the vast majority of us aren’t running around committing mortal sin after mortal sin, guaranteeing us a place in Hell. But Lent gives us a chance to really examine our lives, to ferret out those places where we are being less faithful than we ought. Lent gives us a chance to look at our choices in life, and to decide if we’re where we should be. And it’s a chance to take on some of the hard things in our lives, not just to give up chocolate for six weeks!

Lent gives us a chance to try to expose the lies that the Evil One sows throughout our culture: the lie that we can do whatever we like, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else; the lie that the Church is hopelessly out of touch in some of its teachings, and that we can ignore those that cause us discomfort; the lie that we are ultimately in control of our bodies and our lives, and that God is OK with it.

Is there an abortion in your past that you haven’t healed from? (Men, I am addressing this to you, too.) Pray about it; God wants to heal you and set you free! Contracepting in your marriage? Pray about it, and consider attending at least one Natural Family Planning class with the Diocese, to see if God is calling you to something different, something new. Consider using this Lent to work with the big things in our lives that hold us back from full union with God.

Will it be tough? If we’re going in the right direction, yes it will be tough! The last thing Satan wants is for us to catch on to his lies! But if we really open ourselves up to the grace God freely offers us, we can see past the lies, to the truth: that God has already given us everything we need to live as He calls us to, if we will only use it!

Jesus’ call as He returns from the desert is pretty easy to understand: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” Turn from sin. Amend your life. And accept God’s Gospel as real and true.

This is a challenging call, to be sure. And much of what the world throws at us turns us away from that call.

But Lent can give us a chance to turn back. Lent can help us to make a break with anything in our lives that holds us back from repentance…and belief.

There is something in every one of our lives that is holding us back. And Jesus’ call as he came from the desert still has meaning for us. Repent…and believe.
Repent…and believe. And accept the grace God freely offers us to help our unbelief.

Then…stand back and see what happens in our lives!

Adoration Calendar

I have no idea if this will work, but I am going to try to embed my Google Calendar version of the chedule for Adoration of the Blessed sacrament into this blog.  If this works, great!  if not…well, then…Oh well.

 

Well, embedding didn’t work, but here’s a link to it:

St. Ann Adoration calendar – just go to the date you’re looking for, and voila!  As I type, it’s only scomplete for March 6/7; the reset of the schedule as I know it should be up soon.

If you would like to be added for a specific time, just email me at chip.jones@stann.cdom.org, and I will add your little self to the schedule!

Homily – 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Did You See That?

Gospel

Homily Audio

Did you see that?

You know, sometimes it takes an awful lot to impress us.  It’s hard for us to just take something at face value; it has to sing, or dance, or work a miracle to get our attention.

That must be part of human nature, because it’s always been like that.  Adam and Eve get the whole garden, they walk with God in it, and all they have to do is not eat from one little tree.  And what happened?  Moses leads the Israelites through the Red Sea to safety.  They watch Pharaoh’s army get swallowed up by the waters, and they get completely away.  And what happens?  They soon make a golden calf to worship in place of the God who saved them!

And we, in some ways, are sometimes even worse.  We know so much.  We can explain things that ancient peoples like the Israelites couldn’t even imagine.  And because we’re so smart, we miss some things.  Because we know so much, we forget about things that ought to be simple.  And we set up the false gods of money, or security, or status, to make us feel better.

But God constantly calls us to know Him.  God constantly invites us to believe Him.  And He constantly reaches out to us, asking us simply to love Him.  For us to hear Him, though…we have to pay attention to the signs around us.

God made it relatively easy for the people of Israel.  He gave them sign after sign.  Moses brought them out of Egypt.  Moses fed them in the desert.  Moses saved them from the snakes.  Later, other prophets worked signs and wonders.  They predicted things for Israel.  It was obvious these guys were working for God.

Then Jesus shows up, and all heaven breaks loose!  Blind people start seeing, lame people start walking. Even demons call Jesus out by name!  And people are impressed!  They saw who Jesus was, and they followed Him!

