The readings from today’s Sunday mass made numerous references to trees, seeds, and other natural phenomena. In the gospel, Jesus spoke in parables about the kingdom of heaven being like the seeds planted by a farmer, which mysteriously grow because God imbues them with life, taking them from seeds to full grown plants and trees. One of the ways we can know something about God is to consider how He has revealed Himself in nature. Tiny seeds miraculously grow at amazing speed into everything from plants and animals to complex human beings, capable of thought, self-awareness and love. Yet we all started as the seed of a man that conjugated with the ovum of a woman in a tiny cell that grows into the complex creature we have become, in just a few short months.
Could anyone deny that a bean sprout is a bean, before it emerges above the surface of the earth? Yet people contend that embryos are not humans before they’re born, violently denying their right to life. God reveals many great truths in nature. He reveals the awesome complexity of nature in our genetic structure, and the expanse of His power in the workings of gravity that set and maintains the entire universe in motion. He even reveals His own nature in the way He created humanity as male and female, giving men and women different but complementary characteristics. Only in the unity of a man and woman does new creation take place and the miracle of new life becomes possible through the power of God. This truth about our bodies reveals how much God loves us, wanting us and our children to be raised in love and security that only a man and woman living together permanently, can give their beloved children.
Sadly, we seem to have forgotten many of these truths, and allowed ourselves to be duped into believing that humanity in and of itself has possession of the truth. Many treat the concept of God is an archaic vestige of the pre-scientific age, while ignoring the truth God has revealed in our very bodies, and in the consequences of our sinful actions. Perhaps we do this to rationalize our selfish motives, like the false sense of freedom that pervades our society. Many of our elite intellectuals proselytize by appealing to our selfish desires. Their concept of freedom is one of license to do whatever we please, as long as no one gets hurt. But in doing so, they tend to overlook the damage done to ourselves and others in the process. Pornography is portrayed as a victimless crime, but consider how many women are victimized by men who believe they are entitled to sexual gratification on demand. Femininity is suppressed by birth control drugs that render women incapable of carrying a pregnancy, often by thinning out the lining of the uterus so that it cannot sustain a fertilized egg, and therefore spontaneously aborting it.
God, Our Father has imbued us with amazing gifts, including our fertility. Like human fathers who love their children, God wants what’s best for us. Consequently, He has revealed the beauty, intimacy, and potential for human love, in our very bodies. He has given men physical and emotional characteristics that make them well-suited to protect and provide for their families, along with hormones that strengthen him for those tasks. Conversely, he has equipped mothers to nurture, protect, and love their children, sacrificing their very bodies for the lives of their children. Furthermore, He has created in man and woman the potential for marital love that unites them in a permanent bond to ensure the safety and security of the children they beget, and for our own happiness and fulfillment.
When our society ignores the truth of our bodies as revealed in our masculinity and femininity, it tampers with natural law and the consequences are dire. When sex is treated as a plaything and everyone is expected to engage in sex as soon as their teenage hormones kick in, all sorts of ill-effects follow, as evidenced by the explosion of STDs over the past generation, not least of which are AIDS and cancer-causing HPV. The number of unwanted pregnancies goes up and so does the abortion rate, when science is applied to the regulation of birth, rather than the virtues of self-control and sexual continence. To cover all this up and make is seem normal, we redefine language to anesthetize us from responsibility. Birth control is not recognized as interference with a woman’s natural body chemistry, instead, the carcinogens that make up birth control pills are now referred to by our government as “essential women’s health care services.” The war on breast cancer seldom acknowledges the direct link between years of taking birth control pills (class 4 carcinogens) before pregnancy, nor the well-documented link between abortion and breast cancer. Those who advocate for HPV vaccine fail to mention that HPV is virtually unknown among monogamous couples, or that the vaccine only protects against two or three of the twelve strains of HPV, giving girls a false sense of protection from multiple sex partners.
This week begins the “Fortnight for Freedom” called for by our Catholic bishops. They will be making a concerted effort to educate Catholics about the attack on religious freedom, currently underway. Educational sessions, letters, and homilies will be presented in churches all across the country, encouraging Catholics to pray for our “first freedom, ” the freedom to practice our religion without interference from the government. All Catholics will be encouraged to pray for our country, speak out publicly, and participate in special liturgical services in which we will unite in prayer for our nation. Our president and his appointees are insisting that the Catholic Church and all Christians participate in the promotion and provision of birth control, as well as chemical abortions (morning after pill) and surgical sterilization, despite our religious belief that these are immoral actions which bear immense consequences. Nearly 50 Catholic institutions have filed lawsuits, asserting that this violation of the first amendment is unconstitutional.
