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A 4th of July Meditation on True and Distorted Notions of Freedom

On the Fourth of July, in the United States of America we celebrate freedom. In particular we celebrate freedom from tyranny, and a government that is not representative; freedom from unchecked  power and unaccountable sovereigns.

Yet, as Christians we cannot overlook that there are ways of understanding freedom today that are distorted, exaggerated and detached from a proper context. Many modern concepts of freedom treat freedom as something of an abstraction. Consider the following imaginary conversation:

  • Q: What do we celebrate on the 4th of July?
  • A: Freedom…dude!
  • Q: But what do you mean by freedom?
  • A: I dunno, Freedom is like….not letting anyone tell you what to do.
  • Q: Really? Is that all? Does that mean absolutely no one can tell you what to do?
  • A: Like….you know…..yeah!
  • Q: Are there any limits to freedom?
  • A: like…..I dunno…maybe?
  • Q: So freedom isn’t absolute?
  • A: Hey man….I didn’t say that!

OK, perhaps a poor and stereotypical conversation with some “dude.”  But the point is that many speak of freedom in the abstract and have a harder time nailing down the details.

Most people like to think of freedom as pretty absolute, as in: “no one is going to tell me what to do.”  But in the end freedom is not an abstraction and is it is not absolute, it cannot be. As limited and contingent beings, we exercise our freedom only within limits, and  within a described context. Pretending our freedom is absolute leads, not to freedom, but to anarchy. And anarchy leads to the collapse of freedom into chaos, and the tyranny of individual wills locked in power struggle.

One of the great paradoxes of freedom is that it really cannot be had unless we limit it. Absolute freedom leads to an anarchy wherein no is really free to act. Consider that

  1. We would not be free to drive, if all traffic laws were ended. The ensuing chaos would making driving quite impossible, not mention dangerous. The freedom to drive, to come and go, depends on us limiting our freedom and cooperate through obedience to agreed upon norms. Only within the limited freedom of traffic laws and agreed upon norms can we really experience the freedom to drive, or to come and go.
  2. Grammar or Goofy – Right now I am writing you in English. I appreciate the freedom we have to communicate and debate. But my freedom to communicate with you is contingent on me limiting myself to the rules we call grammar, and syntax. Were there no rules, I would lose my freedom to communicate with you. And you also would not be free to comprehend me. What if I were to say: Jibberish not kalendar if said my you, in existential mode or yet. And you were to respond: dasja, gyuuwe %&^% (*UPO(&, if sauy ga(&689 (*&(*)) !! We may be exercising my “freedom” to say what we please, but our insistence on that freedom in too absolute a way really cancels the experience of freedom, for communication shuts down and nothing is really happening. When we demand absolute freedom from the limits of grammar, syntax, vocabulary and so forth, we are really no longer free to communicate at all. Anarchy leads not to freedom, but to chaos.
  3. Music or mumble – When I finish writing this post I am free to go over to the Church and play the pipe organ (which I think I’ll do). But I am only free today to do that because I once constrained myself, for many years of practice under the direction of a teacher. I am also only free to play if I limit myself to interpreting the musical notation within a series of rules and norms. Within and because of these constraints and rules,  I am free to play the instrument. I my wish to refuse to follow the rule that I must first switch the power on, but I am not going to get very far, or really be free to play unless I obey.

So the paradox of freedom is that we can only experience freedom by accepting constraints to our freedom. Without constraints and limits, we are hindered from acting freely.

This is a very important first step in rescuing the concept of freedom from the abstract and experiencing it in the real word. Absolute freedom is not freedom at all. SInce we are limited and contingent beings we can only exercise and experience our freedom within limits.

This is also an important lesson to our modern world. For too many today push the concept of freedom beyond reasonable bounds and insist merely on their rights to act, but without accepting the reasonable constraints that make true freedom possible. Many today demand acceptance of increasingly bad and disruptive behavior.

But in rejecting proper boundaries, we usually see, not an increase of freedom but a decrease of it for all of us. Thus, our culture becomes increasingly litigious as burdensome laws are passed by a “nanny-state” seek to regulate every small aspect of our lives. Among the sources of growing and intrusive law is that some refuse to limit their bad behavior, some refuse to live up to commitments they have made, some abandon self control, some insist on living outside safe and proper norms. Many insist that the solution to protect them from others who abuse their freedom, is more laws. And many are successful in getting increasingly restrictive laws passed.

Again, the lesson is clear, without some limits freedom is not possible, and when reasonable limits are cast aside the paradoxical result is not more freedom but far less of it. Freedom is not absolute. Absolute freedom is not freedom at all, it is the tyranny of chaos and the eventual erosion of freedom.

Alexis De Tocqueville said Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith. In America today we are seeing the erosion of all three in reverse order. Those who want to establish freedom in the abstract will only see that freedom erode.

Jesus and Freedom – This leads us to what Jesus means when he says that If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32).

