A House Divided
Jan 23: Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
Morality precedes law. God gave commands to Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, even Moses himself before actually writing them down for Moses in the desert. God may write the laws on our hearts, as discussed a couple days ago, but we’re a literate and democratic society. We tend to believe what is written down as law is what was chosen by the society as a whole.1
That’s why, regardless of what any individual chooses to do, we must also hope, pray, and advocate for the ending the legal murder of babies.2 The law distorts too many people’s views on the subject of baby murder otherwise.
Today’s readings don’t have much to do with any of that, but that’s what the Church asked us to pray for today, so I wrote about it.
Reading 1
Heb 9:15, 24-28
Christ is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.
Animal sacrifice is a kind of symbol. We had to offer animals in the Temple because people can only die once. But because the animals were insufficient, the high priest made these sacrifices annually.
Jesus, like us, died once. But he came back. That’s the good news. He died for our sins, and is alive again, so we have hope of rising again, too. And still, death is still a one-time thing. At the second coming, Jesus is bringing salvation and the rising of the dead.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6
R. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
R. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
Not all Psalms have titles, but the ones that do usually are at least a little descriptive. Not this one! It’s just called “a psalm.”
I like to think that’s because it’s the most prototypical psalm you can have: a psalm of praise. That’s the most basic thing a psalm should achieve; the core of any liturgy, really. We should praise God for everything he’s done, including becoming a Man and being born on Earth as a little baby.
Alleluia
See 2 Tm 1:10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This reiterates the point of the first reading. Jesus did something no one else had done before, and brings to light our hopeful future.
Gospel
Mk 3:22-30
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons."
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin." For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
Okay, I really can’t read this and not think of The Simpsons:
They’re actually accusing him of two separate things: 1) being possessed and 2) driving out demons in Satan’s name.
Interestingly, Jesus answers in reverse order (probably because the second question is easier than the first). He’s obviously not working with Satan if what He’s doing is driving out demons. Why would Satan even want that?
Answering the first is a kind of warning. The “everlasting sin” in question is assigning to the Devil that which the Holy Spirit is doing (i.e. casting out demons). The reason it’s “everlasting” is not because God won’t forgive you; God forgives all sins. But Thomas Aquinas says that so long as you hold this belief, confusing the Devil and the Holy Spirit, you won’t be able to ask for forgiveness.
Don’t call good things evil, and evil things good. Don’t call God Satan, or Satan God. You have to get this base level thing first, before you can even begin to work on prayer and forgiveness.
Whether this mythology is believable or not, I leave to the reader. This isn’t a political blog.
I won’t use euphemisms. A baby is not a computer program or a space shuttle launch. “Aborting” is an inaccurate term meant to soften our understanding of what’s happening.