Good morning. Perhaps the recent HHS Mandate turmoil is what it took to get the ball rolling, according to a recent article in the Our Sunday Visitor written by Michelle Martin, Pastors Preach Against Contraception From Pulpit, priests throughout this country are increasingly directing the attention of their congregation to the age-old teaching of the Catholic Church that contraception is a grave sin. The Lord works in mysterious ways!
My land! I don’t ever recall hearing any mention of contraception from the pulpit, and I don’t recollect any such instruction in any CCD class nor in any pre-marital instruction. Father Landry, a priest in Bedford, Massachusetts noted in the article just mentioned that he prepares many couples for marriage who have never heard that contraception is a sin. And besides pleading ignorance there are many who just simply do it anyways. That really, when one stops to think about it, should not come as a surprise as we tend to get up each and every day and proceed about in our lives doing as we please. Quite frankly, that is a gift from God. God wants us to be free to choose what we do, good or bad. Unfortunately, the whole idea of freedom has been diminished. We, in today’s ‘It’s All About Me’ culture use such freedom as an excuse to do whatever we please. “No fusty old Church is going to tell me how to live my life!”
The Lord sure works in mysterious ways. Perhaps it is the Holy Spirit now letting us know, that enough is enough, that it is time to listen. As Jesus notes in today’s Gospel, He wants us to listen deep within our hearts. "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Our late pontiff, Blessed Pope John Paul II warned us in Veritatis Splendor that we give ourselves “over to relativism and skepticism” going “off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself." Our Dear Pope John Paul II likewise warned us at the World Youth Day in the Holy City that there are people “who teach that the meaning of life lies solely in the quest for success, the accumulation of wealth, the development of personal abilities, without regard for the needs of others or respect for values, at times not even for the fundamental value of life itself.”
We unfortunately live in an age where we are less inclined to just accept the teachings of the Church. No, we’re far too enlightened for that, and the devil is all too willing to fill our minds with teachings which will “not only fail to bring satisfaction but often intensify and exacerbate the thirst that burns in the human heart.” In the final analysis there are some things we need to just accept on faith, but when it comes to contraception one need only experience the life-giving joy and freedom a husband and wife share in the total giving of themselves to appreciate the goodness of the Church’s teaching. So, Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Let us listen for the call of the Spirit. Make a great day!
Today we recall the good life, gifts, and work of Pope Saint Sixtus III.
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