Holy Family

Holy Family

Monday, January 24, 2011

Feast of Saint Francis de Sales

Good morning.  In our Nation’s Capital this morning there are hundreds of thousands of marchers who will be peaceably demonstrating against the national tragedy of abortion.  To remind “all people of good will to join us in the affirmation that children in the womb have equal rights and human dignity.” ~Family Members of Martin Luther King, Jr.  My heart and my prayers are with them. At the heart of the Pro-Life March is that our nation declared 38 years ago that every woman had the right to abort her unborn child, and as recently as this past Saturday our President, in reference to abortion, declared that "government should not intrude on private family matters."  These pathetic misdirected words are but a reminder that this society of ours has lost its moral compass, that we, as a nation, have become mired in a distorted sense of right and wrong.  One of the basic tenets of this republic, the right to life has become twisted and reconfigured to exclude a segment of the populace—the unborn child. This is not the first time in this nation’s history that rights have been relegated based upon one’s status as a human being.


Our Saint for today, Saint Francis de Sales said that “Man is the perfection of the Universe. The spirit is the perfection of man. Love is the perfection of the spirit, and charity that of love. Therefore, the love of God is the end, the perfection of the Universe.” Our secular society has come to the point that it measures right and wrong by how any action might impede upon people’s right to a pleasurable existence.  The felt entitlement to happiness and pleasure within our society has led us to the point that the very measure of life itself is contingent upon how it either contributes to or takes away from that felt sense of entitlement.  This sense of entitlement to a life of pleasure seems limitless, to the point of redefining God’s influence in our lives.  We have forgotten what the founding fathers well knew, that the right to life is not a privilege conferred by government, but by God.  As a nation we have turned away from God. The Gospel for this morning offers very clear words of warning for those who choose to turn away from God’s Love and for a nation divided (Mk 3:22-30).  We have become so driven by this felt entitlement for pleasure that the love for our own individual pleasures, rather than God, has become the end, and our nation is divided and could quite possibly be on the path to destruction. May we pray that the leadership of this country puts an end to abortion, and returns the right to life to include all—even the unborn child.  And, let us pray for the safety of all those marching today, those joining together as a Voice for Life in our Nation’s Capital.  Make a great day!


Today we recall the great life, gifts and works of Saint Francis de Sales.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment