for the source of all death, is ultimately a failure of the creature to adore the Creator in Spirit and in Truth.

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary time. January 31st, 2010

Today we read the conclusion to Last week's Gospel. Last week we heard that Jesus was highly praised in the surrounding villages because of the great deeds He performed, like the changing of the water into wine at Cana. And, that the people in Nazareth were astonished by His claim that He was the fulfillment of ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah. However, in today's Gospel we hear something quite different.
What happened? It would seem that the people of His own town would be proud of Jesus and accept Him as a favored Son. This does not end up being the case. They had heard of Jesus’ miracles and were intrigued by His wisdom; however they were very superficial and narrow-minded. In their pride they felt hurt that Jesus, one their own townsmen, had not performed miracles in Nazareth as He did elsewhere. They presumed that they should receive special “favor” and so they insolently demand that He perform miracles, not to change their heart and lead them to a deeper faith, but merely to satisfy their vanity.
And so Jesus, knowing their hearts, performs no miracles; instead He reproaches them and uses examples from the Old Testament in order to show that one needs to be well-disposed if miracles are going to lead to faith. His attitude so wounds their pride that they are ready to kill him by throwing Him off a cliff. This whole episode is a good lesson about understanding Jesus and His teachings which He gives to us through His Church. We can only understand Him and His teachings if we are humble and are genuinely resolved to change in order to make ourselves available to Him.
The problem is that the teachings of Jesus are sometimes very tough. So tough in fact that many times there can be a denial that the teachings of the Church are the same as the teachings of the Jesus. What a great error. The truth is of course, that the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the Church are one in the same. The Church for her part, carries on these teachings, which she receives from Christ through the Apostles, prophetically and lovingly preaching them in all ages, whether acceptable or unacceptable. And she calls all her children, especially her bishops and priests to preach and teach these doctrines of the Church, which are the translation of the Gospel, without apology and without compromise.
If we are to live the type of Love which St. Paul speaks about in our second reading we need to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, not water down, but in its fullness and splendor. To reject anyone of the teachings of the Church is to reject the one who gave them to us, Jesus Christ, and the Father who sent Him so that we might have life through Jesus who is the Truth.
Archbishop, Timothy Dolan former bishop of Milwaukee, in an article I read a few years ago in the Observer--our diocesan newspaper, said this.

"Catholics need solid preaching about Jesus, the cross and the Church, and not “feel-good” spiritual advice that demands no sacrifice.
Preaching well means challenging people’s complacency and, like Christ, occasionally “shaking things up.” This cannot happen if preachers soft-pedal the cross, He said.
He went on, “Maybe the greatest threat to the Church is not heresy, not dissent, not secularism, not even moral relativism, but this sanitized, feel-good, boutique, therapeutic spirituality that makes no demands, calls for no sacrifice, asks for no conversion, entails no battle against sin, but only soothes and affirms,” Speaking to future priests he said, “Our preaching can then become cotton candyish--a lot of fluff, air and sugar, but no substance. Even though he was focusing on priests, Bishop Dolan reminded that preaching the Gospel is a mandate shared by ALL Christians, not just priest."

The problem is of course, no one likes to be a prophet; no one wants to get thrown off a cliff. And too often a priest or deacon who teaches something clearly and forthrightly will catch a lot of flak for it. Sadly, in our age where everyone is an expert and all truth is subjective, and the tyranny of relativism is rampant. Many people just don’t want to hear uncomfortable teachings expounded. And so for many priests it becomes very easy to fall back on a feel-good approach to the homily, light on content, long on uplifting anecdotes and the power of positive thinking--a joke at every homily for fear of rejection and desiring to be liked.
I think this fear of preaching the truth prophetically is especially so in regards to the Churches teaching on marriage, sexuality and life. Many Catholics have never even heard some of the teaching of the Church in these areas, or if they have, only heard them in a negative light, with regards to how the Church is out of step with the times and needs to get with. Well, of course the teachings of the Church are Jesus' own teachings; and Jesus is not out of step with the times, He owns time and all in it, and His teachings are always with it, because He is Truth itself.
If we are to have the light and the life of Christ we must do what the town people of Nazareth refused to do, we must humbly accept the teachings of Jesus, proclaimed and taught authentically and fully in the Church He Himself founded. He intentionally founded this Church to be His audible mouthpiece through the ages, and a visible beacon of truth for the entire world. How many times people condemn the priest for various trivial things, when what is really at issue is that same priest has pricked their guilty conscience. Instead of repenting and going to confession, in their pride they try to throw the priest over the cliff with their criticisms and condemnations. Some in fact become so angry that they want the priest not just removed from the parish, but dead. Careful, Jesus will work no miracles in their lives.
The fact is, we need more priests who are ready to get tossed over the cliff if necessary, in order to tell people the truth they need to get to heaven and avoid hell; yes, but more importantly the truth they need to love and live authentically in order to be one with Jesus Himself, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We need priests who are willing to call this sinful world of ours to repentance before it destroys itself in its wickedness.
And so, how much each of us needs to pray for priests to be holy and so to have the courage to preach the truth authentically telling all what God has commanded them to say, even if it means their life, that they may be,"a fortified city, a pillar of Iron, a wall of brass." (cf. Jeremiah 1). Every member of a parish should pray and even fast for priests, especially their own priests, during the week in order to support them in the preparation of Homilies for weekday and Sunday Masses. St John Vianney once said to priests, "You have no right to complain about your people if you are not praying, fasting and doing penance for them." The same is true for his people, "You have no right to complain about your priests, if you are not praying, fasting and doing penance for them." Of course if we do so, we won't complain at all.
Last week as you know, I went with our youth to March on the Capital in defense of life. I saw the new generation of believers, most of them Catholic youth, standing up for the truth about all human life, standing up for and proclaiming the dignity and sanctity of each and every human person. Well over three hundred thousand youth, the largest in the Marches history. These youth realize to proclaim the truth about the Human Person doesn't end with just abortion, but covers all the other crimes against the Human Person and so crimes against God's plan for marriage and family life. And so they oppose not only abortion, but artificial contraception, the active homosexual lifestyle, In Vitro Vitalization, experimentation on human embryos, divorce, and human oppression of all kinds. These acts ultimately go against God who is always life giving, always open to life and Who is Life Itself; they contracept God out of the picture and go against the good of the human person. These crimes against the Human Person are the pernicious roots of our current culture of death. I am so proud of our youth for courageously opposing them by witnessing to the truth, that comes, not from man, not from the courts, but from God Himself.
I want to share with you just one experience from the March for Life trip. Our parish Marched together and on the way we sang the Divine Mercy Chaplet as others around us join in. We then began to pray the rosary and prayed all 20 decades as we meditated on the 20 mysterious of the life of Christ that went with them. And then there, in front of the steps of the Supreme Court, we prayed the last five mysteries, the Glorious Mysteries. It was one of the most powerful Rosaries of my life.
The youth have given us the lead, but we all must now join in their lead; they for their part, have promised to attend Mass with greater faith and devotion, to pray the rosary daily, to do penance and to spend time whenever they can in front of the Blessed Sacrament, not only praying to a end of abortion, but for the conversion of those who support it and other crimes against human life and the human person. Our youth are challenging each of us to do the same.
John Paul the Great once said, "if you want peace work for justice, if you want justice protect life, if you want life accept the truth, the truth that comes from God." We must accept the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in other words we must accept the teachings of the Church, all the teachings of the Church and reject all that goes against them and we must live them out in our life in love, in charity, as St. Paul described in our second reading. Has hard as it can sometimes be, Let us embrace the truth in Its fullness, and live it with the help of the grace of this Holy Mass and every Holy Mass. Let us adore Jesus, Our Lord and Our God and Receive Him worthily, for the source of all death, is ultimately a failure of the creature to adore the Creator in Spirit and in Truth.