Monday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 491

Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard!

If I were a well-paid influencer, with a following of millions, I'd insist that you immediately go to Amazon and buy Abigail Favale's two books, Into the Deep and The Genesis of Gender. You should download the books to your Kindle reader and stop reading my blarney to read the first book, her autobiographical account of conversion from Evangelical Christian to Feminism to Roman Catholicism. 

But, as influencers go, I don't seem to be very influential; so I'll merely suggest you keep reading my reflections and purchase the books at your leisure. 

In the second book, Ms. Favoli recalls the terrible day when, as a teacher of feminism to undergrads, she confessed to her supervisor that she no longer believed anything she'd been teaching for the last few years. The realization had been stalking her like a cat eyeing a robin, especially since she'd married, become Catholic, and had children. It had suddenly pounced on her and she was horrified at what she'd was doing. 

The older man, rather than consoling her with pablum, quoted the above the above passage from Saint Luke: "It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and...." She soon revised her curriculum and engaged in more serious, more challenging conversations with her students, many already deeply indoctrinated in atheistic feminism.

This grim verse is often applied to sexual offenders of every stripe, but Ms. Favale and her mentor opens its use to everyone who has ever assumed they knew the truth or the gospel without practicing deep humility. Teachers -- from pastors to parents -- must practice humility, acknowledge their sinful fallibility, submit their opinions to higher authorities, welcome correction, and study our faith continually. 

Ours is a rational religion but appears insane to ideologues. We take our beliefs seriously enough to study, discuss, ponder, restate, and reaffirm them often. No single sentence or phrase encapsulates the Gospel. As someone has said, "The Bible contains the Word of God, but the Word of God is not contained by the Bible." 

Hearing today's warning the disciples begged the Lord to "Increase our faith." He assured them that faith the size of a mustard seed would uproot a mulberry tree and throw it into the sea. To be faithful we don't have to be outrageous. Atheism has been around a long time and appears under many forms. It is endemic in all political parties for their only pursuit is power. 

Feminist ideologues, like the Communism, Nazis, the IRA, and the Ku Klux Klan think the world should be purged of evil within their time. If, to accomplish their mission, they must destroy humanity itself, so be it. But many, like the prodigal son, come to their senses and return to the truth. For every knee in heaven and on earth and below the earth will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.