A very bad thing happened in the Garden of Paradise for Adam and Eve, when they broke
their bond with God, almost simultaneously broke their bond with each other.
They began to look upon each other in a way that they formerly had not looked upon each
other, that is, we see the very beginnings of the vice of lust, and so it was in breaking
the bond with God that man and woman broke their bond with each other, and this must
be fully understood by each and every one of the members of God's mystical body, the
Catholic Church, especially in our day and age when we are at the precipice, as it were,
of falling off the cliff of destruction, that is, the destruction of the human family.
For the society of man stands on the brink.
It will choose either God's way or ultimately Satan's way, and it has gone a long way,
disting itself from the way of God and embracing the way of Satan.
And so we must first and foremost, as we prepare to exercise that great right by which we cast
our vote.
That is, elect our officials.
We as Catholics must do so according to our divine faith, and so we have an obligation
to form our minds so that our hearts are not led by what is commonly the vice by which
most vice votes are cast, that is, greed.
We must constantly be on guard that we must always and everywhere understand that the
family is the crux and the core of all society.
And without the family being protected, no society can hold.
It is quite literally impossible.
Check all the great cultures of old, the Egyptians, the Harappans, the Persians, the Romans, the
Greeks, all of them.
Did they perdure?
No.
Why?
Primarily because of their perverted view of the family, and indeed, we see in these
cultures.
We see the practices common in our day and age, and Egypt is on earth like candy, what
we know as the cervix cap, that is, a form of contraception with one difference.
The ancients at least had a sense of art.
They formed theirs out of the natural elements of the world.
We use technology, and indeed, even in our sin, we distance ourselves more and more from
reality.
And so, no society can hold if the family is not defended.
We have lived in an age in which we have been wrought, in an age in which day after day,
wars and rumors of wars have come to our ears and have wounded our hearts.
And there is one reason why war perdures.
Formerly, there was always a definitive sort of end when a war was fought.
Because of that, we have lived in an age in which we have been wrought, in an age in which day after day, wars and rumors of wars have come to our ears and have wounded our hearts.
And so, no society can hold if the family is not defended.
Because of that, we have lived in an age in which we have been wrought, in an age in which day after day, wars and rumors of wars have come to our ears and have wounded our hearts.
Because of that, we have lived in an age in which we have been wrought, in an age in which day after day, wars and rumors of wars have come to our ears and have wounded our hearts.
Because formerly, wars were fought ultimately in the defense of the family.
Even the most perverted of pagan cultures understood this.
And what is considered the greatest of them, that is, the one that had the greatest sense of family,
and if we want to know how depraved that was, by simply going like this or like this,
the father would determine whether the child born of his wife lived or not,
right or wrong.
But right after its birth, this was considered the greatest of the pagan empires.
And if he went like this, it wasn't a servant, but it was the mother herself who had to grab the child
and immerse it in a vase of water at her bedside.
That was considered the greatest of pagan cultures with the best sense of family, that is, the Romans.
But even they understood.
That most wars were fought in the defense of the family.
And so when you lost, you lost.
And for the good of the family, the war ended.
Why is it so that basically from the time of Fatima, when Our Lady appeared to the human family,
there has not been a moment of peace in the human family?
Because even wars are no longer fought for the defense of the family,
but rather for the family of God.
For the family of God.
For the family of God.
For the family of God.
For the family of God.
things of this world, and all sides fight in order to get the biggest piece of the pie.
And so, while we may consider in our minds the centrality of the family in human life,
do we really believe it with our hearts? Indeed, in today's gospel, how misunderstood
this quote of our Lord, even today amongst Christians. And in order to understand it,
we must take note first of the demeanor of the people present, for there were two groups.
There was the multitude, and there was the Pharisee. And what a complete difference
in demeanor between the two. The multitude came in order to be taught, taught by the divine teacher
himself. They sought him out wherever he went, because they know he spoke words of truth,
and those words he would not compromise.
The Pharisees, they come not to listen to the truth, but to deceive and to trap.
And anyone who aspires for leadership in society, who tells you that it's the economy stupid,
is really the stupid one. They don't even know the root of the word economy
from the Greek notion of that which transpires in the kitchen of a woman.
The root and core of the word economy. That which transpires, the great commerce, as it were,
that transpires in the kitchen of a woman, the feeding and the nurturing of children,
the knowledge learned at literally its mother's ape string. That is the notion of economy.
And so, let us remember that too, when our politicians tell us it is about the economy.
Because the economy, in its essence, is about the family.
But the Pharisees had a different notion of economy and the common good.
And so, they came not to listen to truth, but to try to trap it.
And our Lord answers their attempt to trap. He knew the question was a two-edged sword.
If he answered it one way or another, there was a danger of a precipice standing right behind him.
And so, he stood before our Lord. But our Lord does not hesitate.
He is truth incarnate and he fears no man. And so, he teaches the truth.
And ultimately, the truth was that Moses was opposed to divorce.
And this comes when we fill out our understanding of scripture according to the teachings of the doctors and the fathers of the church.
And so, Moses was opposed to a man dismissing his wife.
The answer is, how can you say that? Scripture is very clear.
Moses allowed a bill of divorce to be issued.
Yes, it is true. But a bill of divorce was a legal document in the Old Testament culture.
And only the scribes could write in the Hebrew language, which was necessary for the document to be legal.
And so, when a man sought a bill of divorce,
he had to go to one of the scribes and relate why.
The scribes were considered men of wisdom.
And so, Moses thought that when no one else could get through,
perhaps the religious leaders of the chosen people could,
before the bill of divorce was written.
And so, many men were brought to their senses in their conversation with the priest of the time.
And,
even if the scribe could not convince the man to come to his senses
and to honor that sacred contract he had with God,
for marriage had not yet been elevated to the dignity of a sacrament,
but even then, it was a sacred contract.
It is then, when the scribe could not get through,
that the decree was issued,
because of the hardness of your heart.
In other words, it was issued with an admonition.
You go forth with this bill in sin,
because of the hardness of your heart,
because of the hatred you have developed for your spouse.
And so, it was not as if Moses wanted freely
men to be able to go and separate themselves from their wives.
At the time of the Pharisees and the scribes that our Lord dealt with,
it had become the common practice amongst the chosen people.
But it was not so, not even in the mind and the heart of Moses,
certainly not in the mind and the heart of God,
for he made it very clear that from the beginning,
it was not so.
It was Adam and Eve who chose deliberately,
in breaking their bond with God,
to break their bond with each other.
And so, we must understand what the sacrament of matrimony is,
if we are convinced that it really doesn't matter
if society redefines it.
Matrimony, marriage, root word,
literally means, matrimony,
to make of a woman a wife, a mother, literally.
Matrimony, to make of a woman a mother.
That is the very nature of the word.
How is it possible to have a marriage
between a woman and a woman and a man and a man?
Neither one can make one a mother.
It is impossible.
And so, it is, as it were,
what one theologian called Alice in Wonderland theology,
even amongst the seculars.
Words mean what I want.
Words mean what I say they mean, Alice.
No.
Words are giving their meaning by God himself.
And that meaning must be defended and honored
by all members, especially of the mystical body.
And so, matrimony is the sacrament
by which a baptized man and a baptized woman
bind themselves for life in a lawful marriage
and receive the grace to discharge their duties.
Marriage has duties.
In every man, in every woman,
must fulfill those duties.
They are essentially of four.
They have the duty to comfort and support one another,
in good times or in bad.
I can't live with this person any longer.
We're psychologically incompatible.
Since the fall of Adam and Eve,
there are not two human beings in the world
who are not psychologically incompatible.
You know why?
Because we're affected by original sin.
Yeah, we may love each other,
but that doesn't mean we get along with each other.
We are all.
We are all psychologically incompatible with one another.
It is grace that elevates us above that.
And that is essential to know in a society
in which pure, raw sentimentality reigns.
Be nice, be nice.
The theology of the yellow smiley sticker.
What a banal approach to the human family.
The smiley sticker.
As if human beings were some kind of toys.
Some kind of nonsensical, trivial bobble
that we throw at our children when they cry.
How undignified it is
to see us treating ourselves this way.
As if somehow we were a joke to God.
That somehow we were His joke.
Scripture in the Old Testament says,
God desired to tabernacle with man.
What does that mean?
I don't know.
Because human language can't explain it.
But when we use human language to try to,
we have to use terms like this.
