A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. As Jesus was casting out a devil, some of the crowd said, it is by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils. Others, to test Jesus, were demanding of him a sign from heaven. Because Jesus knew their thoughts, he said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. Any house torn by dissension falls.
If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? Since you say it is by Beelzebub that I cast out devils. If I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your people cast them out? In such a case, let them act as your judges. But if the finger of god if it is by the finger of god that I cast out devils, then the reign of god is upon you.
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his courtyard, his possessions go undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he is comes and overpowers him, such a one carries off the arms on which he was relying and divides up the spoils. The man who is not with me is against me, and the man who does not gather with me scatters. When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it wanders through arid wastes searching for a resting place. Then finally failing to find one, it says, I will go back where I came from.
It then returns to find the house swept and tidied. Next, it goes out and returns with seven other spirits far worse than itself, who then enter into the man and dwell there. The result is that the last state of that man is worse than the first. He ends up with seven devils, and this is the gospel, the good news of the lord. Praise the lord, Jesus.
In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, Amen. Well, I had no intention whatsoever of even mentioning what I'm going to mention, but I just can't resist it. Maybe some of you have seen the latest edition of Time magazine. It has a almost a full page article in there on a situation in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, where the archbishop Archbishop Quinn some time ago appointed a commission on social justice, and that commission has been in operation for some time. Then that commission, apparently, all I know is what I read in Time.
And somebody said Time is for magazines who can't for people who can't think. Anyway, this commission on social justice over a year ago took it upon themselves to appoint an ad hoc committee to study the question of homosexuality, and it has now issued its report. The commission was made up of 14 people, if I remember correctly, nine laymen, two priests, one nun, and two brothers. I only read this article once, did so and I had no intention of talking about this, but when I saw this text here, there's no choice. I am just compelled to do it.
I am a victim of circumstances, willingly so in this case. On that commission, there were several, according to time, known homosexuals. Now this commission has reissued its report. Now notice, this is an ad hoc committee appointed by a commission which was appointed by the archbishop of the Holy Roman Catholic Church of San Francisco. Well, this commission, this ad hoc committee on homosexuality has now issued its report, and it has 50 some recommendations.
But before getting into the details of those recommendations, which are not given in the article, Time Magazine reports that this committee on homosexuality rejects completely the teaching of the church, the teaching of the theology of the church, and the teaching of our holy father. They accuse the holy father of being unpastoral and lacking in historical knowledge, and above all, they say the church is not with the times. Well, isn't that ducky? This is the only point I want to make is this. This is the only point of all the things that one can say about this.
I'm not interested in the issue of homosexual. I'm this is merely a question of fact. These people who are who made that report reject the authority of the pope, the authority of the councils, the authority of scripture, the authority of what they say is the theology of the church. They reject all this, then they call themselves Catholics. How do you do that?
What is their conception of the church of Jesus Christ? Now I want to come back to this to the first reading where Saint Paul is quoting. Notice, he this is a quotation. He says, the just man shall live by faith. As you all know, that is the sentence which set off Luther.
The thing is Luther put the word alone in there, and he knew it was alone. I mean, he knew that that text did not have the word alone in it. He knew this. But he said that the the the Greek requires the word alone. He knew the word alone was not in the Greek, but he said when he translated into German, to make the meaning clear, he had to put the word alone in there.
However that may be, the great thrust of of the reformers, now I mean by reformers, Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli, and the those men who are truly called reformers, the honest to God reformers. They had a very good point. How are we saved? Are we saved by what we do, physical actions? Well, were you see, they were dyed in the wool neo Platonists.
And what was the what was physical, what was material, what was non spiritual, they demeaned. And in some instances said it was evil. So that true religion is of the heart, of the mind, of the soul, and salvation is comes from faith. And Luther said, alone. But the point that those men stressed was a good point, that we forget.
Actions, what are actions? Well, they are our actions. It's all you can say about it. One man gives a a thousand dollars to a starving child to go out and buy a year's food, and another man gives a thousand dollars to a starving child to go out and buy a year's food. One's a first rate atheist, One's a baptized, practicing, god fearing, loyal, devout Christian.
What's the difference in the action they do? The answer is as far as the money, as far as the buying the food, as far as the kid getting food for a year, there's no difference. And no matter how much money the atheist gives to the kid, it's not going to buy him faith. It's not going to get him salvation. That only comes from Jesus Christ.
Now my point is, again, it isn't talk it was the was the mind of these reformers. They were truly religious men, truly religious men, honest to God religious men. And they were willing to lay down their lives for these principles of faith. Today, we don't even talk about faith. What we want today is a Christianity without dogma.
We want a Christianity without tears. Saint Thomas More not only shed tears, he lost his head. John Fisher gave up his head. For what? For a principle of the papacy.
Those two men remember, Fisher was the only bishop in all of England who refused to take the oath, and that made the king absolute ruler of the church of Jesus Jesus Christ Christ in in England. England. He was the only bishop. The rest of them took the oath. They did it for doctrine, for faith.
That that was their vote for the divinity of the church of Jesus Christ lined up, centered upon, anchored in Rome. And remember, in the sixteenth century, this was not an article of faith. Had not been defined by any council. And so today, here we have the church being disturbed and torn asunder by dissension within the ranks. These are people who are supposed to be Catholics talking this way.
And what does Our Lord say? That if you have dissension, it will destroy you. Now remember, there can be differences of opinion. If we have a common goal. But when you have a an attitude which rejects, as I say, what scripture says, what the church says, what theology says, what the pope says, what the arch archbishop of San Francisco says, what the holy father said in Chicago when he visited there, and they still call themselves Catholics, how can you reconcile that attitude?
That's my point. And remember, any person who stands up and rejects what they are rejecting, the burden of proof rests upon them, not upon me. I have no obligation to justify homosexuality. And if they say it is, it's the burden of proof rests upon them. I don't have to move my little finger in any court of law.
This is the church we're living in today. It's a church that's being torn apart from within. But you see the contrast between those believers of the sixteenth century who were willing to lay down their lives. That includes Luther, includes Calvin, includes Zwingli laid down his life for truth. And today, we don't reckon with it at all.
And so in our prayer for this mass, let us pray that there's no question of Christ being with his church. That's not the problem at all. It's a question of what this does to human beings who are trying to live their faith. It can be disastrous. And so let us pray for them in this mass.
In the name of the father and of the son, holy spirit. Amen.