Today is
Pentecost Sunday, the day we call “the Church’s birthday.” What we
celebrate, however, isn’t the birth of the Church as an historical event
frozen in time nor of the beginnings of an institution. Instead, we
celebrate the birth of the Church within its members across the
Christian centuries, including you and me gathered here today. To
experience this—that is, experience the Holy Spirit—to accept its
challenges, and to respond to them is what we call “religion.”
Unfortunately,
however, in our culture, in our society, and even in our homes, that’s
not how many—and, perhaps, many of us here today—think about this
Solemnity which is the birthday of our religion.
If you’ve not been
on either side in this particular argument, I’m sure you either observed
it or, at a minimum at least, heard of it. The argument goes something
along these lines:
Teenager: (angrily) I don’t want to go to Mass. It’s so boring. I
don’t get anything out of it.
Dad: (in a tone of exasperation) Look, nobody wants to go to Mass. You
don’t want to go to Mass. Mom doesn’t want to go to Mass. I don’t want
to go to Mass. But as long as you are living under my roof and eating
the food I work so hard to provide our family, you are going to Mass
whether you like it or not. I don’t want to hear one more word about
it! That’s it…end of argument. And, don’t even think about giving me
that sulking, unhappy look in the rear view mirror when we’re driving to
church.
You’ve been there or seen that, haven’t you? I’ve been there and seen
that, too. As I look out at the congregation from my vantage point week
after week, I see many teenagers who look like prisoners in a
straightjacket just waiting to be untied. And, I also see those
sulking, unhappy, “glacial glare” looks…but not through a rear view
mirror!
While this teenager
and father may have different attitudes about the obligation we Roman
Catholics have to attend Mass on Sunday, it’s important to note that
they share very similar views about religion. Both view religion as the
imposition of unpleasant duties upon people along with the obligation to
fulfill these duties because of an unstated threat of eternal damnation.
Surveying many of
the world’s religions, however, the obligations we Roman Catholics bear
really are pretty minimal. In fact, there’s only five “obligations”!
These five principal duties include: attending Mass on Sundays, holydays
of obligation, and resting from servile labor on those days; confessing
sins at least once a year; receiving Holy Communion at least during the
season of Easter; and, providing for the needs of the Church (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, #241-243).
[When I looked up
the precepts of the Church in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
I was surprised to find only five, however. I thought I remembered
memorizing six of them when I was in elementary school, the sixth being
to follow the laws of the Church regarding marriage. Interestingly,
that one isn’t included in the Catechism where the precepts of
the Church are listed, #241-243. I’m sure that it’s in the Catechism
somewhere but it’s not there.]
Where the teenager
and father differ is in their individual responses to the obligation to
attend Mass on Sunday. While the teenager doesn’t want to bear this
burden because the teen perceives little or no value in it, the father
is willing to bear this burden because he hopes that, by doing so, he’ll
earn some future reward.
Today, so many
people believe that religion is about obligations and duties. And they
can be sorted into at least four different groups.
One group—like the
father in the argument described—really don’t like religious
obligations. However, these people are fearful that if they don’t abide
by the rules of the “game,” they will suffer eternal negative
consequences for neglecting their religious obligations. So, they opt
to fulfill only the minimal requirements of membership, which is
precisely what those five duties specify. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church notes:
The precepts of the
Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by
liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed
by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the
very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the
growth in love of God and neighbor. (#241)
A second group—like the teenager described earlier wishes to—opts out
from observing these obligations. The members of this group are firm in
one of perhaps two beliefs. Some believe these obligations are
basically meaningless if one lives a good and decent life. Others
believe that, since these obligations are “man made,” God doesn’t really
care much about them either. Both members of this second group
succinctly state their beliefs by asking this question: “After all, is
God really going to send basically good people to Hell because they
didn’t go to Mass on Sunday?”
