GOD WITHOUT RELIGION

 A SERMON FOR THE 12TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

It’s a common thing these days to come across people who claim to be spiritual but who have an abhorrence of “religion.”  “Yes, I believe in God,” they’ll tell you, “but I do not believe in organized religion.  I’m spiritual, I find Christ’s teachings very nice, sometimes helpful, but that doesn’t mean I have to go to church! I don’t feel like I need to be a member of one religion or another.”  If pressed, they’ll give you many different reasons: organized religion is corrupt, too political; there are too many rules, too many hypocritical holy-rollers who impose high standards on everyone but themselves.  And then there are so many different religions to choose from, each with its own beliefs, ways of worshipping, moral standards and interpretations of Scripture.  Ultimately though, the people who reject organized religion have a profound misunderstanding of what God not only wants from us, but actually demands from us.  They are blind to the logical conclusion that any spirituality, any belief in God they claim to possess, automatically imposes upon them the duty to worship and submit to this God.

Vague feelings of the existence of a higher being are not enough.  Mushy emotional experiences brought on by stories of miracles, beautiful organ music, incense and stained-glass windows might make them “feel good” for a few minutes.  But unless they follow up these brief and transitory sentiments with commitment and action, their “spirituality” is worthless.  Like a dream forgotten as soon as we wake up, the graces that God gave them with these happy thoughts quickly vanish.  They return to their “real life”, a sad and empty life filled with nothing more than material possessions and ambitions.

Such people see Religion as something unimportant, a take-it-or-leave-it feature of their own personal spirituality.  But Religion is a virtue, the highest of the moral virtues in fact, that inclines our will to give to God the supernatural honor and adoration due to him as Creator and Supreme Ruler.  We neglect this virtue at our peril.  “I can be a spiritual person and go to heaven without all those rules and rituals.  I’ll go to church, maybe, when I’m good and ready, when the Spirit moves me, and not till then.”  In other words, they are entirely oblivious that our first duty towards God must be submission to his will.  They fail to acknowledge that they must place God’s will above their own, submitting their own desires and behavior to the will of God, doing what he wants them to do at all times.  And most of all, by giving to God the honor and adoration due to him. 

So what is God’s will for us?  Exactly what is due to him?  God’s chief desire for us is that we save our souls.  For this purpose he established a Church on earth which would provide us with the opportunity to know the truths God has revealed, and to honor and worship God in the way he demands, the honor and adoration due to him.  Once this choice is before us, we can accept gratefully this wonderful gift from God, or defiantly reject it.  So as soon as we know who God is and which Church he established for us, our submission to God must necessarily include our membership in this Church. The Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, so many people confuse the word “religion” with something else entirely.  Instead of thinking of it as a virtue indispensable for our moral conversion and our salvation, they see religion, and the Catholic Church in particular, as an organization of flawed human beings whose belief in God has been the cause of division, persecution, wars and bloodshed.  Some of them, having never been taught the truths of the Catholic Church, hesitate to commit themselves to her, or to any other non-Catholic denomination for that matter, confused by the very different beliefs and practices of each one and unsure who is right.  All of this confused thinking is based on ignorance, usually not their fault, but brought about in these modern times by the lack of straight teaching by the Church of Vatican II.  Instead of stressing the importance of belonging to the true Church that Christ founded and outside of which there is no salvation, the new conciliar Church now preaches the modernist heresy of ecumenism, in which we are told that we can save our souls by just being good people, no matter what false teachings we believe, and no matter to which non-Catholic denomination we care to belong.   The practical result of this heretical ecumenism is that people no longer believe we need to be Catholic to save our souls, and that there is no objective truth to guide us.  We just need to be “good” people, whatever that means, and we’ll all go to heaven together.

For us Catholics, we must get a grip on the doctrine, the infallible teaching, that salvation comes uniquely from the Church Christ founded.  He didn’t establish the Rock of Faith to be one religion among many, all with different interpretations of what the truth is.  He established the Church to be the means by which we may know objective truth and pass it on from one generation to another, truths that he himself had revealed.  He sent his Holy Spirit to guide this Church in all matters of faith and morals, and just as the Holy Spirit is God and therefore infallible, so too is the Church he guides.  There is no room for the contradictory interpretations and whims of the individual.  And if the Church’s insistence that we hold the infallible truth and other churches do not, we should expect division to come from those who deny this.  If we have a thousand Protestant denominations, it is simply because there is only one truth and a thousand errors.  Two plus two equals four.  One truth.  Any other number is the wrong answer, and the Catholic Church must stand up and defend the only true answer.  In fact, for every truth, there is potentially an infinite number of errors and potential non-Catholic churches, each inventing new beliefs and practices that are not based on those revealed by God, and thus ultimately worthless. 

