Since we are in ordinary time, the first reading and Gospel now have some form of connection. The first reading is from Jeremiah the Prophet and it details how much he suffered for his speaking out. He wanted to live just a simple life, but God called him to be his prophet and the people did not want to hear what he had to say. They persecuted him severely so much, he cursed the day he was born.
What would have happened if Jeremiah never spoke out? The Jews would be remembered as much as the Babylonians. Their culture would have died out, but God’s will was that the world would be transformed through the Jews’ monotheism. The world needed to know that our truth comes from beyond us and it costs nothing to seek it but seek it we must. For those who seek it find it and those who reject it get lost in the falsehood of their own chosen idolatry.
Now let’s look at our same world from the Gospel reading.
Like the call for Jeremiah to be courageous, so Jesus teaches us to have courage and for the same reason. What is at stake?
Our world is in flux and one of the reasons is that in many corners humanity lost touch with the source of truth and the fount of wisdom.
However, do not start shaking a finger at them. Do not start shaking a finger at the Chinese Communist Party, The atheist professors in our own country, The European Union, The United Nations or even the corporate media, we need to start focusing on own call and mission.
Jesus calls us to live in courage and not to fear those who can kill the body and not the soul. That can be difficult at times, I know from experience. However, why does he admonish us this way? For the same reason he called Jeremiah to be strong despite his suffering.
There is too much at stake.
He calls us to be strong in our faith that we can witness to the truths that come from outside of us.
If we do not, then our society falls back into paganism which has been happening worldwide for several decades.
It is a natural progress. Humanity either continues its pilgrimage to union with the Father or it falls back on itself into the worst forms of paganism. There is no other alternative. This does not mean that humanity cannot accomplish great things even within a pagan society, but it does mean the society’s eventual weakness will lead it to collapse as it did since the days of fall of the Assyrian Empire.
Jesus’ words are important to us today. We have a mission to be the prophets that he called Jeremiah to be. We have a mission to testify to the truths and we do that by living the Gospel. What does that demand? To love as Jesus loves.
We need to live prophetically.
If we are not doing that then we are not being the Catholics Christ called us to be.
In order to accomplish that goal, we must be people of prayer because it is through prayer that we learn to know Christ and to live his demands. If we do not pray, even though we know every jot and tittle of Catholic moral teaching, we will be as St. Paul demands noisy gongs and clanging symbols.
It is through our actions of love that we witness to the truth of Christ. In fact, when we come forward to communion, it is an action that we commit to love to that level. That by the way is the reason that the Church prohibits people from receiving if they are living in ways that reflect a rejection of Church teaching, it is a call to embrace a higher form of love.
We can look around at how our country changed over the past month and since the shutdown caused by the fears over the virus. Many of the social struggles that the country suffers from right now are caused by the Catholic Church not being a prophetic institution.
We must step out of ourselves and live in a way that radically affects the lives of those around us and changes our world and we can only do that through the love that comes from the source of all love, truth and wisdom.
If you look at the great problems we are having in our country right now, they are based on delegating government agencies the authorities to act on our behalf. However, what if we chose only to delegate that authority as a last resort.
An example: You saw the news of the final result of incidents in Atlanta: A man who fell asleep in his car in a drive thru of a fast food restaurant. He apparently had been drinking. A police officer charged with his murder after a struggle where the man got a hold of his TASER. A riot and finally the restaurant burned to the ground.
How did all this start. With people calling the police that a man was asleep in the drive-thru of the restaurant. Now this needs to be said with caution and with discernment. What if instead of calling the police, a small group of people knocked on the car window, woke the guy up, advised him to move his car to the parking lot where he could continue sleeping and that worked.
None of the previous issues would have happened. That is a bit risky, and I am sure many people including the restaurant would not be happy. However, if they knew what the alternative result would be I am sure everyone would be happy.
What is the difference, acting in a way that humanizes That is acting prophetically. It may or may not have worked, but we know the action taken did not work.
How can you live your faith courageously first be a person a of prayer and then with discernment put your faith in action.
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