Homily

I am trying to help a couple with their attempt and desire to be married within the Catholic Church. She is a Latin rite Catholic from another parish and he is Protestant. I'm sure none of you know them. Both of them are in their 40s. He has been married twice before and she has been married three times. Her situation is rather simple since she did not marry within the Church, but his is more complicated and it might end up to be the case that he may have to go through the full annulment process to see if he is free to marry. Now I have listened to them both and despite their past troubles I think they can make a success of marriage to each other, strangely enough. Why am I dealing with them since they are not parishioners? Well, let's just say there have been promises made concerning large amount of cash—and possibly a pony.

So she has had to fill out a number of papers and he has had to fill out even more. Last time we met the woman said, "This is one thing about the Church that I just don't get. Why are there so much legalism and paperwork and all this stuff we have to do just to get married? He's not even Catholic. Why does it have to be so hard?" Now I do sympathize. Latin rite marriage laws are legal, legal, and legal with a sprinkling of legal on the top. But still there are conditions to be met. She was pretty worked up about it and irritated both for herself and her fiancé.

So I asked her, "When you were divorced, did you and your husband just walk away from each other and that was it? Didn't you hire a lawyer and everyone talked about terms and who would get what and how, and didn't it have to go before a judge who approved it all and declared your marriage bond ended? Did you say then, "I don't see why we have to go through all this legal stuff?" The state has an obligation to both protect marriage and its citizens, and that's why you have to go through that legal process. The Church also wants to protect marriage, not only natural marriage but especially sacramental marriage. And it also wants to protect and safeguard those who are entering into marriage, even more so than the state because the Church is concerned with the spiritual lives of the people involved as well as their salvation. Does that make sense to you?" She said yes, it does. (I'm thinking, "I wonder what color the pony is.")

It's just one sort of example of a way of thinking that I find all the time, or rather perhaps I should say it's a way of not thinking. We all accept the idea that the state has the right to make laws, and that we have to obey those laws. We may not know all the laws, we may not like all the laws, we may even disobey some of the laws at least some of the time, but I don't know anyone who thinks there should not be laws. I don't know anyone who says, "I'm moving out of Oregon to live in a state where there are no laws and everyone can live however they choose." Now, granted you can work to have new laws enacted or old laws removed from the books. That's how it works in a democracy, but to live in a society without laws? I don't think people would find it healthy or interesting. We accept that almost without thinking.

Why is it then that when it comes to Church laws people feel totally free to decide on their own which ones they are willing to keep and which ones they can just disregard? Is it because they are not afraid that the Swiss Guard from the Vatican will come and arrest them? And when I say, "Church laws," I am not primarily talking about the rules which are man-made and can be changed. I'm talking about, more importantly, the moral law, the Ten Commandments, Christian morality, which, in the end, is nothing more than the law of Christ, Himself.

Those who follow the law of Christ are those who follow Christ, because His law is not arbitrary, not subject to change, it is never unjust or unfair and it is a law that applies to all persons equally without any favoritism or human frailty. The law of Christ is not given in order to restrict the freedom of human persons, but rather it is a guide to perfect freedom. We ourselves understand that, even though we know and accept that this thing is morally wrong, we still may choose to do it. Even though this thing is morally correct we may not do what is right. If we are this weak, then how is it that we believe we can be morally superior to the law of Christ and judge for ourselves what we think is right and wrong? (Does anyone smell "snake" in the garden?)

And yet people do it all the time, and they think nothing of it. Do they act out of careful deliberation, much study of Scripture, time spent reading what some of the great theologians and blessed saints have said about the issue? Have they carefully and thoughtfully weighed all aspects of this moral position? In my personal experience this rarely, if ever, happens. Instead, people simply say, "I thought about it and I don't agree. I don't think there is anything wrong with it." Now imagine if people treated traffic laws with the same sense of freedom to judge for themselves. Would you ever drive again? Truthfully now, who do you think should pay more attention to traffic laws and obeying them—you or other people? Right—and that's why you are such an excellent judge! Ha!

Why is the law of Christ given to us? For our life, for our health, for our freedom to love God and our neighbor that is why we have the law of Christ, which is Himself, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. How foolish and how childish can we be to reject His law? How can we seriously say that we reject the constant teaching held by God's people for over 3,000 years of consistent Judeo-Christian morality simply because "I'm not feeling it," or because others pressure us to comply with their morality as we are told that we do not have the freedom to restrict what they claim is their freedom. Think about that please.

The law of Christ is Christ. We cannot reject His teaching and His truth without also, in some way, rejecting Him. He cannot be our Lord if we are instead.

Changing gears just a bit...in today's Gospel Jesus tells Nathaniel He saw him under the fig tree. Why does he say that? He wants Nathaniel to know that whatever he was doing, or thinking, under that fig tree, Jesus knew what it was. Nathaniel is shocked and makes His profession of faith. Jesus knows us just as intimately. Without being shocked, let us renew our faith in Him.