Do not be afraid, only have faith!

Last week, after the Supreme Court by the narrowest of margins voted to redefine marriage, the faithful went to Church and heard these words from the Gospel of Mark: do not be afraid, only have faith!.  What a great message for faithful Catholics, and other brother & sister Christians who stand for Biblical principles and morality over legality, in the wake of this affront to natural law.

In the days since the decision, I am both buoyed by the great faith response from so many and disappointed by self proclaiming Christians who, by personal choice, political influence or cultural loyalty, are celebrating the court's warm embrace of sin.  Now I realize an institution like the Court may not give a rat's behind about sin, but self-professing Christians, and for me, more specifically Catholics, damn well better.

Sin is real.  No one addressed sin more intently, more eloquently in all of Sacred Scriptures than Jesus Christ.  And no one addressed love more intently, more eloquently in all of Sacred Scriptures than Jesus Christ.  And no one addressed truth more intently, more eloquently in all of Sacred Scriptures than Jesus Christ.  And why not, Jesus Christ is truth, Jesus Christ is love and Jesus Christ, while he is not sin, became sin for us, nailed it to the cross, so all of us may have eternal life in Heaven.

Jesus Christ, after coming to us as fully human and fully divine, walked, talked, taught, healed, cured, prayed and perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father.  He went to those that no one else would go to, the sinners, including tax collectors and prostitutes.  He went to those who did not all agree or belong only to this club or that clique.  And when the time was so appointed, he was punished, condemned , crucified, died and was buried.  We know that he also rose from the dead, resurrected, encouraged the apostles and disciples, ascended to Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us.  And we now know, that when Jesus ascended, he had left us not a book but a Church.  He established a Church, not bunches of little churches here and there, a church, founded on the confession of Peter, Rock, presenting him the keys to the kingdom.  He declared what is bound on earth is bound in heaven, loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.  Of his church, Jesus boldly declared he who hears you hears me.

The Church, while the Bible was still being written and long before it was developed into a canon, a table of contents, was called "catholic" by implication from right after the ascension and by documented word in Antioch, as early as 107 AD by Ignatius of Antioch.

For 2,000 years now, in every decade since the death and resurrection of Christ, and over time in every nation and across every time zone of the globe, the Church is!  And the Church, the one established by Jesus Christ is bound to bind and loose.

The Catholic Church has been attacked, beleaguered, put upon, ridiculed and worse throughout her history.  Now, in a once great nation, as the Church stands as one of the real heroes against a culture of death and sin, she is again attacked.  You and I, if we be faithful Catholics and believe all that she teaches, will be attacked too in these days of same-sex so called marriage, abortion on demand, no fault divorce, artificial birth control, wholesale use of the death penalty, oppressive wages for the worker and scarce help and hope for the marginalized .  Yet the most vitriolic venom seems to be reserved these days for all of us who still stand foursquare against this redefinition of marriage, family and love.

You know a friend of mine, who disagrees with me and is a Christian of another denomination, a break-off of a break-off, says do not throw rocks at my church, and by implication, my beliefs with same sex so called marriage and sin.  Fair enough, although from the Bible and Tradition I still need to share the truth with you in love, but does your instruction stand for those who not only disagree with you but from 2,000 years of Christian teaching know that all of this is wrong.  Not wrong because I say it is wrong but because the Church that Christ founded says it's wrong. Again, he who hears you, hears me??

Catholics, and Christians of good faith everywhere, who know the truth as spoken by the Truth ( the Way and the Life too) must not be afraid and only have faith!!  And part of that indeed does include loving those who disagree, loving those who persist in sin (since we do the same too) and never down play anyone's human dignity.

Love does not always I mean that because I love you, I get to endorse your sin, or go along with you to get along with you.  No, I love you so much that I want to help love you all the way to enjoy the incredible, incomprehensible love that awaits us in Heaven.

To my Catholic brothers & sisters specifically, love one another with the love Christ command us to love.  Be salt & light to every one we meet.  And stay strong and faithful in all that His Church teaches us.  Do not be afraid to go against the popular, the cultural, the political, the left or the right.  Quit looking from side to side, rather, look up, look up in faith!

And always, because he said this to his followers and meant it for us, do not be afraid, only have faith!