October 25, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
30th Sunday, Year B, October 25th, 2009
What is keeping you coming to Church? Is it a mere thread that can be easily snapped by something like, “Oh, we got busy.” (I can’t tell you how many times in the past few weeks I have heard this from people who have drifted away from the Church, “Oh, we got busy”). Is it a thread that keeps you here, or is it an unbreakable rope tied around your waist on one end and on the other tied to the Cross or the tabernacle, a strong rope that nothing – no temptation or discouragement or busy-ness could ever break?
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews was concerned that people were losing their faith and some were no longer attending what we would call “Mass.” He wrote, “we should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another” (10:25). This was a problem even in the first century, even among those who knew people who had met Jesus, even among those who had witnessed miracles when they converted to Christianity!
So what did the writer to the Hebrews do to encourage people to practice their faith? He spent 8 of 12 chapters of his letter writing about the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus. We hear this theme mentioned today in the second reading from chapter 5 of Hebrews, in which the Father appoints Jesus a Priest when He said to Him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 5: ). The theme “is not developed for its own sake but as a means of restoring their lost fervour and strengthening them in the faith” (New American Bible, Introduction to the Letter to the Hebrews).
Emphasizing the priesthood of Jesus might make sense to the Hebrews of the first century, who were used to having priests as part of their former Jewish religion. It would be practically impossible for a Hebrew of the first century to imagine a religion without priests. But to us? What difference does it make to us if Jesus is a Priest or not? On the other hand, if it is not important, then why is the letter to the Hebrews in the Bible as the Word of God?
More recently one of our Canadian “saints” of the 20th century (not yet canonized) Pere Eugene Prevost, has written extensively on the importance of the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus in our times as well. He writes: “The day when Jesus as Priest is better known, understood, loved, adored and served, there will flow in the Church a new river of graces . . . and heroism that will multiply the saints” (Passione de Saintete, p. 89)
None of this will seem immediately obvious to us. How can a better understanding of the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus keep people in our “assembly” by attending Mass every Sunday, restore our lost fervour, strengthen our faith, and even multiply saints in the Church?
I will suggest two ways. An appreciation of the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus will help us: 1) bring back the concept and practice of sacrifice into Mass and daily life, and 2) worship God in spirit and truth, in humble adoration.
First of all, it is important for us to know who Jesus really is as a Priest. In today’s Gospel, the blind Bartimaeus prays, “My teacher, let me see again” (Mark 10:51). To see Jesus is also to know Him, to understand who He is. St. Mark reports that as soon as Bartimaeus regained his sight, he “followed him on the way” (10:52). In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is always on “the way” to His Passion, death and Resurrection. Bartimaeus “sees” and “understands” Jesus enough to follow Him on this “way,” as a disciple in a life of sacrifice. We need to pray for the same vision as Bartimaeus, to better understand Jesus as our Priest, so that we will follow Him more closely in a life of loving sacrifice.
Jesus is a Priest in part because He offers sacrifice. In the second reading, we are reminded that every high priest offers “gifts and sacrifices for sin” (Heb 5: 1). Jesus as a Priest needed something to offer (8:3), so He offered Himself (7:27) on the Cross in sacrifice for our sins, a sacrifice made present in every Eucharist.
In recent decades, we seem to have deleted the concept of sacrifice from our worship of God, and the practice of sacrifice in our daily life. For example, in this typical “Preparation for First Communion” guide for Grade 2 children, in all of its 62 pages, “sacrifice” is mentioned on two pages. Mass is referred to as “the Lord’s meal” or a “celebration meal,” which is not untrue, but what do the actual prayers of the Mass say?
If we look at the principle 4 Eucharistic Prayers of the Church in their current English translation, the word “meal” is not used once, but the word “sacrifice” is used 10 times, the word “offering” 6 times, and the word “gift” 5 times.
If we are not teaching our children much about the sacrifice of Jesus and the sacrifice of the Mass, then we are not preparing them to practice sacrifice in daily life: all the sacrifices required for a happy, life-long marriage and for raising a family in today’s world.
Jesus as Priest and Sacrifice teaches us how to offer our lives in sacrifice, to make a total and complete, unconditional, unlimited and permanent gift of ourselves, in the vocation of marriage and family, priesthood or religious life, or a single people making a gift of themselves by living out their baptismal consecration.
