The gospel passage for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time forces us to come to grips with a somber, sad reality: some of Jesus’ disciples, in any epoch, become selective and refuse to abide by those words of life with which they disagree. It is a repeat of what we see described here as the first case of “cafeteria or smorgasbord Catholics.”
Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:60) … As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. (John 6:66)
While Jesus’ words of life cannot change over time, during 20 plus centuries, also the spirit of contestation or rejection of them has remained the same, changing only in emphasis about different moral and/or dogmatic issues. Some of what Jesus says directly, or through his Church, to whom he has bestowed the authority to teach in his name, is misunderstood, rejected, contested, twisted, given a spin rather than embraced wholeheartedly and carried out by all Catholics.
Before continuing with our reflection, let me state two crucial tenets lest someone wiggles away from the Truth. The teaching authority of the Church is called Magisterium, and it is made up of the bishops, the true successors of the first twelve disciples.
Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” (Luke 10:16)
Furthermore, in 1 Timothy 3:15, the Holy Scripture reveals to us that the Catholic Church, the one who faithfully handed down to future generations God’s words of life in written form, is the pillar and foundation of Truth.
And now, let me dwell on two of the “hottest” topics in our time which contrast with the words of life about the proper use of the tremendous gift of sexuality and the sacredness of life from fertilization to natural death. It should not be surprising that the Lord of life, always offering us words of life, entrusts humanity with the tremendous gift of sexuality for the continuation of human life (“be fertile, multiply” Genesis 1:22) in the best possible setting. Thus, faithful to the Lord of life, the Church, i.e., the pillar and foundation of the Truth, holds that the use of sexuality is holy and blessed by our Creator God only in the union of one man and one woman bound to each other by a covenant of faithfulness and always open to the possibility of the creation of a new life.
Any other use of the gift of sex is against God’s will and God’s design for humanity. God’s will and design is very simple and very clear. In stark contrast, nowadays, the prevalent view on sexuality and life is beyond superficial and mindless; it is from amoral to immoral, going fast down the path to barrenness and death. It shouts: “This is the 21st century! Who can see anything wrong with artificial contraception? With alternative lifestyles? And, of course, who can disagree that abortion is necessary, especially in cases of rape or incest?”
Alas, an ever-growing segment of western society is living aimlessly without the guidance of any principle. Hence, if anything goes; if people can make up their own code of ethics; if there is no absolute truth; if there are no guiding principles, life according to God’s plan is forced to contend with the culture of death; it is attacked by those driven by selfishness and godless ideologies and it is ruled by those who can impose their secular will on the rest.
In such a crass world, what is there to live and to work for, to look forward to, to make sacrifices for? Think about this: why are so many teenagers and young people taking their life? What are the ideals, and the goals proposed by the world for which they should strive?
Allow me to tell you how far down the slippery slope of immorality we have slid: practically all concur that abortion is warranted in case of rape and incest. But is a child conceived under these horrific and most tragic circumstances less human? Has he/she become worthless and, thus, to be excised as a mass of unwanted tissue without anesthetic?
And, let me force you to dwell on something that nobody seems to consider an ethical issue anymore: abortion to save the life of the mother. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has no exceptions, not even to save the life of the mother! The truth is that both mother and child can be saved, but it is cheaper and more convenient to kill the baby.
My dear fellow disciples of Christ, we must apply the moral breaks to a full stop. Do you see how the secular world has slowly, but relentlessly, eroded the value of human life and offered us a new set of non-values at both ends of each lifespan? According to God’s plan, life requires protection, sacrifices, generous self-giving, joyous self-inconveniencing. The culture of death counterbalances with self-interest, profit, pleasure, and uncommitted cold personal convenience.
In this struggle for life, innocent babies are dismembered, our youth are robbed of ideals and the elderly are made feel useless and a burden to society. The longer we remain uncommitted by the sidelines of life, the more Jesus’ words of life would fall on deaf ears, while selfishness and convenience will help the culture of death get a firmer grip on this world. The Lord’s mercy is infinite, we can count on that. But he made us free. So, we can choose to let things be as they are and put off thinking about what to answer to God on Judgment Day.
Personally, I invite all of us to join Simon Peter, the first pope to say: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69) and sacrifice ourselves joyfully by doing all we can for the culture of life to prevail.
