December 20, 2023
Today’s psalm: Psalm 24:1-6
On December 18 the Vatican issued Fiducia Supplicans, a declaration on blessing same-sex couples. This is a bombshell exploding within our Church, further destroying the foundations of authentic faith. The simple and never changing reality is this: the Church cannot bless sin.
What does it mean to give a blessing?
A blessing is a gift bestowed by God.
To be blessed means to be favored by God, the source of all blessing.
A blessing is a prayer asking for God’s favor and protection.
To bless someone is different from praying for someone. I can pray for your intention if you ask for my prayers, but if I want you to be blessed, I say, “God bless you” or “May the Lord bless you.” A blessing comes only from God. One might say to another person, “You are a blessing to me.” Yes, but what that means is that you are used by God to be an instrument of blessing for another. It always refer back to God. David says in today’s psalm, “He will receive blessings from the Lord” (v.5a).
If a blessing is from God, then the blessing needs to be for something that is good and true. Since sin is abhorrent to God, the Church cannot bless sin, such as active homosexuality. A homosexual, as a person made in the image and likeness of God, may be blessed by a priest, but not for his being actively gay. Thus a priest cannot impart a blessing to a gay couple that precisely asks for a blessing upon their being gay.
If a blessing is from God, then bestowing a blessing is a divine activity. The person who blesses stands in the place of God, imparting to the person being blessed what would be pleasing to God. Again, sin or a sinful relationship cannot be blessed!
What is pleasing to God? David says, “Who may go up the mountain of the Lord? Who can stand in his holy place? The clean of hand and pure of heart” (v.3-4a). A sinner is blessed not for his sin, but for his desire to be cleansed of sin. The blessing imparts grace that provides what one needs in order to act in the way of righteousness, in ways that are pleasing to God.
If a same-sex couple is blessed precisely as a same-sex couple, then that is asking for God’s favor on what is evil. You can see the contradiction in that.
The modernists in our Church have allowed evil to flourish. Now they even want to bless such evil. Resist such evil. Tell your parish priest and your bishop that they should not bless same-sex couples.
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