Equality Begins in the Womb: Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Right to Life Weekend 

23 January 2022

 

Equality Begins in the Womb  was the theme for the 2022 March for Life that stepped off two days ago in D.C. It states a truth that should be obvious. Alas, the discrimination begins outside the womb sometimes the moment the pregnancy is known driven by social conditioning, government fiat, and abuse of medical technology.  

 

Abortion can have, and has already had,  disastrous consequences for the individual, the family, society, and the world at large. It will take generations to undo the damage that has already been done, if it can be undone at all.  

 

An article in the Washington Post dated April 18, 2018 began with the following:  "Nothing like this has happened in human history. A combination of cultural preferences, government decree, and modern medical technology in the world’s two largest countries has created a gender imbalance on a continental scale. Men outnumber women by 70 million in China and India (combined)."  That represents ten times the population of Massachusetts. These dramatic imbalances are having, and will continue to have, devastating effects on the life of society in general, family life, rural and urban life, and the future of children.  

 

However, inequality in the womb extends beyond the simple question of a child's sex, to questions of health status, cognitive abilities, future abilities, and other characteristics.  Iceland has almost exterminated Down's syndrome through what appears to be mandatory abortion if pre-natal tests reveal evidence of trisomy 21. In the U.S. approximately 63% of the children carrying three copies of chromosome 21 are aborted.  Margaret Sanger, foundress of Planned Parenthood, who was both a vicious racist and a strong proponent of eugenics, would be thrilled by those statistics.  

 

Pre-birth screening for rare diseases has become a very lucrative business in the U.S.  But there is a serious problem.  An article in the N.Y. Times Magazine from January 2, just three weeks ago, began by noting that some of the tests looking for missing parts of chromosomes in an effort to make pre-natal diagnoses of congenital disease are wrong 85% of the time.  That is an appalling statistic on which to base life and death decisions.  Tom Brady's career pass completion rate is 62.4%.  There is something wrong when Brady is four times more accurate than some prenatal tests that is ostensibly scientific.  

 

In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, St. John Paul II described how eugenic abortion is justified in public opinion through a mentality which accepts life only under certain conditions and rejects it when it is affected--or might be affected--by any limitation, handicap, or illness.

 

Unfortunately, the devaluation of human lives perceived as potentially non-productive has extended to the elderly, many of whose lives are seen as of little or no value simply as a result of the changes associated with aging.  Thus, the increasing move to legislate intentional killing of the sick elderly through what is being euphemistically called "physician prescribed death. 

 

When did dementia in the elderly or trisomy 21 in an unborn child become capital offenses?  

 

During the spring of 1978, a few months before I finished internal medicine residency, I spent six weeks working as a guest registrar with the late Dr. Cicely Saunders, foundress of St. Christopher's Hospice in London.  She was a remarkable woman.  It is tempting to give an entire homily about her but that will have to wait.  However, she was an unapologetically fierce opponent of euthanasia or any other form of assistance in dying. She was equally adamant about artificially prolonging the dying process, thus IVs and ventilators were not in evidence at St. Christopher's.  

 

In an interview article in the British newspaper The Telegraph she described her position:  'Impending death is no excuse for ending life.  Rather than rushing to kill the dying in the name of ending their suffering we should focus on practical measures for alleviating their pain and spiritual means to make their final moments worth living.'

 

It is important to note that opposition to the killing of the sick is not just "a Catholic thing." The Joint Declaration of the Abrahamic Monotheistic Religions on End-of-Life Issues, is a joint declaration of Christians, Jews, and Muslims.  It was signed at the Vatican on October 28, 2019 and includes the following: 'Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are inherently, morally, and religiously wrong and should be forbidden with no exceptions.  Any pressure upon dying patients to end their lives by active and deliberate actions is categorically rejected.'

 

Humankind has struggled for millennia to discern the meaning and value of life to understand the fundamental equality of all human lives. Are some lives more important than others?  How long before we exterminate the ill and dying for economic reasons rather than as purported acts of mercy?  

 

When do we truly realize that while cures are rare

care is always possible and demanded?

 

Pope John Paul II was prophetic pointed to the danger in the tendency to disguise crimes against life in its early and final stages by using innocuous medical terms that  distract attention from the fact that what is involved is the right to life of a human person.

 

An ideal world wouldn't need a March for Life annually on January 21.  But it will be necessary.  That is the tragedy of our time. 

 

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, 

et lux perpetua luceat eis. 

Requiescant in pace. 

 

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, 

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace." 

 

__________________________

https://myhero.com/Cicely_Saunders_06

The html at the bottom will take you to a site to learn more about Dr. Saunders.  Her influence on my life is inestimable. 

The photos are from Seven Mile Beach in Gerroa, NSW, Australia.  I took them 11 years ago today, on 22 January 2011.  This was during the beginning of tertianship when we were still getting to know each other.  

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

 

Baptism of the Lord

Is 40:1-5,9-11

Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10

Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7

Lk 3:15-16, 21-22

 

Those who are familiar with Handel’s Messiah are forgiven if they wish to tune out so as to listen to a private performance of that magnificent work and hear nothing of what I am going to say.  Today's first reading from the 40th chapter of Isaiah makes up a substantial portion of the first part of the Oratorio, sometimes referred to as the Christmas part.  The first verse of the reading from Isaiah:  "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God," are the first words sung after the overture while the final verse, “He shall feed his flock” brings the first section to a close.  

 

The  Christmas Season ends today. Tomorrow it is back to green vestments and ordinary time until Ash Wednesday on March 2.   Knowing the audience for the first reading is important to understanding its significance.  It is addressed to an exilic and post-exilic people who had suffered greatly but who now saw their sufferings coming to an end.  Isaiah is reminding the Israelites, as they prepare to return from their exile, that God is still powerful and that He remains loyal to them.  That He offers them comfort and assures them that their time of exile has ended. They will be nurtured and fed with the same gentle attention as a shepherd feeds his flock.  In a world of ongoing viral plague, persistent economic crises, seemingly permanent war, and shattered confidence in many institutions--

including some of the Church's leadership--it is important that we be reminded 

of God’s solicitous care for us.  Yes,  He comes with power;  but He also leads the flock with care.  

 

The second reading elaborates the promises from Isaiah: “When the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy. . .”

 

“Not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy . . .” 

 

We are reminded of God’s generous and wholly undeserved gift of Himself; a gift meant to lead us through the deserts of our lives to eternal life.  God gave us this gift through His only begotten Son who, despite being like us in all things but sin, 

was baptized by John; a baptism described by the ancient historian Josephus as: 

“a consecration of the body implying that the soul was already thoroughly cleansed by right behavior.” 

 

Jesus’ baptism is an indisputable fact.  All four Gospels give an account of it though, as usual, the details vary across them.  John’s description is particularly unclear.   But, we afford to get bogged down by details such as whether Jesus was baptized by total immersion or through pouring of water over His head.  The only proper focus is the fact and meaning of Jesus’ baptism not the manner of administration.  

 

 

There are three understandings of baptism in the New Testament.  The first is the most obvious: washing.  Washing is the literal meaning of the Greek root baptein or baptizein.  For us, that washing includes remission of original sin. But sin was the only human dimension Jesus did not share with us.  He united Himself with sinners but He Himself was free from sin.  

 

A second New Testament understanding is that of dying and rising.  Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan  presaged the baptism of blood He was to undergo on Calvary. As Leon-Dufour notes, Jesus' baptism in the Jordan announces and prepares for His baptism “in death.”  For us the waters of baptism represent dying so as to live again in the peace of Christ.  Leon-Dufour again, “Baptism kills the body in so far as it is an instrument of sin and confers a share in the life of God in Christ.”   We are reminded of this in a particular way at the beginning of the requiem Mass when the body is received into the church with the words: “In the water of baptism he died with Christ and rose with Him to new life. May he now share with him eternal glory.” 

 

A third understanding of baptism is that of new birth in the Spirit, a very Pentecostal theme.  That theme is apparent in the reading from Timothy: “He saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by His grace and become heirs in hopes of eternal life.”

 

Today's readings began with the first line of Handel’s Messiah. Soon I will elevate the consecrated bread and wine, Christ’s particular and real presence and repeat the doxology: “Through Him, with Him, and in Him in the unity of Holy Spirit,  all glory and honor are yours Almighty Father forever and ever.” And in response you will repeat the final word of Handel’s Messiah, a word set to some of the most magnificent music ever written:   

 

Amen.

 

So be it. 

__________________________________________________

About 11 inches of snow in Boston yesterday, Friday 7 December.  Did some shooting outdoors as well as in the chapel.  The Christmas decorations will most likely be gone by Tuesday.  One last chance yesterday and today.  Will not have the time tomorrow. 

The Jesuit chapel in St. Mary's Hall, the main residence on campus.   Taken through a screen on a confessional

A very wide angle shot from the choir loft.   It took a long time to realize that the ceiling is not perfectly straight across.

A gothic-shaped divider at the back of the chapel.

Wide-angle shot while sitting in the front pew. 

Taken from the loft

Poinsettias on the altar. 

Indoor creche

Outdoor creche as the snow was stopping yesterday.  

Leaving the chapel.  Couldn't let this pass without at least trying to get it.  I rarely shoot moons or stars. 

+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany

Is 60:1-6

Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13

Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6

Mt 2:1-12

 

One of the challenges to getting through the Christmas season is the amount of sickly sweet gooey imagery that clings to the narrative of Jesus' birth.  This includes images of a toddler-sized newborn baby, depictions of Mary in blue and white watered silk encrusted with pearls, rhinestones, and glitter.  Morbidly obese Santas, reindeer, elf cards, and the perplexing trend toward what are called ugly Christmas sweaters . . . .all of these are beneath contempt. 

