Lent–The Spiritual Preparation by The Faithful For The Resurrection of Christ

A homily written and presented during mass on ASH WEDNESDAY February 18th, 2015 by Fr. George Blasick, C.Ss.R.

Father Blasick is an ordained Catholic priest of the order of the “Congregation Of The Most Holy Redeemer”, better known today as the “Redemptorist Fathers” founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori .

"Take care you are not like the hypocrites who come to church a few times per year, making the ashen cross (upon the forehead) more valuable than a good confession of sins and the reception of My Body and Blood; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. Do not do this so that others will see you and call you My disciple. Amen, I say to you, for those who value much the little things and neglect the larger ones, they have already received their reward. But to those who use this day as a beginning -- to give alms in secret, to pray often, to fast with hidden appearance, and to celebrate My Sacraments worthily - these my Father who sees in secret will repay you."
 

Could these be words which Christ directs toward us? I believe so, even if some might say that they sound judgmental. However, keep this in mind: Christ was making a judgment of character in today's gospel, while speaking to His disciples. There are sinners, there are saints-in-the-making, and then there are the hypocrites who place themselves comfortably in the middle. Where are we?
 

In the book of Revelation, our Lord says to the Church in Laodicea:
 

"I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth" (Rev 3: 15-16).
 

We have no problem whatsoever with Jesus saying this stuff about "those people" centuries ago, about those in 1st Century Palestine and to the seven churches in first three chapter of Revelation. However, let no one dare say that about us, in any fashion! After all, what we want and need, more than anything else, is a Jesus of love and mercy!
 

Yet, we must not kid ourselves: we are just as sinful in this age as they were then. We can easily turn a blind eye by saying, "What is most important is that I have a relationship with Jesus!" Really? I ask this in reply to such simplistic thinking: what KIND of relationship? The devil has a relationship with Jesus, and it is a very bad one! So does every angel, good and fallen, and so does every human being as well. What is the DESCRIPTION of your relationship? Is it Scriptural or subjective? Holy or sinful? Good or bad? Real or imaginary? Sacrificial or self-deceptive?
 

Another protest might be, "But I'm a good person!" Perhaps, by human standards you are, but Ash Wednesday and Lent are about assessing ourselves by DIVINE standards. Are you a HOLY person? Are you striving to become a saint? Or do you still allow for spiritual mediocrity in your life--a mediocrity that will get you nowhere fast, which never really challenges you toward conversion (of life), and which allows for complacency and sloth?
 

Yes, we are called to relationship with Jesus, but that relationship needs to be a RIGHT relationship, a holy relationship+ as Jesus teaches us in the gospels, thru His Apostolic Church. That is the real challenge of this day, that symbol, this Lenten season: to allow Christ to transform EVERYTHING in our lives. "Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation." May we all hear His voice today and harden not our lukewarm hearts.

American Duplicity - Prayers of Convenience

“Do I lie to myself to see things as I want to? If I do, how then can I possibly identify and achieve the best for myself in life? How well would I do if I were to test my own level of honesty with my self and can I accept the answers?” What am I responsible for and do I control the course of my life?” How do I show self-respect to warrant respect from others? How do I justify my prayer requests of God without living according to His Word? Ten years ago the time came for me to ask such questions of myself. I lived a very secular life as so many people do today and believed “all that mattered was to live life in a manner “I considered” good and God would be satisfied with my choices”.

Today these are questions each and every person should be asking of them self not only as a part of this current American society, but as one of the many people responsible for the direction in values our society takes. Yes, we as individuals through the choices we make and the ideologies we support form our society when those principles are supported by the majority. But when the majority determines what notions will be adopted basing those notions on self gratification and willful ignorance to learn truth, the result has and always will be self destruction of that society.

It does not take a professional investigator to recognize today’s American society consists of an overwhelming number of people who publically choose to be ignorant to truth so as to retain or promote their ideologies regardless of how uninformed or misinformed they may be. They like what they believe and prefer to believe things as they do and are unwilling to accept anything different. They clearly and boldly profess this ignorance most commonly by holding the palm of their hand up to the face of any person who speaks words other than those they want to hear, or by flat out cutting off the other person in midsentence advising, “I don’t want to hear it”.They will associate mostly with politically and morally likeminded people to avoid hearing anything contradictory to what they believe and they believe what they do because it is more convenient to the way they wish to live or the self-gratifications they pursue.

The sad fact is, a vast number of Americans do not recognize the truth today. We have rejected morality and replaced it with a false sense of righteousness called “political correctness”. We do not abide in the commands of God and go further to create a stumbling block to others in their path to faith by misleading them into believing they may live the lifestyle they wish even though it may be in opposition to God’s commands.

And many no longer know how or when to feel embarrassed or to know shame to the point of publically supporting such distortions as those not only opposed to God, but science and nature as well. Same sex relationships and marriages, and unrestricted abortion mislabeled as “woman’s reproductive rights”. Let’s be honest. A woman expresses her reproductive rights when she willingly chooses to refrain or engage in the physical act of procreation. Once another human being has been conceived, a third life exists with its own unalienable rights bestowed by God alone. If we can feel the sorrow and outrage for a pregnant woman who is assaulted and as a result miscarries loosing her child, and in some states criminally charge the criminal, we can not claim that unborn child any less a human life because it is the victim of an un-wanting parent. Yes sin exists and political correctness is a perversity of God’s moral virtues created by man. Supporting and promoting those perversities is as much a matter of sin as the acts they promote. Yet, when we suffer the loss of lives by mass murderers such as the innocent children in New Town or several other public shootings all over our country, we stop broken hearted and in shock to pray, then many go back to the lives they lived never giving thought to the fact that those who committed these acts grew up with the void of never having been taught of God or faith by their parents. Some still insist they have a relationship with God even though they do not follow His commands.

1 John CH2: 3 The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his command ments. 4 whoever says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: 6 whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived.

Who's Instigating Hatred?

A Christian organization known as the "Family Research Council" or FNC located in Washington D.C. was targeted August 15th, 2012, by a single gunman who allegedly resented their ideologies and non-acceptance of same-sex marriage because they promote the biblical principles of family and mirriage. The gunman had fifteen Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in a carry bag which also contained additional fully loaded clips or magazines to reload his gun should he get that far along in his intended shooting spree. By the grace of God, he was however, intercepted by the building manager who after being shot in the arm was still able to disarm and subdue the gunman until the police arrived. The FNC organization is a Christian non-profit group that supports family life and values and the biblical and historical definition of marriage as it has always been defined; that is as a union sealed by God between one man and one woman only throughout man's recorded history and in scripture.

Only a couple of weeks ago in a seemingly unrelated incident, 

Conservative vs. Liberal Christians

Here we are. A society that defines itself either liberal as opposed to conservative, right verses left, far left verses far right or independent. We classify ourselves this way in all aspects of life but in this case we will refer strictly to our Christian faith and most especially our Catholic faith.

We boast of our advanced intelligence and express our “modern philosophies” but are we all that modern? No, not at all. Our society has digressed to a level of permissiveness that is perverse while we strive to redefine what we know is truth to conform it to fit what is most self indulging. In fact, today our social standards and permissiveness mirror that of the Caligula society during the first century. We’ve explained this in previous articles so we will not repeat the distorted elements or lack of morality that conform us to that era again here.  

In Christianity there is a call to faith that is expressed by a way of life of which we are taught by Jesus Christ. Scripture and the Church together teach that way of life and the moral values that are intrinsic to live as true Christians. Scripture does not teach a conservative way of Christian life or a liberal way of Christian life. It does not teach us we can selectively defy the teachings of Christ in our faith determined by what is most convenient or self gratifying to us as individuals. It does not teach us we can manipulate our conscience to serve our greater desires within a particular culture. The cultural elements of any given society are after all, nothing more than the adopted practices of the majority based on opinions. Opinions change based on what one considers as advantageous to the individual within that culture or period.

But God does not change; neither does moral values or truth change, but rather are respected or rejected. Principles of faith are either abided by or ignored. There are no conservative or liberal versions of Christian faith; we invented these categories to serve our own interests. We must be honest with ourselves before we can be honest with others. Many of us ignore our call to worship the Lord even one day a week. We claim sin is not sin, sexual promiscuity is not lacking in self respect or respect toward others, pregnancy to a single parent or outside of a marital commitment is acceptable and does not deprive a child of the benefits of a loving parental commitment or the influence of being raised by a father and mother during the growth of a child, divorce is as valid as marriage, abortion is not murder of human life, homosexual relationships are not adverse to nature, science, morality or the will of God, marriage is merely a civil agreement between any two people and is not a covenant intended strictly between one man and one woman but whoever chooses to enter into it including those of the same sex.

