There has been a political religious controversy in the Catholic Church in the United States for decades and that is regard to Canon Law 1398  If you know the Canon law you know that it says that anyone who is involved in an abortion secures automatic excommunication. Now those who repent of that act, because of the action of the Pope and the Archbishop can be restored to communion provided they sincerely choose to never do it again and confess it in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The controversy comes in when people call for politicians who support abortion to be excommunicated as well. So they are calling for the bishops to tell each of these politicians that they cannot receive communion. You may or may not know that I do not agree with bishops doing that because I believe it sets them up for a trap. We saw that trap happen in a local diocese, not Boston.

The bishop of the diocese told a congressman in his district that he could not receive communion in a Catholic Church because of his stand on abortion. The congressman then went and told the media, the media went after the bishop. He ended up agreeing to be on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Matthews has a way of running the program that is more than gotcha journalism. (I have been on Hardball myself) So he put the bishop on the spot.

If we look at today’s gospel you can see the true issue which none of the politicians and reporters get and which not just bishops but priests and lay people need to address.

We see the pharisees coming to be baptized by John. John is the last prophet of the Old Testament, the last of the prophets speaking for God to proclaim the coming salvation and the kingdom of God. As we know, he preached a baptism of repentance, in other words those who came to be baptized by John were coming to change their life to be more faithful to Jewish Law and the way proclaimed by God.

The Pharisees come: notice John’s words: “He calls them a brood of vipers. Who told you to flee the coming wrath?” These are intense words spoken to powerful members of the community by a prophet.

Let’s look at the whole picture: Remember the coming wrath is the complete elimination of the Jewish state within forty years not to exist until 1948. The destruction of the temple, never to be rebuilt again to this day and the dispersion of the Jewish community throughout the world. The Pharisees are hard hearted and they are using the faith for their own personal gain. If we were to sum it up in a simple sentence, it would be in a reversal of the Our Father: May our will be done.

It is with this attitude, hard hearted, prideful, arrogant and unable recognize the truth of God in their midst that they suffer the wrath of John as they approach his baptism. The term brood of vipers literally is calling them children of the serpent, meaning children of evil. He has no kind words to say to them.

Now compare those words to one in which someone says they should not approach the baptism of John because of a rule on the books. It is a statement that they will ignore and just move on. John,, however, cites not the rule, but strikes to the heart.

He accuses them of approaching God on their own terms and not humbly as one should always approach God. Take Moses who is told to remove his shoes before he approaches the bush that appears to be burning but is not. He does immediately because he is humble of heart. Would the pharoah have done the same? A good question for reflection over dinner.

John  chastises the pharisees for approaching God filled with pride as if God served them and not the other way around.

This is what canon 1398 does not address, but what needs to be addressed in the heart of each and everyone of us as we approach the Eucharist. Are we coming humbly as we approach the Eucharist or do we approach Christ as a show or as a routine. One of the Catholic members of congress dismissed the recent revelations that fetal tissue from abortions was being sold as being nothing more than a distraction and has considered abortion a sacred right. You can tell such a person all you want about canon 1398, but the congressperson will choose to ignore the canon and march on.

However, when each of us understands just what we are approaching and humbly asks forgiveness as we do at the beginning of mass, or in the case of mortal sin in the sacrament of confession then we are not of the ilk that would be chastised by John but are welcome with open arms. We are walking to the Lord humbly realizing that we are God and He is not. We recognize like Moses that what we are approaching is so beyond us, we can only understand it with awe. We also open the door to become recipients of God’s overwhelming mercy and wisdom.

It does not take a bishop to teach this, but each and everyone of us can appreciate it in our lives and teach it to others, whether they be politicians or not.

Are we approaching the Eucharist humbly in awe of what we are about to receive? Or are we approaching the sacrament pridefully taking for granted this great gift, which we enact our own will.

Let us always ask ourselves this question whenever we come to mass, whether or not we serve in Congress.

God bless you,

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is member of the Segundo Elo  of the Canção Nova Community. He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube.  You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google plus as+FrRobertCarr, his website is Carrbooks.us Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook