Dear friends, Homily for 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 2014. THE CROSS IS CENTRAL CHRISTIAN LIVING The Church has decreed that above each of her altars there should be a crucifix. Whenever we enter a Catholic Church, therefore, the crucifix will be the focus of our field of vision.The crucifix: a depiction of humiliation, torture, pain, and death (Genesis 40:19-20; Esther 7:10).The crucifix: not just an empty cross, clean and elegant, but a cross being used to crucify the one man who never sinned, the one man who didnt deserve to die.Why such pride of place for such a cruel reality? Why not put scenes of Christs birth above every altar, or of his resurrection, or ascension? Because, Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.(Matthew 16:24). Christ dying on the cross was the perfect sacrifice offered to God in loving atonement for our sins and the sins of all people (2 Corinthians 5:15).Christ dying on the cross was the perfect, loving act of obedience that reversed the vile disobedience of Adam in the Garden of Eden.With his arms stretched wide and raised between heaven and earth, Christ reconciled us to God and bridged the gulf opened by sin.If we want to go over that bridge and make our way to eternal life in communion with God, which is the only thing that can make us truly happy, we too must pass through the cross.We must follow the footsteps of our Lord: suffering, self-denial, opposition, humiliation, and difficulty.We may even have to lose the whole world, like so many saints and martyrs, in order to gain the truly abundant life.Uninterrupted joy is reserved for heaven; the road to heaven is paved with crosses - rather, with crucifixes, for the cross of a Christian is always borne together with Christ, so that we who die with him will also rise with him. EUTHANASIA IS FOR ANIMALS, NOT PEOPLE This helps explain why euthanasia is so wrong.Euthanasia is also sometimes called mercy-killing, or dying with dignity.The Catechism makes very clear that it is always an evil act:Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable (#2277).The Catechism also makes clear that Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of ‘over-zealous treatment.Here one does not will to cause death; ones inability to impede it is merely accepted (#2278).In some situations, drawing the line between normal and over-zealous treatment is difficult.At those times, we need to get good advice, pray, and trust that God will guide us.But the main point is clear: suffering, even terrible suffering, does not take away the value or dignity of a human life.Suffering is part of life in a fallen world.God allows it and uses it to teach us wisdom, compassion, patience, humility, and many other things, and to let us participate in his cross.Its different for animals.They are not created in the image and likeness of God.They are not able to know, love, and praise God in this life and enjoy him forever in the next.Thats why its perfectly acceptable to put an animal to death when its physical condition has made its life useless or unbearable.A human life is never useless, and Christ has made sure that, united to him by faith, no amount of pain will ever become unbearable.To die with dignity means to live with dignity for as long as God, the author of life and creator of every human being, wishes to keep us on this earth, whether in comfort or in pain. KEEPING A CRUCIFIX BY THE DOOR This is not a comfortable truth for our fallen human nature.Because our fallen nature tends to run away from the cross (like St Peter) instead of embracing it with courage and faith (like Christ), we have to make a special effort to keep this truth in mind.If we do, we will soon begin to grow in the wisdom of the saints: we wont expect life to be all smooth sailing, and so when the storms do come, they wont throw us off balance so easily.But if we dont keep this in mind, we can become bitter and disappointed, and instead of being wise Christians, we end up being whining Christians.One simple tradition can help us keep the cross in mind.It consists in putting blessed crucifixes on the walls near the doors of our house.A crucifix reminds us of two things: 1) that being a Christian in a fallen world is no cake walk; and 2) that Christs love is strong enough to sustain us no matter what.A crucifix near the door reminds us of those truths at the transition moments of each day, when we are usually thinking about our personal plans.Seeing the crucifix reminds us that God has his plans too (Jer. 29:11-14; John ).Some families even have a tradition of kissing the crucifix when they come home or leave home.Others pause at the threshold, make the sign of the cross, and say a short prayer.Every day we are bombarded by advertising images carefully designed to make us think that we can build heaven on earth.Lets be smarter than them. Lets surround our homes with Gods advertisement - the one that shows us the real road to lasting happiness, both here on earth and forever in heaven.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:56:41 +0000
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