President Trump has declared this Sunday a day of prayer for the victims of Hurricane Harvey and for the national response and recovery efforts. I have authorized a special collection at the discretion of pastors which funds will go to Catholic Charities USA and to dioceses affected. Often church institutions are not eligible for government funding. Thank you for your generosity. We continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in need.
Simon Peter in last week’s Gospel inspired by the Holy Spirit recognized Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus responded that no mere mortal could have told him that and then anointed Peter as the rock upon which he would build his church. In this week’s reading only a short time later Peter now clearly the mortal one was something less than a rock. When Jesus revealed that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, Peter declared: no way, change your travel plans, avoid the suffering. Jesus unlike last week challenges Peter harshly: “get behind me Satan. You are not thinking as God does but as humans do.”
In the first reading Jeremiah at the call from the Lord had preached repentance to a people who did not want to hear it. He faced rejection and persecution, and therefore discouragement. Jeremiah cried out: “Lord you duped me.” Both Jeremiah and Peter responded in a very human way. In their own ways they were lamenting that life is not fair, which we all feel on occasion.
There is a lesson for us in their reactions. When our hearts are bursting with faith we allow the Spirit to guide our lives. When we are discouraged or anxious or times are tough our human limitations take.
Our age, to which St. Paul in the second reading urges us not to conform, encourages us to avoid the messiness of every day. A grandmother told this story. Her granddaughter lost a tooth, placed it under her pillow at bedtime expecting the tooth fairy to arrive. In the morning she looked under the pillow and the tooth was still there. She burst into tears. Trying to comfort her grandma said, “Darling, you don’t still believe in those old fairy tales, do you?” “Maybe not,” replied the granddaughter, “but I still believe in money.” Worldly standards and lures come early and dig deep.
Jesus makes clear that Christian discipleship inherently requires bearing crosses. The truth is that we will all experience crosses, difficulties no matter what, whether we invite Jesus into our lives or not. But the crosses we bear with Christ at our side are not so much burdensome as freeing. The secular culture preaches if it feels good do it, live for today, it’s all about me. Jesus calls us to a higher standard out of love for us, a love witnessed by his suffering on the cross, a love expressed through His Church. Sometimes it can result in rejection; sometimes it can be seen as too heavy a burden. But Jesus assures of that his burden is light.
He said to follow him we must deny ourselves. That sounds negative as if Jesus asks us not to be ourselves. In fact to follow him frees us to be who we were created to be and gives us the strength to deal with what comes our way. To deny oneself is not simply to give things up or to take all the fun out of life. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that God does not ask us to give up anything but rather to replace it with something better. To deny ourselves is to say yes to Christ. It means putting ourselves and the world of temptation into perspective.
Jesus asked an intriguing question: “what profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit life?” What can one give in exchange for life, for eternal life? St. Augustine’s famous lament that we are “restless until we rest in thee” is so true if we are honest. The unfulfilling experience of living shallow lives based on the moment and personal gratification affirms this. The incivility and violence, so much a part of our culture since Christian moral values have been marginalized, also proves the truth for our need to personally choose to follow him and to urge others to do so as well.
What does it take to overcome our tendency to want short term satisfaction and the seemingly easy way, or to deal with the doubt that Jeremiah and Peter experienced? It takes courage, a gift of the Holy Spirit. President John Kennedy when he was a United States Senator wrote a book entitled Profiles in Courage in which he recounted the stories of many who had not taken the easy way out. He noted: “In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience – the loss of friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men – each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. . . Each man must look into his soul.” The teachings of Christ through his Church can guide us and form our conscience in such a way that we can live the faith with courage, and therefore bear our crosses with hope.
One of the evils of today is racism, which some have called the original sin of our nation. While there are extreme manifestations it is mostly subtle. A man remembered when as a boy he was walking home from school. He took a shortcut through an alley and came upon three big white kids beating up a black youth, taking turns punching him and laughing as they did. Frightened he stood silently hoping they would not see him. But they did. They grabbed him and pushed him toward the victim. “Go on, hit’em,” they demanded. So he did. He wrote in remembrance, “Thirty five years later that evening still preaches a sermon to me. One can despise, decry, denounce and deplore something without being willing to suffer, or even to be inconvenienced, to bring about change. Jesus taught us to suffer with and for others. I wish I could find that kid. I want to ask his forgiveness for the blows I refused to stand by his side and take.” Thirty five years he held this regret of not having the courage to stand up for what is right.
Jesus invites us; he does not force us; but he promises to walk with us. To do so may result in a sacrifice that will require us to not conform to our age and it surely will require us to look into our souls for the courage to live the faith well. But after all, what profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit life, eternal life?