Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B

"God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him."

Peter’s words are as applicable today as they were then. God shows no partiality. God’s ways are not our ways. “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so far are God’s ways from our ways.” “‘For My ways are not your ways,’ says the Lord….”

We can judge others so quickly and condemn others harshly and hastily, can't we?
Yet Jesus reveals to us that the way to the heart of God is through loving service to one another - regardless.

And what is the loving thing to do? Recall that God is love; we never read that God is hate. In fact, Saint John tells us in the second epistle today that God is love. Not that love is God – but that God is love itself.

Therefore, he tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another…. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”

As Jesus said: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.

This joy that Jesus promises us comes to us as we learn to love others, even those who we have the greatest difficulty loving, let alone liking.

Yet we are chosen by Christ, chosen and blessed, in his love. We are IN his love!
Before we even called out to Him or came to Him in faith, he was there loving us, calling to us, “For it was not you who chose me, but I who chose you! You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.”

He says REMAIN in my love, unselfishly reaching out to others. And if we dare to live in his love, and loving as he did, seeking the happiness of others rather than our only our own happiness, we will find the joy of Christ.

There are those who claim that our acts of charity are but single drops of water in the vast ocean. Yet Mother Teresa held that no matter how small, our small drops add to the ocean – for the ocean is made up of many, many drops of water and each drop makes the ocean what it is.

Pope Benedict wrote in his encyclical Deus caritas est: [Christian] “love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something which often is even more necessary than material support." In the end, some claim that…[our] works of charity [are] redundant [and even unnecessary]. Yet does this not betray “a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread alone’.”

Some in our world reject charity and attack it “as a means of preserving the status quo. What we have here, though, is really an inhuman philosophy…. One does not make the world more human by refusing to act humanely here and now. We contribute to a better world only by personally doing good now, with full commitment and wherever we have the opportunity” regardless of politics. “The Christian's program...of the Good Samaritan, the program of Jesus, is ‘a heart which sees’.

The pope continues with this sobering thought: “Often the deepest cause of suffering is the very absence of God.” Yet “a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. He knows that God is love and that God's presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is to love.”

Allow me to leave you with a story. There was once a woman who was filled with love for God. She was known to be quite religious and devout. Every morning she walked several city blocks to daily Mass at her parish church. As she walked children would sometimes call to her for a kind word, and the hungry and homeless would plead for help, bu the woman was so immersed in her prayer and in her love for God that she really didn’t pay much attention to the children and the hungry homeless.

One day she approached the church for morning Mass, passed a couple of children, and climbed the steps passing by a few homeless men and women; some were sleeping while others were staring blankly. As she opened the church door and walked in, expecting to see the long aisle and rows of pews and the high altar at the other end of the church, she was amazed that as she walked through the door what she thought was the inside of the church was instead a mirror image of the outside world she had just left. She turned and looked out through the open door of the church and saw that the outside world that she had just left behind was the same as the church inside. She stood at the top of the steps, looking down at the same needy children and homeless people she had passed by on her way to church.

She walked into the Church where the life-size crucifix hung suspended from the ceiling. Christ spoke: "Did you not see my Body – the Body of Christ – on the way to Church? Everyday, I have been waiting for you—not just in the church, but all around you – especially in all those who need your love. For whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto Me."

May we put the love of Christ in action today and every day.

For the Love of Notre Dame

Why has President Barack Obama’s approaching visit to Notre Dame caused such an uproar? Why won’t these stubborn pro-life Catholics just give way and accept the fact that Obama is the president and is honoring Notre Dame by his mere presence? Why don’t those who oppose abortion just accept the fact that abortion is legal, (the Supreme Court has ruled on it), quit forcing their religious beliefs and imposing their morality on the rest of us, and focus on the lives of those who are already born? Can’t we all agree to disagree? Jesus ate with all those who would hear him, so it is quite appropriate for Notre Dame to invite Obama. Besides, abortion will not be won or lost in the political arena. The sooner the pro-life movement comes to terms with this reality, the better.

At first glance the above arguments seem plausible, even preferable. However, one can recall such statements made regarding slavery. “Why don’t those who oppose slavery just accept the fact that slavery is legal, (the Supreme Court has ruled on it), quit forcing their religious beliefs on the rest of us, and focus on the lives of those who are free? Slavery will not be won or lost in the political arena. The sooner the abolitionist’s movement comes to terms with this reality, the better.”

During the Civil Rights struggle there were those who argued against it in the same fashion. Perhaps the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. will jar our collective conscience: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” But do we ever accuse Martin Luther King, Jr. of imposing his beliefs upon an unwilling southern majority when he demanded that the African-Americans Americans be treated the same as white Americans all because of his belief that the dignity of human beings was rooted in the fact that they were created in the image of God?

Doesn’t the Declaration of Independence impose a belief? “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Did President Lincoln “force” his religious and political beliefs on an entire nation when he issued his Emancipation Proclamation?

Is there an analogy to the abortion issue? What of the civil rights of unborn persons? Medical science has shown conclusively that human life begins at conception. Yet the real debate now is whether pre-born human life constitutes human personhood. Is the right to life an inborn, innate given at human conception?

The argument goes that they – the unborn, the embryonic humans – are not human persons, but merely potential humans, and as such they have no rights. The unborn are even treated as disposable biological material because they are not human persons. Yet if there is no objective truth regarding the human personhood of human beings, then the objective truth of the dignity of each and every human person is lost.

A society that affirms the dignity of the person but then also permits fetal experimentation or abortion is denying equality before the law. And when a law denies an entire category of human beings the status as human persons, are not the very foundations of law and civilization weakened? Is it possible to advance the cause of human dignity without recognizing and defending the right to life of all human beings – born and unborn? All other rights are founded on and flow from this most basic of rights. Is not democracy false when it fails to recognize and affirm every person’s dignity and his or her subsequent rights – regardless of age or size?
Suppose Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez invited Obama to Caracas where he honored him with an honorary doctorate in Democracy? Wouldn’t that seem hypocritical?

And as for the argument that Jesus ate with anyone who would listen to him, the issue is not over the invite to Obama as much as it is in his being honored with a Doctorate in Law from the prestigious Catholic University of Notre Dame. And usually during or after such dinners with Jesus the said sinners turned from their former path and followed the Truth. And does not law flow from the truth?

As Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote from his jail cell in Birmingham: “There are two types of laws: just and unjust…. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws.” We should have great respect for human law; while at the same time recognize valid situations that justify civil disobedience.

As St. Augustine wrote: “An unjust law is no law at all.” “Now what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the Moral Law or the Law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the Moral Law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Permissive abortion laws are degrading to human dignity, deny the personality of the unborn, and are unjust in the eyes of God. Law exists in order to protect individuals in society and to ensure social order and justice. The old adage “one’s rights end where another person’s rights begin” is ever true. Laws were never intended to allow another person to dominate another or give someone permission to injure another. Laws are passed in order to promote mutual welfare in society and to encourage persons to strive for what is good.

Just as segregation laws were unjust and deprived an entire category of human beings their natural rights, so it is with the abortion laws that deprive the pre-born of their status as human beings and deny them their rights as human persons. In the case of abortion, plain and simple, the unborn child’s rights are violated.

And that is why there is opposition to President Obama’s Notre Dame Commencement address and reception of an honorary Doctorate of Law at Notre Dame. For God is the Eternal Source of all Law, the same God who said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). The Psalmist attests to this truth: “[O Lord] You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb” (Ps 139:13).

Perchance, a century from now, the former supporters of abortion rights and deniers of the humanity of the unborn child will be making a new accusation: They will blame the Church for allowing abortion (just like some blame the church for slavery and the Holocaust). Unfortunately, they will have a point. They will name the prominent Catholics and Christians who supported abortion in our day and hence judge the Church by their actions - or inaction.

Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

You can imagine the disciples fearing for their lives. This is the Saul of Tarsus who was opposed to all that Christ stood for, opposed to all that the Church taught and proclaimed.

But note that Barnabas took charge of Saul and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how Saul had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.

It took a Barnabas to bring the disciples to Saul or Paul as he was now called. Barnabas’ real name was Joseph, but he was nicknamed Bar-nabas – a name which means “son of encouragement”. Each of us are called to be encouragers, encouraging one another in the faith, in love, in charity, in hope!

As Saint John mentions in his epistle of today’s second reading, “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. And those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.”

Saint John records Jesus’ words: "Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing…. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

Think of the glorious call we have received. We are called to be in Christ – for he says, “Apart from me you can do nothing!” If we allow God to keep us in Christ, we will bear much fruit! If we unite our lives with the life of Jesus Christ, we will become like Him. We are called to encourage one another, especially in this Easter season, to live the resurrection message of hope and faith.

Yet it is not easy to be a Catholic these days. There are even some Catholics who somehow think that one does not have to live by the teachings of the Church and they can still somehow still be good Catholics.

For instance, Marriage is up for grabs. There are those who think that marriage can be redefined. Yet Marriage is the Sacrament of God whereby the husband and wife in the covenant of love co-create with God new human life. Yet many today have rejected marriage as created by God in the Garden of Eden and have reduced it to nothing special and think that it can be redefined by a governor or a popular vote.

And human life is no longer a right for many of our pre-born brothers and sisters. Yet we believe in the dignity of each and every human being, human beings created in the image of God! Yet many in the world do not believe this. Human life is no longer recognized by some as actual human life.

Human beings are no longer called human persons until after they are born and only then if they are healthy or wanted. Yet Christ said “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.”

Today we do well to call to mind that Jesus himself was an unborn child in Mary’s womb! He was the Lord from the moment of his conception. He united himself with us in all things and in all ways. All human life is human life! No exceptions. In dignifying the Virgin Mary’s womb by his presence, he has dignified all unborn human life as fully human. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.”

When Saint Paul was on the road to Damascus to round up more Christians and arrest them and likely have some put to death, Christ appeared to Paul and said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

He did not say “Why are you persecuting the church?” No, what he said was: “Why are you persecuting me?” For what is done to Christ’s Church is done to Christ Jesus himself.

So, today, let us be encouraged that we are found worthy to be ridiculed and mocked for our faith in Jesus Christ.

And know this that if we are in Christ, then we too may experience our own crucifixion. Yet we too will experience the resurrection of the body as well.

Jesus says clearly: “I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.

This is our hope! This is the faith of our Church. Let us never become discouraged – even in the face of ridicule and persecution – knowing that Christ will give you strength to endure and promises you eternal life.

May we never allow any sadness to overshadow the joy of the resurrection of Christ! For He is our life.

The Beauty of Married Love and the Fruits Thereof

Marriage unites the spouses and is procreative. Sound radical? Sexual intercourse and having children are intimately connected. Sexual intercourse implies a great commitment, and children are an inherent part of that commitment, and both commitment and children are wonderful gifts to family and society.

Sexual intercourse leads to the begetting of children, but our culture has adopted such a contraceptive mentality that many people do not recognize that they may likely become parents someday; neither do they realize how important it will be to parent and educate their children. The church has always taught that one’s youth is to be spent growing in virtue, yet contemporary culture distracts our youth from doing so. And little or no thought is given to the future, especially forethought in learning how to discern the qualities found in a good spouse and the development of the skills necessary in becoming a good spouse and a good parent.

Contraception violates the procreative meaning of the sexual act but it also violates the unitive meaning of the sexual act and, in the philosophy of Pope John Paul, it violates the "language of the body." Contraceptives convey the message that while sexual intercourse is desired, there is no desire for a permanent bond with the other person, such as a child entails.

Unfortunately, the contraceptive mentality has reduced sexual intercourse to nothing but a pleasurable physical act to enjoy and secondarily to show affection towards another person or persons. The marital act is not given the dignity as the very act whereby spouses co-create with God a new human being. Nearly 70% of children born in the U.S. are either born outside of marriage or into families that will break up through divorce.

Women oftentimes point out that when they are using artificial birth control they have little or no reason to refuse their husbands sexual pleasure. Many men have come to expect sex-on-demand, hence reducing the sexual act to one of self–pleasure rather than self-giving and self-donation.

Human love between a man and a woman is an expression of their whole beings. The ends of marriage are begetting and raising children and the mutual aid of the spouses. Objectively the sexual act is by nature intended for procreation and the education of children. Secondarily it serves to unite the couple in a mutual self-giving love.

So while some may argue that the unitive purpose of sex has priority, children are still one of the goods of marriage. So the two aspects – unitive and procreative – are not mutually exclusive, but are both essential results of mutual love and self-giving. It is in the act of mutual self-giving that unity and procreation take place. Even if the woman is infertile, the couple must still be mindful that that their mutual act of self-giving love is open to children and will bring union between the two. The characteristics of marriage are totality, unity, indissolubility, and faithfulness. For marriage is a covenant, not a contract.

Suffice it to say that children born to parents who are self-controlled, faithful to one another, are open to children and involved in their lives are better off than those born to single parents and those divorced.

You’re going the wrong way!

25 April 2009
Saint Mark’s Day


You’re going the wrong way! One of my favorite movies is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. There is a very funny scene where Del Griffith, played by John Candy, is very distracted listening to his music and smoking cigarettes. At one point he realizes that he is very warm with his winter parka on, but instead of pulling over to remove his coat, he tries to remove it while driving. To make a long story short he nearly wrecks the car and finds himself on an exit ramp. As he returns to the highway, he does not realize he is going in the opposite direction. His passenger, Neal Page, played by Steve Martin, is asleep through it all.

Soon a man and woman in the other lane attempt to warn him that he is going the wrong direction. Instead of listening to them he ignores them and says that they’re drunk. “How would they know where we’re going?” He continues laughing with glee that the couple was trying to tell him the direction that he should go. I won’t spoil the film for those who have not seen it, but it is a wonderful film about metanoia, turning around, indeed turning from a selfish, self-centered way of life to an other centered, unselfish, thoughtful, altruistic way of life – or at least embarking upon that path.

How does this scene have to do with today’s Catholic? Everything. There are many Catholics – indeed Christians – who think that they are going in the right direction. Are we going in the right direction? As individuals? As families? As a school community? As a parish? As a Church?

Catholicism is the oldest Christian expression of faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that within Catholicism the fullness of God’s Revelation is made known to us; His Word and His Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist

All of the disciplines in the building have rules. For instance in English one cannot just create his own spelling rules or grammar rules; in math 2+2 cannot equal 3.764 just because Uncle Jimmy says it is so. The athletic department has to abide by rules and all sports have specific rules for fair play. So it is with the faith of the Church.

I strive to share with the students (and parents) the Tradition of the Church that comes to us from Christ and the Apostles and the early church. I cannot change the mission of Catholic education.

An example of what I am speaking of can be given with polls. There have been many polls where Catholics deny the importance of regularly Sunday worship, the respect for the gift of human sexuality, the life of the unborn or elderly, the integrity of the human body and even the bodily resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead and his promise to return again in glory.

What this boils down to is that many Catholics claim to believe, but by their lives they are practical atheists, or worse, nihilists. Pope Benedict XVI speaks of those who live their Christian life as if God does not matter, or as if life itself does not matter or mean anything (nihilism). I believe he is on to something. There are people who claim to love Christ, but believe and do almost the exact opposite of what he taught and what he lived. I have much more respect for a sincere atheist than the nominal Christian who is really a nihilist. At least the atheists are honest. And no wonder so many people have become atheists. The reason? The poor example of those who claim to be Christians or Catholics.

G.K. Chesterton said “Christianity has not been tried and found lacking; it has been found difficult and not tried.” Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when asked, “Though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you reject becoming his follower?" Ghandi replied, "I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Are we being Christ to the World? Are we truly the Body of Christ? Do we believe what Christ said? Are we truly being formed into the image of Christ? Are we merely minimally informed about Jesus or are we allowing Christ to form us, are we being formed into the image of Christ? And are we helping to form the world into the Kingdom of God?

Now we are faced with an empty tomb. If the tomb is empty, then how must we live? If we wish to follow Christ, then we must take up our Cross and follow Him.

As a parent of a teenage myself, I am concerned for the faith of our young people. I realize adolescence is a time for great questioning, but educators across the country are seeing more and more students who are opposed to any intellectual challenge and seem to have all the answers. Yes, I realize Plato had the same complaint against some of his students in Athens in 400 B.C., but do hear me out.

In our culture there is this idea held by some that one can claim to be a good Christian or a good Catholic and not abide by the Commandments or the teachings of Christ and the Church and somehow we all going to somehow stumble into heaven on judgment day, no questions asked. If that is true, then why did Christ go through his agony and die on the cross? What was he saving us from is there is no possibility of losing eternal life in heaven?

C.S. Lewis spoke about those who want all the comforts of a loving God, but don’t want to bother with any of that bothersome morality or changing of behavior that makes us begin to look like a Christian follower of Christ.

In our culture, many people who fall into this category in the words of St. Paul, “they make a pretense of religion, but deny its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). Since many people do not practice their faith, they do not live the faith. They not only do not know their faith, they do not pray. Nor they do not pray with the church. Allow me to explain. Some will pray, sure, but their prayers rise to an image of god that is the bubblegum machine god in the sky, above the world, who has no real connection to the human condition, but a god no less. However, this god is not the God of Jesus Christ.

The god they believe in is really ignorant of most things – especially their personal lives and obnoxious and sinful behaviors – and as such this god is much like them. This god, therefore, excuses their every indiscretion, moral lapse, or sin as just a part of being “human”, or better yet, this god has no moral code at all and as such is unconcerned about so-called “correct” behavior. This god is therefore really only “there” to serve their needs – when they call upon him. Again, St. Paul’s words come to mind: “They make a pretense of religion, but deny its power.”

So, the humans are really in charge of this god, or consider him a talisman to ward off the opposing team’s efforts to beat them in athletic competition. This god is fashioned in their own image and likeness, and he – or “it”, more appropriately – is at their disposal and whim. Usually such prayers addressed to this god are for things and are primarily focused on personal needs. As such, the talk of a personal savior is copiously employed here. Again, the “relationship with god” resembles their own personal relationships.

Pope Benedict refers to such an appropriation of God to be merely for some type of psychological comfort, rather than an intimate and growing relationship with the Transcendent, though imminent, God: the God of Jesus Christ, who humbles himself to share in our humanity. This god is merely “a slob like one of us.” He is not the God that raises up a fallen humanity and calls us to reach for the heights of the kingdom, a kingdom where we are to bring God’s kingdom to the present world: on earth as it is in heaven.

St. Paul taught us to proclaim the truth of the gospel in season and out of season. I have always striven to do that in my 20+ years of teaching adolescents. In paragraph 1666 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we are reminded that “The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.”

On the Third Sunday of Easter this year the Second Reading is from 1 John 2. “The way we may be sure that we know [Christ] him is to keep his commandments. Those who say, "I know him," but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them… This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived” (1 John 2.3-6).

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says. “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:19)

Jesus said: “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Mt 19.17). “You know the commandments: 'You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother’” (Mk 10.19). "If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn. 14.19) “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me” (Jn 14.21).

Jesus said: “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn 15: 10, 12, 14, 17).

In 1 Tim. 1:9-10, Paul writes Timothy to clearly inform him and the church what it means to NOT be a disciple of the Lord. Namely those who are: “lawless and unruly, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, the unchaste, practicing homosexuals, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching.”

In 2 Tim. 3:2-5, Paul continues: “People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, as they make a pretense of religion but deny its power.”

In 1 Cor. 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

In 1 Cor. 6:15-20, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make them the members of a prostitute? * Of course not! (Or) do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For "the two," it says, "will become one flesh." But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

Finally, the very definition of Marriage itself is up for grabs in our culture. Allow me to remind us all of what marriage is. From the Catechism of the Church:
1601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."
1660 The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (cf. CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1).
1661 The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1799).
1664 Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from the gift of a child (GS 50 § 1).
1666 The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.
Also, chastity is challenged today and many of our youth have been so infected with the sins of our culture, that they no longer regard the practice of sexual expression outside of marriage as a sin. The Catechism assists us in teaching about Chastity.
The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery (self-discipline) which is training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.126 "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."127
2340 Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so: self-knowledge, practice of a self-discipline…, obedience to God's commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and fidelity to prayer.
2342 Self-mastery (self-discipline) is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life.129 The effort required can be more intense in certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed during childhood and adolescence.
2343 Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin. "Man . . . day by day builds himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and accomplishes moral good by stages of growth."130
2347 The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows the disciple how to follow and imitate Christ who has chosen us as his friends, who has given himself totally to us and allows us to participate in his divinity. Chastity is a promise of immortality.
2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on Christ,"135 the model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity.
2350 Those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity.
Finally, the Christian identity is formed through personal prayer and communal prayer. The Liturgy, particularly the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy, forms us as Church. We are formed by Word and Sacrament. When we gather as community in Christ we form the Body of Christ in a special way. When we receive the Eucharist, that is, the Body of Christ, we most fully become the Church, that is, the Body of Christ.
I use this analogy in class: if we don’t regularly attend practice for sports we won’t be able to play in the game. If we cannot follow the rules of the game, we won’t be allowed to play either. So if we don’t practice our faith or abide by the teachings of faith, then how can we claim to be Christians? Sunday Mass attendance (I am slow to use that word because, hopefully, we participate in Mass and not simply punch our ticket) is essential for church. In our culture “faith” or church attendance is nothing more that eternal fire insurance. I pray it is a lifestyle choice for you and your family.

Is it an important measure of a Catholic school’s effectiveness whether its Catholic students, past and present, attend Mass regularly?

Vatican II (Gravissimum Educationis par 2) emphasized that the development of a personal spirituality and participation in the Eucharist are included not just as aims, but as the principal aims of a Catholic school: "Such an education [Christian education] does not merely strive to foster in the human person the maturity already described. Rather, its principal aims are these: that as the baptized person is gradually introduced into a knowledge of the mystery of salvation, he may daily grow more conscious of the gift of faith which he has received; that he may learn to adore God the Father in spirit and in truth (cf. Jn. 4:23), especially through liturgical worship."

Parents have a serious moral obligation to educate their children. Therefore, it is for Christian parents particularly to take care of the Christian education of their children according to the doctrine handed on by the Church. As such, the Resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which Christian faith rests (cf. 1 Cor 15:14). It is an astonishing reality, fully grasped in the light of faith, yet we commemorate the day of Christ's Resurrection not just once a year but every Sunday and every Holy Day of Obligation. Saint Jerome said: "Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is our day".(3) For Christians, Sunday is "the fundamental feast day.

As Pope John Paul II taught in a 1998 apostolic letter, Dies Domini, the obligation of celebrating the Sunday Eucharist is not an arbitrary law imposed by the Church but "an indispensable element of our Christian identity". Do we want many teachers and students in Catholic schools to be left with the impression that, practically speaking, participation in the Sunday Eucharist is not required for authentic Catholic or Christian faith? Do we want teachers and their students to be implicitly taught that, in an institution aiming to form Christians, participation in the Sunday Eucharist is at best of minor importance or cannot be expected? If so, then the expectations of Catholic schools will be seriously diminished.

The values learned implicitly from students’ teachers can be flawed. Any lack of appreciation of the Eucharist is likely to be absorbed by students whose teachers are significant adults in their lives. Students influence one another, and a climate can be created in which students are taught – both verbally and by implication, that attending Mass is irrelevant and unnecessary. Research demonstrates that even the verbally unexpressed attitudes of teachers powerfully influence students. And it is well known how strongly adolescent behavior is also influenced by that of their peers.

Surely drastic and difficult decisions need to be taken to ensure that, first of all administrators, teachers and parents, understand and appreciate the place of the Eucharist in the Church or the Christian life. If these adults do not participate in the Eucharist fully, consciously and actively, the downward spiraling rejection of the great gift of the Eucharist by young Catholics is likely to continue. What then of the future of Catholic schools and the Catholic Church in America?

Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson, Bishop of Sioux Falls, writes, “We need to be clear in our expectations and call young people to be faithful. Parents need to be partners with us, and if they are the ones who are irresponsible, then they have to be called to the faith witness which is expected of them. Attending Mass on Sunday is a serious moral issue. In a Sunday Eucharist, we participate in the paschal mystery. The mystery of the church is made present.”

Sunday Mass attendance used to be a “given.” Practicing Catholics understood the Ten Commandments and the precepts of the Church as requiring attendance at Sunday Mass. Unfortunately here in the United States, attendance levels have been declining with an average of around 40% attendance, and even now that percentage seems to be declining.

The Pope himself as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is asking for a special effort on the part of all Catholics to sustain and improve Sunday Mass attendance. We are each called to evangelize on this issue.

St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “I urge you therefore, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect… For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.”

What are the signs of our Christian community? Does a shared community here truly exist? Or have we fallen for the cultural lie of self-sufficiency and rugged individualism which allows us to be off in our own world with our own set of values and code of behavior, rules which can be vicious and completely alien to the mission and vision of the Gospel, Church, and school.

Parents have the duty and responsibility to educate their children in the faith; students who come to a Catholic school should expect a solid, Catholic education. But today the importance of sports and social life is the top priority for some students in the Catholic school. The devotion of athletes and their parents, and the near worship of athletic success, is, by all definitions religious in zeal and, indeed, the athletes and their parents are missionaries with an evangelical zeal.

Therefore, if the concept of a Catholic high school is simply a private-school with fine athletic teams where many people admit that the idea that the Catholic faith is first and foremost among faculty, students, and parents is really only a myth, then are we perpetuating this myth of Catholic education? And why?

Again, if the Catholic School is no longer where the Catholic Christian faith is the primary reason for the school’s existence, then should the church not question whether to continue funding a Catholic high school?

Consider how much local parishes support the schools. As a member of a parish myself, I know that a certain percentage of my weekly donation to the collection goes to further Catholic education. If I am no longer certain of the Catholicity of a Catholic high school, then the situation becomes an issue of injustice, not only to the students and teachers, but to the families and donors who are actually supporting the mission of Catholic high schools.

Are the best days of Catholic education schools indeed behind us?

When Catholics routinely no longer believe in the existence of God, miracles, the Resurrection of Christ, the Virgin Birth, or hearken to Church Teaching concerning the power of prayer, the inviolable dignity of each and every human life from conception to natural death, the dignity of human sexuality and marriage, weekly church attendance and participation, the requirements of social justice, pursuing the common good, and belief in the afterlife, and instead believe that the Church has perpetuated a lie or a myth that has deceived millions throughout history, this seems to be a situation that must be addressed in every Catholic home, not simply in the classroom.

It is – without a doubt – a struggle for the very soul of the Church and our faith in Christ. Our Catholic high schools were established to further the commitment to the faith. May we continue to nurture the faith of our ancestors – many who came here to the United States as unwanted pilgrim immigrants and established Catholic communities with their blood, sweat and tears.

Do we ever accuse Martin Luther King, Jr. of imposing his religious beliefs upon an unwilling southern majority?

A fellow Catholic and Christian recently wrote in our local paper that “The pro-life movement…has politicized” itself “to the detriment of society by attempting to force its religious beliefs on the rest of America…. The war on abortion will not be won or lost in the political arena. The sooner the pro-life movement comes to terms with this reality, the better and more effective it will be in promoting a culture of life that all Americans can embrace.” At first glance his argument seems plausible, even preferable.

However, as a student of history, one can recall such statements made regarding slavery. “The war on slavery will not be won or lost in the political arena. The sooner the abolitionist’s movement comes to terms with this reality, the better and more effective it will be in promoting a culture of life that all Americans can embrace ….” Need I go on in drawing the analogy to the Civil Rights struggle?

The words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. come to mind: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Was not Martin Luther King, Jr.’s movement rooted in religion? Do we ever accuse Martin Luther King, Jr. of imposing his religious beliefs upon an unwilling southern majority when he demanded that the black Americans be treated the same as white Americans? And all because of his belief that the dignity of human beings was rooted in the fact that human beings were created in the image of God and by Christ becoming fully human therefore all human beings are brothers and sisters in the Lord?

If the pro-life cause were to suddenly compromise on its principles to placate the pro-choice side, and have peace in our time, then should we have also compromised on slavery? Compromised on Nazism? Or compromised on Civil Rights?

Doesn’t the Declaration of Independence impose a religious belief? “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The Englishman William Wilberforce was opposed for his stance on slavery, yet time has proven he was a political prophet. No one in their right – or left – mind would attempt to justify slavery today, yet pro-slavery forces argued that Wilberforce was forcing his religious conviction on the populace.

Was Mr. Lincoln a Republican who “forced” his religious and political beliefs on an entire nation when he issued his Emancipation Proclamation? He violated the pro-choice southerners and their choice to own slaves.

Did the Allies force their religious beliefs on the Nazis when they liberated the death camps, i.e., “Relocation Centers”, like Auschwitz and then arrested the Germans who ran the camps and tried them at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity?
What of Bishop Desmund Tutu who strove against Apartheid utilizing his Christian religious tradition? And did not the Quakers and other Christians who vigorously opposed slavery do so from a religious argument based in the belief of innate human dignity?

Ought we now – in the name of tolerance – accommodate for other opinions as varied as strident pro-slavery or pro-Nazi sentiments? Ought we have compromised on slavery, civil rights, or even Nazism? Perhaps the allies should have allowed the concentration camps that were in German hands to remain open?

Would we – could we “tolerate” religious beliefs that demanded human sacrifice every New Year’s Eve to ensure that the year would be prosperous? If we tried to prevent this, would their argument not be stated thus: Who are you to impose your morality on us? Why are you imposing your religious beliefs (that life is inviolable) on us? This is an extreme example, but the case has been made that this type of argument leads to relativism.

Medical science has already shown conclusively that human life begins at conception. Yet the real debate now is whether nascent human life constitutes human personhood. Until our laws catch up with the scientific, biological reality that human life – indeed human personhood – begins at conception, the dilemma of abortion will forever remain with us.

No one makes a gut wrenching decision over removing an appendix or a tumor. An unborn child is its own person. If it were not, then none of us would be persons; we would still be parts of our mother's bodies. The right to life does not depend upon someone giving someone the right. It is an inborn, innate given at human conception.

Without any fixed morality for social and political existence, truth becomes a relative term and the dignity of the human person and the right to life and liberty becomes subject to political power or dominant philosophical thought. Again, if there is no truth to the innate dignity of human beings, then the concept of human dignity has collapsed.

Unfortunately, slavery was justified by denying the human personhood of human beings of African descent. The Nazis justified the death camps and anti-Semitism by claiming that the Jewish humans were not fully human.

This proclivity to deny human dignity is made especially clear now in the popular movement to create human beings in laboratories in order to harvest their valuable biological material, i.e., stem cells, in hopes of treating diseases afflicting human persons. The argument goes that they – the unborn, the embryonic humans – are not human persons, but merely potential humans, and as such they have no rights. The unborn are treated as disposable biological material with the argument that they are not fully human because they are not human persons. The objective truth of the humanity of human beings has been displaced with subjective norms. Yet if there is no objective truth regarding the humanity of human beings, then the objective truth of the dignity of each and every human person is lost.

A society that affirms the dignity of the person but then also permits fetal experimentation, abortion, or euthanasia is denying equality before the law. Showing respect for human life may also require the exercise of conscientious objection not only in relation to war, but also to procured fetal experimentation and abortion. Medical research, which has great potential for human progress and service, must also respect the integrity of the human person from the first moment of conception.

Therefore all human experimentation or research that disregards the inviolable dignity of the human being must be avoided. When a law denies an entire category of human beings the status as human persons, the very foundations of law and civilization are weakened. It is impossible to advance the cause of human dignity without recognizing and defending the right to life. All other rights are founded on and flow from this most basic of rights.

Democracy is false when it fails to recognize and affirm every person’s dignity and his or her subsequent rights. Violence toward others and self is not life giving, but death dealing. Nothing but an unconditional respect for human life can be the foundation of a truly renewed culture and civilization.

Of course, abortion is a mere symptom of a deeper moral problem, but many Americans have already turned against the slaughter of abortion. A century from now, the pro-choice opponents of those who hold that preborn human life is human life will be making a new accusation: They will blame the Church for abortion (just like some blame the church for slavery and the Nazi Holocaust). Unfortunately, they will have a point. They will name the prominent Catholics and Christians who supported abortion in our day and hence judge the Church by their actions - or inaction.

HOLY EASTER

Some of you have lost loved ones, indeed parents, brothers, or sisters, and even children.

We can then imagine the disciples utter horror of seeing Jesus arrested, scourged, crowned with thorns, stripped of his garments and dignity, and then to be crucified.

When Jesus was crucified he was harshly treated and, as the scripture reads, “…so marred was his look beyond that of resembling a human being; he was pierced for our offenses…like a lamb led to the slaughter…and who would have thought any more of his destiny?”

Dead men don’t rise. The Romans had death down to an art. They knew how to kill people. Crucifixion was the most dishonorable death imaginable. Crucifixion was typically carried out by a team of five men: a chief centurion and four soldiers. The victim was usually stripped naked and the soldiers would gamble for the condemned man’s garments.

Crucifixion was considered a most shameful and degrading way to die. The Jewish historian Josephus writes that the Roman soldiers would amuse themselves by crucifying criminals in different positions as they tormented the condemned.

The goal of Roman crucifixion was not simply to kill the criminal, but also to mutilate and dishonor the body of the condemned. In the ancient world, an honorable death required a proper burial.

So now you can understand why the Resurrection of Jesus was so unexpected. He was dead. Very dead. His Mother Mary, Saint John, and St. Mary Magdalene were at the foot of the cross when he died. It wasn’t a pretty sight. And yet now the disciples were witnessing the risen Christ Jesus in their midst. It just didn’t add up.


And today we hear about Mary Magdalene weeping at the tomb. What a saint! Faithful to the end while the other disciples – except John – ran for cover.

She was weeping because she thought Jesus' body had been removed. Mary has not yet imagined the possibility of the resurrection. She assumed that Jesus' body had been stolen. This shows that resurrection faith did not come easily to Mary or Peter or the other disciples.

