04/28/13 Be Brave

Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter.

"If you have an animal that cannot be tamed and cannot be controlled and that cannot be disciplined, what do you do? You de-claw it, you put it on a leash, you put it in a cage. And in so many ways, in so many ways, our culture has looked at you and has said, 'You know what? You can't control yourself. So we're gonna control you. We're gonna make you weaker. We know that young people can't stop themselves from having sex, so we have to have birth control. We know that young people can't be trusted with their own strength, so we have to have gun control,' instead of saying, 'You know what? There's a virtue in self-control.' Which means that those people in power are interested in making you and me weaker. That's not a governmental thing, that's more of a culture thing, because here is what I want to say: I want to say that the Church looks at you and says, 'Actually, we want to make you stronger.' The Church looks at you and says, 'You have claws? Good. Learn how to use them.' The Church looks at you, Jesus looks at you, and God looks at you and says, 'You have a strength in you? Fantastic. Learn how to use it. We want to actually make you stronger rather than make you weaker. Because why? Because you are made to be courageous.'"

Mass Readings from April 28, 2013:
Acts 14:21-27
Revelation 21:1-5
John 13:31-33,34-35