The fortnight for freedom will run 14 days, from June 21st to the 4th of July. Not coincidentally, June 21st is the vigil of the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, two men who died at the hands of their government, rather than violate their religious belief about the sanctity of marriage. This is a national campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty. Those who support the government’s actions will treat this as a tempest in a teapot and the actions of a few religious fanatics, while trying to portray the church as opposed to women’s rights. They will also claim that the church wants to withhold necessary health care services from women. Ironically, many of the Catholic institutions affected by he new government mandate are hospitals and social service agencies that care for women and children, provide counseling for abused women, and homes for unwanted babies. On the 4th of July, church bells across the country will ring out at noon, calling for real freedom; not the false freedom of license that brings with it the slavery of addiction and sin, but the real freedom to know the truth. Real freedom is the freedom to worship God and to adhere to His truth as revealed in His Fatherhood and in our nature. Real freedom is the freedom to practice the virtues Our Father has taught us, not the false freedom of sin which enslaves us in vices.
This Father’s Day, let’s thank God for being the author of life, the creator of all that exists, and for loving us as only a parent can love: unconditionally and mercifully. Let’s also celebrate the nature of our masculinity and femininity in all its beauty, with the potential for new life and the rewards of self-sacrificial love. Those who seek to redefine marriage, deny the truth of our bodies, and the sacredness of marital love. If our government can dictate what we must condone, despite our religious beliefs, birth control and abortion are just the beginning of the war on truth and virtue. I urge you to participate in the fortnight for freedom, not only through prayer, but by leaning more about these issues and their importance to our nation and our democracy.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Corpus Christi, Covenants, and the Bill of Rights
When God liberated the Israelites from Egypt, He established a solemn covenant with the people, referred to as the Sinai covenant. Moses presided over the event as recounted in today’s first reading from Exodus 24:3-8. Moses set up an altar, slaughtered a number of young bulls, sprinkled the blood on the altar and on the people saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of his.”
The Israelites entered into a sacred covenant, promising to follow God’s laws, as summarized in the 10 Commandments. In return, God promised to lead and protect the Israelites, giving them good health and prosperity. Of course we know what happened. The people were not able to keep their promise, soon fell into the worship of idols, and broke the covenant. Their nation became fractured and was soon defeated by numerous other tribes.
Much later, Jesus would establish a new and eternal (unbreakable) covenant, offering His own Body and Blood in order to free us from the slavery of sin. He very clearly explained what He was doing at the Last Supper when He said, “This is My Blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” (Mark 14:24). Luke recounts it in these words: “This is My Blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 26:28). This covenant is eternal and cannot be broken because Jesus entered into it with God the Father, offering His Body and Blood on behalf of all humanity. Jesus did not replace God’s law, but perfected it by living it, explaining it, and demonstrating how we too can love and forgive as God does. Because of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and as part of this new covenant, Jesus is present in this world under the appearance of bread and wine in the Eucharist, and He lives within us in the Holy Spirit of God, making us the “Body of Christ” on earth. Today marks the feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for "Body of Christ") which has been celebrated since the 13th century, commemorating Jesus' saving action of offering His Body and Blood for our salvation in the New Covenant sealed in His Blood.
For our part, we are asked not only to believe, but to make the effort to know, love, and serve God. He has given us guidelines for life and for happiness, and through this new and eternal covenant, has assured us that He will never leave us alone. Of course, we can choose to ignore God’s law and to disregard His presence in our lives, but we do so at our own peril.
Coincidentally, our nation celebrated the 223rd anniversary of the introduction of the Bill of Rights, last Friday. It came about because a number of the founding fathers, including Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and others were concerned that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government. Jefferson encouraged James Madison to draft the bill of rights, which he proposed to Congress on June 8, 1789 with the following comments:
“I believe that the great mass of the people who opposed [the Constitution], disliked it because it did not contain effectual provision against encroachments on particular rights…
The amendments which have occurred to me, proper to be recommended by congress to the state legislatures are these:
First. That there be prefixed to the constitution a declaration That all power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from the people.
That government is instituted, and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right of acquiring and using property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
Our founding fathers realized that unless every citizen was free to practice the faith of their choosing, the colonies would never be united because factional disputes, oppression, and rebellion would be commonplace. At the same time, they were acutely aware that democracy would only work if the people had faith in God and were encouraged to adhere to the Christian moral code. Rather than establish a secular democracy, they conceived a nation built on the principles defined in the Bill of Rights, starting with the first freedom, the freedom to practice religion unfettered by government dictates. The First Amendment is meant to protect each person from government interference in the practice of their faith; it is not meant to protect the government from religion as so many now incorrectly surmise. The founding fathers encouraged religious belief and saw it as essential to the health of the nation. They envisioned a people motivated by their religious beliefs to seek the common good based on Judeo-Christian morality. They did NOT intend to exclude religion from the public square, and spoke openly and passionately about the importance of the moral underpinnings of our democracy.
In his farewell speech, George Washington warned against the dangers of secularism and cited the importance of religion and morality as indispensable to the success of our fledgling nation. Washington saw religion as the foundation of public morality and cautioned that morality could not be sustained without religion which he viewed as the source of personal and public happiness as well as the common good. He said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
Our Constitution and Bill of Rights form the basis of a covenant between government and the people. When we ignore these guidelines, we put our freedom and our democracy at risk, and that’s exactly what’s going on right now in the Executive and Judicial branches of our government. Our president has directed the Justice Department to not only ignore a duly passed law of congress, but to begin efforts at repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. In complete disregard for the first amendment, he has also directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to mandate that every employer provide for chemical abortions, surgical sterilization, and all forms of birth control in their health plans, even though this violates the religious beliefs of many employers. At the same time, federal judges routinely overturn democratic elections when they dislike the outcome of a majority vote, trumping the will of the people and imposing their personal agendas. These are violations of the constitution and the bill of rights, and represent a break in the covenant between government and the people whose freedoms are being violated.
Forty-three Catholic institutions (so far) have filed lawsuits in federal court to overturn the HHS mandate, and they are supported by thousands more Catholic employers as well as the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. Later this month the Catholic Church in America will take unprecedented action and unite in prayer for our country, calling for respect for the constitution and the first amendment. This “fortnight of prayer” for our country commences June 21st. Let’s hope that the Body of Christ, His Church on earth, will make known its conviction that the US Constitution is a covenant we respect and support because it recognizes that all of our rights come from God, not government, and that government has no business abridging our God-given liberty to practice our faith without interference from the abuse of political power.
The Israelites entered into a sacred covenant, promising to follow God’s laws, as summarized in the 10 Commandments. In return, God promised to lead and protect the Israelites, giving them good health and prosperity. Of course we know what happened. The people were not able to keep their promise, soon fell into the worship of idols, and broke the covenant. Their nation became fractured and was soon defeated by numerous other tribes.
Much later, Jesus would establish a new and eternal (unbreakable) covenant, offering His own Body and Blood in order to free us from the slavery of sin. He very clearly explained what He was doing at the Last Supper when He said, “This is My Blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” (Mark 14:24). Luke recounts it in these words: “This is My Blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 26:28). This covenant is eternal and cannot be broken because Jesus entered into it with God the Father, offering His Body and Blood on behalf of all humanity. Jesus did not replace God’s law, but perfected it by living it, explaining it, and demonstrating how we too can love and forgive as God does. Because of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and as part of this new covenant, Jesus is present in this world under the appearance of bread and wine in the Eucharist, and He lives within us in the Holy Spirit of God, making us the “Body of Christ” on earth. Today marks the feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for "Body of Christ") which has been celebrated since the 13th century, commemorating Jesus' saving action of offering His Body and Blood for our salvation in the New Covenant sealed in His Blood.
For our part, we are asked not only to believe, but to make the effort to know, love, and serve God. He has given us guidelines for life and for happiness, and through this new and eternal covenant, has assured us that He will never leave us alone. Of course, we can choose to ignore God’s law and to disregard His presence in our lives, but we do so at our own peril.
