YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES TOO

Recently on the news someone pleaded with our newly elected president not to reverse the progress that has been made in our nation against global warming.  (Don’t worry, this is NOT a post about the president nor is it about global warming.)  In support of his position he said that it would be a moral failure not to do so.

Interesting position in our politically correct atmosphere and further points out that it is impossible to have a morally neutral position even in national politics.

In the name of tolerance, could we not say that if I don’t “believe in” global warming, (or if I am looking forward to it) then I should be able to live my life as I wish as long as I allow you to live life as one who believes in it?  Or could I say as a politician I personally believe in global warming but I don’t believe I can force my view on the world on others and so reject passing bills outlawing open trash burning?

“Of course not,” many would respond, “because this is something that effects all of us and science has proven it.”  And so there is a perceived moral imperative that overrides individual’s strong desires and beliefs.  

Or suppose I am all about being able to drown kittens if I have too many of them.  “They are mine and my property.”  The moral outrage would be great.  Laws would be enforced - cruelty to animals.  My idea (not really mine - but you get it) belief that animals are here to serve us and I should be able to do with them as I want is suppressed.

We make moral laws all of the time: This is right and protected.  This is wrong and punishable.  On many such topics, there CANNOT be a morally neutral position and moral positions are imposed or lifted by law all of the time.  

Often Catholics are harried into leaving their faith at home when it comes to involvement in politics as if it is an unfair thing to bring to the table or that it would be the same as forcing faith down someone’s throat.  This is unfair.  It instantly negates anything oppositional to popular culture which is making moral imperatives all of the time.  It forbids the idea that a topic of faith may actually offer a moral truth.  If this idea is fully realized it makes Christians in general and Catholics in particular second class citizens.  This epitomized Pope Emeritus Benedict’s comment that we are experiencing the tyranny of tolerance.  It is as inequitable as it is unAmerican.

HOW IS AN HONEST CATHOLIC TO VOTE?

It seems almost ever conversation these days ends with, “Father I want to ask you about the election.”  People are genuinely concerned more than I ever remember before.  It is the dirge constantly playing behind every conversation waiting to come to full volume.

Among many Catholics, there is a profound sadness.  Nobody is, and nobody has for quite some time fully represent us.  Like King David angering God by numbering his people and having to face one of three punishments, we always seems to be asking, not who will best lead us, but who will do the least amount of damage.

The Pope was asked about this conundrum and according to a CNS article he simply said that Catholics facing difficult political choices must study the issues, pray about the election and then vote according to their consciences.  He would never comment on a specific electoral campaign.  "The people are sovereign," he said. "Study the proposals well, pray and choose in conscience.”

So what is one to do?  The first is to be well formed.  It is not about what I may feel, what seems fair, or what I like.  We are a people of the Creed and that is something that we receive through faith in God in the Church.  We are formed by it, we do not form it. It informs and forms us and makes us one in faith.

The Catholic who has studied his faith at all knows that there are some things that far outweigh the other.  Issues about the economy are extremely important but it is dust on the scales when compared to the taking of the lives of the most vulnerable and innocent among us.  If the economy tanks, we may lose every penny we have a suffer terribly for it.  If we blindly allow the taking of innocent life as a right paid for by our taxes in order to have a better economy, then we have lost our very souls.  That has eternal consequences.  (See yesterday's post for resources.)

After being formed, we must be INformed.  “Study the proposals well,” says Pope Francis.  That does not mean turning up the volume when a political add is on T.V.  

Then pray whether you have made up your mind or not.  Someone else may need the prayer.  Do it seriously.  Make a holy hour.  Consider doing a fast of some kind.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a novena for the election.  Pray first and then vote.

If you have done all of these things, then rest assured that you have done all that you can do at this point.  Stay informed and look for the next opportunity to be involved.

PETER WALKED ON WATER TOO

What the Church needs is more people who are willing to risk failure.  Say what you will about St. Peter, before he sank he did walk on the water, for at least a moment.  Nobody else even got out of the boat.