The fact is, if one believes in God and the judgment each of us will one day face, we must turn back to recognizing reality and stop kidding ourselves by claiming to be conservative or liberal in matters of living our faith. We must realize that claiming our conscience is good with the choices we make even when defiant of scripture and the Church either reflects an ill-informed conscience or a conscience that we have distorted for self-gratification. Is it difficult to live a truly Christian life? Not if you know your faith well enough to have a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. As in any loving relationship, self control and moral values are expressed willingly in the desire to preserve a loving relationship. Truth: there is no conservative Christian faith. In matters of faith, those considered conservative are actually striving to live their faith properly and “liberal” is living faith by convenience. Will we be judged on our choosing to live a truly Christian life or liberal way of life? The answer is in the following verse from Revelations, by which one can judge for them self the eternity they choose for them self. 

 "I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,' and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold (grace) refined by fire (purified by perseverance in faith) so that you may be rich (righteous), and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.”  (Revelations CH3: vs15-18)

Christians supporting same sex relationships

In regard to those who refer to themselves as gay, lesbian or homosexual, male or female, it must be made very clear from the start that there is a drastic difference between a person who is or believes them self to be homosexual and a person who enters into or remains in a homosexual relationship. Such relationships are intrinsically disordered as the Catholic Church states. The Catholic Church does NOT judge sinful a person for tendencies toward same sex attraction or temptations in them self, but stands firm that such tendencies and temptations must not be acted upon. Such would require abstinence in devotion to faith and love of God and His Word.In commenting on this subject, we will put aside the issue of whether homosexuality is physiological or psychological, as many have their own opinions. Opinions in this matter do not sway the Word of God throughout the Old Testament nor the Teachings of Christ in the New Testament in any way to justify a homosexual relationship. Such relationships are referred to as perverted acts in opposition to man’s nature as created by God, and supporting such a relationship is no more acceptable. To be Christian, one must realize it is no man’s place to judge another man’s soul, but it is a responsibility of every Christian to determine the sinfulness of the actions of others to determine and avoid accompaniment into sin. This is true regardless of which commandment or proclamation of God one may come in conflict with. No one knows what lies within a man’s heart but God. So what is the difference between a “homosexual person” and those in a homosexual relationship? Very simply, it is the same with every temptation. It is the act that is the sin, not the temptation.

Let’s not fool ourselves any longer; anyone who believes in God and calls themselves Christians yet condones or supports same sex relationships and marriage, are promoting serious sin to those who suffer such tendencies causing them to fall deeper into those temptations with absolutely no justification other than to follow today's "its all good" liberalism. Such supporters can not justify support through God’s will, morality, self respect, nature, or science, and in fact oppose all of these elements of life while assuming grievous sin upon their own souls. Condoning such relationships and the legalization of same sex marriages may seem to be promoting freedom but in fact misleads many of those who would normally abstain from such degradation of morality to believe, because others publically find it acceptable, it must be acceptable. Those who attempt to justify same sex marriage by claiming marriage is only a contractual agreement not explicit to the union under God specifically to members of opposite gender are arrogant in their attempt to pervert the union of marriage as it has been declared for thousands of years and as it has been recognized as a covenant of unification under God. The commission of sin is not limited to only certain Christian faiths. No Christian, regardless of belief system, can support the legalization of same sex marriage while not committing grievous sin just as is true in supporting abortion. In itself, the family is the foundation of solidarity in every country. When we begin to recognize we have formed ourselves into a society that is completely destroying the fabric of “family” through habitual divorce, sexual relationships outside of marriage, abortion, and same sex marriage, and in turn the spiraling decent toward destruction of our society, there may be time left to pray for God’s Mercy, or not.
For more information, click above article title or here.

An added thought; it should be disturbing to realize we have fostered a society where many with natural sexual attraction who desire to live in a "marital relationship" have adopted the notion that the commitment of marriage itself is more of an unnecessary burden while those of homosexual tendencies seek so fervently the legal "right" to be "married". But is it?

Modern Society vs Morality

A description of which society?: a culture of immorality, all but totally abandoning the institutions of marriage and family values, principles of life in procreation along with the general acceptance of abortion and contraception, unwavering acceptance of divorce, social and legal acceptance of homosexuality, newly established fellowships in paganism, genocide against the unborn more commonly out of convenience preceded by uninhibited promiscuity and negligence, a consistent growth in the rate of multiple and mass murders both within families and among the general public, murder/suicides; the adoption of “legally” accepted devaluation of life of senior citizens within society reducing their access to medical procedures based on economic valuation under adopted standards established by politicians determining value of life proportionate to age and estimated longevity or “human monetary worth”, with the option to “assist suicide” for those refused medical treatment based on age while growing ever closer toward selective euthanasia.