Condoning Murder with your Vote
By Father
Paul Weinberger, Pastor
St. William Roman Catholic Church, Greenville, Texas
Ascension of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
“But now once for all, He has appeared
at the end of the ages to take away sin by his Sacrifice. Just as it is
appointed that men and women die once and after this judgment, so also Christ,
offered to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take
away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him. Let us approach
with a sincere heart and in absolute trust with our hearts sprinkled clean from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold
unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for He Who made the promise
is trustworthy.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
If you could imagines something so unfortunate happening
to you, you have heard it happening to you but suppose it happened to you? You
and your family are having a cookout in the back yard enjoying dinner and then
you hear the sound of brakes screeching and shots being fired that seem very
close; in fact, someone is shooting at your home. Your family members are
there, your home, possessions and you neighbors are near by. The car speeds
away and as providence would have it, the police happen to be near and have
seen everything and catch them less than a mile away from your home.
Four young men are brought back to your home, these four
your men were in the car when they fired upon your home and your loved ones.
The police escort them up to you and ask if you recognize them and tell you
that these are the four men that were shooting at you and your family and also
endangering your neighbors. One of the young men however says, “Sir, ma'am,
please, I didn’t shoot at your house!” The officer says, “Yes, technically he
is right, he was riding in the car.” Somehow this man thinks that he should be
above everything and says, “They shot at your house, I merely made it
possible for them to put your life in danger.”
You would hope that all four of them would go to their
place before justice and that they would be treated according to the laws of
the land. The young man’s protest would be hollow because he was helping them
put lives at risk and so he shares equally in the blame.
Last week the Holy Father celebrated his 84th birthday and
coinciding with that there was a book published which was mainly
autobiographical. It is a reference to Our Lord’s words on the road to Emmaus, “Get up, and let us go!” In this book/work, the Holy
Father muses over the past twenty-five years as the Shepherd of the Church and
like many parents or grandparents, he is looking back and is thinking, “You
know, perhaps I should have been stricter.” He has actually mused in this
fashion; “Perhaps I should have been stricter in the discipline of the
Church over the last twenty-five years.” The fact is that it is obvious
when we look at what’s happened recently.
Last week Bishop Michael Sheridan in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, sent a letter throughout his Diocese in which he said that any
Catholic politician who presented himself for Holy Communion and is promoting
abortion, euthanasia, cloning, and other issues, which are greatly threatening
family life, democrat or republican would not be allowed to receive Holy
Communion. Then he added that he would neither allow to Holy Communion
anyone who voted them into office. Last night at the 4 pm mass, there was a
pronounced gasp, an audible gasp! What Bishop Sheridan has written, is in
fact the teaching of the Church; it has always been the teaching of the Church.
If you can understand the first example using the guy driving the get-away car,
then you must understand that those people who got themselves into office
didn’t get there by driving themselves to work. They got there by being voted
into office and so there is a direct connection; there is an obvious
connection.
Perhaps you haven’t been following it but in mid April,
Pope John Paul II, who has spoken on this topic again and again and again and
again, and written on it, then only thing the Holy Father has yet to do on this
subject is to stand on his head in public and protest against Catholic
politicians who approach to receive Holy Communion when they are a
contradiction to Church teachings. Maybe that will happen next week, we never
know what this Pope is going to do next to draw attention to the teachings of
the Church. He is tremendous!! In mid April, he reaffirmed his constant
teaching that no one conscience of grave sin such as promoting the things that
I listed before, should approach Holy Communion in the Roman Catholic Church.
Then at the end of April this was reaffirmed in a document, which I mentioned
last week called Redemptionionis Sacramentum
that it would be an abuse of the Sacrament for a
politician to do that. But it didn’t say catholic politician, it said any
Catholic, any Catholic!
It is interesting that bishop Sheridan in Colorado Springs
publishes his letter and so many people think it is a new teaching when in fact
it has been a constant teaching of the Church. Something can be the constant
teaching of the Church and not be studied; something can be the constant
teaching of the Church and not be preached. Just about the same time Bishop
Sheridan published his letter in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Cardinal McCarrick
in Washington D.C. which is a very important diocese in this country, was asked
a question, “Cardinal, would you refuse Communion to a Catholic politician who
was openly promoting abortion and these other things?” Cardinal McCarrick
waffled and said, “Well, you know, I am not really comfortable refusing
Communion to people.” So what happened? The laity in Washington D.C., the
American Life League got together. Many of them are very bright and many of the
laity can actually read and write. These lay people got together; they had
studied the constant teachings of the Church. They started a $500,000.00
campaign which was from their own money, right? And they ran an ad campaign,
billboards and advertisements and it showed Jesus on the Cross, the Face of the
Suffering Christ on the Cross and above it the words, “Cardinal
McCarrick, are you comfortable now?”
