A requested post by my wife, Pat:
Looking for a pro-life music CD? Here's a great Catholic performer,
David MacDonald (http://www.prolifemusic.com/)
CD available on his website, as well as lyrics and more samples. There, you can also read his personal testimony about abortion.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The Intention of Marriage
Deacon Bruce Maltzen's
Homily for December 28, 2008
Holy Family Sunday
(readings found here)
It’s Holy Family Sunday and Archbishop Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked all of us to preach on the sacredness and purpose of marriage. Actually, what he said was:
“I am grateful to our priests and deacons for their willingness to preach about the sacred purpose of marriage and family life on Sunday, Dec. 28. This law “written in our hearts” is what we refer to as the natural law. It is “natural” because, being perceived by human reason, it is our participation in the eternal law of God. While independent of revelation, it can be further illuminated by it.
There are different expressions of the moral law: eternal law, natural law, revealed law, ecclesiastical law and civil law. These last two, ecclesiastical and civil laws, are established by human reason and participate, to one extent or another, in the will of God for human happiness and fulfillment.
When addressing his epistle to the Romans, St. Paul acknowledged that while non-Jews do not have the benefit of the Mosaic (revealed) law, nevertheless, they do have a law “written in their hearts” (Romans 2:15). This law of our hearts guides the consciences of men and women in knowing right from wrong so that their actions, too, can be judged by God at the end of time.
Our understanding of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, ordered to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children, is known to us by the natural law. The complementarity of the sexes was determined by God in the beginning as an essential element of his wise, creative order. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, “The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by Him with its own proper laws . . . . God himself is the author of marriage” (“Gaudium et Spes,” 48.1).Thus, marriage is not merely a human institution, subject to changing mores. The civil laws that society in its collective wisdom has established regarding marriage between one man and one woman are intended to protect and safeguard the cultural context for the growth, education and well-being of the children who are born from the marital union. Governments, in their duty to ensure the common good, ought to know that society has much at stake in fostering family life according to the natural order. Any government should be leery of altering such civil laws, especially on the basis of a misguided notion of inclusiveness. Marriage, as intended by God from the beginning, is the proven way of establishing society’s welfare. “
We in the Catholic Church understand that Marriage is a Sacrament. To understand that, we must first understand what is meant by "Sacrament". The Catechism states: Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification
According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the sacraments are not mere signs; they do not merely signify Divine grace, but in virtue of their Divine institution, they cause that grace in the souls of men. -- a sign producing grace, is a good, succinct definition of a sacrament of the New Law. Sacrament, in its broadest acceptance, may be defined as an external sign of something sacred.
Back to the Sacrament of Marriage… In this Sacrament we should see reflections of something larger than ourselves. This is a Sacrament, that is a sign or touchstone or intervention into our normal everyday lives of God's presence with and in us. It is where God becomes one with us, and makes a covenant with us, a pledge to us, to promise to be with us in all things.
You see, Christ is a sacrament of God, that is He makes God the Father more visible , that is, He makes God's love for us visible and touchable. He is the sign of God, the Covenant with God. Marriage, then is a Sacrament of Christ, making Christ more visible, that is Christ's love more visible and touchable .
What a concept. To share the love that God shares. A gift that only can come from God. That is why this is a sacrament, to receive the Love shared between the Father and Son as John's Gospel states, " So that they may be one, as we are one…". That husband and wife can share that very same love. All it takes is belief, hearing and doing the Word of God. Can we believe Jesus? If you can, then what He says must be true, and therefore it is possible to share that love that Jesus talks about. We MUST become one in that same love so that we can reflect the Father's glory in His Son. So that in this unity, this oneness, we can become a beacon for the rest of the world. That husband and wife can become that light, that beacon of love for the rest of the family. Seeing this light, this Love, the rest of the family desires that light and love shared between husband and wife, shared with Jesus the Son who shares it with the Father in heaven. With this immense and unlimited love abiding in the couple, they should be able to surmount all the difficulties that may arise. They should be able to not only have love enough for their family, but should be able to extend that love beyond their family to the world that is so in need of love today.
And the world is definitely in need of all married couples to reflect God's love, example it to them. Today's culture does NOT support a sacramental marriage. Today's culture says "Live together and if it gets bad, just call it quits". Today's culture is about multiple lifestyle's and getting what's yours and looking out for myself. Today's culture is not supportive of sacrificial love, of giving oneself for another. Today's culture does not support the idea of spending your life in love for another.
Today's culture looks at marriage as a state recognized tax status, as an agreement to pool resources, as a security transaction to prevent loneliness, as a hedge against old age alone.
Marriage in the church is something far different from what the world thinks it is. You start marriage pledging that you will be "true to each other in good times and bad, in sickness and health, to love and honor each other for all the days of your lives." Marriage is more than consenting to live together and share your lives. It is a consenting to be a reflection of God's love. It is a consenting to be a beacon of God's light to a world which seems steeped in darkness.
In this Sacrament of love, a love shared between three (bride, groom and God) we proclaim God's love for us and God enters into this Covenant in the form of His Son. It is only in this way that this bringing together of two people can have life, life through and in Christ. Without him in this covenant, it is no longer a covenant but just an agreement, a license. But with him, Oh what love can be shared by two.
It is important to understand the marriage vows as the Church does
· Sacred
· Permanent
· Indissoluable (that cannot be dissolved, broken up, lasting, durable)
Love is not so much a decision as it is an encounter with another. In my life, I found that to be true. I did not have so much love that I knew or chose to give it to Pat, my wife of 31 years. When I encountered Pat, it sprang from somewhere within. It grew from a model of an encounter that had occurred in the past and was on-going. It grew from an encounter with an all-loving God.
Homily for December 28, 2008
Holy Family Sunday
(readings found here)
It’s Holy Family Sunday and Archbishop Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked all of us to preach on the sacredness and purpose of marriage. Actually, what he said was:
“I am grateful to our priests and deacons for their willingness to preach about the sacred purpose of marriage and family life on Sunday, Dec. 28. This law “written in our hearts” is what we refer to as the natural law. It is “natural” because, being perceived by human reason, it is our participation in the eternal law of God. While independent of revelation, it can be further illuminated by it.
There are different expressions of the moral law: eternal law, natural law, revealed law, ecclesiastical law and civil law. These last two, ecclesiastical and civil laws, are established by human reason and participate, to one extent or another, in the will of God for human happiness and fulfillment.
When addressing his epistle to the Romans, St. Paul acknowledged that while non-Jews do not have the benefit of the Mosaic (revealed) law, nevertheless, they do have a law “written in their hearts” (Romans 2:15). This law of our hearts guides the consciences of men and women in knowing right from wrong so that their actions, too, can be judged by God at the end of time.
Our understanding of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, ordered to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children, is known to us by the natural law. The complementarity of the sexes was determined by God in the beginning as an essential element of his wise, creative order. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, “The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by Him with its own proper laws . . . . God himself is the author of marriage” (“Gaudium et Spes,” 48.1).Thus, marriage is not merely a human institution, subject to changing mores. The civil laws that society in its collective wisdom has established regarding marriage between one man and one woman are intended to protect and safeguard the cultural context for the growth, education and well-being of the children who are born from the marital union. Governments, in their duty to ensure the common good, ought to know that society has much at stake in fostering family life according to the natural order. Any government should be leery of altering such civil laws, especially on the basis of a misguided notion of inclusiveness. Marriage, as intended by God from the beginning, is the proven way of establishing society’s welfare. “
We in the Catholic Church understand that Marriage is a Sacrament. To understand that, we must first understand what is meant by "Sacrament". The Catechism states: Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification
According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the sacraments are not mere signs; they do not merely signify Divine grace, but in virtue of their Divine institution, they cause that grace in the souls of men. -- a sign producing grace, is a good, succinct definition of a sacrament of the New Law. Sacrament, in its broadest acceptance, may be defined as an external sign of something sacred.
