Baptism of the Lord, 2013
One of the major problems that Catholics have in America is that we live in a country for whom law is supreme.
Now don’t get me wrong. We are a nation of laws and we need to be a nation of laws. We need laws to help guide us and create and recreate order. The opposite of being a nation of laws is being a lawless nation—and you and I can imagine what that would look like.
But law, if it is understood as that by which a superior authority either allows us or forces us to do something is not supreme. Because only God is supreme and if a law does not come from God it is no law. We Americans sometimes have this notion that if something is legal—it is moral. And if something is illegal—it is immoral.
Bathtub gin and immorality
Remember Prohibition? Do you think that because the United States government during the 1920’s forbade the manufacture sale and importation of alcohol that some family that decided to make bathtub gin was doing something immoral? That they were committing a sin in the eyes of God? I can only imagine what some Irish or Italian or Polish immigrant said when he got off the boat and someone told him that the Americans had just outlawed alcohol: “You gotta be kidding!?!?! They did what?!?!” We must always remember that just because the State says that this or that is illegal—does not make it immoral. And just because the State says that we are obliged to do this or that—does not mean that we really are obliged to do it.
No. The ultimate principle is this: All laws must reflect God—His goodness—His Love—His Being—or it is not a legitimate law.
All law begins with God
In other words, all law begins with God—and if a law is against God—or His goodness—or His justice or His love—it is no law. That’s how deep it is. Law is not just someone in authority saying : “You have to do this—because we said so and this is the law of the land now.” That is just willfulness. If a law does not relate to the goodness and being of God and therefore to His love, it is really nothing.
All last week in our daily readings we were treated to Saint John’s explanation about God and love—and how God is love—and whoever lives in Love lives in God and God in him. That is who our God is—His nature—which is His being—is Love. And it cannot be other than that. That’s who God is. And that is how His universe and His moral laws are—they reflect Him—the laws of this universe and the moral laws reflect God’s love and God’s being.
The Muslims’ “all will” God
Take for example the Muslims. They believe in a God who is ‘all will’—which means that they believe that God can decide that what yesterday was evil—today is good. Or that what yesterday was good today is evil.
If today God decides that murder is ok—then so be it for today.
God’s will follows from His nature
But for we Catholics—God’s being and goodness and Love is supreme—not His will. God’s will (what He decrees for the universe) follows from His nature. So even the laws of the Universe—the rotation of the planets—the existence of the stars and the way we must treat each other—all reflect the Being and the goodness of God—And those laws are so like God that they cannot change.
In this way we can understand that if the laws that our legislatures pass do not reflect the unchanging goodness of God and the unchanging moral laws of the Universe which He has created—they are not laws at all.
Now I didn’t make this up. This is traditional Catholic understanding of law and morality. But our problem— as modern Americans—is that too often—once they make something legal we begin to go along with it—we begin to think it is OK. And once they outlaw something we begin to think we cannot do it—simply because the government has said so.
Government is not supreme
But that is not the way we should think of any of this. Because then we begin to accept as moral and normal whatever the Government has decided is moral and normal—even if it is absolutely evil and immoral and has been considered so since the human race began.
We begin to think that the Government is our Teacher and Guide—our moral leader. “If the President of the United States says that it is a fine thing to kill unborn babies then it must be ok. After all—he’s the President.” Or online casino australia if the state legislatures and governors of every state in the Union say that it is ok for two men to get married, we must be wary of starting to go along with it. “Well the Governor says it is legal—so I guess its ok.
“Heck, it’s just two guys holding hands.” But the problem is that when we let the government tell us what is moral or immoral—then we have made the Government into a false God—a god whose will is Supreme and whose will we must obey or we are therefore unAmerican.
The U.S. seems to be turning into a country where the government tells everyone what is right or wrong—where politicians teach people how to live in this world—where the media and celebrities (who give money to the politicians) are the moral guides in this life—and not God and not Jesus and not His Church.
Our religion runs deep
You might ask at this point what does any of this have to do with the celebration today of the Holy Family—or of the Baptism of Our Lord—there’s that Brankin talking about the politicians again. Well here is the point: Our religion—our Catholic religion—runs deep or it doesn’t run at all. Christmas and Epiphany and the Holy Family and the Baptism of Our Lord and all the things we learn from all our feasts—are true and always true and apply to everyone everywhere—or none of it is true and applies to no one.
If it is true for us then by implication that it is true for Democrats in Congress or Republicans who would be president—it is true for the Hottentots in Africa and sheiks in the Bahrain—It is true for the rabbis in Israel and the young moderns in their high rises. To say we believe in Jesus is to imply that it is a true belief and true morality for all—and for all times. Otherwise it is superficial and external—a cute way of looking at things— and changeable—and ultimately is for no one and has nothing to do with the way we live our lives or structure our society.
Do we believe?
And if we are sitting here in this church talking about Jesus under any aspect—we are being asked to make a decision—Do we believe all of this? Do we believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do we believe that He was sent from God to be born of the Virgin Mary? Do we believe that John the Baptist was His herald when at last he came—and do we believe that Baptism gives us real forgiveness from our sins? ? Do we believe all this is true and real? Or not? And if so, then how do we live our lives and make our laws in the light of that belief? Or do we just surrender when they say surrender?
Now that Barak Obama has spoken about how Catholics are going to have to pay for abortion—and for Sandra Fluke’s birth control—is there nothing more for us to say about it? Now that the Sun-Times or Chicago Tribune are all for gay marriage, are we not even allowed a contrary opinion? That is why—Now—more than ever—and with more conviction than ever before and with more resolve than we ever thought possible—we must maintain and reaffirm our belief—that the only laws that are true laws— are the ones that are consistent with the goodness and being and love of God as taught infallibly by the Church, the Bible and tradition. Anything contrary to that—is no law at all.