Peter M.J. Stravinskas: Reject False Prophets and Embrace Enlivening Moral Theology

Editor’s note: This homily was preached for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, (Extraordinary Form), on July 27, 2025, at the Church of the Holy Innocents, New York City.

Last Sunday’s readings gave us the opportunity to consider some sacramental theology; today’s readings suggest a consideration of moral theology, from two different angles.

First, who are the “false prophets” condemned by Our Lord in today’s Gospel (Mk 7:15-21), and where are they? Sad to say, they are found all over the cultural, societal, and ecclesial landscape.

False secular prophets

On the secular front, we have been exposed to their influence for over fifty years (although most of us didn’t perceive their activity until much more recently). Why were their schemes relatively imperceptible? Because they were shrewd. They understood the lesson of how to cook a lobster: If you plunge a lobster into a caldron of boiling water, he will leap out; if you place it in a lukewarm water and gradually increase the temperature, you will have lobster thermidor in short order! The purveyors of the brave new world knew that you could not take an essentially religious population and convince them that the ways of Pagan Rome were right. …

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