In the Holy Communion we receive, we are given strength to sacrifice in our daily lives. So when life gets tough, instead of drifting away from our assembly and letting the thread that keeps us in Church break, we will cling all the more firmly to the rope that is tied to the tabernacle or the Cross, tied to the Sacrifice of Jesus. Wherever we are in Russell or Embrun or downtown, we can imagine this rope of faith keeping us connected to our Saviour, present in this Church in the Sacrifice of the Mass.
I asked the teenagers at Mass on Friday if they knew any Africans. Do you? Not many Africans in Russell. (I know two, priest-friends of mine). Africans can teach North Americans something about worshiping God in humble adoration, something that Jesus our High Priest also teaches us. In a recent homily, Pope Benedict said that “Africa is the repository of an inestimable treasure for the whole world: Its deep sense of God” and that “Africa represents an enormous spiritual ‘lung’ for a humanity that appears to be in a crisis of faith and hope.” (Homily, October 4th, 2009).
Do you know what Africans and Jesus our Priest have in common, something that we have lost and must recover? Humility before God the Father. Humility that leads to a “deep sense of God” and worship of God in spirit and truth, worship that means something, that is not empty ritual, boring routine, mere lip-service, but worship that is real, that creates an unbreakable bond between us and our God.
In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author mentions that this topic of the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus are matters “difficult to explain” (5:11), then he goes on for 8 chapters! I am only asking you to listen attentively to these next two paragraphs!
Jesus our Priest is the key to humble adoration of the Father, and worship in spirit and truth. Jesus humbled Himself before us and God the Father when he took on “the form of a slave” (Phil ), when He took on human nature to offer it in sacrifice to God. As the writer of Hebrews explains, when Jesus came into the world, He said to God the Father “a body you prepared for me” (for sacrifice). “Behold, I come to do your will” (Heb 10:5-7). Jesus as Priest humbles Himself before God the Father and offers His life in sacrifice.
Jesus our Priest is a model for us of humble adoration and worship of the Father in spirit and truth, in the tabernacle until the end of time and for all eternity in heaven. Jesus continues His humble adoration of the Father in the tabernacle, humbling Himself in taking on the appearance of bread. And in heaven, Jesus remains a humble sacrifice, the Lamb of God seen by John in his vision which he recorded in the Book of Revelation. I won’t go on and on, because this is kind of deep for a (Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning).
But I mention this because there’s a reason the Church in Africa is booming and vocations are overflowing. The Church in the West, in Canada, will only be renewed when Catholics (priests included) learn once again what it means to worship God in humble adoration.
Worship is above all an interior disposition, but includes many visible signs. We can all work on our interior dispositions through personal prayer, at home or before and after Mass. But I would like to take this opportunity to ask everyone to be faithful to all our exterior signs of worship, such as: receiving Communion with reverence, saying the prayers in unison, with one heart and one voice, praying together as a family, and also trying to come to Mass on time and not distract others – these may seem like little things, but they are little threads that together form that strong rope that keeps us connected to Christ our High Priest, in our worship in spirit and truth, which will help renew the Church and the world.
Especially during this Year of Priesthood, let us ask Jesus our Priest to be our Teacher, to help us bring back the concept and practice of sacrifice into the Mass and our daily life, and to find life again in the worship of God, to discover some of the joy of the angels and saints in their Mass in heaven, where they behold the Lamb of Sacrifice and fall down in humble adoration before the throne of God, crying out unceasingly, “Holy holy holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.” (Rev 7:9, 14:1, 4:8)
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October 18, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-ninth Sunday, Year B, October 18th, 2009
Have you heard the latest news in the Church? . . . Did you hear what happened in Rome last Sunday? . . . No? Well, the Pope canonized 5 new saints, including Fr. Damien (we have the movie of his life in our library, Molokoi). Following the example of Christ who gave His life as a ransom for many (Gospel, Mark 10: ), Fr. Damien gave his life for the people of the island of Molokai, Hawaii, even becoming a leper among the lepers.
