Sophomores

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            I was talking to a high school student from Lansing Catholic a couple of weeks ago.  He was showing me his iPod and all the songs he had on it, and talking about how the songs he had were true music.  So, I showed him my iTunes library on my phone to compare.  As it turns out, according to him, I only had a few songs that were actually “music.”  The rest was just “noise,” apparently.  Now, sometimes high school students in any grade know it all.  But if there’s one class that epitomizes the attitude that they know it all  (because, after all, they’ve studied) it would certainly be a sophomore.  You see, in general, freshmen know that they don’t know anything and that they’re just starting out.  Juniors and have studied enough to realize that, while they know a lot in their particular area of interest, that they have only scratched the surface of available knowledge.  Sophomores, on the other hand, think they know it all, but haven’t learned enough to realize that they don’t: a particularly dangerous combination.  But that’s why we use the word sophomore to describe their class year: it comes from the Greek words sophia and moros, meaning wisdom and fool.  Sophomores are, again in general, wise fools.

            The Word of God in today’s readings talks about wisdom, and sets before us two types of wisdom: the wisdom of the wicked, and the wisdom from above.  Our first reading focuses on the wisdom of the wicked.  In their mind, the just one needs to be eliminated, or “taken care of,” as a wise guy might say.  The wicked consider a holy person obnoxious, and they are insulted by his correction of their faults.  They are ready to put the just one to the test and see if all this “God talk” adds up, and if God will really protect His so-called servant.  The wicked see a holy life as a threat and a danger to their way of life, and so they have to destroy it so that they can continue in their own way. 

            The wisdom from above, on the other hand, is “pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.”  It is a different way of looking at the world.  It does not waver in the face of threats, and is always sincere and true.  It seeks peace, not just an absence of conflict, but true justice for all.  It forgives wrongs and does not go looking for a fight.  Jesus also tells us in the Gospel that the wisdom from above turns the wisdom of the world on its head.  Whereas in the view of the world the truly great person is the one who is in charge of everything, in the wisdom from above, the great person is the one who is the servant of all. 

            If it were that easy to pick out the two types of wisdom, our world would probably be a better place.  But we are beset by weakness, but concupiscence, the desire for lesser goods, and the wisdom of the wicked often looks more enjoyable, more attractive.  When it comes to skipping class, or alcohol, or sex outside of marriage, the wisdom of the wicked seems much more appealing.  But wisdom from above gives true happiness, not just passing pleasure.

            If we are truly convinced that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life, rather than just one way, or one truth, or one life, then we who have the wisdom from above should seek to share it with others.  If the Gospel truly is Good News, and true wisdom, than to keep it to ourselves not only does us harm, but also does those who need to hear that Good News and that wisdom harm.  That is one way that we serve others: by sharing with them the wisdom and joy that we have in Christ.  Have you asked a roommate or a friend, whom you know is Catholic but is not coming to Mass, to join you on Sundays for Mass, or for men’s or women’s group?  We are not called to condemn, but to invite.  We warn others about the dangers of the wisdom of the wicked, but we do not cajole others into joining us.  We simply extend an open hand of love and joy. 

            When those who are wise in wickedness are confronted—by a friend, a family member, or religion—it’s always portrayed as people just trying to rain on the parade.  We may be called obnoxious by our friends.  Laziness, drunkenness, and debauchery look like a ton of fun.  And they certainly are pleasurable.  But they do not lead to happiness.  They quickly fade, and often leave a path of destruction in this world.  Meanwhile, the just, those striving for holiness, often put up with a lot more suffering, a lot more pain, certainly less pleasure in the eyes of the world.  But, if God created the world, and He knows best how it works, and He is the best answer for the desire of every human heart, then following the wisdom from above makes sense, not just in this world, but also in the world to come.  A life of restraint and service is what makes for a great life, not a life of license and using others.  It’s upside down from our view.  But if we take it from God’s perspective, then it’s just the way God intended it. 

            We can stay sophomores in our faith; we can be wise fools.  God gives us that freedom.  We can pretend that we can do whatever we want now, and just make up for it in some possible future act of repentance that we may never make.  Or, we can be truly wise, and move beyond our sophomoric ways, and live by the wisdom that comes from above, that gives us and those around us true peace and joy.  And then, being truly wise, we will see the need to serve others by sharing with them the wisdom from above, so that they can find that peace and joy that we have by living a truly wise life.

Throw Your Life Away!!

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

            As a seminarian, it was not uncommon to hear people talk about certain seminarians, and say, “Why is so-and-so throwing his life away?  He has such great potential!”  Bishop Mengeling, when we were on retreat as seminarians, would sometimes use that phrase to remind us of what we were doing with a twist, that we were truly throwing our life away for the Lord, just as a married couple throws their life away for each other.

            We often don’t think of throwing our life away as a positive thing.  That’s not the phrase we use to celebrate big events like an ordination, or a wedding (though the phrase may be tossed around at bachelor or bachelorette parties, or by heartbroken girls who would rather have a seminarian as the father of their children instead of being a spiritual father).    It generally has a negative connotation, as if we are wasting some sort of potential.  And yet, in our Gospel, the Lord is very clear: “‘whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.’”  It is as if Jesus is saying, “If you try not to throw away your life, you will, but if you throw away your life for me, you will truly preserve it.”

            When a man and woman pledge themselves to each other as husband and wife; or when a man is called to be a priest and responds to that call; or when a man or a woman respond to the call to be consecrated for the sake of the Kingdom; all those people are throwing away their lives.  The married couple is promising to stop looking for someone better with whom to share their entire life and with whom to have children.  The priest is promising to devote his life first and foremost to God, so that he can serve His people.  The consecrated man or woman is promising to devote him or herself to Christ and be a witness of what life will be like in the Kingdom of Heaven, especially through witnessing the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience in imitation of Jesus who was chaste, poor, and obedient. 

They are throwing away other opportunities that could have come up in their life in the future.  The husbands are throwing away the possibility that they will meet another woman, and the wives are throwing away the possibility that they will meet another man, who will be a suitable partner, a lifelong companion, and the person with whom they want to share physical intimacy and raise children.  The priest is throwing away the possibility of marriage and having biological children of his own so that he can have deep intimacy with Christ and be the caretaker of His bride, the Church.  The consecrated man or woman is throwing away the possibility of being a father or a mother, and, in the case of men and women religious, is throwing away the accumulation of wealth and the ability to direct their lives how they want, and when they want, and where they want.

And yet, as proof of what Jesus says (in case we don’t take Him at His word), the happiest people I have met are those who have thrown away their lives and not looked back.  I see it in couples that have been married, for example, for 50 years, who have spent a lifetime together, struggling to make ends meet, to raise children, to live out their faith, and while things haven’t always been easy, they always, without fail, say to me that they would do the same all over again if they had the chance.  I see it in the consecrated men and women, like Judith Stegman, a consecrated virgin, or Sr. Dorothy, our Director of Campus Ministry, or Sr. Liz, our Director of Senior Ministry, in the joy that they have found in consecrating their lives to Christ.  And I also see the overwhelming majority of my brother priests, who, though they have left all to follow Christ and serve His people, are already receiving 100-fold for what they have left behind.

What concerns me a little is that our culture does not encourage us to throw everything away for marriage, or consecrated life, or priesthood.  Whether it’s middle or high school students, or the college students at MSU, or even adults, so many are afraid to make any commitment, just in case there’s something better around the corner.  As a culture, we are afraid of commitment because it means that we may have to give up the future goods that we think we might possibly get by holding out.  Even in marriage, there is a general societal view that, if things don’t work out, you can always break it off in case you find something or someone better.  We see it especially in couples living together while dating or engaged, pretending to live a married life with each other under the same roof, in the same bed, but free to call it off in case something better comes along.  Only in marriage is that decision to throw it all away for the other protected, because both spouses commit to that marital love for the entire duration of their lives.  And sadly, Jesus’ words ring true that those who try to save it all, end up losing it.  Some studies state that 67%, or 2 out of 3 couples that live together before marriage, end up divorcing, and that it’s often in the first decade of their marriage. 

