Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th Lk. 9: 18-22 “The Son of Man must suffer greatly.”
- Contemplate this scene from the disciples’ point of view. Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter replies, “The Christ of God.” He identifies Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed one of God! The one they have been waiting and praying for!
- Hearing Peter’s profession of faith bolsters the confidence of the rest. We can imagine them thinking, “Surely he is the Messiah. He will triumph and we will triumph with him!”
- How shocking then to hear Jesus’ next words: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
- At the Last Supper, Jesus tells them: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Then He tells them, and us, to do likewise.
- On this we will be judged! “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”
- “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
- “Then the King will say to those on His left – those who failed to do these works of mercy: Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Mt. 25: 31-46)
- Let us make a striking parallel to “the least of these” in today’s world. The baby who is the victim of an abortion – an intentional killing of a child in the womb. “I was hungry and you refused to feed me, I was thirsty and you refused to give me drink, I was a like a stranger to you and you refused to take me in, I needed clothes and you refused to clothe me, I was sick and you refused to care for me, I was in the prison of the womb and you refused to visit me. You said you didn’t know me.”
- With the elections approaching, it is time to revisit the Catholic Voting Guide on the Five Non-negotiables.
THE FIVE NON-NEGOTIABLES AND VOTING by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
As the most critical day of the Presidential election quickly approaches the first week of November, we must have clear, Catholic-Christian convictions in casting our votes.
As priest, it is not my duty to suggest any political party whatsoever. This is not my responsibility. However, speaking out on the morality of politics and what should motivate our choice of elected officials is the duty of the priest.
Therefore, in this short article, we would like to highlight five basic criteria as a guide to help all of us to cast our vote and exercise our civic duty and responsibility. The five basic criteria can be defined as the Five Non-negotiables for Catholic-Christian Voting.
By the terminology, the Five Non-negotiables for Catholic-Christian Voting, is meant the following: some decisions and actions are intrinsically evil. That is to say, the very essence of their being is wrong, immoral, sinful, and displeasing to God, the Author and Determiner of all that is good.
This being said, strive to be informed on these key issues. As a reference tool you might consult the Pro-life website: “Priestsforlife.org”—the President, Fr. Frank Pavone. This superb website will serve as an invaluable source to help you cast your vote according to Catholic-Christian criteria.
Now let us present in a clear, cogent, and precise manner these Five Non-negotiables.
THE FIVE NON-NEGOTIABLES FOR CATHOLIC-CHRISTIAN VOTING.
1. ABORTION. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the key moral topic of abortion is by far the most important topic in choosing elected officials. Every human person is created in the image and likeness of God and has inalienable rights: that of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Human life comes from God—the origin, author, and sustainer of all life. Human life starts at the very moment of conception and has more value than the whole created universe, according to Aquinas. Check out what is each candidate’s position on abortion. None of us should be accomplices in promoting abortion, the killing of innocent human beings, by voting and supporting officials who promote murdering, worse yet, the most vulnerable, innocent and defenseless—the unborn babies in the womb.
2. EUTHANASIA. On the other side of the spectrum is that of Euthanasia. A philosophy motivated by a materialistic, hedonistic, utilitarian, erroneous system, this posits that the elderly or the terminally ill can truncate their life with lethal injections. In other words, the elderly and sick, in conjunction and collaboration with their relatives, and of course supported by the Medical Community, can decide when to end their life. Once again, we must oppose any political system and candidate who promotes the killing of the elderly and the infirm. Why? For the simple reason that God initiates life at the moment of conception in the womb of the mother and God ends life when, how, and in the manner He best sees fit. In the words of the Book of Job: “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I return to the earth. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)
3. CONTRACEPTION. The next criteria in casting our vote is that of the promotion and use of any form of artificial Contraception. In the Magisterial teaching of the Church, most specifically Saint Pope Paul VI in his Encyclical Humanae Vitae, the Holy Pontiff teaches with utmost clarity that every conjugal act between man and woman must be open to the possibility of life. Therefore, use of any form of artificial means of contraception is intrinsically disordered—by its very nature and essence it is evil, sinful, and very displeasing to God. In fact, the first command of God in the Bible was: “Increase and multiply!” (Gen 1:28)
4. THE PRACTICE OF HOMOSEXUALITY (AND TRANSGENDERISM). Never have we lived in a world with so much information as today. However, at the same time, never have we lived in a world with so much confusion. We live in a perpetual state of “The Tower of Babel”—confusion to the max has permeated the total moral landscape. One of the key elements of confusion and error is the interpretation of the human person. God created the human person in His image and likeness. However, this must be emphasized to the highest degree possible: God created male and female, man and woman. The very first Book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis states this unequivocally, with the utmost clarity: “God created them male and female. Therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and he will be united to his wife.” (Gn.1:27; Gn.2:24) Jesus quotes this in Mt. 19:4-6: “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
If you like, God created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve! The utter confusion and blurring of sexual distinction and identity is a diabolic poison that presently is spreading like wildfire. Indeed, the allowance and promotion of Homosexuality and the LGBT (Abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) agenda can end up by ruining the very foundation of human society—eating away at and eventually destroying the family. The traditional family is the husband and wife (male and female) married sacramentally in the Church in mutual love and open to the procreation and formation of children.
5. ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION AND EMBRYONIC RESEARCH. The last of the Five Non-negotiables is that of Artificial Fertilization and Embryonic Research. By Artificial Fertilization is meant that a man donates sperm and a woman donates multiple eggs (produced through artificial hormone stimulation of her ovaries). The laboratory clinicians combine the eggs with the sperm resulting in multiple embryos (new human beings) who are nourished in the laboratory in a petri (glass) dish. Some of these zygotes (little babies) are transferred to the body of the Mother (or even a surrogate Mother) with the hope that at least one will survive, although sometimes multiple survive. The other zygotes (little babies) are stored in a super-cooled freezer in case the initial attempt fails; some of these little babies die in that process. At the same time, the Father and Mother can decide at any time to simply have them discarded or allow them to be used for Embryonic Research. Once again this is horrendous and another form of murder – the killing of the innocent.
Embryonic Research, generally referred to as Embryonic Stem Cell Research. The Church’s objection is expressed in Donum Vitae (1987) No. 4, paragraph 29:
“If the embryos are living, whether viable or not, they must be respected just like any other human person; experimentation on embryos which is not directly therapeutic is illicit.”
Furthermore, from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, 1987:
“No objective, even though noble in itself, such as a foreseeable advantage to science, to other human beings or to society, can in any way justify experimentation on living human embryos or fetuses, whether viable or not, either inside or outside the mother’s womb.”
In 2008, the instruction Dignitas Personae was released as a supplement to address newer bio-ethical issues and technologies.
IN CONCLUSION:
Morally speaking, the only permissible way in which a person should come into the world is through the marital embrace of husband and wife in the context of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. We cannot play God by determining how life starts, when it should be ended, and the manner in which it ends. Only God has the right to bring a new human being into existence, and determine the time and the place for that person to die and face the Judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My friends in Christ, for the love of your country, for the love of God, for the love of your children, for the love of your teens, for the love of your family, for the sake of your own eternal salvation, please take into account THE FIVE NON-NEGOTIABLES in choosing the future leaders of our country, the future leaders of the world. Remember: “Every individual is created in the image and likeness of God and has inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” May we follow these guidelines and experience true happiness in this life and in Heaven for all eternity!
Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