It seems God conditioned His happiness
on man's response to His love.
That is not true.
We cannot increase God's happiness one iota
by returning His love.
But yet, we have to use those words to describe it.
Because Scripture says,
He, God, desired to tabernacle.
Pitch His tent.
The pitching of that tent occurs in the context
as its basis, the sacrament of matrimony.
For those blasphemers
who say that Mary was the first unwed mother,
again, at least have the common decency
to understand history.
In the Jewish culture, marriage had two phases.
Marriage.
Therefore, the angel says in St. Matthew to St. Joseph,
Joseph, fear not to take Mary your wife.
Nothing is omitted there.
There is no as to take Mary as your wife.
Joseph, fear not to take Mary your wife.
Because the marriage in the Old Testament
had a two-fold process.
The husband and wife were married,
and there was a separation of about two weeks
before cohabitation took place.
The marriage had already occurred.
And so, on that faithful night for the human family,
Christ comes into the world in a marriage.
The marriage between Joseph and Mary.
And that is the basis of all true society.
The Holy Family.
And that must be in the hearts and minds of every Catholic
who go and cast their vote
because that vote is a defense of the family
and we should care less
about how much oil we get out of the deal.
If you don't protect family,
you cannot create jobs in the end.
You cannot.
Or anything else.
Without the defense of the family,
society can not hold.
And when you have to make more and more
laws to control a man,
that's a society collapsing.
Not a sophisticated cultured society,
but one on the very brink of collapse.
Study history.
The Romans tried it when they were collapsing.
More laws, more burdens.
And ultimately, it couldn't stop.
Its collapse.
But when it fell in a heap,
there was one alone there to pick it up.
And that was Christ.
Through his Vicar St. Peter,
the Apostles,
and the first members of the mystical body of Christ.
They loved that pagan world so much,
they didn't allow it to be destroyed.
They raised it up and Christianized it.
And that's when society began to realize
the great dignity that it had from the beginning.
I tell you, it was not so from the beginning.
What was not so?
This depravity.
And this destruction of the human family.
And so,
husband and wives must comfort each other
and support each other
in good times and in bad.
They must exercise fidelity towards one another.
Even going so far as
not to even give the impression
of infidelity to others.
Christian families must live a life in accord
with the divine and natural law.
And let us not be over-sophisticated
in this notion of the natural law.
It is very simple.
The natural law is the law of God
written on the hearts and minds
of every man, woman, and child
who comes into this world.
In other words,
we know
that we are to love God,
we are to keep His name holy,
to keep holy the Sabbath,
that we're to honor our mothers and fathers,
and so forth and so on.
It is merely the sense of the Ten Commandments
written in the heart.
And that isn't pre-programming by God.
That is what is necessary
in order to be a human,
and therefore a rational creature.
And so God does nothing
when we have that sense of the natural law
by which He is attired,
over us.
In order to be human,
you have to have a sense
of right and wrong.
Or otherwise,
we wouldn't be here
because the brutes
would have long overcome us.
Because they're stronger,
and in the savage world of the brute,
they are much more capable
of doing to us
what we would need to do to them
in order to survive.
The difference is,
we are rational.
And that's why
the human family continues to go on.
And so,
it must,
and finally,
it must take as its type,
the model,
it must take as its type and model
the mystical union
between Christ and His church.
The husband should love his wife
as Christ loved the church,
with a holy and supernatural love.
The wife should love and obey her husband
as the head of the family.
Head,
not tyrant.
Because a tyrant doesn't govern
by intellect.
A tyrant governs by depravity,
control.
I said it,
you'll do it.
Fear.
Fear is not the lot
of the human family.
And fear can be manifested
by anyone
who has authority.
God has given the father
authority over his family.
That authority must be exercised
in love.
And in order to do that,
there must be knowledge
and a good heart.
What knowledge?
Knowledge of truth.
That's why no society
or its leaders
have the right
to try to impose,
force,
cajole,
convince,
or anyone,
anyway,
they have no right
to try to do that
with an untruth.
They can be eloquent,
they can be uneloquent.
It doesn't matter
how they try to do it.
No one who seeks authority
over other human beings
has the right
to speak untruth
and to hide the truth.
In any way,
manner, shape, or form,
that is absolute
and definitive.
When we do it,
we sin.
Period.
And the natural law
tells us we sin.
And it is easy to discern.
You can take the most
hard and criminal
and in the silence
and quiet
of a conversation
between you and him,
you ask a simple question,
do you really believe
you have the right
to murder?
And his words may say yes,
but then there's always
that sinister smile
or some tip off
by which he indicates
he knows he has no right
to do it.
He has no right.
And it is the same
with anything
that militates
sound family life.
And so,
when we understand this,
then we must come
to understand
that after
the duties,
marriage has a purpose.
That primary purpose,
according to the
perennial teaching
of the Catholic Church,
is very clear,
very precise,
and undeniable
if one wants to remain
within the mystical body
of Christ.
For there are some
who think
that by connecting
one doctrine
with another,
we're going from
one subject to another
because they have
what's called
myopic theology.
They don't understand
the inter-connectedness,
the unity of faith.
Or as it is said
of St. Bonaventure,
if you were to take
a few words
from the Creed,
St. Bonaventure,
I believe,
from the Creed,
could you explain
that to me?
According to one theologian,
sit down,
pull up a chair
because you're going to be
in a two week conference.
And St. Bonaventure
is going to take you
through the whole
of the faith
and show you
how all doctrines
are connected
one to another.
That is what is meant
by the unity of faith.
And so,
we cannot deny one
without in some way
diminishing
or ultimately
denying another.
And that begins
to have
a snowball effect
until ultimately
we wind up
outside
the body
of Christ.
And there has
to be a principle
that holds
that together.
That principle
is Christ
Vicar on Earth.
Period.
He is
the principle
that holds
that together.
That principle
is the principle
that holds
the faith together.
He and he alone
has received
that divine promise
from God
to his family.
The gates of hell
shall not prevail
against you,
Peter.
Peter.
Period.
And from the first
Vicar of Christ
as we'll see
to the present
Vicar of Christ,
the primary purpose
of marriage
has been taught
over and over
again.
Indeed,
Pope John Paul II,
in speaking
to the pastors
of the church,
that is,
the bishops,
once said,
if Catholic bishops
aren't willing
to die
in the defense
of the indissolubility
of marriage,
whole Catholic diocese
will disappear
from the face
of this Earth.
Now try to teach,
tell Christ,
it's insignificant.
And so,
we must know
its primary purpose.
Now,
when we go
to the polls
and for the whole
of our lives,
and it is,
marriage is
the begetting
and the rearing
of children
in the fear
and the love
of God
in order that
they may join Him
some day
in heaven.
Procreation.
Primary purpose
that God calls
a man
and a woman
together
is to end
that bond
of love
propagate
the human family.
Without marriage,
there is no priesthood.
Without marriage,
there are no farmers,
there are no religious,
there are no nothings.
And you think
that isn't the case?
Try talking to men
who are getting on
in years
and have been
graced by God
to learn a trade
and ask them
about their attempt
to try to
hand that trade
on
to the children
of our modern world.
They have an
incapacity
for the most part
to understand
and grasp
the trades
that formerly
were passed on
from men,
from old men
to young men.
They simply
can't get it
because
they spend
most of their lives
with something
stuck in their ears
or some screen
flickering
in front of their eyes
and they have
no initiative.
No initiative
and no ability
to grasp concepts.
They live
by sound bites.
Sound bites.
And if they can't
get the sound bite
in 30 seconds,
they walk away.
One farmer told me
he kept giving them more
until the point
of he was paying
young boys
$15 an hour
to throw hay
in a wagon
during the haying season.
And when he got up
to that,
same thing,
two weeks,
they walked away.
And he finally
asked them,
boys,
I could pay you
$100 an hour
and you wouldn't
persevere in this,
right?
And then he got
his answer,
that's right,
sir,
this is too much work.
So without
a proper sense
of what it means
to raise children
in the fear
of the Lord,
society
cannot hold.
The farmers
necessary
to feed
won't be present.
The machine
is necessary
to produce
the necessary
goods for society
won't be about.
No priest,
no mothers,
no religious,
no nothing
without
the sacrament
of matrimony
and its primary
purpose.
And to this
we must
understand
also
the mother
is the primary
one
whom
the child
depends upon
for its
religious
education.