Coincidentally, our nation celebrated the 223rd anniversary of the introduction of the Bill of Rights, last Friday. It came about because a number of the founding fathers, including Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and others were concerned that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government. Jefferson encouraged James Madison to draft the bill of rights, which he proposed to Congress on June 8, 1789 with the following comments:
The amendments which have occurred to me, proper to be recommended by congress to the state legislatures are these:
First. That there be prefixed to the constitution a declaration That all power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from the people.
That government is instituted, and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right of acquiring and using property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
Our founding fathers realized that unless every citizen was free to practice the faith of their choosing, the colonies would never be united because factional disputes, oppression, and rebellion would be commonplace. At the same time, they were acutely aware that democracy would only work if the people had faith in God and were encouraged to adhere to the Christian moral code. Rather than establish a secular democracy, they conceived a nation built on the principles defined in the Bill of Rights, starting with the first freedom, the freedom to practice religion unfettered by government dictates. The First Amendment is meant to protect each person from government interference in the practice of their faith; it is not meant to protect the government from religion as so many now incorrectly surmise. The founding fathers encouraged religious belief and saw it as essential to the health of the nation. They envisioned a people motivated by their religious beliefs to seek the common good based on Judeo-Christian morality. They did NOT intend to exclude religion from the public square, and spoke openly and passionately about the importance of the moral underpinnings of our democracy.
In his farewell speech, George Washington warned against the dangers of secularism and cited the importance of religion and morality as indispensable to the success of our fledgling nation. Washington saw religion as the foundation of public morality and cautioned that morality could not be sustained without religion which he viewed as the source of personal and public happiness as well as the common good. He said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
Our Constitution and Bill of Rights form the basis of a covenant between government and the people. When we ignore these guidelines, we put our freedom and our democracy at risk, and that’s exactly what’s going on right now in the Executive and Judicial branches of our government. Our president has directed the Justice Department to not only ignore a duly passed law of congress, but to begin efforts at repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. In complete disregard for the first amendment, he has also directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to mandate that every employer provide for chemical abortions, surgical sterilization, and all forms of birth control in their health plans, even though this violates the religious beliefs of many employers. At the same time, federal judges routinely overturn democratic elections when they dislike the outcome of a majority vote, trumping the will of the people and imposing their personal agendas. These are violations of the constitution and the bill of rights, and represent a break in the covenant between government and the people whose freedoms are being violated.
Forty-three Catholic institutions (so far) have filed lawsuits in federal court to overturn the HHS mandate, and they are supported by thousands more Catholic employers as well as the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. Later this month the Catholic Church in America will take unprecedented action and unite in prayer for our country, calling for respect for the constitution and the first amendment. This “fortnight of prayer” for our country commences June 21st. Let’s hope that the Body of Christ, His Church on earth, will make known its conviction that the US Constitution is a covenant we respect and support because it recognizes that all of our rights come from God, not government, and that government has no business abridging our God-given liberty to practice our faith without interference from the abuse of political power.
Monday, June 4, 2012
The Trinity Revealed
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Jesus Himself revealed the existence of the Holy Trinity when He acknowledged that He is the Son of God, and in His explanation that the Holy Spirit would come to all His followers, giving them the gifts of wisdom, understanding and counsel so they would be able to understand and embrace divine revelation. Jesus also commanded His disciples to,
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19)
This notion of three Persons in One God is a mystery and paradox that cannot be fully understood by the human mind, and yet we have been created in this very image of a Triune God. In Genesis 1:26, God refers to Himself in the plural, “Let us create man in our image, after our likeness.” The very next verse explains, “God created man in his image; in the divine image He crated him; male and female he created them.” In order to make sense of this, we need to realize that God is a community of persons. God the Father makes an eternal gift of Himself to the Son. Jesus reveals this in Matthew 3:17 where He describes Himself as the “beloved of the Father.” In return, Jesus makes Himself a gift back to the Father. The love of the Father and the Son is so profound that this love is another person: the Holy Spirit.
When we understand that the very nature of God is love, we come to grasp what it means to have been created in this image. We are called to love as God loves, in a communion of persons. The most perfect way of living this ideal is in marriage: male and female, making a complete gift of ourselves to one another in a committed, eternal relationship. Out of this relationship and self-giving love, new life is born. In this sense, marriage is the sacred relationship that enables us to live and love as God lives and loves. In marriage we are privileged to participate in the inner life of the Holy Trinity. Marriage and the intimacy it brings to the couple is a visible sign of the invisible reality of the Holy Trinity. Hence marriage is a Sacrament, a visible sign of the love of God.
