Verso l'alto! The Exercise of the Gospel

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
    An object at rest stays at rest.  This is Newton’s first law of motion.  And it’s not only true for things.  It’s true for people.  A resting person doesn’t like to have to get active if at all possible.  A few years ago I saw an ad for a belt that you put around your abs with little electrodes that shock you.  The idea is that the electrodes would simulate exercise, and would strengthen your abs so you can get that six-pack look, rather than the pony keg that is all too common.  Or I recently saw a reel that said if you just do this stretch for 30 days in a row, you will lose that beer belly that is so hard to shrink.  I think if we spent as much time actually working on getting fitter as we do finding lazy ways to get fitter, we might actually see some changes.
    But the struggle is real.  Real change doesn’t happen on accident or without effort.  And our readings today remind us of that fact.  It would be nice if following Jesus meant everything goes well for you.  But we all know that isn’t the case.  In fact, the more we follow God, the harder some things seem to become.
    Take Jeremiah in our first reading.  God gave Jeremiah some tough messages to deliver.  Jeremiah told the people they needed to abandon their false gods and their injustice, or else the temple would be destroyed and they would be exiled.  What does Jeremiah get for this?  He’s thrown into a mostly-dry well, but with mud at the bottom, so he starts sinking in.  They do pull him out, but then Jeremiah is put under house arrest, until all that he says comes true.  And even after all that he prophesies happens, the people still don’t listen to Jeremiah.
    And in our Gospel, Jesus says that following Him will not always cause rainbows and lollipops.  Families will divide over following Christ.  Elsewhere He promises that those who follow Him will have to take up their cross each day, which meant real and humiliating suffering for the Gospel.  Following Jesus will not always be easy because it means putting to death all that is fallen in us, and all that is fallen in us doesn’t want to die; it fights for its existence.
    This does not mean we can go picking fights with family, nor that we should blithely say difficult things that people don’t want to hear.  Our focus should be on following God, no matter what the costs, and let the consequences fall where they will.  Our goal is to do what God wants in all circumstances.  
    And that takes perseverance.  The Letter to the Hebrews talks about continuing to run the race.  Our race is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.  Or, to use the popular phrase from the Disney movie, “Finding Nemo,” “Just keep swimming.”
    But we’re not in this alone.  Christ never calls us to something without giving us the grace to get through it.  The Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation give us an indelible mark, which not only claims us for God, but gives us a stream of graces every day so that we can believe in God (Baptism) and share the Gospel (Confirmation).  Likewise, receiving the Eucharist in a state of grace each Sunday is so important because it is our spiritual nourishment which gives us the spiritual nutrition we need to run the race well.  It’s like the Elven lembas bread from Lord of the Rings that provides super substantial strength to keep going.  That is one reason why the Church has a precept that you have to go to Mass every Sunday and Holyday under pain of mortal sin, unless your sick or more than 30 minutes away from a church: we cannot follow Christ as He wants without the Eucharist.  To absent ourselves from Mass means that we spiritually starve ourselves.
    And, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, we also have the saints to encourage us onward, the “great…cloud of witnesses,” that show us what it means to persevere in the faith even in the midst of struggles.  In a few weeks, Pope Leo will canonize Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was a young man and a Third Order Dominican who lived the Beatitudes in a real way in the early 20th century.  While from a rich family, he dedicated his life to serving the poor in Turin, Italy, where he grew up.  He ended up dying of polio at the age of 24.  His parents expected many noble people of Turin to come to help them mourn their son, but they were shocked when they saw the streets lined with thousands of mourners who were the poor that he had served on the streets, a service he did not trumpet to his family.

Bl. Pier Griogio Frassati

    Bl. Pier Giorgio especially had two phrases that are memorable, though one is longer and I had to look up to get it exactly right.  The first and easiest to remember is: “Verso l’alto!” or “To the heights!”  Bl. Pier Giorgio was a mountain climber, no easy task, but he encouraged everyone to climb to heaven by engaging their faith, not just letting it be a passive part of their lives.  The second is a bit longer, but also inspiring: “To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living but existing.”  
    Just like when it comes to exercising our bodies, many find it easier just to veg on the couch and hope that they will get fitter through new inventions and the least amount of work as possible.  But that is not living, that is just existing.  God has given us faith, has given us a patrimony to defend, has asked us to struggle steadily for the truth.  That is the life God calls us to live, a heroic life, a life lived to the heights, verso l’alto.  God grant that we may engage, even through the struggle is real, and not just remain at rest because it’s easy.  Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us!! 

No Karma for Catholics

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time/Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]. Over the past few years people of all and no faiths have started to buy into this idea of karma.  Whether what is shared is actually the Hindu view of karma or not, I’m not sure, but the basic statement is that if someone does good, then good things will happen to that person.  More often than not, it’s invoked when someone does something bad to a person, and that person hopes something bad will happen back to the other. 