But Peter’s flaw was focusing on himself.  As long as he focused on Christ he was just fine.  The moment he started to worry and focus on himself, he began to sink.  I see this all the time.  I am guilty of this all of the time.

Here are some modern day examples:

The Spirit prompts to tell a young person that they have the traits of a good Church vocation, but then the self jumps in and say, “Oh, they’ll think I’m odd.  They don’t want to be bothered.  I don’t want to face their reaction.”

The Spirit prompts to ask someone, “Do you want to pray about it?”  But then the self jumps in and says, “Only weirdos do that.  What if they go spreading stories about me?”

The Spirit prompts you to say to someone, “Do you want to come to Mass with me?”  But the self jumps in and says, “You know they don’t want to.  They may laugh.  You do their private thing and they will do theirs.”

If more of us took the risk of trusting and stepping out of the boat, what a different seascape we would have.  If none of us do, this whole enterprise will stall.  But even if you fail, you were the one to step out of the boat.  You walked on the water for at least a moment!  Let the other person bring the act of faith to an end - not you.  God did not create us to guard our comfort.  He made us to walk on water.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: I HAVE FAITH IN YOU

You are standing at the edge of the pool.  Crazily enough you are at the deep end!  You've never even thought about going in the deep end before but here you are and Dad is in the water facing you with his arms out and he says, "Come on, I'll catch you.  You'll be Okay.  Be brave."

But when you jump - that's it!  There is no turning around, nothing to grab on to, it's pure trust that Dad is going to save you or you drown.  So you hesitate.  Then Dad says, "Do you trust me?"

"Uh huh."  It comes out softly.

That was a profession of faith and you gave it just before you jumped.  As a matter of fact, it allowed you to jump.  Saying it out loud reminded you that you believe that this mythic creature known as Dad will keep you from being obliterated.  You simply need to listen, trust, jump, and maybe for a moment you will be under, for a moment that seems a lifetime there is nothing touching your body but air and then cool water, and then two firm hands raise you up eyes twinkling with pride.

So think of this:  There are two parts of the Mass.  There is Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  In the first part we are instructed about the life of faith.  In the second we jump into the void: heaven and earth collide, the visible and invisible meet, (if this were Star Trek, matter and anti-matter would be touching) time is warped, worlds collide, events slide into each other.  It is absolutely ridiculous that we come to Mass and sit behaving in our pews in our Sunday finest.  We should lashed into our pews in riot gear, ushers should come down the aisles with life preservers, and warning sirens should be going off.  If we really understood what was going on we should be scared witless.  We are entering the deep end!  

BUT, before we do, while we are still standing on the edge getting ready to jump in, we tell God, "I trust you - I believe in you."  "I believe in one God, the Father the Almighty . . . "  It is this profession of faith that allows us to jump.  Saying it out loud reminds us that we believe in this wonderful God known as the Father Who will keep us from being obliterated.  We listened, trusted, and are preparing to jump in hopefully with our heart and mind fully understanding what it is that we are doing.

This profession of faith is said on Sundays and more solemn celebrations.  It is preferred that it be sung (when was the last time you heard THAT outside of an extraordinary form Mass?) and is to be intoned by the priest UNLESS it seems more appropriate for it to be intoned by a cantor or choir such as a case where a priest cannot carry a tune a bucket.

It is to be sung or recited by all, or alternated between choir and people, or done by two choruses meaning, for example, the left side of the church says a stanza then the right side of the church says a stanza.  

CHANGE: FOR MORE THAN PARKING METERS AND BABIES

The author of “How Google Works” was interviewed on the radio yesterday.  The book tells about how Google stays on top of the market by constantly reinventing itself.  He gave several examples (only one can I remember – sorry!) of businesses and institutions that failed to be innovative and suffered because of it.  The one I remember is the post office.  Had they be been innovative and adaptive, according to the person who wrote the book, they would have realized that parcels are still unable to be sent person to person over the internet and would have switched from letters to focusing on packages along the lines of UPS and would have fared much better.