Perhaps you didn’t hear about this good news in the Church because it was mentioned on CBC or CTV or the Ottawa Citizen. If we only rely on the secular media for our information about our Church, we will miss out on most of the good news; we may even hear a disproportionate amount of bad news.
There are lots of saints in the Church in every age, even in our own times. My spiritual director, Fr. Bob Wild, is in Rome right now working on the cause of Catherine Doherty, the foundress of Madonna House, who died in 1985 in Combermere, Ontario. There are saints even from our own Archdiocese. I have written a little article for Catholic Ottawa fall edition on Fr. Alexis-Louis Mangin, co-founder of the Servants of Jesus and Mary, and an un-canonized saint. He died in 1920 and is buried in Gatineau.
To find out the good news of what is happening in the Church, I recommend some alternative on-line news sources, such as ZENIT, which offers free weekly updates with news from Rome and throughout the Catholic world. You can also find out on-line what our bishop is doing by visiting his blog (both of these are in the bulletin). By the way, we have been blessed with a saintly bishop who is an icon of Christ who came to serve and not to be served. He is fully deserving of our trust; let us continue to support him with our prayers.
There are lots of saints in the Catholic Church in every age. But the truth is that there has always been and will always be, many sinners as well, even among Church leaders. This fact does not excuse their sin, but it puts it in perspective of the whole history of the Church and the reality of sin in our world. You may have guessed that I will be mentioning again the scandal raised through former Bishop Lahey of Antigonish. I will mention it, but not dwell on it, because I want to focus on the good news of Jesus Christ and the saints, not sin and the works of the devil.
(Today is also World Mission Sunday. Mark Lalonde will be speaking after Communion. Months ago, we I had planned to speak of the mission we support in Honduras and the children we sponsor. But circumstances in the Church have required me to change the focus of my homily).
People are understandably scandalized by former Bishop Lahey, and the apparently well-founded charges against him of possession of child pornography. The bishops and priests especially are troubled by this scandal and the harm it does to people’s trust in the Church, and even their trust in God.
But is scandal in the Church a reason to leave the Church or abandon one’s faith? I am thinking of an even greater scandal of a man in the Church who had the potential to be one of the greatest saints, right up there with the men mentioned in today’s Gospel: St. Peter, St. James, St. John. He personally knew Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, and lived with Him every day for almost three years. He saw the miracles of Christ, heard His preaching, experienced His love! But somehow he allowed Satan to corrupt his heart and turn him against Christ, whom he eventually betrayed. I am speaking obviously of Judas.
How can any of you be Christians after what Judas has done? He was one of the twelve apostles on which Christ wanted to build His Church! But he could not be trusted. How then can you trust St. Peter or the other apostles, their successors, the bishops, and their teaching?
Some members of the secular media like to suggest that if one priest or bishop falls, then you can’t trust any of them, that all of the clergy are corrupt. The logic is: since Judas betrayed Christ, Peter can’t be trusted either. If we were to follow that logic, no one would ever have become Christian, and also, no children would play hockey either . . . Theo Fleury, former hockey star with the Calgary Flames, just released his autobiography where he recalls how, at the age of 14, he was sexually molested by his coach. What’s the lesson? Hockey coaches cannot be trusted, so no children should play hockey? No. It is a reminder of the reality of sin and the need for repentance (for the offenders) and our need for prudence, vigilance, forgiveness, and continual trust in God and other people, because it remains true that most people can be trusted, and I would add that the overwhelming majority of priests and bishops are very trustworthy.
I think for example of the former pastors of this parish. I personally know all the English former pastors, such as Msgr. Kevin Beach, Fr. Dennis Hayes, and Fr. John Whyte, all of whom earned your trust during their years of service. During this Year of Priesthood, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus our great High Priest (Heb) and gratefully acknowledge the service of our priests, and not allow ourselves to become obsessed or discouraged by the sins of a very, very small minority.
From the very beginning of the Church, there have been great saints and great sinners. If even an apostle was able to betray Christ, leading to the worst sin imaginable, the killing of God, then we must admit that anything is possible. No sin or scandal in the Church should surprise us or discourage us or shake our faith. Sin and scandal should cause us to weep and mourn, to repent and pray all the more. But not to leave the Church or abandon our faith.