There are many people today who excoriate the Church and the Scriptures as a limit to their freedom. Unfortunately many Catholics are also affected by this notion. To such as these, they say the Church is trying to “tell them what to do” and Christians are trying “to impose their values on the rest of us.” Now of course the Church cannot really force anyone to do much of anything.

Yes, many hold that the announcement of Biblical truth threatens their  freedom,  and does not enhance it. But Jesus says just the opposite, it is the truth that sets us free. Now the truth is a set of propositions that limits us to some extent. If “A” is true then “not A” is false. I must accept the truth and base my life on it to enjoy its freeing power. And the paradoxical result is that the propostions of the truth of God’s teaching do not limit our freedom, they enhance it.

Image – As we have seen, absolute freedom is not really freedom at all. It is chaos wherein no one can really move. Every ancient city had walls. But these were not so much prison walls, as defending walls. True, one had to limit himself and stay within the walls to enjoy their protection. But within the walls there was great freedom, for one was not constantly fighting off enemies, or distracted with a fearful vigilance. He was freed for other pursuits, but only within the walls.

Those who claim that the truth of the gospel limits their freedom might also consider that the world outside God’s truth shows itself to be far less than free than it claims:

  • Addictions and compulsions in our society abound.
  • Neuroses, and high levels of stress are major components of modern living.
  • The breakdown of the family and the seeming inability of increasing numbers to establish and keep lasting commitments is quite significant.
  • A kind of obsession with sex is evident and the widespread sadness of STDs, AIDs, teenage pregnancy, single motherhood (absent fathers) and abortion are its results.
  • Addiction to wealth and greed (the insatiable desire for more) enslave many in a kind of financial bondage wherein they cannot really afford the lifestyle their passions demand, and they are unsatisfied and in deep debt.

The so-called “freedom” of the modern world, (apart from the truth of the Gospel), is far from evident. These bondages also extend to the members of the Church, to the extent that we do not seriously embrace the truth of the gospel and base our lives upon it. The Catechism says rather plainly:

The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “the slavery of sin.” (CCC # 1733)

In the end, the paradox proves itself. Only limited freedom is true freedom. Demands for absolute freedom lead only hindered freedom and outright slavery.

Ponder freedom on this 4th of July. Ponder its paradoxes, accept its limits. For freedom is glorious.  But because we are limited and contingent beings, so is our freedom. Ponder finally this paradoxical truth: The highest freedom is the capacity to obey God.

This video is one of my favorites. It shows a “Jibberish interview.” It illustrates how we are free to communicate only within the contraints of grammar and rules of language.

Photo Credit: G.Krishnaswamy in the The Hindu

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Yoked to the Lord

They are the best of times and the worst of times, explained a bishop in paraphrase of Charles Dickens. He wrote those words while he struggled with cancer, and not long before he died. They were the worst of times, he said, because of the physical pain, anxiety, and fear with which he struggled. But they were the best of times because of the peace he came to enjoy through God’s grace.

The bishop described how, just one day after publicly announcing his impending death, he presided at a communal anointing of the sick at a parish church. In his homily, he preached that when facing serious illness or any other difficulty, we as Christians need, first and foremost, to put ourselves completely in the hands of the Lord. We must believe that the Lord loves us, embraces us, and never abandons us, especially in our most difficult moments. It is this faith, he explained, that will give us hope in the midst of life’s suffering and chaos. Then he quoted words from today’s gospel: “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

This was one of his most cherished Scripture passages. It also happens to be a favorite passage of mine, and perhaps it’s one of yours too. It sounds very comforting and soothing- almost too good to be true! At the same time, Jesus’ words also seem to present us with a contradiction. This is because most people, including myself, don’t associate “rest” with a “yoke.” When I think of a yoke, the first image that comes to mind is that of sweaty oxen laboring to pull a plow across a muddy field- not a very refreshing or relaxing picture! Therefore, we need to ask ourselves: Just what did Jesus mean by his “yoke?”

To answer this question, we need to understand that most of the first-century Jews in Jesus’ audience believed God to be distant, unknowable, mysterious, and impersonal. Coupled with this image of God was the understanding that following him involved the keeping of 613 very specific commandments. These elaborate rules, created by the Pharisees, were often called the “yoke of the Law,” for pretty obvious reasons. To the everyday person back then, it was a cumbersome and heavy burden to bear. It must have been physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting.

Two thousand years later, things haven’t changed very much. As they did in Jesus’ time, some people today believe God to be distant, impersonal, or uncaring. They pray, but they don’t receive the answer they expect; they suffer, and conclude that God doesn’t care; they search for God, but their eyes aren’t yet open to his revelation. Other people have been “turned off” from following God, especially as a Catholic Christian, because they think it’s mostly about keeping a bunch seemingly endless rules and regulations.

Thankfully, Jesus’ words speak to us today just as much as they spoke to people back then. You see, the yoke Jesus invites us to wear isn’t a list of rules handed down by an impassionate God. Instead, the yoke Jesus refers to is Jesus himself! In other words, he is asking us to yoke ourselves to him. Because it’s only when we’re united with him that we’ll find the refreshment and rest that he promises, and that we long for. To quote the bishop we heard of earlier, “The ‘rest’ (Jesus) offers us comes from adopting and living each day his attitudes, his values, his mission, his ministry, his willingness to lay down his very life- in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.”

