Looking Back

Last Sunday after Pentecost
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  When I turned forty, I wouldn’t say I had a mid-life crisis, but I will say that I took stock of my life.  Forty is not old, yet it significant, because eighty years old would be a good life, and the fortieth birthday means that I’m halfway there.  So I looked back to what I had done and what I had failed to do (using the words of the Confiteor).  
    As we come to this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we would do well to take stock of how our last year has gone.  I don’t mean so much in our natural lives, though that is fine to recall, too.  But I mean our spiritual lives.  How have we grown closer to Christ?  Or have we grown further separated from Him?  What virtues have really taken root?  Or what vices?  What grand intentions have we put into place?  Which ones remain simply intentions upon which we never or rarely acted?
    Our Lord gives us signs of when things would come to a head, so to speak.  One Scripture scholar notes that the abomination of which our Lord spoke in reference to Daniel was when the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes set up a statue of Zeus in the temple in the year 167 BC.  The scholar notes that early Christians would have seen the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 as a similar calamity.  But what has entered into the temples of the Holy Spirit that we are?  How have we given into the world and worldly views?
    Our Lord also mentions false messiahs.  Others will point to false saviors and false prophets, whether in the desert, or in a room.  He tells us not to believe them.  Do we have people or things in which we put the trust that we should only put in God?  It’s so easy to elevate a person like a political leader or party, or a material good like money to the place that only God should occupy.  I will even get very queasy when, in March, the phrase pops up associated with the Michigan State basketball team, “In Izzo we trust.”  I’m all for some good March Madness, and Tom Izzo, who is Catholic, does seem to find a way to bring his team along to the Big Dance.  And that phrase is said in jest.  But still, whom do we trust?  Maybe this time of year, we’re putting more trust than we should into Dan Campbell.  Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the Lions win for a change.  And he seems like a good guy, so I’m not trying to detract from his good name.  But how much do we allow a win from our men in Honolulu blue to affect our lives?  There’s nothing wrong with being a Lion or a Spartan fan (though I know there are a number of Wolverine fans who would say differently to that last part), but how much of our lives are spent focusing on sports, distracting us from things that matter much more and last much longer?
    But this year-end review is not all bad news.  While it’s good to examine our conscience, we should not only focus on what we have done wrong, but what is going right?  How are we progressing in virtue and growing closer to God?  Because, even in the midst of these tribulations, God promises mercy to those who stay faithful.  Christ mentions that the days of tribulation will be shortened for the sake of the elect.  God knows how much we can take, and He doesn’t give us more than we can handle (even if we end up saying with St. Teresa of Calcutta, I wish God didn’t trust me so much).  And none of the end tribulations should catch us off guard, because Christ Himself has warned us about what is to come, even if some of it has already come.  

    What lasts is the word of God.  The teachings of Christ remain forever, and they are sure and steady anchors onto which we can hold.  If we connect ourselves to that anchor, the waves may crash upon us, and may even push us around a bit.  But if we anchor ourselves on Christ, then we won’t go far from Him, and we’ll remain in the kingdom of Christ with the saints in light.  
    So, spend some time today reflecting on the past liturgical year.  Focus on areas in which we can grow.  But, also focus on successes we have found in Christ and cooperating with Him.  Both are important to note.  And pray, as we come to the end of this liturgical year, that we will remain faithful to Christ, no matter what happens in the world; no matter what happens in the Church.  Pray that we will have the strength to survive any tribulation because we are connected to the one who does not pass away, even as the heavens and the earth will, God: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

"As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD"

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

I think that people generally like to be the best or the biggest.  We like the ability to quantify groups, teams, positions to see if we are the biggest or doing the best.  For example: we rejoice that MSU Men’s Basketball has made it to the NCAA tournament for 15 consecutive years under the leadership of Tom Izzo.  Politicians, especially in this election year, rely on polls to see how many people agree with their position, and if they need to tweak or change their position to become more popular.  I can even fall into this trap at times.  When others ask me how many parishioners we have, I am proud to announce to them that we are the largest parish in the Diocese of Lansing, with 3500 families plus the students who live on campus.  Numbers are great, and we can want to pin our futures and actions on those numbers.

But the truly successful in Scripture do not do that.  In fact, they tend to throw any quantifiable data out the door and just trust in God.  Take Joshua from our first reading: at the end of the campaigns of the Chosen People in the Holy Land, Joshua sets before the Chosen People the choice to be faithful to God or to the pagan gods whom they had just put behind them.  Joshua knows the fickle character of the people.  He had seen how they rejoiced when they fled the slavery of Egypt, but how they also wanted to go back when things got tough.  So Joshua gives them the choice of following the God who had brought them safely from the land of Egypt and had settled them in the Promised Land, or serving their pagan gods, who were no gods at all.  “As for me and my household,” Joshua says, “we will serve the LORD.”  Joshua decides that a future with God is where he will make his claim, no matter what the others choose to do.  He is not concerned about how many join with him.

Jesus also seems to be oblivious to numbers.  He had just told the Jews that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood they will not have life in them.  And the Jews are pretty much all disgusted and walk away.  The teaching on the Eucharist is too much for them.  But Jesus does not run after them, shouting, “Wait!  Lemme explain this a little more!  I was talking sacramentally!!”  Even with his chosen band, the Twelve Apostles, He simply says, “‘Do you also want to leave?’”  He doesn’t change his teaching because of low polling results because His teaching is Truth, with a capital T.  Jesus has come to reveal the Father and the Father’s love and truth.  If people accept it, that would be great!  But if they don’t, Jesus still is faithful to the message God the Father gave Him to proclaim.

It is tough not to care about the results.  It is tough to be concerned primarily with the Truth.  But, if we are to be like Jesus, then that is our call.  Our hopes, our futures, cannot be attached to any numbers.  We cannot choose Jesus simply because a lot of other people have.  We must be personally convicted that Jesus is Lord, and that He founded only one Church that faithfully passes on His message in its entirety, or else the teachings of Jesus will be too hard for us and we, like the Jews, will leave.  

Even today, Jesus still teaches difficult things with which our current culture is very uncomfortable.  Many people today will say, “What do you mean I have to go to Church every Sunday and Holyday?!?  I can worship God wherever I want!”; “I have to get married in a church building if I’m Catholic?  But it’s so beautiful on the beach!”; “Marriage is only between one man and one woman for life?  How insensitive to those who have same-sex attractions!”; “A male-only priesthood?  Don’t you know Augusta just opened up to women members?  Get with the times!”; “the Church needs to stay out of my bedroom!”  Of course, there are so many more.  And yet, the teaching of Jesus through His Church remains firm, and is not based upon public perception.

It takes a lot of faith and trust to care not about public opinion but about truth.  It puts us under the order (subordinate) of another.  This is what St. Paul tells us in the second reading: “Brothers and sisters,” that is, men and women, “be subordinate to each other out of reverence for Christ.”  Not only are we to pin our hopes and futures on Jesus, but we are to live out His life of service towards each other.  We are voluntarily to be subordinate to each other, just as Christ was subordinate to God the Father, and the Church is subordinate to Jesus Christ.  

When we hear this reading, we may think that this was just a chauvinist writing.  But St. Paul calls both men and women to subordinate themselves to the other, especially in marriage, which witnesses the relationship of Jesus with the Church.  Of course, the husbands many smile when they hear the line, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord,” and the women may bristle.  But St. Paul also outlines how the husbands are to subordinate themselves to their wives, by telling them to love their wives as Christ does the Church.  There was nothing that Jesus would not give for His Bride, the Church.  He lowered Himself for her by taking on our human nature; He was constantly at her service; and, in the greatest act of subordination, He gave up His very life and descended to the depths of Hell so that she could live and not have to die.  That is certainly subordination on the part of the man.  

Every day we have the choice: do we follow the teaching that is most popular?  Do we join the ecclesial community that has the biggest following?  Or do we receive the Scriptures, “not [as] a human word, but, as it truly is, the word of God,” as St. Paul says?  Whether it’s the teaching on the Eucharist, or marriage, or sexual morality, or whatever, Jesus, even today through His Church, teaches us the Truth that the Father has given Him.  And Jesus asks us, “‘Do you also want to leave?’”  May our answer be the same as St. Peter: “‘Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.’”