Homily for 30 Aug 2015

30 Aug 2015

22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

It’s hard to be a Catholic today.  Not that it’s ever been especially easy; but in today’s world of global communication and sharing of ideas and opinions, it’s especially hard to know what it means to be “Catholic,” what it means to be true to ourselves and faithful to our God . . . even to know what we should think about God himself. 

It’s like we’re in information overload.  There’s so much “stuff” handed onto us—views and opinions, facts and fiction—which we’re left to sift through and wonder: What am I supposed to make of this?  Is this or that statement truth, or is it just somebody’s opinion?  And on top of that—or, at least, somewhere in the mix of it all—is our Catholic tradition that’s handed down from one generation to the next.

And, even though we might experience this information overload in an extreme sort of way, the reality of competing traditions and conflicting messages about what it means to be a Christian isn’t really that new.  For instance, the first arguments between St Peter and St Paul were because of their different approaches to the Jews and Gentiles. 

Or we can look at the ancient Israelites who lived right in the middle of a cultural crossroads.  They were right on the main stretch of land between Egypt and modern-day Iraq and Turkey.  They were constantly being influenced by travelers passing through there and the other locals in the area.  They lived right in the middle of their own “information highway,” where they got experienced to all sorts of different gods, different beliefs and practices and values.  It’s no wonder why God constantly had to remind our Israelites ancestors to stay true to him.

There was temptation all over the place to wander away from God, to wander away from their faith . . . and, as we know, that really hasn’t changed much in the past three thousand years, or so.  Just this past Thursday we had a prayer service on the memorial of Saint Monica for all our friends, family and others who’ve wandered away from or left their Catholic faith.  There were about 100 people here that night.

And the prayers people prayed could’ve come right out of the Book of Deuteronomy, which we heard from today.  Deuteronomy is as relevant today as it was when it was written.  In effect, it says: “Don’t water down your God-given faith.  Live in the world, but as a child of the One God—not as a child of all those other gods that compete for your attention.”

And there are a lot of other gods and opinions and viewpoints out there today.  Some are legitimate and some aren’t.  We live right in the middle of a ten-lane-wide information highway, with traffic speeding by every which way.  And that’s a reason why, today, it can be so hard to know what it means to be a Catholic, and to live a Catholic Christian life.

Even those basic words: “Catholic” and “Christian” are confused today.  When people don’t like the word “Catholic” they just substitute the word “Christian.”  But they’re not the same.  “Christian” refers to the person we follow: Jesus Christ.  “Catholic” refers to the way we follow him: as part of a global and very diverse community of faith we know as the “Catholic Church.”     

In today’s world of competing gods and opinions and values we need to be clear about who we are, what we’re about, and what we believe.  But that does not mean being rigid or closed-minded.  It just means we need to have a clear sense of our identity—because it’s that identity as Catholic Christians that we bring to the world.  That’s the identity and voice we interject into the deluge today; the deluge of competing information about what’s right and what’s wrong, what we should believe and what we shouldn’t believe.

It’s important for us to live in the world and to engage the world.  But we can’t engage the world and be a voice of compassion and truth and reason if we don’t know who we are as Catholic Christians.  It’s hard to be a Catholic today because it’s so very easy to get confused about who we are.  But every week we have a chance to clear the air, to clear our minds and to get reoriented again about who we are and what we’re about.

Let us stand now and remind ourselves of the faith and the identity given to us by our Lord and his Apostles.  Let us profess the creed—that short, but powerful reminder of who we are, what we’re about, and the beliefs and truths we have to offer the world:

            I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things

            visible and invisible.

            I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father

            before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten,

            not made, consubstantial with the Father; Through him all things were made. For us

            men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was

            incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under

            Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in

            accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right

            hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead

            and his kingdom will have no end.

            I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father

            and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken

            through the prophets.

            I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the

            forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of

            the world to come. Amen.

This is our faith.  This is the faith of the Church, the faith handed onto us by Christ and his Apostles.  If we ever get confused about who we are, what we’re about, and what we believe, remember the Creed.