The sermon from my parish priest which I quoted the other day continues to reverberate in the parish.
That Sunday I had many telephone calls from people, at first those wishing to condemn him, and then more from those who wanted to commend him to the Bishop for telling it like it is. I went to the regular 9 a.m. communion today (I can’t usually as I am at work, but as it is a holiday today, I could) and walked back with several friends. What is clear is that Father’s sermon has hit home. Even some of those who were upset by it have, after thinking about it, seen that he was right.
That set us to thinking over a cup or two of coffee. It is so easy not to say things which you know are going to cause offence. So often people get upset and say things like ‘but that’s not very loving and Christ as all about love.’ Yes, Christ certainly is all about love, but He is also about repentance as the road to true Christian love and unity with God.
If you see someone damaging themselves through sin – and remember, sin is always a choice you make, no one makes you sin – then where is the love in letting them continue and in saying nothing. How is that love? It is collusion, it is weakness and it is not very loving at all. No one likes to be told they are sinful or that what they are doing is sinning; but is it loving to refrain?
Father’s sermon was in the context of the continuing debate about same-sex marriage. He was pointing out that there are many types of sexual activity the Church says is sinful, and that by going on as we do only about homosexuals, we are missing not only two thirds of the sins, but more than two thirds of the sinners. He knows the parish well, and he is probably right if he says that for every one person here who is an active homosexual, there are a dozen who have fornicated or committed adultery, then he is probably right.
He was not upbraiding us, he was asking us to think about our own sins before condemning the sins of others; indeed he was reminding us that we often condemn the sins of others as a way of avoiding talking about our sins; that was why his words hit home. They were true, and we all knew it.
He was telling us, as he said this morning, that whilst gay sex is sinful, so is bigotry and hatred directed at gay people; indeed, so is all bigotry and hatred, including that directed at Christians by their enemies.
Christ’s way, he reminded us, is a hard one, and too hard for us by ourselves. He admitted he’d never quite managed to love those who hated him, and that far from offering the other cheek, he was more likely to offer both fists (he’s 6 foot tall and build like an athlete). He as not proud of that, but it was, he said, like Paul’s affliction – a thorn in his side to remind him of his own imperfections.
In this life we are, none of us, going to reach perfection – but we can all repent and try to do better through the help of Christ.
And that’s the whole of it. I suspect most of us after reflection, realize that as much as God loves us, he is God the Father, and will fulfill the obligation that the title implies. I is very much up to us to try to live up to His expectations, even knowing, as we do, that we will fall far short, relying upon His forgiveness to make the remainder of the difference.
And Bravo to your Parish, as well as Happy New Year to you and yours.
xx
Thank you dearest friend – and all the best for 2013 to you
xx
Thank you, dearest friend.
xx
I’ve worked with many women, not too many men as they’re too smart for therapy, who’ve had no unconditional love in infancy and precious little in childhood. The rest of their lives have been spent in rebellion to what they lacked that they end up in multiple abusive relationships. To that is often added cross addiction.
I once worked with a man who came from drunken physically abusive Irish parents, he was one of three boys. The father always made them go to Mass. He left home and the Church at 15, played professional sports, became a Marine and in Vietnam ended up inside China. Afterward, he studied and became a lawyer, joined a major US company ending up as VP of Marketing. He retired with millions and four marriages and two children. He was totally driven for success in all things….except love. He has absolutely no concept of what love is. It’s not surprising…he’s never had any.
This is of course true of all the women I’ve worked with.
At the end of the beginning of their therapy, for my part, I always give them the opportunity to re-connect themselves with the Infinite Love….as they perceive it. If they happen to be Catholic then I always encourage them to go to Confession.
Someone I know and have been trying to work with has a great load on his shoulders. In war he’s killed many people and there is extreme guilt. We are not a warrior nation. We are a Christian nation and as such we’ve been taught that killing is wrong and for him in particular, a sin. He is in great torment. He is one of my goals in 2013.
St. Therese said, “Life is not about great deeds, it’s about great love.”
Happy new year, Jess. For my sins, I am still a rabit, but I am not going to get too cross about it, nor blame God, nor ask everyone to abandon cherished institutions to accommodate me. Actually, that’s rather heroic, don’t you think? (But I must not get too proud.)
PS I was in Lisieux once for the feast of St Therese, with twenty nuns and brothers from the Beatitudes community.. We did Israeli folk dancing to confuse everyone in Lisieux. Marvellous. Boulangerie right next to the Carmelite convent. Best pain au chocolat in France.
I think it was very heroic, Mr R – I hope you and the donks have a lovely 2013 xx
I was reminded of this quote.
”One of the great triumphs of the nineteenth century was to limit the connotation of the word “immoral” in such a way that, for practical purposes, only those were immoral who drank too much or made too copious love. Those who indulged in any or all of the other deadly sins could look down in righteous indignation on the lascivious and the gluttonous…. In the name of all lechers and boozers I most solemnly protest against the invidious distinction made to our prejudice.”
Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves.
That is a very interesting quotation – thank you.