Lk 13:31-35 Tell That Fox!Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.”
Who is Herod today? There are many! There is the Herod of the fashion industry that would love to kill the innocence, the purity and the sanity of our children. Back in April, Jenna Lyons, president and creative director of J.Crew, appeared in a controversial ad for the clothing company featuring her young son with his toenails painted hot-pink. Many were appalled and called the ad “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children.” Some defended the ad, saying critics were overreacting. Today, it has been reported that Jenna is leaving her artist husband for another woman. Mystery solved. Are we to believe that the fashion, music and movie industry is not saturated with flaky artists with daffy philosophies and wacky lifestyles?
Then there is the neo-Herod of Politics: the intolerant tolerant. On October 22nd, 2011, Ann Widdecombe, a former Conservative party minister, accused the English government of double standards in its threats to cut aid to countries which persecute gay people while turning a blind eye to persecution against Christians. The persecution of Christians is nothing new; in fact, it is never ending! But she sees a double standard. She is not homophobic. She believes homosexuals deserve protection. “But what about Christians?” she asks. “When do we qualify for protection or don’t we?”
Bishop William C. Lori, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, recently spoke to a House subcommittee regarding the “grave threats to religious liberty”. He told House members, “The bishops of the United States have watched with increasing alarm as this great national legacy of religious liberty, so profoundly in harmony with our own teachings, has been subject to ever more frequent assaults and ever more rapid erosion.” Back in June, the bishops found it necessary to create a new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty. Under the Obama Administration, we have seen an erosion of conscience clauses and legal assaults on Catholic social services across the nation. It is very clear to see that religious freedom, enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence are being tucked away at the expense of modern trends and through government interference! The current administration is telling the Catholic Church what the Pharisees told Jesus Christ: “Go away, leave this area…because Herod wants to kill you!”
It will not work!
Do not fear! Foxes are similar to wolves and may lead the sheep to slaughter; but in doing so, the wolves, in sheep’s clothing, will reveal their true identity! Then all Hell shall break out! And by our “yes” to the great King and Son of God, we shall conquer even death! “For I am convinced overwhelmingly through him who loved us that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rom 8:38-39)
AMEN!
