Holy Competition

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Competition seems to be part and parcel in our lives these days.  Maybe it starts as siblings.  I imagine that those of you who have brothers and sisters have argued about who is mom and/or dad’s favorite, who’s the smartest, most athletic, etc.  I am, in case you were wondering.  We have competitions in schools to attend the most days and get the highest grades.  Sports are über competitive, with people vying for the top spot and the starting position.  The arts are similar, as musicians vie for first chair or the lead in the play or musical.  

Hyper-competitiveness can be a problem.  It can lead to cheating, or doing anything to get that top spot.  It can create the mentality that if you’re not a winner, then you’re a loser, which is not true.  Of course, sometimes we go to the opposite extreme and try to eliminate all competition.  We give everybody a trophy, whether they were first or last.  In my Italian classes in Rome when I was doing a study abroad, the director of the program was so afraid of competition that instead of calling the Italian classes Italian A and B, or Italian 1 and 2, based upon the language proficiency of the students in two groups, our two classes were called Italian A and Italian 1, to make sure that it didn’t seem like one group was smarter than the other.

Jesus seems to support the lack of competition in the Gospel today, and St. James in the epistle backs Jesus up.  Jesus gives silent chastisement (maybe all Jesus had to do was give “the look” that parents are so good at giving) when he asks the disciples what they were arguing about as they walked.  And He instructs them that to be the greatest, they have to be the last and the servant of all.  And St. James talk about the exterior conflicts come from the interior conflicts, from jealousy and selfish ambition.

But if we give more than just a passing glance, Jesus is not condemning competition.  He is just asking for a conversion of competition.  Jesus doesn’t say, “Nobody’s first, because first doesn’t matter.”  He says, “‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last and the servant of all.’”  Jesus teaches that we should compete for being the greatest servant, because the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who is looked upon as the least in the eyes of the world.  We could even broaden what Jesus says and say that, if we are competing about anything, we should compete about being saints, about being followers of Jesus.  Not that we compete about who has the most power or authority, but that we compete about living life in accord with what Jesus taught in our different vocations and avocations in life.  Imagine if the thing we competed for the most was the eternal prize, the trophy of being in heaven with God, which we won through giving our all to be like Jesus as a priest, consecrated man or woman, husband or wife, father or mother, child, and classmate.  Imagine if we converted our view of success so that, we weren’t concerned first and foremost with getting the best job that pays the most and has the most power and prestige, but instead if we were working with all of who we are to use our gifts and talents that God has given us to further the kingdom of God.  We may still be in the same job, but it wouldn’t be about getting the title, but rather about doing all we can to share our talents for the betterment of our city, church, State, and country. 

Competition is not bad.  But like all things in life, it has to be converted according to the pattern of Jesus.  If we compete to get the most publicity, the most honor, the most money, then St. James will continue to be right and we will continue to have wars and conflicts among each other.  Instead, if we compete to be saints, to be the best servants of the church and the building up of society in justice, truth, and integrity, then many of the wars would probably cease, and our cities would be better instances of how living according to the Gospel is the means of happiness for all people.  

To the Point

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus asked the apostles a question in today’s Gospel that today has asks us: “‘who do you say that I am?’”  Who do we believe Jesus is?  St. James reminds us in the second reading that what we believe about Jesus will be manifested in our actions.  Our actions show what our hearts, minds, and souls, believe about Jesus.  The more that we believe Jesus is who He says He is, the more we change our lives to look more like what He teaches us through the Scriptures and the Church.  What do our lives say about who we believe Jesus is?  Put another, albeit cliché, way: if we were put on trial for being Catholic, would there be enough evidence to convict us?

Be Opened!

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Imagine never hearing your favorite song again; never hearing the sound of your spouse or your children or loved ones say: I love you.  The sense of hearing is so important in our everyday life, and most of us probably take it for granted.

It is hard to imagine what life would be like being deaf.  A person’s world would be totally different.  We can imagine the shock, then, of the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, after Jesus healed him.  That man’s life was totally different from that point on!  It’s no wonder that the people who were there responded with astonishment.  Perhaps they realized that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy from Isaiah that we heard in our first reading: “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.”  Perhaps they were wondering to themselves if Jesus could be the Messiah.

The way that Jesus healed the man was interesting, too.  Mark writes, “[Jesus] put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’–that is, ‘Be opened!’”  In our American culture that doesn’t like touching too much, that may sound very uncomfortable!

The Church retains a ritual with a similar name in the Baptismal Rite for children.  After baptizing the child, anointing her with the Sacred Chrism, clothing her with the white garment, and giving the godparents and parents the baptismal candle lit from the Paschal Candle, the priest or deacon “touches the ears and mouth of the child with his thumb, saying: The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.  May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.”  The Church continues to open ears and mouths when people are baptized, but not just of children who are deaf or who cannot speak.  She allows this rite for all children.  Why?

Holy Mother Church is very realistic.  She knows that we need ritual symbols to remind us about who we are called to be, and what we are called to do.  By our baptism, we are called to open our ears and speak, not just to hear sounds and speak words, but to listen for Christ and to speak His Word.  Let’s be honest, there are times where we would rather be deaf to God and not talk about Him.  We need Jesus to open our ears and mouth.

Do we hear Jesus speaking authoritatively through the Church?  Do we treat the Church when She speaks about faith and morals as just one more opinion, or do we treat it as God continuing to communicate in the world, even when it goes against what we think is best or right?  Do we hear the cry of the poor, or have we closed our ears to them because we cannot be bothered with their struggles?  Do we hear people screaming for the love and truth of Christ, or do we just figure that they can find their own way to God?

Do we speak about Jesus?  This past week I was feeling a little lazy, so I decided to go to Hooligans for dinner.  I was one of three people in the restaurant at the time.  The waiter recognized me as a priest (I was in my clerical attire), and mentioned how he tries to go to church every Sunday, but he certainly prays every day.  I felt a tugging to say something about why Sunday is important, but decided just to be quiet.  He served me my meal, and did a very good job.  At the end of the meal, as I was signing the receipt, I couldn’t help, pushed as I was by the Spirit, to say, “Do you know why Sundays are important to Christians?”  He told me it was about fellowship.  But I pressed him even further and said, “Yes, but why Sundays?”  He said he didn’t know, and that started a conversation about how Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, which sets us apart as Christians, and which is a reason to rejoice because of the new life we are offered in Christ.  From there I found out that he is a fallen away Catholic, and we talked about his issues with Catholicism.  I don’t know if he’ll come back to the Church, though I did invite him.  But I know I was docile enough (after a bit of prodding) to the Holy Spirit to talk to Him about Jesus and His Church.  That’s nothing to brag about; that’s my vocation, and I’m more embarrassed that it took me so long than I am proud that I did it.  But Christ encountered one of His sheep through me, and maybe that sheep will return to the Catholic fold.  He might have through someone else, but maybe not.  Maybe I was the only one who could've talked to him in the way I did.  Maybe you’re that person with someone else.  

Christ tells us today: “‘Ephphata!’”–that is, “‘Be opened!’”  “May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.”  Amen.

You Can't Cheat God

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sometimes it is made very clear to me what I should preach.  This past Monday, when I looked over the readings, I was immediately drawn to the Gospel where Jesus talks about how the practice of washing hands is not about what happens outside the person, but what happens inside the person.  It struck me that the Pharisees went through the ritual motions of religious life, without letting those actions take root in their soul.  As Jesus says, it is not what is outside the makes one unclean (that is, unfit for worship in the Temple) but what comes from the heart: all our passions that we give in to.

But, as I sat down to write my homily out on Thursday, I found myself drawn to a similar topic, but going in a different direction (how symbols are supposed to be sensible things that communicate an invisible reality).  I had my hook.  I was going to talk about how we misunderstand words, like when English speakers make the mistake of thinking that the word for embarrassed in Spanish, embarazado is a cognate–a similar sounding word–when it really means pregnant, leading to numerous embarrassing moments when a man says, Yo soy embarazado.  I had my main point, how symbols are meant to communicate the invisible through what we can receive through our senses, and how what we do in religious symbols should reflect what is truly going on inside our hearts and souls.  And I managed to talk about all of this and expand on the main topic in the usual Fr. Anthony homily duration (I’ve been told I preach a bit longer than our deacons).

But then Friday I stopped by the Adrian Police Department.  Some of you know that I have been doing ride-alongs with the Police and I have offered to provide any help to the officers that I can.  I went to talk to Clay, who often works the front desk.  I stopped by at about 4:10, and he wasn’t there, but when I asked I was told he was just getting ready to leave.  I waited a little, and then Clay came out and we had a nice little talk.  In the midst of that talk, he said that he didn’t understand two things about Catholics (he’s not Catholic, but is Christian).  The first difficulty we spoke about were the saints and praying to them.  That might be a homily for a different day.

The second thing we talked about took me back to what I first thought I was going to preach on, and caused me to totally rewrite my homily on Saturday morning, between altar server training and confessions.  He asked me about the experience he’s had of Catholics who say they can do whatever sinful thing they want Monday through Friday, then they go to confession on Saturday and Mass on Sunday with a clean slate, and then get back to serious sinning on the weekdays; rinse and repeat.  Clay said that it makes no sense.

Clay is right.  And I explained to him that we can’t cheat God.  Yes, we have the Sacrament of Penance to cleanse us of sin, the Sacrament established by Jesus in Matthew 16 and John 20 when He gave the Apostles the authority to forgive sins.  But I also told Clay that the Church teaches that, for the Sacrament of Penance to be valid, the penitent (the confessee, as it were), has to be truly sorry for his sins and has to make a firm amendment to not commit those sins in the future.  Certainly we sometimes fall into the same sins week after week that we don’t want to.  But if we’re not truly sorry for what we did Monday through Friday, and we fully plan on doing the same thing again the next Monday through Friday, then our sins are not forgiven.  We can’t cheat God. 

And that’s precisely what our Gospel is about.  Jesus did not condemn ritual purification and ritual actions.  But He taught us that the ritual is meant to have an effect in our lives, not to be a meaningless gesture.  Washing hands without washing souls means little in our relationship with God.  And sometimes doing the rituals without the meaning behind it becomes a scandal, an obstacle to other people believing in the Catholic faith.  I’m sure Clay is not the only Christian who thinks that the way some Catholics treat the Sacrament of Penance betrays the fact that these Catholics think that the Sacraments are magic.  They’re not magic.  They are meant to convert us, to change us, to become more like God.  If we’re not open to having God change us, God will not force His grace–His life, His love, His peace–on us.  We can go through the motions, but we won’t receive the effects that those actions are meant to have in our souls. 

Jesus gave us the Good News to help us draw closer to God.  The Good News He teaches us today is that while we can struggle with the same sins each week and be truly sorry, if we are trying to treat the religious rituals like a get out of Hell free card, we’re in for a not-so-pleasant surprise.  This is Good News because it gives us a chance to truly have a change of heart, a metanoia, a conversion, and ask God to purify us from the things that really make us unfit for the Temple.  God wants to truly cleanse us of those things and wash, not our hands, but our hearts.  Will we allow God to wash our souls with His cleansing grace?

Human Freedom by Bishop Boyea

        Moses is pretty clear with the people about what they are to do--they are to observe all the commands which he will give them from God; he adds “you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.  Observe them carefully.”  This is exactly what the Pharisees were doing in the gospel reading from St. Mark.  They were observing the commandments of the Lord very carefully and thus they asked Jesus why his own disciples did not wash their hands before eating, something required in the law.  

Jesus then teaches a new form of morality.  It is not the following of a set of rules and regulations, but rather it is conversion of heart.  What comes out of a person is what constitutes goodness or impurity.  Jesus notes that evil comes not from washing or not washing the hands, but from an evil heart.  Jesus is telling us that what really matters is what is within us.

In essence then, Jesus is appealing to our human freedom.  Because we are free we are responsible for our actions.  We are responsible to shape our lives so that they attain truth and goodness, that is, so that they attain God.  The trouble is, as Jesus was well aware, all too often we do not choose to do the good, but rather we choose to do evil.  That was certainly the case with our first parents, Adam and Eve, but it is also true of each of us.  We are, in a sense, slaves to sinfulness because we keep choosing sinfulness.  

Because we are free, it is clear that we are responsible for this condition.  We need more training in how to choose good rather than sinfulness.  Our actions are good when two conditions are met: the thing we choose to do itself must be good; and, secondly, our intention or reason for doing it must also be good.  Thus something is not good unless both these conditions are met.  If we do the wrong thing (and somethings are wrong in themselves) for the right reason it is still the wrong thing to do (thus the end never justifies the means); if we do the right thing for the wrong reason it is not a good action we are performing, there may actually be a good which results, but that goodness is not credited to us since we have done it for a bad reason.

Jesus also wants us trained to do good, to be good and thus offers us a way out of our choosing sinfulness.  He offers us the true freedom to choose to be God’s children rather than the false freedom to choose to stay in sin.  It is when our hearts rest in Jesus that we are most open to his grace and the true exercise of our freedom.

This openness on our part is what is called our conscience.  This is not just some intellectual thing, for it is also something of the heart.  In our heart can be found our passions or our feelings.  These can help us to do the good.  If we have the most fundamental passion, love, then we are drawn to the good and we take joy in the presence of the good and then we do the good. This same feeling of love will mean that we hate evil and seek to avoid it and we feel sad in the presence of evil.  In a sense we learn to hate what God hates—sin.  Thus what fills our heart will have a direct bearing on what we decide to do, how we exercise our freedom, and thus these passions are part of our conscience.

But conscience is also an act of judgment; it is when we spend enough time to recognize with our intelligence that something is good.  We need to take time to look into ourselves in order to hear this voice.  This voice helps us to see the truth and to apply that truth in specific circumstances.  It is what allows us to be responsible for our behavior.  In order for this reasoning part of our conscience to work correctly it needs to be formed, to be instructed.  This takes a lifetime.  The Gospel and Christ’s cross must be our teachers from our earliest days.  We are helped in this when our passions or our feelings push us in the right direction; we are also helped by the light of the Holy Spirit; and we are helped by the guidance of the Church.  Sometimes our conscience is faced with difficult choices; then we need the help of all three of these.

So, if we, my sisters and brothers, are to follow a moral life as Jesus wishes us to, not merely by following a list of laws, then we must have a change of heart.  We need to do two things: we need to open our feelings or our passions to the Lord so that he can fill us with his divine love; secondly, we need to educate our decision making process so that we will choose the good at all times, even in difficult circumstances.  Jesus listed a lot of evils that come from within us; if he looks deep inside me, what does he see?  A well of love which will lead to good, or an abyss of confusion which will lead to evil?

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

Catechism, #1730-1802