Gal 6:14

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world."

St. Paul's words in the 2nd reading this Sunday were just the words I needed to hear.  I have been so down over certain of my family (and some friends) calling me hateful because I refuse to accept where our country is headed.  I won't compromise on the natural law (won't? Heck - I can't!) and accept homosexuality as normal.  It's not.  It is a disordered attraction.  I won't bow down at the altar of diversity and embrace every religion (and non-religion) as equal and good: they're not.  Apart from the very obvious fact that without Christ one cannot inherit the Kingdom, how about the very practical facts (yes, facts, not opinions): Christianity (specifically, Catholicism) built Western Civilization! Hospitals? Invented by Christianity. Universities? Yep - Christianity. The greatest artists in history? Christians, all (I appreciate that there is an Eastern hemisphere - I'm not a total philistine. The fact is, though, that our culture was built entirely by the West. To say anything else is to fall prey to that ol' diversity altar. I'll grant you that the East was very advanced in medicine, though, so if you count medicine as integral to culture - you can give the East some points. I don't.).  As originally used by Cicero, the word culture referred specifically to the development of the philosophical soul...so I'm having a hard time crediting the great and well-known atheists with greatly enhancing ours.

I have digressed from my original point. Our very astute visiting scholar, Fr. Luke, reminded me (and, you know, a couple thousand of my closest parishioner friends) that if the world is hating my message, I am probably doing something right. Christ didn't promise that his followers would be liked (as St. Paul reminded the Galatians). I need to remind myself of that. The fact is that I say what I say in love. Whether or not the people who hear and hate my words know or understand it, I care about them and their salvation. I pray every day that they will (re)turn to Christ.