The attack on marriage is really an attack on the human person, and his dignity, for the devil seeks to pervert our true purpose, to pervert God's holy design. For many of us, we cannot march in protests or write dozens of letters or call numerous times to urge legislators to vote for the Truth. But one thing we can all do is pray and fast. We have designated one day each week to fast for these intentions:

1. That marriage may be preserved, promoted, and understood as God's plan for creation.

2. For all marriages that they may reflect the love of the Trinity.

3. For broken marriages that Christ bring healing and conversion to the spouses' souls.

4. For those who are married, for the sanctification of their marriage and their spouse. For those who are single, for their future spouse and vocation.


Thursday, January 10, 2013

January 11th Fast

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JMJ
"So it became clear that the question of the family is not just about a particular social construct, but about man himself – about what he is and what it takes to be authentically human. The challenges involved are manifold. First of all there is the question of the human capacity to make a commitment or to avoid commitment. Can one bind oneself for a lifetime? Does this correspond to man’s nature? Does it not contradict his freedom and the scope of his self-realization? Does man become himself by living for himself alone and only entering into relationships with others when he can break them off again at any time? Is lifelong commitment antithetical to freedom? Is commitment also worth suffering for? Man’s refusal to make any commitment – which is becoming increasingly widespread as a result of a false understanding of freedom and self-realization as well as the desire to escape suffering – means that man remains closed in on himself and keeps his “I” ultimately for himself, without really rising above it. Yet only in self-giving does man find himself, and only by opening himself to the other, to others, to children, to the family, only by letting himself be changed through suffering, does he discover the breadth of his humanity. When such commitment is repudiated, the key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother, child – essential elements of the experience of being human are lost."
(Christmas Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the Roman Curia, 2012)

In this beautiful excerpt, the Pope asks if it is in man's nature to be completely faithfully, fully committed to another.  Is man born for himself or for the other?  Many people like to say that from the moment we are born, we are takers; that from the time we are babes, we are selfish creatures only concerned with our own needs.  From the perspective and reality of concupiscence this is true; yet, is it not also true that from the time of our entrance into the world, we are givers?  Babies are indeed helpless, but also selfless; in fact, all they can do is love, and they do it completely and faithfully.  The baby commits himself to his mother from the miracle of conception.  Little children naturally cling to their parents, incapable of any desire to be unfaithful in their filial relationship.

So, if faithfulness is written on our hearts, when does it become so obscured that we forget about it?  Why do we cease to cling to others, and only cling to ourselves?  The Pope recognizes that the cause of this fear to commit, to be faithful, is the fear of suffering.  We know intuitively that completely giving ourselves to another means a total self-denial.  In our culture, we constantly hear that we need "Me Time": time for what I want to do, time to satisfy my needs, my wants.  Blessed John Paul II was once asked,"Holy Father, when do you get some free time? His response was, "All my time is free!"  

Saying yes to a vocation must be a complete commitment: in mind, in body and in spirit.  Not just being faithfully bodily, but just as important, being faithful in our hearts, in our emotions, and in our thoughts as well.  When one pledges his life to another, this means everything he is and everything he will do.  Without a daily discipline, without a constant assent, his commitment will falter and his will eventually waver.  As an athlete devotes all his time and energies to his sport, so we too must devote all our time and energies to our vocation.  It does mean a yes to self-denial, but in denying self-love, we open our hearts to receive the love of others (and God's love through them as well).  As the Pope said:
"Yet only in self-giving does man find himself, and only by opening himself to the other, to others, to children, to the family, only by letting himself be changed through suffering, does he discover the breadth of his humanity. "
Man's soul is immortal and so he is made to give himself to something that is immortal: not the desires of the flesh, the indulgences of the moment, which are fleeting and empty but the joys of the soul, which are eternal and full of beatitude.  It satisfies our innermost being to be faithful to God, to our spouses, and to our children.  And this faithfulness, in all aspects of our daily life, will serve as an important sign of contradiction in a world that repudiates the treasure that lies therein.



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