Is throwing it all away easy?  Certainly not.  There are times when a couple, or a consecrated man or woman, or a priest, feels the weight of the cross.  There are times when disciples have to experience people who metaphorically beat their back, or pluck their beard, or spit on their face.  But, when we throw it away, with God’s help, when we lose our life for the Son of Man and the gospel, then we can say with the prophet Isaiah from our first reading, “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame…See, the Lord God is my help.”  When we lose our life for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel, it is then that we, in fact, find it, and save it for eternal life.

The Divine Physician

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

            The Word of God is often challenging.  It calls us to deeper conversion as we turn our lives away from sin and towards Jesus, trying to live our life in conformity with the love that Jesus showed us by what we say and do.  As a spiritual father, it is not uncommon for me to have to deliver a tough message, a message which calls us to rethink the way we’re living, to re-examine our priorities, and to change our habits of sin to habits of grace and virtue.  Just like a biological father or mother who must, from time to time, correct children to ensure that they will succeed in the world, not only as citizens of earth but also as citizens of the New Jerusalem in heaven, sometimes I have to correct the sheep of the Lord’s flock.  But today is not one of those days. 

            Today, the message the Lord speaks to us is one of His healing love.  Both in our Gospel and in our first reading, we hear about the tender love of our God which wants to heal us.  The Lord says to us today, as He spoke through Isaiah then, “Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God…he comes to save you.”  We hear that he will open the eyes of the blind, and clear the ears of the deaf.  He will make the lame leap like stags, and loose the tongues of the mute.  He will turn the desert into a watered garden.  And in our Gospel, Jesus fulfills that prophecy by healing the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.  Jesus, as the very revelation of God the Father, makes present for us the healing love that God has for His people.

So, the question is, will we accept that healing touch of God?  Will we welcome the Divine Physician into our hearts to cure us from what ails us?  To those of you who have frightened hearts: of what are you afraid?  What causes you anxiety?  Whatever it is, open your hearts up to the Lord, and hear Him say to you as He said to the frightened disciples in the boat as the waves were crashing about it, and as He said to St. Peter as He bade Peter walk across the water, “Be not afraid!”  Those were the words that opened the pontificate of Bl. John Paul II in 1978, and we still need to hear those words: “Be not afraid!”  Because, as St. Paul says, “If God is for who, who can be against us?”  The waves of the world may crash all around us, but Jesus is in our boat, and He who separated the dry land from the water at the creation of the world will not let us capsize in the waters of chaos. 

Where do we not see the Lord?  Where do we think that He is absent from our lives?  Cry out like the blind man in Jericho, “‘Lord, that I may see!’”  Feel the warm, callused, but tender hand of our Lord over your eyes so that you may recognize Him: in the poor, the downtrodden, the infant in the womb, the elderly, the homebound, even in your enemy.  Let the Lord bring the light of the Gospel truth to the darkness of sin which blinds us to the presence of God in the world.

Where do we not hear the Lord?  Are we familiar with how the Lord speaks to us?  Sometimes it is in great moments when the Lord appeared to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Other times, like with Elijah, it is in the whisper of a soft voice inside our hearts.  Ask the Lord to touch your ears and say, “‘Ephaphtha!’—that is, ‘Be opened!’” so that when you sit in silence, you will hear the clear Word of God in your heart and recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd speaking to you, leading you to green pastures. 

How are our mouths bound so that we do not speak?  How do we mumble the Word of God in our words and our deeds?  Ask the Lord to open you lips so that you proclaim His wonderful works in all that you say and do.  Ask Him to cleanse your speech so that when people hear you speaking, they are truly listening to the voice of God.  Ask Him to allow you to proclaim from the mountaintops that our God has come to save us, and the day of our vindication is at hand! 

But know this, if we do not ask; if we leave this building and act as if nothing has changed, then we will not be healed.  Not because the Lord does not love us, but because God, who did not ask to create us, will not heal and save us without our permission.  God loves us and respects our free will so much, that He will not force us to take His medicine, even if we will die without it.  We must recognize that we need the Lord’s help (which is itself a gift from God) and then ask Him to heal our infirmities, whatever they are, whether of body and/or soul, and He will come to us quicker than any ambulance ever could. 

Brothers and sisters, the Lord’s love for us will renew our youth and irrigate those parts of us that are as dry as deserts so that they are a luscious garden, full of life.  Our Lord comes to heal us so that we may not labor under the sickness of sin, but may have the fullness of life through the power of the Holy Spirit.  “Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.”  “He has done all things well.”

