Father Paul Weinberger
Saint William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
3rd Sunday of Easter
April 22, 2007
When they had finished breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, Son of John, do you love Me more than these?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Yes Lord, You know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
Last Sunday was Divine Mercy Sunday; we also heard the Gospel of the Doubting Thomas. We heard the Gospel in the opening hymn today, which is a lovely hymn. When people think of Protestants in the Catholic Church, some people turn to Fr. Martin Luther in the 16th Century. They might think of some individual in the 4th Century or the 19th Century. Try Easter Sunday in the year one of the Church.
St. Thomas is not going to believe the Church. Now, Judas had already committed suicide and here is Thomas, so that leaves ten others who were personally chosen by Our Lord…looks like the Church is sinking like a rock, first with Judas and now Thomas. The projections looked bleak that Easter Sunday evening. You see, Jesus appeared to Our Lady, ten Apostles, and a bunch of disciples and probably in the Upper Room where the Last Supper took place. After Jesus left Thomas arrived and the others joyfully explained everything to Thomas. But Thomas would not believe it. Essentially what he is saying to the Church, Our Lady, the Apostles and disciples is that they are either crazies, wrong, or they are trying to confuse him. So the Apostles were just a bunch of jokers and fishermen, right? NO!
Think of how incredibly insulting it was of St. Thomas against the Church. Can you think of any other word that is appropriate? It was an incredible insult to all present. Was it somehow possible that their eyes didn’t work, their ears didn’t work, and their senses were off but St. Thomas was a scientist? Right?
I won’t believe until I probe the marks of the nails and put my hand in His side.”
And of course, egg all over his face…Easter EGG all over his face. The next Sunday Jesus appears again and this time Thomas has cleared his schedule and is there. Jesus calls him over and places Thomas’ hand in the place of the nails and guides his hand into His wounded side and says that Thomas believes because he had seen but blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. That is all of US! I have never seen Jesus. Oh yes, I have received Holy Communion, receiving Him in the Sacraments but I have not seen Jesus the way St. Thomas did! How insulting of St. Thomas to claim to be part of the Church and at the same time doubt it. Can’t you just hear him clicking his tongue and saying,
”I know all of you THINK, say, and honestly believe you saw Jesus, tsk, tsk, tsk.”
How insulting and yet the Catholic Church is full people just like St. Thomas; I am not talking about protestants, I am talking about the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church being full of doubting Thomas’. Is the Catholic Church full of people, who say, after a hard days work,
“Honey, do you have those documents from Rome downloaded; I need to continue pouring over them and studying them because I am trying to discern the truth of this doctrine or that one.”
Give me a break! It is more like,
“Fill this glass and give me the channel changer.”
Think about it! People don’t want to believe what the Church teaches and don’t bother to study. They have given it all of ten seconds of consideration and decide they will believe what they want to believe because something doesn’t sound right to them. Fine! Do so at your peril. Either do the work and believe by having studied what Christ teaches through His Church, or be unbelieving.
Do not be unbelieving but believe.
I have some specific areas in mind here but you knew of course, that was going to be the case. Think about what St. Peter said in the First Reading today.
It is better for us to obey God than men.
Ponder that one for about ten seconds and you recognize how solid it is.
Obey God or obey everyone else.
Hum. This is so sound and so solid but seldom used. Right? Later in the reading we see that they left rejoicing because they had been worthy of insults and shame for the name of Jesus. St. Peter had it right!
On Monday Pope Benedict celebrated his 80th birthday. He was born on Holy Saturday and that night at the Easter Vigil he was baptized. My parents tried the same thing but the priest wouldn’t answer the door. I don’t blame him. If I told you that Mrs. Ratzinger was standing there on the morning of his birth and experienced an unusual sensation in her body and all of a sudden a bulge occurred around her waist you would say that I am even crazier than you thought. Uh huh! If I told you that this is how Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, came into this world, you would say I am crazy and you would be right.
