Things just haven\u2019t changed in 2000 years have they!\u00a0 Because if you speak up boldly in the name of truth, then you can expect to suffer the consequences even today.<\/p>\n
John the Baptist is a perfect example.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t his message that the Messiah was coming; it wasn\u2019t his message of repentance; it wasn\u2019t his message that we need to be Baptized; it wasn\u2019t any of these messages that did him in.\u00a0 Rather, it was a simple truth- that it is unlawful to marry your brother\u2019s wife.\u00a0 That\u2019s what did John the Baptist in.\u00a0 Marrying your brother\u2019s wife was wrong according to Jewish Law.\u00a0 John the Baptist was bold enough to tell that directly to Herod\u2019s face.\u00a0 Now Herod was like the President in our country today- the king.\u00a0 Imagine how Herod and his wife would react to such a direct public denunciation of them.\u00a0 Indeed Herodias, the lady Herod married, was so enraged at this simple truth; that she connived with her daughter to have John the Baptist beheaded.\u00a0 It was human nature, albeit human nature at its worst.\u00a0 Because evil people react with evil when they are caught in their evil.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s fast forward to today.\u00a0 The same thing is happening in this country, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Our bishops through the NCCB, are speaking out boldly about a whole host of issues.\u00a0 They are speaking the truth:\u00a0 Abortion is murder, so a woman really doesn\u2019t have the right to choose that; Marriage is between a man and a woman; so unions between two same sex people may be something else, but they are not marriage; and contraception is against the natural Law of God.\u00a0 And what has the Government done in reaction?\u00a0 They are forcing the Catholic Church, Catholic institutions, and Catholic owned businesses to accept and pay for these evils, or else.\u00a0 \u201cWait a minute\u201d, you say, \u201cthis hasn\u2019t happened yet.\u201d\u00a0 Well, the waiting time for the HHS mandate is over in just a short month.\u00a0 But the offending provisions of the mandate are still there and the Supreme Court has already set the stage for legalizing gay marriage.\u00a0 It\u2019s like our Bishops have had their heads cut off.<\/p>\n
Did you know that before the first draft of the HHS mandate came out the leading Bishops were called to Washington, and they were told to get the radicals in the Church under control?\u00a0 Yes, the Government tried to intimidate our Bishops.\u00a0 But they stood strong, and so the Government reacted with impunity.\u00a0 They opted to just go ahead and force our compliance.\u00a0 The Government is determined to cripple the Church by figuratively cutting off the head; because their mandate could close our institutions and wreak financial havoc in our Churches.<\/p>\n
We must not allow ourselves to be intimidated by it.\u00a0 We have to speak up, just like John the Baptist did and just like our Bishops have.\u00a0 We have to confront evil with the truth.\u00a0 And it is especially important that we do it now when we are under attack.\u00a0 We need to do it in any way we can- letters to our Congress; letters to HHS, letters to the President; in the next election; and with our pocketbooks; however.\u00a0 It is time for us to stand up for truth now.<\/p>\n
And there is hope.\u00a0 Because truth is on our side, and God with it.\u00a0 For as Jeremiah says in today\u2019s reading:\u00a0 \u201cThey will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you says the Lord\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Things just haven\u2019t changed in 2000 years have they!\u00a0 Because if you speak up boldly in the name of truth, then you can expect to suffer the consequences even today. John the Baptist is a perfect example.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t his message that the Messiah was coming; it wasn\u2019t his message of repentance; it wasn\u2019t his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[232,233],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389"}],"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=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions\/391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}