But God didn’t always show up in Person for everyone; not everyone got to see Jesus work His miracles first-hand.  And those who weren’t standing right there sometimes had trouble believing.  After all, anyone can make up a story.

But what ended up making the difference for the folks who couldn’t see Jesus for themselves?  What made the difference was the way in which those who told the stories of Jesus lived their lives.  It wasn’t just that they told nice stories; it was that their lives changed.  Those people who were preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ lived what they believed.  And no amount of persecution could get them to back down from the Truth!

Most of us have no first-person experiences of God.  Like ALL of the early Christians after the time of the Apostles, we have to depend on stories from others to understand who God is, who Jesus is.  We have to read, and study, and pray in order to understand how Jesus wants to change our lives, and who God is calling us to be.  We have to use the sacraments, those visible signs of invisible grace that Jesus established to help us on our way.

But even more importantly: we have to be prophets for one another.  We have to speak God’s truth.  We have to tell others what God expects of us all.  And we have to live our lives in a way that tells others that we know God, that we know Jesus.  This is what Christ left for us to do:  To go out into the whole world, preaching the Gospel through our lives.  To go out, according to our state in life, and be the next generation of prophets, with God’s words in our mouths!

But still…isn’t it hard to do that when we can’t see all of this stuff?  Isn’t it hard to stand up for what’s right, for what’s good, when most people around us are doing the opposite?

It is tough, brothers and sisters.  But that’s when our witness is that much more effective!  When the families with four, five, or even ten children come to Mass, or go out in public as a family, it’s hard to take the stares and the snide comments.  But showing off their large families is a witness to the world of God’s love for life!  When the conversation at work or turns bad, it’s hard to walk away and not participate.  But walking away without judging the other participants is a witness to the power of Christ in our lives.  At school, when everyone else is ostracizing the new kid, or the geek, it’s hard to expose ourselves to being made fun of alongside him or her.  But what a witness to God’s power in our lives to do it anyway!

God might perform some great miracle in our midst.  He can certainly do it if He chooses to.  But our faith shouldn’t depend on seeing those great big demonstrations of His power.  If we pay attention to the thousands of little testimonies around us, if we turn our lives into a thousand little prophetic signs, then we won’t miss out on seeing God active in the world!

God shows off in lots of ways. Some of them are big, ostentatious things; others are small and quiet.  We have to watch for signs of God in our lives, because they are sometimes so subtle that we can miss them.

And we have to stay humble, lest we fall into the trap of thinking that we know everything, and that we don’t need God for anything.

We have a choice to make about how we’re going to live.  We have a choice to make about how we’re going to represent the One who sends us out into the world to speak His words.

God is calling us to know Him.  God is inviting us to believe Him.  God is reaching out to us, asking us simply to love Him.  Pay attention to the signs.  And don’t be afraid…to be a prophet.

Beginning Apologetics – How To Answer Tough Moral Questions 4 – Euthanasia

Here’s the audio for the 4th session, and the outline is below. 

I’ll throw in the audio for the 5th session too, since it really completed the Euthanasia piece, and because I haven’t finished the outline for Contraception!

Here’s the post on the online support resources for the class; this will keep you from having to order too many books.

And the outline for Euthanasia follws:  Thanks, and God bless!

How to Answer Tough Moral Questions

Euthanasia

February 2/February 8. 2009

•I.Introduction

•A.  Euthanasia is intentionally killing a person who is suffering, or whose life seems burdensome or meaningless.

•1.    Can be suicide or done by others

•2.    Self-inflicted – suicide

•3.    Done by others = murder

•B.  Euthanasia is becoming more popular/widespread

•1.    Legal in Holland, and in some states in the US

•2.    Push for legalization is strong

•3.    Practiced sometimes even where illegal with no fear of prosecution

•C.  Reasons for euthanasia’s wider acceptance:

•1.    Lack of faith in God

•2.    Suffering not meaningful – loss of belief in spiritual value of suffering

•3.    Weak resolve – people flee from least discomfort

•4.    Chronic disease – increase in length of survival of cancer, strokes, Alzheimer’s

•5.    Burden of disease – Fear of being a burden to loved ones, or fear that doctors won’t let one die

•6.    Medical Advances – Have made it possible to end people’s lives through relatively painless methods.

