What does it mean to be Catholic? And why should you be one? This is a question that has probably popped up in our minds at one point or another. What is the reason behind being in this church, in this religion? Why should we be Catholic instead of Protestant? Why this instead of Judaism or Islam or any number of other religions? Why even have a religion? How many of my generation who simply abandon religion for a vague and inactive spirituality, only occasionally remembering that the deity even exists. But why are they wrong to do this, and we right to remain here?
Saint Peter in his first letter exhorts the faithful to have a reason for their hope (1 Pt 3:15). Do we know that reason in our own hearts? Or do we struggle to understand why we should even still come in here and go through the motions? We sometimes feel like people have it easy when it comes to matters of faith, as if it is natural for them whereas we cannot find the answer and wrestle over the point of maintaining these exercises. Yet the truth is that we all have our times of struggle in the faith. No serious Christian is absent from that struggle, yet that struggle can and often does lead to a stronger faith and a greater understanding of why we are here.
I offer you the best example I know of this: my own life. I was not really raised in the Catholic faith. I was baptized Catholic, and I did receive my first Communion. But my family stopped going to church when I was eight or nine, and it didn’t really change much in my life, except make Sunday open for anything else. However, as I grew up, I desired something more. I kept searching for the answer to all of this, what the point of it all is. I would stare up at the stars at night wondering if this was really everything that could be, if this empty universe truly held all the answers. It was not a satisfying answer in my mind.
It was during college that I began to look into the Catholic faith which I ostensibly belonged to. I was inspired by the witness of a few people who were Catholics and Protestants, but were deeply committed to their faith. I read, I studied, I prayed, I went to Mass for the first time as an adult. I began to find an answer that was far more complete than what I had known before. I began to know Jesus Christ. The rest, as they say, is history.
Brothers and sisters, Catholicism is not an ethnic religion. We are called to share this faith with our families, but it is not something that is merely passed down. Our faith is ultimately a choice, an individual choice concerning Christ, a choice with consequences. To help us with that choice, Jesus reveals Himself, as we continue to see in these post-Epiphany Gospel accounts, and today is no less different. Jesus calls all to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, while He also calls Simon Peter and Andrew to come after Him. Jesus does the same for each one of us, calling us to make the choice to follow after Him.
But how many people are there from our parish who have left here, either to seek Him in another church or to ignore Him altogether? How many of our brothers and sisters have left and not returned? Can we ignore them or let them wander in the dark? And what about all our separated brethren in the various churches around us who seem to imitate the Corinthians in Saint Paul’s day, as we hear in the second reading? Can we sit by and let them proclaim, “I belong to Luther”, or “I belong to Calvin”, or “I belong to Wesley”, or “I follow the true Christ”? Do we sit on our laurels and make half-hearted prayers that God converts them? And this is without even considering the poor who do not have the Gospel, the drug-ridden, the helpless among us who struggle to eke out a basic living. Who shall tell them that the kingdom of heaven is at hand? Who shall give them the answer which their hearts seek, as I was seeking for so many years?
Jesus Christ did not establish the Catholic Church to be just one among many other temples and churches. He is the Light of the World, meant to draw all people to Himself. But He does not work alone; the Lord called the Apostles and the early disciples to work with Him in spreading this message of repentance and truth to all the corners of the world. Jesus still calls men and women to work with Him to bear that light of truth in their lives, no matter their vocation. Shall we hear His call and answer it? Shall we find in Him the truth our hearts have been seeking, the answer to all our questions? Shall we repent and embrace the kingdom of heaven?
Brothers and sisters, I urge you: make the choice for Christ! Let us turn to the Light of the World to receive His light and His salvation. Let us turn to Him who calls each one of us to follow after Him. Follow Him who has been the one definitive answer for so many people over the past two millennia, and will be the one answer until the last day. May we indeed desire the kingdom of heaven brought to us in Christ Jesus, and seek to share the Light with all whom we meet so that all of us may enter that kingdom which shall endure for ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment