Soldier For Christ - Sir Thomas More

As I mentioned yesterday, I had the pleasure of singing at our parish's Confirmation service for the eighth graders (and some first year high school students. My gosh they look so young and so very innocent. They also looked very proud to come forward and to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit from Bishop George Rassas,the Vicar of our deanery. He closely questioned the young people, giving them the answers in the questions themselves as part of his homily. The gist of his homily can be summarized as follows; "Will you dare to be different,will you dare to use the gifts that God has given you to make difference? 

Sir Thomas More was a close confidant of King Henry VIII. He took his Catholic faith very seriously and considered the teachings of Martin Luther heresy. King Henry if you will recall wanted to be rid of his first wife who had not bore him a son in favor of a second wife who he thought might be able to bring a male child that he could pass the crown to one day. Unfortunately the king could not do this because divorce was not recognized. Being the king he decided that he deserved an exception to the rule and petitioned the pope to annul his first marriage so he would be free to marry the lovely Anne Boleyn. The Pope speaking for the Church refused to grant King Henry permission to divorce his first wife and to then take a new wife. The Church thus was pointing to the narrow road to holiness as she always will.  To this day Henry staunchly defended the Catholic faith in England against the heresies of the so called reformers. He reviewed the situation and decided that he would become the head of the church in England and so he caused another division in the Church that Christ headed and declared himself to be the last word in the English church. He therefore granted himself a divorce and married Ann Boleyn in the hopes that he will be able to sire a male heir through her. In Henry VIII we have an example of a person who in the end cast off the Church in favor of convenience. One girl (later Queen Elizabeth I) and three miscarriages later, Henry decided to get rid of Anne and she was tried in a kangaroo court and found guilty of high treason and was beheaded, allowing the king to continue the search for a male heir. 

Now all of this hubbub caused the political situation in England to change against the Church. Monasteries and churches that had been there for hundreds of years were forfeited to the crown and the monks, priests, and nuns were turned out of these places and forced to swear allegiance to Henry as the new leader of the Church. Failure to do so could and was considered the crime of high treason. The Mass as celebrated by the Catholic Church was declared illegal and those caught practicing it were subject to the penalty for treason which was the charming practice of being drawn and quartered. That is being hung by the neck until almost dead, being cut down and having your intestines "drawn" from your body and burned in front of you and finally to be tied to four horses by legs and arms and to be pulled asunder. In spite of this the Church went underground and the Mass was practiced for those who wanted to remain faithful to the Catholic Church. There were many martyrs made in England during those dark days. 

Thomas Moore saw the actions of Henry for what they were, the actions of a heretic. He made no secret that he remained faithful to the Catholic Church and he refused to sign the Oath of Allegiance to the Act of Succession. Thomas did send a private letter stating that Parliament had the right to declare Ann Boleyn the legitimate queen of England as a function of the state. 

His failure to sign the oath caused him to be arrested and committed to the Tower of London. He was tried by a committee that included Ann Boleyn's father, brother and uncle, for high treason.  He was found guilty (no surprise here) and sentenced to be drawn and quartered. Henry VIII in a tender act of mercy to his friend commuted the sentence from the barbaric draw and quartering to simple beheading.  On the day of his death Thomas said; "I die the kings good servant but God's first." When the ax fell the blood of the saint drenched the English soil in testimony against the unjust King Henry VIII and in testimony in favor of a faithful servant of God and His Holy Roman Catholic Church. 

This story of martyrdom is repeated time and time again in diverse times and places where Catholics and other Christians are killed for their beliefs. The sword of ISIS glistens red with the blood of faithful Christians. I wish that they were the only threats against Christians today.  Alas they are not.  

We may believe that today in America the chance of our becoming martyrs for the faith are slim. Sadly, we are often subjected to dry martyrdom. We do not forfeit our lives for the cause but we can be shunted to the margins of society because our beliefs are out of step with those of society.  In these last disastrous eight years of Obama's presidency we have seen the Christian Church and especially the Catholic Church attacked like no other time in history of the United States. 

