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2021 Lenten Series: Week 5

Added Apr 16, 2021 •

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good evening welcome back to the fifth and final series of our Lenten speaker this week we're going to be talking about this spell the ninth commandment Fidelity Chastity and continence and we're so grateful to be able to have dr.ken Craycraft be with us through this series he has a lifetime spent studying learning and working diligently to understand and be able to articulate our faith and we get to just sit back and relax and enjoy it and take it all in so we're ready to hear you again dr. Ken thanks. It's good to be back again here for the our fifth and Final how's the series I enjoyed enjoyed being with you on these Friday evenings and it's it's been dark until tonight and all the sudden it's it's a light it took me until about Wednesday 2 to I get sorted out with the time change as I said to my kids on my kids who have kids my children who have their own children as I said Sunday morning happy grumpy children day at that hour of sleep but we've got it's daylight here at at 7:30 on a on a Friday evening tonight we're going to the End by talking as Donna said about the 6th commandment and the 9th commandment which are probably the two most logically connected to one another if we if we consider the way that the second table precedes and so I want to talk about them in terms of Chastity Melody Chastity and continence I'm not going to say a whole lot about the ninth commandment and fact I'm going to more less incorporated into my discussion of the sixth commandment and then perhaps a few words in conclusion the end about the 9th and the reason for that is because the ninth commandment is isn't that a Commandment that accompanies the sixth commandment and so many ways that we weave into the sixth commandment a discussion of the ninth and let me put it this way as sort of an overview I mentioned last week that one of the things that we understand about our Catholic faith is that it's possible to commit tens without actually doing anything and we think about that in terms I used the example of racism or holding a position that some things that are morally licit are not morally listed the church understands those things themselves to be sinful and so when we look at the sixth commandment which is the prohibition of adultery the ninth commandment there prohibition of essentially what we call concupiscence are closed play related to one another so let's let's just say a couple of words more words about that we use the term concupiscence to describe the opposite Vice of The Virtue that the 9th man that commands the ninth commandment commends the virtue of temperance concupiscence can be understood to be the opposite of the virtue of temperance but can cute send is a an intellectual send concupiscence is a sin of thought of predilection of will of Desire it's not a sin of action when 2% manifests itself in an action we call that adultery or some other deviation from the sixth commandment some sexual deviation that descends from the 60 Amador can be comprehended by the sixth amendment so concupiscence is a sin of attitude a sin of will a sin of Desire that doesn't necessarily require that we do anything in or to be guilty of the sin and of course the sin that concupiscence leads us to ward in this context is again to send that would be Violet would violate the sixth commandment one other word event reduction before we look at the sixth commandment closely and that's to repeat something that I said pretty much every week and that is what is the purpose what is the overall general purpose of the Ten Commandments and more specifically law keeping or keeping rules in general it's easier sometimes to Define what the purpose of something is by first sang what the purpose of it is not it is not the purpose of the Ten Commandments or any Commandments of or any rules of the church any moral prescriptions or any moral prescriptions it's not the purpose of any of those things merely to keep the rule rather the purpose is always in order is always to order our lives toward the good to make us the kind of people who Order Our Lives toward the Good Witch Is God so the purpose of The Commandments is not simply to force us to do I think or not to do something but rather to assist us and movement toward our ultimate good which is rest in God which we talked about in the second week start the sixth commandment is the Commandment forbids us from committing adultery but orders us toward the goods of sexuality and marriage and what we need to concentrate on and what we often forget is that do the command is articulated in a negative tone what it orders us toward is an understanding of the richness and the fullness of human sexuality but Fitness and the fullness of human sexuality that can only be realized if it's ordered properly when it's a disordered then it cannot be realized and therefore does not contribute to the good of bread and God which we seek as with many of the at as what I think every week I started discussing the Commandments by disgusting not the the verse where the commandant is articulated itself either in Exodus or Deuteronomy but rather someplace else and I'm going to do the same tonight you have heard it was said You shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart this from Matthew 5:27 quoting Jesus summarizes the sixth and the ninth commandment that's because what Jesus is saying is that yes you've heard it said that you should not do this act perform this action which constitutes a sin but I say to you that you should not even have this will fold mentality not even have this concupiscence inclination because the concupiscence inclination is itself a sin not merely acting upon it but but willing it itself having said that let's look at the Commandments by by putting in contacts the sixth commandment you shall not commit adultery the context of the sixth commandment is Genesis one in Genesis chapter one we are told that God made Man In His Image male and female he made them it can't be an incident it can't be accidental that the immediate what immediately follows the statement that God made Man In His Image is the statement that God made man male and female or to put a no way that's that that illustrates the complementarity of the Sexes we could say immediately after the verse that says God created humankind In His Image male and female he created humankind and then he blessed them and said be fruitful and to multiply immediately in the context of Genesis we have an understanding of what the sixth commandment points us toward a point us toward the an understanding of the complementarity of the human Sexes and one of the twofold purposes of human sexuality and therefore of marriage because of course we can't separate sexuality as the act as an act of of performing at the sexual act from Marriage itself what I like and I want to say at the outset something that might be slightly slightly different from the you've understood the two fault that the two-fold purpose of marriage not dramatically different but perhaps a little bit different from what you've heard before you probably are are are able everyone here and everyone watching on a video is probably able to articulate in a simple way that marriage has a that there are two purposes to marriage the unitive purpose and the procreative purpose I like to change it just a little bit to see I bet there's one purpose of marriage with a with two aspects there's a there's a double aspect of marriage of the unitive and the procreative not two aspects of marriage but two call Stacks of the single purpose of marriage and therefore sexuality within marriage and that is the dual aspect of the unitive the procreative the reason I put it that way as this if we separate them even conceptually then we fail to understand how the procreative is necessarily part of the unitive and how the unitive is necessarily part of the procreative aspect of human cell Quality Inn especially sexual  what I mean by that is articulated by John Paul II when he tells us that an act of sexual  that is not in the context of a marriage is a at it and it is a false witness to the overall purpose of marriage which is not again to purposes but the single Purpose with two aspects the unitive in procreate and so sexuality outside of the unitive purpose of marriage or sexuality outside of the procreative side of marriage both give false witness to The Purge the marriage and therefore the purpose of sexuality within marriage this speaks been both to the complementarity of male and female as well as to the order toward which human sexuality is set the complementarity obviously comes in being made as male and female in immediately following that is the appropriate of a speck be fruitful and multiply this truth is revealed to us as I've already said in a different way by the creation account itself the rational order of creation includes play includes the send as the Central and dominant aspects the complementarity and the fecundity of the male-female relationship that's gender of which there are two I know it's confusing these days depending on who you talk to there might be two or there might be a hundred but we're going to stick with two best genders of which there are two is as fully apart the natural order as our physical other physical laws of the natural order there's some things in which we need to there's some hills and Catholic moral and sexual theology that we have to be willing to die on and this is one of them there are two genders and those and they cannot be separated from gender is ordered by not by inclinations not by willing not by any kind of passions that are not ordered toward the two-fold purpose of sexuality and therefore of marriage now that isn't to say that we can't and should not take account of aspects of human sexuality which violate these principles and deed from the past will contact we have to take seriously people who have same- attraction people who have gender dysphoria but we can take seriously those real orientation those real Sensations those real psychological or emotional or even impulsive or or or orientation we have to take those seriously we can't gainsay that we can't deny that someone has the orientation that he or she says he has but that by no means commits us to wavering from the fundamental understanding from Genesis 1 and from the entire history of the church that the complementarity and the fecundity of male and female is ordered in the very nature of creation when it comes to questions of same- attraction or gender dysphoria our primary inclinations as people who are called to accompany those who suffer on their journey is to be merciful compassionate open in a company we simply can't close off the struggle that people have with human sexuality simply because that struggle expresses Southport expresses a desire to express itself in a way that deviates from this order and it in this context into this audience what I don't think I need to impose buys as much as maybe in a different context or audience the the nature and purpose of human sexuality and again we got to Hill that we must die on but on the other hand within that context for yes I want to maybe overemphasize a little bit tonight the Our obligation does Christian disciples to take on the suffering to take on the burden to take on the struggle that other people have to understand the church's. desire to live by the church's teaching but also have these desires that we would call desires that are not ordered toward that to ask the two-fold aspect of human of human sexuality in marriage so we can't deny the reality of gender dysphoria and confusion obviously we can't deny the reality of same- attraction but we must hold to the funding understanding that sexuality is ordered toward unit Unity the unity of man and woman and the fecundity of the sexual act now when we say something is ordered by our Lorde Tour in the Ford and the Catholic tradition and therefore something that doesn't conform to that is disordered we mean something very specific more specific theologically than when we use the term ordered or disorder I'm popular Discord and it's very important to understand this both to have a clear concept of what we think about human sexuality and therefore what we think about adultery and other violations of the vi vi command but also how we can better understand and be sensitive to problems of disordered sexuality or disorder sexual urges when we say something is ordered towards something we met buy that or let's just put it this way if we say x is ordered Ford Y what we mean by that is X gets its purpose its meaning and its definition in terms of Y text is ordered toward Y which means that X gets its meaning purpose and definition by why in other words when we think about things being ordered we always think about them as ordered tour ordered toward something in fact in Catholic moral theology we almost would never use the term order at least in terms of sexuality and most other aspects of moral theology without saying ordered towards something in other words ordered is a transitive verb it's at least in the way that we use it in this context to be ordered is always ordered toward something so when we say something is orderly we mean that not simply that it's in its proper place or something like that rather we mean that its purpose is defined understood and fulfilled that gives us an check for understanding what we mean by disordered human sexuality and disorders that are violations of the sixth commandment the catechism is clearon, sexuality or so-called same- Jackson and that is that the desire and the inclination is disordered it does not say that the person is disordered it says that the desire and the inclination and of course the activity of same- sexual action is disordered but not the person but we understand that one we call it just ordered in the one on the one hand we're not saying anything more than same- sexual activity cannot be ordered toward the purpose of human creation which is the the purpose of sexuality within the context of human creation which has a two-fold aspect the unitive and the procreative because same- sexual activity by its buried Mission cannot be ordered toward the procreative therefore it cannot be ordered for the purpose of human sexuality in any way this is the reason once again or one of the other reasons that is very important that we don't divorce don't even conceptually separate the unitive from the procreative aspects of human sexuality because we by doing that we give a we let a wedge in the door for some kind of backdoor apology for same- sexual acts same- sexual activity which the partners might say constitutes the unitive aspect and an end and could save to in addition to that that there are many acts of heterosexual sexual activity that are not that are not fecund that that will not result in in procreation or conception but they're still licit and will talk about those a little bit later in the talk so the difference the difference and the complementarity which cannot be divorced which cannot be separated are Nash play are oriented toward the unit tip in the procreative nature of God now one of the things that we as Catholics need to be careful about is simply saying that biology equals morale often times the Russian of human sexuality for example really doesn't get Beyond a simple assertion that because biology works this way therefore we draw more conclusions from that that's an error we can't do that we can't simply say biology tells us the morality of certain human acts and that includes human sexuality however having said that having said that biology doesn't necessarily imply morality I also cannot deny that biology gives us information about the moral life and that information is something that we must take account of in our understanding of the way that we develop our sexual ethics text wife it's in sexual morality so biology doesn't equal morality but biology gives us information and biology tells us that our experiences are necessarily related to the our physiology and our sexual organs and the way that we and the way that they are ordered toward that to fold Unity of purpose I love that too full purpose of the unitive and the procreation so having said that what is the what does what is that toward which the sixth commandment points us that toward which the a man that points us is our vocation to chastity Chastity can be understood and three different ways because they're basically three different types of are three different ways that a person could be chased an unmarried person of course is chased by refraining from sexual activity altogether a married person is chased by having relations with his or her spouse a person who has made a commitment to celibacy is chased by honoring and made a vow of celibacy is Chase by honoring the Val a person who has made a vow of celibacy who later has sexual activity even if it's in the context of a later marriage has still violated that vow of celibacy I would call that unchaste in the same way a couple who has been rightfully married divorced and then remarried any sexual activity in that context would be a buyer nation of Chastity Chastity is a vocation the church calls us to understand that Chastity is a vocation related to the particular of to our patch killer calling in life whether being celibate person whether it be a married person or or Weatherby Weatherby a person has made a vow of celibacy where there's a married person or whether it's a single person and like all the virtues the virtue related to Chasity which are Temperance mostly related to Temperance take time and moral effort to be sure sexuality unless chastity I is also one of the most difficult aspects of the human Lorelai and it's one of the most difficult to integrate into our lives even in a marriage in which neither of the spouses has any inclination to cheat on the other Chastity is still sometimes difficult more difficult virtue to order into our lives because Cassidy also calls us even within the context of marriage to be temperate about our sexual lives this speaks to once again the virtue of continents so even within our in our sexual lies and are married has married couples we also have to understand that Chastity is related to continents because there are times in which even within the context of Chastity wear called to be continent even with our own spouses and that's part of the overall virtue of Chastity and other words out incontinence or are concupiscence can even I have a fact within the context of the marriage even in the context of a about relationship with our spouses this is why I recalled to integrate our Chastity into our lives Cassidy is the positive requirement of the sixth commandment but his form is particular to a person station or vocation there's no category therefore as some would like to say there is no such category as a your regular marriage this is a term that you hear these days isn't it an irregular marriage or an irregular relationship that can be blessed somehow by the church the phrase is used for a cat who have been divorced and remarried for example without an annulment but it also has been but it's also been expanded to refer to unmarried couples cohabitating in a sexual relationship referred to as an irregular or regular marriage not surprisingly the church does not and cannot bless an irregular marriage nor is there any provision for such thing on this contact I want to talk a little bit tonight about a very very timely a very very timely statement from the congregation for the doctrine of the faith now if if you do what I do for a living these things are always on your radar for have some of you Eva I have heard about it because it's made headlines even in secular press this week the congregation for the doctrine of the faith which is the Vatican Vatican office that oversees dock just a little historical side note the congregation the name the name of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith is a relatively recent name change from the same office the same office used to be called the Inquisition exact because the Inquisition has some negative connotations in the mind of many the office of the Inquisition was changed to the office for the congregation the congregation for the doctrine of the faith this week that the the CDF has its and the congregation for the doctrine of the faith answered a question which is called a doobie at the dubia was this does the church have the power to give the blessing to unions of Person of the same and the response what's negative now in some sense as I told a friend of mine oh and guess what this is just into water is wet it shouldn't come to any surprise to us that the answer to the question can the church does a church have the power to give the blessing to Union two persons of the same  is no that's nothing new it's nothing surprising it's nothing shocking it's nothing novel it's not even a Nuance on the church's teaching it's part of the blue bladder as we call it and log the church is teaching and it shouldn't come as any surprise to us nonetheless for many people who have had unreasonable expectations of what might happen under this pontificate if it is it seems to have come as something of a shock or surprise or a some people have said a setback but let's talk about what the dubious said in the context of the sixth sixth commandment and I want to quote a couple of passages because it's important for us to understand the context of the of the answer and therefore important for us time to have a deeper understanding of why the church cannot apply for anything outside of a marriage so I'm calling from The Doobie a hear from their explanation of the answer quote blessings and remember the question is does the church have the power to bless same- unions quotes blessings belong the category of the sacramentals whereby the church calls us to praise God encourages us to implore his protection and its door says exhorts us to seek his Mercy by our Holiness of life in addition sacramentals have been established as a kind of imitation of the sacraments blessings are signs above all of the spiritual effects that are achieved through the Church of the intercession consequently still quoting in order to conform with the nature of sacraments when a blessing is invoked on for ticular human relationships in addition to the right intention of those who participate it is Ness Siri that what is Blessed Be objectively and positively ordered to receive an Express Grace according to the designs of God X inscribed in creation and only revealed by Christ the lord therefore only those realities which are in themselves ordered to serve ends are congruent with the essing of The Blessing imparted by the church in other words the answer to the question at does the church have the power to give to bless same- unions is related to the broad or understand of the church only being able bless those things which are properly ordered toward the things that they are properly ordered toward human sexuality is probably ordered to the twofold aspect of the union and the procreated to Union and procreation there for same- unions cannot be blessed because to bless them is somehow to give Anna would be some how to give a knowledgement that they are orderly and they are not orderly and cannot be now again we are called to be charitable to those who experience same- attraction but we cannot sacrifice that sensitivity to Doctrine I like to tell my students we cannot sacrifice doctrinal Integrity on the altar of postural sensitivity to be sure it's a very difficult balance and to be sure we are called to be people who take upon of take upon ourselves the suffering of others and that includes people who suffer from same- attraction or who has same- attraction as a doobie goes on to explain and contacts quote the answer to the proposed dubium does not preclude the blessings given to individual persons with homosexual inclinations who manifest the will to live infidelity that is tasteless to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching rather it declares elicit any form of blessing that tends to acknowledge their unions as such in this case in fact the blessing would not would manifest not the intention to entrust such individual person to the protection and help of God and the sense mentioned above but rather to approve and encourage a choice and a way of life that cannot be nice as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God down one since it's a sad this is not anything new something that is a part of church teaching that almost every Catholic as well aware of but the way that the explanation for the Doobie explain so I think it's very helpful for us two under two to have a deeper awareness of what the church is teaching is on same- attraction and same- unions but also to have an awareness that when we think about same- sexual activity the condemnation is on the activity the nation is not on the person who has the inclination the church is clear in the catechism for example that we are agnostic about the causes or the origins of same- attraction murali although it's not articulated in the catechism I'm sure it will be in a future Edition we are similarly agnostic about the causes and the origins of gender dysphoria what we cannot deny is reality and what we cannot do is abandon those with those inclinations in the same way that we don't abandon anyone else who suffers from or experiences inclinations or disordered inclinations that we have trouble understanding so we're called to be morally sensitive even while we're Call of Duty past really sensitive even when were called to be morally consistent same- unions in same- sexual activity of course are not the only offenses against chastity what are some others lost is an offense against Cassidy but lust is that offense against Chastity which is closely related to the ninth commandment concupiscence so we can understand once again that the sick Amanda and Son sent incorporates within itself the ninth commandment because lust as a violation of the sixth commandment against adultery and incorporates within it the problem of concupiscence or what the ninth commandment calls coveting your neighbor's spouse innocence which we can say that all deviations all violations of the sixth commandment except which I'll talk about in a moment that all violations of the sixth commandment are somehow stacks of the moral offense or the I've lost or the failure that we call lot therefore if we're able to conquer lust then were able to keep the six Planet because of her able to conquer lust then our married lives will be orderly our single lies will be orderly and our lives about celibacy will be orderly and if we isolate the other offenses against charity from Lost we have removed the virtue from the act the opposite Vice from Chastity is not for example probation it's not fornication it's not  B opposite Vice from Chastity is lust and all of those other aspects of that deviation all of them other aspects of that violation of the sixth commandment our manifest our manifest are manifestations of the one deviation from the blood everything else flows from it let me say something about  as an as an exception to that in an important exception rate is almost never if it is ever a sexual crime or sin  is almost all stay violent crime or sin and therefore when we think about  in this contact we think about  West in the context of Chastity continents and Fidelity as Injustice because  is a violation of the virtue of Justice more much more than a violation of the of the of the sixth amendment and of course it is that but it's far more important to think of  as a violation Justice because is almost always of a sin a sin of of power and of in a crime of force rather than a sexual crime and as I've already indicated another another deviation from and does violation of the sixth commandment is the problem of same- attraction or homosexuality I want to see a cup more words about that because it's such an important aspect of American public life today and in fact I want to pretty much summarize today's talk in the context of the problem of same- attraction has a problem in our broader society as well as a way to more deeply understand the Fuller purposes of human sexuality I want to do that in the context of the language that we use now the catechism doesn't refer to doesn't use the word gay to identify same- attraction it uses the term homosexuality and in Cle Elum dude even the dubia explanation for the Doobie that I just read uses the term homosexuality I don't use that term either when I'm teaching or referring to or in any context in which I'm talking about the problem that we traditionally called homosexuality I use the term and encourage you to use the term same- attraction and the physical activity this manifested by people with same- attraction week all same- sexual activity why is that all there are two reasons why but the reasons are related to the the words gay and their words homosexuality the problem with the word gay is that it's a political term that in the broader context already implicitly is a recognition of the legitimate a same- sexual activity there for the term gay as those loaded political term if we use that term even though we don't mean it that way it gives a signal that somehow same- sexual activity is legitimate or candy legitimated because that's the term that people with same- attraction choose to use for themselves that is those persons for whom same- attraction is not a violation of the 6th Amendment or any other commandment homosexual is a little is less problematic from my standpoint but I think that it's still is a word that needs to be sort of shoved into the Dustbin of moral theology and the reason for that is because it's just it has an archaic feel and ring to it that I don't believe and encompasses the way that we need to think on both sides of the issue about humans about same- selectivity and same- sexual attraction and those two sides once again are a an unyielding affirmation that human sexuality is has the unit has the two-fold aspect of the unit event approach what can ever ever ever ever be fulfilled or constant same- marriage but also understanding the past year old difficulty and the pastro implications of people who truly have same text attraction which we do not understand and we cannot pretend to understand what we cannot do is say that is simply a choice what we cannot say is that it's simply a lifestyle now we can say that people might choose to act upon their same- attraction but we're not saying anything differently when we say that from saying that people can act on their lust for their neighbor's wife the same thing so when we talk about same- attraction we have to understand that we're talking about an inclination that many people struggle with and many people struggle with being chased even wild having same- attraction that is wanting to live a life of Chastity even while having disinclination nor is it enough simply for us to say and you hear this all the time nor is it simply nor is it enough for us to say well people with same- attraction are not called to anything different from anybody else and what we mean by that when we say that is well anybody nobody is supposed to have  outside of marriage so why is it different different for a person who had same- attraction from any other unmarried person who doesn't have same- attraction there called to the same standard well to be sure that's true but it isn't very satisfying to the person who same- attraction when he knows that the person who's not married that doesn't have same- attraction can still get married what is the person with same- attraction cannot and the church can never bless that Union in terms of pastoral sensitivity to those who actually struggle with it it's a little bit fast I'll simply to say you're not called to a different standard than any other single person because the factors that other single person pan consistent with his own inclinations possibly be married possibly have a union with another person blessed by the church and that person with same- attraction cannot that sensitivity is a part of sincerity that willingness to be open to a person's expression of these struggles is an aspect of Christian charity and I'll lend tonight by ending to anyone who wants to think more about this problem and more about the broader context of same- attraction and love the way the church needs to respond to it and try to respond to it is to refer to an organization called courage International and specifically in Cincinnati by chapter of Courage International is headed up by father Kyle schnippel some of you may be know as as morphe I'm being on a some baking show on Food Network then being a very good and very loving and very sensitive but but but very rigorous Pastor here in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati call Kyle schnippel is the is the head of IT chapter of Courage International here and the UN Cincinnati and courage International is an organization of people with same- attraction who are devoted to the church is teaching so it's not one of these groups like for example you know Catholics for choice or one of these one of these organizations who who who begin with a disagreement with the church put Catholic on the name of this organization and there are a lot of those including those who advocate for the church changing his teaching on same- attraction and same- sexual activity that's not what courage International does it's a it's an organization of men and women who have same- attraction who are devoted to the church's teaching who believe the church's teaching in or trying to live a life of Chastity within that teaching and to those people we owe the obligation of charity to accompany them on their struggle not judgmentally any more than we judge anyone else who who struggles with any kind of inclination or or proclivity that they understand to be disordered but want to overcome it sexuality is a gift from God it's something that God ordered and devary creation of the human person but like all things in an hour early Universe sexuality has a proper order when sexuality is not ordered for its proper ends and procreation and the unity of the man and the woman always leads to unhappiness we can identify anecdotal examples of where what I just said don't tell him to be true but we understand and in an I've had enough contact with conversations with counseling with a deep interpersonal relationships with people with same- attraction to know there's a deep unhappiness that accompanies it Claudia is a gift it's a gift to be celebrated but we have to understand that as we celebrate as we as we celebrate the gift of sexuality we also have to understand that those who are not able to celebrate it in the way that we can need to be accompanied on their own Journey not as people to be condemned but his people to be loved and we also have to be an example to them Fidelis and Chastity and continence either on our own marriages or in our own single lies if we fail as heterosexual if we fail the test of fidelity and Chastity and continence how in the world can we expect those with same- attraction for example to keep their commitments to Fidelity and chat and continents in the answer is we can't so we are called to be first and foremost a witness to Fidelity and Chastity and continence before we can even think of making any kind of judgment about someone else's failure of Chastity Fidelity and continents well I'm at I'm I'm I'm at the end of we actually I was at the end of the ten last week when we discussed the 10th very briefly and we went back to the 9th because it's incorporated into the six and so it as I started this series by talking about an overview of the Ten Commandments out and if I talking about overview of the Ten Commandments in the Gospel of Luke and the gospel of Matthew are recorded the same sermon it's the sermon in which and Luke we get part of but a very small part of water called the Beatitudes in a very small part of the Lord's Prayer but when we think about both the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes we used to refer to the gospel of Matthew Matthew chapters 5 through 7 very interesting that it's clear that these two sermons are the same sermon in Luke It's called The Sermon on the plain in Matthew it's called The Sermon on the Mount it's very clear in my mind in the most money mind of most biblical Scholars that Matthew puts The Sermon on the Mount specifically to draw our mind to the Mount of Horeb where Moses received the Ten Commandments why because the gospel writer does Matthew wanted us to see that the Ten Commandments from horad point of their fulfillment in the Beatitudes of the mount where Jesus taught here's the difference between the two and what this I'll close the Commandments list things that we should or shouldn't do the Beatitudes list descriptions of who we should be and the blessings that accompany that that's the purpose of The Commandments to help us to become who we should be in the blessings that accompany that by keeping the Ten Commandments we don't keep arbitrary rule by keeping the keeping the ten we call upon ourselves the blessings of God which are fulfilled in the Beatitudes as articulated by our Lord thank you and we'll take questions again about this was a series in general yes yeah yeah yeah this is for those that for those on the livestream or watching later it was more than observation than a question but it was a really good observation and the gist of it was that that we we seem to be in it and it almost president and I bet you didn't say this but I'll say it almost unprecedented in human history in a place where we think that we can create our own reality and that certainly is the case and all the things that I said tonight about about people who struggle with same- I struggle with gender dysphoria that's that's that we have a we have a responsibility is Catholic Christians to be sensitive to those in to accompany them in their struggle that's a completely different thing which which I didn't talk about it all tonight because of the whole kept new cat fish eye written about it quite a bit and that is so-called transgender Radiology or same- etiology and all of those political and aggressive secularist moral movements that accompany those things I wanted to concentrate specifically on real inclinations that people struggle with but you are exactly right you are absolutely hit the nail on the head when you say that we live in an ear and with people think that they can create their own realities and that goes to the ideologies connected to all kinds of sexual deviations rather than a struggle against a disorder sexual inclinations that people recognize as disordered but it's a great observation I agree with you yes well I'm not going to be able to answer that question here tonight I will say this that the question was something about just went about the Bishops giving giving they're giving the moral permission I don't know what the right word but it's essentially saying that the covid-19 the Pfizer a coveted the the Pfizer and modernity vaccines being not being inconsistent with Catholic faith in practice or Catholic should not be have moral concerns about using them and I'm not going to be able to answer that question but I I want to do though is is correct the question because neither of those vaccines are vaccines that have been developed from aborted fetuses there vaccine that have been tested using testing after the after the development of That vaccine using testing technologies that themselves have benefited from a particular aborted fetus from 1973 and what's important even about that the stand is that we don't know the history of that aborted fetus we don't know whether it was an elective abortion or whether it was a spontaneous abortion so we don't even have enough information to draw any kind of conclusion even about the Conte sandwich that aborted the tissue from that aborted fetus was was obtained by the same or would would take me into a there certain steps that we would have to get there so I would encourage you to I would encourage anyone who wants to follow up more on this is to read there's a there's a a very good Dominican priest who also is a PhD in biology from the Massachusetts Institute technology MIT who teaches at Providence College which is the Dominican College in Rhode Island his name is his name is austriaco his last name is Austria, is that person is my cane or austriaco a u s t r i s t o he's written a few things about that they covered back scene including an you know in context of the Bishops statement and I encourage you to go there but the the the the mountainous and the the indirect participation it is so remote and in is indirect and that's one of the reasons that the Bishops have given their blessing isn't the word but but I've given Catholics and understanding that that they made morally take the vaccine anything else alright well thank you all very much I've enjoyed it and happy Easter thank you so much. Doctor and you can such a blessing at expanding on all of The Commandments for us and deepening and helping us understand better are calling and certainly have challenged us all so I've just appreciate you giving us the majority of your time in this is such a gift of time that you've given us to come for all these five weeks next week we will be gathering at 6:25 for the Roasterie and set a clock for the Stations of the Cross after the Stations of the Cross the social action commission will be zooming a hunger issues Forum at 7:30 so you'll have time to run common and get on the computer and zoom that if you want the information on how to access that then is in the is in a bulletin so thank you all for attending or Lenten Series this year again so great code for dr. Ken to share with us his knowledge and we certainly hope you can come back with a lot of other topics we could delve into other than that blessings on all of you this week and have a safe trip home thank you

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2021 Lenten Series: Week 5

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