In the opening prayer of today's Mass, we prayed,
Almighty and merciful God,
graciously keep from us all adversity,
so that unhindered in mind and body alike,
we may pursue in freedom of heart the things that are yours.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
So, the liturgy has us praying for our own liberty,
for our freedom to serve God.
We want to be free from all adversity,
so that unhindered in our mind and our body,
we may pursue in freedom the things that belong to God.
What is it that belongs to God that we are to pursue in freedom?
Well, of course, everything belongs to God.
There's nothing that exists that doesn't belong to Him.
If it weren't for God, there wouldn't be anything at all.
You know, the Catholic doctrine on creation
is that not only does God draw things out of nothingness
by His own will and omnipotent power,
but He also conserves them in existence,
so that if God ceased to think,
about what He had created for even a moment,
it would cease to exist.
So, creation isn't something that just happened at the very beginning.
Creation is something that is conserved by God,
His presence in the world.
Of course, God is transcendent.
He's not part of the world.
And yet, He is present to the world always,
because things continue to exist.
So, everything belongs to Him.
No matter what we've created,
it belongs to Him as well.
But, today's prayer, in a particular way,
is pointing to something specific,
because we already assume that everything belongs to God,
but why does the prayer say
that we should pursue the things that are His?
The things that belong to Him?
Because there's certain things that belong to Him more,
you might say,
more perfectly,
or more explicitly than other things.
And,
that is,
more than anything,
that would be the human heart,
the human soul.
Because we have been created
in the image and likeness of God.
And, the image that's given to us in sacred scripture,
in the book of Genesis,
is that God takes the clay of the earth,
the slime of the earth,
and He breathes life into it.
Adam receives his life directly from the breath of God.
And so, the Catholic doctrine on the creation of God,
and so, the Catholic doctrine on the creation of God,
and so, the Catholic doctrine on the creation of God,
The topic of the human soul,
is,
yes, it is the fruit of procreation,
The Fr.
The cooperation of the mother and father,
but, the soul is created directly by God,
at the moment of conception.
And, so, life,
we talk about the gift of life,
it is a gift from God.
And, this is why
there are rules governing
there are rules governing
both,
the use of marriage,
the marriage of life as one of God,
the marital act, and the bringing forth of new life into the world.
It's not only sinful to artificially prevent conception,
to interrupt, to restrict God's power to create life,
to refuse God the right, his right, absolute right,
to create life according to his own rules,
but it's also sinful to conceive life outside of the marital act
because this is something that's sacred to God.
It's one of the most, human life and its origin is sacred to God.
It's holy. Marriage is holy. The marital act is holy.
Conception is holy because God brings into existence
not just something but someone
who is capable of knowing God.
Someone who is knowing and loving God
and whose soul is, we would say, ab-eternal.
Eternal means no beginning and no end.
We have a beginning, but we have no end.
Once the soul is created, it exists forever.
Inside the body and even beyond the body after death.
And, of course, we believe, as we'll see in the readings today,
in the resurrection of the dead,
that our bodies will be restored to us at the last judgment.
And so, in a particular way, then,
the prayer today is talking about
pursuing the life that God has given us,
which is not just human life,
but all of us who are born of women,
who are given the gift of life through our parents,
but also through the power of God
without which there is no human life,
we are also given the gift of supernatural life
at our birthplace.
At baptism.
And the vocation that we receive at baptism,
the destiny that we receive,
is eternal life.
The soul will exist forever,
regardless of what happens after our death.
But our call is to heaven.
And that is the reason why we are here.
This is why we learn in the catechism,
or we should have learned in the catechism,
that we are here to love, serve,
and serve God in this life,
and to be happy with him forever in the next.
That is our destiny.
That's the reason why we are here.
We ultimately have a purpose.
And so the church, for example,
will never compromise on the fact
that human life belongs to God.
Ultimately.
It doesn't belong to us.
We can't create it arbitrarily.
We don't have an absolute right to manipulate it.
We can't end it.
We can't end innocent life.
It belongs to God.
It is his to give and his to take.
This is why the catechism talks about,
for example, in reference to the cross
that infertile couples carry,
recognizes this cross,
and that there are legitimate means
to overcome the cross of infertility.
There are ways to help couples be fertile.
However,
human life is a gift.
It is no one's right to have a child
in an absolute way.
Everyone has a right to marry
and to have children
if the laws of God are respected
and marriage leads to that kind of fruitfulness.
But it's not an absolute right.
We don't have a right
to step outside the boundaries of God
and create life in virtue of fertilization
or surrogate motherhood.
These types of things,
they are condemned by the church
and they will remain always so.
They will never change
because life does not belong to us.
It is God's.
And this is why we can think about
in the holy sacrifice of the mass
how our Lord says,
this is my body,
which is given up for you.
Our Lord's body,
because he is God,
does belong,
does not belong to him.
His life belongs to him.
Absolutely.
Only Jesus can say,
my body belongs to me.
Absolutely.
Only our Lord can say,
my life belongs to me.
Absolutely.
No one takes my life from me.
I lay it down freely.
And by his own authority,
he says,
this is my body,
which is given up for you.
So,
he doesn't assert his right
to possess his body
and do absolutely
what he wants to do with it,
even though he has the right to do so
because he's God.
By virtue of his authority,
he lays down his life
in order to secure for us our life.
He dies to give us life.
And so,
you know,
in the face of this great,
great mystery,
which we celebrate
in the holy sacrifice of the mass,
the Eucharist,
in which Jesus becomes really present
on our altars,
in which he offers himself
in sacrifice for our sins
and comes to us in holy communion,
we should shudder
at the words,
if we ever say that,
this is my body.
It's my body.
I will do with it
whatever I want.
We should fall silent
in the face of our Lord's words
of sacrifice
and offering.
And so in the end,
you know,
as followers of Jesus,
as we pursue in freedom of heart
the things that belong to God,
we are called to recognize
his sovereign rights
and his goodness
by which we have received
the gift of life
and by which we have received
the gift of life.
And by which we have received
the gift of life.
And by which we have received
the gift of life.
And by which we return it back to him.
God created us out of nothing.
He's brought us into existence.
He's given us an eternal destiny.
And our response must be
to give back to him
what already belongs to him.
We belong to him no matter what.
In the end,
we will go back to him.
We came into this world naked.
We will return naked
with nothing.
And ultimately,
you know,
there will be accountability.
But what he wants from us
is for us to freely give back to him
what already belongs to him.
St. John of the Cross
and following him,
St. Teresa of the Child Jesus say,
love is returned by love alone.
The only response to love
is to love in return.
And our Lord has loved us so much
as to draw us out of nothingness
and to give us an eternal destiny.
And then because our eternal destiny
was lost through sin,
he chose to take upon himself
our life,
our wounded and broken life,
in order to offer it
as a sacrifice to God
and to win back for us
the life that we had lost.
And so,
our response must be
to follow that pattern.
The pattern that we see,
in the Eucharist,
Jesus becomes our bread.
You know,
the Bethlehem where Jesus was born
means house of bread.
Like at Bethlehem,
Jesus comes down on our altars
and becomes our food.
He humbles himself.
He remains present
in this humble form.
Becoming a baby
wasn't humble enough.
Now he hides,
his sacred humanity,
under the form of bread and wine.
He humbles himself
even further
to become our food.
And he does this
in sacrifice for our sins.
Our response must be
to follow that pattern.
Jesus says,
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life.
He is the way,
the truth,
and the life.
We follow his pattern.
And the pattern,
especially,
his life,
is present for us
in the most stupendous way
in the mystery of the Eucharist.
And so,
in today's readings,
we read about,
even in the Old Testament,
the book of Maccabees,
how the seven Maccabean brothers
returned to God
in a radical,
heroic way
what God had given to them.
You know,
the thing that's left out
in this particular,
in this particular
selection
from the second book
of Maccabees
is the exhortation
that the seven Maccabean brothers
received from their mother
before they were martyred.
Because all the brothers
were dragged before
their persecutors
with their mother.
And they martyred
the seven brothers
in front of their mother.
And she exhorted them
to be faithful to God.
They were being forced
to eat pork
in disobedience
to the law of God
so that they would conform
to the religious laws
of the pagans
who were persecuting them.
And the mother said,
you don't belong to me,
you belong to God.
And I would rather
be separated from you now
for a short time
than to be separated from you
from all of you.
For all eternity
because of your lack
of fidelity to God.
And so she exhorted them
to persevere
in their suffering.
You know,
we all know
that a mother's love
in human terms
is stronger
than anything else
in this world.
There's nothing,
you know,
when a mother loves
as a mother should love,
there's nothing
more iconic
of true love
than that.
And yet
her love
was true love
for her sons
and yet it went beyond
the natural boundaries
of motherly love
because
life belongs to God.
All of our lives
belong to Him.
And so the third brother,
you know,
he talks about
how his hands
were given to him by God
and
you know,
and
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
you know,
and that if,
you know,
he wouldn't use his hands
to eat the pork.
So he said,
take my hands from me.
They belong to God
and he'll give them back
in the end
because they're his anyway.
So I'm not worried
about what you take from me.
I will receive them back
from the Lord.
You know,
and our Lord uses
that hyperbole
in the gospel
about,
you know,
if your eye
or your arm
is the cause
of your sin,
cut it off,
tear it out.
You know,
because it's better
to enter heaven
blind or lame
than to go to hell
with all your members
because whatever happens
in this life,
God will give us
a complete restoration
in the next
if we are faithful
to him.
He gives us
the grace
to do this
because Jesus
is the one
that has done this.
And St. Paul says
in the second reading
from today,
may our Lord Jesus Christ
himself
be with us
and may our Lord
and God our Father
who has loved us
and given us
everlasting encouragement
and good hope
through his grace
encourage your hearts
and strengthen them
in every good deed
and word.
Because our life
comes from God
and because we have received
a new life in grace
through the life
of Jesus Christ
that he has offered for us
by our baptism
and especially
by the Eucharist,
we participate
in Jesus' own life.
And so,
whatever is the grace
that is difficult,
whatever is a source
of temptation
or sadness
or anxiety
or anger
in our life
can be
placed in the heart
of Jesus
especially through
the sacraments,
the sacrament of penance
and the Eucharist
so that Christ himself
becomes our encouragement.
Our relationship
with our Lord
and Savior,
Jesus Christ
through a life of prayer
and the sacraments.
Jesus is present
in our life.
He is present
particularly
in the crosses.
This is why it was possible
for the Maccabean brothers
because they had faith
in the coming
of the Redeemer.
They didn't have
the same grace
that we do
but they did have grace.
They were able to do
what we hardly can imagine.
And throughout the centuries
we've had martyrs
and continue to have martyrs
in places like
the Middle East
and Syria
and in the Middle East.
Iraq and other places
continue to have
they're able to persevere
in their faith
even under great trial
and distress
and persecution
and suffering
because of the presence
of Jesus Christ.
It's not a natural power.
It's a supernatural power
that we can count on
if we're doing everything
that we can
to give our lives
back to God.
Ultimately,
our Lord
in today's world
in today's gospel
he corrects the Sadducees
who are the
particular party
among the teaching class
of the Jews
who denied the resurrection
of the dead.
Our Lord firmly corrected them
that God is not
the God
of the dead
but of the living.
All of us belong to God.
All of us have
an eternal destiny.
All of us are called
out of nothingness
into life
and our souls
will exist forever.
Our time in this life
is an opportunity for us
to pursue the things
that belong to God.
So let us pray
in a particular way.
There will always be persecution.
Being a Christian,
being a true follower of Christ
will never be a way
of winning friends
and influence.
It never has been.
It never will be.
Our Lord told his disciples
on the road to Calvary,
if they do this to the wood
while it is green,
what will they do to it
when it is dry?
You can expect to be treated
the way I was treated.
While that's true,
nevertheless we pray
for our liberty
to be free from adversity
so that we can practice
our holy religion
according to God.
To the law of God.
And we should expect
the providence of God
even in the midst of trial,
even in the midst of difficulty,
even when,
you know,
the monster
of the secular state
wants to put limits
on our ability to do that,
to worship God freely.
And of course,
this is a very real danger.
It's one that we experience,
already.
People's rights
to educate their children,
to keep their children
free from scandal,
to Catholic hospitals,
to obey the law of God,
all these things
are in play
and are at risk.
And it will continue
to become more difficult
to live in freedom
in this country
and elsewhere.
But we need
to be heroic.
We need to follow
God's law
without compromise
because it is
the conviction
of those who
are faithful followers
of Jesus
as it always has been.
It was the conviction
of the martyrs
that proclaimed
Jesus Christ
during times
of persecution.
You know,
people had hope.
St. John's Apocalypse
is all about
the hope
that the followers
of Jesus
ought to have
in the midst
of persecution.
It is the conviction
of those who believe
in Jesus Christ
that proclaims
to the world
that God has
the last word,
that Jesus Christ
is the only answer
and that the church
is the future.
So we pray then
that we
will have
the freedom
and the freedom
from adversity
to pursue the things
that belong to God
so that we might
give back to him
what already belongs
to him,
what he has given to us,
the gift of life.