How many people here believe that this is how children come into the world? I would say a lot. He actually turned 80 years old and 9 months on Monday. He was born 80 years ago and then you add in the 9 months in his mother’s womb. We start our life at the moment we are conceived; we grow inside our mothers for 9 months and then we are born and that is how it happened. Life is a continuum; from the moment we are conceived we never stop living until we draw out last breath on earth. That is how it is and yet, how many people don’t believe that life begins at the moment of conception? It is so bazaar and so common and I have no idea how they make it through high school and everyday life not understanding that life begins with conception. It is kind of like going to the paint department in a store and looking at the color charts; they go from white to black and there is every color in between. It is a spectrum.
This is life and the culture of life has a spectrum as well. The same could be said of the culture of death. Someone who spent 26 years as Pope and talking about the culture of life and death was Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict has begun speaking about this just as Pope John Paul did. The culture of life is the culture Jesus wishes to establish. The culture of death…well… that is the other team.
Jesus did not slip on a bar of soap in the shower and hit His head and die. St. Peter says very clearly in the First Reading that they killed Him, hanging Him on a tree.
”That sounds so mean!”
Take a look! It looks pretty mean too. He died a violent death so that He could put to death, sin. Sin and death are now under the victorious reign of Jesus Christ. So, Jesus doesn’t want us going into sin and death, yet these are where we begin snooping around every moment we can. Jesus has not done all of this so that we can be led back to the culture of death.
As I said, April 16th was the Holy Father’s birthday and this is interesting because April 16, 1947, the wretch, the man who ran the largest concentration camp in the history of the world, a wretch named Rudolph Hirsch, was hanged at Auschwitz. Over a million and a half people died at this camp. It is interesting because on April 16th at Virginia Tech, a man who is an Israeli citizen, a survivor of those concentration camps built by Hitler, was killed. His last name was Librescu. He was teaching an Engineering class at Virginia Tech as he had done for over twenty years when someone began shooting while coming his way. This 76 years old man ran to the door in the direction of the shooting and violence and blocked the door while commanding his students to jump out of the windows. It kind of sounds like 9/11 doesn’t it? People are jumping out of the Twin Towers and the police and firemen are running into the burning buildings. It is the same way so many men and women in the service run into battle while others run from the violence.
Librescu understood what Jesus was saying to Peter. Jesus asked St. Peter if he loved Him more than these. Now, think about the words, “more than these”. These what? “These” are persons, places, things, pleasures, experiences, and powers. Jesus says again and again that if you love mother or father, brother or sister, husband or wife, friends or money, and power more than Him, then you are not worthy of Him. Yet, you and I are tempted on a daily basis to do exactly that. Now, a thumbnail description of the culture of death is exactly what I have described above, and loving all these more than God is the culture of death and certainly not virtuous.
To get more exact let us try these headings instead; pornography on HBO, the Movie Channel and the like that stream this into your home, or pornography on the computer is a part of the culture of death. How about abortion and contraception. Yes, BIRTH CONTROL! Oh wait minute, maybe I am wrong. No, I checked and I am right! This is part of the culture of death. What about live human experimentation? You know the kind, when you create life just so you can experiment on it and then destroy it? We call this Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Never in the history of the world has there been a single cure through Embryonic Stem Cell Research, even though our country alone is spending billions of dollars on this.
So, pornography, abortion, contraception, and Embryonic Stem Cell Research, which is not adult stem cell research, it is the OTHER one. Adding to the list there are drugs, prostitution, organized crime, degrading and violent music, pedophilia, racial hatred, bigotry, and terrorism. These are to skim along the top of the culture of death, and this culture of death is very present in our country and yes, among Catholics. The list again is drugs, prostitution, organized crime, degrading and violent music, pedophilia, racial hatred, bigotry, and terrorism. How can this happen and how in the world can we talk ourselves into the culture of death when Jesus has died and risen from the dead to lead us to life, a culture of life, which gives us life and grace and not one that deals violence, death and destruction. How many people were wringing their hands saying,
“Oh, look at Virginia Tech, this is so terrible; how could this happen?”
It is as if everyone who heard about this massacre had the same reaction, such as…
“ The minute I head about Virginia Tech I dropped my Rosary, got up from my kneeler, and I went to the television.”
Yes! Because as Catholics we spend all our days in prayer and studying our faith, right? Right!
