Category Archives: What’s Wrong with the World?

What’s Wrong with the World?

Respect for Life

04 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in Pro-Life, Sermons, What's Wrong with the World?

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Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

The USCCB has designated today as ‘Respect Life Sunday’. To many people this may sound synonymous with bringing an end to abortion. But while ending legalized abortion is a major component of respecting life that is not all there is to it. Now it seems obvious to me that such a designation on this Sunday would not be necessary if our country did in fact respect life. But it does not. Quite the opposite is the actual case for what our country believes about human life. There are numerous words that we could use to describe how our society, especially those in power, view human life – they disparage it, denigrate it, despise and disregard it, and have the utmost contempt for it. In short, our society dis-respects life. And we all, to a greater or lesser extent, are guilty of this disrespect for human life. But in order to understand just how deep this disrespect for life goes in our society, we must first understand what it means to respect life. I would define the respect for life as having a due regard for the rights and dignity of all mankind, whether they be born or unborn. Therefore, if we have racist tendencies, thinking we are better than someone else on the basis of skin color, then we are showing disrespect for that person’s life. And while not everyone is a racist, I think this example can help us to see how each of us, even if we are pro-life, is susceptible to a disrespect for the life of others. Now I don’t want to sound as though I am trying to belittle the concern we should have about abortion – I am not. Instead, my purpose is to try to show that there is an underlying problem within our society that leads to at least a tacit acceptance of abortion by many people in our country.

It seems to me that everyone expects to be given the respect their life demands and so you would think that they would desire this same respect for all other human life. But we know that this is not the case and, therefore, must ask why? Why do people not respect the life of their fellow man? There are several things that lead to a disrespect for life. One major component in our lack of respect is a lack of thankfulness for the life we have been given by God. People often take life for granted; in other words, we do not question how we came to be. And because we gloss over that question of how we came to be, we never acknowledge that we did not create ourselves. But in our lives, we must pause and consider the world around us. Where did the universe and everything in it come from? Do we really believe that it is all just chance? Absolutely not! We believe that it is God who created everything, including ourselves, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of this fact and be thankful. It is this lack of thankfulness that exists in our society, though, that is linked to another reason for its disrespect for life, which is this: we do not consider what the ultimate meaning of our life is.

Going back to the first point, if we never consider where it is that we came from, then we will never ask the next logical question: where are we going? Our Lord, and His Church, teaches us that our end, our telos, the reason for our existence is to be with God forever. Out of His infinite love God created mankind in order to be with Him in an everlasting communion of love. And even after mankind sinned, God sent His Son as the expiation for our sins in order to reestablish that communion of love with us. But if we take our life for granted then we will never see beyond this world and into the next. In fact, it would be impossible to do so. And if this world is all we can see then we will start to believe what the world and the devil would have us believe about our life – that we are just a collection of atoms with no ultimate purpose or meaning.

And yet, everyone desires for their life to mean something. And so we try to fill that void by getting as much as we can for ourselves. After all, if we are just a collection of atoms with nothing special about us, then that means that there is nothing special about anyone else. And then we come to view others as obstacles that are just in the way of obtaining the things we think we have a right to possess. And it is this selfishness that has led us to where we are now – over 40 years of sacrificing the unborn so that we can get the things that we want! In regards to this plague of abortion many people have been shocked in the last several months by the undercover videos about Planned Parenthood selling body parts. But I ask this – why are we shocked?! The purpose of that organization has always been to make money from the destruction of human life so why are we surprised that they have found new ways to make money off of it? The real thing that we should be surprised at is the fact that legalized abortion still exists! But we have become numb to the fact that abortion exists and therefore tacitly accept it. But we can do this no longer.

In order to overcome this we must come to an understanding that we all, born and unborn, are much more than just the sum of our parts. If we were the sum of our parts, then we could take the appropriate ratios of elements that make up the human body, put it in a blender and push puree – and voila you would have a new human. But that is not possible because there is a source of life underlying all those parts. Consider, for instance, what happens when someone dies – the body starts to decay. And the reason that the body starts to decay is because there is no longer any unifying principle within the body. In other words, the life has gone out of the body. And this unifying principle that brings life to the body is what we call the soul.

When a man and woman come together in bringing forth new life, they contribute the genetic material necessary for a new, unique person. But that which gives life to the new body – the soul – comes from God. Therefore, if on this Sunday we want to begin to truly respect life – that being to give our due regard for the rights and dignity of all people both born and unborn – then we must remember where life comes from and be thankful.

 

Salt and Society

17 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by in Morality, Salvation, What's Wrong with the World?

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You are the salt of the earth. What do these words imply? Did the disciples restore what had already turned rotten? Not at all. Salt cannot help what is already corrupted. That is not what they did. But what had first been renewed and freed from corruption and then turned over to them, they salted and preserved in the newness the Lord had bestowed. It took the power of Christ to free men from the corruption caused by sin; it was the task of the apostles through strenuous labour to keep that corruption from returning.

From a homily on Matthew by St. John Chrysostom

In this section from yesterday’s Office of Readings, St. Chrysostom is quoting our Lord from the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?” (Matthew 5:13, RSV-CE). One interpretation I have heard of this passage is that it means we, as Christians, are supposed to add ‘flavor’ to the society in which we live. While this seems like a questionable understanding to me, there may be some truth in it. But there is a problem – if we are flavoring a society that is already rotten then it is not going to taste any better. Therefore, it seems to me that St. Chrysostom’s interpretation – of salt as a preservative of that which is good – is a better understanding of what our Lord is trying to convey.

Before we continue we must deal with an obvious question: is our society rotten? There are many who would say that we, as a nation, are actually on the right path because now there is marriage ‘equality’, gender sensitiveness (evidenced by the acceptance of Bruce Jenner’s ‘new identity’), and other re-interpretations of moral norms. Those in favor of these things would tell us that truth is what we make it: the sky is blue only because I call it blue and I can just as easily call it orange. But just calling it by a different name does not make it so and common sense, which is not so common anymore, tells us that this is true. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I think that a majority of people still have common sense. And if they were asked to take a critical look at the moral degradation of our society over the last 50 years or so, then they would have to agree that our society has indeed become rotten – in the least, parts of it have become so.

So, what do we do? Is there a way to fix our society as a whole? I suppose if we had an absolute monarchy with a moral and just leader then he could do away with all laws that are immoral and unjust. But we would still be faced with the problem of what to do with those people in our society who still believe in that which is immoral and unjust because they think it is a good thing: such as abortion or ‘marriage equality’. The number of people who truly believe in these things as good is considerable and just enacting proper laws is not going to change their mind. And so we would still be left with a cancer in our society – a cancer of a wrong understanding of mankind. And unless the cancer is cured our society will never be healthy. Instead, the cancer will continue to bring with it a certain amount rottenness to the whole of our society.

This brings us back to the quote from St. Chrysostom. Salt does not turn that which is rotten into something edible. And in a similar manner, just having Christians in a rotten society does not make that society healthy. But there is something, or rather Someone, who can bring healing to the individual members of our society: Jesus Christ. Notice that I say ‘individuals’. Even if we conformed all laws in this country to the teachings of the Church it would not be the same as bringing all the members of our society to Christ. Usually, when something is rotten there is nothing that can be done except to throw it away. But because of what Jesus Christ has done for us even the most rotten person can be renewed and made whole. And it is one of the duties of those who believe to tell the non-believer about Christ and to try to help them see the Truth.

Order in the court?

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Pro-Life, What's Wrong with the World?

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Yesterday I had the displeasure of experiencing jury duty. This is only the second time I have ever had to do so in my life. But both of these experiences were for the same court in Texas. I won’t say whether it was state or federal court because I am not sure how much of that I can disclose. The first experience in that court was relatively painless compared to yesterday’s experience, which took a ridiculous amount of time. On the other hand, both experiences in that court have things that are causing me to write this post today.

First of all, when you arrive you find that there is no free parking. Granted, they do have a reduced rate for jurors ($2 instead of $10) but they are causing a MAJOR disruption in the lives of law-abiding citizens and, as such, they should provide a close, safe, and free place to park.

