SATURDAY HOMILY: America and the Sadness of Christ
In "The Sadness of Christ," St. Thomas More draws an unfortunate
parallel between the sleepy apostles in Gethsemane and the English
bishops of his day who one after another buckled under the heavy handed
mandate of the monarch. In the weeks and months ahead we must increase
our prayers for the hierarchy of the Church in America so that our
shepherds will remain united and unyielding to the tyrannical policies
of the current administration.
PrintLONG BEACH, CA (Catholic Online) "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" For as long as I can remember, these words of Jesus have always filled me with sadness. With boundless patience our Lord put up with ingratitude, indifference and hostility on the part of those He came to save.
He left his bloody footprints on the road to Calvary and there on that hill He died an agonizing death on the cross. He did all this for us. And yet He was and still is greeted with gaping yawns, crude mockery and outright malevolence. In this haunting question which closes today's Gospel, we are given a glimpse into His Sacred Heart and there we behold the sadness of Christ.
No doubt all of us, to one degree or another, have experienced something of this sadness: the loving parent who suffers because a son or daughter is living a bad life; the conscientious pastor whose heart aches for the souls entrusted to his care because their own hearts have grown cold and impenetrable. But even this sadness, which is real and palpable, cannot come close to the crushing weight of the sadness of Christ.
"The Sadness of Christ" was the title that St. Thomas More gave to his final literary work. Actually, the complete title is: "The Sadness, the Weariness, the Fear and the Prayer of Christ Before He Was Taken Prisoner." More wrote this moving commentary on Christ's agony in the garden while he himself was imprisoned in the Tower of London awaiting his own death by martyrdom on July 6, 1535.
Nearly five centuries separate us from that day, but the parallels between our two epochs are painfully stark. More's work, "The Sadness of Christ," is relevant in any age because the spiritual battle is always the same. The prince of darkness and the mystery of iniquity are always at work in the world. Human beings, even those with the best of intentions, are fallen creatures prone to sin and betrayal. But the power of God and His transforming grace are infinitely greater.
When men and women surrender to that grace won by Christ's death and resurrection there is victory over the power of sin and darkness. As Father George Rutler put it recently, "Those who oppose Christ have their day, but it does not last long, and soon they also have their night, when they shrink away into dark corners."
The ungodly protagonists of the drama which led to the martyrdom of St. Thomas More (and his counterpart in the episcopacy, St. John Fisher) certainly had their day. But in the end, in addition to the trail of human wreckage they left in their wake, they also bequeathed as their legacy a decaying institution which has so often compromised the truth that there is scarcely a Christian doctrine or Gospel value that has survived intact among its canons.
Thomas More's unshakable adherence to the truth stands in bold contrast with these men who were all too ready to make deals with the father of lies. He could have easily saved his life by acquiescing to the demands of Henry VIII and recognize the monarch's illicit marriage to Anne Boleyn. He could have easily escaped the scaffold of the guillotine by merely signing the Oath of Supremacy which declared Henry the "Head of the Church." What is more, he was surrounded by well-meaning relatives and friends who tried endlessly to persuade him to take the easy way, but he steadfastly refused.
St. Thomas More, as holy and virtuous as he was brilliant, went to his death serenely and with his conscience clear. He remained absolutely unyielding to the temptation to save his mortal life at the expense of the truth. He died "the King's good servant, but God's first."
With the re-election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, every Catholic and like-minded person of faith are now facing a decision as momentous as that which St. Thomas More faced in the England of King Henry VIII.
In America we do not have a monarch, but we do have a President who has made it clear that abortion is the centerpiece of his political career. At a 2008 campaign speech he gave to officials and supporters of the world's largest purveyor of abortion, Planned Parenthood, he stated plainly, "On this fundamental issue (abortion), I will not yield."
Fact: the signature political achievement of his first term as President, commonly referred to as "Obama Care," will enlarge the already expansive reach of the multi-billion dollar abortion industry. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops acknowledges that under this law, "Millions of American taxpayers will be forced to help support abortion coverage" (USCCB website).
