Hubs and I stopped attending our Catholic church many years ago when we grew tired of the same old sermon topics:
Abortion
Divorce and
Money
Regardless of the scriptures designated for that week the priest always managed to come round to one or more of the three topics and we would leave the service feeling whipped and scourged, week after week after week.
Where was the Good News?
Where was the motivation to take our faith into the work place and encourage our friends to join us on Sundays?
No-one wants to be told what a sinner he or she is …I wouldn’t want to subject anyone I knew to that kind of judgement.
We all need to be uplifted by the saving grace of Christ and encouraged to accept the gift of salvation
We don’t need to be told how we will burn for all eternity unless we change our sinful ways.
Where’s the love, the forgiveness, the charisma of our Divine Creator in a message of doom and gloom?
To be admonished in this way every Sunday is enough to plunge even the most optimistic into the depths of depression.
Several years later when we were looking for a mass option on Saturday evenings in order to fulfill our volunteering schedule with the local community theatre we ventured back to the Catholic church.
All was quiet from the pulpit on the subjects of abortion, divorce and money and we grew to love our priests who were truly reaching out to their community and feeding many broken souls with the message of Christ’s saving grace.
This past October we were between churches, houses, states and countries and found ourselves regularly attending St. Joseph on Spring Valley in Richardson.
It was Respect Life Month in the Catholic diocese and to kick things off our current priest, whom we admire and enjoy, surprised us with his introduction on what has been for many of us in the past, a topic that begins and ends with abortion.
I gritted my teeth and prepared for my hackles to rise but I should have known better because Father Timothy is anything but predictable.
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He talked about respecting all aspects of life from the unborn to the breathing, walking, talking phases we are privileged to partake of on earth until we finally enter eternity.
He outlined five components that would heighten our awareness of those living beings around us.
Education allows us to more closely understand the church, her values, how she reached her universal teachings and why she stands firm on issues of life. This blog is not going to go into those details, it would take a more comprehensive study to delve deeply into the history of the church but the message here is don’t make presumptions that the catholic church or most other faiths, arbitrarily make up their own rules. There’s a lot of history going on and we, if we are critics, need to become better educated. Infallibility is a powerful tool in the hands of a mere mortal but go ahead, find out what it’s all about…something to do with, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18)
Families are our most important social group and they are being threatened today by society. We may have family members we would rather live without but they are part of who we are, part of our fabric and help us to see aspects of ourselves both worthy and unworthy that will help us become whom God created us to be. No matter what our walk of life, if we put family first consider how different our world would be. Our families run the gamut of young and old, unconditional love, support, understanding and tolerance. Why do we choose to fight against family, disrespect the traditional unit and flee to come completely independent (at least of our families) and end up lonely and afraid at the end of our lives? No-one will ever know us better than those who raised and nurtured us; except our Ckreator.
The elderly, how often do we gloss over the words and actions of those who are in a different generation to us? We live in a world where the youth are in charge, once you fetch up on the shores of 50 you become a has been or a fount of glory day stories that capture the imagination but don’t land any good jobs. Curiously the boomers are set to form the largest portion of the population and yet we are glossed over for the youngsters who are quicker, brighter, more technically adept…but are they more socially aware? Are they historically minded? Do they recognize their place in the world in relation to those who went before? Do they know where wars are being fought? Where other families are struggling against governments that think only of themselves? Are they too angry at their own government to see the comparison or make the connection?
Our culture as westerners sets us up as an icon to the rest of the world. How do we shape up. What impression are we giving the rest of the world…do we care? Americans are portrayed as users. Although team work is encouraged the individual is the one who really triumphs and at the expense of fellow workers. Are we brave enough to be counter cultural. Are we willing to extend Christ’s love to others even if it means losing a stronghold of our own?
Peace, is an important component. How easy is it to resort to anger and frustration when a situation arises we cannot control?Do we prefer peace or conflict? Do we feel better surrounded by tranquility, harmony or terror and threats? Is our answer to go in with bombs and guns or words? How else should we example settling disputes?
Respect Life Month isn’t only for Catholics, or Christians or any other religious sects, it is for all of us as we live together in this world.
All life begins with a twinkle in God’s eye and ends with his applause when we arrive at the gates of heaven.
Let’s respect that with education, family, elderly, culture and peace.
Father Heines week of life
Education
Fanily
Elderly
Culture using people for advancement
Peace
Love