It’s important to stress that Jesus didn’t say that he would take away our burdens. What he did promise was to help us carry them. In other words, Jesus is saying is that if we yoke ourselves to him, the burdens we have will become lighter, because he will help us bear the load. In fact, Jesus has already taken the load from us. On the cross he took upon himself all of the suffering and agony of a broken humanity that we might be redeemed and healed. Today he invites us to add our burden to that load, so that it will be his strength, and not ours, that will bear it up. Think of it this way: A yoke joins a pair of oxen together and makes them a team. When we’re yoked with Jesus, he pulls our load alongside us, offering us the grace of hope, courage, and perseverance.

This was the experience of the dying bishop during his final days. The spreading cancer filled him with a pervasive fatigue that seemed to increase with each passing day, forcing him to spend most of his time lying down in bed. Nevertheless, he was filled with peace. He had come to know- perhaps more then than he’d never known before- that he was in the hands of the Lord: a Lord who shouldered his burden, a Lord who shared his suffering, and a Lord who waited to take him home to a place where his burdens would be no more. It’s as St. Catherine of Siena once said: “If we wish to have peace, we must rest our heart and soul with faith and love in Christ crucified. Only then will our soul find complete happiness.”

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/070311.shtml

Photo Credits: normanak, opensourceway, audreyjm529 via Creative Commons

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Stop Yoking Around – A Meditation on the Gospel for the 14th Sunday of the Year

We who live the West, live in a time and place where almost every burden of manual labor has been eliminated. Not only that, but creature comforts abound in almost endless number and variety. Everything from air conditioning, to hair conditioning, from fast food to 4G internet, from to indoor plumbing to outdoor grilling, from instant computer downloads to instant coffee machines. You don’t even have to write a letter anymore, just press send and its there. Yet despite all this, it would seem we modern westerners still keenly experience life’s burdens, for recourse to psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs are widespread.

It is increasingly clear that Serenity, is an inside job. Merely improving the outside and amassing creature comforts is not enough. A large fluffy pillow (until we get bored with it) may cushion the body, but apparently not the soul.

Jesus today, wants to work on the inside just a bit and presents us a teaching on being increasingly freed of our burdens. He doesn’t promise a trouble free life, but if we will let him go to work, we can grow in freedom and serenity. Jesus gives a threefold teaching on how we can experience greater serenity and freedom from our burdens. We do this by filiation, imitation, and simplification.

I. Filiation – The Gospel today opens with these words: At that time Jesus exclaimed:  “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over  to me by my Father.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Note how Jesus contrasts the “wise and learned” from the “little ones.” And in so doing Jesus commends to us a child-like simplicity before our heavenly Father, our Abba, our “Daddy – God.” This is the experience of divine filiation, of being a child of God, of being one of God’s “little ones.” The wise, learned and clever often miss what God is trying to do and say, and because of this, they are anxious and stressful.

It is possible for a person to study a great deal, but if they don’t pray, (if they do go before God like a little child) they are not going to get very far. The Greek word translated here as “revealed” is  ἀπεκάλυψας (apekalupsas) which more literally means “to unveil.” And only God can take away the veil, and he only does it for humble and simple. Thus Jesus commends to our understanding the need for childlike simplicity and prayerful humility.

Half our problem in life, and 80% of the cause of our burdensome stress, is that we just think too much and pray too little. We have big brains and small hearts and so we struggle to understand God, instead of trust him. Though our reason is our crowning glory, we must never forget how to be a little child in the presence of God our Father. No matter how much we think we know, it isn’t really very much. Jesus’ first teaching is filiation, of embracing a child-like simplicity before our Daddy-God.

What does it mean to be childlike? Consider how little children are humble. They are always asking why and are unashamed to admit they do not know. Children are also filled with wonder and awe, they are fascinated by the littlest and the biggest things. Children know they depend on their parents, and instinctively run to them at any sign of trouble, or when they have been hurt. And they trust their parents. Not only that but they ask for everything, they are always seeking, asking and knocking.

And thus Jesus teaches us that the first step to lessening our burdens is to have a childlike simplicity with the Father wherein we are humble before him, acknowledging our need for him, and dependance on him for everything. He teaches us to have a simplicity that is humble enough to admit we don’t know much and want to learn from him, a wonder and awe in all that God has done, and an instinct to run to God in every danger, or when we are hurt and in trouble.  Above all, Jesus teaches us by this image to grow each day in trust of Abba, and a confidence to ask him for everything we need. The Book of James says, You have not because you ask not (4:2). An old spiritual says, I love the Lord; he heard my cry; and pitied every groan. Long as I live and troubles rise; I’ll hasten to his throne.

Yes, run! With childlike simplicity and trust.