If we study Church history, we realize that the Church is both human and divine, always in need of reform and always being reformed. This past summer in Ottawa there was an exhibit at the National Gallery entitled “Papal Art,” the art of Rome in the 16th century. Each room was dedicated to a different Pope of that century. The first was one of the worst Popes in history, Alexander VI (1492-1503) who had 7 children! Yes, all his children were born of mistresses whom he had after he became a cardinal at age 25; two children were born after he became Pope at age 61! Talk about scandal! It was this kind of sin that contributed to the Protestant Reformation. But did this sin of the highest office in the Church destroy the Church? No, it eventually led to the Counter-Reformation, and the same century later produced a saint among Popes, Pius V (1566-1572). And the Counter-Reformation also produced other great saints like the Canadian martyrs.
And if we look at the 20th century, we have had a whole series of saintly Popes who have been great high priests like Christ (second reading, Heb 4:14) because they have been “servants” of the whole Church (Gospel, Mark 10:43).
I think that most, if not all, of the Popes of the 20th century coul one day be named saints. We already have St. Pius X (1903-1914) and Blessed John XXIII (1958-1963) and the Servant of God, John Paul II (1978-2005). The Church is composed of saints and sinners, always in need of reform and always being reformed.
I would like to say a few words about the selection of candidates for the priesthood, because some people have questioned this process and I am after all vocations director, working closely with the bishop. One of former bishop Lahey’s weaknesses that he has publicly admitted is homosexuality. I find the secular media very hypocritical on this issue. Many of them will defend homosexuality as a positive lifestyle choice, except between a man and a boy, in which case it becomes sinful or at least illegal. So a minute before a young man’s 18th birthday it is sinful, but a minute after his birthday it isn’t? This is hypocrisy.
The Church teaches the truth with compassion, that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” meaning sinful (Catechism #2357) . Men with deep-seated homosexual tendencies, who may feel called to the priesthood, are not ready to pursue this call and would not be admitted to the seminary. The interview process is in-depth and includes a thorough psychological assessment. At the same time, the Church acknowledges that men and women with these tendencies “do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial” (Catechism #2358).
However, just like all other Christians in the world, “homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection” – to be saints! (Catechism #2359). For those who struggle in this way, it is good to know of a movement called Courage, which helps people with same-sex attraction live chaste lives, and they have a group in Ottawa, as well as a DVD which I have seen and ordered for our parish.
Once again, we have to keep before our eyes the example of the saints, women like Catherine Doherty, priests like Fr. Damien, Popes like John Paul II and our current pontiff, Pope Benedict, because their shining example will bring us closer to Jesus Christ our great High Priest who offered the sacrifice of His own life as a ransom for many.
In the past few weeks in the Church, has anyone been talking about Jesus Christ our Priest on CTV or CBC? There has been a lot of smoke and noise, chaos and confusion, drawing our hearts and minds away from Jesus Christ. The Letter to the Hebrews, which we heard in the second reading, urges us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb 12:2). That is what we do at every Mass, by listening to Jesus speak to us in the Gospel and by gazing upon Him during Eucharistic adoration and for a moment before receiving Him in Holy Communion.
In our life at home, we can take 5 minutes a day to listen to Jesus in the Gospel. During this month of October dedicated to the Rosary, even busy families could find time to pray one decade of the Rosary together, or individuals while driving to work or doing chores, asking Mary our Mother to help us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus our great High Priest.
Jesus is a Priest who offered the sacrifice of His life. We too must be priests of our own lives, offering them in sacrifice to God. We do so at Mass and in our daily lives. By being priests of our own lives in self-sacrifice, we find our true selves by giving ourselves away in love, in service to God and others.
Jesus ordains some men as priests to serve you the laity in your priesthood of the baptized in your service to the world. Yes, by your Christian priesthood, you radiate the priesthood of Christ to your unbelieving friends and neighbours. By becoming the saints of the Third Millenium, all of us witness to the world to the Good News : The goodness, truth and beauty of Jesus Christ our Lord and His Holy Catholic Church.
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October 11, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 6:46 pm
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
October 11, 2009
Today’s Gospel passage is an interesting one for us to hear on this Thanksgiving weekend. We have been abundantly blessed, and this time is set apart for us to give thanks to God for all of those blessings. That includes not just our material goods, but also our family, our friends, and of course, our faith. Now, the man in the Gospel also had much to be thankful for. At that time, being rich was considered a sign of God’s favour. So, if all his wealth was a blessing from God, why should he be required to give it all up in order to obtain eternal life? He recognized that, despite his riches, something was missing. So, he made it a point to see Jesus before this great teacher and the disciples left the man’s village, knowing that there probably would not be another opportunity to ask Him this question. He didn’t just walk out of the crowd, he ran up to Jesus to ask: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Despite all his worldly success, his concern was for his ultimate salvation – or at least, he thought it was. He quite honestly and sincerely tells Jesus that he has kept all of the commandments; he wants to know what can bring him even closer to God.
Jesus is quite aware of what is preventing this man from developing a deeper holiness. He knows the circumstances of this man’s life, and His command is unique to what this man needs to do, to the challenges he faces in his own personal search for holiness. Jesus doesn’t give him this command to condemn him for being rich, or as a way to alleviate poverty in the village. It is an invitation for the man to follow Jesus; unfortunately it’s an invitation he is not yet ready to accept. God blessed this man with all his possessions, why would Jesus then be asking him to give them up?
Now, is Jesus asking us to sell all we have and give it to the poor? Maybe…but probably not. We may, however, need to look at our comfortable lifestyles and see if what appears to be a blessing may be creating difficulties. A story is told, which I will change slightly, of a farmer’s wife writing to a friend. The farmer had taken a high paying office job with a large business, and the family had moved from the country to the city. This meant a nicer house in a good neighbourhood. But, the children had grown up in the country, and living in the city was changing their behaviour for the worse. She concluded her letter by asking “Which is preferable for my children: fewer worldly possessions, but with better manners and a sincere way of life; or having more material goods, knowing the price of everything but the true value of nothing?”
Perhaps in this family’s situation, Jesus would be asking them to return to the simpler life they had led in order for their children to regain the moral standards they have lost. Our material wealth can be good if it gives us the means to grow closer to God; it is not good if it fosters attachments to things that prevent us from deepening our relationship with Him.
This could take on any number of forms, and will probably be different for many of us. Every family, every couple, every person is of course unique, but there may be some common threads. For example, the person who works so hard to maintain a certain level of income that there is no time left to spend with the family. Or the family that gives the children all the latest technical gadgets, but gives no thought to giving them the gift of faith? Or those who are so attached to other activities that they can’t take time for Mass on Sunday? Working hard, technology, leisure activities, and other things are not intrinsically bad; they become a hindrance when they come between us and God. Whatever it may be, to a certain extent, we all have attachments that may be problems. It is up to us to look at our lives, and into our hearts, to discover what those may be.
So, Jesus may not be asking us to divest ourselves of our possessions. He may not be asking us to give up anything at all, but to do something, in order to follow him and to have eternal life. You heard Jesus’ initial response to the rich man – “you know the commandments”. This is the essential first step – those precepts are what need to be worked on before going any further. That hasn’t changed; it still applies to us today. Our relationship with God, and our hope for achieving eternal life with Him, requires our observance of the commandments as an absolute minimum. And if we want to grow in holiness, there is more to it than just keeping the commandments. In his book Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales mentions two purgations that must be made to advance in holiness.
The first, quite obviously, is purgation from mortal sin, through the sacrament of reconciliation. The second purgation is a little more tricky; it’s from affection for sin, or attachment to sin. He says: “(if) you wish to live a devout life you must not only cease to sin, but you must also purify your heart of all affection for sin”. That means we shouldn’t have an attitude of wanting to sin, but not sinning only because it’s not allowed. “I really want to get angry, but I won’t because it’s a sin, but I really, really want to!” That’s the kind of thinking that starts us down the path that almost inevitably leads to actually sinning.
How many of us dare even ask the question “What must we do?” To what extent do we consider allowing Jesus to tell us what things in our lives are hindering our holiness? What is holding us back from taking God more seriously, from entrusting ourselves to Him? In our lives, we must decide whether to ignore God’s invitation, and walk away grieving, or to accept it and follow Jesus, and gain eternal life.
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October 4, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
27th Sunday, Year B, October 4th, 2009
(Hold up Rosary) Pray the Rosary to obtain miracles, to keep families united, to purify your heart, to hope in God and defeat the devil. October is the month of the Rosary, an opportunity for all of us to re-discover this ancient and beautiful prayer.
You probably have all heard about the three miracles that took place in the establishment of our national shrine dedicated to our Lady of the Rosary at Cap-de-la-Madeleine. Has anyone here been to Cap-de-la-Madeleine? I was there in early September on our priests’ retreat with the bishop, and I was reminded of its history.
Back in 1867, the parish priest, Fr. Desilets, was sitting in the sacristy waiting to hear confessions before the feast of the Ascension. Nobody came. Then he heard some strange noises in the Church. He looked, and in front of the altar of the Blessed Virgin, he saw a small pig chewing on a Rosary! He was so shocked and thought to himself, “People drop the Rosary and pigs pick it up!” So he promised the Blessed Virgin to promote the praying of the Rosary among his parishioners, which led in time to the conversion and tremendous growth of his parish, so much so that they needed to build a new Church! A miracle of the Rosary or coincidence?
For the new Church, the parishioners needed to haul stones from the other side of the river. All during the winter of 1878-79 they waited for the river to freeze and an ice bridge to form. But it was too mild. March arrived. No ice. The parishioners prayed the Rosary for this intention, and the pastor vowed to dedicate the old Church to the Blessed Virgin (vs the former plans to tear it down) if they were able to haul the stones. Lo and behold an ice bridge formed for a week and they built the new Church. A miracle of the Rosary or a coincidence?
Finally, on the day the Church was dedicated to Mary, June 22, 1888, three men were kneeling before the statue of our Lady praying (a statue of our Lady of the Miraculous Medal): Fr. Desilets, Blessed Frederic Jansoone, and a layman named Pierre Lacroix. Suddenly, the statue opened its eyes and looked straight ahead for about five to ten minutes. Fr. Frederic later testified that “her look was that of a living person; it was partly severe, mixed with sadness.”
It was a truly miraculous sign that in this holy place, the Blessed Virgin was opening her eyes and heart to the prayers of her children, that she and her Son truly listen to us when we pray; that prayer makes a difference.
I recommend praying the Rosary for all your needs: to obtain miracles, to keep families united, to purify your heart, to hope in God and defeat the devil.
The readings today speak of marriage, divorce and adultery, of families and children. In the first reading, we hear how God created marriage in the beginning: “a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Jesus affirms the indissolubility of a valid marriage in the Gospel: “Therefore was God has joined together, let no one separate” (Mark 10:9). A little later, Jesus praises children, the fruit of marriage (Mk 10:14).
This “focus on the family” in today’s readings reminds us that the Rosary is “a prayer of and for the family” as John Paul II wrote in his 2002 Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, in which he also introduced the luminous mysteries (#41)
He also wrote that “The family that prays together stays together” (#41).
“The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth,” of the Holy Family (#41), (making me wonder again about families joining the Archconfraternity of the Holy Family).
God obviously wants families to stay together (there are some very rare exceptions), and married couples to stay united. Satan, the devil, whom Jesus calls the “father of lies” and “the prince of this world” who once deceived and divided the first married couple, Adam and Eve, continues to work at destroying marriages and families in our day.
There’s a war going on, a spiritual one, largely directed against marriage, family and children. The Rosary is one of the weapons God gives us to win this war. Mary is the one chosen by God to crush the serpent’s head (statue); her Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Anyone who is devoted to Mary and especially consecrated to her, in the manner taught by St. Louis de Montfort and recommended by John Paul II, will be personally protected by her from the assaults and deceits of the devil.
Satan wants to divide people and destroy relationships (our relationship with God and one another). One of his chosen instruments in our times is Internet pornography. There’s an excellent article in the October issue of First Things entitled, “What Does Woman Want? The War Between the Sexless.” (You can read it on-line at www.firstthings.com/article/2009/10/what-does-woman-want).
