Birth Control is poison

I heard something novel this week - if it wasn't so serious I would laugh.  Someone in congress made the statement: "birth control is medicine".  I heard it and I immediately detected all the lies surrounding that statement.  Medicine?  Medicine is what we take to cure us of a disease, or help us on the road to recovery.  Medicine combats sickness, it can strengthen our immune system and fight bacteria.  Some medicine can even help those with mental disorders to cope with imbalances in the brain.
Birth Control, on the other hand, is given to a healthy person - it inhibits healthy body activities - in a way - making a person sick - making a body not function as it is supposed to.  It damages a body - at least temporarily, but perhaps worse.  It is a poison - it is a poison for our bodies, it is a poison for our souls - it is a poison to young teens who are told its safe.
Those in the administration call it preventative care - comparing it to a flu shot.  That comparison makes pregnancy morally equivalent to the flu.  Archbishop Dolan immediately responded to that suggestion, he simply said: "pregnancy is not a disease."  How true is that?  Pregnancy is much more like a miracle than it is like a disease.
Some try to make the case that increased access to birth control will reduce the number of abortions: saying it is better to prevent the pregnancy in the first place, than to have to kill the baby.  Those numbers have not panned out, in fact a whole spectrum of numbers tells a far different story.  Since the widespread use of birth control in our society - the number of abortions has increased, divorce rates have increased, infidelity has increased, un-wed pregnancies have increased.  The Utopia envisioned by groups promoting this in the 60s and 70s has not occurred but rather has backfired.  But the devil has gotten exactly what he wants.  The famous Rockefeller Commission in the 1970s said it envisioned a society where every baby born was wanted.  It may sound right, but its a lie to cover up why a baby would be born un-wanted.  That is the problem we need to address - not increasing the occasion for unwanted pregnancies, but rather teaching our children abstinence and for us to learn love and self-sacrifice.
This homily is not preached to tell the gov't what to do - I don't think they listen to me - and they shouldn't.  It is because of another argument that is almost always brought up when debating this issue.  A statistic that 95% of Catholics use birth control.  That I can address - that is my responsibility - to preach on and offer truth so that hearts may be converted, families strengthened, and souls made holier.
We hear in the Gospel today of one of Jesus' miracles where he cures a leper of his horrible disease.  Like on many occasions, Jesus brings life and health to those who need it and call upon him in faith.  Christ passed onto the Church this mission of healing - both in her sacramental ministry and in the services to the sick.  Today priests offer the sacrament of the sick - called annointing of the sick, and Catholic hospitals care for the sick throughout the world.  Our mission is Christ's mission - is to bring life and health into the world - not to inhibit or repress it in any way.
One of the most profound moments in the Gospel is what the leper says to Jesus: "If you will it, I can be made clean."  He wants to be healed but what is more important is the will of Jesus.  In this he imitates Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane before his Passion who says: "Father let this cup pass from me- but not as I will it but as you do."  We are called to have this same attitude of acceptance of God's will.  It is the petition we make every time we say the Our Father: "Thy will be done."
This disposition of seeking and accepting what God wants - is at the heart of why birth control is morally wrong.  In marriage, husband and wife are made co-workers with God in his creative will - of the flower of God's creation - the human being.  Contracepting couples make themselves liars when they say 'thy will be done' and are instead saying 'my will be done' - which of course is the attitude of all sin - but because of the dignity of procreation - is serious sin.
Are bigger families better?  Yes - the more children you have, the more you will have to make sacrifices - imitating Christ.  Plus you might be lucky to get a priest or nun.  But most important is that your family seeks and accepts the will of God.  The Catechism says: "we are radically incapable of this, but united to Jesus and with the power of his Holy Spirit, we can surrender our will to him and decide to choose what his Son has always chosen: to do what is pleasing to the Father."  On this World Day of Marriage, let us commit ourselves to Spousal Prayer and Family Prayer to discern the will of God, understand it, and accept it.