Be a Real "JE-sus DI-sciple" (JE-DI) in the Story of the Tribe of God (Homily #148 for Catholic Schools Week)

"JE-DI" Meme Created by Deacon Dennis Purificacion & Kids 

(1/28/2019)

(1st weekend homily without using my prepared text)

12pm School Mass

(video)

(1st weekend homily without using my prepared text)
12pm School Mass
(audio only)

(1st weekend homily without using my prepared text)
10am

8am (using prepared text)

As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week on this 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, I am reminded of when I started as a 23-year-old rookie teacher at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School here in Vallejo.  Most if not all my students were overall good teenagers.  Some of my students called me not just Mr. P. or Master P but Jedi Master P because some of them knew I liked Star Wars. 

In the famous pop culture Star Wars story, there is a character named C-3P0.  And in Return of the Jedi, C-3P0 tells a story to these little cute teddy bear species called Ewoks.  (As robot, C3P0 is a robot fluent in over 6 million forms of communication.)  At the end of the story, C3P0 says, “Wonderful, we are now part of the tribe.”  To be part of a tribe, we must remember the tribe’s story.

This leads to the 3 main parts of this homily. 

First, remember the story of salvation, so that we know where we’re going, Heaven. 

Second, Jesus fulfills the story. 

Third, you and I are part of this story of the Tribe of God. 

(#1) So let’s go to the first part:  Remember the story.  In salvation history, God creates an ordered world.  Then our First Parents disobeyed God, and nobody could go to Heaven anymore.  (Angels.)  But out of his love, God did not abandon us and promised to send a Savior in Gen. 3:16.  To prepare us for the Savior, God called Noah to build an Ark of the covenant (a foreshadow of baptism).  From Noah came the Patriarch Abraham along with the priest-king Melchizedek who gave bread and wine to Abraham and Sarah.  This foreshadows the Eucharist.  From them God called their descendants Isaac and then Jacob who changed his name to Israel.  The children of Israel then came to Egypt through the Patriarch Joseph, and when the Israelites became too numerous, they were enslaved by the Pharaoh.  Moses then brought God’s people out of slavery and recall this story in the Jewish Passover bread.  Then God gave the 10 Commandments and the Manna-Bread from Heaven which they kept in the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle.  David and Solomon then built the 1^st Temple in which they placed the Ark of the Covenant.  Inside this Ark was the Bread from Heaven kept in the Tabernacle.  Then the Prophets came to remind the people to follow God’s teachings, but the people rejected the Prophets, so God destroyed the Temple and the people went into Babylonian captivity.  After their Exile, the Israelites rebuilt the 2^nd Temple and the Roman Empire conquered Israel.  In occupied Israel, God chose Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant in which the New and Everlasting Covenant took flesh.  All this story was to prepare for our salvation.  This is the beginning of our story.

(#2) The second main point is that Christ is the center and fulfills the story.  (There is a saying that the Old Testament foreshadows the New Testament, and the New Testament fulfills to Old Testament.)  In today’s Gospel from Luke Chapter 1, St. Luke tells us that he too is writing a story, “I too have decided, after investigating everything anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you.”  It is the greatest love story ever told!  St. Luke’s Gospel describes how God became one of us in a Baby in Bethlehem and at age 12 was found in the Temple.  We celebrated this at Advent and Christmas.  These are the 5 joyful mysteries of the rosary.  Then, as we celebrated the past 2 Sundays, we see Jesus was baptized at age 30, then attended a Wedding in Cana, and then now, after his hidden life in Nazareth, at age 30, Jesus began to announce the Kingdom of God through parables and miracles.  These are luminous mysteries of the rosary.  Jesus takes up a scroll from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and he says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, God has anointed me to bring salvation to his people, to heal the broken hearted and release to prisoners.”  As we hear in the First Reading from the Book of Nehemiah, Ezra the priest-scribe holds up a book containing God’s laws while the people praise God, a foreshadow of Jesus Christ proclaiming the scroll.  At the end of today’s Gospel, Jesus declared, “Today, in your hearing, this Scripture from Isaiah has been fulfilled.”  Here, Jesus boldly announces God has anointed him with the Spirit.  He is the Christ, the Anointed One.  And in next week’s Gospel, we will hear how Jesus is rejected when announcing that He Himself is the Kingdom of God.  In fact, as we celebrate Ordinary Time for about a month, we will hear that Jesus announces the Kingdom of God through parables and miracles. 