 

This seems like a perfectly reasonable assumption and there are truths about it.  We might even look back and think, “Of course!  Had they only . . .”  But it is one thing to look back and think, “If they’d only changed this one thing” as opposed to being on the other end, “What is the thing we have to change to deal with this unknown future?”

 

The Church suffers from the same thing.  It seems to have a general sense that it constantly needs to change in order to stay relevant in people’s lives, but it suffers from knowing exactly WHAT to change.  So we have tried all kinds of things.  Change the music, change the seating, change the words of the Mass, add dancing, change the teaching, change the preaching, change . . . well, you get the point.

 

I would contend that we have far too often changed the wrong thing.  The post office still needs to deliver things.  If it suddenly decided to start raising horses like it did during the pony express, it might be a really great gimmick, make all the press, even call us out of our homes to watch a parade of them go by, but it wouldn’t really help the bottom line of the post office.  The right thing has to be changed.

 

It is not necessarily the music or the vestments or the perfect seating arrangements that will make things better in the Church (though they can help) and it won’t even be changing our teachings.  Rather, it will be emphasizing those teaching that speak to people’s hearts in a particular age.  In what areas do our youth’s hearts ache today?  There is an angle of our beliefs already in our books and in our hearts that can speak to that.  You won’t speak to it simply by playing music louder and the priest wearing jeans at Mass.  But after showing them how the faith speaks to their hearts, you can then open the rest of the world to them.

MARK MY WORDS!

IF your town still has a newspaper, and IF you still get it, and IF on Sunday they still have the Parade Magazine (will someday I have to explain what a magazine was to kids?) this past weekend you would have seen an article about Mark Wahlberg.  The short article is under a weekly feature called, “Sunday With . . .”  In it, they interview a famous person and there is at least one question that they ask every week: “How do you spend Sunday?”

 

Week after week after week I read this feature paying particular attention if it is a person whose work I like, just hoping that one of them would say that they somehow gave thanks for their talent, their wealth, their notoriety, or the fact that anybody cares that what they do on Sunday.  But week after week after week it is usually something along the lines of, “We sleep in.  Then I make pancakes.  We lounge around the house or go shopping or to the zoo.”  Not even a “we help out in a soup kitchen.”  Sunday, for many, seems to be “Me Day.”  I don’t have to work so we spend time on ourselves.  On the one hand that is good.  (I try for some me time myself on Sunday if it is available.)  But there is not even a mention of, “and we say grace remembering that everything is a gift.”

 

Then there is Mr. Wahlberg, former crack-addict, prisoner, Calvin Klein model, rapper, current actor and father.  Here is how he describes his Sunday;

 

“If the kids are good, I’ll have doughnuts for them at 6:30 in the morning,” (Note: 6:30 in the morning – ready for his kids.  I have just started thinking about becoming functional at that time – he’s already got doughnuts for the kids and I have Mass!) “and I say, ‘You guys gotta let Mommy sleep in!”  DO YOU KNOW WHY HE DOES THIS?!  BECAUSE THEN: “I’ll go to church” (read: Mass) “at 7:30 and everybody will be eating breakfast when I come home.”  Nice right?  Hold on to your biretta friends for the next sentence.  “Then we’ll go to church again at 10:30. . .”

 

Okay, maybe he’s making up for some of his famous peers who forget to mention anything outside of themselves as a Sunday activity.  But still: he’s once again proven himself one of my heroes.  (If you hear that he kicks his dog or lets his kids eat Cheerios at Mass, please don’t tell me.  I need my heroes.)  But it just goes to show you how much good you can do.  He isn’t pictured waving a Vatican flag or preaching (apparently like I am) about what people should do if they consider themselves faithful, he was asked a question and he answered honestly.  It led to a second question by the interviewer, “Faith is obviously a big part of your life.”  Which, in retrospect is not a question but a statement.  But he answered none-the-less, “It’s the most important part of my life.”

