{"id":197,"date":"2011-12-01T06:20:40","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T11:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=197"},"modified":"2011-12-07T06:23:38","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T11:23:38","slug":"building-a-house-on-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"Building a House on Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/font><\/p>\n

Thursday of the 1st Week of Advent<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Is 26: 1-6; Mt 7: 21, 24-27<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/o:o:p><\/h2>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, but\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Is our allegiance to the word of God characterized by \u201cYes, but\u201d or a resounding \u201cAmen\u201d?\u00a0 <\/span>Because, that\u2019s the difference between building our foundation on rock or sand.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

You know, there is a fallout associated with all the education we get these days.\u00a0 <\/span>In very blunt terms:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cA little knowledge can be a dangerous thing\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>And in the American society we live in, our level of education is so much more sophisticated than it used to be.\u00a0 <\/span>We are taught to question everything; we are taught to be critical thinkers.\u00a0 <\/span>That is a good thing, unless\u2026\u00a0 <\/span>unless we try to second guess God\u2019s law.\u00a0 <\/span>We can become so arrogant about our little bit of knowledge that we don\u2019t listen to God.\u00a0 <\/span>You see, God thinks at a level that we cannot begin to approach.\u00a0 <\/span>His ways are totally beyond our comprehension.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, God has revealed His law to us through the prophets, Jesus and the Apostles, and the great doctors of the Church.\u00a0 <\/span>God\u2019s revelation is slow, and doesn\u2019t always seem to be provable or understandable according to man\u2019s level of intelligence.\u00a0 <\/span>The Incarnation, the Trinity, the Resurrection of the body, the Eucharist; and some of our moral standards, like the right-to-life, and the dignity of a human person, are examples of that.\u00a0 <\/span>So, these are beliefs that are challenged by secular society using today\u2019s sophisticated learning and reasoning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Consider some examples of areas where human \u201cthinking\u201d tries to second guess the aggregate teaching of the Church in today\u2019s society.\u00a0 <\/span>Usually the sophisticated arguments are used to embrace the exception.\u00a0 <\/span>We say- marriage is the union of a man and a woman;\u00a0 <\/span>Society\u2019s elite say- yes, but what about two people of the same sex who truly love each other.\u00a0 <\/span>We say- an embryo is a human being just like the parents.\u00a0 <\/span>But society\u2019s elite say- yes, but what about the fact that the embryo cannot exist without the mother\u2019s body;\u00a0 <\/span>And if that support can in any way danger the mother, than shouldn\u2019t there be an exception so the mother can make a choice.\u00a0 <\/span>We say- thou shalt not steal; but society\u2019s elite say- yes but \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>those who have should be forced to pay for those who have not\u00a0 <\/span>because all are entitled to basic needs- it\u2019s only fair.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

It is important for all of us to remember that the truth is not relative- it is absolute.\u00a0 <\/span>There is black; and there is white.\u00a0 <\/span>It is possible to cross the line between one and the other.\u00a0 <\/span>In other words- there is still sin.\u00a0 <\/span>Abortion is either right or wrong; Marriage is between a man and a woman; and we cannot just steal from people who have, to give to the poor- the rich have to give of their hearts.\u00a0 <\/span>Right is right, and wrong is wrong.\u00a0 <\/span>And we must build our foundation on rock- that which is right.\u00a0 <\/span>That means we must take a position that some things are absolute, not relative.\u00a0 <\/span>The things that God has revealed to us as our foundation are things like the ten commandments and the beatitudes and the catechism of the Catholic Church.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Otherwise, when we think that human beings can discern by the circumstances,\u00a0 <\/span>we are building our house on sand.\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 1st Week of Advent Is 26: 1-6; Mt 7: 21, 24-27 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 \u201cYes, but\u201d.\u00a0 Is our allegiance to the word of God characterized by \u201cYes, but\u201d or a resounding \u201cAmen\u201d?\u00a0 Because, that\u2019s the difference between building our foundation on rock or sand.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 You know, there is a fallout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[89,90],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}