Throughout history, the Church has had to defend herself and the souls of her faithful many times from such wicked attacks on the truth, and so yes, there has inevitably been much bloodshed.  Many martyrs have died defending their Catholic faith, and to be fair, we must admit that the actions of a few over-zealous Catholics have led to the inexcusable treatment of our enemies.  However, one thing that we cannot do is blame the Church herself for the bad behavior of her members.  While we may acknowledge that cruelty and immorality have been a plague on human history that has scandalized many, our answer to such evils can never be to blame the divine institution of the Church that Christ founded.  Instead, we must ever concentrate on our own personal response to such evils, a response that must be founded on the teachings and example of Christ himself.

In today’s Gospel, our Lord describes exactly what he wants in such circumstances.  Our Blessed Lord soundly condemns the behavior of the priest and the Levite who ignored the plight of the injured man who had been attacked by thieves and left half dead in the roadway.  Despite the fact that these two men were members of God’s chosen people, they neglected their responsibilities of charity and ignored the poor man dying on the street.  In fact, it was up to a foreigner, a non-Jew, a Samaritan, to behave according to God’s will and take compassion on the injured man.  Our Lord’s purpose in telling this parable is revealed in his concluding words, when he tells the lawyer questioning him, “Go, and do thou likewise.”  How many times do we notice the apparent charity of non-Catholics and Novus Ordo Catholics and compare it to our own “Traddie” approach to loving our neighbor.  If we are put to shame by the good behavior of those outside the faith, Christ has the answer for us: “Go, and do thou likewise!”  The law of loving God first and then our neighbor as ourselves is the paramount commandment of our religion.  If we would only practice what we preach, we might find that we would attract more converts to our faith, drawn to it by the charity and good example of its members.

So when we hear the poor, ignorant and godless individuals spouting their nonsense about the Church and the evils of organized religion, let it give us pause to wonder how our own behavior could be contributing to their aversion to our faith and Church.  It is not enough to explain to them the reasons why evil exists among the individual members of the Church, we must show by our conversation and example that any such evil exists in spite of and not because of the Church’s teachings, which, if they are strictly believed and observed, can alone lead them to true charity and holiness by means of the true Religion given us by the Good Shepherd, in the sacred pasture of the Roman Catholic Faith.

CHRIST IS MADE THE SURE FOUNDATION

 A HYMN FOR THE 12TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

 

Translated by J.M. Neale, 1861

 

1 Christ is made the sure foundation,

Christ, our head and cornerstone,

chosen of the Lord and precious,

binding all the Church in one;

holy Zion’s help forever

and our confidence alone.

 

2 To this temple, where we call you,

come, O Lord of hosts, and stay;

come with all your lovingkindness,

hear your people as they pray;

and your fullest benediction

speak within these walls today.

 

3 Grant, we pray, to all your faithful

all the gifts they ask to gain;

what they gain from you forever

with the blessed to retain;

And hereafter in your glory

evermore with you to reign.

 

4 Praise and honor to the Father,

praise and honor to the Son,

praise and honor to the Spirit,

ever three and ever one:

one in might and one in glory

while unending ages run!  Amen.

RENDERING TO GOD HIS DUE

 A REFLECTION FOR THE 12TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

What is it that makes us want to please God above all things?  And what can we do to fulfill this innate desire?  Once we know God exists and we begin to have some understanding of who he is and what he wants from us, the virtue of Religion encourages us to perform acts calculated to render the honor and glory that are due to God alone.  This virtue of Religion is what drives us to give honor to God and to promote that honor in others.  By this virtue we are motivated to pray, to sacrifice, to adorn our chapel and decorate the altar, to sing in the choir, serve at Mass, and do all the other things whose primary function is to give honor to the Supreme Being.

These acts alone, while of great value to our spiritual life, are not, however, enough of themselves.  We are creatures living in a material world, amidst a multitude of other human beings, each with his own cares and needs.  Our Lord reminded us of this when he told us that the Second Commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves is like unto the First, which is to love God above all things.  “The virtue of Religion can and must direct to the glory of God all the works and exercises of a Christian life, that it may become a perpetual divine service” (Fr. Nicholas Gihr on the Virtue of Religion).  In other words, all our actions must have as their objective the glory of God.  As St. Paul puts it in his Epistle to the Corinthians, “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever else ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

This brings us to the importance of making a good Morning Offering daily upon waking up.  With a prayer such as the one following, we offer up to God everything we do, no matter how banal or insignificant, and thus make each action meritorious and pleasing to our Creator.  The words of our prayer may vary, but the basic sentiment should be as follows: “O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer thee my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of thy divine Heart, and for the suffering souls in Purgatory.”  You can add to these intentions the reparation for your sins, the increase of a particular virtue, your relatives and friends, the Church, the nation, or any other intention close to your heart.  What’s important is the idea of elevating the mundane tasks of your daily life to becoming a source of grace and goodness, even when you’re not thinking about them specifically.  The day is thus sanctified without any further effort on your part and abundant are the graces and mercies you will receive from this simple morning prayer that takes only a few seconds to say.

