I went to a Mass of reparations last night as part of a vigil for the Alliance of the Two Hearts. These are held each first Friday and one of the things I like about them is that they have confession open for about an hour and a half before Mass and it seems like everybody that attends also avail themselves of confession first. After Mass they expose the Blessed Sacrament and people remain there praying until the 7:30 Mass in the morning of the following day. The only thing I don’t like about organized Eucharistic adoration is that often the organizers feel that every minute must be filled with people reading out loud spiritual reflections and passages from the Bible. I like this to some extent, but I also prefer some time before the Blessed Sacrament trying to meditate. I am not always successful though there is always a peace in praying quietly during Eucharistic exposition.
During the homily our pastor reflected on the passage about the unfaithful servant and how he was more cunning then the children of light. He related this to the election and the Catholic vote and decried the fact that the Catholic vote to some extent is still willing to support radically pro-abortion candidates. One of the comparisons that he made I thought was most interesting. He compared some issues like the economy, health care, etc to the body. He went on to relate issues like abortion, contraception, ESCR to the soul. That we must vote the soul first since without the soul the body is lifeless. Martyrs are willing to be killed first rather then to denounce their faith or to formally cooperate in evil. While the body is a good, our soul takes precedence
"Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell
\For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?
I thought this was an interesting and fruitful delineation of issues.
5 comments
Yes, this was exactly how I explained to a friend why i would vote for moral issues over economic ones.
Careful with being too Gnostic.
Many Protestants already crossed the threshold.
He compared some issues like the economy, health care, etc to the body. He went on to relate issues like abortion, contraception, ESCR to the soul. That we must vote the soul first since without the soul the body is lifeless.
Interesting analogy.
It is hard to be Gnostic when doing Eucharistic adoration – these devotions remind us of how incarnational our faith actually is.
I doubt that recognizing the priority of spiritual matters over corporeal ones constitutes some sort of dangerous slide towards Gnosticism. Nobdy said “matter is evil, try to ignore it as much as possible”. The point is to recognize their relative importance.