2008 Aug 10 SUN: NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
1 Kgs 19: 9a. 11-13a/ Ps 84(85): 9. 10. 11-12. 13-14/ Rom 9: 1-5/ Mt 14: 22-33
From today’s readings: “ The LORD will be passing by.... Lord, let us see Your kindness, and grant us Your salvation.... My conscience joins with the Holy Spirit.... O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Humanae Vitae - OF HUMAN LIFE
About 350 years ago, a young, brilliant, Italian scientist named Galileo published a fascinating and innovative book about the planets and the stars. In that book, Galileo claimed that, by using his telescope, he had arrived at the indisputable conclusion that the earth revolved around the sun, and not vice versa, as had previously been believed. However, as soon as a few bishops read Galileo's report, they immediately summoned him to court, and gave him a few indisputable arguments of their own.
“Signor Galileo, you say here that the Earth revolves around the Sun. If you know what's good for you, you will change your mind!” Faced with such convincing reasoning, Galileo changed his mind!
We’re all quite familiar with this so-called “Galileo affair,” and how the Church made a great error because she got tangled up in an area in which she had very little expertise. And there are hundreds of similar incidents, through the course of centuries, in which the Church was proven to have been in the wrong in various affairs of politics, diplomacy, and a number of the sciences. Given this fact, that the Church has indeed been mistaken in the past, many people have asked, particularly in our own day, why we should listen to the Church at all - what authority does the Church have to teach on such complex matters as artificial contraceptives and responsible parenting?
40 years ago last month, Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae, in which he strongly reiterated the Church’s timeless position that all conjugal relations must be open to the transmission of human life. All conjugal relations must be open to the transmission of human life: that’s how God intended man and woman to cooperate in His creativity, and so adverse actions, such as the use of contraceptives or direct sterilization, are contrary to God’s intent, and thus always intrinsically immoral, sinful. After reading Humanae Vitae (and I might add, all too often even without reading this remarkable work), many people have dismissed Holy Mother Church as being hopelessly “behind the times” in this matter, as she was in the Galileo affair, and so, their only hope is that the Church eventually will “come around,” just as she did in Galileo's case. Because the Church is at odds with the majority of modern society, because she continues to uphold unpopular ideals, many people have completely dismissed the teaching authority of the Church as irrelevant, and some even persecute her as the enemy of modern society.
This is not a new phenomenon. Before God came to earth as Man and founded His Church, He instructed His people through the words of His prophets, such as Elijah. The prophets too were often instructed by God to teach unpopular things, to uphold ideals which were at odds with the prevailing “expert” opinions and moral practices. Almost always, people found the words of the prophets to be offensive and threatening to their way of life. And so, they persecuted the prophets. In the first reading, Elijah does not come across this cave because he's on a little spiritual outing. In fact, Elijah is fleeing for his life from the King of Israel, because his prophetic message doesn't sit well with royal policies. And almost all the people of Israel agree that Elijah deserves death for daring to challenge the false gods of their day. So Elijah is almost ready to give up hope, since he is no match for the king's relentless power. But at the cave, Elijah is reminded about where God is to be found: he is assailed by a hurricane gale which blows like the fickle winds of popular opinion ... but the Lord was not in the wind. Then the very ground on which he's standing trembles, like the latest earth-shaking news from the world of science ... but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a great inferno, like the fire of the mass media which allows for no truth but its own ... but the Lord was not in the fire. Finally, there's a tiny whispering sound, like the solitary voice of our Church in the midst of the chaos of modern life, and when he heard this sound, Elijah realized here at last was something worth a closer look. Many noises in the world are louder, stronger, and more impressive than the voice of the Universal Church, why should we bother to listen to her tiny whisper?
Likewise, in the second reading, St. Paul reminds those who would dismiss his teaching lightly that he is merely speaking the truth in Christ, a truth he agonizes over saying. Paul loves his kinsmen the Israelites, he recognizes that they're basically good people, trying to live uprightly. But Paul realizes that they've gone astray, focusing too much on the law and the old covenant, to the point that they're failing to recognize God's greatest gift, the Messiah. And so, driven on by his conscience, Paul gives them a bit of a verbal slap, to try to wake them from their stupor. Many years later, Pope Paul VI went through a similar agonizing ordeal before deciding to promulgate Humanae Vitae. He knew it would be unpopular, he knew people would see it as too much of a burden, he knew he had nothing to gain from it personally, and everything to lose, and many of his advisors and friends were pleading with him to just remain silent on the issue of birth control. Imagine then how convinced Paul VI must have been in his own conscience, what grief and pain plagued his own heart, that gave him the courage to stand and speak the truth in Christ so that all the world could hear, even if all the world refused to listen. Many voices in the world are more eloquent, more appealing, and more pleasing than Paul's ever was, so why should we bother to listen to Paul?
And it all comes to a head in the Gospel. It says that Jesus made His disciples get into a boat and precede Him to the other side. This is a rare word in the Gospel: Why did He have to insist? Evidently, the disciples were a bit reluctant. Perhaps, being experienced fishermen, they saw bad weather on the horizon, and so, in their opinion, they didn't think this was an opportune time for a boating venture. But finally, they give in to Jesus. When the wind and the waves pick up, however, they quickly forget Who it was Who sent them there, and they let their hearts become as stirred up and as troubled as the water around them, so much so, that they failed to recognize Jesus when He came to save them. Fortunately, Peter takes some initiative: He decides he's going to discern whether he's seeing a ghost or his Lord, and how does he do this? All Peter asks is to be given a command which only the Lord could give. “Lord, if it is really You, tell me to come to You across the water.” What a strange and risky kind of proof! The Lord must have regularly asked Peter to do things which no one else would ask for, things which in fact everyone else would advise against, because this is what Peter recognized as the unmistakable sign of the Lord's presence. Many directives in this world are more reasonable, less risky, and less demanding than the Lord's commands, so why should we bother to listen to Him?
When we look back through history, it is clear that even prophets have made mistakes: Elijah, for instance, had figured he was as good as dead. It's clear that even apostles have made mistakes: Peter and Paul, in particular, were well known for their failings. It's also clear that even the Church has made mistakes, and the “Galileo affair” is just the tip of the iceberg. But neither true prophets, nor true apostles, nor the True Church have ever been mistaken when they faithfully stuck to their divinely inspired missions. The authority of the Church rests on authority of the Lord Who founded her. Our Lord never made definitive pronouncements on astronomy, chemistry, politics, and a million other things, and so, it's no surprise that the Church has found herself in the wrong when meddling in such matters. Our Lord did, however, make definitive and normative pronouncements on matters of faith and morals, on the elements of love and responsibility, and so what the Church solemnly and consistently teaches about such things is worthy of the utmost consideration. In Humanae Vitae, Paul VI reminded the world that every conjugal relationship is a matter of faith and morals and love and responsibility, and John Paul the Great and Pope Benedict XVI have re-affirmed this numerous times. Why should we listen to the Pope? Why should you listen to any word of this longer than usual virtual retreat today ?
When we perceive just how menacing is the wayward wind of the world, when we realize just how easily we could drown in the hardships and confusion of human life, it is then that we desperately seek a safe haven, and what better one can you find than with St. Peter, who is with the Lord Jesus, who is in his boat.
