Who am I?

I was born on February 8, 1922 in Green Forest, Arkansas.

I attended a business school, and held 17 different jobs as a secretary. (Obviously I was not very successful in that career.)

I lived a promiscuous life from the time I was 20 until I married a movie producer at the age of 37.

My husband (of all people!) encouraged me to write a book about my wild sex life—which I did. It became a best seller. In it, I gave women advice on how to seduce men, and encouraged them to explore their sexual fantasies.

A few years later, Natalie Wood made a movie which had the same title as my book.

I really wanted to influence young women with my ideas, so I became the editor of a magazine which, under my leadership, became extremely popular. I targeted women between the ages of 18 and 34, encouraging them to take charge of their lives, and to seek satisfaction through sex, money, power, and professional success.

I have always supported abortion. I never had a child of my own (I chose not to because of my lifestyle); but in my memoir, which I composed when I was 79, I included a 13 page letter to my fantasy child, whom I called Anna Marie. I wrote to her, "You mother doesn’t believe in God . . . but I do believe in the okayness of everybody here on earth."

So—who am I?

Well, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, the "I" of this little autobiographical note is none other than Helen Gurley Brown, author of the best-selling book Sex and the Single Girl, and editor of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years. (Don’t worry, I won’t take a poll on how many Cosmo subscribers are here today in the congregation!)

I read an article about Ms. Brown recently in the National Catholic Register—which is where I obtained all the facts I just shared with you.

She is now 81 years of age. That means she will probably be going home to meet her God within the next decade or so (give or take a few years). And, by the way, this will happen whether she believes in the Lord’s existence or not! Judgment is not for believers only!

Now whenever she does leave this life, you can be absolutely certain of one thing: the people in the secular media will extol her! They will praise her endlessly for her many "accomplishments" in life. For example, they’ll say that she spent her many years "serving and helping" women. They’ll say she was an expert on "love and relationships," and that she shared her many marvelous insights in the pages of her magazine so that women could find independence and true happiness. I can hear it now. And they’ll claim that this is her great legacy.

It shows how our modern, hedonistic culture has taken the true meaning of love and turned it completely upside down.

Because what is Helen Gurley Brown’s real legacy? It’s not love and happiness! It’s adultery (which she openly advocates); it’s broken marriages and families (because these often follow adulterous behavior); it’s materialism and greed; it’s domestic violence; it’s abortion, and post-abortion trauma. I say that because all these evils have increased in our culture, as the philosophy she advocates has been embraced by more and more people—female AND male alike.

That’s why we need to pray for the conversion of Helen Gurley Brown and all those who think like she does.

Now contrast her notion of love—which is little more than a synonym for selfishness and free sex—with the teaching about love found in today’s Gospel and today’s second reading.

Jesus said in today’s Gospel text from John 15, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." Love in Helen Gurley Brown’s lexicon means "satisfying yourself." Love in Jesus’ lexicon means "giving yourself"—giving your time, talent, care, compassion, forgiveness, and even (if necessary) your earthly life.

In today’s second reading, St. John says, "In this way the love of God was revealed to us; God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins."

Basically that means that if you want to know what real love is about, don’t read Cosmopolitan magazine; rather, "read" the Cross of Jesus Christ—because real love is written all over it. In fact, you could say that the Cross is the best definition of love that has ever been given.

This week, I ask you to do something. I ask you to reflect on the love you show to others. How selfless are you? Really? How patient are you? How forgiving are you? How willing are you to sacrifice your wants and desires for someone else? (Those are all qualities of the love of Christ—which is real love).

I guarantee that if you do this, and honestly reflect on the quality of the love in your heart right now, you will discover that there’s at least some "Helen Gurley Brown love" present there. Because we’ve all been influenced by the selfishness of the world in which we live.

And that’s one reason why being here at Mass is so important! At Mass we hear God’s message about real love in the Scriptures; then we receive the sacrament of real love, the Holy Eucharist, in which Jesus gives himself to us totally—body, blood, soul and divinity.

We hear about real love, and then we "receive" real love into our bodies through the Eucharist, so that we can take that real love out of this church and into the world.

That is what God wants us to do; that is what God empowers us to do at every Mass.