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!

 

Reflections at the March for Life

I attended the Vigil For Life Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on January 21, the eve of the March for Life.  It was a simultaneously uplifting (the liturgy (what I could see of it from the Crypt Church) was beautiful!), and humbling (the sound kept cutting in and out (and in and out), and we kept singing loudly; unfortunately, when the sound came back on, we were only in the same place as the upstairs congregation about half the time).  I am glad we were able to attend.  I hope the kids who went with me are glad, too.

Cardinal Justin Rigali gave the homily for the Mass.  He hit all the themes he touched on during the Youth Rally Mass, and in his remarks at the start of the March for Life; but something he said (and I am not sure what, exactly (sorry, Your Excellency!)) sparked the following reflection.  I am not vain enough to think that it will matter to many…but I am vain enough to think I should blog it.

To my brothers and sisters who are caught up in the culture of death, to those who have dedicated their lives to maintaining and expanding the freedom to kill the weakest among us at their most defenseless, I need to tell you:

You Cannot Win.

You can’t win!  Oh, you may win some skirmishes.  You may temporarily foist this culture of death which you hold in such high esteem on us all.  But…

You Cannot Win.

Slavery and Jim Crow were held as sacred to many, even in the supposedly enlightened North…but a Black man in habits the White House today. 

The scourge of fascism almost engulfed the world…but the fascists now have little to say that matters.

And your culture of death has threatened, too long threatened, the families o four nation.  But tens of thousands of children now march in the streets of our Capitol to say, “ENOUGH!  Enough hate! Enough death! Enough selfishness!

You Cannot Win.

Every child whose life you end is a tragedy.  But…every soul you send to heaven from the womb is a witness before God against you.  Those souls cry out to God on our behalf, that He might strengthen us, the living, to defend their brothers and sisters!

You Cannot Win.

We hate what you do.  And we will fight it with every fiber of our being.  Our country cannot continue to kill its children by the tens of thousands, every day, and hope to continue to survive.  And we hate the sin you commit every time you add to that death toll.

But, brothers and sisters…we love you.  And we pray for you, as well as for all your victims.  And we longingly await your conversion.

And we will welcome you to our ranks, when the full horror of your “choices” comes crashing in on you.  God extends His hands constantly to you, the same as He does to us.  We are all sinners.  We are all in need of God’s grace.  And God offers it too you freely, if you will just accept it.

“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  Choose life, then, that you and your descendents may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

So says the Lord.  And because He does, we beg you:  Choose life!  Because…

You.  Cannot.  Win.

You can only leave more destruction in your wake on your way to defeat.  But you cannot win.  Life always wins in nature. Choose life. 

You Cannot Win otherwise.

I am going to try this…

I am I’m the tenth hour of a 13 hour drive with another adult and 12 teen homeschoolers, to visit our nation’s Capitol, and to stand up for the 50,000,000 children who have died at the hands of the abortion industry since 1973.

Since you’re reading this, you have access to YouTube; check this short video at www.catholicvote.com. These guys say more in 41 seconds than has been said in a while!

Please pray for us, for safe travel, for protection from the cold, and for an end to abortion on demand in our nation!

Apologetics: How To respond To Tough Moral Questions

Folks:

Here are the audio files of the first and second classes; I didn’t quite get all the way through this outline, but you’ll see where we’re going.  It’s not too late to join the class if you wish, and we may just extend by a week or two, if we have to in order to get through the material.

How To Answer Tough Moral Questions

General Moral Principles

January 11. 2009

I.Introduction

A.  Quote from Veritatis Splendor (“The Splendor of Truth”) 4

“…In fact, a new situation has come about within the Christian community itself, which has experienced the spread of numerous doubts and objections of a human and psychological, social and cultural, religious and even properly theological nature, with regard to the Church’s moral teachings. It is no longer a matter of limited and occasional dissent, but of an overall and systematic calling into question of traditional moral doctrine, on the basis of certain anthropological and ethical presuppositions. At the root of these presuppositions is the more or less obvious influence of currents of thought which end by detaching human freedom from its essential and constitutive relationship to truth. Thus the traditional doctrine regarding the natural law, and the universality and the permanent validity of its precepts, is rejected; certain of the Church’s moral teachings are found simply unacceptable; and the Magisterium itself is considered capable of intervening in matters of morality only in order to “exhort consciences” and to “propose values”, in the light of which each individual will independently make his or her decisions and life choices.”