So we have over here Cardinal McCarrick, a Cardinal of the
Church, at odds with Bishop Sheridan of Colorado Springs. So…who is
right? They are not saying the same thing!!! They are NOT saying the
same thing; they are at odds. Which of these two leaders of the Church are in
Communion with the Pope? Isn’t it obvious? Isn’t it obvious? Just because one
happens to bear the name cardinal doesn’t mean he is automatically right!
Recently there were many politicians, many Catholics among
them who were struggling to get to the microphone to recall the anniversary in
our country of the struggle for equal rights. It was the 50th Anniversary of
the decision know as “Brown versus the Board of Education”. This
decision made it possible for the integration of our schools in this country.
There were many people who said that blacks and whites and people of other
races should not go to school together. They should be separated, segregated.
And fifty years ago, Brown versus the Board of Education made it’s way through
and promoted equal protection under the law, equal opportunity and as Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. said when people were after him to wait and not do this
now, ‘Enough of waiting!” Fortunately for us they didn’t wait, they did
something about it and our schools are no longer segregated.
One of the prominent figures against integration was a
notorious fellow, a governor from the south, George Wallace. Pretend if you
will that George Wallace was still alive and was Roman Catholic and was
visiting Washington D.C.; Cardinal McCarrick was saying Mass and Wallace presented
himself for Holy Communion. Is there anyone in this Church that thinks cardinal
McCarrick would give him Holy Communion? I think it is reprehensible that there
are men in our Congress who have had high positions in the KKK. Why does anyone
even speak to these men in public? Why are we allowed to read their long
speeches into the Congressional Record with their reprehensible record? And if
people such as George Wallace would not be allowed to receive Holy Communion,
why is this an issue?
During that same time of Brown Verses the Board of
Education, there was a very rich individual in New Orleans and he was against
integration of the schools. Do you know that his public opposition to
integration meant that he could not receive Holy Communion? He was
refused Holy Communion but the man repented and changed his public stance on
segregation and was readmitted to Holy Communion. Isn’t that the purpose of
excommunication, so that the person will repent and follow the truth and be
readmitted to Holy Communion?
About one hundred years ago the women of this country got
together and insisted that they should be given the right to vote. One of the
women was Susan B. Anthony. So many of these women got together and organized
what is known as the Women of the Suffrage movement. If you go back and study
these women who were ardent that women be allowed to vote and equal rights for
women, do you know that every one of the leaders of the Suffrage Movement was
against abortion? It is amazing!
This is all so very important for many reasons, but the
last words of Christ before He ascended into Heaven are instructive in every
way for us. We heard today’s Gospel, but St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 28……this
is not from some Vatican document, this is not something that is inaccessible
to everyone here….St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 28, says this, “Jesus came
forward and addressed the eleven disciples in these words, “Full authority has been given to me both in Heaven and on
earth, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations; Baptize them in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, mumble, mumble,
mumble…….world. Right? That last part is particularly beautiful isn’t
it? Mumble, mumble, mumble…..world! Well, what’s that fly-over country say? “Baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you and
know that I am with you always until the end of the world.”
In the first reading, “In the
first book, Theophilis, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught….
The second reading, “Therefore brothers and sisters,
since through the Blood of Jesus we have confidence of entrance into the
sanctuary by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is,
His Flesh, and since we have “a great priest over the House of God,” let us
approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled
clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.” Up
above it says. “Just as it is appointed that men and
women die once and after this the judgment.”
So many people over the last 40 years have decided not to
study their Catholic faith. Therefore when Bishop Sheridan comes out and says
something, which is totally consistent with the catholic faith, Catholics
recoil in horror or they are shocked and amazed. We can study everything; we
can study anything on the Internet and find ways of spending hours upon hours
in front of the television but we can’t study our faith. Many people do study
their faith and pass it on to their children in accord with the last words of
Jesus, “Teach them to observe and carry out everything
I have commanded you.” But how can you carry it out if you are not
informed of what He taught?
Back before the earth thawed, in WWII, many of the
American Catholic GIs were in England. Msgr. Ronal Knox, whose homilies
are still as important today as they were when he preached them first and are
written down in volumes so you can read them, you can access them, was there in
England and he was helping many of these American GIs and he said that the
American GI was far superior to any other Catholic GI he’d ever met in any
other country. They knew their faith so well that they had the ‘Msgr. Ronald
Knox Seal of Approval”. Could we say that about American Catholics today? We
have to admit that the last forty years have proven to be an experiment that
failed. The faith for whatever reason has not been taught, not been passed
on in such a way that it could be assimilated. Generations before us had
been taught the faith and assimilated it and we have not. Of course I can’t
walk over to the Religious Goods store and buy a Catechism of the Catholic
Church, my leg is broken. You don’t even have to buy it, it is on the Internet
where you can go and access it. “Oh, but….” See what I mean? The reason this is
so important is our life is in the balance. So many people hold convictions;
you merely have to look at the “blue states” and the “red states” on a map of
the United States.
