Tuesday, January 31, 2012

It's Going to be Okay

Honestly, this whole HHS mandate regarding contraception and sterilization procedures has been almost a constant in my thoughts since I first heard about it.

This is a scary time. The idea of people being forced by the American Government to violate their consciences is something I never really imagined. In fact, it's something I could only vaguely conceptualize as a reality at all. For anyone. Anywhere.

I've always known though. I've been told of the reality of oppression at the hands of a country's leaders. The difference now is that it was always something distant from me, from the life I live. After all, I've been blessed to be a citizen of the Land of Opportunity, the Land of Promise. I've always had full access to the American Dream.

Whatever your personal beliefs are regarding the Catholic Church's teaching on matters of contraception, I think you can still admit that it is a serious violation of the Religious Liberty promised to those who live in this country.

And so, I've worried. I've worried about what else the government has the hidden ability to do. I've worried about what is going to come after this. I've worried about how people will react. I've worried about what will happen to an already misguided and disillusioned view of family and the right to life.

I worried, and then I read this.

The most reassuring thoughts provided in that blog (for me) come at the very end.

(1) "...I'm not worried because we're going to do the right thing." Oh. Right. I forgot. The Catholic Church is led by holy men who are direct successors of the apostles. They have been anointed to safeguard the teachings of the Church. They have been anointed to pass on and protect the Sacred Traditions that have been handed to us. And they will. Because for all of the falling away, all of the countless ways that human nature has tainted what we see of the Church, God will protect His Church. He has graced it, consecrated it, and founded it upon a rock that stands today: in richness and in fullness. We ARE going to do the right the thing. Not every single Catholic. But the One, Holy, and Universal Church. The gates of hell will not prevail.

(2) "Finally, more importantly than any of these human, practical, temporal things that I take hope in, the number one I find hope in is that these armies and enemies don't matter. As King Henry V says in Shakespeare's play: 'We are in God's hands, Brother, not in theirs.'"

We do not belong to this world. We do not belong to this government. We belong to God. We are His children, members of His Church. We live and move and have our being in Him. He will protect us. He will empower us with His Spirit. The gates of hell will not prevail.

He has won. And we are so blessed to have been called into His victory. By mercy we are invited into the mystery of Himself. And nestled within the grace of that mystery we know that this world cannot take away all that is glorious in Him.

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