Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 394

When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known.

Archbishop Dominique Mathieu. a Conventual Franciscan Friar, was appointed in February of this year as leader of the only Catholic diocese in Iran. I am told he must seek permission from civil authorities whenever he leaves his residence, whether to take a walk, visit a parish, or bring Viaticum to the dying. 

In the 700 years since Dominican missionaries brought the faith to Iran, Catholicism has appeared and disappeared several times. It has been tolerated at times; suppressed, persecuted, and erased entirely at other times; reestablished again; but never welcomed. The Church there is like Jesus, who 

...will not contend or cry out,

        nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

    A bruised reed he will not break,

        a smoldering wick he will not quench,

    until he brings justice to victory.

        And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

My mother reminded her children in the 1950's that Catholics have not always been safe or welcome in the United States. She told us of the Know-Nothing riots that troubled Louisville in the 1850s. The law says we have a right to be here; our dignity says we should play our part and accept our responsibilities as citizens. But we should never forget that those who belong to the Crucified are sojourners in an alien land; we are destined for a distant land. 

Catholic children should learn that today. If any feel stifled by the repressive conformism of American society, they should be invited to practice their non-conformity in ways that are more than play-acting. Those who are eager to confirm to America's regime of clothing, eating, and speaking should at least notice that their parents find nothing cute, charming, or appealing in the latest bizarre fads. 

The drop-out counterculture of the sixties, when I was young, was clearly fake even at the time. They were caricatures of freedom like Peter Pan and Bugs Bunny. I chose my own path of non-conformity by becoming a Franciscan Friar and priest. 

As the demands of sexual liberation and perverse ideology are heard in the street -- "You will be assimilated; resistance is futile" -- Catholics practice the chastity of our Savior Jesus Christ, as married, single, and celibate men and women.