 |
| Dan Cathy, President of Chick-fil-A |
(Eighteenth Sunday of the Year
(B): This homily was given on August 5, 2012 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly
As Biblical expressions go, it’s
a classic (at least I think it is!).
It’s concise and to the point.
It’s clever; it’s clear; it’s unambiguous—and
it packs a real punch, to boot!
What are you talking about, Fr.
Ray?
I’m talking about the expression
St. Paul uses in today’s second reading to describe “the Gentiles.” (By the
way, the term “Gentiles” is used here to signify people who do not know and
follow the one, true God—today we might describe them as “pagans.”) He says that these people live “in the
futility of their minds.”
What a great expression! The
futility of their minds. Futility is
uselessness. Our minds were made to know truth. But when our
minds reject truth—in this case spiritual and moral truth—they do become, in a
very real sense, useless! They don’t do for us what they’re supposed to
do for us. They don’t guide us toward
heaven by advocating a life of virtue; rather, they point us toward “the other
place” by advocating a life of vice!
Many people think that a pagan,
ungodly lifestyle begins with actions—evil
actions; but it doesn’t. A pagan, ungodly
lifestyle begins in the mind. It begins with how people think about things.
As the old saying goes, “Sow a
thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a
character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
St. Paul understood this as well
as anyone. That’s clear from what he
says in Ephesians 4 (which is where today’s second reading is taken from). Now, it’s true, in that particular chapter of
the Bible Paul does eventually speak about evil actions, but first of all he
focuses on how people think—because
that’s key in the process. He says (and
here I’ve included a few lines that they left out of the Lectionary): “Brothers and sisters: I
declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles
do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from
the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of
heart.”
Now the interesting thing is,
sometimes even people who DO believe in the one true God—and in his Son, Jesus
Christ—live in the futility of their minds.
This is not just a problem for unbelievers! Look at the Israelites in today’s first
reading. After God had worked all those
miracles for them to rescue them from slavery in Egypt: the ten plagues, the
parting of the Red Sea, the annihilation of Pharaoh’s army; after all that,
they still didn’t trust him. And so,
they moaned and groaned and grumbled and complained.
In spite of the fact that the
Israelites were God's chosen people, they very often lived in the futility of
their minds—with darkened understanding—and with hard hearts.
It seems that every age has at
least one major issue where futility of mind abounds; one issue, in other
words, where even many believers get confused as to what’s right and what’s wrong. In the 1960s, for example, it was contraception. In spite of warnings from Pope Paul VI and
others, many Catholic couples bought into the lie that artificial birth control
would make their marriages happier and more stable.
That, of course, has definitely
NOT happened! And if you don’t believe
me, just read the statistics on divorce.
In the 1970s and 80s, it was
abortion. With their understanding
darkened by pro-abortion politicians and journalists, many Catholics and others
were not able to see what the science of genetics has since proven beyond a
shadow of a doubt: that human life begins at the moment of conception.
Thus we now have millions of
wounded women walking around: women who believed the lie that it’s just “a
cluster of cells” or a “non-viable product of conception.” I know, because I’ve dealt with many of them
in the confessional, trying to help them find the peace and healing they so
desperately want and need.
And now in the new millennium we
have yet another major issue where futility of mind is rampant—a new major
issue that we can add to the other two (because, unfortunately, contraception
and abortion are still around). The
issue surrounds what is commonly called, “the gay lifestyle.”
Just look at how the president of
Chick-fil-A has been called every name in the book in the last two weeks for
announcing that his company opposes so-called “gay marriage.” It’s been amazing to me how all these
“open-minded” people who defend free speech to the hilt when it comes to things
like pornography, all of a sudden become close-minded censors of the worst kind
when a guy wants to voice his support of something like traditional marriage!
I ask you, who are the real bigots in all this?
I had a conversation with a young
college student the other day on this issue of the gay lifestyle, which is
typical of the conversations I’ve had with many people in recent months.
This young man came to see me
because he’s currently struggling with his faith. He said to me, “Fr. Ray, I’m not sure I want
to be Catholic anymore.”
I said, “Why not?”
“Well," he said, "my family all
goes to church; and I did too, when I was in high school. But when I went away to college I became friendly
with some people who are gay, and I know that as Catholics we’ re supposed to hate
gays. But I don’t hate these people; I
like them.”
I said, “As Catholics, we’re not
supposed to hate anybody. We may not
approve of some of the things they do; but even then, as the old saying goes,
we’re supposed to ‘love the sinner, and hate the sin’.”
We talked for awhile longer. I tried to explain the teaching of the
Church—that it’s not a sin to experience same-sex attraction; that the sin
comes with certain actions that follow from the attraction. I also reminded him that so-called ‘straight’
people can commit sins that are equally serious if they act on their sexual
impulses in the wrong way. I even said
to him, “I know people who experience same-sex attraction—and I don’t hate
them. In fact, I consider some of them
to be my friends. Now if they’re
committing a serious sin and I find out about it I certainly don’t approve of
it—I don’t approve of anyone’s sin, including my own! But I definitely don’t hate them—or anyone
else for that matter.”
Well, he still had some
difficulty getting his mind around this idea of loving the sinner and hating
the sin, so I finally said to him, “Let me ask you a question. Do your parents love you?”
He said, “Of course they do.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Well,’ I said, ‘do your parents
approve of everything you do?”
He smiled a little, and said, “No.”
I said, “THEN THEY MUST HATE YOU! You’re saying to me that Catholics
hate gays because they disapprove of some of the things that gay people
do. Well, according to that logic, your
parents must hate you, because they sometimes disapprove of some of the things that
you do.”
At that point, I think a ‘light
bulb’ finally got turned on, and he left with a promise to reflect on what I
had said.
I share this story with you today
because this young man is not unique.
There are lots of people—both in and out of the Church—who think and
reason in precisely this way.
To equate ‘hatred’ with ‘disapproving
of another person’s actions’ is not only wrong, it’s not only misguided and
unfair, it’s also a perfect example of what St. Paul means when he talks about
“futility of mind.”
Dear Lord Jesus, please deliver us from this futility!
And please deliver us from it soon.
