Now to the point of today's post. I always take a book (usually one I haven't found time to read) when we travel and this trip was no different. I tucked Fatherless by Brian J. Gail into my bag and spent most evenings before bed hunkered down in my sleeping bag engrossed in the novel. Gail's main character, Fr. John Sweeney, reminded me a little of Edwin O'Connor's Fr. Hugh Kennedy in The Edge of Sadness. I believe this is Gail's first novel and he doesn't have as deft a touch with characterization as O'Connor, but nonetheless spins a riveting tale of a young priest at the end of the 20th century struggling with the moral problems of his flock and his own willingness to compromise truth in order to be popular.
The second half of the book is particularly good as Fr. Sweeney confronts a series of life-changing experiences that stir him to become the priest God calls him to be. This culminates in a sermon near the end of the story that I wish we heard in our churches today. It focuses on John 6, the "hard sayings" gospel. You remember...Jesus preaches that his flesh is real food and his blood is real drink and most of his disciples leave Him. Then he turns to Peter and says, "Do you want to leave Me too?"
Fr. John Sweeney takes on that gospel passage in a powerhouse homily faithful Catholics long to hear from their own pulpits and wandering Catholics NEED TO HEAR. It is reprinted from Fatherless with permission:
The Homily Real Catholics Long to Hear
Today our Blessed Lord is asking you and me the same question He asked Peter nearly 2000 years ago. He's asking us this: "Will you leave me too over a hard saying?" Our first impulse is to say: "Never, Lord. We believe your flesh is real food, and your blood is real drink, and we believe that if we eat and drink in faith, you will raise us up on the last day too."
But suppose our Lord said to us: "Yes, I know you blieve My Body is real food, and My Blood is real drink, but some of you eat and drink unworthily because you have not heard...or have heard but not accepted My 'hard sayings'. You must know that nothing grieves me more. I have said these 'hard sayings' through My Vicar, the Pope, and the bishops who teach and preach in union with him throughout the ages. These men are the successors to my apostles, and in my Church they speak for me; like my beloved apostles they have not turned away from me because of 'hard truths' that call men not to a self love, but to a higher love. And so I ask you today as I asked my disciples then: If you hear these 'hard sayings', will you too turn away from Me, or will you remain faithful as my apostles did, even to the shedding of blood?"
What are those "hard sayings" in our age? What has our Pope, Christ's Vicar, said to us that we wish he hadn't? What are the things that lead many to leave our Blessed Lord in this age? What are those things I don't want to preach, and you don't want to hear?
If I were a young boy or a young adult, I would not want to hear that if I were to buy or read pornographic magazines or watch adult videos that I was committing a serious sin. I would not want to hear that I couldn't receive Holy Communion with or without my family until I went to confession. I wouldn't want to hear that pornography is immoral because it makes objects of women, and women are not objects -- they are God's masterpiece.
If I was an adolescent, I would not want to hear that if I went out on a Friday night with the intention of getting high, or getting drunk, or getting - sex - and did one or more of those things - that I was committing serious sin - because I was profaining my body, which is a gift from God and a temple of the Holy Spirit by virtue of my Baptism and Confirmation. I would not want to hear that I could not receive Holy Communion worthily without first going to confession and receiving absolution. I wouldn't want to hear any of that. This is indeed a hard saying when you are young and many of your friends are doing these things.
If I was a young married couple and did not yet have children, or a couple who was married and already had several children, I would not want to hear that I could not use contraception to avoid having children. I would not want to thear that the lie of contraception enslaves us to a synthetic, conditional form of love. Christ came to liberate us for an authentic, unconditional love. I would also not want to hear that oral contraceptives act as abortifacients and kill many more babies in the womb than surgical procedures.
If I was a couple approaching middle age having not yet been blessed with children, I would not want to hear that I could not use in vitro fertilization to have children. I would not want to hear that in vitro fertilization artificially creates life in a manner that relegates God to the role of an absentee landlord. I would not want to hear that this same God does not want Man to undertake the creation of human life in ways that are independent5 of the conjugal act, which He has inscribed as the means by which the transmission of life is to proceed. I would not want to hear that to make use of in vitro fertilization is gravely wrong, and that I could not eat or drink worthily of the cup of salvation until I confessed this sin, repented from my heart, and received absolution.
If I was a married man, I would not want to hear that every time I encouraged or permitted my wife to use some form of contraception I was objectifying her, denying her equality in the marital embrace, and using her for my own selfish physical gratfification. And that this is always wrong - on so many levels - and is always a serious sin requiring absolution for worthy reception of Holy Communion, because both Sacraments are essential in restoring us to lives of grace and virtue.
Please understand me on this point. Our Holy Father [Pope John Paul II] has said that a society that doesn't get the primordial gift of marital intimacy right will not have the moral energy to confront the great civilizational challenges that await it. This makes the contracepting of the next generation literally life-and-death important, not just to families, but to whole nations.
If I was a divorced and remarried man or woman, I would not want to hear that any prior marriage recognized by the Church must be annulled before I can live with another as man and wife, and drink worthily of the cup of salvation.
If I was a soccer or hockey mom, I would not want to heart that my chid's practice or game schedule was not a legitimate excuse to miss mass on Sunday - not for me, not for him, and not for her. And I certainly would not want to hear that missing mass on Sunday without a legitimate reason was a serious sin because it dishonors our Creator...and that unless I confessied it, I too could not receive Holy Communion worthily.
If I was a businessman and complicit in the exploitation of labor -- treating men and women who worked for me as "objects," and not as "subjects," in order to maximize my profit, I would not want to hear that this, too, was gravely wrong in the eyes of God. I would not want to hear that God wants the laborer to have a say in how his work is ordered, and to receive a just portion of the rewards from his labor. I would not want to hear that God demands this simple economic justice from those who provide the capital, the owners of the business. And that, if this does not happen, a grave injustice has been done in His eyes.
If I was a politiican and I voted in favor of things the Vicar of Christ said and the Church has always taught were great evils, like abortion , I would not want to hear that I was giving scandal, and that this was a serious sin. I would not want to hear that I could not receive Holy Eucharist in communion with true believers unless and untill I confessed this sin and promised to amend my life.
If I was old, sick, and suffering, with no hope of recovery, I would not want to hear that I could not ask the doctor to end my life. And if I were a child of a parent who was suffering from a terminal illness, I would not want to hear that I must continue to provide food and water to the natural end of my father or mother's life. I would not want to hear that to deny food and water, thereby ending that life, was not an act of compassion, but a gravely immoral act requiring absolution.
And finally...if I were a priest, I wouldn't want to hear that if I did not preach what I knew to be true -- calling my parishioners to the demands of an authentic Christian love; a love characterized by self-donation rather than self-assertion -- and chose not to do this, because I did not trust the People of God -- because I was afraid my parishioners would turn against me -- I would not want to hear that God would hold me responsible for their sins. And not just those sins! That He would also hold me accountable for every time one of my parishioners, after committing one of these serious sins, ate and drank unworthinly -- lacerating His Sacred Body all over again. I wouldn't want to to hear that, and I wouldn't want to hear that I would personally have to pay for those sins -- either here or in purgatory -- because though God is surely all-merciful in this life...He is just as surely all-just in the next.
My friends, I wouldn't want to hear any of that. And I sure wouldn't want to preach it. But I have heard it, so I must preach it. And because I have preached it, now you have heard it too. So the question our Lord asks of me and of you this morning, is this: "Now that you have heard a 'hard saying,' will you leave me as many other have -- or will you remain with me -- indeed in me -- as have so many of your parents and their parents before them?"
My brothers and sisters in Christ, there can be only one answer to the question our dear Lord asks each of us this morning. It is the answer St. Paul provided. Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ! Nothing! Not life or death! Not angels or powers or principalities! Not present things or future things! And not any creature human or diabolical!
Let us each vow that together, we who are gathered here this morning will keep faith with our Lord and each other, and the generations who have gone before us. Let us vow to embrace the "hard sayings" we have heard, and allow the Source of all life, all love, and all truth to sanctify us and draw us unto Himself, that we too may eat and drink worthily of the cup of salvation, and be raised up on the last day.
Wow! When was the last time you heard a homily like that? Never? You wouldn't be alone. Which means we have a serious obligation to pray for our priests to have the courage to teach the truth boldly and with love. Many people are wandering in the desert searching for the truth that will set them free. We have it if we only evangelize in love.
I recommend Fatherless by Brian J. Gail. It would be especially appropriate for older teens and young adults. It is the story of fallen human nature, of sin and redemption. It's realistic, the characters are engaging, and, like life, the story illustrates both joy and tragedy. Ultimately, it's a story of Christian hope. Share it with others!
The book is published by One More Soul. Visit their website for more information.
First, congratulations on your
ReplyDelete40th wedding anniversary! That's almost a miracle these days. I can remember a navy guy telling me that "he tells his superiors what they want to hear" and yet this sermon is exactly what we "should" be hearing from our priests. We need God's truth and Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. What's important today is YOU must know your catholic faith because we have so many wolves in sheep's clothing. It's our responsibility to pray and know the faith so we won't be deceived!