The first reading for this Sunday from Genesis
chapter two is a foundational scriptural passage dealing with marriage, family,
and life. God said, “It is not good for
man to be alone.” At first God created
all kinds of living things, birds, cattle, wild animals, and yet none of them
were Adam’s equal. Therefore, from man
God created a partner for him, an equal partner. One that man could look to and see a
reflection of his own nature, alike, but yet different. God in his very nature, which is perfect in
and of itself, needs nothing, and yet God still has this desire or innate
quality to share with others his love.
God’s love points outward, to us.
We are made in God’s image so our love by nature points outwards, to
others.
Today, however, because of a radical progressive ideology,
love points towards self, i.e. I have the right to choose, be it an abortion,
be it to end a marriage, and remarry, and remarry, and marry again. I also have the right to do as I want for me,
no one can tell me what to do. But, from
the beginning this is not how God intended it.
If we understand just one thing from all of today’s
readings is that God wants us to look to others first, even before
ourselves. Is that not what Jesus did
from the cross? If he would have looked
to himself only he would never have went through that suffering and would have
left us stuck in the mud. Jesus’ entire
Gospel has to do with service towards others, be it healing, sacrifice,
compassion, corporal works of mercy, and the list goes on. All holiness is based on my charity (love)
for others. It completes man to love
outside of himself and that is why God created an equal suitable partner.
Now, God is not completed by creating us,
rather we are created out love, God’s unquenchable, infinite, and glorious
desire to share and he has given us a taste of it. Why do you think we love to be with others,
why people get married, why they love children, why we love our schoolmates, colleagues,
why we love to be social? We love all
this because we are fulfilling our very nature.
The problem is as I stated we have turned this around on its head.
Many believe the Church cannot tell me to be pro-life nor can the Church tell me whether or not I can remarry according to
my own desires and wants, nor can the Church tell me what I can or cannot do in
my private life. I am a free
person. A radical sense of liberalism
has created this type of thinking, even amongst Christians. Scripture tells us something else.
This belief in a radical freedom of self is not only
contrary to our nature, but when practiced is sinful. St. Peter is clear, “Act as free men, do not
use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God” (1
Peter 2:16, NASB) and from St. Paul, “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ . . .
Romans 1:1, NABRE). We are not radically
free to choose at our every whim and fancy always looking to please self. No, we have responsibilities towards Jesus and
towards neighbor. Anything that points
to self is greed, selfishness, and contrary to the grace and nature that we
have been given.
Jesus tells the people, “Moses gave you the right to
give your spouse a bill of divorce not because it was allowed by God but rather
because of the hardness of your hearts.”
So too does radical freedom give us permissions to do “WHAT WE WANT.” It has given us permission to end the lives
of unborn babies; it has given us the permission to redefine marriage, the
family, drug use, government and corporate greed, fighting one war after
another, all because freedom says I can.
Liberalism tells us it is forward thinking, it knows
truth, that it is making society better.
Really? Is that why thousands of
babies never see the light of day, why 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Is that why the rich get bailed out and the
poor are left to dry? Is that why our
children are more stable now and better educated? (Being sarcastic here!) Obviously we are not better off now, but
worse off. We have turned to being
slaves to self rather than slaves to Christ.
St. Paul tells us we will become slaves to the one
whom we serve? I ask you (and myself)
who am I slave of? Am I slave to self
and sin or am I slave to others and Jesus?
I pray the latter. Anything else
and we are not living according to our nature and more importantly not living
according to God’s command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
FJ
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