Lifeissues is mainly concerned with publishing thoughtful articles directly related to issues raised in Evangelium Vitae. However, from the very beginning, we have also published a few related homilies, notably by Fr. Al Cariño, O.M.I., Fr. Tony Pueyo, and others.
Please use the pulldowns below to select a homily by Liturgical Calendar date.
One of our deeper human needs is to belong. We want to feel accepted and welcomed by a close-knit group. In rural societies this need is filled in naturally by family, relatives, and neighbors. Relationships are defined by blood affiliations and extended by various forms of affinities. In rural communities people know most everybody in the village. In the village where I grew up people would know one another by their nicknames or by a particular trait (Pedro who owns the white buffalo). In this kind of setting, gathering people into praying communities is not so difficult. One can at least start with the natural closeness of people who usually are already members of a chapel group.
If a person doesn't care for the welfare of the community, his attitude will be expressed by, 'Never mind' or 'Forget it'. Not caring is a form of forgetfulness. To care for somebody is to put him or her in your mind. It is to mind others.
Christ desires to unite himself to you, to give you himself completely and totally. But he wants you to give yourself completely and entirely to him, because he loves you like a bridegroom loves his bride.
Without even realizing it, we often love others for what they do for us. But the commandments are really the boundaries that clearly outline the basic figure of love of others. Without that outline, love will mean whatever we want it to mean, and it will no longer be possible to distinguish love from selfishness, which is the situation we find ourselves in today with respect to popular culture.
The task is especially urgent when we are speaking up for defenseless human beings who cannot speak for themselves.
The pressure we feel today is not to teach these commandments. But we have to decide on our own who we are going to follow: the world that pressures us to shut up and will actually reward us for our silence, or Christ, who will hold us responsible for our silence, but reward us eternally for choosing to exercise our prophetic office.
We cannot avoid conflict in the church. In our conflicts we allow our egos to do damage to the church and its witness. If we imagine the risen Christ with us in our disputes, would we treat each other in better ways?