•D.  We must as Catholics be prepared to refute those who promote euthanasia. Must also be aware of morally permissible actions which could be mistaken for euthanasia

•II.Church Teaching on Euthanasia

•A.  Several documents apply:

•1.    Declaration on Euthanasia

•2.    Charter for Health Care Workers

•3.    Evangelium Vitae

•4.    Catechism of the Catholic Church

•B.  Common mentality today that we are masters of our own bodies.

•C.  Evangelium Vitae tells us (39) that life is a sacred gift from God, the Lord of our lives

•1.    We are only stewards

•2.    Therefore, human life must be protected from conception to natural death.

•D.  The Declaration on Euthanasia (DE) says in Part I:

•1.    Any deliberate attempt on innocent human life = crime of the utmost gravity.

•2.    We have a duty to lead our lives in accord with God’s plan, for the Kingdom of God.

•3.    To intentionally take one’s own life through suicide is the same as murder.

•a)     There may be serious psychological problems that diminish guilt or eliminate it.

•b)    Even so, suicide is still a serious objective evil.

•c)     We should not despair of the salvation of a suicide victim.

•4.    We must clearly distinguish suicide from the nobility of sacrificing one’s life to a greater good (soldier falling on a grenade, as an example).

•E.  Points from DE Part II

•1.    The please of gravely ill people for death are almost always cries for help and love.

•2.    We are never permitted to take innocent human life. No authority has the right to approve of euthanasia for any reason (goes against the divine law).

•F.   Points from DE Part III:

•1.    It is vital that the gravely ill/dying receive sufficient pain relief.  We should presume that those unable to express their wishes still desire pain relief.

•2.    In cases of extreme pain, heavy doses of medication may be used even when there is a great risk of hastening death. Shortening of life is an unwanted side effect (principle of double effect)

•3.    If needed for adequate pain relief, a person may receive high doses of pain medication even if it causes loss of consciousness.

•a)     But don’t deprive a person of consciousness unless absolutely necessary

•b)    Ensure that patients can take care of family obligations and receive the sacraments before they lapse into unconsciousness.

•4.    We believe as Christians that suffering has great redemptive value:

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking ¹⁴ in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24)
Those who unite their suffering to the suffering of Christ = powerful prayer warriors,

Some Christians even limit their pain medication for the sake of spiritual gain (considered heroic, not obligatory)

•G.   Part for of DE deals with ordinary and extraordinary treatment.

•1.    Extremely important because many Catholics agonize over how far they must go in treating the gravely ill/dying.

•2.    Ordinary means of treatment: medical procedures that are well-established, known to help, not excessively burdensome due to expense/side effects (will depend on factors such as patient’s age, condition, avail. technology)

•3.    Extraordinary means of treatment: procedures considered exceptional because they are experimental, expensive, or have serious physical/psychological side effects. (will depend on factors such as patient’s age, condition, avail. technology)

•4.    While we do not have the right to take our own lives, we do have a right to die with Christian/Human dignity.

•5.    Wea re allowed to forego extraordinary means and make do with iordinary ones; not equal to suicide, just accepting our condition.

•6.    When death is imminent, we can refuse forms of treatment that will prologn the dying process. Normal care must continue, including food, water, warmth, and hygiene. (CHCW: artificial administration of food/water if not burdensome, is considered ordinary care (section 120))

•7.    The gravely ill and dying may, if they wish, undergo extraordinary treatments, including new and experimental treatments.

•H.  We have clear guidelines from the Church in these matters, but their application is a matter of conscience.

•1.    We should get as much info as possible form our doctors and pastors, and make the best decision we can.

•2.    IF we are sincerely trying to follow Church teaching, we shouldn’t be tortured by scrupulosity.

•3.    WE MUST NOT keep second-guessing our decisions; God is reasonable in His requirements, and useless anxiety/doubt destroy peace of mind, and keep us from attentive prayer when we need it most.