Doers of the Word

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

            I’m sure this has never happened with anyone here, but imagine a scenario where a parent tells a child to do something while that child is doing something else like watching TV, or playing video games, reading, or texting.  Then imagine that, lo and behold, that child does not, in fact, do what the parent tells the child to do (I know, this must be shocking for you that this actually happens in some families).  The usual response from the parent would be some variation of, “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

            St. James tells us in the second reading, that we are to be “doers of the word and not hearers only.”  We have been blessed with the greatest message of all time.  It started in the Old Testament, with the message that God had chosen a people, and had cared for them and brought them to a land.  And, even after they were enslaved, God freed them and returned them to that land flowing with milk and honey.  He game them laws so that they might be just and upright, and know the good to do and the evil to avoid.  This is what Moses is talking about in the first reading.

            And even “when through disobedience [humanity] had lost [God’s] friendship, He did not abandon [us] to the domain of death…Time and again [God] offered them covenants and through the prophets taught [us] to look forward to salvation.”  And then, “in the fullness of time [God] sent [His] Only Begotten Son to be our Savior.  Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he shared our human nature in all things but sin…To accomplish [God’s] plan, [Jesus] gave himself up to death, and, rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life.”  And the Church was formed, the New Israel, who was called to proclaim this Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus, which saves us from our sins.  And, in response to this love first shown to us in God, the members of the Body of Christ are to configure themselves to Jesus, by the guidance of the teaching of the Apostles and their successors who continue the teaching of Jesus in new times and new circumstances.

            That is the Good News that we received.  That is the Good News that we are to proclaim.  But are we just hearers of the Word?  Does what Jesus said apply to us, too: “‘Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;’”?    Week after week we hear the Word of God and we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, our Savior.  But does it change us?  Has the Gospel penetrated our hearts?  In the movie “Godfather III,” the cardinal who hears Michael Corleone’s confession pulls a small rock out from a fountain of water.  It is wet, of course, on the outside.  But he breaks the rock in two, and the inside is dry.  He says that the people are like the rock in the fountain.  They have been surrounded by the water of Christianity for centuries, but Christ, like the water, has not penetrated them.  How many of us are surrounded by Christianity, but Christ has no penetrated us because we are hearers of the word only, and not doers?

            St. James tells us that if we are hearers only, and not doers, then we are deluding ourselves.  If we think that being surrounded by Christianity is enough, then we have truly not heard Jesus, just as the child did not truly hear its parent.  At our baptism, a solemn promise was made for us, if we were infants, or we made it for ourselves, if we were adults: that we would reject sin and Satan, that we would believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that we would raise the child in the faith, and practice it ourselves.  This is the same promise that these families will make today for their children.  We promised to be doers of the word.  God, for His part, promised to assist us in that promise with sacramental grace which would strengthen us to do what we cannot without His help.  Have we lived up to these promises?  Have we, in the ways we are able, changed the world to better reflect the Gospel?  Or have we tried to let the culture change the Gospel to better reflect our world?  Have we been the salt of the earth, preserving our corner of the world in holiness of life, of have we lost our flavor? 

            For months we have been hearing from politicians how they have the right policies that will bring America prosperity.  We will hear how they will do x, y, and z to protect the poor, defend life from natural conception to natural death, to turn the economy around, etc.  And politics certainly has a legitimate role to play in implementing the Gospel.  But, before that can be effective, we ourselves must be converted.  We must be doers of the word, and not hearers only.  Because if we are truly doers of the word then we ourselves will guard against greed and consumerism and will hold others to that as well.  If we are doers of the word then we will assist the poor, truly helping them to use the gifts God has given them for their benefit and the benefit of society.  If we are doers of the word then we will stand up for the rights of the defenseless infant in the womb from the moment of conception and the elderly who are sick, both of whom can easily be exploited because they are the weakest members of our society.  If we are doers of the word then we will stand up for religious freedom so that we can truly practice our faith in peace, and not be compelled to do anything which is against the teaching of Christ and His Church.  “Dearest brothers and sisters:…Be doers of the world and not hearers only.”