If someone were to ask us, “How has God touched your life?” we would each have a different answer, because we all have a unique personal story to tell.
But even though our faith histories are all somewhat different, what God wants us to do with these experiences is one and the same: He wants us to share them for the benefit of others; He wants to touch other lives through our telling of how he has touched ours. To not share our stories would be a disservice to those people God may be trying to reach through us- and perhaps only us.
In sharing our stories, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus himself who, in the words of today’s gospel, “Testifies to what he has seen and heard” from the Father in heaven. We also follow the courageous example of the apostles, who in the first reading explained to those who wanted to put them to death that they were compelled to testify to the acts of God which they had witnessed.
Like them, we have a responsibility to share our stories, out of love for others, and for the glory of God. “My deepest vocation,” wrote Fr. Henri Nouwen, “is to be a witness to the glimpses of God I have been allowed to catch.”
My eldest daughter’s Catholic preschool teacher once sent home a note, explaining that, “God made me. I am special,” was what they were learning that week. I smiled as I read that. But then the thought occurred to me: How many adults need to learn this same lesson? How many people fail to realize that they are special in God’s eyes? How many just don’t know- really- that God loves them?
It’s been said that the poorest people in the world are those that are unloved, because they’re robbed of their human dignity. If that’s the case, then the world is a very poor place.
Today’s gospel, however, reminds us God loves us more than we could ever imagine. We’re told he loves us so much that he wants us to live with him forever, and that his own Son died to make this possible. It’s as if God is saying to us: “I love you so much that I can’t think of spending eternity without you.”
Are we grateful for this love? In prayer I try to be grateful to God for many things: blessings received, prayers answered, and so forth. Maybe you’re the same way. But how often do we simply say, “Thank you God, for loving me.” Probably not often enough. Today, let’s make it a point to rejoice in the wonderful truth that God is love, and that God really, really, loves us.
All religions in the world have something to say about truth. The Hindu scriptures say: “Truth is elusive. It’s like a butterfly; you’ve got to search for it. Near the end of his life, the Buddha said: “I’m still searching for the truth.” Muhammad said, “I am a prophet of the truth.”
Jesus also had something to say about the truth. He didn’t say he was searching for it, or that it is elusive, or that he is truth’s prophet. He stated, quite simply, that he himself is the truth. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” he said in today’s gospel. And he is these things, Jesus explained, because he and the Father are one. Jesus, in other words, is God. And that forces us to make a decision. We either accept that Jesus is who he says he is, or we don’t.
You and I believe that Jesus is the truth; that’s why we’re here. But with this knowledge comes responsibility. Every person on earth seeks the truth, which means that everyone is ultimately searching for Jesus. We who know Jesus as the truth, therefore, must share that truth with others. To keep the truth to ourselves would be a crime; to share it with others is an act of love. The apostles we celebrate today, Saints Philip and James, shared the truth of Jesus, and so must we. What today’s psalm said of God’s creation should also be said of us: “Their message goes out through all the world.”
A reader alerted me to an interesting and insightful analysis by Pope Leo XIII of three trends that both alarmed him and pointed to future problems. He wrote of these three concerns in 1893 in the Encyclical on the Holy Rosary entitled Laetitiae Sanctae (Of Holy Joy). The Pope enunciates these three areas of concern and then offers the mysteries of the Rosary as a necessary remedy. Lets look at how the Pope describes the problems and then consider too what he sees as a solution. His teaching is in bold, italic, black. My remarks are in plain text, red.
There are three influences which appear to Us to have the chief place in effecting this downgrade movement of society. These are–first, the distaste for a simple and laborious life; secondly, repugnance to suffering of any kind; thirdly, the forgetfulness of the future life. (# 4)
Problem 1 – The distaste for a simple and laborious life– We deplore….the growing contempt of those homely duties and virtues which make up the beauty of humble life. To this cause we may trace in the home, the readiness of children to withdraw themselves from the natural obligation of obedience to the parents, and their impatience of any form of treatment which is not of the indulgent and effeminate kind. In the workman, it evinces itself in a tendency to desert his trade, to shrink from toil, to become discontented with his lot, to fix his gaze on things that are above him, and to look forward with unthinking hopefulness to some future equalization of property. We may observe the same temper permeating the masses in the eagerness to exchange the life of the rural districts for the excitements and pleasures of the town….(#5)
One of the truths that sets us free is to simply realize and come to accept that life is hard. It involves trials, arduous work, and setbacks, along with some of the progress we can and do experience. Very few things of true values come to us without a significant cost. Simply put, life is hard. But, coming to accept this is a freeing thing for many of our resentments are minimized or removed by this acceptance. The fact is, many today expect that life should be peachy. And when it is not, there is resentment, anger, even threats of lawsuits. Many today think of happiness as a God-given right. Our Founding Fathers recognized the pursuit of happiness as a goal. But today many expect that happiness to be the norm and to be a sort of right. When it does not exist for them, there has been a failure of the system somehow. Many today expect to live lives where there is little danger, and where things come easily. This has been one of the factors that influenced the growth of government. For as insistence on a comfortable life grows and hard work seems unreasonable, we expect government to ease our burdens and provide increasing levels of comfort and happiness, and we are less willing to work hard for these things. Rather we see happiness and comfort as things to which we are entitled.