We are forced to endure abortion, the intentional murder of defenseless babies, touted as "woman's health." What is so insidious about this is that our enemies including the radical Muslims are procreating at an greater rate then Christians of all ilks are. In America in the years ahead they will be able to achieve political power and sharia law may be imposed on all Americans. Look at China and the issue they have today because of the murder of girl children and their one baby policy. A race of people with just males making up the fabric of society is eventually going to age out of contention for being a world power.

Legislation, Obamacare, and the HHS mandate to be specific, is forcing Christians to support the providing of contraceptives to all that want them through our health insurance system even though this goes against our deeply held beliefs and is making people like the Little Sisters of the Poor criminals subject to fines.  Something is wrong here.  

We are supposed to recognize gay marriage in direct contradiction of God's law. President Obama celebrated the Supreme Court's decision by illuminating the outside of the White House, symbolic seat of our government with the colors of the "rainbow" which the sodomites have co-opted as the symbol of their unholy community.  

In retrospect I think that the crimes of Henry VII were mild compared to the offenses we routinely commit against God on a daily basis. Henry VII caught himself up in the trappings of this world and allowed pride and avarice to control his life.  Yet, Henry although he was disappointed that his wife only bore him a female child, he did not kill the child. In China, a girl child is likely to suffer death on the day of her birth. 

I do not envy the confirmads of 2016 because the beliefs of the common man will be directly against the beliefs taught by the Church that Christ founded. I have not however lost all hope because I know that the victory is already won and that Christ will put all of His enemies under His feet. Where sin abounds the grace of God also abounds and I believe that our youth will be up to the task of defending the faith because the Holy Spirit will be at work at them. Jesus promised that His Church will be built on rock and that the gates of hell will never prevail against it.  What Jesus has said will come to pass.          

Marriage

This week my wife and celebrated our Twenty-Third wedding anniversary.  We drove to southwestern Michigan to my father's house in a blizzard. The journey which normally took three hours took over six hours. The next day dawned clear, the sky was so very blue and the sun so very bright. We drove from my father's house to a the county seat, Paw Paw Michigan.  There Mary and I exchanged vows in front of a judge.  We were civilly married. Our marriage was blessed two years later when Mary's annulment came through and we reaffirmed our vows in front of God and His Church.  From day one I have taken my marriage vows very seriously as I not only promised them to my bride Mary, but also to God.  I believe God brought Mary and I together, it was His plan and I am bound to fully cooperate with it.  

Our marriage is a marriage between one man and one woman. This is how marriage has always been from the very start. Go back to the story of Adam and Eve. Adam did not find a partner from among any of the creatures of the earth. God therefore created a special being for him, a woman.  All through Bible history most of the people God chooses for special tasks are men that have but one wife. God considers the bond of marriage a sacred thing, not just an ordinary relationship but relationship where man and woman can cooperate together and bring new life into the world.  This is the reason why a man leaves his family and clings to his wife, to join God in the creation of new life.

Gay marriage is something that does not exist.  Our Supreme Court may say it does, our president may paint the gay rainbow in light on the White House, but that does not make gay marriage any more legitimate. Marriage is about the creation of life. Two men or two women engaged in a sexual act cannot consummate the act to join with God in creating a new human being.  You can scream all you want to about "equality under the law" but the spiritual nature of marriage and the marriage act itself makes such equality something that is impossible to achieve in the Congress or in the courts. 

But why is the Catholic Church so homophobic?  Homosexual action organizations trot out the homophobic label when they detect any disagreement with their positions. It therefore removes a persons right to disagree with their position by in effect saying that those that disagree with them are in some way irrational.   The Catholic Church do not see homosexual men or women as sinful people. The Church, however, does see the sexual acts between people of the same sex to be contrary to God's natural law.  The Church can never approve of these acts as they are not able to produce life.  On the other hand those who are afflicted with same sex attraction are welcome to be Catholics practicing and living their live in a chaste and celibate way.  Does this seem unfair?  Hardly, the Church calls all her children to be chaste and celibate and to make use of the physical act of love in the way God gave it to us, to be used to pro-create between one man and one woman.

