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.
The Readings for this Sunday provide the homilist with an ideal opportunity to teach Christian doctrine concerning marriage and children. The opportunity is timely, too, as one of our political parties has taken an official stand supporting "same-sex marriage," an arrangement that is not intrinsically related to the birth and rearing of children, does not provide the same benefit to society as true marriage, and can never be as optimal for the well-being of children as to be raised by their own biological father and mother. In the midst of the confusion about the very nature of marriage and its purpose, these Readings shed the light of God's revelation on how we should live this most intimate aspect of our lives.
As the human body needs to replace its aging cells for the physical health of the body the human soul needs to replenish its pro-creative male or female powers for the spiritual growth and health of the whole person. These powers continuously enhance and renew themselves in a variety of pro-creative activities not only as fathers and mothers but as teachers and students, doctors and patients, priests and laity - as benefactors and beneficiaries bound together. In the mercy and Spirit of Christ it may be the recovery of God in man and man in God.
Jesus welcomes children: both literal children and the inner child in all of us.
Perhaps no words by Jesus have been interpreted so literally and so misinterpreted so painfully than those from this passage. There's no question Jesus said what he did about divorce and remarriage - but who was he speaking to, what was he telling them and what does it mean for us today?