Dear Friends,

Dear Friends, This Sunday’s Gospel introduces us to the second part of the prelude to Jesus’ public ministry. As Tradition teaches, Jesus lived a rather ordinary life as a carpenter in Nazareth for thirty years. Last week, we heard Part One of this prelude when at the appointed time, He is moved by the Holy Spirit to make His way down to the shore of the River Jordan and submit to the Baptism of water by John the Baptist. Jesus emerges from the watery grave and receives from heaven the anointing of the Holy Spirit and testimony of the Father. We pick up the story after his extended retreat in the desert and upon hearing the news of John’s arrest by Herod begins to choose His companions for the public ministry. The torch had been passed and it was the fullness of time when the Truth needed to be proclaimed, “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” His Good News empowers us to see and live by His Light and to avoid the dark void of chaos. This grace opens us up to God’s perspective on life, death and the hereafter; beckoning us to our original holiness and innocence, not in seeking to “know” good and evil, but in “being” holy in communion with God.

The prophecy from the eighth chapter of the Book of Isaiah brilliantly is addressed to Isaiah’s listeners, and to every subsequent generation of goodwill seeking the truth of the Creator’s loving design. To us, in our time, He says: Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. Just as Christian Germany, after the Second World War, had to come to terms with what the national conscience permitted in the Holocaust, so too, will the United States have to deal with the scandal of abortion. This past Thursday, the Catholic Church in the United States observed the “Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children” on the anniversary of the “Roe v. Wade” ruling of the Supreme Court in 1973. Despite this ruling being overturned in 2022, millions of children continue to be aborted every year, and so many politicians and people continue to support it. The smug mantra of the world: “It’s my body and I will do with it whatever I wish,” has seduced our culture into the ancient Lie, that the loving design of the Creator has no bearing on our lives. But, have we—Christians in general and Catholics specifically: politicians, party followers, and everyone else—ever stopped to look at the great merit of the body in light of the Incarnation of Jesus? Scripture tells us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be. And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us …” (John 1: 1-3, 14) and “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6) “You are not your own:” isn’t it interesting how Scripture tells us something completely different and controversial to what the world is saying. I strongly agree with Dr. Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy at Boston College, who unapologetically states: “Abortion is the Antichrist’s demonic parody of the Eucharist. That is why it uses the same holy words, ‘This is My body,’ with the blasphemously opposite meaning.”

We have been lulled into not being scandalized by rationalizing that a mother can decide if her child lives or dies without any recourse to God, or even the father of the child. Seth Gruber, a Christian pro-life advocate, says: “Abortion is demonic … Satan would kill God if he could, but he can’t. So, he kills babies because he knows that it wounds the Heart of the Father and causes chaos on the earth. You see, abortion is the sacrament of Satan, because abortion says: ‘You must die, so that I can live.’” Echoing Kreeft’s sentiment, he continues: “But, Christ says, ‘No, I must die so that you can live,’ and chooses to enter human history in a uterus, of all locations, to redeem mankind from their sins. … Do you think it’s a coincidence that the central phrase of the entire abortion industrial complex and the culture of death are the same words of our Savior at the first Communion, ‘This is My Body?’” In His mission on this earth, Jesus had to decide whether we lived or died. In opposition to every selfish impulse and worldly rationalization, He chose life … the Father’s Will … the loving design of the Creator through His own death. The emptying of Himself through the Incarnation elevated our human nature and in His selfless act of His Passion, Death and Resurrection for our sake, He gave us access to be seated at the right hand of the Father through His flesh and blood. He offers us this opportunity for the fullness of life when we participate in His Body and Blood, through the worthy reception of most Holy Eucharist. The great Apostles and saints exhort us that we are not our own; but we were ransomed at an inestimable cost, “the precious blood of Christ, as of a spotless unblemished lamb;” (1 Peter 1: 19) therefore, we must glorify God in our bodies.

Be of good cheer and have a blessed week!

Msgr. Grous