The Truth of Our Bodies

Today’s readings are all about marriage and children, starting with the Genesis creation account which declares,

"This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called 'woman, ' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.”

In the gospel, when Jesus is asked whether or not divorce is lawful, He replies with unequivocal support for the sanctity of marriage:

“But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate."

Our culture has forgotten, or chooses to ignore the fact, that marriage is more than just a legal contract, it is a sacred institution conceived by God and revealed in the truth of our bodies.  When God created us male and female, He did so out of love for us, and to ensure the continuation of humanity.  In creating us male and female, God made men and women different but complementary, as revealed in our physical differences.  He designed our bodies to be united in love (one flesh) and for that unity to be the genesis of new life, conceived in love and commitment.  These two aspects of physical love, unity and procreation, have long been upheld by the church as the central components of marriage and the marriage act.  Men and women are intended to love each other as they love themselves, as St. Paul points out in his epistle to the Ephesians (5:28).  Paul also points out that Christ’s love for the church is like that of a husband for his wife.  In Theology of the Body, John Paul II explains that married love is participation in the inner life of the Trinity because it is self-giving and reflects the unity and life-giving nature of the Trinity.  For thousands of years people seem to have intuited this, and therefore the marriage of a man and a woman has been held sacrosanct by societies from every culture in every age… until now. 

Over the past 50 years, marriage has been in decline, reduced to little more than a social contract with even less legal protection than business contracts which cannot be broken without cause.  Divorce statistics are dismal and disheartening.  Divorce has been the source of untold emotional damage to children whose families were destroyed by the notion of disposable spouses, and perhaps an impediment to adult children of divorce’s ability to make commitments to marriage.

So after thousands of years, what has been the cause of the demise of marriage?  The answer can also be found in today’s gospel: 

"Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

When it became technically possible to separate the marriage act from the possibility of procreation, God’s plan for humanity was ripped asunder.  With no responsibility for conceiving children, sexual intercourse moved from an act of self-giving and commitment, to one of self-satisfaction and pleasure.  Even Sigmund Freud recognized that this was a recipe for disaster.  Sex without commitment to love and responsibility is not unitive, it is selfish.  As a secular culture, separated from God’s truth about our bodies, we now put the individual first in all matters.  As such, we no longer view others in terms of our responsibility and commitment to them, but rather, we see the world and other people as sources of pleasure and personal fulfillment.  No wonder then that when we tire of someone, we cast them off, just as we would any other impediment to our perceived happiness.

We all know that the bodies of men and women are different in many ways.  Besides the differences in appearance, our bodies produce different hormones, and elicit different emotions to situations.  Testosterone is present in both men and women, and among other things, it gives us our sex drive.  Men have 20 times more testosterone than women, accounting for their perpetual eagerness for sex.  However, marriage brings with it a taming influence over men’s instinctual nature.  The love of a woman gives a man the determination to exercise self-control over hormonal urges, out of love and respect for his wife, and responsibility to his family.  But when the wife’s fertility has been suppressed, and responsibility for procreation removed, the woman can become an object for man’s pleasure rather than respected for her personal dignity.   This is why Pope Paul VI prophetically warned that contraception would inevitably lead to more divorce and the decline of marriage.

Of course there are many other consequences of contraception, including the well documented fact that it also results in more and more abortions because of contraception failure and misuse.  In Africa, a new study demonstrates the causal relationship between contraception and the increase in AIDS which is rampant in the heterosexual population.  Contraception and its effects (abortion and divorce) also account for declining birthrates worldwide, which is playing havoc with the world economy as countries struggle with deficits caused by entitlement programs growing at a much faster rate than the working population.

Despite all this, our government continues its attack on marriage, attempting to redefine it as merely a social contract between any two (or more?) people in love, regardless of whether they are capable of starting a family and raising children successfully.  The government also insists that every employer provide free contraception, chemical abortion, and surgical sterilization to their employees, even if it violates the moral conscience of the employer.  Under the new law, church-owned hospitals and social service agencies must provide these services, even going so far as to accuse those who object, of waging a war on women.

God’s truth is that we have been created in His image, male and female, with the potential to love as He loves, giving ourselves to one another in permanent, loving, and committed relationships which respect the inherent dignity of our spouses and our offspring from the moment of conception.  Our secular culture is blind to this truth and is paying the price in countless ways.   If our society is to survive, we need to rediscover this truth and realize that marriage and family are the basis of society, and neither can be sacrificed at the altar of radical individualism.  Pray for marriages, for respect for every human life, and for our country to wake up to “The Truth” as revealed in our bodies, our marriages, and our families.