 

There.  Very matter of fact.  No preaching (in the negative sense) and no theatrics.  And he did a world of good for Catholics that need a shot in the arm.  Thank you Mr. Wahlberg.  I hope more of us can follow your example.

(And we have dooughnut Sunday here.)

FAITH MATURITY TEST

Here is an examination of conscience that my mother gave to me when I was a young adult. I changed it a little bit. It isn’t the kind to use for a confession it is more of just a general indicator of where you are. I found it very insightful and it changed some ways of my thinking and pointed out others with which I deal to this day.

Here we go! Enter at your own risk. There are three questions. Pick the answer that comes closest to your response and then ponder what that means.

1 A friend was supposed to pick you up (or meet you somewhere) at the top of the hour. He is now late. Your first reaction is:

a) I hope that he is Okay. I’ll say a prayer just in case.
b) Great! Maybe I can finish my rosary.
c) I’m going to sit here and try to be understanding. Breath. Breath.
d) Typical. I will make a subtle hint that I was here. On time. Waiting.
e) Where is he?! What a jerk. I HATE waiting. Even if he is bleeding on the side of the road he has a cell phone he COULD call.

2 There is an unexpected traffic jam. Your first reaction is:

a) Maybe there is an accident. I’ll say a prayer for them just in case and for people with greater emergencies than mine who find themselves trapped on the road.
b) Great! Maybe I can finish my rosary.
c) I’m going to try and control my anger. Relax. Relax. Turn on classical music . . .
d) There BETTER be something to see at the end of this. Stupid people. Better make some calls.
e) DON’T THESE PEOPLE KNOW THAT I HAVE A LIFE? How could this happen to ME? AGAIN? No, no, no! You are NOT getting in my lane. You chose poorly. LIVE WITH IT! Oh! The inhumanity of it all!

3 A clerk at a store is rude to you. You first reaction is:

a) Thank you God for that test and bless that person.
b) Must be a rough day. I wonder what happened? I’ll say a prayer for her.
c) I’m going to keep my mouth shut if it kills me. Shake it off, shake it off.
d) “What is a witty comment I could use that lets this clerk know that she is out of line and a jerk but makes me look like a needlessly persecuted angel?”
e) Well I’m having a bad day to sweaty and NOBODY is paying ME to be nice today. What does your name tag read? HA! You think things are bad NOW? What till I turn your name in and tell your boss that I will no longer be shopping here because of you. Maybe they’ll give me a discount as an incentive to come back! Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll never get around to that. I’ll just pray a rosary against her.

WHAT WON'T PEOPLE BELIEVE?

So there’s a big brouhaha over atheists putting up signs about not believing in God. After the story in the paper there was a rush to condemn the behavior and then a backlash of letters saying these are just good honest folk “coming out of the closet” so to speak. Of course, if they were simply stepping into the light and announcing themselves in a non-antagonistic way they would not have called themselves, “Freedom from Religion” but something along the lines of, “Freedom in Atheism.” But clearly the title leads one to believe that this is a movement against something rather than for something – ironically the very thing they proclaim to hate about believers.

I have run into this same phenomena between Christian denominations. At my first assignment there was a Protestant Church that used to sneak into our parish church and leave tracts condemning Catholics to the everlasting fires of hell, worked at converting Catholic children at school, and spent, according to various reports, an incredible amount of time in their worship services proclaiming, “Catholics are going to hell. We are not Catholic so join us.” (This done we were informed because they love us and want to save us.)

Now I do not have a problem debating someone who says that they have a better message. “Here is what we believe, we believe it better, more true, whatever, so give it a shot.” But I do have a problem when converting others is based on burning everyone else’s house down in order to make theirs look good.

Among the letters to the editor there was of course the usually diatribe about how faith is the cause of war throughout the ages. It is a tired, old and almost lame horse whipped out of the barn and forced to trot around the paddock. And even if evidence is presented, very little analysis is brought to bear on it. It can’t be for it would show itself to be the broken down old gelding that it is – unable to carry any weight on its sagging back.