B.  Class like this necessary for Catholics for three reasons:

1.    Catholics don’t understand

2.    “Separated Brethren don’t believe as we do.

3.    Atheists/unbelievers use as an excuse

C.  Summarize the main idea of your speech. Quickly state your three main points

1.    Discussion/understanding of these moral issues (life issues) requires foundation in moral reasoning

2.    Each life issue can be easily understood in terms of some basic moral concepts.

3.    Once the foundation is established, each life issues is actually interrelated with the others (Seamless Garment)

II.How do we know the moral law?

A.  We are made in God’s image

1.    Gen 1: 26 – 27: Man is created in the image of God (READ REF)

a)     IN God’s image

b)    Given dominion

B.  Because we are made in God’s image, we have souls

1.    We make choices/discern good and evil

2.    Animals react based on instinct.

C.   Free will comes with accountability (Romans 2: 5 – 10) (READ)

1.    Once we’re in Heaven, we will be part of God and cannot choose evil

2.    On earth, we can not only sin, we can lose our justification and kill the soul (ref: 1 John 5:16-17 – READ)

D.  How do we know good and evil?

1.    We consult the moral law

a)     God is truth, justice and love

b)    Therefore all our actions must be done in the same

c)     This is the essence of the moral law

2.    How do we know the demands of the moral law?

a)     The Ten Commandments/The Great Commandments

(1)  READ Matthew 22: 37 – 40

(2)  Reference the Ten Commandments: Duet 5: 6 – 21

b)    Human reason

(1)  READ Romans 1: 18 – 21 whole thing (pull quote in book is only 19 – 20)

(2)  Our rational nature makes virtually ALL agree that certain actions are worthy whiel others are not (natural moral law)

(3)  This is DIFFERENT from law of nature (like gravity)

(4)  We don’t blame rocks /animals for hurting us; not rational, cannot make choices against their nature/instinct

(5)  We blame a HUMAN for hurt because he can act differently if he CHOOSES to

(6)  Natural moral law is how people should act IAW their rational nature

(7)  Our reason is wounded by original sin; reason alone is insufficient

(8)  God gave the 10 Commandments through Moses: PUBLIC REVELATION gives us the moral law WITHOUT ERROR.

c)     The Catholic Church is the final and infallible interpreter of natural moral law AND public revelation with authority from CHRIST; she is then a reliably teacher when it comes to moral/life issues

(1)  Luke 10:16

(2)  Matt 28: 18- 20

III.How do we evaluate moral acts?

A.  Morality considers the rightness/wrongness of certain acts

B.  Three sources determine an act’s rightness/wrongness:

1.    The object of an act (what the act is objectively)

2.    The intention of the act (why the act was chosen subjectively).

3.    The circumstances surrounding the act.

C.  In order to be morally good, all three of these elements must be good

IV.Approved Moral Principles

A.  Part III – Life In Christ,  of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), sections 1691 – 2557 lay out a comprehensive review of basic morality

B.  We can lay out some basic True principles that frequently apply in bioethical issues

1.    TRUE PRINCIPLE #1:  Do Good, Avoid Evil.

a)    Psalm 37:27: “Turn from evil and do good, that you may inhabit the land forever.

b)    Basic precept of natural law, foundation of all morality.

2.    TRUE PRINCIPLE #2: We Can Never Do Evil To Bring About Good

a)     “The end NEVER justifies the means”

b)    Romans 3:8

c)     Examples:

(1)  Cannot murder an abortion provider (e) to stop an abortion (g)

(2)  Cannot murder a terminally ill patient (e) to relieve their suffering (g)

3.    True Principle #3: We Must Follow Our Consciences

a)     We ARE obligated to follow our conscience

b)    BUT: we have PRIOR OBLIGATION to properly FORM conscience

c)     Conscience must never be set in opposition to the moral law or the Magesterium (see CCC 2039)

4.    True Principle #4: The Principle of Double Effect

a)     Principle states that an act that is either good or morally neutral but with an evil side effet may be done IF:

(1)  Act itself is good or neutral

(2)  Evil effect NOT directly wiled

(3)  Good effect must not be direct result of evil effect

(4)  The good desired must equal or outweigh the evil effect (CCC 1737)

b)    Widely used to resolve difficult medical cases

c)     Classic example:  pregnant mother with uterine cancer

(1)  To save her life, must remove her uterus

(2)  Removing the uterus will result in baby’s death.

