Homily

We have had a few great discussions in the past at Bible study about human passions and how the Fathers teach us that we should never act based on our passions, but instead only act based on the clarity of our rational minds. It’s not an easy discussion because it can be difficult sometimes for people to see that passions are not the same thing as emotions, even though emotions always act as passions. What are passions? In the Eastern Christian way of explanation, we can say that passions are our internal desires, drives and appetites, those things that push us or pull us to act in certain ways.

A passion is something pushing or pulling us to act in certain ways. Now some people think, that using this definition, there have to be good passions and bad passions. So they hold that hating another person is caused by a bad passion, but loving God with a passion is a good thing, a good passion. It is true that some passions push us toward good things and some passions push us toward bad things.

But the Fathers teach us we should never give in to our passions, even if we think they are leading us to something good. They would say we should love God because we freely choose to do so and because it is the right and proper response to have toward God, as our rational minds tell us. If the love of God depends on our passions, then what happens when our passions change, or if our feelings and desires to love God cool down? How many of you might stay at home today rather than coming to the Liturgy, if it depended on your feelings or on something else that was motivating you today? For example, hunger is a passion. We are hungry and so we choose to eat. But when we feel we need a third piece of chocolate cake, we know, by reason, it will not be good for us. But do we follow it anyhow? Follow passion or reason?

I remember reading about a local man several years ago who was arrested 11 times in 6 months for burglary. 11 times! That’s about two arrests a month and you have to think he committed more robberies than the ones he was arrested for. He had a passion. Was his passion the desire to rob, or because he wanted money and did not want to work for it, or was this to fund his desire for drugs, or all the above, we don’t know. But something was clearly driving him to commit these crimes. These were passions.

One of the biggest changes in modern society is the reliance on feelings and emotions as a guide for life and these come from passions. So many people today believe that feelings should instruct them how to live a good life, rather than relying on a moral code that is based on faith and the revelation of God’s law and His truth. Most people used to believe there were certain rules, commandments for good living, that were not only reasonable but they had the authority of God behind them. While it’s true that people often disobeyed these commandments, for they were sinners like us, they did not question the existence or the validity of these moral laws.

Not so today, as we see one moral law after another being struck down. First, it happens in the court of public opinion and then it happens in the court of law and legislation. One cannot make the claim that God has spoken on these issues, as most Americans used to believe, because then you are accused of forcing your religious beliefs upon other people. Those need to stay private. And it may sound a bit shocking to say this, but for many people today you can only speak in public if your opinion is godless.

Then, after being told that morality based on faith must remain private, we are given the ground rules for the conversation: “we don’t need logical, reasonable, or rational discussion about these issues. What we need to do is consider other people’s desires and their feelings—but not your feelings.”

In the past 2,000 years of western Christian culture people generally held to basic Christian principles of right and justice and moral goodness. But today these moral standards, one after another, are being overturned in our country. First, by the use of emotional arguments. Second, on the basis of constant nagging and repetitious complaining about suffering. Third, on the basis of name-calling, accusations of hatred and bigotry and intolerance. This has been going on for a long time now.

One perfect example of this is the legalization of so called same-sex marriage. The Oxford dictionary now states that marriage is “the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship (historically and in some jurisdictions specifically a union between a man and a woman).” What? The meaning and concept of marriage, accepted by western culture for countless ages has been turned on its head. This did not happen by rational and reasonable change. It is the product of passions.

Now we are told we don’t know what gender a person is unless they tell us. This is absurd, ridiculous, and totally irrational. But we are only beginning to see some of the negative consequences of this new degrading cultural behavior and surely more will be coming. The latest novelty to appear is “transableism”—people who are not actually handicapped but they identify as disabled people. Some of them wish to have their arms or legs amputated. Others seek benefits for their claimed disability. Why not? If we can’t tell if you are male or female, how can we tell if you are disabled or not? Chaos is eventually coming because when you live by your passions they define your world, they lead you to be self-centered and self-focused as other people and their lives become less important than the need to live as your passions direct you. And while passions can sometimes push you toward good things, you can never, ever trust them as guides to a good life. Young children act out of their passions, and we try to teach them to live according to different and better standards so they will have better lives. But when adults act out of their passions leading to irrational and immoral actions, is it acceptable simply because they are older than toddlers?

The law of Christ is ultimately about love: the love of Christ for us, so that we may live fully human lives, that we may love Christ in return, and therefore that we might choose to love one another and our neighbor as ourselves. We cannot depend on our passions to help us accept that love, share that love or live in that love. We have to choose it and choose it over and over again so that more and more it shapes and develops our very souls. There are a lot of people who are willing to share their opinions about what love is all about. But for us, there can only be one true source of both law and love, and that is in Christ our Lord. May He strengthen our faith today and forever.