The Church also sees a redefinition of marriage to include same sex unions to be a danger to society. Same sex marriages lack the solemnity of genuine marriages. Same sex marriages are based solely on the feeling one person for another. It does not have the same depth as a genuine marriage because no matter what the two men or women can never use their procreative powers in the way that God intended.  The feelings of love one has at the start of a relationship change through the years.  With man and woman love becomes less of a feeling and more of a way of life.  A homosexual union will go through the same sort of change, the original feelings of love will give way and the relationship will no longer meet the emotional needs of the partners and they will split and go their separate ways. 

Well, maybe two men cannot mate and procreate but they can certainly adopt can't they?  Unfortunately this is true. The children pay the price for having two mommies or two daddies. A child needs both male and female influences for them to grow up emotionally.  This balanced nurturing is required for healthy growth. 

Finally, the proponents of gay marriage are trying to change society to recognize homosexuality as a normal way of life.  They are trying to achieve acceptance of the straight community for no other reason but to silence the nagging doubt in the back of their conscience that something is wrong in their life.  Legal pronouncements will do nothing to assuage their conscience, it will remain standing in the way of a complete joyful life because they are looking for something that does not exist nor has it ever existed. 

Am I homophobic?  No, I am not.  I am a realist, I am a Catholic, and the reading and research I have done tells me that everything we do in life that goes against God's natural law leads to sadness, sin, death, and eternal loss of one's place with God.  I also because of my beliefs have to stand up and point out that homosexual actions are wrong, are against God's law and will lead to pain.  I have to stand up for what is right no matter what rabid gays thing and say.  I am a gentle person, I love life, I love people but I also must stand tall and speak my beliefs.  I have this right and duty.    

We slip again on the Slippery Slope - What is Wrong with "Gay Marriage?"

First let me begin by saying that I am not homophobic.  I do not judge those who identify themselves as being gay.  My God in the wonderful book He wrote called  "The Bible" tells me that whoever is without sin should cast the first stone.  Alas, I do not have the right to throw that stone. In the same book He tells me also to point out egregious violations of His law to my brothers and sisters. So I have to point out to those that practice homosexual acts appear to be acting contrary to the Law of God.  I heartily recommend that such practitioners reflect on their actions and decide for themselves if what they are doing conflicts with what is taught in the Bible.

As far as "gay marriage" goes, I am very sorry to say that there is no such thing as gay marriage.  there never has been nor will there every be.  True, as a matter of law there might be a statute that says it exists but that is on the books of law written by man and this law goes against the laws that God has set up for man to follow.

Some will say; "That's fine for you, but me, I am not a Christian, as a matter of fact I am an atheist and I do not believe in the fairy-tails in your Bible so why should I care about what you say?"  The fact of the matter is simple.  The fact that you do not believe the truth does not make it any less true.  If you stated you did not believe in the rule of gravity and stepped off the roof of a twenty story building since you reject gravity, does that mean you will float?  Certainly not!  The self operating rule will claim its power over you and you will have a few seconds before the sudden stop causes the life forces in your body to depart and you finally find out if there is a God or not.  So truth is unchangeable law and that type of law is written by the Creator.  He wrote the rules of science to keep the universe working at His pleasure.  He created a world for you and me.  He provided you with a mother and father so as to participate in His creation.

It is this procreation that makes gay marriage a farce.  Marriage was instituted by God because he knew that it was not good for man to live alone.  He created a woman for man and instilled in them the instinct to propagate the human race.  He told us to be fruitful and multiply.  The marriage act is the way man and woman participate in bringing life into the world.  Sexual activity between two people of the same sex cannot bring life into the world.  Some might say that every act of intercourse between man and woman does not result in conception and they would be right.  It is God's timing that counts.

So, gay marriage exists on paper but not in the reality of the spirit.  No matter how loving a relationship between two people of the same sex is, not matter how many legal papers are in their possession stating that the two have become one, that union is according to man and is not recognized by God.  This is a hard truth but it is truth none the less.