Next, when you get inside they immediately start to herd you like cattle that is waiting to get branded. Then they usher you into a large room with inadequate seating with about 1,000 other people. After everyone is seated some government employee addresses the crowd telling us basically to expect to be mistreated because there is going to be lots of waiting on our part. Then one of the judges comes in to address the crowd telling us how good it is that we showed up for jury duty. (Like we had a choice.) She also said that if we weren’t there then the judicial system would come to a halt. So basically we were not being viewed as individuals and law-abiding citizens but instead as tools that the governments uses to keep the judicial system moving.

Then they start calling the jurors to various courts and more cattle herding ensues. After this we were escorted in numerical order (like all other aspects of the government we were known by the number that was given to us and not by our names). My group of jurors – 65 in total – was dropped off at the door of the courtroom and told “Stay, that’s a good juror” like we were the family dog.

What happened next you ask? Nothing for the next two hours. They made 65 law-abiding citizens stand out in the hallway with only a few benches on which to sit for two whole hours without ever uttering a word to us. In that time no one ever came out to tell us how much longer it would be, what we were supposed to do or anything else.

The rest of the day was spent with the judge and lawyers talking to us and asking us questions. Oh yeah, and a lot more waiting out in the ‘hallway of no seating’.

Now let me explain why I have written this synopsis of my day’s events – it is to ask a question. Why is it that those who are summoned to jury duty are treated in such a manner? The ones on trial are treated better than those on the jury. Even convicted criminals are treated better; after all, there are laws in place to make sure convicts are at least treated like human beings. But in my experience there is no such concern for those law-abiding citizens that are summoned to jury duty. We (those 64 people along with myself out in that hallway) were treated really no better than animals. In fact, I have seen many family pets that are treated far better than we were yesterday. And why is that? I think it is because this country, especially its government, has forgotten that the people of this country, and in fact all people, are created in the image and likeness of God. And due to that fact, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and not as tools to get a job done. Yet that is how we were treated. But really it makes sense that the government views us in such a way. After all, it is the same government that doesn’t even recognize us as human at the moment of our conception.

And the winner is…

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by in Catholic Obligations, Politically Incorrect, Pro-Life, Repentance, Salvation, What's Wrong with the World?

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The title to today's post will make sense in a moment. First, please start with the quotes below. (Let it be known that I in no way support any of the following quotes.

We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members. Continue reading →

The Truth is…Way Out There?

28 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in C.S. Lewis, Truth, What's Wrong with the World?

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Perhaps some of you remember the TV show The X Files. To the best of my recollection, my wife and I watched every episode. (At this time – the beginning of our marriage – we were both still looking for the Truth, which we finally found, in its fullness, within the Catholic Church.) Some of the episodes were about paranormal activity but mostly it was about aliens. The above picture is a screen capture of the opening sequence of each episode. “The Truth Is Out There” it says, as if the Truth is not already known and must be discovered. It has been many years since I watched The X Files but it seems to me that in their search for aliens they were really searching for the meaning of life. They could not find meaning in their earthly existence (the main character was not religious and to a certain extent scoffed at religion) so they looked to the stars for other intelligent beings that might be able to tell them the Truth they sought.

Now I bring this up because of something I came across on a website which is, interestingly enough, called The Truth. Perhaps they chose this title because – like the main character in The X Files – they are looking for meaning in their lives. (I have not done much research into the site so I cannot say what they are referring to when they say Truth. At first glance what it seems they might mean is simply the uncovering of conspiracies – which doesn't really comprise Truth in the big scheme of things.)

So why comment on something from this site? And how does it pertain to this talk of aliens, which I started with? Because this website has posted something in regards to the Vatican and extraterrestrial life. The full article can be found here.

Our immediate reaction might be to roll our eyes at such a suggestion but we should not be too quick to dismiss this idea. After all, the universe is a big place. A Jesuit priest, Fr. Funes, from the Vatican Observatory said the following in the article.

Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God. This is not in contrast with our faith because we can’t put limits on God’s creative freedom. Why can’t we speak of a ‘brother extraterrestrial’? It would still be part of creation.

