The Amalekite War and the Spiritual War
Homily
Saturday, October 20, and Sunday, October 21, 2007. 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C
Sacred Heart Parish, Yale; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Emmett

Many of you have probably heard the horrifying news of what the Roman Catholic Bishops of Connecticut recently did. Pressured by local political forces, and probably far darker forces, they consented to the distribution of “Plan B” in Catholic Hospitals. “Plan B” includes a very aggressive chemical contraceptive, known as the “morning after pill,” or the “abortion pill.” Not only have they, therefore, practically dissented against the Church’s moral condemnation of the use of contraceptives, but they are concretely and practically collaborating in the chemical abortion of uncounted babies. They even offered a moral justification for it, an explanation which contradicts the most basic principles of both pagan and Christian ethics. And so Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

This is not the first time we have seen Catholic Bishops abuse their office. They have hidden and protected clergy who have violated the sixth commandment in the most reprehensible ways, and sometimes were among the offenders. We have seen them abuse money, become intoxicated, persecute the faithful both clergy and lay, and promote their friends of like mind to ecclesial dignity. They have presided over countless liturgical abuses of the most offensive sorts, which have only pounded the nails into the hands and feet of Jesus more ruthlessly, more brutally. In their midst, there are a handful of men who are worthy of the office they occupy, such as Bishop Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bishop Burke, and a few others. But this last act of the Connecticut Bishops is most reprehensible, and the blood of the aborted babies cries to God from the earth for justice. Yet it has not phased Rome nor most of the Catholic population; and the cause of this is because there are many clergy and laity who are Catholic on the outside, but are enemies of the Church on the inside. They reject her teachings and serve their passions, and are more reprehensible still than these Bishops who have recently scandalized us.

Don’t be fooled, brothers and sisters, we are in a war, and everything is at steak. It is the culture of life vs. the culture of death, the culture of grace against the culture of sin, the power of Christ against the powers of hell. In this battle you stand, even though you didn’t ask to be caught up in it. There are two sides, and no middle ground. Unlike the wars of kingdoms on the earth, this is a battle each one wins or looses with his own two fists. A Bishop and a layman will each be judged on his own merits. If Bishops promote contraception and abortion, they will answer to God, and nothing will escape the scrutiny of Jesus when he comes to judge the earth. So your salvation doesn’t depend on their holiness. But what a pity, how much it would help your holiness to have pastors who were holy, liturgically observant, and faithful to Church teachings and practices. The scandal of the pastors does not disprove Catholicism, for the Church came from Jesus’ hands, not from the hands of any sinful, scandalous man. The mountains of saints, martyrs, confessors, virgins, doctors, teachers, apostles, religious, and saints of every sort, together with the nine choirs of angels, form more than a convincing “cloud of witnesses.”

See, one of the tactics of the devil is to wear you down, to tire you out, to make you give up. You have problems in your private lives, and problems in your public lives. Problems in your nation and in your Church, in your city and in your parish. And that wears us down. You are surrounded by sickness and poverty, illiteracy and corruption, abuses and humiliations. And that wears us down. You are surrounded by war and famine and embezzlement and bombings and unemployment and dishonesty and murder and infidelity, and all this both near home and in the great wide world. And that wears you down.

You stood up in your childhood, as Moses, with your arms raised high in prayer, but you got tired as you became older, and stopped praying. Cynicism crept in – oh, but perhaps you called it “realism,” right? – and you fell into despair. When you had hopefully spread out your arms to pray, as Moses did fighting the Amalekites, you found that your enemies took your arms to crucify you. And you abandoned your supernatural hope, because of the cross. Wasn’t Jesus supposed to make all things right? Wasn’t he supposed to take all our suffering away? Wasn’t he supposed to make us rich and comfortable and powerful on the earth?

The answer to these questions is no, no and no. For you were not made for here below. You were made for heaven, above. He came for your salvation, not for your entertainment or comfort.

So today I lift up your arms, as I life up the crucified Jesus in the host above the altar. I lift them up, as did Aaron and Hur. For my only goal and purpose among you, my dear brothers and sisters, is the salvation of your soul, for the glory of the Father, as this was Jesus’ errand also.

If you do not see the spiritual war, I hope today’s homily has enlightened you. If you found yourself slipping, I hope today’s homily has encouraged you to pick the right army with which to march, under the standard of Jesus’ cross. And if you feel weary in the battle, I hope these words stoke your zeal and save you from despair. Amen.