•III.Answering Euthanasia Supporters

•A.  Even pagan doctors from centuries before Christ realized euthanasia = murder; they used natural law arguments alone.

•B.  Nowhere does either Sacred Scripture OR Sacred Tradition mention any exceptions to the 5^th Commandment because of suffering or terminal illness.

•C.  The same reasons justifying euthanasia are the same Hitler and Stalin used to justify their atrocities.

•D.  Reasoning opens the door to justifying any evil.

•E.  Hippocrates figured it out; should we be able to rather than pressing wonderful technologies into the service of the culture of death?

Apologetics: Links to Online Resources – Tough Moral Questions Class

Here are some links to support your studies; although you have probably Googled all of these publications already:

The New American Bible

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Gospel of Life – Evagelium Vitae

On Human Life – Humanae Vitae

The Splendor of Truth – Veritatis Splendor

Charter for Heath Care Workers

Declaration on Euthanasia

Declaration on Procured Abortion

The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church – Lumen Gentium

 Apostolic Exhortation On The Role Of  The Christian Family In The Modern World – Familiaris Consortio

Instruction on Bioethics – Respect for Human Life – Donum Vitae

Vademecum For Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life

On Christian Marriage – Casti Connubii 

This is not an exhaustive list, but this list includes most of the publications we have referenced so far in our class.  If you find other things that you think are useful please send me a link; I will post it here (unless it’s really off the wall, then I will contact you to discuss it).

Apologetics: How To Respond To Tough Moral Questions 2: Abortion

Here’s the audio from class #3; it’s actually the end of the introduction, plus the beginning of Abortion as a topic, plus some admin.  The actual class info starts about 5 minutes in.

•I.Introduction

•A.  When societies begin to degenerate morally, they begin to victimize the weak and defenseless

•1.    Evil Israelites – sacrificing kids to Baal

•2.    Carthaginians burned 1000’s of babies to Moloch – many were socially undesirable, though offered under religious pretext

•3.    Romans “exposed” unwanted babies – left them in the wilderness to be eaten or to freeze to death (the fortunate ones were rescued by Christians!)

•B.   Many think we have abortion available because we are “enlightened and progressive”, but reality is that we have suffered some degeneration

•1.    Pagan doctors from before time of Christ had prohibitions against using healing arts to kill

•2.    Hippocratic Oath originally *specifically prohibited* euthanasia and abortion

•3.    “Modern” versions have eliminated those prohibitions

•II.Church Teaching on Abortion

•A.  Direct abortion:  the deliberate killing of an unborn baby

•1.    Vat II calls abortion “an unspeakable crime” (GS 51)

•2.    Abortion is one of the few offenses that carries a penalty of automatic excommunication (canon 1398, Code of Canon Law)

•B.  Evangelium Vitae – Pope John Paul II

•1.    Lack of outrage over abortion = sign of dangerous moral crisis

•2.    Euphemisms (”termination of pregnancy”) obscure the true nature of abortion: murder. Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness into light, and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter!”

•3.    There is none more innocent/helpless than an unborn baby. Cannot even cry; murdered in silence.

•4.    Mothers cannot escape blame; unborn child entrusted completely to her care, yet she betrays that trust.

•a)     HOWEVER, the tremendous pressure that can be brought to bear on pregnant women mitigates

•b)    We must show compassion and express how eager God is to forgive them (EV sec 99)

•5.    Fathers who fail to protect and provide for children they father are to blame for abortions, even more so if they pressure the mother to “get rid of the problem”.

•6.    Legislators supporting abortion laws are likewise guilty (EV 73).

•7.    Those who promote sexual permissiveness also share in the blame for abortion.

•III.Answering the “Top 12″ pro-abortion arguments

•A.  “It’s my body; I have a right to choose.”

•1.    Absolutely right!  *every woman has (or should have) the right to choose…whether or not to engage in sexual activity. We are not animals; we can choose to use or not our sexuality. But *choice* ends there!

•2.    Abortion kills a human person who is distinct from his mother.

•3.    Woman has no more right to kill an unborn child than she does to kill a born one.

