Today I thought to give three sermons for the price of one. It is just that a couple of things that are current—in my mind and heart now— might not be if I string it out over three weeks.
First of all— About a week ago I read an article that noted that after the Supreme Court in Mexico gave permission for abortions to be performed in Mexico City, fourteen states in the rest of Mexico immediately passed constitutional amendments to forbid abortion within their borders. Do you know how pleased we should be when we hear that? That means that the forces of death can be beat—that there is hope for life and it comes from traditional Catholic countries.
Last week, I received a phone call from an outraged woman who was upset that our pro-life people had been out in front of the church two Sundays ago passing out literature about the proposed health-care bill.
The caller was angry because she thought I was involving St. Odilo Parish in politics by allowing these handouts to be offered.
Well, I explained that once people walk outside the doors of this church, and are on the sidewalk, they are back in the good ol’ U.S.A. And they can pass out anything that our guaranteed free speech allows them to.
The First Amendment hasn’t yet been repealed—so actually I don’t have permission to give to anyone— that belongs to our citizens by right.
I admit that the flyers were political. That is why I wouldn’t allow them to be passed out in Church. They accused the President’s Healthcare Proposal of introducing all kinds of evil things into this country— including the total government takeover of our medical system. Now that is certainly a political opinion which reasonable persons can reasonably debate. That is why it was also reasonable not to pass it out in church.
However, if the flyers had only mentioned the two most immoral particulars of the Healthcare Bill—that we taxpayers would have to pay for abortions and mercy-killing, where we would allow the government to sit in judgment over who shall live and who shall die—who shall receive medical care and who shall be denied it—well, believe me—that would be right in the bulletin before you could say “Jack Robinson”.
Those are not political issues—they are moral issues. They are issues concerning life and death and whether or not it is evil to allow certain classes of citizens to be murdered. In other words, can we allow children to be killed by their parents? Or parents to be killed by their children? These are questions about morality—not politics.
The Church must speak out about such issues—and condemn that which is evil—even if the one who proposes it is Barack Obama. Just because politicians are now talking about these horrifying things, does not mean we Catholics are therefore forbidden to speak out. In fact we have an obligation to do so. It would be immoral for the Church to remain silent about such enormities.
Canonize Ted?
Our second homily is related on a number of levels to the first—and it has to do with the recent funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy. I am not judging the condition of his soul at the time of his death. That is between him and Our Lord. I am however questioning the prudence of church officials in allowing what amounted to be a canonization of a man who spent the last forty years promoting everything the Church condemns: particularly the killing of children in the womb—and homosexual marriage.If the Archbishop of Boston had simply allowed a funeral—without the fanfare—without the hoopla— without speaker after speaker praising Kennedy as if he had been some sort of hero of the Faith, it would not have been such a problem. What happened— to the scandal of many—was that Christ, whose sacrifice can forgive anyone’s sins—including Senator Kennedy’s— was sent to the back pew. Jesus became the excuse to talk about Senator Kennedy. The Mass became the context to celebrate the life of one man.
I have the feeling that if they could have accomplished this funeral without the Mass—without having to refer so often to Jesus and the saints and angels—they would have preferred to do it that way. Why let Jesus get in the way of talking about a real saint? The Church has long resisted the introduction of eulogies into the funeral mass, because then the funeral becomes about us. The Mass is about the wonderful things God has done for us—not about how wonderful we are—particularly if we weren’t that wonderful.
We pray for the dead at a funeral Mass not to celebrate their lives—for what is that in this sin-sick world? We pray for the dead at a funeral Mass to provide them with the most powerful prayer possible—the Sacrifice of Jesus— as we assist them from Purgatory to heaven.
It was disturbing to many people that the Son of God was being used as a foil to divinize someone so human. Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Mass He gave us, deserve much better than what they got in Boston last week.
Holy Communion and Kneeling
Our third homily is about Holy Communion. No, we are not changing our beliefs. Holy Communion is still the true Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Holy Communion looks like bread and It tastes like bread—but It is not. It is Jesus—whole and entire—the Son of God, who came down from heaven to die for us and to offer Himself as our Sacrifice and nourishment.
Holy Communion is the Bread of the Angels—even though only we humans are privileged to consume It.
Holy Communion, of course, is why St. Odilo and all our churches have been built—to provide an appropriately beautiful place in which to meet Our Lord and receive Him into ourselves.
Everything we see and everything we do in Church tries to remind us of how good, how Beautiful, and how Mighty is our God—that He would come to us who are so small and weak. Our attitude and our posture all through Mass—and most importantly at Holy Communion— must be one of utter humility and respect.
I don’t know if you have seen it in the newspapers but lately our Holy Father the Pope has been encouraging us to kneel for Holy Communion and receive Our Lord on the Tongue.
In fact the Pope does not distribute Communion in any other manner than to a kneeling communicant on the tongue. Yes it is our option to stand and receive Jesus in the hand, but the Pope wants to remind us that the more effective and spiritual and traditional way of receiving Holy Communion is on our knees and on our tongue.
We warmly invite you to think about it, pray about it and resolve one day—if not today--then someday--try receiving Holy Communion at the Communion rail, on your knees and on your tongue. Just once.
I have the feeling you might say to yourself, “Well, that actually helped me understand what this is all about—in fact, it helped me pray!” And prayer, the lifting up of the mind and heart to God, of course, is the point of it all.
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