We face a tremendously challenging time to be Catholics in the West: our civilization is under attack by forces from within and without.  Human life is held in contempt by some while others are indifferent.  Catholics in political life have caused public scandal by endorsing pro-abortion candidates and even attempting to instruct the Church on her beliefs.  In voting for and endorsing “pro-choice” candidates for office, they ignored the instructions of the Holy Father and over 120 American bishops.  Liturgy is often abused past the point of recognition and the symbols of our faith (not to mention our actual beliefs) are derided and physically attacked.  In this year alone, there have been multiple public acts of sacrilege against the Blessed Sacrament.

We have work to do.  A lot of it.

I’m a man of action as well as prayer, ora et labora, so permit me to leave you with a proposed ”action plan”.  I leave this proposal with you not as an attempt to hold myself up as some sort of role model — Lord knows I am a sinner in need of redemption — but with the hope that my words can be of some inspiration to you.  Call it a “Seven Part Field Order.”

First, worship honestly and authentically.  The Holy Mass is the most sublime and wonderful act we can participate in this side of heaven.  Go to Holy Mass every Sunday, and every Holy Day of Obligation.  Remember, it is not ours to adjust, add to, or take away from.  A plea to our priests: as Fr John Zuhlsdorf says, “Say the Black, do the Red.”  The Mass is not yours; it is Christ’s.  A plea to the faithful: participate with your hearts and leave the hand-holding and folk music to other venues.

Second, read Sacred Scripture.  The Bible is a Catholic book; it was assembled by the Church, and she reveres it because it is the Word of God.  As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

Third, go to Confession… often.  The Holy Father receives the Sacrament of Reconciliation weekly; surely we can muster the will to go more than once a year.  May God forbid us from presenting ourselves at the Altar for Holy Communion without being spiritually ready to receive Jesus Christ.

Fourth, study our Catholic Faith and live it.  I love being a Catholic because everything fits together so perfectly.  I am not required to go through any mental gymnastics to reconcile Catholic beliefs and practices with reason and logic.  In short, it all makes sense.  If something doesn’t make sense to you, rest assured it does make sense — seek out the answer until you’re satisfied.

Fifth, evangelize the baptized and unbaptized alike.  Speak the truth in charity, but speak the truth.  All of us are called to be Christ’s “witnesses to all the world;” don’t let Him down.  Invite someone to Holy Mass, start a Bible study, keep a stack of tracts in your car or purse, be ready to explain the Catholic faith when challenged.  Be kind, be gentle, but tell them about Christ and His Church!

Sixth, be involved in society and refuse to give in to cultural attack.  The “spiritual and cultural anarchists” who want abortion “rights”, attack marriage by advocating homosexual “marriage”, want to grow human beings just so they can be dissected for parts (embryonic stem cell research), and peddle the smut that passes for popular culture count on your silence.  Challenge them by not being silent: write letters to the editor, put up YouTube vids, blog, plurk, twitter.  What ever it takes, never surrender the public square to people who want to shout you down.

Seventh, in the words of Our Lady: “Pray, pray, pray little children!”  Ground yourself in prayer, and pray and fast for conversion and holiness for yourselves, your family, our priests, our bishops, and our political leaders.  Don’t forget that Fridays, all Fridays, are penitential days.

Lastly, the March for Life in Washington, DC is 24 January 2009, two days after the Inauguration of President Obama.  It’s a perfect opportunity to show the world that America loves life — women and children, all of them.

Meet me on the Mall.  We have work to do.

Several discussions with fellow students about abortion, and it was clear that my arguments were unpersuasive.  The economic news is not improving and I watched helplessly while my retirement savings and my kids’ college fund dwindled in value daily.  Hard to read the political news because at every turn there seems to be more and more vilification and trivialization of the values I share with the candidates I support.

Then came Friday afternoon… after an inconclusive skirmish in the Culture Wars with a fellow student on abortion, after which I was forced to withdraw and return to my “winter quarters,” I headed for home.  (Okay… my carpool was leaving and 40 miles is a long walk).  The morning that had begun with such beautiful red skies had gotten colder and greyer.  I was in what can only be described as a grey mood.  Then I walked in the door and to my own ray of sunshine.

