March 26th 2017 Bulletin Message, Fr. Floyd McKinney

In a previous parish that I was assigned, there was a gentleman who was blind. He never asked any special favors, however he did have his wife to guide him if he was not familiar with a place. He was a lector at the parish, and used his braille lector book to do the readings. On Holy Saturday night when the first readings were done he truly could read in the ‘darkness’ of the Old Testament. Even though there were night lights that could not be turned off, all the other lights were turned off so we could experience the readings in the dark as they are supposed to be read.

One of the obvious themes in the readings for the weekend is blindness, both the physical kind and the mental kind. Jesus was able to heal not only the physical blindness of the people but tried to help them see the fact that some of them were blind to their human weaknesses. Just as the Scribes and Pharisees had a hard time looking at the reality of their lives, sometimes we too have a hard time ‘seeing’ that we need to m
ake changes in our life if we want to follow Jesus in a more perfect way. The easiest examples are to point out those who drink too much but are blind to the idea that they are addicted, or we can add those who cannot see that they are ‘hooked’ on some prescription medicine or some other substance. There are times when I do not want to admit that I don’t pray enough; I might even say that I am blind to the fact that my lack of prayer has an effect on the way that I serve you, the people of God. All of us can look at our life and discern where we need to work on our personal blindness. If we notice the blindness in our life then we have the possibility to, as we see in the second reading… “Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”

Friday, Jan. 22, will mark the 43 rd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s horrific decision to legalize abortion in theU.S. at any time during pregnancy. Since 1963, some 60million innocent lives have been snuffed out by that Court’s action. The case was Roe v. Wade and the struggle continues to reverse the infamous decision. Bishop Emeritus Eugene Gerber once said: “Abortion is serious because human life belongs to God; whoever attacks it, in some way, attacks God, Himself.” In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the sins are named which cry to God for justice, and first among them, is willful murder.

Abortion would be an example of such. However, the Church offers ways to help heal the inner wounds, to unburden the conscience, to ask God’s forgiveness and to forgive one’s self. You don’t have to be a woman who had an abortion to experience the pain it causes. Maybe you are a husband or a boyfriend, a mother or a father, a family member or friend. There are pathways to peace for those who seek it. Abortion goes on, despite alternatives and assistance for the pregnant woman. The unborn child must be defended by the Church from the moment of conception as a person like any other human being, for the entire human family is diminished by the death of an innocent child whose life is taken by abortion. We have a presidential election this year and Catholics should be advised to check where the candidates stand on Life.

We close with Mother Teresa’s words on abortion: “By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems, and by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.” – Marcel Normand