So here is the first teaching of Jesus on letting go of our burdens: growing in childlike simplicity and trust before God our loving Father and Abba.

II. Imitation – The text says: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest…..for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. Jesus commends to us two characteristics of himself that, if we embrace them, will give us rest and relief from our burdens. He says he is meek and humble of heart. Let’s look at both.

What does it mean to be meek? The Greek word is πραΰς (praus) and there is some debate as to how it is best interpreted. Simply looking at it as a Greek word, we can see that Aristotle defined “praotes” (meekness) as the mean, or middle ground, between too much anger and not enough anger. Hence the meek are those who have authority over their anger.

However, many biblical scholars think that Jesus uses this word most often as a synonym for being “poor in spirit.” And what does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to be humble and dependent on God. By extension it means that our treasure is not here. We are poor to this world, and our treasure is with God, and the things waiting for us in heaven. And here is a source of serenity for us, for when we become poor to this world, when we become less obsessed with success, power and possessions, many of our anxieties go away. To the poor in spirit the wealth of this world is as nothing. You can’t steal from a man who has nothing, and a poor man is less anxious because he has less to lose, and less at stake. He is free from this world’s obsessions and the fears and burdens they generate. And so Jesus calls us to accept from him the example from him and the growing experience in us of being poor in spirit.

Jesus also says that he is humble of heart. The Greek word here is ταπεινός (tapeinos) meaning lowly or humble and referring to one who depends on the Lord rather than himself. We have already discussed this at length above. But simply note here that the Lord Jesus is inviting us to learn this from him and to receive it as a gift. The Lord can do this for us. And if we will learn it from him and receive it, so many of our burdens and anxiety will be lifted.

Here then is the second teaching which Jesus offers us so that we will see life’s burdens lessened. He teaches us to learn from him and receive from him the gifts to be poor in spirit, and humble of heart. The serenity which comes from embracing these grows with each day, for this world no longer has its shackles on us. It cannot intimidate us, for its wealth and power do not entice us, and we do not fear the loss of these. We learn to trust that God will see us through and provide us with what we need.

III. Simplification – The text says: Take my yoke upon you…..For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. The most important word in this sentence is “my.” Jesus says, MY yoke is easy, MY burden is light.

What is a yoke? Essentially “yoke” is used here as a euphemism for the cross. A yoke is a wooden truss that makes it easier to carry a heavy load by distributing the weight along a wider part of the body or by causing the weight to be shared by two or more people or animals. In the picture at left, the woman is able to carry the heavy water more easily with the weight across her shoulders rather than in the narrow section of her hands. This eases the load by involving the whole body more evenly. Yokes are also used to join two animals and help them work together in pulling a load.

What is Jesus saying? He is first saying that he has a yoke for us. That is, he has a cross for us. Notice, Jesus is NOT saying that there is no yoke or cross or burden in following him. There is a cross that he allows for a reason and for a season.

Easy? But Jesus says the cross HE has for us is “easy.” Now the Greek word χρηστὸς (chrestos) is better translated “well fitting,” “suitable,” or even “useful.” In effect the Lord is saying that the yoke he has for us is suited to us, is well fitting, has been carefully chosen so as to be useful for us. God knows we need some crosses to grow and he knows what they are, and what we can bear, and what we are ready for. Yes, his yoke for us is well fitting.

But note again that little word “my.” The cross or yoke Jesus has for us is well suited and useful for us. The problem comes when we start adding to the weight, things of our own doing. We put wood up on our own shoulders that God never put there and never intended for us. We make decisions without asking God, undertake projects, launch careers, accept promotions, even enter marriages without ever discerning if God wants this for us. And sure enough, before long our life is complicated and burdensome and we feel pulled in eight directions. But this is not the “my yoke” of Jesus, this is largely the yoke of our own making. Of course it is not easy or well fitting, Jesus didn’t make it.

Don’t blame God, simplify. Be very careful before accepting commitments, and making big decisions. Ask God. It may be good, but not for you. It may help others, but destroy you. Seek the Lord’s will. Ask advice from a spiritually mature person if necessary. Consider your state in life, consider the tradeoffs. Balance the call to be generous with the call to proper stewardship of your time, talent and treasure. Have proper priorities. It is amazing how many people put their career before their vocation. They take promotions and accept special assignments, think more of money and advancement than their spouse and children. Sure enough, the burdens increase, and the load gets heavy, when we don’t ask God or even consider how a proposed course of action might affect the most precious and important things in our lives.

Stop Yoking around. Jesus final advice then, is take MY yoke….only my yoke. Forsake all others. Simplify. Stop yoking around. Take only His yoke. If you do, your burdens will be lighter.  Jesus says, “Come and learn from me. I will not put heavy burdens on you. I will set your heart on fire with love. And then, whatever I do have for you, it will be a pleasure for you to do. Because, what makes the difference is love.” Love and love lightens every load.

Image Credits:
Above right From Goodsalt.com Used with Permission.
Picture of Yoke from Seneca Creek Joinery
 
 

This video says, We do need a yoke, God is preparing us to cross over to glory.