(3)  The good (mother’s life) DOES NOT RESULT from the evil (death of baby); baby’s death is an unwanted side effect.

d)    Counter-example: pregnant mother with a heart attack

(1)  Doctors say stress of pregnancy will lead to her death

(2)  Woman has an abortion to prevent her death

(3)  The good (mother’s life) was the DIRECT RESULT of the evil (killing the child)

(4)  Not covered by principle of double effect (end does not justify the means)

5.    True Principle #5: Material (vs. Formal ) Cooperation with Evil

a)     Formal cooperation with evil = assisting another’s evil while agreeing with it. Material cooperation = assisting while NOT approving it

b)    Falls under the principle of double effect, allowed under four conditions:

(1)  Action itself must be good or neutral

(2)  Actor cannot share in evil intent

(3)  Action cannot directly CAUSE evil effect

(4)  Sufficient reason MUST exist to allow the evil effect

c)     Example:

(1)  Cab driver who recommends and then delivers a passenger to a particular prostitute is Formally Cooperating with his evil.

(2)  Cab driver who simply delivers a passenger to an address KNOWN to be that of a prostitute is neither participating in OR approving the sin. He is providing transportation (a good) to feed his family (sufficient reason)

(3)  Doctor who refers for abortion is formally cooperating with an evil.

(4)  Nurse or scrub tech who cleans surgical instruments as part of her job is materially cooperating.

6.    True Principle #6: The Principle of Totality

Charter for Healthcare Workers, 66: “For the restoration of the person to health, interventions may be required, in the absence of other remedies, which involve the modification, mutilation or removal of organs.

Therapeutic manipulation of the organism is legitimized here by the principle of totality, 143 and for this very reason also called the principle of therapeuticity, by virtue of which “each particular organ is subordinated to the whole of the body and should be subjected to it in case of conflict. Consequently, the one who has received the use of the whole organism has the right to sacrifice a particular organ if by keeping it, it or its activity might cause appreciable harm to the whole organism, which cannot be avoided otherwise.”144

7.    True Principle #7: Choosing the Lesser of Two Evils

a)     When faced with two or more unavoidable evils, we must choose the lesser one.

(1)  A pilot who is going to crash must choose between hitting a home or an occupied school MUST choose to hit the home (fewer deaths).

(2)  IF there is a choice between hitting people and crashing into an empty field, the choice with NO evil must be made.

b)    Both evil outcomes MUST be UNINTENDED for this principle to apply

c)     Because our will is in neither action, there is no moral evil

d)    This is sometimes WRONGLY Applied: As in earlier example, cannot procure an abortion in order to save a life (life or health exception in abortion laws). If the abortion is directly willed, and the good (saving the mother’s life) comes from it, then it is WRONG.

8.    True Principle #8: Minimizing a Greater Evil

a)     See The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) – JP II for a great example (section 73)

b)    Catholic politicians are allowed to support incremental legislation against abortion if it is impossible to ban it completely.

c)     This is not cooperation with an unjust law; this is working to limit the harm caused by an unavoidable evil

d)    Can be wrongly applied:

(1)  Some try to use to justify advising condom use in sexually active persons to avoid AIDS transmission

(2)  DOESN’T WORK:  Immoral sexual acts are AVOIDABLE. Proper approach is to counsel ABSTINENCE

C.  False Moral Ideas – commonly used to justify immoral bioethical practices

1.    Intrinsically evil acts:

a)     Acts which by the very nature are always evil, no matter the circumstances or intent.

b)    A person might not be personally or subjectively guilty of evil, if he lost his reason, for example, but act itself REMAINS evil

2.    Objective Morality: rightness or wrongness of human actions as they are in themselves.

Focuses on principles of morality: “Is an act wrong, and if so, why?”