There is not really a problem with this thought. There is not even a problem with the possibility they suggest later – that another intelligent being in the universe may not be ‘fallen’ like mankind. In other words, they may still may be in a state of grace: what the Church calls Original Justice. This is really not a new thought at all. C.S. Lewis, in his Space Triology that was first published 75 years ago, brought up these ideas and dealt with them very well.

But, there is a problem with the conclusions that the website tries to jump to in regards to their misunderstanding of what some of the Vatican Obseratory priests say and also the website's apparent misunderstanding of Truth.

…there are some high profile Vatican astronomers that seem quite confident that ‘something’ is out there. In fact, one has stated that once it is revealed, ‘everything we think we know’ may have to ‘be thrown out’.

If something or someone else is “out there”, then there is really nothing to worry about at all. The Truth revealed to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God through whom everything was created, cannot be contradicted by anything – not even aliens from another planet. Whatever an alien would have to tell us may lead us to a deeper understanding of what our Lord has taught us but it would never be able to abolish it.

So yes, the Truth is “out there” because God, who is Truth, is transcendent and therefore beyond our complete comprehension. But He is also immanent and we can truly know that which He has revealed to us through His Son. Remember the teaching of Christ, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31b-32). There is no new or unknown Truth that can contradict this – not even from outer space.

 

Excommunication – A Form of Brotherly Love?

30 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Politically Incorrect, Pro-Life, Thought for the Day, What's Wrong with the World?

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Last Sunday, the day of the Pro-Life Rally in downtown San Antonio, I had intended on writing a post in regards to abortion. Part of my idea for that post would have included this question: why aren't pro-death 'Catholic' politicians excommunicated? But since I have a very limited understanding of excommunication I have decided to study about it before writing about it.

I already had a book on the subject: Excommunication and the Catholic Church by Edward Peters. I have only just started it but have already found something worth sharing. In the foreword to the book, written by Bishop Thomas Paprocki, he states the following:

…a censure such as excommunication is not at all vindictive, but may be seen as a sort of 'tough love,' just as loving parents discipline their children to teach them the difference between right and wrong. In fact, it would be most unloving to allow someone to persist in their wrongdoing without pointing out the fault.

That last sentence is especially important. If we knowingly allow someone we love to go on sinning without saying anything then we become at least partly responsible for their sin. And that is not even to mention the fact that their continual unrepentant sin could very well be endangering their eternal soul. Therefore it makes me wonder, if excommunication is done for the good of the sinner, why is it not applied to unrepentant pro-death Catholic politicians? And this question is especially valid in light of the fact that we are not talking about the soul of just one person (the politician) but also of countless other people that they influence with their immoral, unethical and even, dare I say, satanic beliefs. Perhaps in the remainder of the book I will find the answer.

Unbiased Media?

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Politically Incorrect, Pro-Life, What's Wrong with the World?

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If you watched the Sunday edition of the 10:00 p.m. news on Channel 4 in San Antonio you would have seen a piece done by the news crew in the picture above. They were there covering the Pro-Life Rally at Milam Park in downtown San Antonio. In the very short of on-air coverage they gave equal amounts of time to both the Pro-Life and pro-death sides. The woman you see above was at the event and being interviewed because she likes to kill babies. (Well I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything of that sort, but I have to assume she likes the killing of babies because she was holding up signs with the usual pro-death slogans – pro-choice, pro-women's rights, etc.) I suppose they were giving equal time to both sides in order to 'be fair' – to be unbiased. Although, I cannot figure out why it was so important to interview this woman during the actual event. Also (if I remember correctly) they kept filming even during a prayer.

My question is this: what was so important about what this woman had to say that couldn't have waited until after the event was over to interview her? After all this was a Pro-Life and not a pro-death event. More importantly, why were they even interviewing her at all?!?! What you cannot see in this picture is that there were at least 300 Pro-Lifers at the event (and that is a very conservative estimate because I really think it was close to double that amount). Is it really unbiased to give this crazed, blood-hungry, pro-death woman equal air time when the group she represented at the event was outnumbered by 100 to 1? (Just to explain: there are five people in the picture but two of them are interviewers.)