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November 18. Beliefs and Morality. Belief systems influence morality. Assisted suicide or euthanasia, rejecting treatment or blood transfusions, rejecting or accepting divorce and abortion are some moral issues that religious people agonise over. Within families, even when all are Christians, there are also different belief systems. Catholics uphold as best they can the teaching of the Church, with integrity and based on their own and – ideally – well-formed conscience. The story in the book of Maccabees about the sacrifice of the scribe Eleazar illustrates how this man of integrity, not wishing to give scandal to his fellow believers, chose death over the option of saving his life.
Reflect, share, act. Scripture: “Such pretence is not worthy of our time of life” he said, “lest many of the young should suppose that (I), Eleazar, in his ninetieth year, has gone over to an alien religion and through my pretence for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray. 2 Maccabees 6:18-31. Pope Francis St John Paul proposed the so-called “law of gradualness.’ This is gradualness in the exercise of free acts on the part of subjects who are not in a position to understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of the law as each advances gradually towards God’s definite and absolute love. AL 295. Jubilee. In a particular way, I would like to invite the faithful of the Eastern Churches, particularly those already in full communion with the Successor of Peter, to take part in this pilgrimage. They have suffered greatly, often even unto death, for their fidelity to Christ and the Church and so they should feel themselves especially welcome in this City of Rome, that is also their Mother and cherishes so many memories of their presence. The Catholic Church, enriched by their ancient liturgies and the theology and spirituality of their Fathers, monks and theologians, wants to give symbolic expression to its embrace of them and their Orthodox brothers and sisters in these times when they endure their own Way of the Cross, often forced by violence and instability to leave their homelands, their holy lands, for safer places. For them, the hope born of the knowledge that they are loved by the Church, which does not abandon them but follows them wherever they go, will make the symbolism of the Jubilee all the more powerful. SNC5. Act and Pray for compassionate concern for those suffering loss in their families.
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