3.    Subjective Morality: examines the guilt or merit an individual has for his particular moral choices

Examines personal guilt or merit for a particular act.

D.  False Idea #1:  So-called “Freedom of Conscience”

1.    See GS 73

2.    Conscience can NEVER conflict with Church teaching; Church teaching is ALSO God’s voice speaking.

3.    If Conscience and Church Teaching conflict, then it’s CONSCIENCE that is wrong.

4.    “True freedom isn’t the ability to do whatever you want, but the ability to do what you ought.

E.  False Idea #2:  The “Fundamental Option” Theory

1.    Claims that, once we choose to follow God, hen we cannot break our relationship with Him except by DIRECT, EXPLICIT rejection of Him.

2.    To think that we could KNOWINGLY and WILLING disobey God in a serious way and still keep our union with Him is an ABSURD CONTRADICTION. (1John 5: 16 – 17)

F.   False Idea #3: Situation Ethics

1.    Claims there ARE no universal moral norms that hold for all times/places

2.    Asks us to make up our own morality as we go along.

3.    What are the problems with this?

4.    The more “educated” among us introduce subtleties and sophistication t allow them to circumvent the moral law and replace it with their own judgment (“life and health” exceptions, anyone?)

G.  False Idea #4: Values Clarification

1.    A sophisticated version of situational ethics

2.    Presents several moral systems, and asks students to reflect and decide which is right…for himself.

3.    Equivalent to leaving the choice to play in traffic to our children

4.    “Thin veneer of respectability” due to headnod to traditional moral systems.

H.  False Idea #5: “The Ends Justify the Means”

I.     False Idea #6: Cultural Cliches

1.    Examples:

a)     “Look out for #1″

b)    “You only live once.”

c)     “Follow your heart.”

d)    “But I love him/her!”

e)     “If it feels good, do it.”

f)      “We can’t impose our morality on others.”

g)     “We must be tolerant.”

h)    “God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy.”

2.    ALL make man, NOT God, the final arbiter of right and wrong.

3.    Read pull quote from text from The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor) #35: “God alone” has the power to decide what is good and what is evil.

We’re Off to See…

The tens of thousands of people who are converging on Washington, DC to commemorate the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. Should be interesting.

You will see more about this over the coming months from me, but isn’t this interesting:

• Planned Parenthood’s clinics are usually located in economically depressed communities.

• Planned Parenthood’s clinics are usually located near concentrations of African-American households of lesser economic means.

• Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a avid supporter of eugenics. Eugenics is the “science” of attempting to improve the human race by careful selection of those who mate and produce offspring. Guess who Marge didn’t want to have out there breeding? that’s right, Black Man: YOU.

• Planned Parenthood has been responsible for the majority of the 50,000,000 children killed through abortion since 1973 in the United States.

• Planned Parenthood is the recipient of a decent chunk of federal funding for its efforts (of course *none* of those funds are used directly in providing access to abortion…of *course* not).

Pro-choice…pro-life…interesting choices of words. Time somebody else stood alongside the hundreds of thousands trying to rid our country of this scourge. Guess I’m up!

Homily – Feast of the Epiphany, January 3/4, 2009

Gospel/Homily Stream (sorry – too smart for myself by half.  I made the mp3 before I split the Gospel and Homily parts.  The Gospel ends about 2:45 into the stream, if you don’t enjoy my melodious voice that much…)

Get it?

According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, an epiphany is described as, “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”  We use the word often in the English language to refer to those “Aha!” moments, when something that we just couldn’t figure out becomes clear to us.

Our “epiphanies” are those moments when we “get it” about something, and they come about all kinds of things, big things, like the love of our life, and small things, like the solution to the Jumble puzzle in the newspaper.  Epiphanies happen to us all the time.  And when our “epiphany” comes, when we “get it” about something, we want to share it, don’t we?

The Gospel today, from Matthew, pulls together several threads from the prophets in explaining the Magi’s visit to Bethlehem to find Jesus.  And a couple of things are interesting, I believe, about this story.  First, who is it that’s even looking for this new King of the Jews?  A bunch of pagan astronomers!  Who missed it?  Everyone else!  The very people for whom Christ was coming missed the event entirely!

Second, where did this blessed event take place?  In a little back-water suburb of Jerusalem, Bethlehem!  The Magi went to the palace in Jerusalem, thinking that surely the new King they were seeking would be there; but nope!  They were led, first by a prophecy, and then by the star, to a little stable in a little town down the hill.

Finally, what happened to the Magi once they’d seen the Christ Child?  They were the first Gentile believers in Christ’s kingship; they prostrated themselves and did Him homage”.  They were open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit; they “departed for their country by another way” when they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.  And they took the word of Christ’s birth away with them, out into the world, as the very earliest heralds!

We’re like the Magi in many ways, brothers and sisters.  One way or another, we all followed something to get here.  Whether it was the guidance of our parents, or the result of deep study and prayer on our own, we have all followed the light of faith into this church building, into this community, into the Body of Christ.

Many of us were unsure what we’d find when we arrived, but we came anyway.  Some of us searched first in the wrong place; where we were made sense to us, given what we knew then, but it turned out that we’d missed the mark somehow.  And when that “sudden, intuitive perception or insight” about Christ came to us, it changed everything for us!

Frankly, others among us, including myself, were more like the people of Judea.  Like the priests, and the members of Herod’s court, we totally missed Christ at first.  Maybe it was because everything was so routine.  Or maybe it was just that we weren’t looking for anything major to happen in our lives; church was one of those many habits that we honored (more or less, depending on how we felt on Sunday), but it was No Big Deal.  We saw no Star.  We were not aware of any King.  Life is just…life, and we just live it.  No earth-changing “perceptions here…”

But oh, brothers and sisters:  when our Epiphany comes, what a difference it makes!

Whether Herod and his lackeys knew it or not, Christ was born in Bethlehem.  Whether they paid any attention or not, something HUGE happened down the hill in Bethlehem.

And whether we choose to believe it or not, Christ is our Lord and Savior!  Whether we choose to acknowledge him or not, Christ died, and is risen, and Christ will come again!  And when we begin got embrace this truth, life will be different for us!

Does this mean that we won’t sin?  Does this mean that we won’t fall short sometimes?  No!  But when we encounter Christ, really encounter Christ, we will be changed!  And we will be able to follow “another way home” like the Magi did!

And it isn’t just a one-time thing, y’all!  Christ is constantly revealing Himself to us, in different ways!  And we should be constantly seeing new and different things about Christ, about our relationship with Him and with one another, which lead us closer to Him!

Even if we “get it”, there is always more to see, more to learn, more to “get”!  Every day can bring a new Epiphany for us, if we are just watching for it!

Epiphany: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

The Magi had their Epiphany when they arrived at the stable.  “They saw the child with Mary His mother.  They prostrated themselves and did Him homage.”  They “got it”.

Some of us have already had an epiphany.  And life is different already for those folks.  Some of us have already started to “get it”.

Some of us are still seeking.  And we’ll get there, if we continue to watch for the Star.  We’ll get there, if we continue to look for the signs that point the way.  We’ll get there, if we let the Holy Spirit lead us.  We’ll get there, if we get out of our own way, and allow ourselves to “get it”.

Homily – Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph – December 28, 2008

Gospel

Homily

Faithfulness

This is a time of year when we celebrate family, isn’t it?  We gather as family, as much as we can; we have meals together; we call family members who are too far to get home, and we write letters or emails, with pictures or video, to those who are too far away to call.  We remember those who have died, and we celebrate the new lives among us with “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments.  For many of us, if not most, Christmas is about family.

But Christmas is about more than family, right?  Christmas, when you boil it down to the most important thing, isn’t about how much we spend on travel or gifts.  It’s not about how many parties we attend or give.  It’s not about most of the things the world holds out to us as important.

Our history as God’s people is full of examples of what’s really important about Christmas.  And what’s really important…is faithfulness.  The faithfulness of our forbears is the real point of Christmas.  The faith that led folks to do things that were unreasonable, to do things that were impossible, is the real miracle of Christmas.

