People as blessings

As Fr. Joel commented below, there is a very good article in America magazine on the pro-life question, written by a former atheist who experienced a conversion. They were, in fact, many small conversions but the complete effect was a total change of direction.

Here are some excerpts:
Growing up in secular middle-class America, I understood sex as something disconnected from the idea of creating life. During my entire childhood I did not know anyone who had a baby sibling; and to the extent that neighborhood parents ever talked about pregnancy, it was to say they were glad they were “done.”
All my life, the message I had heard loud and clear was that sex was for pleasure and bonding, that its potential for creating life was purely tangential, almost to the point of being forgotten.
My pro-choice views (and I imagine those of many others) were motivated by loving concern: I just did not want women to have to suffer, to have to devalue themselves by dealing with unwanted pregnancies. Since it was an inherent part of my worldview that everyone except people with “hang-ups” eventually has sex, and that sex is, under normal circumstances, only about the relationship between the two people involved, I was lured into one of the oldest, biggest, most tempting lies in human history: the enemy is not human. Babies had become the enemy because of their tendency to pop up and ruin everything; and just as societies are tempted to dehumanize their fellow human beings on the other side of the line in wartime, so had I, and we as a society, dehumanized what we saw as the enemy of sex.
The Catholic view, I discovered, is that babies are blessings and that while it is fine to attempt to avoid pregnancy for serious reasons, if we go so far as to adopt a “contraceptive mentality”—feeling entitled to the pleasure of sex while loathing (and perhaps trying to forget all about) its life-giving properties—we not only fail to respect this most sacred of acts, but we begin to see new life as the enemy.
Given my background, the Catholic idea that we are always to treat the sexual act with awe and respect, so much so that we should simply abstain if we are opposed to its life-giving potential, was a revolutionary message. Being able to consider honestly when life begins, to open my heart and mind to the wonder and dignity of even the tiniest of my fellow human beings, was not fully possible for me until I understood the nature of the act that creates these little lives in the first place.

This, in a nut shell, is the best explanation I have ever seen for why the "contraceptive mentality" is so reasonable, so pervasive, and ultimately so destructive. It begins with a reasonable desire to enjoy the good things that life has to offer, but quickly becomes distorted to the point of being willing to sacrifice the lives and humanity of others.
A man this morning was offering compliments that a priest had mentioned a Papal Encyclical in his homily, and went on to talk about the social teaching of the Church, which seems to be ignored even by fervently pro-life Catholics. The same mechanism described above is involved in social issues as well. It goes like this: we are glad to be able to enjoy goods at low prices and begin to see it almost as a right, and anyone who threatens that by condemning unfair labor practices becomes seen as “the enemy.” From the perspective of the dignity of the human person, we see that really the social teachings of the Church and the moral teachings are the same thing. We must strive to live in a way that respects our own dignity and the dignity of each person.
A second thought which inspired me in this article is that we never dehumanize the enemy. It is easy to see the “pro-aborts” as deluded, unfeeling monsters, or the “buy-it-cheap” people us greedy zombie lemmings, but both these thoughts are sins against the dignity of the enemy. As Jesus says “Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you.” It is easy to see a beautiful baby as a blessing, but can we see the people around us with the same love?

Homily for July 27

TPA17 - Batman, Birth Control, and the Pearl of Great Price
I gave myself the challenge of preaching a homily on the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae without using the word 'contraception'. Church teaching is about how to see the world as it really is. The Teachings of the Church are a treasure, most especially the teachings about marriage and sexuality. We have the power to create human life. There is a big difference between using that power with care and prudence, and trying to rob the sexual act of its creative power so that we can use it however we want. The treasure of Church teaching is based on one fundamental truth: You are the pearl of great price. God sold everything and sacrificed his Son because you are worth it. Let us pray to be able to see ourselves as we really are.
[Readings][iTunes]

Here is a terrific article that inspired me: A Sexual Revolution

Click here to read Humanae Vitae.

Homily for July 20

TPA16 - Do you renounce Satan?
God allows the good seed and the weeds to grow together, but the weeds will be burned in the end. Which one do we want to be? Which one do we actually live as?
[Readings][iTunes]

Homily for July 13

TPA15 - Making Ourselves Good Ground
If the Word of God is so powerful, why do so few people believe? Jesus' parable today is about this very question. The Word of God is like seed scattered on the ground. We need to be open to that seed, protect the growing seed, and uproot the other things growing in our hearts.
[Readings][iTunes]

World's Fastest Shrine

Since I travel often for ministry work, I needed a saint to help me get from place to place. St. Christopher is the patron of travelers, but I chose instead a lesser known saint, St. James the Greater. He was an Apostle of Jesus who was martyred in Jerusalem, and whose body was taken to northwestern Spain where a cathedral was built in his honor. Known as Santiago de Compostela, this town became one of the major pilgrim destinations for penitents and pilgrims from all of Europe during the middle ages. For this reason, St. James is often pictured with the staff, hat, and heavy cloak of a pilgrim.


