Homily

The three Ukrainian martyrs we remember today are certainly examples of Christian courage and faithfulness. Beaten, tortured, and killed, they never not turned away from their Lord, and gave great example to all their people, and even to us today. Their brief stories are in today’s bulletin.

Did they see the World War II coming? Did they think the Soviets would gain control of their homeland? Maybe, but probably not, at least not until close to the time when it actually happened. And yet they had so strengthened themselves by their lives in Christ, even at the chance of their arrest or even death, they still carried on with faith. They still served the faithful, for the love of Christ and for the love of their people. It’s beautiful testament to what Christian life is all about: it’s about love. It’s about love of God and love of neighbor.

I hope you don’t mind if I sing the refrain of a song that many of you have heard, and some of you who are closer to my age have heard hundreds of times: “Come on people, now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try and love one another right now.” It was released in 1967 and again in 1969 during the “Summer of Love” when all the hippies and flower children of the world descended on San Francisco. ( I couldn’t go because I had a summer job.) In addition to that the Woodstock concert also took place that year and these seemed to assure all of my generation that the Age of Aquarius had arrived and the world would be definitely changed for the better as people truly accepted and loved one another. It was very groovy.

Here we are 50 years later. Not only are people not smiling on their brother it seems that very few Americans are trying to love one another. In the past month we have seen violence, looting, name-calling, finger-pointing and bitter sentiments breaking out all over the country and even nearby here in Eugene. While it may have caught us by surprise it probably should not have. It is just the latest in a long line of events, attitudes, decisions and actions in our country that have severely damaged family life and a shared understanding of moral values. Where can we look where we do not see someone trying to upend Christian morality in the name of freedom and self-determination?

As people continue to abandon Christian faith in favor of their own values, we will continue to see more and more strife in our nation, and more and more pressure to conform to the values of the day. Without a common foundational understanding of what it means to live a good life, we will continue see the break-down of society as people struggle against one another without seeking the help of God. When we can hear Governor Cuomo of New York in April say that the actions of people brought the number of virus cases down in that state, and that God and faith had nothing to do with it, we can be sure he’s not afraid of offending many voting believers. And he claims he is Catholic.

The Summer of Love in 1969 could not bring about genuine improvement in our society because it did not have the power to accomplish that. It was a beautiful sentiment, but it could only remain a sentiment because it could not change the human heart. It could not absolve sin. It could not show us the true nature of a humanity in need of a Savior. It could not give us a common understanding of how we ought to live and what we ought to value. It did not turn us to seeking our final end in communion with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It could not nourish us with the Body and Blood of Christ. It attempted goodness, but without God it could not sustain the effort. Indeed, without the law of Christ it had no real guide or structure beyond sentiment, and sentiments fade very, very quickly. They did after the Summer of Love.

The Church established by Jesus Christ, in a rather short period of time after Pentecost, became the majority religion of the Roman empire, not by military force, not by political power, but simply by dedication to Christ and His law. The law of Christ is love. Not love as some people might think. It is the law of love as seen in Christ’s love for us. And it was Christian love that won the hearts of the people as they chose to place themselves under the rule of Christ. Love of God and love of neighbor.

It is this same love that must be the law that we continue to try and live by today. As the Ukrainian Catholic Catechism teaches us, our Christian life begins with faith, and it is hope that carries us along through this life to our final goal, which is living God’s love for eternity. Then, faith and hope will not be needed, and only love will remain.

We cannot expect that our lives as Christians in America will get any easier in the years to come. I am certain they will not. But how can we abandon Christ and His law without giving up our very souls? We cannot live in hope that our world will necessarily become better, even as we work toward that goal. Our only sure hope is in Christ our Lord, and that hope will never disappoint.

The three martyrs we remember today carried that hope with them, held their faith with great courage in the face of a brutal enemy, even through their torture and to the point of their death. They knew Whom they served, they knew Whom they loved, they died in His service, they received the martyr’s crown. It is our daily decision, just as it was their daily decision, to choose who or what we will love above all other things. No matter what trials may come to us, either from society, or in our personal lives let us choose to love Him and to put all of our hope in Him. If we do that, then we can also love our neighbor as ourselves, fulfilling the law of Christ and smoothing the way to our eternal home.