"The Lord enabled her to conceive"

It is a simple statement in today's first reading (Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17), in the midst of an extended narrative about how the great-grandparents of King David met each other, but the message of this simple statement has great meaning in our day and age.

When they came together as man and wife,
the LORD enabled her to conceive
and she bore a son.

In this day and age, if anyone says that sex is only for a wife with her husband (and a husband with his wife), the opinion-makers call it strange.

In this day and age, the definition of marriage itself is being systematically twisted by the media and even by judges and lawmakers.

In this day and age, conception is not seen as a gift from God, but as a commodity, almost like water: to be turned off and on at will or even bottled up and trucked in from outside.

In the midst of this lustful and wayward age, when Truth is shouted down by personal desires and political correctness, the Church holds firm: upholding the sacredness of every aspect of the transmission of human life.

We have been entrusted by God with the stewardship of Creation and the stewardship of our bodies, but when we start rationalizing and effectively making ourselves masters of our own universes, we not only offend God but we even set ourselves up for a backlash from Creation itself.

In the midst of this lustful, selfish, and wayward age, may we find peace and contentment in the plan and the ways of God.