Then, there’s a
third group. These people like to pick and choose between the religious
obligations they like and those they don’t. These people have come to
be called “cafeteria Catholics,” a phrase painting the caricature of
Catholics who walk up and down the aisles of Catholic teaching and law
and accept only those teachings or laws which they believe apply to them
based solely upon their personal preferences. If cafeteria Catholics
don’t like something, they bypass it firm in their belief that being
Roman Catholic isn’t a “package deal” but more of a “custom tailored
suit.” According to members of this group, one is a Catholic “in good
standing” precisely because one makes “reasonable” choices even if they
contradict Church teaching.
All three groups
stand united in their opposition to a fourth group, what might be called
“unthinking” Catholics. These are the people who buy into the package
deal and accept at face value what the Church teaches and requires.
What is really bothersome about these people, insofar as the members of
the other three groups are concerned, is that they don’t think for
themselves or take the risk of making a reasonable choice for fear of
contradicting Church teaching or law. The members of these three groups
look upon their unthinking brethren with suspicion because the brethren
seem so sure that they belong to the true Church and its teaching and
laws offer the keys that will infallibly unlock the doors to eternal
life.
In contrast to the
approach of these four groups, what religion really is about—and what we
celebrate on the Solemnity of Pentecost—are not obligations, laws,
reasonable choices, or accepting things on blind faith. Instead, we
celebrate a community of people and, in particular, a community whose
members have come over the centuries to share similar perspectives in
response to the important questions that we human beings normally
confront in our daily lives. Questions like:
·
Who am I
and what is the purpose of my life?
·
Is there
a God? And, if there is, what does this mean about living my life
between the time I bear responsibility for my decisions and when I die?
·
Despite
my best intentions, why do I sometimes fail to be the best person I know
that I can be?
·
What do I
need to know about the world I live in so that I can live the fullest
human existence possible?
·
How are
my body and soul—my sexuality and spirituality—related?
·
What true
and abiding principles can guide me to make prudent and wise decisions
whether those involve rather mundane things (like a choice of school or
career) or very important matters (like the choice of a vocation, a
decision to turn down extraordinary means to extend my life or the life
of someone I love, how best to use my talents in an ethical way, to
admit failure)?
·
What will
happen when I die?
Religion concerns these kinds of existential questions by bequeathing
the answers that a community of people has discovered through the
centuries of collective experience. That is, by reflecting upon their
mistakes and tragedies which have destroyed lives, these
answers—emerging as real people with real faces have reflected
thoughtfully on their real lives—have stood the test of time. These
answers are universally valid for all people, in all times, and in all
places because they are “true” answers and are far too important and
valuable for any one or all of us to neglect.
Oftentimes, however,
it’s only when tragedy strikes that people begin to ask these questions
with any serious intention of seeking answers to them. It takes the
death of a spouse, a friend, or a child for us to confront these very
important questions. And, sadly, it’s at times like these that we ask
the question which betrays a guilty soul not the soul of someone who
seeks the truth: “Why has God done this to me?”
What the members of
those four groups neglect and evidences itself in their viewpoints is
that religion exists to challenge people like you and me to take a
critical view of their lives, their work, and their world. Religion is
not something “experienced” as if religion is a form of entertainment
and I am a paid clown whose purpose is to entertain you weekly and make
you feel good. Nor is religion a set of answers people memorize as if
religion provides answers to a catechism test that infallibly unlocks
the doors to eternal life. No, religion is an intellectual exercise.
It challenges human beings to think deeply and penetratingly about the
issues and problems confronting them in the daily realities of their
lives. Religion provides true principles so that human beings can make
prudent and wise decisions about these issues and problems.
Think I’m crazy?
Just this past week,
Pope John Paul II met with the bishops of Indianapolis, Chicago, and
Milwaukee for their five-yearly visit to Rome where they discussed with
the Pope the status of the Church in their archdioceses and dioceses.
They didn’t talk directly about increasing attendance at Mass, how many
American Catholics are rejecting Church teaching and leaving the Church,
or the scandalous behavior of some priests, bishops, and one cardinal.
Instead, what they talked about involved true religion, what the Pope
has called “The New Evangelization.”
Following their
discussions, the Pope said to the bishops:
The word of God must not
be chained….This will require a profound renewal of the missionary and
prophetic sense of the whole People of God…to speak courageously and
with a united voice in addressing the great moral and spiritual issues
confronting the men and women of our time.
