The Church's liturgical calendar simply refers to today as the Monday after the Epiphany. The scriptures and readings continue to meditate upon the revelation of Christ to the entire world. The Wall Street Journal published an article today that tells a story of a sad and tragic combination of family compromise for power, of priests who betray their Lord, and the tragic consequences for politics today.
Mass Reading
The First Letter of Saint John (3:22 – 4:6) teaches us how we should live. If we want good things from Our Lord then we must keep the commandments.
"And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit whom he gave us."
This shows that those who compromise with the philosophies of this world and thereby deny Christ are in grave danger. This passage destroys the false teaching that we can be saved with faith alone. On the same hand, those who parse the Word of God in a way that would allow the destruction of innocent children – an example of which is given below – or who in cunning ways evade the Commandments are separated from Jesus. To be separated from Our Lord is to fall back into darkness.
Second Reading
Saint Peter Chrysologus notices the consequences of the Incarnation. "The Gentiles, who were the last, become the first: the faith of the Magi is the first fruits of the belief of the Gentiles." As discussed yesterday, Gentile were the first – perhaps after Mary and Joseph – to worship the new born Jesus.
The saint reminds us of the meaning of the three gifts given by the Magi. "As they [the Magi] look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die."
The Baptism of the Lord must be seen in this "upside down" way as well. We enter the waters of baptism to have our sins cleansed. Jesus, as Saint Peter Chrysologus notices does something different. He says, "Today Christ enters the Jordan to wash away the sin of the world. John himself testifies that this is why he has come: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Today a servant lays his hand on God, John lays his hand on Christ, not to forgive but to receive forgiveness."
An Unholy Compromise and Betrayal
The Wall Street Journal has a shocking and sad article today. You can find it here. It seems that the Catholic Kennedy family was once whole-heartedly opposed to the holocaust that is abortion in the United States. The article quotes Ted Kennedy as saying, "When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception." This is an admirable goal to work toward. However, the growing political advantages of switching sides on the abortion issue compromised the Kennedy family.
The article claims that the Kennedy and Shriver families met with a group of "leading theologians and Catholic college professors" for the purpose of receiving coaching on how they could accept and promote abortion with a "clear conscience." Anyone with a modicum of human experience knows that mortal sin can be justified with clever legalistic manipulation. As a good and holy priest once said to me, each and every commandment can be rationalized away. Any sin can be committed with what appears to be good reasons. However, no commandment can be broken when the test of love of neighbor and God is applied. If the article is correct, the Kennedy family hired a collection of wolves in sheep's clothing to numb their consciences.
Who were these wolves? The article names the pack. Former – note, former – Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen recalls in his book about how he was joined by Rev. Joseph Fuchs (a high priest of the Proportionalist school of moral theology that was undone by Pope John Paul II), Rev. Robert Drinan (who served in Congress until told to stop by Pope John Paul II), Giles Milhaven, (dissenting theologian and author of Toward a New Catholic Morality – the word New ought to give a warning), Richard Mc Cormick (an abject dissenter of great renown) and Charles Curran (who was disciplined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and is not allowed to teach as a Catholic any longer). It seems the Kennedy's gathered a collection of dissenters to tickle their ears. May God have mercy on them all.
I think that is enough.
Mary, Theotokos, pray for us!
VVV
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