Taking a statue that I had bought in the town, I enshrined it in the back seat of my car, making my car the world's fastest shrine to St. James. I try to fill my travels with the spirit of pilgrimage from one place to another, motivated by devotion and filled with prayer. Some would say that the saint should be on the dashboard, where I can see him, but I figure we are all traveling to the Heavenly Kingdom so he should be facing forward too.

Homily: Theology of the Body

I don't have a homily this weekend so I thought I would reflect on something I have studied recently. A few weeks ago I was privileged to attend a week-long seminar on the Theology of the Body (see TOBinstitute.org). What precisely is the Theology of the Body? It is a name given to a series of 129 talks which Pope John Paul II delivered in his first years as Pope. His reflections center around two questions:
1. What does it mean to be human?
2. How do I have to live so as to have a life of lasting happiness and joy?

I will attempt to summarize here in a few short paragraphs what the Pope's teaching was all about. The talks are very Biblical; he uses more than 1,000 scripture passages in the source of the talks. Genesis says that man is made in the "image" and "likeness" of God (Gen. 1:26). That means that not just our intellect and will are in God's image, but our bodies as well. The human being is a kind of Sacrament. We all know that a Sacrament is a visible sign of God's invisible activity. So Baptism is the outward sign of a person being washed on the inside. That means that the human being is an outward and visible sign of God's activity, like a book about God. By understanding ourselves more, we can come to understand God better. By understanding God better, we also understand ourselves better.

The most fundamental fact of our human existence is our having been created male and female. We might be tempted to think that men and women are the same except for the "accident" of being male and female. However, John Paul II argues that this is no accident. Being male and female allows us to exist in a mutual self-giving relationship. That means that in virtue of our bodies, male and female are equipped to form a kind of small community. Man and woman individually are images of God, but man and woman together in marriage are a new and even more powerful image of God -- God as Father, Son and Spirit, a community. Where are we going with this? All kinds of places. Here are just a sampling of some of the ideas that the Theology of the Body communicates:
~ Human beings were made for community.
~ We must receive the other person as a gift from God.
~ We reach our fulfillment only through a sincere gift of ourselves.
~ The body is inherently good, part of the creation which God found 'very good'.
~ The way to holiness is not by denying the body, but by following our most deep and holy desire.
~ Human sexuality is good and sacred. The reason the Church has so many rules regarding sexual activity is not because sex is bad but because sex is holy.
Now stick that in your Puritan pipe and smoke it.

Theology of the Body is not a new kind of theology. It is rather a new reflection on the most ancient of our theological beliefs, the Creation of the world and the Incarnation of God's Word as Flesh. In order to communicate who God really is, Jesus become a man! Find a book on the Theology of the Body and read it; you will rediscover for the first time what it means to be a Christian.--Fr.Joel

One Year Anniversary

(Fr.Joel) Monday, June 30, I celebrated one year of priesthood. On that day last year, Saturday at 10:00am, Bishop David Zubik ordained three men to the priesthood (myself, Fr. Benjamin, Fr. Andy). I was filled with mixed emotions: excitement at the festivities of the day, relief for finally arriving at priesthood, and a little worry about my first blessings and first Mass. It was an amazing day. I remember having loads of energy; I think it was a mixture of adrenaline and the Holy Spirit. Many people were moved by the ordination and the Mass of Thanksgiving. I was amazed at how naturally everything came to me.

Then my parish assignment started. It was my first time doing a funeral Mass, and I had never met the deceased. It was my first time doing a wedding, and I only met the bride and groom at the rehearsal. It was my first time doing everything and I had no idea what I was doing. That is what much of my first year felt like. Along the way I learned a great deal. I learned that the less sleep I get, the worse things tend to get. I also learned about the importance of getting exercise and eating a balanced diet. I cannot say I actually eat a balanced diet or get enough sleep, but at least I know how important they are.

Overall my first year has been much more difficult than I expected, but also unexpectedly rewarding. I have received only a little feedback but it has been very positive. Somehow, through the mystery of ordination and the Sacraments, people can sometimes see the presence of God through me. Maybe I made a comforting comment or said a kind word and it touched them. It is good to be a minister of encouragement. Fortunately, I am not the only channel of God’s peace. Through the people I minister to I can sometimes see the presence of God. What are my favorite things so far? I love being able to give people Absolution for their sins. I love offering the Mass. And I really enjoy when I get up to the front of Church, looking back and seeing all the smiling faces. “The Lord be with you,” I say. The reply comes back, “And also with you.” And between the two of us, Christ is present, and the world is transformed.