(#3) The story does not end here.  This is my third point: You and I are part of this story.  You and I are part of the Tribe of God.  You and I are members of Christ with charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit.  As we heard in the Second Reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians: You are the body of Christ, as a body is one though it has many parts.  We are part of the Tribe of God and the story of salvation because of our baptism and Confirmation.  Ven. Fulton Sheen reflected on today’s Gospel by saying that Confirmation gives us the Holy Spirit.  The role of the laity is to bring the Gospel to the world.  Our words are that of Our Blessed Lord: The Spirit of the Lord is upon us.  God has sent us to bring God to others.  Some of us are feet who bring the good news of love and joy to others; some of us are the hands that heal broken hearts; some of us are priests that are the head of the body; and some of us are the heart.  St. Therese the Little Flower said that she was the heart because her vocation is love. 

During Jesus’ 3-year public ministry, Jesus establishes his holy Catholic Church with Peter as the head of 12 Apostles, and he entrusts the Seven Sacraments.  The story also enters into Lent and Easter where we will celebrate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.  These are the sorrowful and glorious mysteries of the rosary.  After the Resurrection of Jesus from the dad, we will hear the story of the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost and how you and I the Church spread to places like Rome where St. Peter was crucified upside down on a hill called the Vatican.  Peter’s Successors, the Bishops of Rome, from Peter the first Pope to Francis the current Pope, continues the saving work of Jesus Christ until now in 2019.  Before his Second Coming at the end of the world, the Church will undergo the final purification, and an era of peace and triumph of the Immaculate Heart as foretold at Fatima, and then the final trial where the Church will be crucified and victorious like her Beloved Spouse before Christ’s Second Coming in glory at the end of the world.  Finally, Christ the Judge will hand over all things to his Father, and the saints will shine forever in glory.  That is the end of the story of salvation.

So to summarize the three main points:

(1) First, we must remember the story of salvation to know where we are going;

(2) second, Jesus fulfills the story; and

(3) third, you and I are part of this story to save souls. 

Regardless of our charisms, we have to ask: How many souls are we helping Jesus to save?  How many souls are we bringing to God?  It’s not just the head, the priests, but we the body is needed.  How are we using our charisms and gifts that God gave to us as part of this story?

In closing, as with C-3P0 who told his story about fictional Jedi, let us be real JE-DI.  J.E. for Jesus and D.I. for disciples; let us be Jesus’s Disciples, real JE-DI with a real story, where our real weapons are not lightsabers and blasters, but love and prayer to bring others to Heaven, where our Jedi Temple is the Temple of the Holy Spirit; where Jesus is our only Master, and we all are all his disciples.  In the words of the Responsorial Psalm, let us too exclaim, “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.” May always be members not of the Tribe of Ewoks and this world, but rather let us be members of the Tribe of God.  Let us always remember the story of our salvation.

“Wonderful… we are now part of the Tribe!”

A.M.D.G.

Homily #147: "Imitate the Holy Family" (During a Time of Decline of Catholic Church in the West)

Audio for Sun., 10am Mass [#147b]

Audio for Sun. 5pm Mass [147c]

Audio for Sat. 5pm Mass [#147a]

 Homily #147:

Imitate the Holy Family 

(During a Time of Decline of Catholic Church in the West)

As we continue to celebrate Christmas today on the Feast of the Holy Family, I will focus on three ways to deepen our love for and imitate each member of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Father prayed in the Opening Prayer or Collect of the Mass that we may imitate the Holy Family.

By living ordinary family life for 33 years, most of which was hidden from the public, God reveals that salvation not only comes through the Holy Family 2000 years ago back then, but salvation passes by way of every Christian family that adores the Newborn King today.  So goes the family, so goes the Church, and so goes the Church, so goes the world.  (The Church is the only institution capable of fighting and defeating evil.)  If we want peace in the world, if we want justice and the end to violence and lack of charity in people’s hearts, then let us ask the Holy Family to make our families holy. 

The Jesuit priest Fr. John Hardon, S.J., said that only heroic Catholic families will survive the spiritual devastation the Church is now experiencing.  And, unfortunately, diocese after diocese rafter diocese reports multiple disastrous declines at all levels of Catholic family life and faith formation.  I have seen the reports with my own eyes (for the English-speaking West): Infant baptisms in decline; First Communions and Confirmation in decline; marriages in decline; RCIA in decline; mass attendance in decline.  In such times of tribulation, the Church cries out, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, help us!”  So let us now ponder each member of the Holy Family.    

