Aug. 18, 2013: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Among the friends you have, do you have a friend who likes “to call a spade a spade?” Perhaps your friend is outspoken, blunt, even to the point of rudeness; to call things by their proper names without any "beating about the bush". You don’t necessarily have to be rude or unkind to be honest and direct about a topic, though. You can be calm and gentle, yet help bring clarity to the situation. And at times, you tell the truth straightforwardly, even when the truth is not pleasant. Perhaps because truth is unpleasant at times, we fall into the opposite tendency called “doublethink,” in which we simultaneously accepts two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct. An example of doublethink  is “don't be a phony; smile and people will like you.” Another example is, “take life easy; work hard for your success.”  

Jesus was known by his disciples to be kind, gentle, and compassionate. No wonder throngs of people were attracted to him and loved him.  At certain times though, he stirred up so much hatred that he ended up being crucified. Was he a troublemaker?

There is no greater disturber of peace than the person who preaches justice and truth. When Pope John Paul II went to Poland, his homeland, in 1979, the country was under a tight control of the Polish Communist government who tried to blot out the Catholic faith and identity of the Polish people. Can you imagine how we would feel here in Donaldsonville if our state government forbade Catholics to gather together on Sundays to celebrate mass? But the government could not stop the newly elected Pope from coming for a visit. At Victory Square with almost 2 million people gathered around a temporary altar, Pope John Paul II celebrated mass. During the homily, he spoke these powerful words, “To Poland the Church brought Christ, the key to understanding that great and fundamental reality that is man. For man cannot be fully understood without Christ. Or rather, man is incapable of understanding himself fully without Christ. He cannot understand who he is, nor what his true dignity is, nor what his vocation is, nor what his final end is. He cannot understand any of this without Christ. Therefore Christ cannot be kept out of the history of man in any part of the globe, at any longitude or latitude of geography. The exclusion of Christ from the history of man is an act against man.” Upon that remark, the crowd spontaneously broke out into applause that lasted 15 minutes. Then the crowd chanted, “We want God...we want God...we want God.” The fire of faith was kindled in the people who lived under fear by a man who spoke the truth of Jesus Christ. This is the fire that Jesus spoke about in the Gospel where he said, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” 

Recently, some parishioners and I were discussing why our younger people are not coming to church on the weekends. We talked about how the younger families have very busy weekends with commitments and children’s sports. A suggestion was made that we should have more masses, not fewer, to accommodate their schedule. Why not a Sunday evening mass, some suggested. Then a parishioner spoke up. “Adding masses will not bring out those that do not already attend. It’s all about relationship with Jesus. If they do not have a relationship Jesus, if they do not want Him, you can have five masses on Sundays yet they still would not come.” That person was calling a spade a spade.

Many of us may not be aware that all of the Catholic Dioceses in U.S. will be facing a severe priest shortage. In 5 to 10 years, over half of the priests in U.S. will be past their retirement age. This means that each Diocese will have to make tough decisions on how to minister to parishioners with less than half the number of priests. This means more clustering of parishes and perhaps even closing parishes. Although God is calling many young men and women to religious life, fewer and fewer are answering the call. What is the solution to this bleak, yet blunt truth? We need to rekindle the fire of love for Jesus, just as the Polish people in the Victory Square chanted, “We want God...we want God...” If we cultivate a personal relationship with Jesus, then our children will want that relationship too. If we put God first on Sunday, then our children will learn to put God first on Sunday. We can’t be lukewarm in our faith. Let us ask Blessed Mother to help us to have that same zeal and fire of love. She knows how to cultivate in us an intimate and fulfilling relationship with Her Son.