Fact: President Obama's agenda is about more abortions, not fewer. His political party's abortion plank no longer reads "safe, legal and rare." Now it reads simply "safe and legal." Obama is for more abortions everywhere, not only here at home but also abroad. ...
He left his bloody footprints on the road to Calvary and there on that hill He died an agonizing death on the cross. He did all this for us. And yet He was and still is greeted with gaping yawns, crude mockery and outright malevolence. In this haunting question which closes today's Gospel, we are given a glimpse into His Sacred Heart and there we behold the sadness of Christ.
No doubt all of us, to one degree or another, have experienced something of this sadness: the loving parent who suffers because a son or daughter is living a bad life; the conscientious pastor whose heart aches for the souls entrusted to his care because their own hearts have grown cold and impenetrable. But even this sadness, which is real and palpable, cannot come close to the crushing weight of the sadness of Christ.
"The Sadness of Christ" was the title that St. Thomas More gave to his final literary work. Actually, the complete title is: "The Sadness, the Weariness, the Fear and the Prayer of Christ Before He Was Taken Prisoner." More wrote this moving commentary on Christ's agony in the garden while he himself was imprisoned in the Tower of London awaiting his own death by martyrdom on July 6, 1535.
Nearly five centuries separate us from that day, but the parallels between our two epochs are painfully stark. More's work, "The Sadness of Christ," is relevant in any age because the spiritual battle is always the same. The prince of darkness and the mystery of iniquity are always at work in the world. Human beings, even those with the best of intentions, are fallen creatures prone to sin and betrayal. But the power of God and His transforming grace are infinitely greater.
When men and women surrender to that grace won by Christ's death and resurrection there is victory over the power of sin and darkness. As Father George Rutler put it recently, "Those who oppose Christ have their day, but it does not last long, and soon they also have their night, when they shrink away into dark corners."
The ungodly protagonists of the drama which led to the martyrdom of St. Thomas More (and his counterpart in the episcopacy, St. John Fisher) certainly had their day. But in the end, in addition to the trail of human wreckage they left in their wake, they also bequeathed as their legacy a decaying institution which has so often compromised the truth that there is scarcely a Christian doctrine or Gospel value that has survived intact among its canons.
Thomas More's unshakable adherence to the truth stands in bold contrast with these men who were all too ready to make deals with the father of lies. He could have easily saved his life by acquiescing to the demands of Henry VIII and recognize the monarch's illicit marriage to Anne Boleyn. He could have easily escaped the scaffold of the guillotine by merely signing the Oath of Supremacy which declared Henry the "Head of the Church." What is more, he was surrounded by well-meaning relatives and friends who tried endlessly to persuade him to take the easy way, but he steadfastly refused.
St. Thomas More, as holy and virtuous as he was brilliant, went to his death serenely and with his conscience clear. He remained absolutely unyielding to the temptation to save his mortal life at the expense of the truth. He died "the King's good servant, but God's first."
With the re-election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, every Catholic and like-minded person of faith are now facing a decision as momentous as that which St. Thomas More faced in the England of King Henry VIII.
In America we do not have a monarch, but we do have a President who has made it clear that abortion is the centerpiece of his political career. At a 2008 campaign speech he gave to officials and supporters of the world's largest purveyor of abortion, Planned Parenthood, he stated plainly, "On this fundamental issue (abortion), I will not yield."
Fact: the signature political achievement of his first term as President, commonly referred to as "Obama Care," will enlarge the already expansive reach of the multi-billion dollar abortion industry. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops acknowledges that under this law, "Millions of American taxpayers will be forced to help support abortion coverage" (USCCB website).
Fact: President Obama's agenda is about more abortions, not fewer. His political party's abortion plank no longer reads "safe, legal and rare." Now it reads simply "safe and legal." Obama is for more abortions everywhere, not only here at home but also abroad. ...