The author, Mary Eberstadt, first quotes Dr. Phil who writes that “sexless marriages are an undeniable epidemic.” And the main culprit, she suspects, is Internet pornography. She speaks of a “retreat from marriage into a fantasy life via pornography,” and the problem in some marriages is not “a sexual desert but a sexual flood – a torrent of poisonous imagery, beginning even in childhood, that has engulfed women and men, only to beach them eventually somewhere alone and apart, far from the reach of one another.”
Again she quotes Dr. Phil, who writes that pornography “is a perverse and ridiculous intrusion into your relationship . . . it is an insult, it is disloyal, and it is cheating . . . You need to tell your partner that viewing pornography is absolutely, unequivocally unacceptable in your relationship.”
We have to honestly and courageously confront the plague of pornography that has corrupted our society, affecting marriages, the young, and even those who should be models of holiness (and I’m thinking of the tragic case of Bishop Lahey from Nova Scotia). We need to beware of the wiles of the devil who can use internet pornography to divide and isolate married couples, to destroy vocations, and to enslave our young people.
I think parents need to be more vigilant about internet pornography infiltrating your home and the hearts of your children. Imagine if Count Dracula came to your door and said, “Good evening, Madam. My name is Count Dracula. I was wondering if you have any innocent, little children that I might visit.” “Of course, do come in. What did you say your name was Mr.? “– Dracula!” “Mr Dracula, please come in. You can suck the children’s blood and turn them into zombie slaves of your vampire army!”
Of course we would not let Count Dracula into our homes to suck our children’s blood. But if Satan, whom St. Paul calls “the ruler of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2) uses the “airwaves” and the Internet to corrupt and enslave our young people, we fling open our doors and lay out the red carpet to welcome him. Put a computer in everyone’s room! Unsupervised, unlimited use of the Internet – sounds like a great idea!. . . . Hello, we need to wake up to this problem!
Computers and the internet are instruments, technology that can be used for good or evil. You can read what the Pope said in Rome yesterday, or you can look at pornography. I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in last Sunday’s Gospel: “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out” (Mark 9:47). If your computer “causes” you to sin . . . has anyone seen the movie “Fireproof” (which we have in our library)? The husband smashes his computer with a baseball bat. His wife comes home to find, in the place of the computer, a note that says “I love you more.” I just happen to have an old monitor here that I am taking in to Computer Recyclers, where it will be smashed anyway, ground up and recycled. Would anyone like to take a few swings at it?
Aside from smashing computer screens, which I don’t recommend, perhaps, during this month of the Rosary, we could all resolve to spend even 5 minutes less a day on the computer and 5 minutes more praying, giving us enough time to at least pray one decade of the Rosary.
Pray the Rosary to win the battle for marriage and family, for purity, freedom, for the protection of our young. Now the Rosary is not magic, and remember that any prayer will draw us closer to God and cause the devil to flee. The simple name of “Jesus,” spoken with faith and mentioned at least 50 times in every Rosary, can cause the devil to flee.
But to those who struggle with temptations of whatever kind, the Rosary is an ideal way to develop the “habit of hope,” of reaching out to God. If we analyze our temptations, I think we will always find a certain lack of hope in God. The problem is we don’t analyze our temptations; we lose our minds and forsake our freedom in giving in to temptation; we march like robots or zombies to indulge our sinful habit or addiction (masturbation, alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, etc).
In every sin, there is a lack of hope. People think, “what’s the point, I can’t resist, I’ll do it again anyway, God can’t help me, I feel so miserable anyway it doesn’t matter, I’m not hurting anyone, lots of other people do it.” In all these unconscious thoughts, there is a lack of hope that God can and will help us in the moment of temptation. As we develop the habit of hope, we also need to train our noses to the smell of sulphur, tell-tale signs of the devil likes to lurk behind every lack of hope because he knows that if he can get you to lose hope in God, then he has won half the battle for your heart, to enslave you to sin and damage all your relationships.
The Rosary and our Blessed Mother will help us to resist the Evil One, to develop the habit of hope and constantly reach out to God. And Mary our Mother is also the “refuge of sinners,” the patron saint of the impossible: a Virgin conceiving a child, a statue opening her eyes, an ice bridge forming in the middle of spring, a lukewarm parish becoming converted into fervent Catholics, people enslaved to sin being set free and becoming saints.
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