In our first reading
we hear
something our own time could resonate with:“How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!I cry out to you “Violence!” but you do not
intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look on misery?Destruction and violence are before me; there
is strife and clamorous discord.”
We look at the
attacks and
violence against life around us today.We have had over 40 million abortions in our country alone.We see terrorists and suicide bombers
attacking our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention the
terrorists
cells around the world showing up and causing havoc in first world
countries.There are the drug wars in Mexico
and South America which make it
hazardous to travel even to
neighboring countries right across our borders.There are the attitudes against the sick and the elderly that
with the
bad economy they may cost too much to keep alive. Suicide and
euthanasia is
becoming proper.I was in the hospital
in Sioux Falls
for tests and the first thing the nurse did was to come in and ask if I
had a
living will or a health directive. I said I had a health directive. Did
I have
it with me? Of course not! Why would I carry it around? Well what are
my wishes?What wishes? I said, Oh you
know! Do not
resuscitate!”I told her I am here for
tests. I have no intention to commit suicide or to have them commit
murder.
Hospitals are supposed to save lives not find reasons to kill people.”I was mad as heck over this. You go to the
hospital to be healthy and the first thing they ask you is if you want
to
die.I was visiting with a friend who
was telling me about Holland.
I
know that there have been problems there since they allowed assisted
suicide.It started out that if you had
a terminal disease you could request the doctors to put you to death.
But you
had to have a team of doctors and psychiatrists interview you to be
sure that
you were in terminal condition. You were not just having depression -
and that
there really was no hope and this was a “reasonable request” or it
would not be
done.Now it is so frequent this friend
told me that people have tattooed on their chest “resuscitate not
terminate” so
the doctors know their wishes. He told me about a German doctor who was
traveling in Holland
with a friend and his friend got sick so he took him to the hospital.
The
German Doctor left for a few hours and when he came back he could not
find his
friend. He asked what room he was moved to. A Dutch doctor was called
by the
nurse and the Dutch doctor told the German doctor who was asking about
his
friend. “Oh, we needed the bed so we terminated him.” How much violence
we see
around us.
In places like some
provinces of Canada
and Australia
they
have hate speech laws. So it is illegal to speak against abortion or
homosexuality, it is considered hate speech even to quote the Bible
against
these even in church to give the church’s teachings. This may offend
someone
and you can be arrested and put in jail.Even a bumper sticker speaking against abortion can get a person
arrested. The Archbishop of Sidney is considered a hero because he
continued to
speak out and dared the government to arrest him for giving Catholic Church teachings.
Governments think
they can
replace the church and decide what is moral or immoral. There is a
separation
of Church and state so the
church
should keep its nose out of stating what is moral and immoral. That is
up to
vote. It should be there is a separation
of church and state and the state needs to keep its nose out of the Church’s business of deciding morality.
That is the Church’s area
of expertise. Now the state wants to
be greater than the church. Even basics of ethics such as the 10
commandments
are illegal in public places.
Now even individual
judges are
deciding what is moral and immoral.Even
when the people vote to uphold what is moral, even making amendments to
the
state constitutions, the Judges who are sworn to uphold the
constitutions are
declaring the constitutions as unconstitutional.
What are we to do
with all this
that is happening in our day?The first
reading goes on “For the vision still has its time, presses on to
fulfillment,
and will not disappoint; if it delays wait for it.” In other words,
don’t give
up and give in to the ways of the world and public pressure because God
is not
done yet.
Remember God has to
work with
people - and people have a free will. People can say NO to God and His
will.It is said that it was easier for
God to create the world than it is to change a person, because the
world has no
free will to say NO to God creating it, but a person can say NO to God
changing
his heart.
So to change
attitudes what do we
do?The first thing we do is pray. We
see in the Gospel the Apostles asking for an increase of faith - and
Jesus
tells them “if they had the faith the size of a mustard seed they could
throw
the mulberry tree into the sea.”When we
pray even with little faith we are tapping into God’s almighty power.
God will
not force Himself and his grace on anyone as we have free will - but we
can ask
for the grace needed.The Rosary which
we are celebrating this month is a powerful prayer to change the hearts
of
others and change the world. Look at the fall of Communism, how did it
end so
peacefully? By people praying the rosary daily so God would keep
offering “opportunities
of grace” to slowly change people’s hearts.
Then we need to speak
out and not
be quiet.This is part of our duty as
Catholic Christians. We are like the servants in the Gospel, who should
see sharing
the truth of God and speaking out, not as heroic, but as part of our
daily duty.St. Paul speaks to Timothy in the
second reading to
remember the Gift of the Holy Spirit he received when St. Paul laid
his hands on him and made him a
bishop. So he should not be ashamed of the testimony he can give for
God. He
did not receive a spirit of cowardice but of power. So too our
Minnesota bishops
have sent all the Catholics in Minnesota a DVD
and pamphlets to give the church’s teaching on the sanctity of Marriage
being
one man and one woman, and Marriage as a holy place to raise children
and
protect their lives. The Bishops ask us to use the gift of the Holy
Spirit we
received at Confirmation - to pray and speak out with the power of God
- to
change the world back to respect for life and moral living. Not to let
the
state, or courts, or public personalities silence us so they can play
God and
decide right and wrong.
When we see violence,
when we see
immorality, we need to turn to God in Prayer to seek His power to
change our
hearts and the hearts of others, and then have no cowardly spirit but
speak out
to stand up for the truth, morality and life - so all lives are
cherished and
protected.