A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Mark. As our lord was teaching in the temple precincts, he went on to say, how can the scribes claim the Messiah is David's son? David himself inspired by the Holy Spirit said, the lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Now, this is our lord speaking. Now, if David himself addresses him as lord, in what sense can he be his son?
The majority of the crowd heard this with delight, and this is the gospel of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. Today, we are ready wearing red vestments, and that's to recall to you the fact that the that many, many Christians, Catholic Christians, and others have died for Christ. Now when we sit here very calmly this morning in Garrett Park, it's so easy to say that, to die for Christ. Just as we say, well, I give up everything for Christ.
Christ says, you've gotta give me everything. You say, sure. I give you everything. All of this is so easy until we're the crisis comes. Now, again, as soon as you you were the use the word crisis, immediately, you think of something big.
And that's the big mistake. Because these crises, which are extremely important because they're divisive never forget it. They are divisive. You are a citizen of the world, but you hope to be a citizen of heaven, and the two don't go together. You cannot ride unless you're a circus rider, and they can't do it with ease without years of practice.
Ride two horses. You cannot serve God and man. Now what we have to realize that being a Catholic is to be a martyr. By that, I mean, it means the rejection of self. And what is this?
All this stuff is so abstract. But what do we mean when we say reject self? It means that here is something pleasant, something that looks good, something that will enrich your life. Oh, above all, it will fulfill your life and your person. That, of course, is the of the utmost importance today to be fulfilled.
The martyrdom is to say no to that. And sometimes with blind faith, blind faith, in cold blood. When on the one hand, you have everything that's attractive to you as a human being, a citizen of this world, and on the other hand, nothing but an abstract concept. And as Newman has time and again pointed out, when you have a conflict like that, which one is more likely to win? More likely, not necessarily, but more likely.
It's going to be what we call the world, what appeals to our senses, what appeals to our imagination, what makes us comfortable. Oh, above all, we must be comfortable. Only yesterday, I heard an argument about ethics, and I said, well, the main point is to make a decision that you can live with, that you're comfortable with. Boy, that's a great theory. I love that.
Only it's coming too late in life for me to do much about it. But that's the tenor of the day. We are called upon to reject self if you're going to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And don't ever forget it. It's not to be comfortable.
We talk about the peace of Christ. What in the world is the peace of Christ? Well, look at the cross. Christ never made us made any secret about it. He never promised us anything in this world but the cross.
This is a hard doctrine, believe me. It's a severe doctrine. But it's the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and you can't escape it. You can't escape it. Now today, we have a a feast of Charles of Wonga and 21 other martyrs.
A lot of them young boys. What was their martyrdom about? It just irks me no end to read how people are these writers. These are all in our liturgical books. But what these people died for was chastity.
That's what these men died for in those boys. It it was in the nineteenth century, around eighteen eighty sixty five in there. When in in Uganda, you had a well, they call him a king. I don't know what his proper title is. I couldn't pronounce it anyway.
But anyway, he was the man in charge. He was the boss man. And he wanted to have sex with these younger boys who were Christians and catechumens. And Charles was the was the leader of them. And here, Charles is the one who inspired them with enough guts, but, really, it's faith to say no.
And they paid for the no with their lives, for chastity. Now remember, chastity is not of this world. It's of Christ. And in many parts of our wonderful country, I mean that sincerely, you can't even talk about chastity in a public school. You can't use the word because that's considered loaded with a religious input.
That's what these men died for. And today, it's treated look at all this stuff about the gays. That's what this is about. These fellas died because they wouldn't submit to what the gays are telling us is perfectly right, and god made me that way. And you have Catholics and even some bishops supporting it.
That's what's happening today. That's how far we have gotten away from the severe truth of Jesus. Chastity is not puritanism. Chastity means that we value something so important that we give it the importance that it demands unless it's going to be degraded below the mud. Remember, the destruction of the best is the worst.
A Greek philosopher said that, Plato. The destruction of the best is the worst. When a human being acts no better than an animal, he's worse than an animal because the animal is acting out his natural instincts. Where a human being is a citizen of this world but is born to be of heaven. Now if there's anything we can take from this speech today, and believe me, it is needed, is to hold up the ideal of chastity.
See, we're told that that's impossible. Who said it's impossible? It isn't that we're going to be perfect at it. As my dear friend mother Teresa says, God doesn't ask us for success but for perseverance. And because we can't always live up to an ideal perfectly, it certainly doesn't mean that we don't try to live up to it in our imperfect way.
It is not an impossible ideal, but it is impossible for men to live up to it even fairly well without the grace of God. Are we supposed to live as if we didn't couldn't rely on the grace of God? Are we supposed to live as if we didn't have a savior? Are we supposed to live as if Christ never said, take my cross and you'll find it light and my burden sweet? Are we to not are we to live without any of that background?
Try it and you will be miserable. It's like the alcoholic who simply doesn't drink. He's worse than he was because he's not practicing sobriety, which means a heck of a lot more than not taking a drink. And so today, let us reaffirm our loyalty to Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ stands for virtue.
He stands against immorality, sin. He came to save us from sin. And you can't tell me that what he came to do is an absolute impossibility. If only we rely on him and do our small but essential part. We can do it with Jesus Christ.
In the name of the father, of the son, holy spirit. Amen.