This is why the Church points out that a marriage not open to new life, falls short of the sacred image God intends for us. The truth of our bodies reveals that only a man and a women can fulfill this sacred vocation. John Paul the Great explains all this in his seminal work, now referred to as “Theology of the Body.” In that remarkable work, which took him 5 years, and contains nearly 600 pages of anthropology, theology and logic, he instructs us to embrace our sexuality as God‘s greatest gift. His common sense logic is irrefutable. Consider just a few examples of John Paul’s wisdom:
“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself; his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”
Within the context of a sacramental marriage, our sexuality takes on its fullest meaning. Masculinity and femininity are essential to the bond that creates a family, each spouse bringing their gender-based gifts to one another, forming a bond of permanence and security in which new life is both created and nurtured. This requires more than just the natural instincts of our bodies, it requires the spiritual dimensions of our hearts and minds to love one another as God loves us, and to create a proper environment for raising children in love. Children deprived of one parent or the other are likely to struggle to understand the dynamics of life and of love. Marriage and parenting are not without their challenges and struggles, and it is for this reason, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are essential to family life. Inviting God into our marriage, strengthens our resolve to make a gift of ourselves to our spouse and children. The grace of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit make us better spouses and parents. Consider what St. Paul said about the fruits of the Holy Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and chastity.” (Galatians 5:22). These are the characteristics of a loving parent and spouse. We need the grace (presence) of God in our lives, to attain this ideal and to love one another as God loves us.
In a world where the only measure of morality with regard to sex, is whether or not it was consensual, the image of God is lost and forgotten. Many years ago, I saw a terrible movie called The Libertine. I remember it because it was so hard to watch the wretchedness of the leading character. He was a young man whose entire life was based on radical freedom to do anything he wanted, to anyone, at any time, if it suited his purposes. He victimized women, he lied, cheated, manipulated and eventually destroyed every relationship he had, including his family, while running through his inherited fortune. As disturbing as the movie was, it revealed the truth about the consequences of a life lived devoid of morality. Our sexuality has been hijacked by lies and false hopes of happiness rooted not in the sanctity of our gender, but in the pursuit of sexual license and the freedom to do whatever we please with our sexual appetites. Sex has not only been separated from the responsibility for children, through birth control, homosexuality, and abortion, it has been separated from the permanent bonds it was intended to engender in the committed love of spouses.
Lust is no longer considered a vice, but a plaything, and sexual continence is not viewed as a virtue, but a weakness. Passing through the checkout isle in a grocery store yesterday, I saw three magazines each containing articles described on the cover page, touting new sexual techniques to achieve maximum pleasure. Nobody seems to take note of the crushing emotional effects of broken intimate relationships, or the tidal wave of sexually transmitted disease scourging our nation, or the continual stream of unwanted pregnancies and ensuing chemical and surgical abortions. Nobody reports on the significant increase in breast and cervical cancer related to the carcinogens in birth control pills, or the increased risk of cancer caused by abortion. In a committed, monogamous marriage, these risks are negligible. STDs are non-existent among spouses whose only sexual encounters are with each other.
Loving one another as God loves us is live-giving, fulfilling, and gives meaning to our lives precisely because we are not merely thinking animals, but children of God, created in His image, capable of lives of meaning and purpose. The true path to happiness is to discover the secret of love, and that is that “God is love” and we are created to love as He loves. This is the path of faith and hope that is unattainable on our own. We need God because we were are His children, created in His image, in the image of a community of love.
Jesus Himself revealed the existence of the Holy Trinity when He acknowledged that He is the Son of God, and in His explanation that the Holy Spirit would come to all His followers, giving them the gifts of wisdom, understanding and counsel so they would be able to understand and embrace divine revelation. Jesus also commanded His disciples to,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19)
This notion of three Persons in One God is a mystery and paradox that cannot be fully understood by the human mind, and yet we have been created in this very image of a Triune God. In Genesis 1:26, God refers to Himself in the plural, “Let us create man in our image, after our likeness.” The very next verse explains, “God created man in his image; in the divine image He crated him; male and female he created them.” In order to make sense of this, we need to realize that God is a community of persons. God the Father makes an eternal gift of Himself to the Son. Jesus reveals this in Matthew 3:17 where He describes Himself as the “beloved of the Father.” In return, Jesus makes Himself a gift back to the Father. The love of the Father and the Son is so profound that this love is another person: the Holy Spirit.