I

First, let’s start with imitating the Boy Jesus in today’s Gospel.  Our love for this Holy Child, this Santo Nino, in the Temple, is deepened when we have a childlike trust to dare call God Our Father in the midst of the Church.  As we chanted in the Responsorial Psalm, “Blessed are they who dwell in the house of the Lord!”  God is Our Father when we first and foremost receive the 7 Sacraments of the New Temple, the Church, on a regular basis.  The Boy Jesus, even at age 12, was already aware and conscious, he knew that He was the unique Son of God the Father.  Jesus didn’t just somehow “discover” this at age 30.  When Jesus’ mother asked him, “Son, why have you done this to us?  Your father (Joseph) and I have been looking for you with great anxiety,” the Boy Jesus replied, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  My. Father’s. House.  There are no words clearer words in Scripture to reveal that Jesus knew that he was not the natural son of Joseph and that Joseph rather was his earthly foster father.  

And while we are not the only-begotten Son of the Father as the Boy Jesus is, we are adopted sons and daughters of Our Heavenly Father, as we heard in today’s Second Reading: “See what love the Father has for you in calling us his children, for so indeed we are.”  And children of Our Father, we can invite our family members and extended family members if they have completed their Sacraments.  This is a great way to bring others to God.  We too invite others with the words: Do you know not that we too must be in our Father’s house worshipping him in the Sacraments?  With the help of the Holy Family, let’s reverse the mass apostasy or people leaving the practice of their sacraments today!  [We don’t want to be CEO Catholics—“Christmas-Easter-Only” Catholics, but Catholics who regularly frequent the Sacraments.]

II.

Second, let’s look at Mary.  Even though she didn’t fully understand what Jesus said, Mary still reflected on all these things that happened to her in her heart.  The Gospel of Luke says, “[A]nd his mother kept all these things in her heart.”  This heart of Mary, this pure Heart of the Immaculate One, deserves our attention and devotion.  You know, there’s a half-joke saying that Christmas is a time when Protestants start talking like Catholics all of a sudden because it is the one day in the year when they focus on Mary and the Nativity with love and devotion.  But to truly love the Bible, the Word of God, then we must imitate the Mother of the Word of God.  And one way to be like this Mother of the Eucharist is to come to church outside of Mass times and sit with Jesus in the Tabernacle for a few minutes.  Simply reflecting on the Eternal Word of God with the Blessed Sacrament in silent Adoration is a way to ponder the great things God has done for you in your own heart.  (Here at St. Catherine’s the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on Wednesday and Confession is available in the evening.)

Another way to grow closer to the mother of Jesus is to do a consecration or entrustment to her Immaculate Heart.  A consecration or entrustment means that something or someone is specially reserved for service to the Immaculate Heart.  Mother knows best, after all, and she knows how to make our gift most pleasing to the Baby Jesus.  Using sacramentals like a brown scapular or a miraculous medal or having a crucifix or picture of Jesus and Mary are other ways to consecrate ourselves to her heart.  St. Louis Marie de promoted that “To Jesus Through Mary” was the quickest way to holiness, to be saint! And of course, we can heed her call to pray the daily rosary as children of so great a mother with so loving a heart.

III.

Finally, let us imitate St. Joseph.  In the Gospels, Joseph was a righteous man who the Boy Jesus obeyed growing up in Nazareth.  Joseph too was righteous because he obeyed the 10 Commandments and followed God’s will through many trials.  Like him, let us too love God’s commandments and the precepts of the Church.  And just as Joseph was the silent strength and Guardian of the Redeemer and Protector of the Holy Family, we too, especially us men, are given an example of our call to defend and sacrifice.  [Depart from text with special appeal to men in congregation in light of current efforts to attack fatherhood and diabolical attempts to redefine the family according to God's plan for family.] His humility as the Patron of the Universal Church is also model for us to serve not just our families but those in need of help with not just words but with actions.  [One act of love surpasses a thousand eloquent words about love.]  Those of us who care for others that have no father figures, or those workers who provide food on the table, or caregivers of the poor and sick can follow Joseph the worker-carpenter.  St. Joseph is also called the Patron Saint of a Happy Death, which means that we can ask him for the grace to have a Christian death where we die in the state of grace.  It was said that both Jesus and Mary were present when Joseph died.  [Some mystics have said that Joseph’s dead body remains incorrupt and preserved over time in a hidden tomb under Bethlehem.]

