Sunday's Homily

Some have asked about my homily, so I am posting it here:

In today’s Gospel, John writes that as a result of Jesus’s teaching many no longer accompanied Him. In the Greek, the phrase is that they no longer ‘walked’ with Him. The word was used to describe the model of education Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, used in his own school – he and his students would walk and the various conversations or encounters on the way would provide the springboard for further discussion and education. It is not just about the activity of walking, but of learning from Jesus that they are walking away. There is a sadness we can feel as we hear Jesus ask, “Are you too going to leave?”
Peter responds , “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” It is as if he is responding “You speak the truth to us, and we long to hear it. We may not fully understand it now, but we will continue to follow and learn from you.”
What were the hard words, hard to accept, that Jesus had spoken? Jesus has just completed the Bread of Life discourse, in which he declares that to have eternal life, they must eat His flesh, and drink His blood, and that it is true food and drink. This is a thought that the Jews would have rejected repulsed, and perhaps rightfully so. After all, there is a law against eating blood, much less human blood and flesh. But Jesus does not back down, in fact, each time they balk at His teaching, He gets stronger. He states that there can be no life in us unless we eat and drink His flesh and blood.
So they just walk away. And Jesus allows them. He does not back down, explain it away, or compromise.
Almost 2000 years later, we have some understanding of the Eucharist, that the bread and wine becomes the Very Body and Blood of Christ. Maybe we have grown too accustomed to this. Maybe not, after all a large percentage of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence. They do not walk away, they just stay.
But the truth remains. Truth is not what we make it, but we grasp it. God is the creator of truth, and either we recognize it, or we deny it. Truth is objective, not subjective. Truth is the minds’ conformity to reality, not bending reality to one’s mind. To give an example: Someone who was very much into the subjective nature of the truth could, without blinking an eye, state that the lights in this Church are off, when someone holding to the objective nature of the truth would deny this so-called ‘fact’. Recall my homily in February in which I tried to convince you're an artificial apple was indeed an orange? Why talk about this: to paraphrase St. Augustine, to believe only the parts of the faith that we wish, and to reject the rest, is to believe in only oneself.
Faith and doubt are not antithetical. We can reject truth outright, or we can question it and ask for faith. Assent is the embracing of a truth, even if not fully understanding, trusting in the Lord. To be clear, there are a number of teachings that are difficult, but require our assent to the truth of them all the same.
Our faith teaches us that marriage is between one man and one woman, and to define it thus is not a restriction of rights. To say this is not hate speech, despite what society tells us. It is no more possible to say that marriage is a right that can be extended to any individuals no matter of gender any more than it is possible to say that males are denied the right to physically giving birth. We are been given the task to define marriage as between one man and one woman on our ballots this next election – we must vote yes!
We remember that marriage is mutual covenant, permanent lifelong, and has a dual and intrinsically connected purpose of procreation and union of spouses. Though we see marriage, procreation, and sexual expression as three separate realities, they are intrinsically connected.
True, some marriages fail and ‘end’ in divorce, but that does not invalidate the truth that marriage is lifelong. Those that fail are to be examined to see if a sacramental marriage occurred, or while a legal marriage was contracted, the sacrament never occurred (and granted a declaration of nullity) before remarriage in the Church is attempted.
Our faith teaches us that physical sexual expression is best experience between husband and wife, when they mutual give themselves to the other holding nothing back, not even their fertility through contraception. Really, as husband and wife come together in the conjugal embrace, they could repeat the words of Christ at the Last Supper, “This is my body, given to you.” And that they give themselves totally to the other, including their fertility. As a result, every act of contraception is an evil, because it holds back fertility and one is not able to make a free and total gift of self. Every physical sexual expression outside of marriage is missing the mark of what its true intention is, and is a sin.
Our Faith teaches us that life begins at conception, and respect for human life is to be given from the first moment of conception through natural death. The direct and intentional taking of a life, whether it be through abortion, euthanasia, or murder is gravely evil. In our modern society, even capital punishment is no longer needed as it primary purpose when it could be legitimately used (the protection of society due to the impossibility of safely imprisoning the criminal) is no longer an issue, especially in the US.
Our Faith teaches us that we must respect every human person, no matter age, nationality, or gender. While we may disagree with opinions and call others on behavior, we still give them the respect that is due. Respect is expected for saint or sinner, law-abiding or criminal, native or alien. We must find ways to respect everyone, while remembering that we cannot condone sin or crime.
Our faith teaches us so much, and it is not limited to the creed. As Catholics, we know that our Creed is only the beginning of what we believe, and that we must live our beliefs in the practical. We remember that, as Pope Benedict XVI has said, our faith is not a set of doctrines, but an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ. This is where our shoes must hit the road – we are given the choice, too. Are we going to continue to walk with Him, or are we going to walk away? Are we going to continue to learn from Him, even if we don’t fully understand? I would hope and pray that we will join with St. Peter in saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”