Naturally though, we are called upon to practice other virtues and perform deliberate acts that are morally pleasing to God.  Other than the ones directed specifically to God, such as adoration, thanksgiving, supplication and repentance, we should also strive to pray and practice acts of Faith, Hope and Charity.  Fr. Nicholas Gihr explains this as follows: [These three virtues] may be elicited with the intention of acknowledging the divine truth, fidelity, and goodness, and God is thereby greatly honored and glorified.  In believing, hoping, and loving, we give ourselves to God with all the powers of our soul, we lean upon God and rest in God as our last end; in other words, we render to the divine perfections and majesty due homage and submission.  The three divine virtues also condition the development and completion of the Christian life, which is founded on faith, nourished by hope, and animated by charity.  Faith enlightens the understanding with celestial light, hope endows the soul with supernatural strength, and love inflames the heart with divine fire.  Thus these three virtues enable us by a new and holy life to announce to men the glorious prerogatives and perfections of God, that they may see our works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.  They give rise to the virtue of religion, and excite us to glorify God through works of piety, mercy and penance.”

GLORIOUS AND POWERFUL GOD

 A HYMN FOR THE 11TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Glorious and Powerful God,

We understand thy dwelling is on high

Above the starry sky.

Thou dwellest not in stone temples made with hand;

But in the flesh hearts of the sons of men

To dwell is thy delight,

Near hand, though out of sight.

 

We give of thine own hand,

Thy acceptation is very life and blood,

To all actions good.

Whenever here or hence our supplication,

From pure and with unfeigned hearts,

To thee ascends, be present with thy grace,

Shew us thy loving face.

 

O down on us full showers of mercy send;

Let thy love’s burning beams

Dry up all our sin’s streams.

Arise, O Lord,

And come into thy rest.

Both now and evermore Thy name be blest,

Founder

And foundation

Of endless habitation.

Amen.

DEAF AND DUMB

 A REFLECTION FOR THE 11TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

We can be deaf and we can be dumb in two very different ways.  The first type of deafness and dumbness is purely medical, where we have a physical disability that prevents us from hearing sounds around us or expressing ourselves through speech.  It was such a physical disability that our Lord heals in today’s Gospel. 

But there is a second kind of deafness, one that implies a moral choice that is willful, a deliberate refusal to hear or pay attention to something that we don’t like.  This could be morally virtuous or sinful depending on what we’re listening to.  Sometimes it is a good idea to “turn a deaf ear” to things that are offensive or might lead us into temptation.  At other times though, it might be a bad idea to refuse to listen to certain things.  It could be an act of charity to listen to someone’s suggestions or opposing points of view for example.  Or it might be beneficial to us to listen to the complaints or criticism of others, even if it makes us feel uncomfortable.  Certainly, we should never refuse to listen to things that would elevate us spiritually as such behavior would be offensive to God and thus, in most cases, sinful.

Deciding on whether to speak or not requires a similar moral judgment, one that should be based on prudence, charity and fear of the Lord.  Never are those virtues more needed, and never is our decision more difficult, than when we find ourselves in a position where those around us are behaving badly or speaking sinfully.  Should we just walk away, should we intervene and openly criticize their immoral conduct, or are we tempted to simply ignore it and participate?  Individual circumstances call for a specific judgment call on our part, but there are some general guidelines we may find helpful. 

First of all, we must never simply join in the sinful conversation or behavior as though we approve it.  To do so would be participating in the sins of others.  However, we are naturally hesitant to coldly “spoil the atmosphere” by wagging our finger in disapproval, and indeed, this is very rarely effective.  So what’s left?  Walking away is always an option, although it doesn’t mean we have to stamp away in a huff.  But while leaving the room is a possibility, it does nothing to stop the bad behavior, and thus is not really in the best interests of the parties concerned.  Better still is to subtly change the subject of conversation, or distract the offenders with a more innocent pastime.  We should also try to find an opportunity at some later time to speak one-on-one with those with whom we are most friendly, and point out to them privately and charitably, when they are more receptive, the reasons why we found their conversation distasteful and that it would be beneficial to themselves to behave more honorably in future.

Guided at all times by charity and a zeal for the souls of our neighbor, we will gain experience in knowing when to listen and when not to, when to speak and when to keep our mouths shut.  Our hearing and our speech will thus be based on God’s will and not merely our own often misguided emotions, and we will avoid the pitfalls of being deaf and mute when we should listen to our neighbor and speak to him with true charity.