Wednesday came along and the Supreme Court, after four long years and thousands of lives, in a very close decision, said that the law that was passed four years ago was not against the Constitution. You see, four years ago the ban on partial-birth abortion was signed into law. Partial-birth abortion is when the child is fully delivered, comes all the way down the birth canal and the only part of the child that is still in the embrace of the mother’s body is the head. It is very carefully maneuvered so it doesn’t leave the body of the mother and then the child is killed in that position.
When that came out on Wednesday, two days…TWO DAYS after the incident at Virginia Tech I saw presidential candidates, news men and women, and laypeople, who were saying that this was just terrible. One woman, who believes that abortion should be allowed at any moment in the nine months of pregnancy, said,
“This is dangerous and guts the rights for women; women and children are now in danger.”
EXCUSE ME! What is more dangerous for children than being killed through abortion? I was born in Dallas and English is my first language and I am familiar with these terms and yet they are saying these things and people are just lapping it up as if our country never had an inclination toward the culture of death. If partial-birth abortion is not a component of the culture of death then I guess we should say that Jesus wants us all to have abortions. I have heard Hollywood stars say that. Again, people must believe that life begins just moments before the birth of the child and that the child grows miraculously in the womb and is born hours later. I don’t know what you women are complaining about during childbirth…this is the way it happens. NO IT DOESN’T! If it takes nine months for a child to grow in the womb how can anyone justify using contraceptives that will perhaps take the fully conceived life and not allow it to attach to it’s mother and then be expelled as waste? How can that be allowed?
Do you know that the Church teaches that never, absolutely NEVER a case when abortion is allowed. Absolutely never! Think about the millions of cases and the easy answer is ABSOLUTELY NEVER! Do you know that there are Catholics that learn of this for the first time on a daily basis? And I am referring to adults who learn of this for the first time! Maybe you are thinking,
“Oh come one, they know it!”
No, many don’t because they are barraged with the attack on life called the “culture of death” and it is very prevalent.
If you look on the cover of the bulletin or just look at the High Altar, you see a beautiful Tabernacle.
Tabernacle can be viewed here:
http://semperficatholic.com///Tabernacle_Sarah.jpg
If you look at page 7 in the bulletin you can read the dedication.
Dedication can be read at the bottom of this page
http://www.semperficatholic.com/page31.html
No, this is not the kind of dedication where one puts up a plaque. Save me from Catholic Churches with plaques!
“This plaque was given in honor of blah, blah, blah.”
Please! Please give me a break! No, this dedication is different. You see, last July Sarah Anne Walker was killed in McKinney. She was showing a home and was violently murdered. Her parents, Joe and Carol Walker live in Greenville and belong to St. William Church. This Tabernacle was given by her Godparents so that perhaps, when you and I are praying in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament contained in that beautiful Tabernacle, that we will remember and be urged to say some simple prayer of Divine Mercy for all victims of violence and those who perpetrate violence. No, it is not some simple dedication, I want a lot more than that because I need mercy and so does everyone in this room need Divine Mercy.
If you look at page 7 you will see three quotes that you and I can return to again and again. They are beautiful quotes. The first one is from Pope John Paul II’s last book before he passed away.
WOW! What a quote and how true it is! The limit imposed upon evil like we saw in Virginia, is Divine Mercy. The next quote is from St. Faustina and she wrote it again and again.The limit imposed upon evil is ultimately Divine Mercy
The last quote is from Pope Benedict XVI, who has said again and again,Satan hates Divine Mercy more than anything else.
This is a beautiful way of saying that you and I cannot see Divine Mercy as some leftover or some horderve.The only response to violence is love.
Oh, no thank you, I don’t care for Divine Mercy. Do you have anything else there?
Divine Mercy is the only thing that can chain the devil and chain him fast. It is at our very fingertips if we are wise. The Lord knows that we need Divine Mercy because the culture of death has been around since Cain and Abel. Cain slew his brother Abel.
Yesterday I was reading Psalm 106, in the Office of Readings. Jesus read all 150 Psalms everyday. Centuries before Jesus, Psalm 106 was written. These are two stanzas of that psalm, which is explaining how the Israelites, the chosen people went astray.