This song says, “when troubles rise, I’ll hasten to his throne”

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On the Call to Martyrdom and Accepting the Increasing Cost of the Faith

In recent days, the Church celebrated the feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul, and the early martyrs of Rome. All of these died for the faith and show forth the cost of true discipleship: hatred by the world. Jesus had said,

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. (Jn 15:18:23)

We ought to study the martyrs of the early Church carefully, for their times are not unlike our own: polytheistic, proud, anti-Christian, sexually confused, with rampant infanticide, frequent wars, incivility and cruelty, and a general breakdown of family loyalties. Rome was in decline, especially in the West and the Christians, who looked higher and strove to live differently, had much to suffer in frequent, episodic outbreaks of martyrdom.

Our current climate in the West does not accept public executions or enjoy public massacres. However, things are becoming more difficult for true disciples of the Lord in other ways. And as the years tick by, it would seem things are going to get worse, not better. Whether it is simple ridicule of Jesus and the truths of our faith, or outright hostility and the erosion of our religious liberty, we will, it would seem, experience increasing hatred from the world. But if so, we are in good company. Jesus and all the martyrs bid us to join them.

And if no persecutions befall us in this present evil age (cf Gal 2:1) then we ought to question how true our discipleship be. For the contrasts are becoming too strong for us not to experience persecution, if we are faithful. Jesus warns, Woe to you if all men speak well of you (Lk 6:26). He also said, If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels (Mk 8:38).

Now is not the time to be ashamed to be a Christian! The world will try to shame us by calling us intolerant, bigoted, homophobic, judgmental, narrow minded etc. But do not be ashamed of Jesus and his teachings! Now is the time to testify to a sinful and adulterous generation.

And do not let them shame you about the sins of the Church, it is a diversion. Where there are human beings there is sin. But. keep the focus on Jesus, who is sinless. As a member of the Church, you are speaking for Him.   

Many people today think little of the faith that has been handed on to them. Only 27% of Catholics even go to Mass. Many too, consider any suffering due to the faith intolerable. So, when reminded of basic moral norms against things like fornication, contraception, assisted suicide, or requirements such as weekly Mass attendance, frequent confession, occasional fasting etc, many consider such things too demanding or unreasonable. But all of us should consider how precious is the faith handed on to us.

Many however, have died for the faith because they would not compromise with the demands of the world or deny Christ. Many too were imprisoned and suffered loss of jobs and property because they witnessed to Christ. Others were rejected by family and friends.

It is remarkable to consider thatthe martyrs even to this day (in places like Egypt and Sudan) are willing to suffer death, but many other Christians today are not even willing to risk some one raising an eyebrow at them or any unpopularity.

Pray for the courage of the martyrs! We’re going to need more courage as the days go on. And never forget the cost of the faith handed on to us.

A word on the Early Martyrs of Rome and then a video tribute to them: Many martyrs suffered death under Emperor Nero. Owing to their executions during the reign of Emperor Nero, they are called the Neronian Martyrs, and they are also termed the Protomartyrs of Rome, being honored by the site in Vatican City called the Piazza of the Protomartyrs. These early Christians were disciples of the Apostles, and they endured hideous tortures and ghastly deaths following the burning of Rome in the infamous fire of 62 AD. Their dignity in suffering, and their fervor to the end, did not provide Nero or the Romans with the public diversion desired. Instead, the faith was firmly planted in the Eternal City. The Blood of Martyrs is the Seed of the Church.

This video depicts the suffering of the First Martyrs of Rome. Careful! It is a graphic video which quite accurately depicts death by lions and the cruel and sadistic glee of the crowds who found it entertaining to see other humans torn apart and eaten. This clip is from the 2002 Movie “Quo Vadis” a Polish Production available at Amazon  I added some music over the top that is a dramtic hymn: Once to Every Man and Nation. I listed the Words in the comments section.


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Two Questions: Do We Need to Use a Different Word for Marriage in the Church? and, Should Catholic Clergy Cease Signing Civil "Marriage" Licenses?

I have proposed before on this blog that we may be coming to a point where we should consider dropping our use of the word marriage. It  is a simple fact that word “marriage” as we have traditionally known it is being redefined in our times. To many in the secular world the word no longer means what it once did and when the Church uses the word marriage we clearly do not mean what the New York Legislature or an increasing number of states mean.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines Marriage in the following way:

The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament (CCC # 1601)

The latest actions by New York, along with Washington DC, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Iowa have legally redefined the term marriage. Other states will likely join the list. The secular world’s definition of marriage no longer even remotely resembles what the Catechism describes.

To be fair, as we noted yesterday, this is not the first redefinition of marriage that has occurred in America. The redefinition has actually come in three stages:

  1. In 1969 the first no-fault divorce law was signed in California. Within 15 years every state in this land had similar laws that made divorce easy. No longer did state laws uphold the principle which the Catechism describes as a partnership of the whole of life. Now marriage was redefined as a contract easily broken by the will of the spouses.
  2. The dramatic rise in contraceptive use and the steep drop in birthrates, though not a legal redefinition, amount to a kind of cultural redefinition of marriage as described in the Catechism which sees the procreation and education of offspringas integral to its very nature. Now the American culture saw this aspect as optional  at the will of the spouses. Having sown in the wind (where we redefined not only marriage, but sex itself) we are now reaping the whirlwind of deep sexual confusion and a defining of marriage right out of existence.
  3. This final blow of legally recognizing so called gay “marriage” completes the redefinition of marriage which the Catechism describes as being a covenant, …which a man and a woman establish between themselves. Now secular American culture is removing even this, calling same-sex relationships “marriage”.

Proposal: So the bottom line is that what the secular world means by the word “marriage” is not even close to what the Church means. The secular world excluded every aspect of what the Church means by marriage. Is it time for us to accept this and start using a different word? Perhaps it is and I would like to propose what I did back in March of 2010, that we return to an older term and hear what you think. I propose that we should exclusively refer to marriage in the Church as “Holy Matrimony.”

According to this proposal the word marriage would be set aside and replaced by Holy Matrimony. It should be noticed that the Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to this Sacrament formally as “The Sacrament of Matrimony.”

The word matrimony also emphasizes two aspects of marriage: procreation and heterosexual complimentarity. The word comes from Latin and old French roots. Matri = “mother” and mony, a suffix indicating “action, state, or condition.” Hence Holy Matrimony refers to that that holy Sacrament wherein a woman enters the state that inaugurates an openness to motherhood. Hence the Biblical and Ecclesial definition of Holy Matrimonyas heterosexual and procreative is reaffirmed by the term itself. Calling it HOLY Matrimony distinguishes it from SECULAR marriage.

Problems to resolve – To return to this phrase “Holy Matrimony” is to return to an older tradition and may sound archaic to some  (but at least it isn’t as awkward sounding as “wedlock”).  But clearly a new usage will be difficult to undertake. It is one thing to start officially referring to it as Holy Matrimony. But it is harder when, for example, a newly engaged couple approaches the priest and says, “We want to be married next summer.” It seems unlikely we could train couples to say, “We want to enter Holy Matrimony next summer.” or even just to say, “We want to have a wedding next summer.” Such dramatic changes seem unlikely to come easily.  Perhaps you, who read this blog can offer some resolutions to this problem.

Perhaps, even if  we cannot wholly drop the terms “marry” and “married” a more modest form of the proposal is that we at least officially discontinue the use of the word marriage and refer to it as the “Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.”

What do you think? Do we need to start using a new word for marriage? Has the word been so stripped of meaning that we have to use different terminology to convey what we really mean?

When I proposed this over a year and a half ago, many of you we rather unconvinced and some were even perturbed that we were handing on over our vocabulary to the libertines. That may be, but we already know that gay will never mean what it used to, and maybe marriage will never again mean what it did.

A secondary but related proposal is that we begin to consider getting out of the business of having our clergy act as civil magistrates in weddings. Right now we clergy in most of America sign the civil license and act, as such, as partners with the State. But with increasing States interpreting marriage so differently, can we really say we are partners? Should we even give the impression of credibility to the State’s increasingly meaningless piece of paper?  It may remain the case that the Catholic faithful, for legal and tax reasons may need to get a civil license, but why should clergy have anything to do with it?

We would surely need a strong catechesis directed to our faithful that reiterates that civil “marriage” (what ever that means anymore) is not Holy Matrimony and that they should, in no way consider themselves as wed, due to a (meaningless) piece of paper from a secular state that reflects only confusion and darkness rather than clarity and Christian light.

Here too, what do you think? Should the Catholic Bishops disassociate Catholic clergy from civil “marriage” licenses?

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Better, but Not Easier

If Jesus were a genie in a bottle, and granted each one of us three wishes, I wonder what we’d ask him for. I suspect that many of us might ask for things that would make our lives easier.

But Jesus, of course, isn’t a genie. We can and should ask him for things, but he isn’t obligated to grant our wishes. Jesus does give us things. But they don’t always make our lives easier. Instead, Jesus gives us things to make our lives better. And sometimes there’s a big difference between easier and better.

We see this in today’s gospel, I think. A paralyzed man was brought to Jesus, and our typical reaction is to think that he probably wants to walk more than anything else! But we can’t see into another’s heart, and Jesus can. In that man’s heart Jesus saw fear- which is why he told him to have courage. Jesus also saw a need for forgiveness- which is why he pardoned his sins. Jesus knows that living life with courage and inner peace- even if one is unable to walk- is much better than limping along with fear and guilt.

Yes, Jesus did eventually heal the man- in order to prove a point to his critics. But we aren’t Jesus’ critics; we’re his friends. And the point he proves to us is that his gifts to us may not always be what we want; they may not be things we think we need; they won’t necessarily make our lives easier. But they will always make us better people, because Jesus knows what is best. A genie won’t do that! But thankfully, Jesus is no genie. Instead, he is our Lord.

Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/nab/063011.shtml

Photo Credit: geopungo via Creative Commons

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On Ignoring the "Canary in the Mine." Why The Demise of Marriage Matters

New York State’s redefinition of marriage is the latest domino to fall in the trend sweeping the nation of legally recognizing so-called “gay marriage.” Many people, especially younger people, are prone to shrug and wonder what the big deal is about all this. Many, too, of all ages, have bought into the notion that this is all about fairness, and being unbigoted.

Perhaps part of the reason for this is that we in the Church, and other defenders of traditional marriage, have allowed this to become a discussion about gay “marriage” only, rather than about the overall and devastating effects of the sexual revolution, and the sexual liberationist movement in general.

Gay “marriage” is only the latest battleground. It was preceded by the no-fault divorce wave that swept the country, beginning in 1969. The battleground is also about the explosion in divorce rates. It is about rampant promiscuity and shacking-up (or more politely “co-habitation”).  And gay “marriage” is now the latest coffin nail, as secular culture buries traditional marriage.

Sadly too, in many of the other “nails” mentioned in the previous paragraph, even Christians have long engaged in these practices and the Church has been too silent in the last forty years and lacked the prophetic voice we are only lately (too late?) rediscovering.

To those who are dismissive or minimizing of concerns related to the State defining marriage out of existence, we must re-articulate, in a credible way, that traditional marriage does matter, and that its demise is not only lamentable, but devastating  for the future of Western culture as we have known it.

Consider the following quote from Robert P. George, a Professor at Princeton University and interview in National Review. He is answering the question, “Why should people care” :

Well, people should care because the whole edifice of sexual-liberationist ideology is built on damaging and dehumanizing falsehoods. It has already done enormous harm — harm that falls on everybody, but disproportionately on those in the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of our society. If you doubt that, have a look at Myron Magnet’s great book The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties’ Legacy to the Underclass, or some of the writings of Kay Hymowitz and other serious people who have examined the social consequences for the poor of the embrace of sexual liberalism by celebrities and other cultural elites. Marriage is a profound human and social good; its weakening and loss is a tragedy from which affluent people can be distracted (and protected) by their affluence for only so long. The institution of marriage has already been deeply wounded by divorce at nearly plague levels, widespread non-marital sexual cohabitation, and other damaging factors. To redefine it out of existence in law is to make it much more difficult to restore a sound understanding of marriage on which a healthy marriage culture can be rebuilt for the good of all. It is to sacrifice the needs of the poor, who are hurt the most when a sound public understanding of marriage and sexual morality collapses. It is to give up on the truth that children need both a father and mother, and benefit from the security of their love for each other. [1]

I have personally experienced what he is describing about the poor being the first to be hit with the effects. Having lived, as I did,  in the one of the poorest sections of Washington DC, the breakdown of marriage and its effects were very clear. In that neighborhood, 80% of the homes were headed by single mothers. It was not unusual for women in their late 20s to be grandmothers already. The effects on the children of having no father, of children having children, and living in dysfunctional situations plagued, with many layers of promiscuity and confusion was very clear. 60% of the children in that neighborhood never graduated high school. Of those that did, 40% of them, were functionally illiterate. Over 70% of the young men had police records by age 15 and the teenage pregnancy rates hovered near 65% for girls by their 15th birthday. STDs are quite high and the District of Columbia has the highest AIDs rate in the nation.

Some want to blame all this merely on poverty. But prior to 1965, when poverty rates were worse in the Black community, more than 80% of children lived with two parents, graduation rates were much higher, teen pregnancy rates were quite a bit lower along with STD rates. The sexual revolution is a huge factor in the devastation of the poor, and it is rightly said, from a statistical point of view, that single motherhood has the highest correlation to poverty of any other factor.

And the fact is, this breakdown is reaching the suburbs where gang violence, youth crime rates, promiscuity, STD rates, teen pregancy, abortion rates, and many other deleterious effects have been on the rise for decades. And sure enough, all of this is happening at a time when the numbers of suburban children who no longer with both both parents is approaching 50%.

We who live and work in the “inner city” like to say, “We’re the canary in the mine.” This image goes back to coal mining days when the miners brought a canary down in a cage. If gas levels rose, the canary died first, signaling trouble, and sounding an alert that it was time to get out. So for years as the wider US population either shook its finger at the inner city, or pitied those living there, the fact is they were ignoring the canary in the mine. The gas has now reached the suburbs, and the effects are spreading. And the main ingredient of the gas is the breakdown of marriage and the traditional family.

We ought to care that traditional marriage is in crisis. It is clear that children thrive best under the care of a mother and a father, and that removing this fixture from our culture is devastating to children and to our culture. The canary is not lying. If we do not fix marriage and family, we are doomed.

As professor George states above, legislators defining marriage out of existence is going to make any restoration of it quite difficult. Some may argue that the phrase “defining marriage out of existence”  is too strong, and that judges and legislators are merely widening its scope. But at some point, if anything is marriage, nothing is marriage.

