Saints

I missed a couple of important saints this week.
July 22 - St. Mary Magdalen
July 23 - St. Brigit of Sweden; what a great name, strong and feminine. If I had a daughter I would name her Brigit.
July 25 - St. James the Apostle - my patron saint. Some day I want to go to Spain and visit his tomb. It is in Santiago de Compestella in northwestern Spain. Pilgrims throughout the middle ages would walk for several weeks to visit the shrine. People still go on pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James.

July 25 is also the 40th anniversary of the encyclical 'Humanae Vitae.' Paul VI promulgated this document restating the ancient and perennial teaching that contraception is a grave moral evil. The Summer of 1968 was time a revolution and dissent in every part of society and around the world. This tumult also took place in the church as many priests publicly rejected the truth of Humanae Vitae. We are still suffering and will continue to suffer as long as we reject the truth and meaning of human sexuality. It is estimated that less than 10% of Catholic couples live in accord with the teaching of Humanae Vitae.

The truth that contraception is morally degrading is not merely a 'Catholic' idea. All Christian churches taught that it was wrong until 1930. Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, taught that the widespread use of contraception would lead to the corruption of morals and the breakdown of the family.

Have you ever read the document? It is only 16 short pages. Here is a link to it.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html
read paragraphs 8 and 9. When we reject the Church's teaching we lose the beauty of marriage which is described in these two paragraphs.

In John 6 Jesus taught the people about the Eucharist and many left him because it was too hard to bear. He turned to the apostles and asked, "Will you leave me too?" That question is addressed to us today, especially in regard to the truth of human sexuality. Hopefully we will repsond like Peter, "Lord, to whom shall go? You have the words of everlasting life."