 

Much too often we hear about "The Magic of Christmas" or how "Christmas is for Children."  Christmas is not a holiday for children.  It is a holy day for all people of the world.  Christmas is not a David Henning magic show. It is a reflection of reality, if we allow it to be.

 

Christmas is not a panacea for sorrow.  No one is required to be happy at Christmas.  Too often the sorrowful, the dying, and those who are struggling are told that if they surrender to the so-called magic of Christmas they will feel better.  Families, friends and neighbors of those grieving another's death oftentimes insist that a large dinner at someone's house will make all cares disappear, or, at the very least, begin what is called closure; that made up word and false concept that is the worst of the worst of pop-psychology.  It does not exist.  It does not happen.  Unfortunately,  Epiphany is not exempt from the gooey sweetness.  

 

Epiphany derives from the Greek:  epi:  forth and pheinein: to show.  Thus Epiphany:  to show forth.  Among the dictionary definitions one finds, "a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something, . . .a sudden intuitive realization."  An intuitive realization of Jesus as Messiah is the perfect description of this feast.  But, then there is the problem of "the kings."  

 

The word "kings" does not appear in Matthew's Gospel.  Those who bore the gifts are called magi.  Some translations use wise men. No matter the translation, they were not monarchs.  The word kings only came into use around the sixth century.  

 

Matthew used the plural but did not give a number. There could have been as few as two or many more than three.  Because the gifts were described as gold, frankincense, and myrrh tradition holds that there were three magi.  Despite the custom of Kasper, Melchior, and Balthazar their names are not included in scripture. In the end, though they are important. 

 

Despite the scanty details, the Magi are important. They are important because they represent the first Gentiles to worship Jesus.  They were the first Gentiles to recognize Jesus.  They were the first Gentiles to experience the sudden realization of that for which the world had waited.  Their epiphany was not exclusive then. That epiphany, that revelation, is not exclusive now.  We will hear of more epiphanies in the cycle of readings this liturgical year. There are many epiphanies scattered throughout our lives, if we are willing to notice them, if we are willing to see them through the eyes of faith. 

 

The reality of Christmas and Epiphany, the place of the Nativity of Our Lord in the history of salvation is more easily found in today's Gospel. "When King Herod heard of this he was greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him."  In private he instructed the magi, "Go and search diligently for the child.  When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage."  This, from a crazed megalomaniac with a cruel streak!  

 

Herod's jealousy and the duplicity underlying his conversation with the magi gets closer to the reality of the Nativity of Our Lord and that which was to come than do the lyrics of  "O Little Town of Bethlehem" or "We Three Kings of Orient Are."  We see the first shadow of the cross in Herod's evil desires. The path from Bethlehem to Calvary was traced out in his malevolence.

 

In the first reading from Isaiah we heard echoes of God's promise that the glory of the Lord would shine upon Jerusalem.  Thus, the reading from Ephesians is consoling. It assures the Gentiles that they--that we--are included in the promise.  We are reminded of that promise daily in the words of consecration that you will hear in a few minutes: "This is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins."  

 

"for you and for many." 

 

Once we wash away the treacle, once the sloppy sentimentality is discarded, once the word magic is forever disassociated from Christmas, we can begin to understand the Nativity of Jesus.  We can begin to understand the real Christmas story a story that did not end when the magi returned home, wherever that might have been. 

 

I recently proof-read a homily for a Chinese friend, Fr. Peter, who noted the saying that every priest has only one homily that he presents differently each time. Perhaps and perhaps not.  However, most priests, have a few points they return to regularly because those points express fundamental truths that can never be exhausted or overemphasized

 

Several times a year I cite a haiku from Dag Hammarskjöld's small journal Markings.  It is a frequent focus of my own prayer and meditation as well. In literary terms it perfectly fulfills the definition of a haiku as a form that: "expresses much and suggests more in the fewest possible words."

 

Hammarskjöld captured the entire arc of the Gospels in just twelve words.  There is nothing gooey, sticky, or treacly about it.  There is no magic. It is not just for children.  It is for all people.  It is for all times and places. It does not suggest a celebration of food, booze, and consumer insanity.  It has nothing to do with a holiday.  It has everything to do with a holy day.

 

"On Christmas Eve Good Friday

was foretold them 

in a trumpet fanfare."

 

We cannot separate the wood of the manger from the wood of the cross.

 

Neither event can stand alone.

 

Neither event was magical. 

_________________________________

The photos were all converted to black and white and then processed, sometimes within an inch of their lives.  I like the pencil sketch look some of the time.  

My quarters in the house.  Glorious weather Christmas Day

Processed a lot

The pond was icing over

                                                       

Had a rather acrobatic fall when trying to get up from here while kneeling.  No damage

Very foggy Christmas Eve AM

The cupola on my quarter

 

+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD