Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
Is 62: 1-5; 1 Cor 12: 4-11; John 2: 1-11
Dc. Larry Brockman
My how things have changed in the last 40 years! I can remember when hand held audio and video communications were just a “Dick Tracy” fantasy. But there were still school prayers and opening prayers at our public meetings. Recently I went to an Orange County School Board Meeting that was opened with a “moment of silence”! Most of us lived in a conventional family. Our Dad’s worked, but Mom stayed home, and everybody sat down together to a home cooked meal each night. A college education was the exception not the rule. Gay marriage was unheard of; and abortion was illegal. America was a very giving and Christian oriented country, with many people housing an older relative in their family. And we donated Millions- sending financial aid around the world. We were a net supplier of missionary priests and nuns.
Today, we have become the World’s technology leader and the richest country in the world. We have cell phones and I Pads and all kinds of technology that allow us to do things in the palm of our hands that a whole building full of electronics were needed to do in 1973. A college education is considered a must. More often than not, both Mom and Dad work, and everybody in the family has their own car.
But despite all our technology and material advances, something dreadfully wrong with our society today, because school prayer and opening prayers are a thing of the past. We have to import priests from Africa and Asia. Over half of our families are families with a divorce. Only two thirds of our children live in a home with two parents; only a third of us eat together as a family, older people find themselves abandoned in institutions, and there are Government panels limiting their medical services. Gay marriage is fast becoming accepted, and one third of all pregnancies end up in abortion in this country every year- one third of them. Yes, that’s 1.2 Million abortions a year in this country alone, and some 56 million abortions since Roe v Wade exactly 40 years ago Tuesday.
What is happening to our country and our World? Why don’t we publicly recognize God in our society? What happened to the sanctity of marriage and the family? Where is our sense of Christian self-sacrifice? Where is the value of human life in our society, especially for the very young and old?
Now I could go on and on talking about the problems with where we are today compared to where we were as a society 40 years ago- about how the broken families of today, especially those without a father, produce children with drastically higher tendencies to have behavior disorders; much higher runaway and school dropout rates; and even have a much greater tendency to pathological anger, leading to murder and rape. We have all seen incidents of that recently, haven’t we.
And I could go on and on about how this breakdown of the family has led to a lack of vocations in the church, to single parent families living in poverty, and to a lack of morals and self-absorption in a significant portion of the younger generation. And how that has led to a tremendous increase in unwed mothers, by a factor of greater than 2 to one in the last 40 years. And how all this contributes to the abortion rate, euthanasia, and all the rest; and how it is an endless spiral downward. But I would be preaching to the choir, because this is the bedrock of Christian living, our parishes. These problems just don’t happen here.
Rather than the problems, it is time for us to focus on solutions. Even if most of us still believe and are faithful to the Church’s teaching and our Christian values, we need to do something about all those others out there who have the problems. Because the problems affect our brothers and sisters, whom we are all called to love as much as ourselves no matter what they have done, especially in this year of Faith when we are called to evangelize.
I’d like to point out three things about today’s scriptures that help us respond to this call. First, it truly is time, with all these problems in our society, for us to stand up and do something about them. You see, Isaiah’s words are as true to us today as they were for people three thousands of years ago: “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.” You and I are being called not to be silent, not to be quiet; to respect life; to put God back in our society; to restore the sanctity of a Christian family to our society; and to instill in our children and grandchildren a spirit of self-sacrifice and commitment to God in their lives
Second, we have the ideal example- the Gospel of Jesus. You see, up until today’s bible story, Jesus led a quiet life as a Carpenter’s son and apprentice for 90 percent of his life- the first 30 years. But after he was baptized, he went into the desert, discerned God’s will for him, and then he went into public ministry doing his Father’s will. That’s the message today- a coming out for Jesus.
How about you and I? What is our “coming out” incident where we recognize that there are higher purposes to our lives and we get involved?
And the third message today is that we all have been given the tools. God has given all of us unique talents. In Corinthians, Paul tells us: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” Then he names some of them: Wisdom; Knowledge, Faith, Mighty Deeds; Prophecy; Discernment, Languages, and so on. Yes, one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes. But they are to be used for the common good, the building of the Kingdom of God. They are not to be used just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of all of God’s people. And this is the right time for all of us to pool our resources together and work for that benefit.
We live at a time in which, in the name of tolerance, society has been conned into accepting marriage by gay people. And many think a woman’s right to “choose” trumps an unborn child’s right to life. Society has given up the majority’s right to pray in public and as a group in deference to a small, vocal minority. States are actually passing laws allowing assisted suicide. And most Catholics are standing by and watching the Government take away our religious liberties by forcing businesses and individuals to pay for and support immoral elective procedures and capabilities. Yes, it is happening today. These things are wrong and we need to stand up, take a position, get involved, and change it all. It would be change we can all believe in!
Yes, there are folks involved already. But you know something- it’s the same people involved in everything- a small percentage of you. Where are all the others?
So, the question is how, how can a fire be lighted under more of our believers to make a difference? We’re not talking about dropping a few bucks in the collection- although that helps. We are talking about getting involved.
A good first step is prayer- like making a commitment to Perpetual Adoration, or just signing up for spiritual adoption which we will do in just a few minutes. Both of these require a simple commitment to regular prayer. But that’s a good start, because it begins a change in heart. And there are plenty of other ways to get involved in the parish- Respect Life, St. Vincent de Paul, Ministry to the Sick, Faithful Citizenship, Knights of Columbus, and Helping Hands to name a few. There are social action programs and groups associated with the Diocese. And volunteer organizations like the JMJ Center and Coalition for the Homeless. If none of that appeals to you, follow your own passion to make a difference. But make a commitment to get involved. This is the year of Faith. Let’s show we’ve got faith by living it.
