Last week in my homily I spoke about our great commission that we Christians have been given by Jesus; we are called to speak the truth to all men and to do so with great love, better yet, with great Charity. We are to speak the truth in Charity.
Again, this is what is at stake with regards to our current struggle with religious freedom. It is so much more that freedom to worship. Again, the enemies of the truth will give us that, at least for the time being. It is even more than the freedom to not to betray our principles and our conscience, which are part of our human dignity. Religious freedom is freedom to engage society; the freedom to proclaim to all of the members of society out of love for them, the truth that sets men free, gives them true happiness and saves them; it freedom to call all men to repent of their sins and to accept the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who is God become man to save us through the forgiveness of sins, sins which are acts against the truth.
It is the freedom to speak out against all evil, yes, against the evil of homosexual acts, which are life-less acts; but also against the evils of artificial contraception which too are life-less, anti-family, and so oppress and degrade women and endangers their health and well-being; it is the freedom to defend life, to defend the life of the human person in all of its stages; to speak out in defense of the sacred dignity of every single human person born or unborn, rich or poor, sick or healthy, black or white, conscious or unconscious; to defend all human persons, especially those who cannot defend them selves.
Yes, we must speak the truth in Charity out of love for God who is the source of all truth, and then out of love for our brother and sister and concern for their eternal salvation. We want to bring them the truth so that they might be free, that is free to live life to the fullness by being free to choose all that which is True and Good, and ultimately free to choose He Who is Truth and Goodness Itself God. This is why Jesus came to earth, to reveal the truth about God and Man; and then to free man from the greatest slavery, the slavery of sin, in order that men could accept this truth with their intellect and live it with their lives and so become one with God through Jesus who is the Truth.
But if we are to speak the truth in Charity we must also live Charity in the truth. We can’t live charitable lives, lies of love without the truth, that is without Jesus who is the truth and without the truth that He came to bring to us from His Father in Heaven so that ultimately through living the truth we might become one with God.
This was the title and theme of the most recent Encyclical of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict entitled Caritas et Veritate…Charity in Truth. In the Encyclical He said our works of Charity must be done in the truth or they are not charity at all. Without the truth they can actually become unjust works which degrade man and lead to a loss of the freedom and liberty of man. They become acts which are done not for the common good, not for the good of all the members of the society, especially not for woman and the unborn.
Let me use an example. Let’s take for instance governments that send aid to third world countries but only on condition that these third world countries accept our own population control mandates. In other words they must force their people, all in the name of development, to limit their births and mandate laws that allow artificial birth control and even abortion before they receive that which their people are in great need of. Once the governments of these countries acquiesce to these unjust conditions, then and only then, will material aid be given. In fact, many times before any material aid arrives, first arrives the birth control and aborti-facient drugs first. This aid is not charity for it is not given with the truth, not given in the truth; it is unjust and does not promote the common good of the society.
Ultimately, charity done without the truth is not charity at all because the truth is really a Divine Person, Jesus Christ. Charity is really doing good works through Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ through Jesus Christ. Charity is doing good works for love of God and for the love of our brethren with the Love of God alive in our hearts, minds and souls. Any so-called works of charity that are done without the truth, are ultimately works done without God who is the source of all Charity. God is in fact, Charity Itself, for God is love, Deus Caritas est--God is Charity…! Interestingly the title of another of Pope Benedict’s encyclicals.
All of this brings up why we are against Obama care, and why all Christians and men of good will should oppose Obama Care…it is charity without the truth and so it is not Charity at all. Even though it is presented as a law for the common good, it actually goes against common good because it endangers our religious freedom and our freedom of conscience.
The truth is, is that this goes against the very dignity of the human person; it strips the person of the right to practice the truth, to proclaim the truth out side of the walls of the Church building. And even more, and most of all we oppose Obama Care because it is anti-life…and as such is anti-God who is the Creator and Lord of Human life.
Let us get it straight; we are not against the right to affordable health care for every human person. Our bishops promoted that ideal long before this current administration. In fact it was our religious orders that were the first to provide affordable health care and in fact many times free health care to the first citizens of this great country. The Church has been the savior to the sick and ill, not some politician.
These hospitals were founded for the love of Christ and to bring the healing and love of Christ to the sick and suffering, both physically and spiritually. In other words, Catholic Hospitals were founded in charity. Even to this day, many times when a patient has the inability to pay, the secular hospitals will send them to Catholic hospitals for care.
We know that our current health care system needs to be reformed. But we are against Obama Care because it is health care without the truth. And it is so, not only because denies Catholics and all men of good will religious freedom and freedom of conscience by mandating us to go against the truth of God; not only because, thanks to the supreme court ruling is now a tax on the public practice of religious by its imposition of a penalty for following the truth of our faith; but we are also against it because it is an Abortion expanding health care reform law and the most abortion expanding law since the Roe vs. Wade decision which legalize abortion in all nine months of pregnancy. It is charity without the truth, which means it is not charity at all.
And so, it will never work because it is an unjust law. It does not protect our liberties and it does not protect the most defenseless and most poor of all, the unborn…it is unjust because it is anti-woman; it oppresses women; it is a weapon in the true war against women in its attack against motherhood, treating women’s gift of fertility and bearing new children of God as if these things were diseases …it is a war against woman because it attacks and will kill in ever increasing numbers especially unborn women…and so it is anti-family; and all this funded by yours and mine tax dollars and insurance premiums; and our cooperation in this evil will be mandated, that is forced upon us Catholic Christians and upon all men and women of good will. In good conscience we must disobey this unjust law for as St. Augustine taught, “An unjust law is no law at all and must be opposed.”
St. John Paul II once directly addressed America saying, “(America) The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones. The best traditions of your land presume respect for those who cannot defend themselves. If you want equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting peace, then, America, defend life.” John Paul II
Obama care is not charity because it is unjust; and it is unjust because, it ignores the truth that comes from God about the dignity of every single human person; and so it does not protect life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness…In fact, interestingly, immediately after the Supreme Court’s ruling, one of the first groups to come out in support of its decision was Planned Parenthood, the most anti-life organization in the world…They understand clearly that Obama care is not going to make abortion more accessible, nor will it make abortion causing pills more accessible and life preventing contraception more accessible, but it will force you and I to pay for these moral evils out our tax dollars and with our insurance premiums. And if we refuse to deny our consciences and not go along with this evil then we will be punished and force to submit by an even greater so-called tax. And after that, who knows what the punishment will be.
Even more than a health care overhaul, our dear country is in great need of a spiritual health care overhaul. It’s leaders, Catholic, Christian or otherwise are in need of spiritual and moral conversion; its Catholics, Christians or otherwise, including all of us, are in need of great spiritual and moral conversion and the healing of our sins. So, Let us not pray for the suffering to be taken away but that we may accept the Holy Will of God. Let us not pray to escape the cross but to be able to embrace the cross. Let us pray not to escape persecution but that we may be used as faithful instruments of God’s divine design, even if that means that we may be Martyrs (white or red) for Christ and for His Holy Catholic Church and for the salvation of souls and salvation of our Great Country.
“Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless, and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us, that inn difficult moments, w might not despair, no become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy Itself. Our Lady of Divine Mercy, Mother of the Americas, Pray for us. Amen.”
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