It is
the mother
who has
the right
to do
what she
wants to
do.
Hence the
answer to
those who
will say
the Catholic
Church wants
the mother
home barefoot
in the kitchen
and pregnant.
No.
The Catholic
Church wants
her there
to exercise
that great
dignity
which she
has the right
to do
in the
privacy
of herself
and useless
amusements
to the
neglect
of her
children.
Facebook,
Twitter,
Twitter,
Twitter,
whatever they
call those
things.
Okay.
Hours
and hours
and hours.
Mom,
I'm hungry.
Yeah,
just wait.
I got an email
to send.
Wait a minute.
I'm on a Walmart
website.
Can you just
give me a minute?
It may
to us
sound
amusing,
but as
the catechism
finishes,
she will
have much
to answer
before
God.
Because
she has
abandoned
the most
noble
vocation
in this
world
to raise
children
in the
religious
life.
Think of
the Blessed
Virgin Mary
and the Christ
Child.
He submitted
himself
to the religious
formation
of his mother.
And all
women are
called to
imitate Mary
in the Holy
Home at
Nazareth.
That is her
vocation,
to nurture
the children
physically
and
spiritually.
And it is
the man's
vocation
to protect,
to protect.
And so
every man
must look
himself in
the eye
of his
mother.
And so
he goes
to cast
his vote
because it
puts a few
more dollars
in his
wallet so
he can
have his
Maserati
toy or
some other
useless
toy.
Is he
protecting
the family?
Or has
he simply
carried
Adam's
lust for
Eve to
the extreme?
Because a
lot of
his
children
are being
perverted
within
it
and
without
it.
And finally,
what does
this perversion
and destruction
of the
human
family
according
to the
model and
example
at
Nazareth
in the Holy
Home lead
to?
Artificial
birth
control.
And when
that fails,
abortion.
And make
no mistake
about it.
The primary
reason we
have abortion
is the
failure of
artificial birth
control or
what we
commonly call
contraception,
which is
not an
oxymoron,
it's a
lie.
There is
no such
thing as
a pill
that prevents
the conception
of a
child.
And that's
not the
reason
we
have
abortion.
We
have
a
child
who
is
born
and
conceived
in
his
mother's
womb.
Much
like the
mustard
gas
burned
the lungs
of soldiers
in
World War
One.
Once
conceived,
certain
functions in
her body
change.
When that
estrogen is
no longer
helping in
the nourishment
and growth
of the
child,
it has
to take
residence
somewhere.
And then
it begins
to eat
that poor
woman.
Because
often
she has
fallen
for the
lie.
She's
not
a
child
anymore.
She's
a
child
born
and
conceived
in
her
mother's
womb.
And
she
has
to
eat
that
baby
and
take
that
to
her
womb.
She
has
to eat
that baby
and take
that baby
home.
And
then
it
goes
to
her
mother's
womb.
.
For
a
while
she
has
been
unable
to
they must bind us as the one body of Christ.
And let us learn from those holy mothers of old.
We don't propose to go back,
but we must understand or at least ask the question,
who had more wisdom?
The modern woman?
You know, what does Helen Reddy tell us?
I am woman, I am strong, I am invincible.
Hear me roar.
Well, with all due respect, leave the roaring to men.
God gave us the ability to roar.
It's not a woman's lot to roar.
She's not a lion.
She's a lioness.
She needs to be quiet in order to protect her children from the vultures.
Now, a man can roar like the sons of thunder or the sons of Satan.
And we must pray that when a man roars,
he roars according to the dictates of Holy Mother Church.
That is, he sets himself as a citadel, as our Lord did.
Cross the line, fellas.
Cross the line.
I'm telling you, I will defend this woman.
Any of you who want to step across the line, go ahead.
But if you do, do it in humility.
Don't take me on, the Lord says in that incident, face to face.
You won't win.
He confirms that today in the Gospel.
And when they sought to prevent him from bringing the children,
Jesus became indignant.
That's only the second time that word is used to describe our Lord's demeanor.
What does it mean?
Well, according to St. Irenaeus, it was the apostles themselves
who were preventing the children.
The apostles, Lord, we're important people.
Forget about these wrath.
And St. Irenaeus says the Lord picked that child up.