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Thanks, Pater. Posters: please search engine Solidarity health group; a gentleman is putting together a Catholic Health Care plan for Catholics so we won't have to comply w/Obmcare; right now just give them your email and you will be notified when set-up; please pray for this effort - it is similar to some Protestant health share plans that are also exempt from Obmcare. Our Lady, be with us
So true, Father. Please pray for us the faithful laity to remain as steadfast as St Thomas More, regardless what our bishops do in the face of this persecution. I predict it will be the witness of the faithful that finally awakens our chanceries.
That we even have to ask "Will the Catholic Church in America take the easy way out and capitulate or will we resist and suffer a new form of persecution ..." illustrates the sad state of American Catholicism (let alone Catholicism in general). The state in which we find ourselves is the direct result of wobbly bishops and clergy, and a lack of firm grounding in the magisterium. I have little patience with the wobbly episcopate. A few courageous bishops take a clear stand, but the majority does not; publicly wearing the regalia but not the cross. Am I judgmental? No. I cannot and will not speak for their motives but their behavior is clear for all to see. Their actions leading up to the election were pitiful and embarrassing.
What an amazing homily!!
Brilliant article, Father.
Thank you Catholic democrats. This is what we suffer due to your votes. Does this count as "social justice" or "compassion"? You voted for welfare notwithstanding that to get your welfare, you voted for an evil man who supports infanticide (even after a baby survives the attempt to kill him or her in his or her mom's womb). You voted for an evil man who proudly proclaims that sodomy (what God calls an abomination) is the equivalent of Holy Matrimony.He said his daughter helped him evolve on the subject. What does his daughter think of incest between consenting adults? An 18-year-old woman marrying her father? What does his daughter think about one man with five wives? How about four men marrying seven women? If you, Catholic democrats, oppose these things which involve consenting adults, are you a phobe? I am called a phobe because I refuse to call sodomy the equivalent of Holy Matrimony. You Catholic democrats also voted for an evil man who is waging this war against the Church under the guise of "health care".
I am losing my job within a month or two. The worst time to be seeking a job is when a "compassionate" candidate who, like Catholic democrats, supports "social justice", is in charge of the country. The Catholic democrats' "social justice" punishes the creation of wealth and jobs. It rewards idleness and the bad consequences of so many millions being idle. No wonder God said if we did not work we should not eat. And the Catholic democrats' "compassionate" leader has eliminated workfare. Welfare recipients who refuse workfare prove hey are unwilling to work.
I need the opposite of Catholic democrats' "social justice". I am on the lower half of the economic ladder and I need low taxes across the board. I need for there to be more wealthy people and for those who are wealthy to be doing better, not worse. I need for businesses, large and small, do be doing better, not worse. The Catholic democrats voted for infanticide and for wars against Holy Matrimony and the Church. To top it off, they voted for Greek-like "compassionate" economic policies which are brutal for lower income people like me who want to work. Do some reading, Catholic democrats. Just consider the possibility that what you are shoving down our throats is the opposite of compassion.
Yes we all were overcome with sleep!
Epistle Reading, Friday Nov. 16, 2012 Second Letter of St. John 4-9 New American Bible
“Many deceivers have gone into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh; such is the deceitful one and the antichrist. Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked for but may receive a full recompense. Anyone who is so “progressive” as not to remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.”
May He forgive us all.
The consequences of our stand will be that we will not be able to employ anyone in hospitals churches or schools. We can do this as a volunteer force. As a volunteer there would be no health insurance or employee taxes or regulations to apply. We also have the courts who on appeal may stand with the justice of the widow who pleaded for justice in the gospel. It is always darkest before the storm. In the meantime we need to plan and pray and pray for justice and pray some more. Our president, just like Henry VIII, and his policies can never win against God. I have faith that God will win.
Amen!!!!! Well said
Amen!!!!! Well said