Thursday, August 25, 2016

Homily for 26 Aug 2016

26 Aug 2016

Our Lord marches to the beat of a different drummer.  I mean, he says things like: “If you want to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life, you will save it.”  And “the bread I give you is my flesh for the life of the world.”  And “you have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, ‘Love your enemy.’”  He’s not quite in sync with conventional thinking.  And thanks be to God for that.

If we find ourselves too entrenched in the world—and are frustrated—maybe it’s the Holy Spirit trying to say, “You know, there is another way.”  Of course, to others, that way looks kind of foolish.  It’s the path of: being satisfied with what you have, instead of always grasping for more; the path of forgiving those who’ve trespassed against us and moving on; the path of accepting that hardship isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  The way of Christ—the way of Christian foolishness and faith, is certainly a road less travelled.

But that doesn’t mean we’re being “fools for Christ” all alone.  No, the world is full of Christian fools who march to the beat of a different drummer.  The trick is to be okay with being one of the oddballs; to be okay with taking that road less travelled; to believe in an invisible and mysterious God; to have faith in the sacraments and the Church; to look at the crucifix and suffering as our doorway to life and freedom. 

Others look at us Catholics and say, “How foolish of them; how nonsensical; how ignorant they are of reality.”  And that’s okay.  We’ll pray for them.  In the meantime, we just go on our merry way, out of sync with the world, but in step with our Lord.      

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