The Church in the United States….is called to respond to the profound
religious needs and aspirations of a society [that is] increasingly in
danger of forgetting its spiritual roots and yielding to a purely
materialistic and soulless vision of the world. Taking up this
challenge, however, will require a realistic and comprehensive reading
of the "signs of the times," in order to develop a persuasive
presentation of the Catholic faith and [to] prepare young people
especially to dialogue with their contemporaries about the Christian
message and its relevance to the building of a more just, humane and
peaceful world. Now is above all the hour of the lay faithful…to carry
forward the Church's prophetic mission by evangelizing the various
spheres of family, social, professional and cultural life.
Not to be overlooked in what the Holy Father said to the American
bishops this past week was his specific challenge to young people.
Rather than viewing religion as a burdensome series of obligations, the
Holy Father challenged has challenged you, our young people, to engage
in dialogue with their contemporaries about the Christian message and
its relevance to the building of a more just, humane and peaceful
world. In this sense, young people—even those whose parents dragged
them to church today—are the hope of the Church. You have a mission to
proclaim the Good News of salvation.
That’s where the
father and the daughter both have it wrong. They just don’t “get it.”
Religion isn’t about obligations which provide nothing more than minimal
standards for inclusion. Nor is religion about matters disconnected
from daily life. No, religion is about utilizing the collective wisdom
of the ages found in the Church to respond courageously to the many
difficult and controversial moral and spiritual challenges confronting
us today.
Being Roman
Catholic, then, is more than meeting one’s minimal obligations. It’s
really about thinking about today’s moral and spiritual challenges as
the Church does in order to make an informed decision about how that
applies to our lives, our work, and our world. Then, of course, we must
respond to these challenges by evangelizing and catechizing others about
the truth held and taught by the Roman Catholic Church. That is what
religion is really about.
Just as the Holy
Spirit broke through the doors and walls of that place where the
disciples were gathered in Jerusalem on that First Pentecost Sunday and
came to rest on each one of them, so too the Holy Spirit breaks through
the doors and walls of the places where Jesus’ disciples gather today
and comes to rest upon each and every one of them. Furthermore, just as
the Holy Spirit sent the first disciples forth to proclaim the Good News
of salvation to the ends of the earth, so too the Holy Spirit sends us
forth to build up the Body of Christ.
Each of us must make
a personal decision about how we will respond to the Holy Spirit. For
Roman Catholics, the Holy Spirit first entered our souls at Baptism and
we then committed ourselves to follow the pathway of our religion at
Confirmation. Through weekly Mass, at a minimum, we encounter God and
He strengthens. In the Liturgy of the Word, God speaks to our souls
and, in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, God nourishes our souls.
Participating in these sacraments, we make a conscious choice to be and
reaffirm our membership in the Body of Christ, not because we “pick and
choose” what we like but because we “get it” as the Church teaches it.
That is, we experience the Holy Spirit transforming us and enabling us
to see ourselves, our lives, our work, and our world as God does.
Today we celebrate
not the birth of the Church as an event frozen in time, but the birth of
the Church within its members, you and me gathered here today on this
Pentecost Sunday. To believe this and to accept this is to be changed
forever.
Like any birthday,
then, today is a day to reflect.
Is religion nothing
more than obligations which I find burdensome? Is religion something
for old people and utterly disconnected from my daily life? To the
degree any of us responds affirmatively to these questions, we have
closed our hearts to the Holy Spirit. It’s time to think about what
that says and means and, perhaps, to repent.
Do I use the
collective wisdom bequeathed over the centuries to help me when I make
important decisions about my life, my work, and my world? Do I connect
what I do here in church on Sunday with what takes place in my daily
life? To the degree any of us does, we participate in the birthday of
the Church—the Solemnity of Pentecost—not as an event in history or
something “out there,” but as something “in here” which connects us to
“out there.” What makes this connection is the presence of the Holy
Spirit who endows us with all we need, as Pope John Paul II said this
week, to build a more just, humane and peaceful world as we evangelize
the members of our families, our society, and our professions and
culture as well. |