Back to the Sacrament of Marriage… In this Sacrament we should see reflections of something larger than ourselves. This is a Sacrament, that is a sign or touchstone or intervention into our normal everyday lives of God's presence with and in us. It is where God becomes one with us, and makes a covenant with us, a pledge to us, to promise to be with us in all things.
You see, Christ is a sacrament of God, that is He makes God the Father more visible , that is, He makes God's love for us visible and touchable. He is the sign of God, the Covenant with God. Marriage, then is a Sacrament of Christ, making Christ more visible, that is Christ's love more visible and touchable .
What a concept. To share the love that God shares. A gift that only can come from God. That is why this is a sacrament, to receive the Love shared between the Father and Son as John's Gospel states, " So that they may be one, as we are one…". That husband and wife can share that very same love. All it takes is belief, hearing and doing the Word of God. Can we believe Jesus? If you can, then what He says must be true, and therefore it is possible to share that love that Jesus talks about. We MUST become one in that same love so that we can reflect the Father's glory in His Son. So that in this unity, this oneness, we can become a beacon for the rest of the world. That husband and wife can become that light, that beacon of love for the rest of the family. Seeing this light, this Love, the rest of the family desires that light and love shared between husband and wife, shared with Jesus the Son who shares it with the Father in heaven. With this immense and unlimited love abiding in the couple, they should be able to surmount all the difficulties that may arise. They should be able to not only have love enough for their family, but should be able to extend that love beyond their family to the world that is so in need of love today.
And the world is definitely in need of all married couples to reflect God's love, example it to them. Today's culture does NOT support a sacramental marriage. Today's culture says "Live together and if it gets bad, just call it quits". Today's culture is about multiple lifestyle's and getting what's yours and looking out for myself. Today's culture is not supportive of sacrificial love, of giving oneself for another. Today's culture does not support the idea of spending your life in love for another.
Today's culture looks at marriage as a state recognized tax status, as an agreement to pool resources, as a security transaction to prevent loneliness, as a hedge against old age alone.
Marriage in the church is something far different from what the world thinks it is. You start marriage pledging that you will be "true to each other in good times and bad, in sickness and health, to love and honor each other for all the days of your lives." Marriage is more than consenting to live together and share your lives. It is a consenting to be a reflection of God's love. It is a consenting to be a beacon of God's light to a world which seems steeped in darkness.
In this Sacrament of love, a love shared between three (bride, groom and God) we proclaim God's love for us and God enters into this Covenant in the form of His Son. It is only in this way that this bringing together of two people can have life, life through and in Christ. Without him in this covenant, it is no longer a covenant but just an agreement, a license. But with him, Oh what love can be shared by two.
It is important to understand the marriage vows as the Church does
· Sacred
· Permanent
· Indissoluable (that cannot be dissolved, broken up, lasting, durable)
Love is not so much a decision as it is an encounter with another. In my life, I found that to be true. I did not have so much love that I knew or chose to give it to Pat, my wife of 31 years. When I encountered Pat, it sprang from somewhere within. It grew from a model of an encounter that had occurred in the past and was on-going. It grew from an encounter with an all-loving God.
In "Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)", Pope Benedict says that being Christian is not the result of making an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the result of an encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. As Pope Benedict says in the encyclical, “there is a relationship between love and the Divine; love promises infinity, eternity – a reality far greater and totally other than our everyday existence.”
Your brother in Christ,
Deacon Bruce
Your brother in Christ,
Deacon Bruce
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Render Unto Caesar...
Deacon Bruce Maltzen's
Homily for October 19, 2008
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
readings here
In our Gospel for today, as he does so often in the Scriptures, our Lord speaks to those who were in his time, and to every age, to those who become ensnared in competing loyalties and forget that power and authority belong to God whose is omnipotent. Those in power rule at God's good pleasure, as indicated in our first reading
For example, it's O.K. and right to pay taxes. Of course it is, Jesus did not say – don’t pay Caesar anything. One of the things tax money does is builds roads. The street in front of your home and Hanson Boulevard right out front of our church was paid for by taxes. So was Highway 10 and I-94. It also pays for a lot more, such as Medicare and Social Security, Police and Fire, Health services, and our physical security.
It's also O.K. and right to serve in the military. When our government calls us for the armed forces, it is our civic duty to serve. While today no country is strong enough to directly attack the United States, some countries around the world greatly dislike our country. We’ve lived through the terrorist attacks of 9-11. Our Armed Forces are engaged in combat. We have a right to defend ourselves and those who cannot defend themselves, and the military does that, it defends us.
It's O.K. and right to be responsible citizens. When chosen for jury duty, we disrupt our daily routine and hear the evidence and render a verdict on the guilt or innocence of a person charged with a crime. Some seek public office, serving on the city council or the board of education or even higher offices. Taking time from our personal lives to answer a public need is OK. Everyone needs to exercise their rights as citizens by voting on Election Day. It is part of our responsibility as citizens.As Christians, we have an obligation to shape our city, our state and our country into something pleasing to God. To applaud and support the good our government does and to criticize the bad in our government.
We have in our own day an abundance of conflicts between the Church and the state. The question often is, “Is the issue a matter of political importance or a religious issue?” If it's deemed political, many believe, the Church should have nothing to say. Attempts to squelch the word of God go back to the beginning of salvation history. The prophets were put to death for speaking God's truth long before the Pharisees and Herodians of today’s Gospel tried to entrap and silence Christ.
As October is Respect Life Month, I would like to take the respect life issue as the current issue of social justice which is in the debate between the Church and the state. As Catholics, we value all human life from the moment of conception to natural death because we are all created in God's image, redeemed by Christ, and called to everlasting life. Therefore every human being, no matter what our condition in life, whether handicapped, advanced in age, unborn, unable to take care of themselves, abused or neglected, EVERY HUMAN BEING is sacred and precious in God's sight because we were molded with His image.
In a culture that legalizes taking the life of an unborn child, we see our obligation to God, to form human prayer chains on the streets, to stand across from abortion clinics and pray for the unborn, to assist those who cannot take care of themselves, to defend those who by themselves are defenseless, to care for those who receive no care. In the midst of a society that debates assisted suicide, we proclaim that all life is precious and we seek laws to defend all life.
I would like to say that I am preaching to the choir, but I have received multiple letters from Catholics that say abortion is an issue that the Church should stay out of, or at least not talk about during an election cycle. They say that the Church should stop trying to convince voters to vote one way or another. It is said by them that the Church should be silent on this issue.
The Church however says that respect for human life, in fact, is a moral issue, and when the laws of the country are immoral, and they attack the laws of God and the sacredness of human life, then Godly people should shout from every rooftop, priests and deacons should preach from every pulpit, and every believing man and woman should speak out and protest. "Render...to God the things that are God's."
All human life is sacred, from the hands of the creator. Psalm 139 says, "For you formed my inward parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for you are fearful and wonderful, wonderful are your works O Lord!" When Caesar's laws are an abomination before God, then it is Caesar who must change.
The Catholic Church strives to be a prophetic voice, speaking out to protest injustices and indignities against the human person. Catholics will continue in this work, whether our words are popular or unpopular.
From the “Declaration on Procured Abortion”,by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1974), paragraphs 11-12.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
Whether opposing the culture of death, the Catholic must give first allegiance to the laws of God. According to our faith, the Catholic citizen is obliged by their conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when those directives are contrary to the demands of the moral order, contrary to the fundamental rights of persons or contrary to the teachings of the Gospel.