This juggernaut will not stop. The polygamists are next (just google polygamy and see that the steam is building). After them come the incest crowd and other odd combinations.  And there will be little legal basis to resist them. And in a secular culture that has lost any basis to morally reason, or determine right from wrong, who among the secularists will be able to say “nay?” Yes, in the end, if anything is marriage, nothing is marriage. Marriage, as a culturally recognizable institution seems doomed, it is being legally defined out of existence.

Tomorrow on the blog I want to revisit a notion I raised more than a year ago, when I wondered if we need to find a new word for what we mean by Christian Marriage. For it would seem that the word is losing any meaning with each year that goes by in the secular world. More on that tomorrow.

For now, we have every reason to be very alarmed at the demise of marriage in modern times. Those who want dismiss or minimize the effects of the loss of traditional marriage ought to think again. Try visiting my prior inner city neighborhood, look at the devastation. Heck, try visiting my old high school in the suburbs where the drafting lab, where I learned mechanical drawing, is now a nursery for all the single high school “moms” to park their kids while they try to finish high school.  What was once unthinkable is now the “new normal.”  And as traditional marriage and family continue to take a beating we are foolish to think that we are headed anywhere but into serious trouble and ultimate ruin.

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Violence as Entertainment and the Christian Walk

When I was a young man in my twenties I loved “action movies.” I remember that we guys often talked about the “kill ratio” as a way of rating the movie. High kill ratio movies were “good,” and low kill ratio movies were poor and dangerously on the way to becoming a “chick flick.” Car chases, buildings being blown up, and the bad guys being killed in large numbers, was the recipe we looked for.

In fact, I’ll save you some money and give you the plot of every adventure movie ever made or to be made. The movie opens with some bad guy, a guy who is unambiguously evil, doing some terrible thing. Perhaps he kills some one, takes hostages, or engages in a terrorist act. After this our hero steps on the scene. And, after about ninety minutes of car chases, blowing things, up and killing people, he exacts vengeance, restores justice and walks off the scene, girl in arm, burning city in the background, roll credits. (There is usually a sub-plot which involves the girl wherein she enters the scene, complicating things for our hero, and is usually a combination of an insistent partner to our hero, and also plays the role of damsel in distress. OK, so save your $15. You’ve just had them all presented to you. There is almost no variance to this theme and it is usually downright cartoonish.

In recent years I have lost interest in these movies. Some of it is age. But a lot of it is my Christian walk. I no longer love these movies because it is clear to me that the Lord does not love them. For a Christian of some depth, it becomes clear that, violence should not be proposed as entertainment, or be experienced as entertaining. Violence is always regrettable and is a cause for sober reflection, not exuberant joy.

I am no pacifist, there are times when the police have to repel or restrain criminals with violent force. There are times when nations, for a grave reason, and as a last recourse, must go to war. But this is always lamentable, and surely not entertaining. People often die terribly in war, and in other violent ways.

The adventure movies and video games often present simplistic and cartoonish notions of violence. For example, our hero may be involved in a high speed car crash. Despite this, he often walks away from it and remains quite fit to do further battle. But in reality no one walks away from a high speed car crash unscathed. The whole body is wrenched and there are almost always neck and back injuries that require months to recover from. Some never recover. Further, as our hero kills bad guys left and right, we are never invited to consider that in real life death has terrible ripple effects as families, children and others, related to the dead, experience the tragedy and often never recover.

The CBS video below speaks of an area I know little, the world of video games. I will admit, that video games are simply not, and never have been a part of my world. When I was in high school the only video game available was “PONG” (a simple monochrome tennis game). Pac Man and Donkey Kong were just on the horizon, but I never warmed up to them in college years.  The first video shows that a new rating system has come into play for these games, many of which are horribly violent as well as being saturated with sex and bad language. I am personally glad to see it and hope it will guide parents to be more sober about what their kids are playing.

I intend no crusade here. I am not calling for abolishment of such games, or of adventure movies. I will even say I oppose those who refuse to let little boys have toy guns and play war. I figure for them it is just a stage, a boy thing. But that is a central point, it should be just a stage.

So what I do propose is that, as we grow in our Christian walk, the notion of raw violence as a form of entertainment, becomes increasingly untenable for us. Violence is something we increasingly mourn, increasingly find troubling. If it ever did appeal to us, it appeals less and less. The voice of Jesus echoes in our conscience: Put away your sword (Matt 26:52).

And as we grow in grace, that still small voice of Jesus gradually has its way. The swords are sheathed, the video controllers are set aside, the movies look silly, and violence becomes unappealing, lamentable, and a subject for prayer, rather than a form of entertainment.

Photo credit is a snap from the second video

The first video is from CBS News and details some of the problems with violence in video games. The second video is a humorous description of how silly adventure movies really are. Pardon a could mild profanities. One of the lines says, Cool guys don’t look at explosions, they blow things up and walk away, and never think of the people they’ve killed.