Their reaction both to Jesus' death and to the empty tomb was despair. Even when she saw Jesus she did not recognize him. She was not expecting to see him alive. What is clouding our eyes from recognizing Christ in our midst?

In Mary’s case her tears were no doubt blurring her vision. Have you ever cried so much that you can’t see straight? Mary was in that state. Her Lord was missing!
Even when we don't recognize or see Jesus, our lives can be changed. When Jesus called Mary by name she recognized him.

The early church turned the world upside down because they were overjoyed by the resurrection. They believed because they experienced the Risen Lord.

The resurrection is not just a matter of formal doctrine or church teaching that you have to believe in to be a good Christian. It is what makes us Christians. We don’t believe in the resurrection because it’s in the gospels; we believe in the gospels because of the Resurrection of Christ!

There are many people who call themselves Christian yet they merely go through the motions. Others have been honest enough to admit that they no longer believe.

But let’s examine the details again before we ignore the empty tomb.

If the Resurrection of Jesus was just a story made up by the early church, then why did so many of the members of the church endure horrible martyrdoms for a lie?

And if the church members were telling a lie, then they certainly wouldn’t have had written that women were the first witnesses to the Resurrection! In all the gospel accounts the women were the first to witness the resurrected Christ.

Furthermore, why would hundreds of followers who had scattered in fear and trembling after Jesus’ torturous death begin to boldly confess and profess their faith in a Risen Jesus and call Him Lord and Savior, risking all their worldly possessions as well as their very lives?

Many early Christians willingly accepted death rather than deny their faith in Jesus Christ!

Can you say Simon–Peter? What gave this scaredy-cat, sword-bearing, rooster-fearing fisherman the guts to stand up in front of thousands and proclaim the Kingdom of Christ?! Luke tells us it was the Holy Spirit and as a result 3000 people were baptized on the day of Pentecost – 50 days after Easter!

Jesus is as controversial today as He was when He walked the earth. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome. I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and your souls will find rest, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt 11 28-30). With such a statement, then either Jesus was an egomaniac or God in the flesh. As for those who claim Jesus was merely a good moral teacher or only a social reformer, His own words betray Him. He did not come simply to teach. He came to save that which was lost.

Just think about it: A carpenter from nowhere Nazareth becomes a Jewish rabbi and preacher – then gets in trouble with the Romans – nothing new there – and he is crucified. So what? Sometimes hundreds were crucified under Roman rule. Why should one more cross be any different than the rest? Yet the story goes out that this Nazarene has resurrected bodily from his tomb three days after his burial. And this good news turned an empire upside down and eventually the Emperor Constantine would accept baptism and outlaw crucifixion and legalize Christianity. That in itself is astounding! Some would say that this is further evidence that he is indeed Risen from the dead.


Jesus' command to Mary Magdalene teaches us that the resurrection is not simply the end of sorrow and separation but the beginning of ministry. She is to go to the disciples and proclaim the resurrection to them. Mary is the Apostle to the Apostles, for the word apostle means: “one who is sent.”

Mary is told not to cling to Jesus because the Risen Lord is not a possession for us to grasp only for ourselves, but a message, a person, to be shared with the world.
Neither is His Resurrection something nice or just for us to recall once a year along with the Easter bunny so we can think happy thoughts as we eat dyed and boiled eggs, munch on those godforsaken yellow marshmallow peeps, and bite off the heads of chocolate rabbits.

No, Jesus’ Resurrection is much more than an Easter basket full of sugar and plastic eggs. Jesus is the real deal. All that He has, he shares with us: His Father, His mother, His Holy Spirit, His body & blood, soul, and divinity, and even His risen life. And we can begin to share in this Life now, experiencing his life in our souls and bodies. We have access to it in many ways, but especially in the Word of God and in the Eucharist.

So, if the tomb is empty, everything is changed. Today has to be different from last Friday. Either he is raised from the dead or his tattered corpse rotted away on some Palestinian dung heap where it was pecked at by vultures and wolves.

We must be willing to show people the way of justice even if this means we risk losing friends and so-called friends, even if it means we may be labeled out of touch with modernity or opposing what is popular or expedient or politically correct.

Standing up for what is true and right will often cost us something – it may even cost us our lives – yet we know that death does not have the final word.

We know that even the worst suffering imaginable can bring forth life in abundance! Our response to our own crucifixions and deaths is to have a deepened trust in God; for just as Christ was raised by the glory of the Father, so too will we be raised to new life on the resurrection of the Last Day.

So, if the tomb is empty, everything is changed. Either He has been raised from the dead and everything he taught is true, or else we have duped by one of the most elaborate hoaxes ever to deceive humanity! There really is no middle way. Either Jesus is who He claimed to be, namely the Lord, or else he was a liar or a lunatic.
The tomb was empty, that was for certain. But how was it emptied?

Our faith tells us that He is Risen. Jesus’ first command to us in the gospel of John was: “Come and see.”

May we have the courage to follow him so that we might truly believe that He is our Lord.