From Against the Grain
A Far Side cartoon shows a group of cattle grazing in a field. Most of them have their heads down, munching away. However, one cow has her head lifted up, eyes wide open in a startled expression. Her mouth is full, with blades of grass sticking out of both sides. Horrified, she announces to the others, “We’re eating grass!”*
About eight hundred years ago, a young man startled his contemporaries by making a similar announcement. He had been seeking all the things most young (and not so young) men desire: money in the pocket, being part of a winning team, admiration of young women and sway over others. An unexpected setback and a strange dream made the youth realize that, while the things he sought were good in themselves, that in comparison with true worth, they were like eating grass. In a dramatic gesture he gave up his wealth, his inheritance and his family. But he gained what Jesus promises: peace, purpose, a hundred brothers and sisters – and life. It happened in a small Italian town called Assisi. They young man’s name was Francis.
St. Francis spoke not only to people of the thirteenth century; he speaks to us today. The reason is because he discovered the key to the Gospel. We see it in the account of Jesus’ first public miracle. It is not a healing - as wonderful as that would be - but rather a miracle in which many can participate. He transforms water into wine. The Gospel emphasizes the quality and abundance. A hundred and fifty gallons is an enormous amount, even for a Mediterranean crowd at a wedding reception! By this first miracle, Jesus is telling us, “Do not be afraid. Stop going after the things which will never satisfy. I have all you require – and more.”
Pope John Paul gave us a beautiful gift when he inaugurated the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary. The second mystery is what we hear about in today’s Gospel – the Wedding Feast at Cana where Jesus changed water into wine. This was the point when “his disciples began to believe in him.” Like them we need to put aside inferior things and open ourselves to what he wishes to give us.
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*For this illustration, credit goes to Mark Shea. I was lamenting to him that a local theology program, instead of teaching the Bible and the Living Tradition, was giving the students nineteenth century German philosophy. Mark described the cartoon and then expressed the hope that soon the students would stand up and say, “We’re eating grass!” Mark wrote a parody on this approach to Scripture which, instead of explaining it, explains it away.
From Archives: Like a Bridegroom
Bulletin (recent deaths, Fr. Corapi's $4 million, Mark Shea at Holy Family)
Other Homilies
Seapadre Homilies: Cycle A, Cycle B, Cycle C
Alert: Father Groeschel Seriously Injured (hit by a car near Orlando International Airport Sunday night)
Multi-Millionaire Priest Comes to Holy Family (March 5-6)
David Morrison on The Chicago Priests' Letter on SSA
From Against the Grain
Are Democrats anti-Catholic? (warning: contains foul language)
Homily by Fr. Roger Landry on Same Sex Marriages in Massachusetts: "Have you not read that in the beginning God 'made them male and female,' and said, 'for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
In this teaching of Jesus -- who is the Truth incarnate, who is our Creator and knows how and for what the human person is made, who loved all of us enough to die out of love for us -- we see four things that are relevant to our debate:
a) "In the beginning, God made them male and female." There is great meaning to our masculinity and femininity in God's plan. God didn't clone Adam, but made Eve, who was equal to him in dignity, but complementary.
b) "For this reason a man shall leave his mother and father and cling to his wife." God's plan is not that a man leave his parents and cling to whomever he wants, but to cling to a wife.
c) "The two shall become one flesh." This refers more than merely to their sharing a bed together and temporarily joining their bodies physically in the act of making love, because that act is just temporary. God wanted from the beginning a more permanent union, "so they are no longer two, but one flesh." The way this occurs is in a child, who is the perduring union of the flesh and the man and the woman and blessed by God with the infusion of an immortal soul. This one-flesh union in children "made in love" is for Christ, our Creator and Savior, part of the essence of marriage.
d) "What God has joined together, man must not divide." This refers not just to a particular couple joined by God in marriage, but to the union planned by the Creator for a man and a woman in marriage. To try to divide man and woman in the institution of marriage by opening marriage up to two men or two women is clearly contrary to God's plan for marriage and for man and woman.
