Saint Peter Julian Eymard, founder of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers,
wrote:
"Man is love like his divine Model. As he loves, so he lives. Self-love
makes him selfish; love of the world, vicious." (A Eucharistic Handbook, Vol.
6, pg 3)
Put simply, we can either love ourselves, love the world, or love God. If
we love ourselves, nothing is too great to be sacrificed to satisfy that
love. We can sacrifice our children (born and unborn), our families, our
Church, whatever. If it gets in the way of our personal happiness, our self
love, it has to be removed. And since love of self is all consuming, anyone
trying to help get a better understanding of love is to be removed,
ridiculed, etc.
Love of the world is often connected with self love. In fact, today, that
love of self is part of the world's philosophy. How many times have we heard
"One must love oneself first before loving another." We can see the effects
of the viciousness of worldly love every day. In secular newspapers, one
might read an article implying that the Church is returning to the
superstitions of the Dark Ages (regarding the Church's redoing of the Rites
of Exorcism) and how 'right' thinking Catholics (often quoting FutureChurch,
WomanChurch, or Call To Action) see this as avoiding the issue of justice.
"For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant,
abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman,
implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous,
reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding the form of religion but denying the power of it." (2 Tim. 3:2-5)
Consider that when the rest of the world viewed women as cattle and even
royal women were nothing more than political footballs and baby making
machines, the Church held women up as examples of holiness, giving them
responsibility for abbey's, convents, and Orders. St. Teresa of Avila
chastised the Pope to leave France and return to Rome. St. Clare of Assisi
withstood the Pope to lessen the Rule for her Order. Even a 12th century
Church manuscript reads; "In the meanwhile Peter Bernadone (the father of St.
Francis of Assisi) returned home; and, on finding his son gone, he added sin
to sin by abusing his wife." (Legend of the Three Companions; St. Francis of
Assisi, Omnibus of Sources; pg. 908)
Our present Pope has written "MULIERIS DIGNITATEM" (On the Dignity and
Vocation of Women; August 15, 1988) And Pope Paul VI wrote: "Within
Christianity, more than in any other religion, and since its very beginning,
women have had a special dignity, of which the New Testament shows us many
important aspects . . . ; it is evident that women are meant to form part of
the living and working structure of Christianity in so prominent a manner
that perhaps not all their potentialities have yet been made clear."(Address
to the National Meeting of the Centro Italiano Femminile; Dec. 6, 1976)
And in Humanae Vitae we read: " It is also to be feared that the man,
growing used to the employment of anticonceptive practices, may finally lose
respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and
psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere
instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved
companion." (Grave Consequences of Methods of Artificial Birth Control, #17)
Yet we hear that the Church is anti-woman, sexist, encouraging the abuse of
women, oppressing women. Why? Because the Pope has declared that the Church
doesn't have the authority to ordain women and the Church won't sanction
artificial birth control and abortion. Even when it is clear that it is for
their benefit that these teachings are done.
Self love and love of the world have made them 'hate' the Church. Viciously
attacking the Church at every turn and at every opportunity. Declaring "we
need people with chisels inside (the church) chiseling away at that
institution or it is never going to fall." (Sister Maureen Fiedler, of Call
To Action's "We Are Church" referendum) And to remove this 'obstacle' to
self love, they intend to destroy the Church.
"The organization (Womens Ordination Committee), long the most visible group
advocating that the Catholic priesthood be opened to women, might (now) drop
that objective in favor of a long-range goal of reconstructing the church."
(New York Times religious editor Peter Steinfels (11/14/95)) And that
restructuring entails "transforming the priesthood into a non-sacramental
office of community-ordained facilitators." (Elisabeth Fiorenza-Schussler;
"New Woman,New Church, New Priestly Ministry.")
Also consider this:
"The Church, obedient to the Lord who founded her and gave to her the
sacramental life, celebrates the divine plan of the loving and life-giving
union of men and women in the sacrament of marriage. It is only in the
marital relationship that the use of the sexual faculty can be morally good."
The Church sees that our sexuality is good only when used in the context of
a marital relationship, between a man and a woman. However, the world
doesn't see it that way. "Sex sells." Our children are taught, implicitly
and explicitly, that sex is normal and that abstinence is abnormal and even
unhealthy. And if one can, and should, have sex with whomever one wishes,
whenever one wishes, then obviously this applies to homosexuals as well.
The Church teaches:
" At the same time the Congregation took note of the distinction commonly
drawn between the homosexual condition or tendency and individual homosexual
actions." (ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS; October 1, 1986) No
one can be accused of sinning for being a homosexual, no more than one can be
accused of sinning for being a heterosexual. However, sin does occur when
the homosexual has homosexual sex just as a heterosexual sins when they have
heterosexual sex outside of marriage.
"Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward
those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living
out this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option.
It is not." (Ibid)
This, according to such groups as Dignity (which is linked with Call To
Action) is homophobic and encouraging violence toward homosexuals. Even
though the Church teaches.
"Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.
These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they
are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the
difficulties they may encounter from their condition." (CCC #2358)
Again, it isn't that they need to change to suit God, but rather, God must
change to suit them.
" An essential dimension of authentic pastoral care is the identification
of causes of confusion regarding the Church's teaching. One is a new exegesis
of Sacred Scripture which claims variously that Scripture has nothing to say
on the subject of homosexuality, or that it somehow tacitly approves of it,
or that all of its moral injunctions are so culture-bound that they are no
longer applicable to contemporary life. These views are gravely erroneous and
call for particular attention here…..The Church today addresses the Gospel to
a world which differs in many ways from ancient days. But the world in which
the New Testament was written was already quite diverse from the situation in
which the Sacred Scriptures of the Hebrew people had been written or
compiled, for example. What should be noticed is that, in the presence of
such remarkable diversity, there is nevertheless a clear consistency with the
Scriptures themselves on the moral issue of homosexual behavior. The Church's
doctrine regarding this issue is thus based, not on isolated phrases for
facile theological argument, but on the solid foundation of a constant
biblical testimony. The community of faith today, in unbroken continuity with
the Jewish and Christian communities within which the ancient Scriptures were
written, continues to be nourished by those same Scriptures and by the Spirit
of Truth whose Word they are. It is likewise essential to recognize that the
Scriptures are not properly understood when they are interpreted in a way
which contradicts the Church's living Tradition. To be correct, the
interpretation of Scripture must be in substantial accord with that
Tradition." (ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS; October 1, 1986)
In both cases, and others, we see, hear, and read how the Church must
change to suit them. This is the sign of selfish, worldly love.
Yet the love of God is selfless, caring not for the ways of the world nor
our own personal wants and desires.
"Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If any man would come after Me, let him
deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his
life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For
what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his
life?'" (Matthew 16:24-26).
"And this is love, that we follow his commandments; this is the
commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you follow love…Any
one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have
God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son" (2 John
6;9).
"Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as
the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their
understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and
have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of
uncleanness. You did not so learn Christ!-- assuming that you have heard
about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off your old
nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through
deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the
new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and
holiness" (Ephesians 17-24).
It's when we love God more than ourselves that we can humbly respond, "Thy
will be done.", regardless of what sacrifice that may entail. It's when we
have self love and/or worldly love that we say, "My will be done.",
regardless of what cost to others, or even ourselves. " For what will it
profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?"
Though they preach tolerance and understanding, they don't give tolerance
and understanding. Their attacks on the Church and the faithful shows them
to be intolerant, biased, bigoted, and vicious.
"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge
the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the
word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be
unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people
will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate
for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from
listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady,
endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry" (2
Timothy 4:1-5).