Homily MP3 version Homily PDF version
From God’s point of
view, we are all his sheep, and He sends shepherds into the world to take care
of us. Among these shepherds there are first of all pastors – bishops, priests,
and deacons – but there are also doctors, nurses, and all the personnel of the
health and social services system. There are also judges, lawyers, notaries,
counsellors, and therapists. We can also count those who govern us and all
those who serve the population in the public service, including teachers. There
are also plenty of entrepreneurs who offer all kinds of services aimed at
health and well being.
According to God’s
judgement, many of these shepherds are not taking care of those who are
entrusted to them with competence, nor with honesty, nor with openness; some
even clergy, have abused the innocents. The result: sheep are scattered by poor
care; many of them even perish. For his part, God never stops caring for his
sheep, and sends other shepherds who will care for his sheep according to the
desire of our Creator’s heart.
“My
shepherd is the Lord; nothing indeed shall I want.”
We could examine
several domains of life where shepherds are not protecting the sheep. We will
limit ourselves to examining their management of only three life domains:
material goods, human sexuality, and human fertility.
Too many people who
have access to material goods and to the resources of the Earth, to wealth, and
to power let themselves be swept away by selfish attitudes and passions and then
accumulate far more than they need. The first consequence is that plenty of
people are deprived of access to even the basic essentials of life for
themselves and their families. As well, too many businesses are so obsessed
with maximizing their profits that they eliminate jobs and show no concern for
ordinary people who need to work in order to provide for their families, to
keep a roof over their heads, to clothe themselves, and to maintain good health.
“My
shepherd is the Lord; nothing indeed shall I want.”
At every level of
society, we see that many people, services, and offices reject the plan of our
Creator God for our happiness. They recommend and encourage everyone to ignore
God’s plan and instead to engage in all sorts of sexual practices which have
nothing to do with a man and a woman together welcoming children and building
their family. The indisputable results of all these diverse sexual practices
are everywhere evident: infectious diseases, the loss of dignity and joy of
living, vanishing concern for others, all kinds of psychological troubles –
including depression – and suicide.
“My
shepherd is the Lord; nothing indeed shall I want.”
When our Creator
created us, He created us man and woman, and He endowed us with our fertility.
When we embrace our fertility, it translates into generativity, our capacity to
give life. Giving life to others opens us to the wellbeing of others and takes
the center of attention off of ourselves. The first result of living for others
is interior peace and joy.
Unfortunately,
there are plenty of agents, shepherds at all levels of society, who see our
fertility not as the blessing intended by God, but on the contrary as a curse,
an illness. So, they invented medications to stifle our fertility and
extinguish it. The most dramatic and troubling result of this “culture of
sterility” is abortion which, in turn, has made us a “culture of death”.
In Québec there are
some 23,000 abortions a year or 64 a day. In Canada, it’s 85,000 a year or 233
a day. In the U.S.A. it’s 862,000 a year or 2,400 a day. Worldwide, there are
73 million abortions a year or 200,000 a day. That’s more than Covid-19. The
majority of people who offer abortion as a service don’t inform women – who are
rarely accompanied by the man – about the disastrous risks from these
procedures. Go see for yourselves on YouTube the documentary “Hush” which displays the
data accumulated from years of scientific research.
Every woman –
especially if she hasn’t had any children yet – who has one or more abortions
greatly increases her risk of breast cancer, and of all kinds of psychiatric
troubles: depression, sexual dysfunction, inability to carry a pregnancy to
term, trouble sleeping, trauma, eating disorders, addictions, and suicide.
Society creates a polemic around women’s right to choose, but they use this
polemic to camouflage and hide all this crucial information that would allow
women to really make a well-informed choice.
When I was a child growing up I remember hearing my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my parents talk about how they were distressed by priests often preaching "hell and damnation" you know, "You're going to hell!", you know, pointing fingers and pounding the pulpit, you know, it was pretty dramatic, and they were probably a little bit traumatized by that. It could be one reason why many of that older generation no longer go to church. Anyway, when I became a priest 38 years ago, I was so impressed by all of those stories, that I was very reluctant to talk about these things. But I recently watched this documentary... I felt outraged... a lot of people involved in the abortion industry conceal from women the risks! Whenever we go to see a doctor, you know, planning a surgery of some kind, they always tell us the risks, but for this, no. And when women ask: "Are there any risks?", they lie, they say "No, there's no danger, no risk." It's intolerable. I could not keep from saying something about this. So, I'm sorry if anyone finds this upsetting, but the reality often is upsetting.
(Elsewhere I have already reflected on and written that if there are any women at all having an abortion, all too often it is a failure of our manhood, we men; for God designed us human beings male and female for us to make such important decisions together. God never intended for women to have to make such life and death decisions all by themselves, without any loving support. You can see for yourself what I have written here:
Thankfully for all
of us our God is a loving Father, merciful and never gets tired of forgiving; for those who refuse to face the facts, the reality, the truth, eventually they will come face to face with God and they will find Him severe, but loving. For those of us who accept to admit our poverty, we find God tender and compassionate, for He is the Good Shepherd, God: the
Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“My
shepherd is the Lord; nothing indeed shall I want.”
Let us take a few moments
to let the Holy Spirit renew and deepen our trust in Jesus.
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Surprenant, Associate of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC ©
2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de
Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
