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.