SUNDAY HOMILY: The Happy Priest - Building a Culture of Life
the poor. There is no need. The poor are right here in your own country. In the third world, there is often a famine of the stomach due to the lack of food, but the people are rich in love. They share what little they have with one another. In developed nations like yours, there is an abundance of food. But there is often a famine of the heart due to a lack of love. The victims of this famine of love are the new poor. And who are these poor people? They are the people sitting next to you."
Why is there a famine of love in developed countries? The answer is simple and clear: we have become so selfish, and contraception causes a deep rooted selfishness in people.
Today, Americans tend to be so isolated and self-centered. Many talk feverishly on cell phones, but never stop to say hello to the person next to them. Many spend hours every evening with their friends on Facebook, but they have never said a word to the person living next door to them. Many are living in a narcissistic fantasy world, never having time for the children that they brought into this world.
In his encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, Blessed Pope John Paul II urged us to build a culture of life. Parents and the clergy need to teach young people about chastity. The intimate sexual life of a man and woman, which is a beautiful gift from God, only takes place within the beauty and sacredness of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
The Church is right when it declares that contraception is intrinsically evil and that it is gateway to the culture of death.
Chastity; sacramental marriage; openness to life: these are the key components of the culture of life and the key elements that we must teach, cherish and protect in our homes, in our schools and in our parishes.
As we approach another sad anniversary of Roe v Wade, let us continue to stand together at local abortion clinics with love. Yes, it is true that our God is an awesome God and that people do change. Let us continue to witness and to pray. Let us also continue our work at the homes for unwed mothers and the crisis pregnancy centers. Let us be witnesses of hope and joy.
There is never a need for abortion. There are plenty of people that will adopt any child.
The souls of more than 55,868,005 aborted children in this country alone since January 22, 1973, cry out to you never to cease with your efforts to end the horrors of abortion in our nation. Let us not forget. Let us not be discouraged.
Father James Farfaglia is a contributing writer for Catholic Online and author of Get Serious! - A Survival Guide for Serious Catholics. You can visit him on the web at www.fatherjames.org and listen to the audio podcast of this Sunday homily.
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Thanks for supporting the teachings on married love. We were helped to live them by John and Sheila Kippley whose legacy is at Natural Family Planning International. The fruit of it all is very sweet, unlike all the ills from contraception. Your #s of babies lost don't count all the chemical abortions from hormonal pills, patches, shots, rods, etcetera, do they? Mea culpa, we are guilty of those as well and I don't know how God holds back His mighty Hand from all those losses - His great Mercy I suppose. God bless your new Year, Pater.
The disease is with both sexes as far as abortion is concerned. No morals equals abortion. It is not fashionable to teach morals and responsibility anymore. Only the Catholic Church is still orthodox in these matters. No one wants to obey a moral code of ethics. As long as this is popular abortion will be very popular. Men don't want responsibility for a pregnant mother that is a problem for women so they abort. Sex is not a responsibility anymore it is a circus act and that makes abortion a reality. Abortion is a result of simply bad sexual habits. Love is restraint and then knowing when the time is right to become pregnant. Men should respect a woman's body a sacred and women should encourage men to keep their bodies as if they were temples of the Lord Our God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The fetus is only respected if the human body is,so both the bodies of the opposite sexes must be as sacred as the Eucharist,or the fetus can never be respected as a sacred living soul from conception to a natural death. Are we too far gone for this kind of teaching? If so abortion will continue to be a so called womans right to choose.
Excellent article. I am one the Catholics who stands infront of Planned Parenthood with signs and prayer. I'll admit that I felt discouraged after Obama was re-elected but I am reinvigorated to fight on and convert hearts and minds. I was encouraged to see a Bishop in Minnesota wage a vigorous campaign against Obama and the Party of Death and Deceit. The Health and Human Services Mandate has woken many Bishops and priests up from their slumber and are now starting to take notice. The American Catholic Bishops and clergy still have a ways to go until they become fully engaged with the evil that is facing us as a church.
Thank you. Your comments on cell phones and facebook were also accurate. In 2006, I returned my cell phone (in Asia, of all places) and felt liberated seeing it crushed (by law) as the company drove a spike through it and then the employee tossed it over her shoulder into the recycle-bin basket containing hundreds of them. I refuse to do facebook, have a cell phone, tweet, or do skype. In Tokyo, we have coffee shops and restaurants often filled with people seeing many youth all talking or text messaging someone 'out there' while almost nobody is conversing with one another around the table. The most simple thing to do, have a profound conversation, is practically lost in 2 generations! A typical reaction by many is to first be surprised when someone says hello to a stranger; almost immediately followed by a smile or expression of joy since so many are suffering urban isolation. All the kids and their mothers and fathers know who the Canuck in the apartment block is because I take time to say hello, greet people, and LISTEN to the stories of the little kids and elders (while their mothers smile that someone actually pays attention) while I am outside in my sports suit and ball cap having a cigarette. Furthermore, people cancel appointments on a moment's notice of emotion and feelings with the convenient accessibility now present. It's practically impossible to plan anything in advance with some, with a sentiment of confidence they will actually show up as agreed upon, and much of this has to do with a personality ethic rooted in narcisstic emoting, feel-good, irresponsible smiles with no substance cult-ure. Essentially, it's the many millions of lunatics who thought that the arrival of Obama would somehow shift the earth's rotational axis a few degrees because of their non critical character-less herd-like pop cult-ure run with the herd emotions. (not mentalities, since most of them can no longer think critically!) All the fools who thought the Mayan calendar would see all sorts of big changes. All of these crystal ball gazers who can't predict the next 24 hours, let alone the next 10 or 100 years! By precisely how many points will the NYSE go up or down, and why, in 19 days from now? Where will the next big earthquake be, what will the magnitude be, the precise location and depth, and how much damage will it cause? And if someone wishes to predict, let them place their entire savings account on the line and give it all away to charity if they are wrong or spend 5 years in jail for being arrogant and stupid for trying to manipulate innocent people and add fuel to the already sensationalistic garbage level journalism we have in many present day societies. Journalism? Most of it is propaganda, fear mongering, sensationalism, and we are lucky if even half the alleged facts reported are somewhat true. Meanwhile, some twit infront of the camera is practically screaming her head off because 5 snowflakes have fallen to the ground and it just might rain tomorrow! Oh boy! Put your tin hat on and take out that steel umbrella and wear that armored suit everywhere, because the whole world is out to get us. (even though they don't know us). And if people are so afraid of the boogey-man, what are they doing putting their pictures on facebook for the planet to see? It's like being afraid of the wolf, while having an open door policy with a piece of red meat hanging 5 feet inside the entrance with a sign on the door that little red riding hood wants a bed-time story. Why not advertise that a flock of sheep are serving coffee as well?
Paul-Emile Leray
Donohue-Levitt hypothesis suggests that an unwanted child is a potential criminal, a disputed judgement. So, what is the definition of an unwanted child?