My Sermon for Pentecost 2009. It was a bolder sermon than usual and met with fairly good reception. Comments are, of course, welcome.
Contraception is a sin. There are a few very rare exceptions, but it’s a sin. Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2370. Contraception profoundly weakens the love between husband and wife.
The Church teaches it - infallibly - and yet as many as 8 out of 10 American Catholics say they don’t agree or don’t care and contracept anyway.
Marriage is a Christian vocation expressed between a man and a woman. Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1601. It was established by God so that humanity could be fruitful and multiply.
The Church teaches it - infallibly - and yet many American Catholics speak out as if it’s a human rights issue.
The chastity of children is the responsibility of the parents until the child is an adult. Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2223. It is the duty of parents to see to the spiritual and moral formation of children and to protect them from temptation as best as possible by the practice of the virtues of denial.
The Church teaches it and yet all too many American Catholic parents are heard to say “kids will kids” or “it’s better for them to drink here than somewhere else” or “we did it when we were young.”
The Church in the United States has for the last forty years faced an identity crisis.
Do I have to do what the Church says? Do I have to give something up for Lent?
Do I have to go to Church every Sunday? Do I have to go to confession?
Is Jesus really present in the host? What if I don’t like Father?
I think I’m a spiritual person and I don’t see a problem with infidelity or fornication. I think that this or that is morally ok - and I love Jesus. Besides - a good and loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell really.
Today’s Gospel serves as a painful thorn in our side as modern Americans. We are told by TV and Politics and even one another that we’re entitled to our own opinions and that mature people make their own decisions and that faith is in your heart. But the Feast of Pentecost couldn’t be more opposed to that idea.
The Holy Spirit is coming. He is truth and he comes from God the Father… His opinion is true and he’s not interested in other opinions.
He isn’t going to lead a discussion, he is going to guide us… Toward the truth. He isn’t going to say his own thing - he is here to tell it from the mouth of God, period. To reject the truth is to reject the Lord.
And maybe that’s where the identity crisis comes in. There isn’t any appeal. There’s not room for disagreements or other opinions. Now - the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily hammer down every detail of everything. But what’s morally right and wrong are clear and that’s that.
And that way of thinking is the exact opposite of what it means for me to be an American nowadays…
And so we’re in the tough spot of saying, “Am I an American Catholic - who is going to fit the truth of God into my life…” Or - am I a Catholic American - who is going to fit my life into the truth of God.”
St. John basically says it… Words don’t mean much of anything. I can say I’m Catholic all day long. But words don’t make something real or true. I can call myself a great musician, but I can’t play piano as well as some of our teenagers. I can say that I speak Spanish, but I have to ask little kids to speak slowly. In the end, the truth is the truth and nothing I say or do can change that.
This makes some of us uncomfortable. It’s made a lot of Catholics choose a new Church in the last few decades. It’s made some people in this parish angry with me. And it’s led us to today where some Catholics who outright reject central truths of the faith are figuring more and more on the national scene and still being considered Catholics…
So today - on this feast of the Holy Spirit - it’s a good time for everyone of us to take a good, hard look inside and face this very real problem head on…
“Am I creating my religion or is my religion creating me”
Come Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your Divine Love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Oh God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructed the hearts of the faithful, Grant, that by the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