There on the floor, my dear wife was finishing up my daughter’s marshmallow costume for Halloween, and watching the classic 1968 film “Yours, Mine, and Ours,” the original one with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball.  One warm grilled cheese sandwich, a few smiles from my bride of 21 years, and a few dozen deadpan Henry Fonda quips later I was feeling better.  The grey world outside the door of my home seemed a little farther away.

Then came the speech I had suffered all week long to hear, I just didn’t know it.  Near the end of the film, one of the daughters is distraught because her boyfriend is pressuring her to have sex.  “He says if I love him…” she tells her father.  As Frank (Henry Fonda) is carefully walking Helen (Lucille Ball), his pregnant wife, toward the car, he delivers the speech that saved my Friday:

“I’ve got a message for Larry. You tell him that this is what it’s all about. This is the real happening. If you wanna know what love really is, take a look around you. Take a good look at your mother.”

Helen says “Not now!”

“Yes, now,” our hero continues. “It’s giving life that counts. Until you’re ready for it, all the rest is just a big fraud. All the crazy haircuts in the world won’t keep it turning. Life isn’t a love-in, it’s the dishes, and the orthodontist, and the shoe repairman, and ground round instead of roast beef.

“And I’ll tell you something else. It isn’t going to bed with a man that proves you’re in love with him, it’s waking up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful, everyday world with him that counts.”

Walking down the front steps, he says, “I suppose having nineteen kids is carrying it a bit too far, but if we had it to do over, who would we skip… you?”

You see, it is life that matters.  Life that grows, that “finds a way” to quote another movie.  Life is precious and beautiful, each and every one.  Every human being.

In less than two weeks, Americans will go to the polls to elect senators, congressmen, judges, council members, administrators, and a president. 

There are stark choices in this election.  Vote, by all means, but don’t vote based on your pocketbook, a pretty face, or a good speech.  Choose life, it’s what matters most.  As the good Bishop of Scanton, PA said about voting as if abortion was just one of many issues, “This is madness, people.”

Henry Fonda saved my Friday.  Let the message that life is precious and takes first priority save some lives with your vote.

So this morning’s question is, “what does the Church teach about economics?”  The Catechism of the Catholic Church has an entire section entitled “Economic Activity and Social Justice” where this is discussed.  The Catechism begins:

The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community. Economic activity, conducted according to its own proper methods, is to be exercised within the limits of the moral order, in keeping with social justice so as to correspond to God’s plan for man (#2426).

Here the Catechism points out what my fifth grade catechism class knows: we are not slaves to money.  The message of the Church is precisely the opposite of Michael Douglas’ famous line from the 1987 movie Wall Street, “Greed is good”. 

Of course, the Church is no fan of socialism either: “The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with “communism” or “socialism.” She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of “capitalism,” individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor” (Catechism, #2425).

So, where are we so far, “socialism” (aka “communism” or ”Marxism”) — where the State is in the business of re-distributing wealth and eliminating the market — is “right out”, as Monty Python would have said.  Likewise, a capitalistic system where the worker is exploited and the market left completely to the law of the jungle doesn’t fit in with Catholic Social Teaching either.  So what’s left and what’s right (pun intended)?

The Church always prefers freedom over restraint.  She favors a free market system with appropriate regulation that safeguards the dignity of the individual and the family, yet allows for the free exercise of trade.  ”Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended” (Catechism, #2425).

The Catechism continues,

“Economic activity, especially the activity of a market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical, or political vacuum. On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. Hence the principal task of the state is to guarantee this security, so that those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their labors and thus feel encouraged to work efficiently and honestly. . . . Another task of the state is that of overseeing and directing the exercise of human rights in the economic sector. However, primary responsibility in this area belongs not to the state but to individuals and to the various groups and associations which make up society” (#2431).

Note the last sentence…the primary responsibility…belongs not to the state but individuals… Government should do what government must, but only what it must.  The individual, and by extension the family, have the first responsibility for acting in society.

Ok, so what did we learn?

Neither socialism nor unfettered capitalism are consistent with Catholic Social Teaching; and the individual and the family have the first responsibility to enact social justice and economic justice in society.  The state is not to be in the business of controlling the economy by excessively removing freedom…and the economy should serve society not vice versa.

As we near the elections this November, that’s a good thought to reflect upon.

I once had a discussion with a person who insisted that Our Divine Lord spoke only Hebrew.  The conversation had begun centered around the word “rock” in St Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 16:18), but quickly devolved into a debate about ancient languages.  My friend held that the word “rock” couldn’t possibly refer to St. Peter because the Gospel was written in Greek, and the Greek words used in that passage are “petros” and “petra,” which mean “rock” and “small rock,” respectively.  I pointed out that Jesus didn’t speak Greek, He spoke Aramaic, and the Aramaic word for rock is “kepha,” which means “big rock” or “boulder.”

My friend was thunderstruck, he had never considered that a Jew in that time would speak any other language but Hebrew.

By the time Christ arrived on the scene, the Jewish people had been through a series of calamities that fundamentally altered their society.  The Jewish state, Judah, was a rump of Israel’s former glory under King David, having been invaded and imprisoned a number of times by the Persians, the Greeks, the Assyrians, and the Romans.  During the Babylonian Exile and the subsequent occupation by the Assyrians (700-330 BC), the Imperial Language of Aramaic became the common language of the Jews.  In fact, the books of Ezra and Daniel were written in Aramaic.  Similar to the way that the Church’s official language is Latin even today, the Rabbis and Temple officials maintained the Hebrew language of worship and the Scriptures, but the people spoke Aramaic in their daily lives.

The linguistic patchwork of first century Judea was complicated by two more civilizations…Greek and Roman.  Greek was the common language used by the Roman elites in the conduct of business in the Empire.  Latin, of course, was the official language of the Empire spoken by Roman officials and military forces, as well as the Roman citizens.

History aside, how do we know from the Scriptures that Christ spoke Aramaic?  Simple.  In several places He is quoted speaking Aramaic.  In St. Matthew’s and St. Mark’s Gospels, some of Christ’s words are rendered in the language the people spoke.  “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (Mt 27:46, Mk 15:34), “Talitha cuom”  (Mk 8:41), and “Ephphatha” (Mk 7:34) are all Aramaic phrases.  Even the word “Abba” which Christ uses often to refer to the Father is the Aramaic word roughly translated as “Daddy.”  Incidentally, the Arabic word “Abu” has the same meaning… so “Abu Sulieman” means “Father of Solomon.”

Why is all this language study important to defense of the Faith?  Just this: properly translating the Scriptures leads to proper interpretations.  For example, when the “brothers of Jesus” are referred to in Scripture, it’s important to know that they are cousins, not children of Mary.  We know this because Aramaic has no word for “cousin” and Semitic cultures usually consider all male relatives as “brother” or “uncle.”  In fact, not to refer to a male relative as “brother” or “father” or “uncle” is a way of distancing oneself from them.  If we try to go with the English word, or even the Greek one, then we run the risk of drawing the wrong conclusion from the word “brother” or “rock,” and that weakens our personal understanding of the faith.

The Church recognizes the need for linguistic variety in her worship.  It’s also a reason the Latin Rite uses Aramaic (Amen), Greek (Kyrie), Latin (Sanctus, Gloria, Angus Dei), and the vernacular (mostly English or Spanish in the USA) during Holy Mass.  Words have power and real meaning…how else could we believe what someone tells us if words do not mean real ideas?

So the language Jesus Christ spoke on earth is important, both for our heads and our hearts.  If words were not important, then the Father wouldn’t have spoken the Eternal Word.  We are thankful He did.

In our post-modern, almost post-Christian age, Christians are confronted often with the charge that we’re hypocrites when we can’t live up to our own standards.  This past week some have attacked Sarah Palin for her daughter’s pregnancy as “proof” that Christians live a “do as I say, not as I do” life.

Without diving down a partisan rabbit hole — I’m not here to be an apologist for Governor Palin – I’d like to talk about what hypocrisy is and what it is not. Dictionary.com defines it as: “a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.”  Does this definition apply to someone who professes a belief in chastity and then gets pregnant out of wedlock?  The answer is, of course, “it depends”…it depends wholly on the heart of the person in question.

Here’s the key: a Christian should recognize his own dependence upon Christ for the grace to overcome our fallen nature in order to follow Him.  As Catholics we know from Scripture that “baptism now saves you,” (1 Pt 3:21), but our free will means that we remain wounded by Original Sin in a condition called concupiscence.  That’s a fancy theological term that describes the human inclination toward sin, even in the presence of grace.  In short, the Father wants us to love Him as our free choice, but that freedom also means we can choose to disobey.

The Catechism speaks of this condition in paragraph 408: The consequences of original sin and of all men’s personal sins put the world as a whole in the sinful condition aptly described in St. John’s expression, “the sin of the world”. This expression can also refer to the negative influence exerted on people by communal situations and social structures that are the fruit of men’s sins.

You don’t have to look very far to see that this condition is true…sin abounds.  It’s the reason Our Lord gave us the Sacrament of Confession (Jn 20:23, Mt 16:19); He knows that humans have these tendencies to do things we shouldn’t, and He ensured the Church has a way for us to seek and receive post-baptismal forgiveness.

So do the “hypocrisy” charges some level at Christians have any basis?  I suppose, if people hold themselves up as models of Christian virtue while they live a hidden life of sin and debauchery, then deny their sin while calling out others for the same thing – then the charge of “hypocrite” might stick.  We all have probably seen someone who failed to live up to the demands of the Gospel all the while criticizing others for their sin.

However… if a person is trying to live the Christian life and falls short of the mark, even by a lot, then repents of the sin and takes responsibility for his own actions, who are we to judge?  Is it really hypocrisy to love a young girl and her baby if she gets pregnant out of wedlock, then decides to marry her boyfriend and give the baby a family?  That teen girl is recognizing her actions have consequences and is striving to make things right by not compounding the sin against chastity with the sin of abortion. 

To the astonishment of some people, Christians have not come out of the woodwork to condemn the Palins for their daughter’s pregnancy.  Reading through some of the blogs and comments on news stories it’s clear to me that they don’t understand how we can proclaim the ideal of the Gospel and then fail to live up to our own standards.  “Hypocrites!” they cry. But what our friends in the non-Christian world don’t get is the difference between affirming someone’s sin, and affirming someone’s human dignity.

The reason we don’t condemn the pregnant teen is because it’s God’s prerogative to judge her, not ours. It’s our job to extend a helping hand in love. Not disowning a person because of his sin isn’t hypocrisy, it’s love. This is Christ’s command to us.

This doesn’t mean that we think pre-marital sex is a good idea, or that because we have a hard time living up to our ideal we should throw out the idea altogether. We have a duty to warn people when they are about to harm themselves or others with sin. God’s laws aren’t there to make us the “no fun crew”, our Heavenly Father gave us the Law to free us from the tyranny of sin. Living in conformity with Christ is liberating, and we long to share that love with others. We also want to protect our families from the pain and suffering that comes as a consequence of sin. If you saw someone walking blithely toward a pit, wouldn’t you try to warn them?

What our non-Christian critics don’t seem to get is that when we tell them that pre-marital sex, abortion, contraception, or homosexual behavior is wrong, we’re not judging them personally…we’re trying to offer them a hand out of the pit the world has shoved them into. We’re trying to love them, and it is decidedly not love to allow someone to injure themselves and others through sin.

The joy in our hearts moves us and Our Lord commands us to share His love with everyone. It’s not hypocrisy to fall… it’s only hypocrisy if, after we fall, we pretend we haven’t gotten hurt.

Each time strangers come to my house to put our things into boxes, then load them onto a truck, we have to come to grips with what’s really important.  Legal and official papers, jewelry, and a few religious articles go with us in the car; with the rest we hold our breath and entrust those same strangers to deliver them to a new house at a new assignment.  When the house is empty once again and all the papers are signed, watching the truck drive away forces a man to remember that “it’s only stuff”…we’re offered the opportunity to practice a little temperance.

The Catechism defines temperance as the virtue that “disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine” (#2290).  In citing the “usual suspects” of drugs and alcohol, the Church is exhorting us to learn to govern our appetites and passions.

The amassing of “things” becomes an appetite for some, especially in the affluent West.  Just like the appetites for pleasure and sustenance, the appetite for comfort is something we must temper and master.  This is a tall task in our postmodern consumer culture.  And because we are so affluent as a society, it becomes easy to attach ourselves to those things that our consumer culture offers.  Consumer goods are easy to come by and cheap to obtain.  Resisting the attachment to those things is not so easy.

The Catechism continues, In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world’s goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor’s rights and render him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the golden rule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake . . . became poor so that by his poverty, you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9) (#2407).

It’s not a sin against temperance to be rich, but it is a sin against temperance to allow our possessions to own us instead of vice versa.  Furthermore, if we own a lot of things we don’t need, or place a value on possessions that far outweigh their value, then perhaps an examination of conscience is in order.  And if we have possessions that we don’t need, does someone else need them more?  

Our goal as Christians should be to attach ourselves to Christ, and not to our possessions.  

That’s not to say I always look forward to going to the dentist — it’s just that I had so much dental work done to me from a very young age that I suppose I’m just accustomed to strangers having their hands in my mouth.

Every year my family and I get messages telling us it’s time for a check-up with our dentists.  The postcard my wife and kids get is cheerful, full of happy language and cute pictures, intent I’m sure to remind them that the end result of their dental visit will be clean teeth and a smile that will last another year.  As a military officer, my reminder is more straightforward: an email telling me when my appointment is, complete with a reminder to be “15 minutes early” or else my commander will be notified.  Sigh.

Well, I suppose the method of being alerted to our impending dental appointment doesn’t matter as much as simply getting to the doctor’s office and getting the work done.  Like most things medical, putting off the visit doesn’t harm anyone but us – and absent divine intervention medical conditions rarely improve spontaneously.  Dental problems in particular seem to have a low tolerance for procrastination.

So it is with our souls.

While no fleshy metaphor for sin works precisely, the metaphor used most often to make sin understandable is “decay.”  Just like tooth decay, sin often starts small.  Like a tiny little bacteria colony on your molar, small sins begin to eat away at your soul.  As the decay goes untreated, it gets bigger and bigger.  Left alone without any cleansing the entire soul can begin to rot to the point of total decay.

The Good News that Christians know is that Christ came to give us a way out of sin.  The Divine Physician offers us treatment for what ails us, sin, in the form of those channels of His Grace: the Sacraments of the Church.  In particular, the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is an opportunity to cleanse the decay in our souls, no matter how bad it has become.  Certainly, we need not wait until our souls are full of rot to go to Confession; it’s available to us at almost any time.  Besides the usual Saturday afternoon when Father waits to “treat” his “patients”, many priests will allow you to make an appointment to see them if you need to do so.

This is why Holy Mother Church, like any good mother, requires Catholics to go to Confession at least once a year.  Think of it as Mom making you go to the dentist.

The second precept (“You shall confess your sins at least once a year”) ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism’s work of conversion and forgiveness (#2042).

Confession is a lot like a dental appointment.  Just as at the dentist, we will be examined for what’s wrong with us.  Through our examination of conscience, the Holy Spirit helps us (and the priest) find where we’ve injured ourselves and our relationship with God.  The Divine Physician then treats our decay with the power of grace through the absolution the priest gives us in the confessional.  And just like the dentist’s fluoride treatment, the grace received in the confessional hardens the soul’s “enamel” to enable us to resist sin better after we leave. 

Naturally, it follows that if once a year is good, then once a month or once a week is even better.  The practical reason for frequent confession is that we can do a more thorough examination of conscience and therefore have a better awareness of our need for Christ’s grace in our lives.  Certainly, the grace to avoid sin better (the “fluoride”) is as beneficial as the cleansing.  I try to go often since I have a hard time remembering what I ate last week, let alone how I sinned last week.

The Precepts of the Church, like going to Confession at least once a year, are “Mother’s Rules” for good living.  It’s a wise son who follows his mother’s advice.

France, sometimes called the “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” is the mother of a great number of saints.  Wikipedia alone lists 198 articles about les Saintes Francais, and the Catholic Encyclopedia reminds us that France once safeguarded the pope, both in Avignon and in Rome.  In fact, it was only Napoleon III’s withdrawal of his troops from Rome that enabled the Italian army to capture the Eternal City and Papal States.  France is the mother of St Joan of Arc, St Therese of Liseux, St Louis, and the North American Martyrs.  She is also the mother of the evangelizers of the New World.  Her sister in faith, Catholic Spain, spread the faith here as well.  Together, French Jesuits and Spanish Franciscans brought the Good News of Jesus Christ to the native Americans, building missions across the continent that would one day become American cities and landmarks.

The French influence in Western Christianity is never more prominent than during the month of June (with apologies to February and Mardi Gras), the Month of the Sacred Heart.  It was a French nun, St Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1690, who gave us the devotion of the Sacred Heart.  If you don’t know the story, it’s worth reading sometime, but the short version is Our Lord appeared to St Margaret and gave her the devotion to His Sacred Heart.  The Church gives us the month of June to reflect on the superabundant love of Jesus Christ, symbolized by the image of His Sacred Heart.

There is no more sublime demonstration of the love of God than the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Here Jesus Christ reaches across space and time to bring His very life to us — we stand simultaneously at the foot of the Cross and the Throne.  The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church has a marvelous description: “The liturgy as the sacred action par excellence is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed and it is likewise the font from which all her power flows.  Through the liturgy Christ continues the work of our redemption in, with and through his Church” (#219).

Not far from my home is the Log Church in Cahokia, Illinois.  It is a French colonial mission church and is the only place in the Diocese of Belleville where one can regularly attend Holy Mass prayed in the Extraordinary Form (the 1962 Roman Missal).  My wife and I took our children on a “liturgical field trip” one Sunday to give them a chance to see the old Mass in a truly unique setting.  I love the Holy Mass, in both its forms, and here was a chance to marry two of my passions, liturgy and history, in a single moment.

We entered the 209 year old church and stepped into another world.  Silence reigned inside as we found our missals and knelt to pray.  The sanctuary and nave of the church were simple, and with the exception of air conditioning (for which we were grateful!) and electric lights, it was easy to set our mental Wayback Machines for 1940 or even 1840.  At the simple ring of a bell, the priest and two altar servers entered the sanctuary.  The general order of the Mass was, in its most basic elements, easily recognizable: opening prayers, penitence before God for our sins, reading of the Word and a homily, and the Eucharistic prayers and communion.  We followed the Latin as best we could in the missal, we’re not experienced at the ancient form of the Holy Mass, and then approached the altar rail for Holy Communion.  Kneeling to receive Our Lord, and hearing the familiar words, “Corpus Christi,” as He was placed on our tongues we were instantly connected to Him across two thousand years of Christian history. 

Interesting when I reflect on it: here I was, a Texan of Italian and English descent, worshipping in a French colonial church where colonists and Indians found Jesus 200 years ago, in the ancient Latin language.  What’s more, my affirmation of “Amen” is an even more ancient language: Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke.  The combination of cultures and languages, silence and vocalization, Word and Sacrament, ancient and nouveau, is a microcosm of the Catholic experience.  That is, the Holy Mass is not provincial or parochial, but universal in character.

In the liturgical celebration at our local parish, the Holy Mass is the intersection of Heaven and Earth.  In the 1970 Roman Missal we speak Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and our local language, tracing a linguistic path from Jesus to us in the Liturgy of the Word, then back to Jesus again in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Our connection to Jesus Christ is through the Holy Mass.  It is a connection so intimate that only the union of husband and wife approaches it in intensity.  The linkage between how we worship and what we believe is so powerful that when we worship badly, we tend to act badly.  It is the reason liturgical abuse robs the Faithful of our birthright and connection to the ancient and universal Church.  This is why Father John Zuhlsdorf says “Save the Liturgy, Save the World.”

My wife reminded me that among the first things people did when they came to this country was to build churches and evangelize.  The colonists brought priests with them, claiming the new land for God and for their kings…the Cross of Christ was planted before any royal banner.  The greatness of the West is not found in relativism or secular humanism…the greatness of Western civilization is that it is built on the foundation of the Christian Gospel.  This is Pope Benedict’s message when he decrys the “dictatorship of relativism.”

In the Holy Mass we see our whole history laid out before and behind us — our beginning and our destination.  Sacre Coeur de Jesus, nous vous aimons!

Every four years for the past thirty, our bishops have issued a teaching document to assist Catholic voters as they approach the general elections.  In “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship”, this year’s United States Council of Catholic Bishops’ teaching document, the bishops are very clear on two points: (1) Catholics must consider a wide range of issues when voting, and (2) life issues have precedence over all other issues.

“Faithful Citizenship” makes the case that no other issues have the same weight as life issues do.  This is not to say that other issues, say economic justice or national security policy, are not important but it does mean that some issues have greater moral weight than others:

“Human life is sacred.  The dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society.  Direct attacks on innocent persons are never morally acceptable, at any stage or in any condition.  In our society, human life is especially under direct attack from abortion.  Other direct threats to the sanctity of human life include euthanasia, human cloning, and the destruction of human embryos for research” (#44, emphasis mine).

“There are some things we must never do, as individuals or as a society, because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor.  Such actions are so deeply flawed that they are always opposed to the authentic good of persons.  These are called “intrinsically evil” actions.  They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned.  A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion and euthanasia.  In our nation, “abortion and euthanasia have become preeminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others” (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 5).  It is a mistake with grave moral consequences to treat the destruction of innocent human life merely as a matter of individual choice. A legal system that violates the basic right to life on the grounds of choice is fundamentally flawed” (#22, emphasis mine).

Each level of government makes decisions on our behalf, and those decisions, whether they be about the defense of human life or social programs to help the poor must start with the basic proposition that human life is sacred from the moment God “formed you in your mother’s womb.”  While safeguarding the rights and dignity of the poor is of vital importance, those issues do not rise to the level of preserving human life in its most vulnerable forms (children in the womb, for example).

Some people are quick to point out that the bishops teach that “Catholics are not single issue voters” (#42), and, while true, that doesn’t mean that Catholics may ignore the hierarchy of issues and fail to prioritize them accordingly.  While some use the bishops’ entreaty not to vote on a single issue only as an “escape clause” to vote for a pro-abortion candidate whom they like for other reasons, true social justice demands that the most basic right must take priority over all others.  Furthermore, while Catholics shouldn’t vote for a candidate based on a single issue, Catholics may use a single issue to disqualify a candidate from receiving their vote.  “Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support” (#42).

You see, if a person doesn’t have the God-given right to live, then all other rights are meaningless.  It is impossible to establish authentic social justice when 1 in 4 children are murdered in the womb.  Universal healthcare is useless if hospitals become abortion mills and push contraceptives.  Opposition to any war rings hollow when millions of our own citizens are killed because they are inconvenient or the wrong sex.

We must, therefore, distinguish between important issues, like care for the poor and immigration policy, with foundational issues, like abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic experimentation.  If we allow ourselves to elect judges, executives, and legislators who have demonstrated their hostility to the sanctity of life over and over, then we condemn future generations to the tyranny of dehumanization. 

Disregard for the poor is a travesty, disregard for human life is an abomination.

The choices we face this November are difficult, there is no “Catholic Party, USA,” so we must navigate the issues and the candidates carefully.  If we can’t choose the perfect candidates, then at least we should choose those who will least harm the weakest among us.

Look folks, I love that you’re taking the Church’s moral standards seriously and that you’re pious about the Catholic faith when it comes to the devotions, disciplines, and culture, but here’s the deal:  You have to attend Holy Mass each and every Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation on pain of mortal sin.

That’s right, I went there.

It is a mortal sin, a “sin unto death” (1 Jn 5:16), to miss Holy Mass on Sundays and Holy Days without a good reason. Here’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us about our obligation: …the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin (#2181). Because of this you are obligated to go to Confession and receive absolution before you receive Holy Communion at the next Mass you attend.

Sunday Mass is not an option or merely something “good to do,” it is a Commandment from God. He commands us to observe the Sabbath day in (among other places) Deuteronomy: For remember that you too were once slaves in Egypt, and the LORD, your God, brought you from there with his strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the LORD, your God, has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (Dt 5:15).

For us 21st Century Catholics, our “Egypt” is the slavery to Original Sin we existed in prior to our baptism. Through the mercy of Our Savior we have been brought out of the darkness of death and into the light of God, and we owe Our Lord our lives.  Just as He asked the Apostles in the Garden, Jesus Christ asks us to keep watch with Me for one hour (Mt 26:40). The tithe of an hour on Sunday — out of 168 hours in a week — is a small offering to One Who has restored us to life.

People avoid Holy Mass for various reasons. Do these apply to you or to someone you know?

Out of Habit

We are creatures of routine. Even when we resolve to do something, if it is not a regular part of life, it can be hard to get in the groove of it. If you resolve to go back to Mass, clear your schedule of other obligations for as long as it will take you to get ready and travel and attend. Tell someone else you will be there so the commitment propels you. Use the same reminder system that you use for other important appointments. Have clothes laid out ahead of time. The flesh is weak and full of excuses, so anticipate what they will be and fight them off ahead of time. After several weeks, Mass will become “what you do” on Sunday — it will become a habit and seem as normal as not going now seems.

Hurt Feelings

Sometimes people avoid Mass due to being wounded by persons in the Church, or perhaps they have been disheartened by personal tragedy. In such cases, they will need assistance from their fellow Catholics and (most importantly) from the Holy Spirit. St. Paul wrote about this need in the eighth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans: In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings (Rm 8:26). An open heart and a prayer to the Holy Spirit for the grace to desire prayer is sufficient for God to begin filling up the God-shaped hole in the heart.

But don’t be afraid to ask for help from fellow Catholics. Tell a regular Mass-attending friend that you need someone to go to Mass with or to sit with. Tell a priest, deacon, or mature Catholic friend about your feelings. Your feelings are real. Emotional wounds, painful memories, or disappointments and grief from sad life events — these are real things. You are not required to “put on a happy face” to go to Mass. Take your feelings with you and lay them before our tender Lord; He understands and wants to heal your heart. And He can.

Helping Others

If you know someone who needs the grace to pray and come to Holy Mass, the rosary is a powerful prayer on his or her behalf. But personal encouragement and practical help may be needed. Don’t simply remind somebody to come to Mass. Invite the person to come with you. Bring the person a bulletin and note the Mass times. Offer a ride and maybe lunch afterwards.

Sometimes a fallen-away Catholic would be more comfortable attending a Knights of Columbus meeting, a parish Bible study, or the parish picnic before taking the step of attending Mass.

The Holy Mass is the center of Christian life because at the Holy Mass we see, hear, and touch Jesus Christ in Word and Sacrament. He is there just as physically as when He walked the Earth with His apostles. In the Eucharist, the “source and summit” of Christian worship, we enter into the nuptial meal of God and Man. It is that sort of intimacy our hearts yearn for every day, and that sort of intimacy we can fulfill in our worship during Holy Mass.

When we attend Holy Mass we can echo St Peter’s words at Mt Tabor when Christ was transfigured: Lord, it is good that we are here. And it is especially good when we have helped someone else to be there, too.