Is marriage a human right, which ought not to be denied to any two people? The question is raised with great passion and zeal these days by homosexuals, who claim that this right of theirs is being denied for no reason beyond mere prejudice. As full human rights were once denied to slaves and then to descendants of slaves, as rights were once denied to women, now homosexuals are the targets of this injustice.
What a difference faith makes, in the laws of a nation! And how far has America fallen into moral confusion! Popular acceptance of individual subjective moral standards in place of a universal and objective and binding moral law are breaking apart the moral compass of our country. Many people can no longer see any reason why marriage ought to be between one man and one woman – so why not move the line a bit to allow homosexuals to marry?
Marriage has a meaning. Marriage is not merely a civil arrangement, or a legal agreement. Marriage is certainly not an accidental or arbitrary social construct that can be freely redefined at will. Marriage is already defined, and it is not subject to reinterpretation. Marriage is a covenant created by God having a meaning and a message for all of humanity from its origin in the Garden until the Last Day when the Lord comes. In marriage, a man and a woman enter a unique human expression of the Triune God in whose image they were created. In marriage, the divine image is proclaimed to all the world, beginning with the children normatively intended in their marriage but extending out to all of society, to all the world. God is love, and love is intrinsically fruitful. The truth of marriage is discovered in the truth of being human – and this is revealed finally in God.
No wonder then that as America drifts further and further from God, she becomes more and more dehumanized, barbaric, crude, insensitive, brutal, loud, superficial, and lost. Man foolishly tries to believe that he can make something right because he wants it to be right, that he can make something true because he wants it to be true. This is only idolatry, after all. For all his supposed sophistication, man is merely repeating the foolishness of past millennia: he creates a god to suit himself, and thus destroys his own soul. Truth is truth, like it or not. Truth remains, though every man deny it.
God the Holy Trinity revealed love to man on the Cross. Love gives all for the beloved. Love empties himself, he gives without limit, he gives to the death – and in this fullness of self-donation, the result is life. Love is fruitful; love is the bush that burns but is not consumed; love is undying by its nature. Love, the fullness of self-gift, ends not in death but life – this is the testimony of marriage, and sacred conjugal love: it is not, by its very nature, sterile. No, just the opposite. Love is fruitful, a conjugal communion that is not consumed but is fruitful. In this testimony, the innate sterility of homosexual union is unmasked as the fraud that it is. Such a counterfeit cannot be rightly called by the same name as that which God gave to us, the prophetic sacrament bearing witness to the inner life of God. God set His signature on marriage: the word of life. It is not for man to make it other.
Thomas
Dear Thomas,
How true your words ring! Thank you for articulating so well the subtle deceit of the evil one, who constantly seeks to counterfeit what is true. Listening to the “father of lies”, our nation drifts further from God and His Absolute Truth, and falls into increasing darkness.
As you point out so well, God has already defined fruitful marriage, and it needs no re-defining! Men and women, need to learn the fullness of His revelation in Jesus, rather than seeking their own sterile interpretation. Marriage between one man and one woman, as God intended from the beginning, is a beautiful and sacred symbol of the Trinity: Love eternally given, received and fruitful.
As you also pointed out, what a difference faith makes! I could not help but remember the Lord’s words in the Gospel: “When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). May we press on, by God’s Grace, to know and do His Truth, in love. May we continually invoke His Mercy on our country and the world Jesus came to save.
By: Deborah on August 10, 2010
at 10:48 am
Dear Thomas and Deborah,
It is so difficult to stay focused when it seems that so many of today’s mortal sins have become “social norms”. Like Deborah said in her email, it requires each of us to be proactive in guarding ourselves with God’s Word, Tradition and Magisterium of the Church. Being ignorant of what God’s Revelation, and the Catechism teach makes it so easy for us to be mislead by Satan-even for myself. Even in those moments, God has given me a compass-somewhere deep in my heart- “a little voice” which tells me to go back to the Lord. Perhaps, this is a gift of my Baptism and Confirmation? What I do know is, that avoiding the confusion is possible, and is another reason why continued Adult Formation in the Church is SO IMPORTANT. During last Sunday’s Homily, the priest made a very strong point,”Each of you present today, has been given the gift of faith; pray for those who do not know what this celebration means” At that moment, I realized the greatness of this gift that the Lord has Blessed me with! I realized that I have a job to do, and for the first time I realized that what Jesus says in the Gospel of St. Luke, “To Whom Much is Given, Much will be Expected…”, includes me. Thank you for sharing Deborah and Thomas. May we all put in the time, effort and work that is required to know God’s Truth-and may the Lord Bless our efforts. May He continue to Bless those who share the fruits of their gifts!
“All That is Not Given, is Lost” -The City of Joy.
By: Vickie on August 11, 2010
at 11:17 am
Thomas and Deborah,
The Republic is in a sad state indeed. When people are against something and stand up for their rights to vote: then to have that vote over turned by a judge with an agenda. It seeps into our televisions, books, and songs. Has to be taught as a norm in our schools so as not to offend. When 20 or 30 ears ago was looked upon as a serious and curable psychological problem linked with sex addiction. Very few are monogamous and go from partner to partner; even though, this can be said about heterosexuals as well in our culture today.
Yet If you talk to most you will get a similar story. Either no mother or (more commonly) no father figure. The other end is that they had both parents but they where abusive or absent. Drank too much. So they were left to fend for themselves and to never see what a real family should be. This leads to even more belief in a mental confusion rather then a genetic predisposition. I have only spoken to one homosexual who has said that she has never been attracted to boys. So it boils down to the breakdown of the family unit in the western world. The more we pollute our morals with pornography, the more we get comfortable with idle chatter, and the more we allow our minds to be dulled the stronger the hold the fallen one will have.
“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.” First Corinthians Chp. 11:27-30
By: Timothy on August 14, 2010
at 9:23 pm
Soon we will be reciting, with reasons, Psalm 79 which begins this way:
God, the pagans have invaded your heritage, they have desecrated your holy Temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to a pile of ruins, etc.
God will not be mocked with immoral laws forever.
Regards,
Gene
By: Gene on September 16, 2010
at 9:16 am