There is the idea that man would have a natural instinct to build a much better society if it were not for religion. If there were no such thing as faith in God and a religion to protect, many argue, we could go about the task of building a utopia. Unfortunately there is little to no real evidence of that at all. There is evidence however of faith doing so. If I might quite G. K. Chesterton on the matter:

Morality did not begin by one man saying to another, "I will not hit you if you do not hit me"; there is no trace of such a transaction. There is a trace of both men having said, "We must not hit each other in the holy place." They gained their morality by guarding their religion. They did not cultivate courage. They fought for the shrine, and found they had become courageous. They did not cultivate cleanliness. They purified themselves for the altar, and found that they were clean. The history of the Jews is the only early document known to most Englishmen, and the facts can be judged sufficiently from that. The Ten Commandments which have been found substantially common to mankind were merely military commands; a code of regimental orders, issued to protect a certain ark across a certain desert. Anarchy was evil because it endangered the sanctity. And only when they made a holy day for God did they find they had made a holiday for men. (The Flag of the World)

Considering Christian Church and the horrors attributed to her in the world, I would say she was responsible for none of them. Rather I would say that it was precisely when men did NOT follow her that we ended in trouble. Christianity may not stop man from destroying the world, but neither will atheism. In fact, with atheism there is theoretically even less holding one back. Even if a Christian should destroy half of the world there is at least the chance that if his faith prick his conscience he will feel guilty and have some fear before God and leave the other half.

Christianity is a cure for what ails the world. But it neither forces men to act in a certain way nor prevent them for doing dastardly things in its name if they so choose.

Here is an example of what is both the down and upside of the Christian Church. Years ago I was working in a theater when a couple of young men walked in wearing the Catholic high school jackets. They created a bit of mischief in the restroom and I overheard a couple of adults commenting not on those to ruffians, not on those high school boys, not on those Catholic high school boys, but on those CATHOLIC boys. Where they living the Catholic faith at the moment? Of course not. But by identifying themselves as Catholic did they bring harm to the faith? Yes. But, they are also identified as Catholic and as a member of the Catholic community and I can bring some pressure to bear. “That is not the way Catholics act,” I might say to them. I could also go back to the community and say, “We need to do something. A couple of our Catholic boys are acting up. We need to start preaching and teaching about . . .” We may not prevent a fire, but we can set up a water brigade even as others fan the flames. Faith is about helping us see that dousing the flames is best and faith gives us the courage to go out and convince others, both Christian and none Christian alike, not just because the action is Christian, but because not burning is the correct thing to do – is truth.

The last word on this I will give to our friend Chesterton again who said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

ARE YOU COOKING SAINTS IN YOUR KITCHEN?

There are exceptions to the rule of course but the primary place where the faith is handed on is not in Church or PSR/CCD or in the day school of your parish. The primary place where faith is passed on is the domestic church – in the home. It is modeled and nourished and directed at the parish, but it is passed on in the home. It is the same thing with math. If parents do not place some amount of importance on math and grades then there is nothing a teacher can do to force a kid to learn. If faith is not important in the place where they eat, sleep, and be family, it is rare that an outside influence will bring them to faith and God.

So how does your home stack up as a domestic church?

1. Could you be caught in prayer in your home?
2. Do those who live in your house ever pray together – even grace? Do the heads of the house offer blessings?
3. Are Christian/Catholic ideals in manner, speech, and action upheld, fostered and honored?
4. Is Mass and regular confession a priority in scheduling?
5. Do images, shows, stories, or any other manner of media invited into your living room through television, computers, and other electronic or print media noble or at least not scandalous?
6. Are the poor served in some fashion from your home? (For example donations to charitable organizations etc.)
7. Is the liturgical calendar celebrated in your home in anyway? (For example – does Christmas really seem Christ centered? Do you recognize your feast day?)
8. Is the faith ever discussed (even the weekend’s homily)?
9. Does your house show any sign of housing a people of faith? (For example – is there a crucifix well displayed and honored or do you have a holy water font?)
10. Has your house been blessed or given a patron?
11. Are there resources for learning or being inspired about the faith? Do you a book blessings and use it?
12. Is your home a place of love and joy?

Some of these in some places these are more easily achieved than others. What does one do in a home of mixed religion for example? This may not be a complete list but is a start. You will come up with more. There is an ideal atmosphere in which faith grows just like there are perfect conditions for plants to grow and we are called upon to do our best to achieve them.

WHEN IS FAST NOT FAST ENOUGH?

Fasting is anything but fast. In fact it just drags on and on. Yesterday was a day of fast and abstinence and all I could think about all day long was breakfast on Thursday and how wonderful it was going to be even if it were just butter toast.

When I went to the University of Akron a few friends of mine and I used to fast during lent for three days on nothing but water and juice. What made it particularly challenging was that the Wonder Bread factory is located just off the campus and the smell of baking bread would often waft across the campus. That alone should have knocked some quality time off of purgatory.

Yesterday if you truly fasted you realized how much of our lives revolved around food. All day long I was presented with food that was sitting out. Even for things that I don’t like my body kept crying out, “There! That! You could eat THAT!” And what do you do in place of dinner time? Well, we played Scrabble. I won.

There are only two days on which we fast as a people: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Wow. Two days of simple portions out of the whole year. The minimum for the fast is one full meal, a small breakfast and one collation or light meal if you are between the ages of 16 and haven’t yet celebrated your 59th birthday. That’s not a fast! That’s eating sensibly! I WISH I ate like that all the time then I wouldn’t be looking at my waist line thinking “Golly, I better start doing something about that.” . . . “Someday.”

If you want to pray, we are told, give alms. If you want your alms giving to mean anything, fast. If you fast, make sure that you pray. These are all interconnected and essential for great growth in the spiritual life. Discipline is directly related joy. It is directly related to joy because it is directly related to freedom. “Are we truly free or are we slaves to our desires?” is what our

And fasting can be done anytime. Skip that cafasting is asking of us. Can we say no? If we want to say no to the big things we must practice in the little things. If we want to say no to the little things we must occasionally challenge ourselves in the big things. ndy bar. Have water instead of pop. Do something constructive instead of watching T.V. or goofing around on the computer. Learn to fast and learn to live in freedom.

I WANT TO CHANGE MY ANSWER

A seminarian interviewed me for a project on which he was working and one of his questions was if I thought there was still a climate that promoted clericalism within my circle of priest acquaintances. I readily agreed that there are individual priests who have clerical tendencies but that the general mindset is frowned upon in the presbyterate as a whole.

I want to change that answer.

There was/is a reaction against the abuse of the collar that was so strong that it could be labeled bitter. But when a reaction is too strong the correction tends to be an over compensation and in the end we are left with a mirror image of what it is we tried to eliminate. In other words, we become what we hate. It is like being in a small sailboat listing heavily to port in a strong wind and overcompensating too much to the starboard side. End result: You get wet. You just happen to be on the other side of the boat.

So at the Mass, says Pope Benedict XVI in The Spirit of the Liturgy, “It must be plainly evident that the oratio (prayer/praying) is at the heart of the matter.” “In this prayerful approach to participation there is no difference between priests and laity.”

The priest does what he does because we need him to do it. But the heart of the action is the great prayer being offered to God (and God’s offering to us.) It is devastating to our understanding of who we are as Church to downplay the role of the priesthood of the baptized. What the average Catholic does in the pew every Sunday is not a passive absorption of something important someone else is doing but in itself a vital, essential, meaningful role.

But we do not believe it.

As evidence of this I offer you a common theme in liturgy planning meetings. The sentence is often murmured, “What can we do to get people more involved?” This usually means inventing or duplicating ministries. This is a huge mistake. It sends the message loud and clear that what is happening in the pew is not important. It says if you want to be important you need to find a role that comes as close to mimicking the role of the priest as possible. What does that smack of? The clericalism we tried to snuff out.

