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Many people
throughout the world have great envy for Americans because one distinct
advantage our society offers its citizens is that they can have just
about anything they want, when they want it, and in the way they want
it. Burger King promotes itself as the fast food franchise where you
can “Have it your way.” But, it’s equally true that just about every
business caters to the whims, fancies, and caprices of our fellow
citizens by offering the ultimate in customization.
We all know how
salesmen will offer just about any “extra” in order to make the sale.
We’ve all seen builders who display “Custom built” signs to draw the
attention of people on the hunt to purchase a new home. Insurance
companies bend over backwards to customize policies to meet particular
criteria. Even the company from which I purchase coffee beans
advertises that it “freshly roasts the beans you select and sends them
to you the same day you order them.”
We really enjoy
being able to have what we want, when we want it, and in the way we want
it, don’t we? Compared to most of the world, we live in a very wealthy
nation
which makes us the
envy of many people throughout the world. So, we pretty much take it
for granted that we can have what we want, when we want it, and
precisely in the way we want. “Custom made for….” is a status symbol
many people proudly emblazon on just about anything and everything.
Unfortunately, for
most American Catholics, the ideology of “customization” is something we
believe should also apply when it comes to the faith and moral teaching
of the Church.
While many of us may
agree that the Church should speak with clarity about the issues of
faith and morals confronting us, when the Church proclaims something we
don’t happen to agree with, many American Catholics will complain, gripe, or
demand that the Church proclaim the message they want proclaimed. Some
observers have called this tendency on the part of American Catholics
“cafeteria Catholicism.” George Weigel calls it “Catholic lite.” Some
say this is all related to our democratic freedom,
self-determination, and rugged individualism. For my part, I call it “customized
religion.” That is, if we are going to pay for it, then we want to have
what we want, when we want it, and served up exactly the way we want it.
This really isn’t
something new to humanity because, in fact, we heard about the
prevalence of this attitude in the Jewish community nearly two thousand
years ago. As the evangelist John spoke about it in today’s Gospel, he
observed: “Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, ‘This
saying is hard; who can accept it?’ ”
Not hearing Jesus
say what they wanted him to say, namely, that discipleship
should be easy and not require much personal sacrifice or self change,
Jesus’ disciples began to waver in their desire to follow him. While
many of them may have still admired Jesus, the challenge Jesus put
before them placed a heavier burden of discipleship upon their
shoulders than most of them were willing to bear. The idea that true and abiding happiness is found not in
fulfilling the desires of the flesh but in the rigor and discipline
associated with developing the spirit was simply too much, they
believed, for Jesus (or anyone for that matter) to
demand of them.
Many of Jesus’
disciples evidently wanted the Jewish religion to be the way they wanted
it, not the way Jesus was describing it. Perhaps they would have
been happier had Jesus said, “Hey, look folks, let’s agree that the
spirit gives life. But, since that’s unattainable for us because
we are mere mortals, here’s the real deal: God really doesn’t give a
hoot if you seek happiness by fulfilling the desires of the flesh.”
But, rather than catering to the crowd’s whims, fancies, and caprice in
an effort to increase the number of disciples by offering them some form
of "Jewish lite" or "cafeteria Judaism," Jesus said: “It is the spirit
that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” “As a result of
this,” John observes, “many of his disciples returned to their former
way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
“How sad,” we may
think to ourselves. “If only those foolish disciples had listened to
Jesus. They would have seen the folly of returning to their former way
of life and accepted the challenge that Jesus was placing before them.”
Fast forward two
thousand years to the present day.
How many people do
you know―and,
perhaps, you might count yourself among them―who
want Catholic faith and morality to be defined the way they want? How
often have you heard others demand―or,
even, have demanded yourself―“Who
is the Pope to criticize changes in economic systems so that they serve
people rather than enslave them?” Or, “Who is the Pope to jump into
political arguments by telling Catholic politicians that they must work
to outlaw abortion?” Or, “Who is the Pope to legislate what people do in
their bedrooms?”
The truth be told,
the faith and morals of the Catholic Church are based upon the “law of
the spirit” not the “desires of the flesh.” There is no doubt
about it, these principles are demanding and difficult to accept and
more demanding and difficult to live out in one’s daily life! The
faith and morals of the Catholic Church set a very high standard.
They also cut right to the core of how we live, the rationalizations we
use to explain why we live the way we do, and the faulty assumptions―the
foundation built on sand―upon
which all of that rests. Like those disciples who “returned to their
former way of life and no longer accompanied Jesus,” many American
Catholics―and
perhaps, many of us also―would
rather not accept Jesus’ challenge to discover that fulfillment is found
in the law of the spirit, if only because that would require doing
without so many of those customized things which fulfill the desires of
the flesh.
We heard St. Paul
speaking directly about this in his letter to the Ephesians when he
noted that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to
his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” How many people today
want marriage their way and on their terms and are attempting to define
it in every sort of way none of which is based upon Scripture or the
teaching of the Church? They ask: “Why should marriage be defined
solely as between a man and a woman? Why not a man and a man or a woman
and a woman? What’s the difference if they love each other?” Then,
there are those who ask: “Why must marriage be permanent, the ‘until
death do we part’? So what if Jesus taught, ‘let no one divide what God
has joined’?” “Why shouldn’t the Church allow divorce? What’s the
difference? Why should it matter? And, what business is it of the
Church anyway?”
We also heard St.
Paul teach the Ephesians that “husbands should love their wives as their
own bodies.” Yet, how many young people―perhaps
ourselves when we were young or our own children today―love
their bodies and the things of the flesh so much that they don’t take
husbands and wives but instead pretend to live as husbands and wives
without getting married? Just consider two of the positive reasons
those who advocate living together before marriage these people assert
as infallible truth. First, couples get a chance to see whether they’re
suited for each other. Second, it sure is a lot cheaper to pool living
expenses. So, they ask: Why shouldn’t couples live together before they
get married? Who is the Church to stand in judgment?” And, as a last
resort: “Besides, everyone is doing it!”
Rather than cater to
public opinion to expand and enlarge membership by offering people what
they want, when they want it, and in the way they want it, the Church
doesn’t approve of these and many other things as well. Why? Because
words do mean something and Jesus taught his disciples: “It is the
spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” The question
for Jesus’ disciples is not “What do I want?” but “What does my spirit
need?”
So, as a result of
such very challenging and difficult teachings, many Catholics get up and
leave the Church to go elsewhere or nowhere. Many studies have inquired
into why these people leave the Church. Now calling themselves “recovering
Catholics,” many of these women and men point to the hypocrisy of its
sinful leaders who uphold “tyrannical, man-made laws” intended
only “to make people feel guilty” as the primary reason for leaving the
Church. Put in another way, what these people are saying indirectly is
that they have joined other Christian denominations because these
churches offer what they want, when they want it, and in the way they
want it.
This, too, is
nothing new. More than twenty-five hundred years ago, Joshua faced a
nation of grumbling, complaining, and bickering people. Standing before
the multitude, Joshua challenged the Israelites, “If it does not please
you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve.” More
oftentimes than not, perhaps because of our fallen nature and the legacy
of sinfulness, the choice people make is to serve themselves and the
desires of the flesh not the Lord and the needs of the spirit.
Confronted with the
reality that the desires of the flesh are secondary to the needs of the
spirit, many of Jesus’ disciples turned away from the path, returned to
their former way of life, and no longer accompanied Jesus on the way to
Calvary where his flesh was crucified and he yielded up his spirit to
the Father. Knowing this is the only pathway of discipleship, Jesus put the question directly to Peter: “Do
you also want to leave?” To which Simon Peter responded: “Master, to
whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to
believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
While there are many
American Catholics who want a customized religion, Catholic lite, or
cafeteria Catholicism, we shouldn’t the numbers fool us. Although they
are fewer in numbers, there are many disciples out there who are
responding to Jesus’ question just as Simon Peter did.
