Homily
Sunday, November 9, 2008, Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
Assumption Grotto Parish, Detroit
Don’t Sit There: Do Something About It
Today we once again suppress the normal Sunday – we might expect today to celebrate the thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary time – to celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. This is the Pope’s “parish,” if you will, in Rome, and so it’s the home parish of every Catholic. Yet I will go, today, further in speaking neither about the Ordinary Sunday nor about the Feast we celebrate, in light of the events, indeed, the traumatic events, which have taken place in our country last Tuesday. So many souls are in turmoil, some in despair, many in fear. There are, worse still, Catholics who have done great evil on Tuesday, and they don’t really care or – dare I say so? – they are happy for the recent victory of sin. I therefore think I should, for the good of your souls, address these important issues. Be warned that, for the magnitude of today’s topic, I will not be brief. Some are always in a hurry to get Mass over with, as if it were a burden instead of the greatest blessing ever; but today, they will have to exercise more patience while we address this important issue of our day.
Last Tuesday, Americans handed the country over to political powers who promise nothing but sin, death and every form of abuse. This is one more step in the attack on the Church which began with the Protestant Revolt, took bloody shape in the French Revolution and has poisoned even theology with the heresy of Modernism in the 19th and 20th centuries.
I speak of the plan of the godless to destroy religion, to destroy the family, to destroy government, and to destroy private property. But so many superficial souls consume huge portions of their lives in entertainment, television and neglect that they do not study these things which are patent before their eyes: and that in most cases is culpable ignorance, or just sheer laziness.
What does this “plan,” which I have just mentioned, to do with last Tuesday? Those to whom America gave political power destroy religion in countless ways, not the least, the support of every form of sin, and the ridicule of religion itself in the political forum. They attack the family with easy divorce, the blessing of homosexual unions, the blank check on abortion even to the youngest girl with no reference to her parent’s consent, with the promise to impose infanticide as standard, regularized hospital practice, and that hatred of the sick and elderly which is called euthanasia, a sophisticated word for “killing.” And what will make them stop the killing with babies and the elderly, I ask? They attack government by abolishing the family, which is the foundation of society, and by criticizing the principles upon which our nation rests, the rule of law and the constitution, promising only anarchy and violence and revolt. They attack private property by going beyond taxation, which a government may do with impunity, but promising also to take property from those who own it, and giving it to those who don’t. What they call “redistribution of wealth” is simply the denial of private property, which is a natural good and a natural right of every man, is really what we all know under a different word: stealing.
And so if anyone present has given political power, by his or her vote, to those apostles of sin, they should not approach Holy Communion in any Catholic church until they repent and confess in sacramental reconciliation. How could you wage war in this way against God, family, government and private property, and then, complicit in the millions of abortions, infanticides and euthanasias exercised with your vote, come then to the communion rail, hands dripping with blood? You need to repent! There is no where you can flee from the justice of God.
Therefore, my point in today’s homily is this: Catholics need to wake up and start combating evil with good. St. Paul says, “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good” (Rom 12:21). While we’re all scratching our heads and fearful for the future, Christ snaps us out of the stupor, in the parable of the dishonest steward – whom He praised, surprisingly enough! – saying “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light” (Lk 16:8). If these evildoers could accomplish so much with their cleverness and wits, my question to you is this: who’s stopping you from accomplishing great good with your own cleverness and wits? And that’s today’s point.
Yet there are many objections that good souls raise. One says, “We can’t do anything about the state of things: all is lost. Abortion and soviet communism have won the day!” This is nonsense. Communism rose, but communism fell. The soviets came, and they went. Men like Luther, Zwingli and Hus came but are dead now and gone. The Romans persecuted Christians, and their Empire vanished from the face of the earth. Indeed, Catholicism has been burying her enemies for two thousand years, and will continue to do so until the end of time; and she buries them even with mercy and love! So, none of this “all is lost” attitude. Now’s the time for prayer, penance and work.
Another objection runs, “Evil has been victorious.” But how can you say that? Has no one told you that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Do you not know that all evil has already been defeated? Or have you never heard of the victory of the martyrs? Lift up your drooping hands, strengthen your knees, and behold, your salvation comes, and in the end – and only in the end, not now – Christ will definitively put all his enemies under his feet forever. Even the angels tremble at the thought of that day. God will avenge his beloved: so be not afraid!
Another objection goes, “I should simply leave the country.” Oh, will you? And why will you? Because evil people are big shots today? Silly, they’re here today and will be gone tomorrow. Or perhaps you know of somewhere on planet earth whither to run where no evil people dwell? That is impossible: for you, too, are a sinner, and when you dwell there, then there will be at least one evil person there. But seriously now, here’s the reply to this objection: fleeing from problems does not solve them. Confront them, with serenity, with a clear head, with great faith in God, and with a steady resolve to work, even if you die in the attempt to do good.
Another objection still says, “There is no hope for our future.” If you say this, you don’t know your God and Father. He created you, He knew your name before the world was made, He will give you a hidden name when you enter heaven – for it is the prerogative of every father to name his child – He sent his Eternal Son to suffer and die for you on the cross, and has promised to send his Son at the end of time – yes, time will end! – to triumph over his enemies. Just unite yourself to Christ, for it has pleased the Father go make him victorious over all and forever. No one has more hope than a Catholic.
And so: Catholics, wake up! Our sleepiness has let evildoers triumph while we should have been on watch. No, no violence now: that’s how they solve their problems. Good people in California, for example, vote to defend marriage against the homosexual movement in peace, but in violence the gays rage and protest until they get their sinful way. Pro-lifers do many sacrifices to help babies live, yet abortion is the solution evildoers want imposed in law and paid for by you. No, violence is their method. If you need to defend yourself, or in the case of the just war, the use of force is not a matter of evil or sin. But let’s exhaust every other possible avenue before resorting to that.
Catholics, once again I repeat my cry: wake up! Look around you, and see what good there needs to be done. Work, and don’t sit on your hands weeping. If evildoers write books and have seminars on how to institutionalize the socialist state, let you good souls write books and have seminars on how to institutionalize a state in harmony with Catholic principles.
If evildoers get organized into groups and societies, pooling the energies of many to overcome the isolated individual, then you good souls get organized into groups, and, pooling the power and intelligence of many, set forth to do good. No, Catholics may not participate in secret societies. But we can still establish groups to do good. If evildoers establish things like Call to Action, ACORN, Freemasonry, StoneWall, anti-gay “defamation” leagues and so forth, the go forth and establish more intelligent, virtuous and praiseworthy groups with your friends and neighbors.
If evildoers think in terms of destroying the Catholic Church and all Christianity, indeed all religion, together with government, family and property, over a span of generations, then what’s stopping you and your friends making plans not just for your lifetime but for several generations to build the Church, the family, the free society and general prosperity?
See, you have the Holy Spirit, and the evildoers don’t! Let me repeat that! Defeatism and despair are not proper to the Spirit of God, which is a spirit of power and love.
You have the Spirit, and all that the Spirit gives. It is like you were given, in fact, ten talents. Think of it like this: You, as a Catholic, have ten talents, because you have the fullness of life in the Church which the Lord himself made. There are some who have say, only five or three talents, and they are the Protestants, who, in their man-made Churches, still retain some of the goods which they have taken from the Catholic Church, such as the Scriptures and baptism. There are others who have one talent, those poor souls who have religion of some sort but do not even know Christ the Lord. Then there are others, those atheists and evildoers, who spat at the talents which God offered them, and decided to spend their lives waging war against the only One in the universe who could give talents – namely, the Trinity. Now, let me ask you, who has more? The one with ten, or five, or three, or one, or no talents whatsoever? Clearly you, who have ten talents. So why is it that we fear that they who have no talents, those evildoers who now govern our great nation, can do more than you can do with ten? And so I insist: work, write, talk, unite, organize. And more important than all: pray, do penance, and study.
So put aside your discouragement, panic, despair. Stop all that talk which does nothing but discourage the most brave soul from attempting to do any good. Confess your omissions when you go to reconciliation with the priests. Stop complaining, and do something, following in the footsteps of the Son of God.
For, do you really want to give up on America? Do you have contempt for the evildoers around you? This is not the way of Christ, who loved sinners, who are you and I, even to the point of saving us by dying for us sinners on the Cross. Follow the way of Christ, stay close to Mary, get to work and be not afraid!