We find justification for this in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. Jesus says 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' (Mt 22:21) Peter says 'We must obey God rather than men.' (Acts 5:29)
When we approach this altar at communion and say Amen to the raised Host and Cup, we proclaim that it is Christ who is before us in his flesh and his blood. We are saying “Amen” not only to that, but to the understanding that He died on the cross for us when we were not worthy of it, and that he established the Catholic Church here on earth with Peter as its first pope and declared that it would never waver or be deluded.
Therefore when we hear the Church state as it has in the past that all human life is sacred, when bishop’s such as Bishop Quinn of Kansas City Missouri along with Archbishop Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas write:
we need to listen and to heed the Church’s words.
As we, in the United States, prepare to vote in national elections, it might be good for us to sit down and draw up two lists--one, with all we owe to God, and one with all we owe to our country and its leaders. What we place in those columns will be determined by the depth of our faith and its moral and spiritual values, by our understanding of justice, by thorough and intelligent forming of a right conscience, and by our courage in voting according to that conscience.
Jesus says 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' Let us hope and pray that what Caesar asks us to render is not 30 pieces of silver, the cost of a soul.
Your brother in Christ,
Deacon Bruce
Homily for October 19, 2008
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
readings here
In our Gospel for today, as he does so often in the Scriptures, our Lord speaks to those who were in his time, and to every age, to those who become ensnared in competing loyalties and forget that power and authority belong to God whose is omnipotent. Those in power rule at God's good pleasure, as indicated in our first reading
I have called you by your name,giving you a title, though you knew me not.I am the LORD and there is no other,there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not,so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me.I am the LORD, there is noAnd John in his Gospel chapter 19 verse 11 lays it out even clearer, when he quotes Jesus as saying, "You would have no power...unless it had been given you from above." Jesus Christ is the universal king; we are blessed to share in that authority.We may then ask, “What obligation do we have to the state and what obligation do we have to God?” For the first part, Christ tells us, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar." We have a civic duty to support our government. We have a civic duty to the country in which we live.
other.
For example, it's O.K. and right to pay taxes. Of course it is, Jesus did not say – don’t pay Caesar anything. One of the things tax money does is builds roads. The street in front of your home and Hanson Boulevard right out front of our church was paid for by taxes. So was Highway 10 and I-94. It also pays for a lot more, such as Medicare and Social Security, Police and Fire, Health services, and our physical security.
It's also O.K. and right to serve in the military. When our government calls us for the armed forces, it is our civic duty to serve. While today no country is strong enough to directly attack the United States, some countries around the world greatly dislike our country. We’ve lived through the terrorist attacks of 9-11. Our Armed Forces are engaged in combat. We have a right to defend ourselves and those who cannot defend themselves, and the military does that, it defends us.
It's O.K. and right to be responsible citizens. When chosen for jury duty, we disrupt our daily routine and hear the evidence and render a verdict on the guilt or innocence of a person charged with a crime. Some seek public office, serving on the city council or the board of education or even higher offices. Taking time from our personal lives to answer a public need is OK. Everyone needs to exercise their rights as citizens by voting on Election Day. It is part of our responsibility as citizens.As Christians, we have an obligation to shape our city, our state and our country into something pleasing to God. To applaud and support the good our government does and to criticize the bad in our government.
We have in our own day an abundance of conflicts between the Church and the state. The question often is, “Is the issue a matter of political importance or a religious issue?” If it's deemed political, many believe, the Church should have nothing to say. Attempts to squelch the word of God go back to the beginning of salvation history. The prophets were put to death for speaking God's truth long before the Pharisees and Herodians of today’s Gospel tried to entrap and silence Christ.