Further quoting the pope, “Of course, external actions – reading, singing, the bringing up of the gifts – can be distributed in a sensible way. . . We should be clearly aware that [these] external actions are quite secondary . . . The almost theatrical entrance of different players into the liturgy, which is so common today, especially during the Preparation of the Gifts, quite simply misses the point. . . If the liturgy degenerates into general activity, then we have radically misunderstood the “theo-drama” of the liturgy and have lapsed almost into parody.”

This abuse is particularly prevalent in “youth masses.” People want the kids "more involved." But in fact what we are inadvertently teaching is that what they do at Mass when they do not have an extraordinary role is not really not all that important. What a tragedy! The opposite is in fact the case. Those busying themselves about are actually fulfilling secondary roles. What happens in the pew is (or should be) the primary action. The oratio!

Here we can also see why the Church makes such a fuss about people not taking on multiple ministries at the same mass. That is if they are the lector, they should also not be an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion or some such combination. Even if the person does not mind it is patently unfair as it robs the person from performing their priestly and ultimately more important role.

Hence we have from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (5) “In addition, the ministerial priesthood puts into its proper light another reality of which much should be made, namely, the royal priesthood of believers. Through the ministry of presbyters the people’s spiritual sacrifice to God is brought to completeness in union with the sacrifice of Christ, our one and only Mediator. For the celebration of the Eucharist is the action of the whole Church, in it all should do only, but all of, those parts that belong to them in virtue of their place within the people of God. In this way greater attention will be given to some aspects of the Eucharistic celebration that have sometimes been neglected in the course of times. For these people are the people of God, purchased by Christ’s blood, gathered together by the Lord, nourished by His word. They are a people called to offer God the prayers of the entire human family, a people giving thanks in Christ for the mystery of salvation by offering His sacrifice. Finally, they are a people growing together into unity by sharing in Christ’ s Body. These people are holy by their origin, but becoming ever more holy by conscious, active, and fruitful participation in the mystery of the Eucharist.”

WHEN FAITH COUNTS

So what happens when you want to start taking your faith very seriously and those around you do not? What happens when co-workers or fellow students, or even family just isn’t up to or is even hostile to your faith journey? This is particularly hard when you are newly energized and those around you are wet blankets. It can be quite dispiriting.

It is a little different for a priest. A priest will at least have a home court advantage. People will expect him to stick up for the faith and not take him out for a couple of beers and the have the gang try to persuade him to leave “that bologna” behind. Then again, even if they do, he can go home and surround himself with people of a supportive mindset.

There is the story about the priest who goes to visit a monk and says to him, “I don’t know how you can do it! Staying behind these doors all day doing nothing but work and prayer. I would never be able to do it!” And the monk in turn says, “I don’t know how you can stay close to God out there with all that temptation! I would never be able to do it!”

I suppose that is how I look at many of you out there. Some of you are in very hostile environments. No matter how in love you are with Jesus and the Church it must be excruciating at times keeping the fire enough alive in your heart to keep being a witness to others who don’t seem to take what is important to you seriously.

But even intertwined in the most disparaging of tales I very often find a kernel of hope that the hard pressed Christian, feeling so down, has a hard time seeing. It is the very real possibility that those who seem most antagonistic have some kind of spiritual battle going on within that you are effecting. You will of course be the last to made aware of it. But that is the case with battlefields. And battlefields are rarely nice places.

You may think that priestly and religious vocations as difficult lifestyles. But in all truth I think that of the average, serious, practicing Catholic out there every day encountering every obstacle faith imaginable; the seminarian whose parents do not approve of his decision, the worker who came to work with ashes on his forehead of whom fun was made, the person who has started to take the faith seriously and has no support, all those who feel absolutely alone in belief. There are the heroes of the faith for you.

“Blessed are you when you when they insult you.”

You do more good than you know. You are the ones in the trenches. You are the ones who love despite the odds. Please do not be discouraged. Be true to God and to yourself and may He bless you abundantly in return for the sacrificial love you show Him.