When we understand that the very nature of God is love, we come to grasp what it means to have been created in this image. We are called to love as God loves, in a communion of persons. The most perfect way of living this ideal is in marriage: male and female, making a complete gift of ourselves to one another in a committed, eternal relationship. Out of this relationship and self-giving love, new life is born. In this sense, marriage is the sacred relationship that enables us to live and love as God lives and loves. In marriage we are privileged to participate in the inner life of the Holy Trinity. Marriage and the intimacy it brings to the couple is a visible sign of the invisible reality of the Holy Trinity. Hence marriage is a Sacrament, a visible sign of the love of God.
This is why the Church points out that a marriage not open to new life, falls short of the sacred image God intends for us. The truth of our bodies reveals that only a man and a women can fulfill this sacred vocation. John Paul the Great explains all this in his seminal work, now referred to as “Theology of the Body.” In that remarkable work, which took him 5 years, and contains nearly 600 pages of anthropology, theology and logic, he instructs us to embrace our sexuality as God‘s greatest gift. His common sense logic is irrefutable. Consider just a few examples of John Paul’s wisdom:
“Life teaches us, in effect, that love -- married love -- is the foundation stone of all life.”
“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself; his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”
Within the context of a sacramental marriage, our sexuality takes on its fullest meaning. Masculinity and femininity are essential to the bond that creates a family, each spouse bringing their gender-based gifts to one another, forming a bond of permanence and security in which new life is both created and nurtured. This requires more than just the natural instincts of our bodies, it requires the spiritual dimensions of our hearts and minds to love one another as God loves us, and to create a proper environment for raising children in love. Children deprived of one parent or the other are likely to struggle to understand the dynamics of life and of love. Marriage and parenting are not without their challenges and struggles, and it is for this reason, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are essential to family life. Inviting God into our marriage, strengthens our resolve to make a gift of ourselves to our spouse and children. The grace of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit make us better spouses and parents. Consider what St. Paul said about the fruits of the Holy Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and chastity.” (Galatians 5:22). These are the characteristics of a loving parent and spouse. We need the grace (presence) of God in our lives, to attain this ideal and to love one another as God loves us.
In a world where the only measure of morality with regard to sex, is whether or not it was consensual, the image of God is lost and forgotten. Many years ago, I saw a terrible movie called The Libertine. I remember it because it was so hard to watch the wretchedness of the leading character. He was a young man whose entire life was based on radical freedom to do anything he wanted, to anyone, at any time, if it suited his purposes. He victimized women, he lied, cheated, manipulated and eventually destroyed every relationship he had, including his family, while running through his inherited fortune. As disturbing as the movie was, it revealed the truth about the consequences of a life lived devoid of morality. Our sexuality has been hijacked by lies and false hopes of happiness rooted not in the sanctity of our gender, but in the pursuit of sexual license and the freedom to do whatever we please with our sexual appetites. Sex has not only been separated from the responsibility for children, through birth control, homosexuality, and abortion, it has been separated from the permanent bonds it was intended to engender in the committed love of spouses.
Lust is no longer considered a vice, but a plaything, and sexual continence is not viewed as a virtue, but a weakness. Passing through the checkout isle in a grocery store yesterday, I saw three magazines each containing articles described on the cover page, touting new sexual techniques to achieve maximum pleasure. Nobody seems to take note of the crushing emotional effects of broken intimate relationships, or the tidal wave of sexually transmitted disease scourging our nation, or the continual stream of unwanted pregnancies and ensuing chemical and surgical abortions. Nobody reports on the significant increase in breast and cervical cancer related to the carcinogens in birth control pills, or the increased risk of cancer caused by abortion. In a committed, monogamous marriage, these risks are negligible. STDs are non-existent among spouses whose only sexual encounters are with each other.
Loving one another as God loves us is live-giving, fulfilling, and gives meaning to our lives precisely because we are not merely thinking animals, but children of God, created in His image, capable of lives of meaning and purpose. The true path to happiness is to discover the secret of love, and that is that “God is love” and we are created to love as He loves. This is the path of faith and hope that is unattainable on our own. We need God because we were are His children, created in His image, in the image of a community of love.
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