And in the story of their faithfulness, we get a lesson for our families, whether they are families of one or of dozens.

In our readings, we see the faithfulness that led to Christ coming to Earth.  We see the beginning of His human family in Abram, who decided to listen to God when God promised Him descendants as numerous as the stars.  Why should he have listened, Abram?  He was old. So was his wife.  They’d been childless all their married lives.  In the view of the world, they were less than other people because they were barren.  But Abram listened, and obeyed God, and God honored that obedience and that faith.

Paul explains more.  Abraham went when God told him to.  Abraham trusted, even though it was illogical to trust.  And he had faith enough to be prepared to sacrifice his only son, because he knew he could count on the God who had done so much for him already.

Mary and Joseph carried on that faithfulness.  Think about it:  Mary and Joseph trusted God’s messenger, and went ahead with their marriage.  They trusted God to take care of them on the trip to Bethlehem.  And they were faithful to God’s law in bringing Jesus to the Temple.  And in fulfilling their responsibilities as parents, Mary and Joseph raised Jesus, The Christ to manhood!

These families we read about today are the examples we’re asked to follow.  We’re asked to be faithful to God’s call on our families, to be as holy as we are able to manage.  And God asks a lot of us, doesn’t He?

We’re asked to trust God as our families form, to be open to life however it arrives with us.  We’re asked to trust God with our children, to allow Him to guide them as they discern the path they should take in life.  We’re asked to be faithful to the guidance of the Church, to do certain things and to avoid certain things, because doing so aids us in our lives of faith.

And most of all, we are asked to put God first in our lives as individuals and as families.  Joseph could have been dishonored.  Mary could have been stoned to death as an adulteress!  Simeon and Anna could have given up on God’s promise, and just crawled off to die!  But they all faced their difficulties, and were faithful!

And that’s what we’re called to do, brothers and sisters!  Whatever our circumstance in life, God just asks us to be faithful.  If our job is threatened, God asks us to believe He’ll help us get through!  If we have a child who disappoints, God asks us to believe He’ll work on that child!  If we’re faced with an illness, or an unexpected crisis in our families, God asks us to remain faithful to Him through the trial!

But, God, it’s hard to be faithful, isn’t it?  So much around us calls us to not be!

Difficult marriage?  It’s so easy to seek comfort outside of it!  Children who are a disappointment?  Well, we can just kick ‘em out of the house and wash our hands of them! Unexpected pregnancy?  We can just make a trip down to Memphis and “fix the problem”!  Old and sick?  Or young, but terminally ill and in pain?  Well, we can fix that with a trip to a sympathetic doctor!  Money problems?  Can’t pay the bills, or losing the house?   Well, maybe I can hit the number in Lotto this week, or head to Caruthersville and make it up! Or maybe the government will fix it for me!

Funny, thing, though:  all of those “solutions” leave out the most important thing:  God!  Our problems aren’t unique, brothers and sisters.  And if our forbears in faith had taken these “easy” ways out, what would we have to celebrate this Christmas?  In fact, what would any of this mean, if Joseph had simply “divorced her quietly”, or if Mary had refused God’s request?  Nothing!

Christmas celebrates faithfulness.  The true meaning of Christmas in our lives is about the faith that led our predecessors in the faith to make the choices they made.  And ultimately, Christmas is about the faithfulness of the first Christians, Mary and Joseph, and the faithfulness of their ancestors, that made it possible for Christ to enter the world as a human child, like us in all things but sin.

What a gift to God it would be if we could all be more faithful in the coming year!  Does God ask us to be perfect? No!  Does He expect us to never sin? No!

But He expects us to try.  He expects us to cut those things out of our life that pull us away from Him.  He asks us to take advantage of the sacraments He gave us, as conduits of His grace.

And He asks us to be faithful.  Abraham and Sarah faithful.  Paul and the other apostles faithful.  Mary and Joseph faithful.  And in our faithfulness, He promises to bless us and our families.

Where have we been less than obedient to God?  Where can we improve our relationship with God?

God calls us to faithfulness.  Are we listening?