Think about those
Catholic teens and young adults who have listened and responded
positively as Pope John Paul II challenged them to be disciples who
promote and build a culture of life. It has been difficult for them,
but these brave disciples have freely chosen to embrace chastity as a
virtue upon which they not only want to build their lives but which they
see as the sure foundation upon which to build sacramental marriages and
families, too. Ridiculed by many of their peers and their motives
called into questioned by national magazines like Newsweek and
Time, these young disciples don’t want cafeteria Catholicism,
Catholic lite, or customized religion. What they want is the truth and
have decided to crucify the desires of the flesh in order to become
strong in their spirit so that they might be in a right relationship
with God who is Truth.
Despite countless
pressures, many Catholic couples not only practice natural family
planning but also have made the heroic decision to put marriage and
family ahead of career, opportunity, and “all of the gadgets and toys.”
Crucifying the desires of the flesh which seek to advance one’s
self-interest at the expense of others under the illusion that “one can
have it all,” these couples have chosen to yield themselves to God so
that they might minister to the children God entrusts to them as
parents. These couples might not have everything they want, but deep in
their spirit they are filled with God’s love and their children have
everything they need and that every child deserves.
And don’t forget the
many divorced Catholics who understand that “I do” really does mean “I
do.” Having had to crucify their dreams for a “happily ever after,”
they’ve also struggled mightily to grapple with the difficult truth
that, even though one’s spouse broke the marriage vow, they are not free
to break their vow. In the middle of the pain and loneliness they
experience, however, these disciples find themselves strengthened deep
within their spirit by the Holy Spirit as they live out the Catholic
faith. Because these women and men “get it,” they can even smile and
chuckle when family members and friends tell them to forget Church
teaching and get married again.
In the middle of
these and so many other challenges, Jesus has asked these Catholics, “Do
you also want to leave?” And, like Simon Peter, they have responded
“Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We
have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of
God.”
Without doubt,
living the Catholic faith and walking its moral pathway is difficult.
It is so much easier to turn away from what faith and morals require.
Why should we expect it to be otherwise?
But, it is also
illogical to demand that the Church customize the pathway of faith and
morality to suit our whims, fancies, and caprice. An irony that
faithful disciples in every generation appreciate is that although this
pathway through which our spirit is strengthened is very difficult to
walk, it leads us to what our flesh desires but can never give us:
everlasting happiness. Like Jesus, when we allow our flesh to be
crucified and yield up our spirit to the Father that we experience right
now and here the foretaste and the promise of eternal life in God.
Sixteen centuries
ago, a battle raged concerning how the Church was holy. Some argued
that it was because the bishops and priests led holy lives and, because
of them, the sacraments conveyed grace. St. Augustine, someone who
understood sinful humanity quite well because of his sinfulness, argued
otherwise. He believed that the holiness of the Church and the efficacy
of its sacraments was to be found in the lives of those people―perhaps
few in number―who
lived the Gospel. St. Augustine said that he couldn’t name these people
or point to them but that they are present in the congregation. These
disciples are the spouses who dedicate themselves to fulfilling their
marriage vows. These disciples are the children and young adults who
strive to live virtuously alongside their brothers and sisters and
peers. These disciples go to work, envisioning not as a “job” but as a
forum to “witness” to the Gospel. In short, these disciples desire to
be faithful and their presence in the Church is what guarantees its
holiness and their presence in the world is what challenges us to growth
in holiness.
Just as Joshua
challenged the Israelites when he said to them, “If it does not please
you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve,” and as Jesus
challenged Simon Peter by asking him, “Do you also want to leave?”,
today’s scripture challenges us as Catholics to recognize that the faith
and morals of the Church are not intended to suit the fanciful whims of
people. No, the faith and morals of the Church are intended to
strengthen and to ground the spirit in the living God.
The pathway charted
by the faith and morals of the Church challenges us is not an easy one
nor is it intended to be. It provides a spiritual workout that is
equally as rigorous and demanding as a physical workout is if not more
so. It forces us not only to understand our genesis as children of God
but also to develop greater spiritual maturity so that we might live
that way each and every day.
We know that the
flesh flowers and comes to its beauty during its youth; but, the flesh
withers and fades as the years wear on. The spirit, however, comes to
its fruition as one grows in grace and wisdom. This is learned though
the years as we, like Simon Peter, come to believe and are convinced that Jesus is the Holy
One of God and walk the pathway of faith and morals. |
HOMILY
