Today's gospel cuts to the chase. It speaks to our hearts of two types. Those who reject and walk away from the gospel truth and those who accept and remain faithful. On the one hand, we have those followers of Jesus who found His sayings hard and rejected the gospel only to return to their former way of life; and on the other hand, we have those faithful followers who, when asked if they also wanted to leave, they humbly admitted, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

This same quandary faces each of us as well. When we are face to face with the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, are we going to rationalize these truths and reject them and walk away from the Lord; or, are we going to humbly and obediently accept them and remain faithful. We have a choice to make. Ya know, Jesus once said, "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" I say, "What profit would there be for one to listen to the world and reject Christ and forfeit his life?"

In light of the Canadian decision to legalize gay marriage (and by the way, that term, my brothers and sisters, is an oxymoron, it's an impossibility)… In light of the Canadian decision to legalize gay marriage and the impending decision in the Episcopal Church of America to ordain an openly gay man as bishop, which is now unfortunately a done deal, on July 31^st, the Vatican released a statement reminding all Catholics of the constant and ancient teachings of the Church concerning marriage and also what she teaches on same sex unions. Some people have seen this as one of those hard teachings. And so shortly after the release of this document, a very prominent Rhode Island politician who calls himself Catholic, Patrick Kennedy, made a personal choice to reject the teachings of Christ and go with the popular, politically correct, world view.

In this document, the Vatican reminds us that MARRIAGE is the sacramental covenant between a MAN and a WOMAN in which the two become one. I've made copies of this document and left them in the vestibule of the church and at the other exits for your reading pleasure. So I won't go into details about the document. However, I would like to point out that Congressman Kennedy took the opportunity to yet again rail against the teachings of the Church for his own political gain.

Patrick Kennedy's statement was beyond absurd. First and foremost because he is far from being a theologian. He rudely and wrongly accused the Church, because of Her perennial teachings on homosexuality, of being BIGOTED and DISCRIMINATORY. That statement would be laughable if it wasn't so seriously flawed, disrespectful, and utterly ignorant of the truth. What's worse is that this political leader used his bully pulpit, the secular media, to join in with the voices that have resounded down through history that age old chant…"THIS SAYING IS HARD…WHO CAN ACCEPT IT?" How many people have been mislead by embracing Kennedy's heretical statement that rejects the eternal moral law taught to us by Jesus Christ? It's not as if an atheist made the denigrating remarks about the Church. IT WAS A PROMINENT CATHOLIC POLITICIAN which makes this situation extremely scandalous.

And Patrick Kennedy is not the only Catholic who denounces Church teaching from a political pulpit. John Kerry, Edward Kennedy, Tom Daschle, Patrick Leahy, Jack Reed and others fall into the SAME category. If we continue to support men like this, my brothers and sisters, WE TOO are responsible for the depravities that are slowly destroying the moral fabric of our American culture.

We heard in our first reading today, a tremendous story that should touch each and every one of our hearts. When faced with similar circumstances, Joshua said to the Israelites, "If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve…. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

And so I pray that your answer and mine: to Patrick Kennedy and others of his ilk will be…

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!

St Joshua, pray for us!