In summary, we have looked at ways to imitate the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  May we love them with tender heart-felt devotion in our own families, our parish family, and in the universal Family of God.  Let us ask for their intercession today and until the end of time.  Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us.  Amen.

Homily #146: On Why It Is Necessary For Civilly-Married Catholics To Request Convalidation From the Church (Sermon for 14 Couples in Group Convalidation Ceremony)

(audio)

Dearly Beloved, as we gather on this glorious day, I’d like to tell this story. 

There was once a little girl walking home.  She looks down and sees a small teddy bear.  She picks up the toy and continues her walk.  As she walks, she meets Jesus.  And Jesus has a big smile.  He is also holding something behind his back. 

Jesus squats down to the little girl as says, “Beautiful child, what do you have there?”  She replies, “I found this toy on the ground.”  Jesus then says, “Can I make a trade?  I will take that little toy, and I will give you something even better.”

Not fully understanding why Jesus is asking this of her, she hesitates for a moment and says, “Do I have to?”  Jesus knows this, of course, and his smile becomes even larger.  He says, “Trust me.  My mother made it.  It’s my gift to you.”

Eventually, the little girl agrees to trade and finds out that she traded the small toy for an even larger teddy bear.  Then, seeing the love in his eyes for her, the little girl hugs him tightly and says, “I love it because the gift came from you, Jesus.”

Today, as we witness this great chapter of these couples convalidating their marriages in Jesus’ holy Catholic Church, Heaven too smiles down upon them.  But God does not give these servants of his just a large teddy bear behind his back, but rather God gives the gift of his very own divine life of grace, an abundance of grace overflowing and most pleasing to him that makes him smile, a total outpouring of blessing upon blessing not just upon the couple but upon their family tree.  In Heaven, we will one day see the beauty of their souls for saying “yes”.

In today’s First Reading from the Book of Genesis, it is written in the Word of God that the Lord cast a deep sleep on the man.  And while this man, Adam, was asleep, God removed one of ribs from his side, and from his side God formed the woman!  And the two become one flesh.  H’Adam exclaims, “Wow!  This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!”  Nothing else in creation is a suitable partner for me except this one!  She who will contribute to my salvation in this life and the next.  She shall be called woman.  Or as the Filipinos translate this Bible verse: “Ay, nako! Siya ay maganda!  Maganda!”  She’s beautiful.  God must be a genius!

And indeed so she is, but not just earthly beauty but more importantly maganda or beautiful in her soul.  She, like he, is filled with grace.  And there is nothin’ better in this life than being in the state of grace!  There’s no price you can put on that.  When we’re in the state of grace, eternal life in Heaven is ours as our inheritance. 

Marriage in the order of creation, in the beginning, was perfect with divine friendship.  Here, we see that God himself is the author of marriage, not the state.  The state did not create marriage.  It was not created by human beings but by God.  In the plan of the Creator, in the beginning, the two are one flesh.  There is a complementarity of the body. 

But, alas, as may know, Original Sin entered the world with the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  They lost grace and friendship with God.  Marriage therefore became under the regime of sin and marriage was in the grip of the evil one.

Yet, out of his great love, however, God sent his only begotten Son into the world to save us from our sins and to rise from the dead.  Jesus, the Second Adam, restored grace and friendship with God.  And like the First Adam, Jesus also slept, but when Jesus fell asleep, he slept the sleep of death…on the Cross.

Also, just as a rib came from the side of First Adam, so too the Second Adam, Jesus, the Son of God, was pierced on his side.  And out of Jesus’ side – his rib – flowed blood and water, which represent Baptism and the Eucharist.  Christ’s only suitable partner, the Church was given life at Christ’s side.  “Ang Simbahan ay Maganda.”  We, the Church, are His beautiful Bride!  As (the 2nd Reading from) the Book of Revelation Ch. 19 proclaims, “For the wedding day of the Lamb has come, his bride has made herself ready.  She was allowed to wear a bright, clean linen garment.  The linen garment represents the righteous deeds of the holy ones.”

And so we see why it is necessary for the baptized members of his holy catholic church to marry before the Church’s minister: to go to Heaven!  We do not want to have just human standards of what it means to be married, but rather we are what St. Paul calls being “marriage in the Lord.  In a few moments, you will be “married in the Lord” which is being “married in the Church.”  It is a marriage blessed and redeemed by Jesus Christ. 

