“…His heart was moved with pity for them, for
they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many
things.”
When He ascended to the Father, Our Blessed
Lord, in His infinite goodness, left behind a Church - led by twelve Apostles
(which we know today as bishops) and He appointed one Apostle as the preeminent
apostle. That was, of course, Peter, who
became Bishop of Rome, and whom we know as our first Pope.
You see, just as in today’s Gospel, Our Lord
saw the need for the people to have a shepherd, and so entrusted the care of
all of us to shepherds to this day. We
have our local shepherd, Salvatore, and we have our preeminent shepherd,
Francis.
The job, the mission, of the bishops and the Holy
Father is simple in concept but what an awesome responsibility – to safeguard
the Faith handed down over the centuries in Word and Tradition, and to boldly
teach that Faith – to lead the sheep to the eternal Shepherd.
This coming October, we will celebrate the canonization,
Pope Francis will declare a “saint” - of a great shepherd, Blessed Pope Paul
VI, the very first pope I can remember as a kid, who will then be known as
Saint Paul VI. Paul VI was elected in
1963 upon the death of John XXIII, who was canonized along with Pope John Paul
II four years ago.
Even though John XXIII usually gets credit for
calling the second Vatican Council, his call to “throw open the windows of the
Church and let the fresh air of the Spirit blow through,” it was Paul VI who
presided over almost the entire length of the Council, which lasted from late
1962 (just months before John died) until 1965.
But what is Paul best known for? Best remembered by?
Something we will remember, and yes celebrate
this week. For this Wednesday marks the
fiftieth anniversary of Paul’s best-known work the encyclical Humanae Vitae, or
“Human Life.”
It was 1968, a year I’m old enough to remember
well. A turbulent year, a turbulent
time. Here in the U.S. Martin Luther
King assassinated. Bobby Kennedy assassinated. Riots in Chicago. And the “sexual revolution” was in full
force.
That sexual revolution could be traced, in part
at least, to the more and more widespread acceptance of artificial
contraception, and John XXIII decided to establish (and Paul then expanded) a
Papal Commission on Birth Control. The
Church had always held that artificial contraception was gravely sinful – in
fact until beginning in 1930, all Christian religions taught the same thing.
But the “times they were a changin’” so the
Holy Father thought it best to examine the issue and this Commission was
established. And the Commission came
back recommending that Holy Mother Church change her mind on this issue.
But to the surprise of many, the shepherd Paul
VI, said “no.” The Holy Father, in Humanae Vitae, said NO to changing the
Church’s consistent teaching – NO to artificial contraception. History remembers this as a big NO.
But what he really said was “yes” – YES to
God’s plan for human sexuality, YES to remembering and teaching the intrinsic
link between the sexual act and the co-creation with God of new human life.
YES to remembering the seriousness of the great
gift of our sexuality. The first
sentence of this great encyclical, translated into English, reads “The
transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people
collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator.”
The sexual act, after all, was invented by God,
the very way in which He creates new children of God! It doesn’t get any more serious, or sacred,
than that!
Tragically, Humanae Vitae was and has been
largely ignored and even rejected, certainly by an increasingly secular and
even hedonistic western culture, and even by many or maybe most within the
Church – clerics and married couples alike.
Which is, if you ask me, very sad. For this document, if you take time to read
it fifty years later, was profound and even prophetic. We’ve been reading of the Old Testament
prophets these last three weeks – Ezekiel, then Amos, now Jeremiah. I dare say Paul VI was a prophet. He told us fifty years ago what would happen
if artificial contraception were to become generally accepted.
And what were his prophecies?
There were four - that contraception would lead
to an increase in marital infidelity, that contraception would lead to a
general lowering of morality, that Contraception would lead men to cease
respecting woman in their totality and would cause them to treat women as “mere
instruments of selfish enjoyment” rather than as cherished partners, and that
widespread acceptance of contraception by couples would lead to a massive
imposition of contraception by unscrupulous governments.
Each of these prophecies, it cannot be denied,
has come to pass, even the last, as certain countries have forced sterilization
and even abortion on their populations.
But what about what Paul didn’t foresee,
didn’t’ prophesy?
That widespread acceptance of contraception
would eventually lead to a widespread disordered understanding of human
sexuality. That sex would come to be
seen completely removed from its God-given purpose – the transmission of human
life. Are any of us completely immune
from this understanding, so prevalent in our culture today?
And the fruits of this disordered
understanding? Some include the scourge of legal abortion, which is after all
generally “backup contraception.” The epidemic
of pornography. A widespread and
increasing acceptance of same-sex sexual relationships. A rejection of the belief that God created us
male and female, even acceptance of the idea that we can somehow select our
gender. Even entire nations contracepting themselves out of existence. Blessed
Paul’s native Italy, for instance, has a birth rate far below replacement
level.
All of these things would be impossible to even
imagine if it weren’t for the notion that sex can be divorced from its
God-designed purpose – the creation of new life. A notion that was once unthinkable. A notion now ingrained in our culture and
ways of thinking.
What’s our takeaway, then, fifty years
hence?
First, I think we owe it to ourselves, our
Church and the Lord that we take another look – and reconsider - the prophetic
teaching of this great encyclical Humanae Vitae. That we reconsider all the ways our thinking
and beliefs have been formed by “this world” rather than in conformity to God’s
plan.
If our beliefs, behaviors and even lives have
strayed from God’s plan that we beg His mercy.
And beg His grace to re-form our beliefs and understanding of sexuality
to conform to His. God, please - help me
to see rightly
And that we ask for His power and strength to
teach and proclaim His truth against a culture increasingly hostile to it.
Blessed Paul VI, please pray for us.