This is from the Office of Readings, and all priests, bishops and religious are to pray the Divine Office. This is not some eccentric translation; this is the one right off the shelf. Why would the Israelites do something like that? Well, they needed more rain or more crops or more money or just fill in the blank; they needed something other than God. You can see how God’s chosen people were reduced to serving the culture of death.They worshipped the idols of the nations and these became a snare to entrap them. They even offered their own sons and their daughters in sacrifice to demons. They shed the blood of the innocent, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they offered to the idols of Canaan; the land was polluted with blood.
You and I have heard again and again that we are all God’s children. For most Catholics that is merely blather and it makes no sense. We are all God’s children and that is truth. Do you know the day when we became a child of God? It was the moment we were conceived. Uh huh! So, when someone goes around taking aim at anyone whose life has been conceived, they will have to answer to God. Fortunately men and women are learning more and they are not following the culture of death, but we have lost forty million Americans through procured abortion. This is not counting those that have been lost through the use of contraceptive and other means, like Embryonic Stem Cell Research. It is terrible, but what is really terrible is when someone who should really know better pretends he doesn’t.
A cardinal, whose name I won’t mention, walks with a limp. He is 70 years old but walks with a limp because when he was a kid he contracted polio. This was very common when he was a kid but he survived it. This cardinal, who is a prince of the Church and who should teach only what Jesus teaches through His Church, called a press conference and in front of five hundred reporters he answered questions. Someone asked a question something like this.
“You know, there are a lot of politicians that are Catholic but they promote abortion. What should we do?“
Swift as a bullet the cardinal answered,
Can you imagine what would have happened if this country had taken this approach with Hitler and Tojo? You and I would be experts in the languages of German and Japanese. Right?Well, the first thing you want to do is not confront them.
“Oh, the last thing you want to do is to confront Hitler.”
Neville Chamberlain, to his eternal shame, believed that. Thank God for Winston Churchill. Anyway, this cardinal said in front of five hundred reporters and not in private conversation, that the last thing you want to do is confront those Catholics.
It wasn’t too long after that, he was blessing Easter baskets in a Church in his Archdiocese; slipped on some “Holy Water”, fell breaking his hip. You know, if at 70 years old, in Hitler’s Germany, he’d broken his hip and wasn’t part of the Nazi Party, they would probably say,
“Well friend, you have really got a bad hip there. I tell you what…take this bar of soap and go into the showers.”
Uh huh! That is how Hitler dealt with people with broken hips; he killed them.
Today we have tests that can reveal the different kinds of diseases a child might contract as an adult and people have used these analyses to abort their children when they find out that their child “might” have this or that. Can you imagine that if the Cardinal’s parents were alive today and they found out that their child was going to have polio?
“Well, I think we need to go ahead and sign up for the “procedure.”
A prince of the Church in this country giving public information like that…no wonder Catholics are confused. May God have mercy on his soul!
The reason that Jesus is speaking to Peter is because He wants someone to feed His lambs and feed His sheep. This is why I take it so personally; this is why you as parents take it so personally, because you recognize that the lives you have in your homes and in your bodies, ladies, is not your life, but has been given to you as a trust by God.
It is better to obey God than men! Don’t listen to your friends; listen to the Church. Don’t listen to your co-workers; listen to Christ speaking through His Church. Don’t be a “doubting Thomas” but believe that there is absolutely no circumstance, says Jesus to His Church, when an abortion is ever allowed! Never! Never! So many Catholics have been led astray by the culture of death. Violence is all around and is not going to be chained except through Divine Mercy, which has touched our parish on numerous occasions over the years, and it will continue touching our country.
Let us recognize that it is better to obey God than men and to be spoken ill of in the Name of Jesus Christ. To understand that by bearing this Cross, by taking care of children whether they are yours or someone else’s, we have a charge that has been given to us by Jesus.
Tend My sheep, feed my lambs.
Jesus is saying this to you and me and it is not to be taken lightly.
When they had finished breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, Son of John, do you love Me more than these?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Yes Lord, You know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen