Link to Prof. Janet Smith's presentation "Contraception: Why Not?" http://catholicaudio.blogspot.com/2007/07/janet-smith-contraception-why-not.html
Link to USCCB resources on NFP: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/natural-family-planning/awareness-week/index.cfm
Today's homily:
Last week our readings spoke of prophets;
this week we speak of shepherds. One of
the finest shepherds, and prophets, around today in my opinion, is Father John Riccardo,
pastor of Our Lady of Good Council Church in Plymouth MI and a regular on
Catholic radio.
As I often do as I prepare to
preach, I listen to and read homilies from three, or six, or nine years ago,
just to get ideas and a sense of how others have preached on the same
readings. This past Monday I listened to
the podcast of Father John’s homily from three years ago this week, and
immediately called him up, asked him if I could “steal” that homily, and he
said “sure.” Now while this homily isn’t
the exact same, I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you I’m borrowing liberally from
his words.
As I said, this week we speak of
shepherds – Jesus looking with pity on the crowd who were like sheep without a
shepherd. Jeremiah’s stern warning to
those shepherds who would mislead and scatter the flock. And of course, the 23rd psalm –
the Lord is my shepherd.
Many of us are shepherds in one way
or another, huh? Certainly Father Joe
and our priests. Bishop Salvatore. Pope Francis. Parents – moms and dads tasked with
shepherding their little flock – keeping them safe, raising them rightly. Coaches, teachers, administrators, bosses –
all in a way shepherds.
And shepherding is a big
responsibility, huh? For when sheep
don’t have shepherds, one or more of three things happens – they get lost, or
scattered, or they get devoured!
As a parent for the last 26 years,
I’ve always felt the weight of this responsibility – that Pam and I have been
entrusted with the heavy responsibility of raising our three daughters to become
godly, faith-filled women living in a culture that has become anything but
godly. As they’ve grown, I’ve been able to relate to Our Lord’s feeling in this
Gospel – “moved with pity” – as they’ve gone out into the world. For it’s a frightening world – all sorts of pitfalls
and traps to lead a soul astray.
And when Bishop Clark laid his hands
on my head three years ago and ordained me a deacon, I took on an added
responsibility as shepherd –he gave me the privilege and awesome duty to stand
before you and preach – the responsibility to proclaim and teach our faith, the
responsibility to care for your souls!
In those three years I’ve also had
the privilege and responsibility of preparing a number of couples for marriage,
and I’ve met with a number of individuals and couples on the other side of
their wedding day, facing difficulties, impending breakup, or putting their
lives back together after divorce. It’s
dawned on me that few things have left as many of us wounded, lost or scattered
as both a lack of understanding of, or an all-out attack against what I would
call simply biblical sexual morality.
There’re two things which have
brought this about, I think. The first
is simply a reluctance of shepherds - to teach, to pasture their flocks – not
just clerics but all of us who share in the task of shepherding.
The other part that’s left a trail
of wreckage which so many experience has been the increasing volume of the
voice of false, lying shepherds, who promise euphoria and liberation if we
would just throw off all the restraints which are found in God’s word.
Next Saturday, July 25, marks the 47th
anniversary of a letter written by a good shepherd, one not reluctant to teach,
one who was moved with great love for his flock to speak about an issue which
at that time, 1968, was just beginning to cause unrest and confusion in our
culture.
We know that shepherd today as
Blessed Pope Paul VI, and the letter was called Humanae Vitae, or in English
“On Human Life.” It’s one of those documents of the Church which is
unfortunately read by very few people, but which would profit many of us greatly.
Humanae Vitae reaffirmed the
Church’s constant teaching from the very beginning as to why contraception is
harmful to married love, and in fact reduces what God intended to be an act of
total self-giving to a lie, whereby though the bodies are saying everything I
have is yours, in fact, because of what’s being practiced, that’s not true.
In our culture, contraception is
presented by the media as a Catholic hangup.
Few are aware that all orthodox Christians, virtually without exception,
until 1930, taught and believed that contraception was intrinsically evil and
harmful to married love. It wasn’t until
1930 that the Anglicans voted to allow it but even then in only certain
circumstances and only for husbands and wives dealing with very particular issues.
Martin Luther taught that it was
intrinsically evil. So did John Calvin
and John Wesley. All the reformers
taught the same. Many of us are
surprised to learn that people as diverse as Freud, Teddy Roosevelt and Gandhi
taught the same thing.
Now we might sit here and say yeah
but a lot of bright people used to think the world was flat but we’ve arrived
at some data which has proven otherwise.
But I’m afraid we don’t have any
data like that with regards to the so-called sexual revolution. In fact, the
data just are overwhelmingly in favor of what God in His word has always taught
us.
Paul VI in Humanae Vitae prophesied
four things if in fact contraception was to be widely embraced:
First, there would be an increase in
infidelity within marriage.
Second, there would be a general
lowering of morality and moral standards especially among youth.
Third, men would more greatly
objectify and degrade women, seeing them more and more simply as an object for
pleasure.
And fourth, governments would use
contraception in coercive ways.
Now - can anybody reasonably
challenge the prophecy of those predictions?
The reality of the sexual revolution
is we don’t have more euphoria, more happiness or even liberation. We don’t
have better relationships between men and women. We don’t have stronger marriages. There’s no doubt an increase in sexual
immorality. We have an increase in
STDs. In unwanted pregnancies.
In an endless pursuit of pleasure, we
have completely divorced sexual intimacy from its God-ordained purpose, that
being the co-creation with God of new human life.
Perhaps most disturbing, we have
come to trivialize abortion, which is simply backup contraception. The research arm of Planned Parenthood
acknowledges that more than half of all the women who come in for abortion are
on contraceptives at the time of their pregnancy.
Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate! Maybe it’s time to try God’s way. Maybe
it’s time to ask for help.
The Gospel is good news - not just
with regards to heaven. It’s good news
with regards to now. God has a
plan for us. And the most tragic result
of the fall, after the separation between us and God, has been the increase in
division between men and women. What St.
Paul refers to in our second reading as a “wall of division” which exists on
many fronts but perhaps most thickly between men and women. Ever since the
fall, men have more and more objectified women, and women have more and more
allowed themselves to be objectified.
But God gives grace to heal
that. He gives us strength to overcome
the temptations that we all have to objectify each other, to reduce each other,
to use each other, so that in fact we can love each other, pour our lives out
for each other, be sincere in our relationships with each other, which will
then, in fact, lead to real happiness.
So - what can we do on a day like
today?
Five ideas:
First, just step back. Look around at the wreckage of our
culture. Look at all of the lives, all
of our lives, which have been chewed up, scattered, lost, wounded, as a result
of not understanding what it is that the Lord teaches us in His word with
regards to sexuality.
Second, study, read, learn. As a start, I’d suggest a talk by Professor
Janet Smith entitled “Contraception- Why not?” It’s available free on
youtube. I can’t encourage all of us
enough, especially for those of us who’ve never taken the time to understand or
learn or listen why the Church teaches what she teaches on this, to take the
time, with an open mind, to read, study and learn.
Third – just repent. Say to the Lord, “Lord, I don’t
understand. I have a mind distorted with
regards to sexuality. Make me see rightly.” It’s impossible to live in this
culture and not have a distorted understanding of sex. Everything around us tells the lie that it’s all
about pleasure.
Fourth – consider godly alternatives
to contraception in regulating the size of our families. Pope Francis recently said that we’re not
obliged to have large families. Our U.S.
bishops named this week National Natural Family Planning Awareness week, and
there are all kinds of resources available about NFP on the US bishops’
website.
And lastly, ask for God’s grace,
especially for those of us who are married. Just as when Father Joe raises the bread and
wine and they will become the Body and Blood of Christ, so when we who are
married were blessed in Church and a hand was extended over us something
happened, we were changed. God gave us grace!
Strength. To do what He’s asking us to
do. That means we’re not alone, we’re
not on our own, we can call on Him for help.
Help so we can overcome the
temptation to use. So that instead we
can give, sincerely. Pour our lives out,
sincerely. Lay down our lives for each
other, sincerely. And in the process,
help to rebuild a culture that is scattered, lost, and very deeply wounded.
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