 

The Book of Job and the 1%

This week the daily first reading is from the book of Job.  It is the story of Job, a wealthy herdsman with a large family, until God allowed Satan to take everything away from him, including his health.  Despite the disastrous events in his life, Job refused to curse God for the calamities he suffered, even though the prevailing belief at the time was that setbacks like his were the result of God’s punishment.  Job was clearly among the 1%.  He was wealthy by the standards of his time, the patriarch of a large family, and the employer of many who relied on him for their income and sustenance.  He was ridiculed by his friends for his refusal to blame God for his misfortune, but Job never gave in to despair.  Losing everything, including his family and friends, Job adamantly remained faithful and respectful of God, much to Satan’s disappointment.  Although the book of Job is not considered historical in nature, it is instructive in many ways.  Job’s losses impacted his family and no doubt, the local economy.  Nobody was better off when Job lost everything, in fact, many probably shared in his suffering.

With the US economy struggling to recover, and unemployment rampant, a lot of criticism has been directed at the wealthy, or the “1%,” as if redistributing their wealth would solve all our economic problems.  A year ago the Occupy Wall Street crowd declared themselves the 99% and railed against the unfairness of the 1% growing richer, while the ranks of the unemployed swelled.  Media rhetoric has further confused the issue by giving so much attention to the false impression that if the wealthy would just pay their “fair share” of taxes, employment would rise, poverty would decline, and all would be well with the world.  In fact, redistributing wealth would do none of these things. 

The top 1% of income earners are comprised of approximately 7 million American families.  They pay an average federal income tax rate of 29.5% which amounts to 40% of all taxes paid.  Included in these numbers are much smaller number of “super-rich” who pay less tax because they take their income as long term capital gains and dividends which are taxed at 15%.  These super-rich make up less than 10% of the top 1% and are comprised mainly of highly paid CEOs, sports figures, Hollywood stars, and those who inherited wealth.   Even if they were taxed to the hilt, it wouldn’t make a noticeable dent in the federal deficit.  Taking them out of the equation, 90% of the 1% are those who earn more than $250,000 a year and pay federal taxes greater than 30% of their income.  Add in payroll, state, and local income taxes, and most are being taxed at 50% or more of their income.  This group is made up doctors, lawyers, small business owners, senior managers, IT professionals, and those who have special skills.  This is a hard-working group of people who have earned their income by getting a good education, learning special skills, working long hours, and investing hard-earned capital to start businesses.  Raising the taxes on this group will do little to reduce the national debt, but it will dampen the prospect of creating new jobs because it reduces the amount of money people spend or invest in growing their businesses. 

If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, the 1% whose income is taxed as ordinary income, rather than long term gains, will see their federal income tax go up about 3%.  In addition, their payroll taxes will increase by about $2200, and the tax provisions of Obamacare will increase their Medicare payroll taxes an additional .9%.  For a person making $300,000 this amounts to about $1200 a month.  That’s $14,400 a year in additional federal taxes which will not be spent in the economy or invested in growing businesses.  History shows that every time federal rates are lowered, federal revenue INCREASES.  This paradox is just simple economics.  When people pay less tax, they have more money to spend and invest.  When people spend more money, it passes through five or six different hands in the course of a year (the “multiplier” effect).  That $14,400 can add $70,000 to the economy in the course of a year.    Increased consumer spending creates more income, more jobs, and with it, more tax dollars.  This upward spiral grows the Gross National Product and along with it, tax receipts for state and federal government.  President Reagan lowered taxes three times in eight years and each time, federal tax revenues increased because GNP increased.  This resulted in a robust healthy economy that yielded more than 12 years of continuous economic growth.  Despite this success, his detractors derided “Reagonomics” as faulty “trickle-down” economics.  President Clinton rode the wave of this success through his entire presidency, but Democrats still refuse to acknowledge Reagan’s contribution.

The real reason for our high unemployment has to do with education, job training, burdensome regulations, and the uncertain economy.  Consider this: The unemployment rate for people with college degrees is 4.9% and only 2.9% for people with advanced degrees.  For those with high school diplomas, the rate is 9.4% and for those without, 14%.   According to Fortune magazine, there are 3 million job openings that remain unfilled because companies cannot find people with adequate job skills.  Despite all this, we allow people to remain on unemployment compensation, without requiring them to participate in job training programs.  The real reason for high unemployment is that unskilled labor is cheaper in foreign countries than it is in the US, and there are not enough people with the right job skills to fill job existing job openings.  In addition, uncertainty about taxes and the economy prevents employers from investing in their companies.  The vast majority of American firms are profitable, but a great many are sitting on cash rather than grow their business because they are so uncertain about the future.  Government regulation has expanded exponentially over the past four years adding complexity, bureaucracy, and tax burdens to the cost of doing business.

At the end of the Book of Job, God restores Job’s good fortune and he rebuilds his life.  Punishing those who have worked hard to achieve success, damages our economy by stifling growth.  We most definitely need to solve the problem of our national debt, but the answer lies in reducing spending and stimulating economic growth, not by taxing people who are the most vibrant participants in the economy and thereby suppressing consumer spending and investments in the private sector.