As October is Respect Life Month, I would like to take the respect life issue as the current issue of social justice which is in the debate between the Church and the state. As Catholics, we value all human life from the moment of conception to natural death because we are all created in God's image, redeemed by Christ, and called to everlasting life. Therefore every human being, no matter what our condition in life, whether handicapped, advanced in age, unborn, unable to take care of themselves, abused or neglected, EVERY HUMAN BEING is sacred and precious in God's sight because we were molded with His image.
In a culture that legalizes taking the life of an unborn child, we see our obligation to God, to form human prayer chains on the streets, to stand across from abortion clinics and pray for the unborn, to assist those who cannot take care of themselves, to defend those who by themselves are defenseless, to care for those who receive no care. In the midst of a society that debates assisted suicide, we proclaim that all life is precious and we seek laws to defend all life.
I would like to say that I am preaching to the choir, but I have received multiple letters from Catholics that say abortion is an issue that the Church should stay out of, or at least not talk about during an election cycle. They say that the Church should stop trying to convince voters to vote one way or another. It is said by them that the Church should be silent on this issue.
The Church however says that respect for human life, in fact, is a moral issue, and when the laws of the country are immoral, and they attack the laws of God and the sacredness of human life, then Godly people should shout from every rooftop, priests and deacons should preach from every pulpit, and every believing man and woman should speak out and protest. "Render...to God the things that are God's."
All human life is sacred, from the hands of the creator. Psalm 139 says, "For you formed my inward parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for you are fearful and wonderful, wonderful are your works O Lord!" When Caesar's laws are an abomination before God, then it is Caesar who must change.
The Catholic Church strives to be a prophetic voice, speaking out to protest injustices and indignities against the human person. Catholics will continue in this work, whether our words are popular or unpopular.
From the “Declaration on Procured Abortion”,by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1974), paragraphs 11-12.
"The first right of the human person is his life . . . It does not belong to society, nor does it belong to public authority in any form to recognize this right for some and not for others; all discrimination is evil. . . Any discrimination based on the various stages of life is no more justified than any other discrimination. . . . In reality, respect for human life is called for from the time that the process of generation begins. From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, … abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (from Paragraph No. 2271).
Whether opposing the culture of death, the Catholic must give first allegiance to the laws of God. According to our faith, the Catholic citizen is obliged by their conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when those directives are contrary to the demands of the moral order, contrary to the fundamental rights of persons or contrary to the teachings of the Gospel.
We find justification for this in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. Jesus says 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' (Mt 22:21) Peter says 'We must obey God rather than men.' (Acts 5:29)
When we approach this altar at communion and say Amen to the raised Host and Cup, we proclaim that it is Christ who is before us in his flesh and his blood. We are saying “Amen” not only to that, but to the understanding that He died on the cross for us when we were not worthy of it, and that he established the Catholic Church here on earth with Peter as its first pope and declared that it would never waver or be deluded.
Therefore when we hear the Church state as it has in the past that all human life is sacred, when bishop’s such as Bishop Quinn of Kansas City Missouri along with Archbishop Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas write:
“Our country is at the edge of the precipice concerning the protection of the life and dignity of the human person. A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline. The price for such a “walk over the cliff” is millions of human lives lost for many more years to come.
A(ny) candidate who asks us to add our weight to such a destructive momentum in our society, asks us to be participants in their own gravely immoral act. This is something which, in good conscience, we can never justify. Despite hardship, beyond partisanship, for the sake of our eternal salvation: This we should never do.”
we need to listen and to heed the Church’s words.
As we, in the United States, prepare to vote in national elections, it might be good for us to sit down and draw up two lists--one, with all we owe to God, and one with all we owe to our country and its leaders. What we place in those columns will be determined by the depth of our faith and its moral and spiritual values, by our understanding of justice, by thorough and intelligent forming of a right conscience, and by our courage in voting according to that conscience.
Jesus says 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' Let us hope and pray that what Caesar asks us to render is not 30 pieces of silver, the cost of a soul.
Your brother in Christ,
Deacon Bruce
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