Pro-Life Sermon 7

 14th Sunday C 2022

Thanks to a good friend, we have a new angel statue in the back. It was made, like the large  crucifix we obtained during lent, by the Daprato company in Chicago, started by Italian  immigrants in 1860.  

When revolution exploded in the late 1960’s, statues like these were hauled out of many of our churches and replaced with cheap felt banners and similar items that failed to raise hearts and  minds to heaven. The Daprato company nearly went out of business at this time, and many if not  most of the molds for its statues were lost or destroyed. So, our new angel and new crucifix are  not replications, but rather old originals, having detail and craftsmanship not found in modern  pieces. 

It is essential for right worship to have crucifixes that reveal the sufferings of Christ. Gazing  upon them we tell ourselves, along with St Paul, “May I never boast except in the cross of our  Lord Jesus Christ.” 

St Paul preached about angels too. That is why it is important to have images of angels, pure  spiritual beings in our churches, to raise our hearts and minds to heaven. That is of course why  we are here; to leave the outside passing away world for a while, and focus on the one thing that  truly matters – our final end, which is union with God. 

In the vestibule I left up an image from Friday, July 1, which traditionally was the Feast of  Christ’s Precious Blood. (The feast was suppressed in revolutionary manner in 1970). In the  image, angels are hovering under the crucified Christ’s arms. They are holding chalices,  catching the Precious Blood that drips from Our Lord’s nailed hands.  

In the vestibule I also posted some other images. They show hateful acts of vandalism, graffiti  and destruction that has taken place at Catholic churches and pregnancy centers across the  United States. One photo is of a pregnancy center in Florida. It’s a simple ranch house. And the whole front of it is covered in threatening messages: “Your time is up,” “We’re coming for you,”  “Abortion 4 all.” The other photo is of the sign at All Saints Catholic Church and School in  Portland. It was spray painted “If abortion is not safe, then neither are you. XOXO, Jane.”  

There is some truth to what the mob calling itself “Jane’s Revenge” spraypainted. History  shows, and medical ethicists agree, that we are only as safe as the most vulnerable members of  our society. You see, if a baby is not safe then we aren’t either. At Mother Theresa put it: “If  abortion is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” No evil, no matter how twisted and depraved is off the  table in a world that systematically murders its defenseless young ones. 

Last night “Jane’s Revenge” firebombed the Hope Pregnancy Center in Nashville. Understand,  these pregnancy centers are staffed by volunteers. They have no money. They are run by  Christians out to save babies and help desperate women who are victims of the Marxist sexual  revolution that has wreaked havoc these past fifty years.

It’s interesting: The “Catholic” governor of New York just signed off on a plan where Planned  Parenthood, the premier abortion company in the world, will get $35 million New York tax  dollars to protect itself from terrorists. Of course, Planned Parenthood clinics are not being fire bombed, and they already have paid security. And they already receive half a billion dollars a  year in federal taxes which they use to further de-Christianize our society.  

With all that money Planned Parenthood gets from our confiscated wages, it makes the company  in effect an arm of the government, does it not? That makes a reasonable person ask: “Who is  funding and helping to organize Jane’s Revenge, the group terrorizing the mostly little old  Christian ladies who run pregnancy centers?” If our government funds the giant abortion  company Planned Parenthood, why wouldn’t it fund, or at least help organize and protect Jane’s  Revenge?  

Reasonable people can ask that, because Friday the leader of our government, President Biden, a  self-described “devout” Catholic, called the Supreme Court “extremist.” Now, why would he  say that? Why would he accuse the Court of extremism after a month of threats, an assassination  attempt on one justice, and the removal of three justices from their homes for their safety? Why  doesn’t he call the ones promoting violence and murder “extremists”? It might appear our  President, using that kind of language, is signaling the shock troops to continue the violence and  the threats.  

Now, if Catholics on the Supreme Court are extremists for rationally arguing that the tragedy of abortion should be voted on by the people in their own states, then what does that make us?  What does that make Catholics who obey the moral and natural law given to us by God? In a  world that has turned away from God, it makes us extremists. And so, my friends, no one is safe.  For we are only as safe as the most vulnerable members of society, those Christ called “the least  of our brethren.” 

The Department of Homeland Defense has warned US bishops to be on alert. And our bishops  have warned parishes to tighten up security. I have spoken to some of our Knights and ushers on  this. And I have been locking the church doors more often.  

Do you find it interesting that the shock troops aren’t targeting the mainline Protestant churches,  like say the Presbyterians or the Methodists? The Department of Homeland Defense felt no need  to send them any warnings. Last week I watched a clip of a Protestant Sunday service on my  computer. It looked like your typical Sunday Mass at most typical Catholic parishes. They were  singing a song that is found in our blue Gather book, and they were all marching up two by two  to receive communion in the hand from two male ministers wearing chasubles, the outer garment  Catholic priests wear. Female ministers stood close by holding cups of wine. And another  female minister was up front leading the singing with her right arm in the air.  

So, it looked like a typical modern day Sunday Mass, but it wasn’t. Those weren’t real priests,  and the bread they were distributing was just bread. It was all fake. Unfortunately, most  Catholics today believe they are just receiving bread at Mass. For they have been taught to  worship like Protestants these past fifty years. And so, most Catholics no longer believe in the  Holy Eucharist. And most Catholics today think abortion is no longer a grave sin, but a healthcare choice. The Pew Research company recently found over 50 percent of the people  who attend weekly Sunday Mass believe this way.  

Do you see the problem? Do you see how our disbelief in the Eucharist, our disbelieve in Christ  when He says, “This is my Body, given for you,” has led us to surrender the culture to our anti Christ enemies? 

Last month the self-described devout Catholic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was  excommunicated by her San Francisco bishop. He forbade her to present herself for Holy  Communion due to the persistent scandal she has caused, and out of love for her eternal soul.  So, she hopped a plane to Rome, for yet another photo op with a smiling Pope Francis, and later  received Holy Communion at Mass. The poor woman ate her own condemnation in St Peter’s  Basilica.  

Last week a sexually confused man who is pro-abortion and has not been to Mass in twenty-four  years, bragged that after his recent meeting with Pope Francis, the pope told him to “take  communion.” The Vatican has yet to deny his comments. So, what do we have here? We have  signaling from the leaders of our Church government that anyone and everyone, despite their  sinful state, should “take” communion.  

What is the problem with this? The problem, a priest wrote, is that if everyone receives,  regardless of his choices of good and evil, then what’s the use of the Sacrament? If receiving our  Lord in the Eucharist does not have any relevance to one’s choices of good or evil because sin  no longer exists, then why receive the Eucharist at all? Religious indifferentism is the result.  And the irrelevance of the Church grows. 

My friends, I don’t want an irrelevant Church. Did Christ hang on the cross to become  irrelevant? No. So look what I did today: I called out the President of the United States, and the  Speaker of the House. And I called out the Pope. Will I get in trouble for that? Probably. But I  will be in good company. John the Baptist called out his secular government leaders, Herod and  Herodias for their public scandal. And Christ called out the high priests and Pharisees. 

The Baptist then lost his head, and Christ hung on a cross, guilty of extremism. But that hanging on Calvary is what saves us. That hanging is what gives us the Man’s glorified Body and  Precious Blood. That death is what gives us life, and union with God. That is why we fear no  man, and boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.