Prophet Jeremiah

   Catholics do not believe in karma.  Nor should we espouse it so blithely.  In our/the Ordinary Form first reading, we hear the prophet Jeremiah talk about his former friends trying to trap him and cause his problems.  Jeremiah does call out to God for retribution, and has confidence that God will take care of things.  But bad things did happen to Jeremiah.  He was thrown into a partly-dry well, and no one listened to him.  What had Jeremiah done to deserve such horrible treatment?  What horrendous things must he have committed in order for “karma” to treat him so poorly?  Jeremiah spoke God’s word.  He did nothing wrong (beyond the daily small sins of any person).  The word God sent Jeremiah to preach was not a popular word, because it was the word of judgement on a people who had rejected God.  But if karma is true, then Jeremiah should have experienced nothing but good things, since he was doing good.  But that’s not what happened.
    Or take St. Paul.  In Romans, chapter 8, [the pericope we heard today], St. Paul says that the sufferings of this time are as nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed.  St. Paul had done some bad stuff (he had persecuted Christians and consented to the martyrdom of St. Stephen).  But by the time he’s writing this epistle, he’s been doing God’s work for a while, preaching the Gospel, working miracles, and encouraging young communities to follow the Lord.  According to karma, everything should be enjoyable; there shouldn’t be sufferings.  But, of course, there were.  In fact, St. Paul continues that all creation is groaning as it awaits for the fullness of redemption in Christ. 
    Christ, of course, is the nail in the coffin when it comes to the idea of karma.  Christ was sinless.  He did no wrong.  And yet He suffered immense pain and agony.  So, hopefully we can put to rest this idea of karma, and that good things happen to those who do good, while bad things happen to those who do bad.  Those who follow God’s will often have to suffer, and sometimes there is no immediate justice for those who do wrong.  There are many who lie, cheat, sleep around, and have no real practice of religion, and they seem to get richer and richer, not have any problems, and continue to thrive while those who try their best to follow God’s law of freedom have to struggle daily to make ends meet, and have problems with sometimes even the basic realities of life.
    So what do we do?  We stay faithful, even when it’s hard.  We follow the law of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church, even when they seem unpopular, and even when we are persecuted, because, as our Lord says in the Gospel according to St. Matthew [that we heard today], God cares even for the sparrows, and we are worth much more than many sparrows. 
    When Christ invites us to live a certain way or to follow Him somewhere, our best response is to follow His lead and do what He says.  It may sometimes seem counterintuitive, like when Christ asked Peter to put out into the deep waters to make a catch of fish, even though Peter had been fishing the entire night before and had caught nothing.  But when we respond with the obedience of faith, Christ can do things beyond our imagining.  The miracle where St. Peter caught all those fish was not about the fish: it was about God not being outdone when we follow Him.  Sometimes it happens immediately, like with St. Peter.  Sometimes it takes longer.  Sometimes we may not even see the results on this side of eternity.  But God rewards faithfulness, and especially when it is tough.
    And it’s tough for Catholics now, and probably will get tougher in the future.  Last week the LA Dodgers honored a group of anti-Catholic cross-dressers who openly mock the beautiful lives and work of religious sisters.  Those who remain faithful to the Church’s teaching that homosexual acts are gravely sinful and contrary to God’s plan for human sexuality are called bigots and homophobes.  Our own Michigan Supreme Court wants to make a rule that says that a person is to be identified by whatever terminology that person decides, regardless of reality, and our governor openly brags about how easy it is to murder innocent children in the womb and says that people should move to Michigan because of that ease of access to infanticide.  These aren’t so much political issues as they are moral.  We now find ourselves in a culture that is more pagan than the height of the Roman Empire. 
    God calls us to be Jeremiahs, those who speak His word, no matter what those who called themselves friends do to us, no matter what privileges and popularity society grabs from us, no matter what names and epithets others give to us.  We do this, not because of karma, not because bad people will get bad things in their lifetime, but because God’s word is life and truth, and living according to the truth brings happiness, while living according to lies, no matter how popular, brings sorrow.  God gives us the Eucharist to strengthen us so that we have the courage and energy to remain faithful to Him. 
    That is why it is so important to go to Mass each Sunday and holyday: without the Eucharist, the devil can more easily persuade us with his lies to dive into the culture of death.  The Eucharist is our lembas bread (Elvish bread from Lord of the Rings which sustained those who ate it much longer than it looked like it could) which fills our soul to press on, no matter how hard the journey. 

    Whether we like it or not, bad things do not always happen to bad people; good things do not always happen to good people.  Sometimes staying faithful to God means losing friends, power, and prestige.  But, we cannot imagine the good things that God has in store for us if we remain faithful to Him: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.