Denver Catholic

14 MARCH 21-27, 2015 | DENVER CATHOLIC Perspectives T he World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia this Septem- ber should be more than a vast Catholic "gathering of the clans" around Pope Francis—and so should the months between now and then. If the Church in the United States takes this opportunity seriously, these months of preparation will be a time when Cath- olics ponder the full, rich meaning of marriage and the family: human goods whose glory is brought into clearest focus by the Gospel. Parents, teachers and pastors all share the responsibil- ity for seizing this opportunity, which comes at a moment when marriage and the family are crumbling in our culture and society. Now, thanks to a fi ne mini-catechism prepared by the Archdiocese of Phila- delphia and the Pontifi cal Council for the Family, we've been given a basic resource with which to do months of preparatory catechesis on marriage and the family—and preachers have been o' ered reliable material for shaping homilies on these great themes between now and September. "Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive" (Our Sunday Visitor) begins by reminding us that the Catholic Church's teaching on marriage and the family is not composed of "positions" or "policies," a widespread misunder- standing today. Rather, the Church's teaching about marriage and the family are expressions of the basic truths of Christian faith: God, who brought the world into being, loves us; the divine love is most powerfully displayed in God's son, Jesus Christ; friendship with Jesus brings us into the communion of the Church, which is a foretaste of the communion with God for which we are destined; our basic task as Chris- tians is to o' er others the gift we have been given—friendship with the Lord, which we do both by witness and by proposal. Or as St. Augustine so mem- orably put it in the "Confessions," we have been made for God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in the divine embrace. Nothing falls outside God's creative and redeeming purposes, which include our being created male and female, the complementarity and fruitfulness built into our being created male and female, and the permanence of marriage, which is a sign of God's own covenant fi delity. God is a communion of loving Persons; thus married love, St. John Paul II taught, is an icon of the interior life of the Holy Trinity. God keeps his prom- ises; thus the promise-keepers among us who live the covenant of marriage bear witness to that divine prom- ise-keeping by their own fi delity. In light of all this, the Christian idea of chastity comes into clearer focus. In the Catholic view of things, chastity is not a dreary string of prohibitions but a matter of loving-with-integrity: loving rather than "using;" loving another for himself or herself. The sexual tempta- tions to which the Church says "No" are the implications of a higher, nobler, more compelling "Yes:" yes to the integ- rity of love, yes to love understood as the gift of oneself to another, yes to the family as the fruit of love, and yes to the family as the school where we fi rst learn to love. "Yes" is the basic Catholic stance toward sexuality, marriage and the family. We should witness to that "Yes" with a joyful heart, recognizing that the example of joyful Catholic families is the best gift we can o' er a world marked today by the glorifi cation of self-absorption. In a pontifi cate that has reminded us continuously of our responsibilities to the poor, for whom God has a spe- cial care, preparations for the World Meeting of Families are also an oppor- tunity to remind our society that stable marriages and families are the most e' ective anti-poverty program in the world. As demographer Nicholas Eber- stadt wrote recently, "the fl ight from the family most assuredly comes at the expense of the vulnerable young "— especially low-income children, who are more vulnerable to the toxic e' ects of family breakdown. That's not Catholic carping; that's basic social science data. The Catholic idea of marriage and the family is a gift for the whole world. Catholics should gift that gift away, profl igately, in the months ahead. A mission of love I n this Sunday's Gospel, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, John 12:20-33 we hear of a chain reaction of events: of prophecy about the cross, God the Father's voice breaking in from heaven like thunder, and deep emotion in Jesus, as if some news brought him face to face with his death. At face value, all this seems like an overreaction to a seemingly simple event: Gentiles seeking Jesus. But for thousands of years, salvation was for the Jews. The Kingdom of God was promised to them. Only they were God's chosen people. Jesus was about to change all that on the cross, making us ALL his chosen people. And Greeks were there, seeking Jesus out … the Holy Spirit was moving their hearts towards him. Jesus seemed to know this was a sign of his imminent death. It's as if the grace he was about to win on the cross was already brimming over and pouring into hearts. What Jesus did for us on the cross opens the way for every person who ever existed to fi nd new life. He clearly wasn't looking forward to it. Knowing his divine mission, he might have had nightmares about it his whole life. John tells us that thinking about it made him "troubled," and as we'll see in the Garden of Gethse- mane, it caused him true agony. But he was obedient to the Father, and he thought you were worth it. So he said "yes." He wanted to open the way for you and for me to enter the Kingdom. He paved the way with his own blood. What's that mean for our lives here and now? Jesus doesn't just want to redeem you from sin for heaven after you die. Eter- nal life is something that has already begun for those who live in Christ. Jesus wants to redeem everything it means to be you so that you can live as part of his Kingdom NOW. The hope of heaven "gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for…" The com- munion of saints includes you! When you think about your life, do you see a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven? Is something holding you back from the kind of life you dream of ? Something that seems impossible to overcome? I don't just mean with sin, but with work, relationships, fi nances, you name it. Do you want peace, order, joy, fi tness, accomplishment, acceptance, forgiveness, healing in rela- tionships, or interior freedom that you just can't seem to ever reach? What is holding you back? Name the obstacle in your path and ask Jesus to help you overcome it. And while you're at it, you might ask other people to help you, too. Jesus works through the people in your life. He can change you. Decide. Then just ask. George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The Catholic Diž erence GEORGE WEIGEL Jn 12:20-33 | Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorifi ed. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and who- ever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. "I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorifi ed it and will glorify it again." The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." He said this indicating the kind of death he would die. REAL LIFE CATHOLIC Sign up for the Real Life Catholic newsletter at RLCExperience.com Chris Stefanick is the president of Real Life Catholic. Throughout Lent Chris will ož er a series of steps to achieve a deeper relationship with Jesus. The Way CHRIS STEFANICK BOOK "Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive" Our Sunday Visitor, $9.95 www.osv.com/shop

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