Now, pick up your prayer to God the Father because we are
in the nine-day period leading up to Pentecost where Jesus sent us His promised
Spirit of Truth. Look at the part that says,
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Quote: |
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I
ask you to come into every part of my memory. |
Everyone has memories, good and bad. Speaking of bad
memories, if you have a memory that is not going to help you get one step
closer to Heaven, why are you hanging on to it? Somehow at the last you are
going to muster the courage to get rid of it? Ridiculous!!! Look at the next
line after the one on memory.
[quote] Holy Spirit, I ask you to come into my habits, my
attractions, my tendencies and my convictions.
So!!! You are really convicted on abortion and euthanasia?
You’re so smart, right?! You are smarter than the Catholic Church. Run it past
the Holy Spirit, if he says ok, I have got no problem. Open yourself wide up to
the Holy Spirit and ask Him to come into your convictions. Continuing on with
the prayer,
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Come
into every part of me and whatever you find in me that is not in complete
accord with Your Divine Plan for me, then I surrender all to you, Holy
Spirit. Holy Spirit, please take it all away and in its place fill me with
Your Divine Presence. |
Prayer and study is what is needed; prayer and study!
Specifically prayer to the Holy Spirit! “Holy Spirit if I am wrong will you
show me?” You might not like to hear this from your pastor, you might not like
to hear this from your brother in law or your sister, and your parents; I am
going right to the top. “Holy Spirit, if I am wrong about abortion and how I
want it to be promoted, would you tell me?” And then hold on to something!
We are not convinced. We can try to convince ourselves like the guy driving the
car. “UH ma’am, I didn’t shoot at your house, honest I didn’t, I only drove the
car so that these three guys could get a good shot at your house.” If we have
that power to reason…
See, politics is local, all politics is local but isn’t
all morality local? When that guy is shooting at your house, don’t you want
somewhere inside of his heart for him to remember, Thou shalt not kill?
But why is it we turn morality on and off like a spigot, like a water faucet?
Why is it then that I can turn around and target someone else’s life. Your life
began the day you were conceived. Oh yea, birth control, contraceptives are all
part of this package of sins that people are convinced and convicted that they
are right when it comes to these things. Well, what does the Church say? What
does the Holy Spirit say? Funny, they say the same thing! Jesus says to the
Church in His last words, “Teach them to carry out
everything I have commanded you. This isn’t Jesus as a
five-year-old little girl who is drawing in the sand saying, “Can you do these
things, huh, maybe? Can we go?” NO! “Teach them to
carry out everything I have commanded you!”
Look on the backside of the prayer.
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Holy
spirit, by tomorrow, double my ability to examine conscience so that I may
always recognize my own personal sins. |
If we do that then the next part has meaning.
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Each
day double my ability to forgive others out of love for You |
If we examine our conscience and allow the Holy Spirit to
show us where we have transgressed, then I have to being forgiving those around
me. Prayer and study is what is needed.
So many people promoted “Brown versus The Board of
Education” and it became the Law of the Land. Isn’t it interesting that the
woman, who is in charge and is President of the American Life League in
Washington DC…. well, guess what her last name is. Uh huh! BROWN, JUDIE
BROWN. Isn’t she a catholic priest up…..oh, wait a minute, NO, she is a lay
woman, right? She studied her faith and boy does she know it! Maybe you don’t
know it and maybe you haven’t done a good job passing on your faith to your
children and grandchildren but there is still time. But doesn’t every parent
or grandparent ask themselves the same thing later on? “Should I have been
stricter on my kids?” Is it any surprise that the Pope would ask the same
question? “Perhaps I should have been stricter in my discipline.”
Bishop Sheridan is not going to let that be said of him.
We do have to admit that what he said is rather difficult to bear given our
record over the last forty years where so many people have never studied their
faith well and therefore can’t pass it on. They can’t be challenged by their
faith because they don’t know it and sad to say that they can’t pass it on to
their children or grandchildren. It is not an option for us; Jesus wants us to
do exactly that. His last words to His Church before he ascended into Heaven, “Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on
earth, go therefore and make disciples of all nations; Baptize them in the Name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teach them to carry out
everything I have commanded you.” How can we teach them if we don’t know
it ourselves?
All of the prayers today for the rest for the Mass, you
are going to hear this, “Where Jesus has gone, we hope
to follow.’
If I want to follow the Truth all the way to Heaven, I
have to follow it right now. Some of these things you may not like, in fact I
may never see you again in this Church. Too bad!!! If I don’t preach what Jesus
teaches and you don’t preach what Jesus teaches, we are going to have to answer
for it. The Holy Spirit can clear all this up; just bravely walk into prayer
and say, “Holy Spirit, if I am wrong on this point, would you show me?” As I
said before, just grab something and hold on.
“But now once for all, He has
appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his Sacrifice. Just as it
is appointed that men and women die once and after this judgment, so also
Christ, offered to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not
to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him. Let us
approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust with our hearts sprinkled
clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold
unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for He Who made the promise
is trustworthy.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen