Gospel Reading
Luke 2:22-32 

In baptism, the parents were instructed by the deacon or the priest, and they would ask them questions. They would ask, "Do you accept the responsibility of raising the child in the practice of the faith? It will be your duty to bring the child up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?" And you said, "Yes." And then you were instructed that it would be your duty to pass on the faith to the child, and you said, "Yes, I’ll do that." But never has it been more difficult to do that, than today. And I say that, I don’t think that these are the worst days ever. You hear people say those things, the Good Old Days, I don’t buy that. These aren’t the worst days ever. But I think they are the most difficult days ever to raise a child to be a moral and holy person, because there’s a lot of competition out there from the other side. As a matter of fact, in my lifetime there’s been a change, a perceptible change, in decency. I grew up in New York City, and I remember going out the door of the house and playing with twenty or thirty kids on the block, and everybody’s mother could tell me what to do, or to stop doing that. I had more adult supervision, and I needed every bit of it. Not that my mother needed any help in that area. But it wouldn’t be unusual for another parent to reprimand another child. It was like, "We’re all in this together, so let’s keep an eye on each other’s kids." A friend of mine, who died a few years ago, Deputy Sheriff Tom Herrera. For about twenty or twenty-five years, Tom was The Law in the east mountains of Albuquerque. Just him. He had a ’56 Chevy, it was even his own car, he painted a star on the side of it. He was the Police, day and night, if you needed something you called Tom. He did accident investigations on old 66 and everything else. Now there’s a Sheriffs’ sub-station in Tijeras with about 35 deputies to replace one Tom Herrera. Of course, the population has obviously grown, but Tom was good. He told me once, "You know, Father, I remember, it wasn’t that long ago…. Kids were always getting involved in mischief, breaking windows and drinking beer or whatever, they shouldn’t do that." He said, "I’d catch them, and I’d take them by their ear, and take them home to mother and father and that would be the end of it. I knew the parents would take care of it. But something happened, and little by little I noticed that I’d take the child home and often the parents would attack me. ‘Who do you think you are?’ They would defend their child who was obviously breaking the law. And so," he said, "I learned just to take the kids to jail." How sad is that? That’s happened in our lifetime. You know me, I blame everything on the ‘60s, but it had something to do with it. And under the guise of civil liberty, and privacy even, laws have been written that hurt us and mislead our children. It’s amazing, frankly. It’s a matter of fact, it amazes me to think that your 14-year-old daughter is not permitted to receive two Tylenol from the school nurse without your permission, but she can get a referral to get birth control; injections, implants or pills. She needs your permission to get her ears pierced, to get a tattoo (refuse that permission), to get a driver’s permit, to take a different bus home from school, to go on a field trip. Your daughter is not allowed to see an R-rated movie, buy tobacco or alcohol products. But she can be referred by professional counselors, without your knowledge, she can be referred to an abortion. What in the world is that about? As the kids would say, "What’s up with that?" And you know that, right? What I said is right. How did we let that happen? We were asleep at the switch, completely. Do you remember voting on that? Huh. This is a republic, a democratic republic. We are supposed to make the law, not some back room committee. We’re not even asked about it. That is amazing to me, and shocking. And I know you as well. By the way, there is a Parental Notification Bill that’s up in the Legislature at the present time. In the Senate, it’s being carried by Phil Griego, and in the House by Larry Larranaga. I would encourage you to call your representative, call the Governor, and let them know you support this Parental Notification Bill. They need to hear from you. But what drives me crazy is that we didn’t make these laws that change our whole life, that change our moral understanding of things. Indeed, in 1973 in the tragic decision of Roe v. Wade, five old men in black robes, not lawmakers but judges, determined that a child’s life is a matter of privacy. And they used the Constitution to explain that. That’s nonsense. Can you imagine James Monroe, for a second, when they wrote the Constitution, saying, "Of course we have a right to privacy." How in the world have they taken that to push the agenda of abortion? It’s insane what has happened in our nation. And we, frankly folks, let it happen, at least my generation did. We’re at fault here. School Board elections are coming up, and there was a very good article in the Monitor on Friday, about the various representatives, many good men and women. Let them know what your values are, because they represent you on the school board. The School Board comes up, and they make policy, for instance, on sexual teaching in human sexuality. But they teach it like its biology. And human sexuality is not biology. Human sexuality is spiritual. Out sexual self is holy and sacred, not a biological function that should be reduced to the lowest common denominator. So contact those men and women wanting to represent you, and let them know that you want your values (represented). Because the other side has won the fight and we didn’t even get in the ring. It’s crazy.

Never have the challenges been greater, but never has God’s grace been more powerful than it is today. And I mean that. I’m not trying to be a cheerleader. After Christmas, when I was on retreat with three of my priest friends, we were sitting around talking. And all four of us remarked how impressed we were at the goodness of our teenagers. How many of our teenagers are holy and good young men and women. And we didn’t know where they learned it. And we all agreed that there’s something going on now in our society, and specifically in our churches, where young people are on the point in climbing the moral high ground. They know what’s right and wrong. Young people wouldn’t like their parents doing drugs. They’ll say, "Mom, it’ll ruin our family." They don’t want their parents sleeping around. Oh, it breaks a kid’s heart when a parent is unfaithful. They know those things, and they are leading the way. Many religious organizations of men and women are attracting young people. Mother Theresa’s Sisters and the Sisters of Charity in Gallup have many young women doing the work of the Lord. Even our Carmelite Monastery in Santa Fe, a holy place, has a number of young women who have just taken vows. I know one of them. She’s eighteen, and she’s a saint. She took the name Therese, of course, and she’s a holy young woman. So good things are happening, and you parents and grandparents need to encourage these things, and this parish needs to encourage. We need to really do our very best to provide a safe place for teenagers. A place that’s orthodox, as far as Catholic teaching, but a place that challenges them, because they want to be challenged. And I’m convinced that we need to treat teenagers like young women and young men, not like big babies. Not like old babies, but like young adults, because they respond to that. They want to be treated with respect and dignity, and challenged to do good things. So we in the parish need to do more in this area. Next Sunday we have a Youth Mass at 6pm, and it may be that we will be able to have a youth mass every Sunday in the evening. For young people to come and gather and then eat something after and spend time together in prayer and adoration. I would like to do that, the only problem is that I have to listen to the music. They’ve been practicing. You know, when I was a kid, we had beautiful music, it was meaningful. Like, "Who put the bomp in the bomp-shu-domp-a-dom? Who put the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong? Who was that man? I’d like to shake his hand. He made my baby fall in love with me." Now that said something, didn’t it? "Oo, ee, oo, ah, ahh. Ting, tang, walla-walla-bing-bang." I have no right to criticize kids’ music. So, we want to do these things and we need additional staff. We need young men and women dedicated to the guidance of our teenagers. Of course, for additional staff, we need additional money, so send it this way. We’ll put it to good use. I know you agree that this is so important to this parish, that next to the Eucharist, there’s nothing more important. And everything will flow from this Eucharist to our children. You have presented your children to God, and we are here to help you lead them and guide them to a holy life. That’s our pledge, as your parish staff, clergy, and lay members. And today we need to say, "Yes, Lord. We’re going to do that."

When Tony read the Gospel, the end of the Gospel said, referring to Jesus, that "the child grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him." And we pray today for our young people, may they grow in size and strength, and be filled with wisdom, and may the favor of God be upon them, and upon us as well.