But unrealistic expectations are premeditated resentments. And so, with often unrealistic expectations, people quickly grow resentful and even pout. It would seem that our ancestors who lived even as recently as 150 years ago had different notions. They looked for happiness alright, but largely expected to find that in heaven. Many of the old Catholic prayers bespeak a vision that this world was a place of travail, of exile, a valley of tears, where we sighed and longed to be with God. Most Catholics of those earlier times lived lives that were brutal and short. Most were peasants, and lived with far less creature comforts than we. There was no central air, electricity, running water, and medicines were few and far less effective. Entertainment was limited, houses were smaller, even tiny and transportation was far more limited.
We live so well compared to them. And though we are more comfortable, there is little evidence that we are happier. Indeed, we seem more resentful, because we expect more, a lot more. As the Pope notes, young people resent discipline and expect to be spoiled. The majority of parents seem willing to indulge them and shun giving correction since it raises tensions and causes difficulties.
The value of hard work and the satisfaction that comes from it seems lost on many today. Cardinal McCarrick used to counsel us priests that if we did not go to bed tired, something was wrong. We all need some rest and relaxation, sure, but hard work actually brings greater satisfaction to times of rest.
The fact is, high expectations of this world like we have today, breed discontent and resentments. For by it these unrealistic and high expectations, we really insist on living in a fantasy that this world is, or can be paradise. It cannot. A better strategy is to accept that life is difficult and, though it has its joys, it presents arduous difficulties to us that must be met with courage and acceptance. Though this is a hard truth it brings peace when it is accepted.
To the first error Pope Leo commend to our attention the Joyful mysteries and particularly a meditation on the implicit lessons of the home at Nazareth:
Let us take our stand in front of that earthly and divine home of holiness, the House of Nazareth. How much we have to learn from the daily life which was led within its walls! What an all-perfect model of domestic society! Here we behold simplicity and purity of conduct, perfect agreement and unbroken harmony, mutual respect and love….devotedness of service. Here is the patient industry which provides what is required for food and raiment; which does so “in the sweat of the brow,” which is contented with little….These are precious examples of goodness, of modesty, of humility, of hard-working endurance, of kindness to others, of diligence in the small duties of daily life, and of other virtues…., Then will each one begin to feel his work to be no longer lowly and irksome, but grateful and lightsome, and clothed with a certain joyousness by his sense of duty in discharging it conscientiously….home-life…loved and esteemed….(# 6).
Problem 2 – Repugnance to suffering of any kind– A second evil…. is to be found in repugnance to suffering and eagerness to escape whatever is hard or painful to endure. The greater number are thus robbed of that peace and freedom of mind which remains the reward of those who do what is right undismayed by the perils or troubles to be met with in doing so….By this passionate and unbridled desire of living a life of pleasure, the minds of men are weakened, and if they do not entirely succumb, they become demoralized and miserably cower and sink under the hardships of the battle of life. (# 7)
Yes, today more than ever, there is almost a complete intolerance to any sort of suffering. This has been fueled by the fact that we have been successful in eliminating a lot of suffering.
As noted, we have many creature comforts that protect us from the elements, medicines that alleviate physical pain and bodily discomforts, appliances and technology that provide unprecedented convenience and make a lot of manual labor all but unnecessary.
This, as we have also noted, leads to expectations which are ultimately unrealistic. Namely, that all suffering should be eliminated. There is almost an indignity expressed when one suggests that perhaps some things should be endured or that it is unreasonable to expect government, or doctors, or science to eliminate every evil or form of suffering.
Further, we seem to refuse the notion that accidents sometimes happen or that unfortunate circumstances will just occur. Instead we demand more laws that are often intrusive and oppressive, and we undertake huge lawsuits that often discourage the very risk taking that makes new inventions, medicines and medical techniques possible.
We often hold people responsible for things they can do little about. Sometimes economies just have cycles, climates too. Governments, laws and politicians cannot be expected to solve every problem or alleviate every burden. Sometimes accidents just happen.
Not a Padded room – While we can and should undertake to fix unnecessary hazards and seek to ease one another’s burdens, life isn’t a padded room. Suffering, sorrows, accidents, burdens and difficulties are part of life in this valley of tears. Acceptance of this truth leads to a kind of paradoxical serenity. Rejection of it and indulgence in unrealistic notions that all suffering is unreasonable leads to resentments and further unhappiness.
Here too, Pope Leo commend to us the rosary, in particular the sorrowful mysteries:
…If from our earliest years our minds have been trained to dwell upon the sorrowful mysteries of Our Lord’s life…we [may] see written in His example all the lessons that He Himself had taught us for the bearing of our burden of labor– and sorrow, and mark how the sufferings…He embraced with the greatest measure of generosity and good will. We behold Him overwhelmed with sadness, so that drops of blood ooze like sweat from His veins. We see Him bound like a malefactor, subjected to the judgment of the unrighteous, laden with insults, covered with shame, assailed with false accusations, torn with scourges, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross, accounted unworthy to live….Here, too, we contemplate the grief of the most Holy Mother…”pierced” by the sword of sorrow…. (# 8 )
Then, be it that the “earth is accursed” and brings forth “thistles and thorns,”–be it that the soul is saddened with grief and the body with sickness; even so, there will be no evil which the envy of man or the rage of devils can invent, nor calamity which can fall upon the individual or the community, over which we shall not triumph by the patience of suffering….But by this patience, We do not mean that empty stoicism in the enduring of pain which was the ideal of some of the philosophers of old, but rather….It is the patience which is obtained by the help of His grace; which shirks not a trial because it is painful, but which accepts it and esteems it as a gain, however hard it may be to undergo. [Men and women of faith] re- echo, not with their lips, but with their life, the words of [the Apostle] St. Thomas: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John xi., 16). (# 9)
Yes, indeed, the cross is part of this life. But Christ has made it clear that the cross yields ultimately to glory if we carry it willingly and with faith.
Problem 3- Forgetfulness of the future life– The third evil for which a remedy is needed is one which is chiefly characteristic of the times in which we live. Men in former ages, although they loved the world, and loved it far too well, did not usually aggravate their sinful attachment to the things of earth by a contempt of the things of heaven. Even the right-thinking portion of the pagan world recognized that this life was not a home but a dwelling-place, not our destination, but a stage in the journey. But men of our day, albeit they have had the advantages of Christian instruction, pursue the false goods of this world in such wise that the thought of their true Fatherland of enduring happiness is not only set aside, but, to their shame be it said, banished and entirely erased from their memory, notwithstanding the warning of St. Paul, “We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one which is to come” (Heb. xiii., 4). (# 11)
I have become increasingly amazed at how little most modern people think of heaven. Even Church-going believers talk little of heaven, priest preach little on it. Our main preoccupation seems to be making this world a more comfortable and pleasant place. Even in our so-called spiritual life, our prayers bespeak a worldly preoccupation: Lord, fix my finances, fix my heath, get me a better job. Almost as though we were saying, “Make this world pleasant enough and I’ll just stay here.” It is not wrong to pray for better health etc. It is not wrong to work to make this world a better place. But in the end, our home is in heaven and we ought to be solicitous of it and eagerly seek its shores. It should be a frequent meditation, and to be with God forever, the deepest longing of our soul. Instead we fear getting “older” and hide death away in our culture. It ought to be that we can’t wait to see God. Sure, it would be nice to get a few things done that we’ve started, but as heaven and being with God draw closer, we ought to be happy that the years are ticking by faster. Each day is one day, closer to God!
Here too, our prosperity and creature comforts have mislead us into a love of this world that is unhealthy. A friend of the world is an enemy to God (James 4:4). We are distracted and too easily dismiss that this world is passing away. The fact is, we are going to die. Only a proper longing for heaven can correct the absurdity that an obsessional love for this world establishes in our soul.
Meditate on heaven often! Read the scriptures, such as Revelation 1, & 4-5, 20-21. Ask for a deeper longing from God.
Pope Leo commends the Glorious mysteries of the rosary to our attention as a medicine for this absurd attachment to this passing world and our forgetfulness of heaven:
These mysteries are the means by which, in the soul of a Christian, a most clear light is shed upon the good things, hidden to sense, but visible to faith, “which God has prepared for those who love Him.” From them we learn that death is not an annihilation which ends all things, but merely a migration and passage from life to life. By them we are taught that the path to Heaven lies open to all men, and as we behold Christ ascending thither, we recall the sweet words of His promise, “I go to prepare a place for you.” By them we are reminded that a time will come when “God will wipe away every tear from our eyes,” and that “neither mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, shall be any more,” and that “We shall be always with the Lord,” and “like to the Lord, for we shall see Him as He is,” and “drink of the torrent of His delight,” as “fellow-citizens of the saints,” in the blessed companionship of our glorious Queen and Mother. Dwelling upon such a prospect, our hearts are kindled with desire, and we exclaim, in the words of a great saint, “How vile grows the earth when I look up to heaven!” Then, too, shall we feel the solace of the assurance “that this momentary and light affliction produces for us an eternal weight of glory beyond measure, exceedingly ” (2 Cor. iv., 17).
Here then are three diagnoses, and three remedies. It is interesting to see that the roots of them were already evident in 1893 and how they have come further to press upon us more than 100 years later. It is helpful to have a Doctor of Souls to help us name the demons that afflict us. For having named a demon, we have more power over it and learn its moves:
Demon, your name is “laziness” and “distaste” for hard work. By the joyful mysteries of the Lord’s Life, be gone.
Demon your name “refusal of any suffering” and an “resentment at the cross.” By the sorrowful mysteries of our Lord’s life, be gone.
Demon your name is “forgetfulness of heaven” and “obsession with the passing world.” By the glorious mysteries of Lord’s life and our Lady’s too, be gone.
Catholic bishops across the globe world are often forced to make a courageous stand in defense of truth while facing the world’s opposition. They are doing what bishops have done throughout history, including the bishop we honor today, St. Athanasius.
Athanasius was a fourth century bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, which at the time was a major center of Christian activity and thinking. Because he stridently defended the doctrine that Jesus is truly God, he faced opposition from emperors, magistrates, and many intellectuals of his day. Five times he was forced into exile. As he often seemed to stand alone in his position, his contemporaries said of him, “Athanasius contra mundi”, or “Athanasius against the world.”
We should give thanks to God today for the courageous witness of bishops from the past like Athanasius, and we should give thanks for the courageous witness of bishops in our own age. In addition to our gratitude, we should support our bishops though prayer, acceptance of their teaching, and public advocacy for their positions, so that unlike Athanasius, they don’t stand alone against the world. The world needs our bishops, and our world- and our bishops- need us.
One Sunday while in college, I invited a friend with me to church. “No thanks” he said, “it’s just not my thing.” For him, having faith was fine for those who found it attractive, but he just wasn’t interested. From his perspective, faith is kind of like a hobby. I have a hobby- running- which I enjoy very much. Many people, however, find running boring or painful. Running, therefore, is definitely “my thing.” But is that all my faith is? Is that all your faith is?
Some say that it is. Some even say that faith is our “thing” because we’re “weak-minded.” If you recall, that’s what pro-wrestler turned Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura said to Playboy magazine. But of course, Ventura is far from being alone. Psychologist Sigmund Freud, for instance, insisted that religious faith makes people into neurotic, psychological infants. Karl Marx, the founder of Communism, criticized religious faith as the “Opium of the Masses,” a drug we take to keep us from seeing the world as it really is. And bestselling atheist Sam Harris says that religious faith “allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy.”
Other critics say that our faith is not only a sign that we’re dumb, but also that we’re dangerous. They point out all of the horrible things that have been done, and continue to be done, in the name of religious faith: Wars, persecutions, forced conversions, crusades, inquisitions, jihads, crucifixions, and the like. At the very least, they maintain, faith flies in the face of reason and creates unnecessary divisions within society: believers versus unbelievers, Catholics versus Protestants, Muslim versus Jew. Because of this, claims God is Not Great author Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great: “All religious belief is sinister.”
But that’s not all. According to some critics, like evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who wrote The God Delusion, not only does faith make us dumb and dangerous, it also shows how backward and behind-the-times we are. According to them, religious faith is a product of blind evolution that we just don’t need any more. It once served a purpose for primitive, unenlightened humans, offering security in a dangerous, scary world, and providing answers to the meaning of life, but we’ve progressed beyond that now. We don’t need faith anymore to understand our world. All we really need is science.
In today’s gospel, we heard how “doubting Thomas,” as he’s come to be called, refused to believe in Jesus’ resurrection, even though his friends said it was true. You and I believe in Jesus’ resurrection. Yet there are those who say to us that our resurrection faith shows that we’re crazy, weak, backwards, and dangerous. “Doubting Thomas’” disbelief vanished when Jesus appeared to him in person. But that’s probably not going to happen to us. So how can we keep a firm grip on our faith in the face of criticisms that can easily sow seeds of doubt, and tempt even the most faithful among us, to wonder if what they say might just be true?
We can begin by remembering all of the different ways our faith makes us strong. For starters, numerous studies have shown that people of faith are healthier and live longer. Faith, therefore, helps make us physically strong. And it helps us be emotionally strong too, because our faith can fill us with joy, happiness, contentment, and peace. Even more than this, our faith gives us strength in the face of life’s difficulties, and whenever we confront the realities of pain, suffering, and death. Our faith gives meaning to these events, reminds us that we have a God who walks with us, offers hope for a better life beyond this one, and empowers us to forgive those who may have done us wrong. We should ask ourselves: What kind of people would we be without faith? Probably weaker, less happy, more confused, and certainly not stronger-minded! As the philosopher Kierkegaard once said, life is not a question of belief versus unbelief. It’s a question of belief versus despair.
But does our faith make us dangerous? It’s true that terrible things have been done in the name of Christian faith. As Christians, we should apologize for them and seek to heal any damage that has been done. But let’s not forget that lack of faith has led to far more terrible things. Just think of the tens of millions who have died under Communist regimes. We must also never forget that faith has inspired people and the Church to do wonderfully good things: The promotion of human rights, and the care, protection, and education of the sick, poor, persecuted, and forgotten members of society. Our faith inspires us to a goodness and generosity we wouldn’t have without faith. One prominent atheist today dismisses love of enemies as a “monstrous notion,” while our faith teaches that it’s a virtue. So are people of faith more dangerous than those without it? You tell me.
Yet even if we’re less dangerous, might we still be behind the times? Is our faith nothing more than a left-over evolutionary by-product? Is faith in God is simply a function of the way our brains are wired, and nothing more? Or is it God who wired our brains to have faith in the first place? The answer to that is, well, a matter of faith! But maybe a voice from long ago, St. Augustine, can help us out. He maintained that it is natural for people to have faith. To lack faith, on the other hand, is unnatural, because of the way God has made us. So while there will always be those who say faith is crazy, dangerous, out-of-date, or even just “our thing,” people of every time and place will hunger for Christian faith. Or as G. K. Chesterton once said: “Christianity has been declared dead many times. Thankfully, it has a God who knows his way out of a grave.”
I awoke this morning to a text from my sister – “I love her dress!!!!!” Like many women, I ran down the stairs to catch a quick glimpse of the soon-to-be princess as she stood in Westminster Abbey next to her prince. I must say, I completely agree with my sister. I too, love her dress! It was quite refreshing to see feminine beauty expressed in such an eloquent and sophisticated style. For a brief moment I thought, maybe Kate’s choice in dress will be a trend setter and bring modesty back into bridal fashion.
Then suddenly, my attention was turned to the Bishop of London. He started his sermon with these words, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” I couldn’t believe it! Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Catherine of Siena and as millions watched to see the dress, the first balcony kiss, the complete “fairytale wedding” they would also have the opportunity to hear the words from one of our great saints. In some sense, these words which are echoed through time, give meaning today to sacred nature of the marital bond.
God created us out of love as a means to reflect His love. And marriage, as authored by God, is one of the ways we can express that love. For it is in the sacrificial love shared between husband and wife, that man and woman become what God desired them to be – a reflection of His love! When we allow our lives to reflect His goodness, His truth, His love, we reach one conclusion. We set the world on fire. Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us!
“Peace be with you” are words we share at Mass. However, this is not just a specifically Catholic form of greeting, and it’s more than a simple expression of best wishes. Instead, this peace is a real gift- a gift that only Jesus can give. In today’s gospel, Jesus gave this peace to his friends when he appeared to them on Easter. Jesus extends this same peace to us at Mass, and invites us to share it with each other.
When Jesus offered his peace to his friends, the wounds of his Passion- the marks of the nails in his hands and feet- were plainly visible for all to see. We know, therefore, that a life touched by his peace is not necessarily free from conflict and pain.
Instead, we might best understand this peace as the peace of heart, and the peace of mind, that comes with the assurance that Jesus is always present with us. It’s the peace of knowing that in the midst of life’s ups and downs, the risen Lord is always at our side- offering us consolation, guidance, and challenge; instilling gratitude, joy, and wisdom; filling us with faith, hope, and charity; calling us to conversion and forgiveness; and strengthening us to carry our cross. With this peace comes an assurance that the Lord will always provide, that his love will never fail, and that the risen life he promises us, will never come to an end.
If someone were to ask us, “How has God touched your life?” we would each have a different answer, because we all have a unique personal story to tell.
A reader alerted me to an interesting and insightful analysis by Pope Leo XIII of three trends that both alarmed him and pointed to future problems. He wrote of these three concerns in 1893 in the Encyclical on the Holy Rosary entitled 