I recently spoke to someone who had a convalidation done last year.  He said, QUOTE “I feel so happy.  I’m at peace with God.  My conscience is clear.  I can receive Communion now.” END QUOTE    This person saw how the Sacraments give grace to him.  God instituted marriage, but Jesus raised marriage a sacrament!  A sacrament is a sign instituted by Christ to give grace.  Repeat.  For those who are baptized and married in the Lord, it is not just 2 getting married, but now God is formally or officially included in the marriage.  Marriage is no longer a mere human contract for us in the Catholic Church, but marriage between two baptized persons in the Church is a true Sacrament of the New and Everlasting Covenant.  Whereas a civil contract is 50-50 and is give and take, a covenant is 100% where one gives to the other, just as Jesus gave himself 100% to the Church, and the Church gives 100% back to Jesus. 

Also, the presence of the Church’s minister and witnesses expresses that marriage is an ecclesial reality.  This is officially or formally an action of the Church.  Speaking of having correct form, this is the reason why the Church normally requires, if at least one person is Catholic, to marry according to form in the public liturgy of the Church (cf. Catechism 1630 ff).  Even though the rings will be blessed, the consent in your will is what makes the marriage.  The consent received by the Church’s minister is the official form.  The vows are formally received. 

You know, when one of the men here today that I was preparing was given the choice to move forward or not, he chose to convalidate.  I turned said to his bride, “He truly loves you for doing this.”  She replied, “Yes, I see it.”  She sees some good in this.  Some of the goods that come from a marrying in the Church are that the marriage is indissoluble which means that it is only dissolved with death.  Another good is fidelity of the couple, just as God is faithful to his people.  Another good is that it is open to life and love.  So all the paper work, all the Form As and Forms Bs that were completed, all the workshops and copies of this or that needed, all of those to prepare you for these goods of marriage.

In closing, let us turn to Our Blessing Mother Mary.  It was because of Mary that Jesus performed his first public miracle.  In moments when we have no wine of love, no wine of energy after a hard day’s work, no wine of sacrifice or wine or time or wine of finances to pay bills, say to her, “Mary, we have no wine.”  She will say, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Do whatever my Son Jesus tells you.  Then, may we have a childlike trust in Jesus who had even greater gifts to give us.  May Jesus continue to smile on us today, as we trust his plan for us, on our journey home to Heaven, to the marriage feast of the Lamb, where it is written, “Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.”

My Dad's Christmas Visit 2018

Sample of My 9-Hour Sunday Mtg w/Parishioners for Marriages, Convalidations, Annulments, Sacramental Prep, Blessings (While Covering 3 Masses)

There are things that a deacon does outside of Mass that most people dont see. 

I can't get into specifics since I took an Oath of Confidentiality for some of these, but generally speaking this is how my Sunday looked.  This is not typical.

My purpose in writing this here is to encourage Catholics regularize an irregular situations where a marriage is not in good standing with the Church.

930am
Arrived with family in separate cars;
Helped visiting couples complete Form B for couples seeking convalidation; administered request for Dispensation for Catholic marrying non-Catholic which I later submitted to Tribunal

10am
Assisted visiting priest for Mass

1115-12pm
Signed Mass attendance cards for kids;
Prepared couple with their Form A seeking convalidation

12pm
Assisted another visiting priest for Mass

115-230pm
Signed Mass attendance cards (where I interact w young families);
Spoke to family of dad undergoing kidney dialysis;
Asssited RCIA marriage case of doubtful baptism and need to convalidate marriage before receiving Sacraments;
Asssited another parishioner filing a Lack of Form from previous civil marriage;
Counsled parishioner re: spiritual healing

3-430
Went home and ate late lunch;
Took care of kids

430
Departed for parish and waited for paperwork for civilly divorced couples seeking correct way to marry in Catholic Church

5pm
Assisted visiting priest at Mass

615-645
Spoke to former student about her mom's health/blessed her children;
Was asked to bless a car;
Ffup to listening to recently divorced man and counseled filing Lack of Form as well as ffup for baptizing his teenage son

7pm dinner w family followed by rosary

All Social Issues are Secondary to Priority #1 of Protecting Innocent Unborn Life in Womb Absolutely (Homily #145)

 

Audio for 12pm Mass

(8 minutes)

Audio for 5pm Mass

(9-10 mins)

Letter from parishioner to me about Homily #145b:

Was that you at 5 o’clock Mass On Sunday? I didn’t hear the introduction but I thought it was your voice. Although pro-life issues are pretty standard for sermons, I want to commend you on the presentation. The opening, relating the subject to voting, was powerful. But what I noted was the structure, the organization of this particular homily. The movement from point to point, the relationship between issues and comments, was noticeably good, better than many similar presentations. I looked for you after Mass, but it was dark. I was impressed, and so I need to comment on it. 

- M. 

Homily #145

All Social Issues are Secondary to the Number #1 Priority of

Protecting Innocent Unborn Life in the Womb Absolutely

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 3, 2018

In leadership theory for time management, Stephen Covey distinguishes between something that is “important” versus something that is a “priority.”  Something may be important, but it is not a priority.   In other words, something that is important but not a priority does not need our attention right now.

In today’s Gospel, similarly, a scholar of the law asks Jesus which commandment is the priority over all the important commandments.  While all commandments are important for this scribe, some commandments were simply a priority over others.  Jesus summarized the priority as, first, love of God and then, second, love of neighbor.  Our Lord said, “There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

Love of God summarizes Commandments #1-3.  Love of neighbor summarizes Commandments 4 thru 10.  It’s by loving God first and foremost that we can then properly love our neighbor in an ordered way.  Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (cf. Proverbs 9) and right ordering of priorities.  It is written in today’s First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, “Fear the Lord, your God, and keep…all his statutes and commandments.”  If love of God is not in our hearts first, then the next priority about a correct love of neighbor will not make sense. 

Having reflected on love of God as the first priority, let us now look at love of neighbor.  Today, within the important social issues for love of neighbor, there is a hierarchy or similar ranking of social issues that are the priority.  This ranking by Jesus is important for us people of faith because this Tuesday is Election Day.  It is necessary for us to have a proper formation of conscience informed by the great Catholic social doctrine of the Church.  This is not partisian politics but just good theology and the sound moral teaching of the Church that comes from Christ.  While the Church does not publicly endorse specific candidates for office, the Church still has the duty to speak on moral issues that affect the salvation of souls. 

Thus, while the many moral social issues are important, many of them are not the priority.  This is called the Principle of the Hierarchy of Truths.  Just as Jesus taught in today’s Gospel that there is a ranking or hierarchy or correct order of moral truths, where God comes first and neighbor comes second, so too there are social issues today that are ranked more important than others.  According to Pope St. John Paul II in his encyclical letter The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae), “First and fundamental among these is the inviolable right to life of every innocent human being” (EV 71.3).  To correctly love our neighbor, the highest priority above other important social issues is the absolute protection of innocent human life.  The key words here are absolute and innocent.  Absolute means 100% or no exceptions—all or nothin’.  Our own Declaration of Independence states that we hold these truths to be self-evident and that the Creator endows inalienable rights, among which life is listed as first, followed by liberty and happiness second.

It is not just simply human life that should be protected, but innocent human life that should be protected.  And not only is innocent human life protected, the Church teaches that innocent human life must be protected absolutely (cf. EV 54).  Absolutely means always and everywhere.  It is a moral absolute, not relative, under no circumstance may it be violated.  It is intrinsically evil, in and of itself.

Thus, all social issues are secondary to the number one priority of protecting innocent unborn life in the womb.  There are other important social issues, but these do not involve intrinsic evil and are not absolute.  Rather, they require what is called “prudential judgment” that depends on the circumstances or grey areas.  That is why they are secondary.  Prudential judgment social issues are definitely lower in rank and priority than the first priority of protecting the rights of innocent human life in the womb.  Prudential judgment is about the best decision where reasonable people can reasonably disagree.  While there are important social issues where Catholics may legitimately disagree with each other, there are priorities where all Catholics cannot support the harming of innocent human life in the womb.

Jesus said that when we receive these little ones in His name, we receive Him and the One who sent Him.  But if we reject these little ones, we reject Jesus and the One who sent Him.  St. Mother Teresa, the great servant of the poorest of the poor, used her hands to remember Christ’s words: You. Did. It. To. Me.  She also said that world peace begins in the womb when she received the Nobel Peace Prize.  For a resource on what you can do for the least vulnerable go to PriestsForLife.org.

In closing, normally, Jesus is harsh with the scribes and Pharisees, but to this scribe that had the right ordering of priorities Jesus praises as being not far from the kingdom.  May we too be like this scribe and love God first and then love our neighbor second.  And when we do love our neighbor, let us prioritize our neighbor’s right to life, from womb to tomb.  May the words of the Responsorial Psalm be ours, too: “I love you, Lord, my strength.”  O Mary, mother of the Baby Jesus, obtain for us the grace to receive the Gospel of Life anew.  Amen.

My Daughter Crowned Our Lady