Fr. Dwight Longenecker7. True Marriage will be strengthened – When something like this happens everything becomes clear for many people. Things were muddy. Things were lukewarm. Things were ambiguous and people were just drifting along. Then when the devil pushes just a bit too far and too fast people wake up. I can see a grass roots movement already emerging in which Christians of all traditions come together to strengthen marriage, strengthen masculinity, strengthen femininity and strengthen marriage. I can see parishes that focus on the family. I can see new communities growing up that focus on the family, and out of this will come a fresh understanding of God’s plan for the human race within the joyful gift of the family.
8. The Sacrament of Marriage Will Shine More Brightly – From this crisis will come a new wave of teaching about the beauty, depth and supernatural sanctity of marriage. This is always what has happened. Read church history. When a truth is challenged by persecution or heresy, by state oppression or moral depravity the truth bounces back ever stronger. When darkness encroaches the light shines ever more brightly. This will happen not because we make it happen, but because that is the very nature of truth and light. Truth and light prevail because they are positive. Darkness and death are negatives. They seem terrible, but they are the absence of life and light and therefore they cannot be sustained.
9. This is a Penitential Moment – The LGBT issue is not an isolated cultural phenomenon. It is part of a larger sexual revolution that has taken place over the last fifty years, and most of us, to a greater or lesser extent have been caught up in this whirlwind. This sexual revolution includes every sin against chastity. All of us should examine our consciences. Have we chosen the easy way of artificial contraception? Have we chosen to be sterilized because we “couldn’t afford more children”? Have we chosen the way of quickie divorce? Re-marriage? Have we turned a blind eye to our kids’ co habitation? Have we attended weddings we knew were illicit just to be nice? Have we used pornography or prostitutes? Have we solved a crisis pregnancy with abortion? Have we watched sex scenes in movies or TV with family members without comment? Most of us have been caught up in the moral maelstrom. It’s time we got our minds and hearts clear and committed ourselves to the fight for chastity.
10. Chastity Will Triumph – Remember the virtue of chastity is not the same thing as celibacy. Celibacy means sacrificing sexual intimacy and marriage for the sake of the kingdom. All are called to chastity. Not all are called to celibacy. Chastity means being faithful in our sexuality to the church’s teaching on marriage. It’s simple: no sex outside marriage. This is not a prohibition to cause us sorrow and pain, but a discipline that leads us to the faithfulness of marriage through which we learn the difficult lessons of love. This is truth. This will triumph as the faithful catch the vision.
11. Remember Humility, Humor and Humanity – Stop and remember to put all things in perspective. The SCOTUS decision is alarming and upsetting. However, do five seriously stupid lawyers really think they can overturn God’s plan for humanity? Get real. When you see it like that it’s a case of the emperor’s new clothes. What they’ve done is dumb. Smile, laugh and rise above it. Even if they tax your business, lock up your priests, scream in your face, burn your churches and send you to jail, laugh and rise above it. Remember Christians sing in prison, joke on the scaffold, are courteous to their torturers, joke with their executioners and wave cheerfully to the crowd as they put their head on the block. Things have been worse. Be of good cheer.
12. Do Not Be Afraid! – I will never forget the first words of Pope St John Paul II as he stepped on to the balcony. “Do not Be Afraid!” This is the constant refrain throughout the gospel. “Do Not Fear!” says the angel to Mary and Joseph. “Do not be Afraid!” says Jesus to the disciples in the boat in the stormy night. “Fear Not!” says the angel of the resurrection. “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind!” says the magnificent St Paul to his young friend Timothy.
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