•B.  “The fetus is just a clump of cells, a glob of tissue.”

•1.    Even at single-cell stage, the fetus has its own distinct genetic makeup and life principle.

•2.    This “clump of cells” is a unique individual who only need s the addition of nutrition and time to grow into a mature human person.

•3.    Size does not = humanity; what else would the offspring of two humans be?

•C.  “An unborn baby can’t reason or interact with people. Therefore it’s not really a person, so we can kill it.”

•1.    Does same logic apply to children already born with mental impairments that leave them unable to interact with others? Coma victims?

•2.    Wouldn’t the same logic allow us to kill people who are simply unconscious?

•3.    This is an arbitrary definition of “person”.

•D.  “A fetus becomes human when it can live on its own, outside the mother’s womb.”

•1.    Can a two-year-old live on its own? What about a 95-year-old with Alzheimer’s?

•2.    Even adults need others in order to survive; this dependence on others does not make us less human.

•E.  “Abortion is legal.”

•1.    It was legal to kill Jews in Nazi Germany. It was legal to hold slaves in the United States until the practice was outlawed. Was either one ever right?

•2.    Any law that goes against the divine law is invalid and evil.

•F.   “If abortion becomes illegal, it will still go on in back alleys.”

•1.    Yep. So do other crimes, like rape and slavery, child abuse and spouse abuse.

•2.    Do we legalize other crimes and make it easier to commit them because “people will do them anyway”?

•3.    The law is an educator. Civil rights laws changed the way people viewed discrimination (change the behavior=change the attitude).

•G.  “You cannot legislate morality.”

•1.    Yes you can. We do it al the time!

•2.    Laws against murder, stealing, incest, child abuse, are all legislating morality.

•3.    Abortion should be treated the same.

•H.  “I’m personally opposed to abortion, but I’m not going to tell other people what to do.”

•1.    Abortion is not an issue on which we can remain neutral.  It’s either wrong and horrible, or harmless medicine.

•2.    Would we stand by while a woman dropped her three-month-old from a window?

•3.    If it’s murder, then we have to stop it.

•I.     “I’m opposed to late-term abortions, but I think we should allow abortions in the first trimester.”

•1.    Every argument used to justify early abortions can be used to justify late-term ones.

•2.    Every argument against late=term abortions is valid against early ones.

•3.    Is there a material difference between a 12-week old fetus and a 20-week old one? Nope, just time and nutrition.

•4.    Purely arbitrary division, with no basis in biology, philosophy, or morality.

•J.   “We must make exceptions for rape and incest.”

•1.    Rape and incest are hideous crimes deserving punishment.

•2.    HOWEVER, a baby from either crime has committed no crime, and is still a unique human person who has a right to life like everyone else.

•3.    We should not kill a child for the sins of the father.

•K.  “Better an aborted baby than an unwanted one.”

•1.    How do we define “unwanted”? This was Nazi logic in killing retarded children.

•2.    How do we determine who is unwanted? God wants ALL of them; He gave them life!

•3.    Thousands of couples long to adopt, but cannot based on laws that restrict it. But THEY want them too.

•L.   “I couldn’t give my child away for someone else to raise.”

•1.    So I’d be better to kill it?

•2.    Children are not possessions to be controlled, but persons to be loved unconditionally.

•3.    See 1Kings 3: 16 – 27. The story of the two harlots who argued over a child before the king. The real mother gave her child up rather than have him die.

•IV.Conclusion

•A.  Human life begins at conception

•1.    Full genetic makeup present at that time.

•2.    What else could it be; nothing added after that except time and nutrition.

•B.  Even if we are not sure when life begins, we should always err on the side of life.

•C.  American abortions laws lead to some absurd results.

•1.    A twenty-week premature baby killed is murder; a 36-week baby killed by partial birth abortion is NOT, even though he’s four months older!

•2.    We have laws that allow unborn children to inherit property.  They can also be killed on demand!

•D.  Test-tube babies demonstrate clearly that a fertilized egg is a life separate from its mother.

•E.  At the end of the day, though, many who support abortion admit that unborn babies are human beings…and don’t care!