That child became St. Ignatius of Antioch,
who would succeed St. Peter in his sea at Antioch.
Walked in the midst of the apostles, and St. Irenaeus says,
laid his finger on Peter's chest and told him,
I'm paraphrasing what St. Irenaeus said,
Peter, I will forgive you many things.
Many things.
But if you do anything as Peter to lead these little ones astray,
I'll create a hell all for you.
Even Satan would shudder to dwell in it.
And one theologian cast the gauntlet down to the world,
find one vicar of Christ.
I don't want to know about his vices and his faults in his personal life.
I want to find one vicar of Christ who has the vicar of Christ
ever promulgated anything to the faithful
that can be remotely used to pervert the minds and hearts of children.
He cast the gauntlet down to every intellectual in this world,
and not one of them took him up.
That is Monsignor Eugene Caban of happy memory.
No professor of theology, no pagan professor,
no Protestant professor, no one, no politician would take him up
on the altar.
I offer to debate publicly where a pope has done anything as pope
to lead any member of the mystical body astray.
And we must keep that in our minds, in our hearts,
because the present pope has told us what we must do
in order to cast our votes with a sound conscience.
And that is we must uphold Catholic doctrine.
Very simply, if there is a politician who publicly says he is for contraception,
redefinition of marriage, abortion, and anything else of that nature,
he cannot have your vote, and there is no commensurate thing
he can do to counter that, because it has the very core and crux of life.
In principle, yes.
Is it possible to vote? Yes.
But then as St. Alphonsus D. Liguori says over and over,
you have to ask the question, yes, in theory, this is possible.
In theory, can a pope, he says, preach heresy?
Yes.
In theory, he can.
But practically, before those words came out of his mouth,
St. Alphonsus says the Lord would remove him from this earth
before he spoke those words.
So in theory, you can say it.
Now, in the practical order, is there anything a politician can do
to contravene, to counterbalance?
Well, he's got a health care program, just say, for instance, maybe.
He's got a health care program that's going to save as many lives,
as will be aborted.
Sorry, doesn't work, because in one case, life has been given,
in the other, life has been deprived.
It attacks life at its core.
And so there are really not many, if there are any, reasons
by which a Catholic can vote for such a man,
whoever he may be, on a national or on a local level.
And in all honesty, the only reason we try to find ways out
is because of...
Because of our wallets.
That's usually the bottom line.
So let us answer our politicians back.
Yeah, you're right, sir.
It is about the economy, stupid.
But you're the one who doesn't understand what the economy is.
It's about the family.
And so let us truly strive to take the family of Nazareth
as our model and example,
and those two men who came from it.
What is it?
What is it?
What is the characteristic note of St. Joseph?
The only thing you see him doing is defending and protecting.
And when the human family needed the most protection,
how does St. Joseph protect it?
By finally bowing out of the mystery,
dying in sacrificial love,
stepping out of the picture,
because if he were present in the crucifixion,
it was he who must have been crucified,
and not Christ.
And so St. Joseph has to sacrifice himself
before the mystery can transpire.
His characteristic note as a man is to protect, protect, protect.
Joseph, take the child and flee.
Joseph, it is safe.
Go back.
He is constantly and vigilantly protecting the Holy Family.
Will we do the same?
We will if we take them
as our model and example
and try to imitate the mutual love
of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph at Nazareth
and if Catholic families again take up the custom
of persevering in family prayer.
Children and parents gathered in the morning and the evening
giving homage to God and beseeching him.
And remember, especially Catholic parents,
you have an ace up your sleeve.
Your one vote, but your children through their prayers
can petition from God the changing of the hearts
of everyone who is going to go to vote.
And then let us ask the question,
was the mother, the Catholic mother,
when the suffrage movement was about,
when they knocked on her door and said,
come out and fight with us for the right to vote,
her response was, no.
I'll stay home and raise my sons.
And I will vote seven times every election.
And if they are faithful to God,
I will continue to vote through their sons
until the end of time.
If they raise their children in the fear of God
that I raise mine.
We must ask the question, was she so wrong
in refusing to be emancipated from the home?
We must ask the question.
We are not proposing to go back,
but we are proposing, let us take up those values
that guided that mother because she defended the family.
And so we must defend the family
because it is what Christ has done for us.
And so we must do it for him.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.