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As the years of the
20th century dwindled and the dawn of the first day of the New
Millennium approached, numerous self-proclaimed “seers” and “futurists”
warned of ominous events that would alter life as we human beings knew
it.
One newsletter,
entitled “The Earth-Changes Report: A Survival Guide for the Nineties,”
predicted cataclysmic events for the West Coast. The newsletter’s
author, Gordon-Michael Scallion, shared an ominous vision with his
readers concerning a “four-quake scenario.” He wrote: “My visions are
now in full color with no alternative aspects, or realities, to shift
to. In other words, events will now unfold with no possibility of
change.”
What events
comprised this scenario?
There would be
three days of absolute darkness. The Federal Reserve Bank and the
United States monetary system would collapse. Thermo-nuclear war would
kill hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. A nuclear power
plant disaster would lead to vast population migrations. Tent cities
would spring up across California. And, before 2000, an additional sun
would be born.
All of this for a
subscription fee of $36 per year that thousands of gullible people
willingly paid.
However, paying
others to make prognostications about what the future will bring isn’t
anything new.
One popular
figure during the 17th and 18th century was a fellow by the name of John
Partridge. He published Partridge’s Almanac, an annual
compilation of prognostications foretelling future events. Thousands
upon thousands of people purchased, read, and made decisions about their
lives based upon the predictions contained in Partridge’s Almanac.
The story has
been told about how, in the course of a journey, John Partridge stopped
at a country inn to rest. When Partridge announced that he was about to
leave the inn and resume his journey, the innkeeper told Partridge, “If
you take my advice, you’ll stay a while because, if you leave now,
you’re going to run into some very heavy rain.”
“Nonsense,”
Partridge exclaimed and then departed.
Not long after he
left the inn, however, Partridge was drenched by a thunderstorm.
Intrigued by the innkeeper’s accuracy in predicting the weather,
Partridge decided to return to the inn. Once there, he offered the
innkeeper a large sum of money if the innkeeper would divulge his secret
method for predicting the weather.
The innkeeper
took Partridge’s money and then explained. “You see, we have this
little book called Partridge’s Almanac. The fellow is such a
notorious liar that whenever he promises fine weather, we know for sure
that it’s going to rain.”
Just as people
did during the 17th and 18th centuries, so it is that many today desire
accurate prognostications about their futures. I know people who read
the horoscope daily. Many others certainly visit Tarot card and palm
readers because their storefronts are springing up faster than
manicurists’ storefronts are springing up on Main Street in Norristown!
All of this despite the fact that just about every one of us knows that
it is virtually impossible to predict the future. So many variables
come into play any one of which can influence what happens. Hazarding a
prognostication about future events is just that…a hazard. Just ask
anyone who predicts the weather on television.
There is one
thing we can predict with certitude, if not infallibly.
What is it?
We can predict
the terror and chaos that illegal and immoral behavior―what we call
“sin”―invites into one’s life, one’s home, the lives of other people,
and into nations as well. When people do this, they invite the “end
times” into their lives. We can be absolutely certain of that. These
are the end times―the price people pay for sin, when everything they
cherish and value goes up in smoke―that Jesus was describing in today’s
gospel.
For the Jews of
Jesus’ day, the price extracted for sin was the destruction of life as
the Jews knew it and everything they valued along with it, especially as
this would be evidenced in the destruction of the Temple. “All that you
see here,” Jesus told the people, “the days will come when there will
not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”
These are the
predictions Jesus tells his disciples in today’s gospel they must
announce no matter what the personal repercussions or consequences may
be. Disciples cannot remain silent about predicting the terror and
chaos that surely follows in the wake of sin. Jesus even goes so far as
to say, “Remember, you are not to prepare you defense beforehand, for I
myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries
will be powerless to resist or refute.”
In our day, the
price extracted for sin―the
terror and chaos it can introduce into our lives―might
be the destruction of family life as we know it and all of the things we
value associated with it. We fear it so much that we may even
pretend it couldn’t
possibly happen...in much the same way the Jews believed it impossible
that the Temple would be destroyed.
Many years ago, I
received a telephone call one Saturday morning from the parent of a
sophomore student who, on the previous evening, had attended a party at
the home of another sophomore student. The party followed a football
game and, the parent told me, the other student’s parents provided
alcoholic beverages to the students attending the party. In all, there
must have been about 20 students attending this “party.”
If the report was
true, and knowing full well how these situations can spiral out of
control and result in spending hours “putting out the fires” when the
allegation was based upon nothing more than an unfounded rumor, I first
called the parents who were alleged to have sponsored the party and
asked if the rumor I heard about alcoholic beverages being served at the
party was true. The student’s mother confirmed that it was. I then
asked if I could come over and visit with both her and her husband to
discuss the matter. The woman said that she’d check with her husband
and get back to me. Within an hour, the student’s father called and
said he thought it wasn’t necessary to meet. But, I persisted and,
finally, the student’s parents agreed to meet with me later in the day
at their home.
As I mentally
rehearsed for this visit, I figured the parents would give me a
variation of the somewhat standard argument that parents oftentimes will
assert when their kids get into trouble. You know, it’s the “It
occurred outside of school hours and it wasn’t on school property, so
it’s none of your business” argument. In other words, “Go and MYOB.”
Or, I thought, perhaps they’d assert something along the lines, “It’s
none of your business what we do in the privacy of our house.”
I decided that my
response these arguments would be something along the lines, “Look,
these students are minors and what you did is illegal. Not only that,
it sets a horrendous example for the rest of the students and makes it
difficult for other parents to uphold legal and moral standards.”
If the parents
persisted and argued that other students’ parents have sponsored similar
parties or had condoned serving the students alcoholic beverages at this
party, I decided I would respond by saying, “I don’t care how many
parents condone illegality. It’s illegal. That’s it. End of story.
Furthermore, the school won’t tolerate this. So, if this is something
you will tolerate, then it might be best if you withdraw your student
from our school because we cannot support you in your role as the
primary educator of your children.”
Much to my
surprise, the parents didn’t assert either of these arguments. Perhaps
they had heard the “buzz” on the streets that I didn’t take any
prisoners when it came to illegal and immoral behavior on the part of
our students. After all, the students didn’t call me and two other
Augustinians at the school “the Rat Pack” for no good reason.
Instead, the father advanced the following argument, “Look, you know
that kids are going to drink anyway, so we believe that by offering kids
alcoholic beverages in a controlled environment like our home, we’re
protecting them from the potentially tragic consequences that could
result if they were drinking in an uncontrolled environment.”
I hadn’t
rehearsed my response to that argument.
“That’s absurd,”
I heard myself saying without first carefully thinking through my
response. “That’s just like saying, ‘Hey, kids are going to have sex
anyway’ so why don’t you give them your master bedroom and put condoms
on the nightstand for them to use? After all, you don’t want them to
have ‘unprotected sex’, do you?”
As I heard my
response, I couldn’t believe the words that were flowing from my mouth,
much as the water in the Schuylkill River flows toward Philadelphia
following a heavy downpour.
Why couldn’t I
believe my words?
One thing taught
at principal’s school is that you’re not supposed to confront people,
especially parents, and draw lines in the sand. You’re supposed to
navigate the grey area between the black and the white, to smooth things
over by developing a consensus, and to make everything okay for all of
the parties involved. The worst thing a principal can do is to “ruffle
feathers.” “It will always come back to haunt you,” aspiring principals
are told. That just wasn’t me, however.
When the
student’s parents heard me say this, an incredulous look appeared on
their faces. Their eyes widened just like those of deer when their eyes
are caught by headlights. It was as if these parents had just been
found out doing something no one else was supposed to know about.
Worse yet, I
didn’t stop there. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing myself say:
“That’s just like saying, ‘Kids are going to smoke anyway’ so why not
put a package of Marlboro’s on the nightstand so they can have light up
and have a few puffs after having sex?”
The student’s
mother became unhinged. She said, “You’re the one who’s being absurd.
Everybody knows that smoking causes cancer.”
Not believing
what I just heard, I put my hand on my face and shook my head back and
forth. That’s when the student’s father chimed in, “Honey, that’s not
the point he’s making.”
The end times.
Everything of value is destroyed. No one comprehends what you are
saying. “This will lead to your giving testimony,” Jesus said to his
disciples in today’s gospel. Don’t rehearse your responses because
Jesus said, “Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your
adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.”
So, I ask: Why is
it that so many parents―and there are a lot of them―live in fear of
making their children unhappy by requiring that they follow the law and
live virtuously so that they experience what being a young person and
growing up is really all about? What is it that tempts so many parents
to believe that testifying to the truth that commonsense, Scripture, and
Church teaching will destroy their relationships with their children?
Why are so many parents afraid to say, “This behavior is destructive and
I won’t allow you to engage in it because I love you.” Why can’t
parents say, “Alcohol is to be used responsibly by people after
they have attained the legal drinking age.” Or, “Sex is a gift to be
expressed only responsibly and within a marriage. Abstinence is
100% fool proof. Condoms aren’t.” This is nothing but common sense,
scripture-based morality, and Church teaching.
Can part of this
reticence on the part of parents to stand for what common sense,
scripture-based morality, and Church teaching be traced to all of those
“seers” and “futurists” who have warned parents in books and on
television shows of the ominous events, the terror, and the chaos that
will destroy family life if parents were to discipline their children
according to what common sense, scripture-based morality, and Church
teaching dictate? Or, is it that parents afraid because, as Jesus
said, “You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and
friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by
all because of my name…” To put Jesus’ words into today’s language, are
parents afraid of hearing a child scream, “I hate you, Mom” or “I hate
you, Dad” because you won’t allow your child to engage in illegal or
immoral behavior or to participate in situations that might lead to such
behavior?
Perhaps so.
But, even more
importantly, in terms of being a disciple and what discipleship requires
of parents, in particular, not standing for what commonsense,
scripture-based morality, and Church teaching dictate is especially
pernicious because it reveals a malignant attitude toward young people
that denigrates them. For parents to allow, to provide for, and to
tolerate young people to engage in what every young person knows is
illegal and immoral is for parents to communicate to their children that
they are simply too ignorant, too immature, and too selfish to act
responsibly by doing what the law and virtue requires. So, what’s
the answer? To allow them to do these things in a controlled
environment?
And, it’s no
different for college and university administrators…especially those at
Catholic colleges and universities! Why are they so afraid of upholding
commonsense, scripture-based morality, and Church teaching by shutting
down 24 hour visitation and co-ed dorms? Why are they so afraid of
telling students that underage drinking, using drugs, engaging in sexual
experimentation, and cohabiting are absolutely unacceptable because they
aren’t about what people of faith know is true but express hedonistic
selfishness? For administrators to allow, provide for, and tolerate
young adults to engage in illegal and immoral behavior is to communicate
to young adults that they also are too ignorant, too immature, and too
selfish to act responsibly and to do what virtue requires.
These parents and
college/university administrators aren’t living in the “modern world.”
No, they’re living in the end times, “the days…when there will not be
left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Their
behavior, as parents and administrators, is evidence of what Chesterton
once described as “people who have lost the power of astonishment and
their own actions.”
As bad as all of
this truly is spiritually, theologically, and morally speaking, I think
those parents and administrators who fear to proclaim commonsense,
scripture-base morality, and Church teaching are communicating something
even far worse to young people and young adults. It’s not just that
these adults are denigrating young people. They also aren’t
telling young people and young adults that God created each and every
one of them in His divine image and likeness. They’re also not telling
young people that God has breathed his law into their mouths and souls,
just as Moses taught the Israelites, and that by not listening to God’s
law, all they’re doing is running away from themselves.
In sum, parents
who advocate the positions I have just described are abdicating their
responsibility as the first and best teachers of their children in
matters of faith and morals. Likewise, college and university
administrators who advocate the positions I have just described are
abdicating their responsibility to form the minds and hearts of young
people so that they can know what constitutes the truly good life and
pursue it by making virtuous decisions.
And, young people
know it.
They’re not
looking for guidance from linguini-spined adults who are too afraid to
stand for something and, because they are so afraid of young people,
will stand instead for anything and everything. No, young people are
actually looking for their parents to provide the spiritual,
theological, and moral leadership they know they need so that they can
develop into young adults. Young adults are also looking for college
and university administrators to challenge them to think very carefully
about what the truth is and what it dictates in terms of living a truly
good life. Both young people and young adults know that they are
happier when adults lead them and hold them accountable to very high
legal and moral standards. Young people also know that they are
unhappy―profoundly unhappy―when they and their peers are doing the
leading and holding themselves accountable to the lowest standards or no
standards whatsoever. It “feels good” but we can predict
infallibly that it leads to terror and chaos as one attempts to put
Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Looking back on
the history of all of those “futurists” and “child-rearing experts” who
have plied their trade by mesmerizing gullible people with dramatic
prognostications about the future, the only conclusion one can draw is
that it is with great unreliability that they predict the future. Then,
to believe anyone can predict future events unfolding, as Mr. Scallion
stated, “with no possibility of change” is sheer absurdity.
We can, however,
predict infallibly where illegal and immoral behavior―what is called
“sin”―leads.
If all parents
and college and university administrators seek is to cause no
disruptions and to provoke no opposition, they’re likely not proclaiming
God’s saving word. No, they’re more likely choosing to live in the end
times, as they place all of their hope in the prognostications of people
like Gordon-Michael Scallion and all of those people publishing “how to”
books about raising children. In the end, every one of these
prognosticators have proven themselves fallible. That’s why Jesus tells
his disciples in today’s gospel that those who walk the path he teaches
will encounter opposition, even hatred, “because of my name.”
“Teacher,” the
disciples asked, “when will this happen? And what sign will there be
when all these things are about to happen?” Jesus answered, saying,
“See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I
am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them!”
“By your
perseverance you will secure your lives,” Jesus tells his disciples.
These are the parents who will see the sun of justice with its healing
rays rising on the horizon, the Prophet Malachi said in today’s first
reading, as their children grow in grace and holiness, just as Jesus
did. They will see the sun of justice rising because they didn’t forget
the role Mary and Joseph played in salvation history as they provided
their son the spiritual, theological, and moral lessons that enabled him
to accept the Cross on its terms...in these end times. |
HOMILY
