What were you talking or thinking about in the car today?
In the Gospel today Christ confronts the disciples with what they were discussing on the way to Capernaum with Him. I think that this is a great question, and a way to start to examine our lives to see how fully Christian we are, so I want to ask you to take a moment and reflect. What was I talking about on the way to Mass this morning? Where was my mind, what was I reflecting about?
Anxieties? Worries? Politics? Family? Work?
If you came here alone, then my question is a little different - what are you thinking about today as you came to Church? Did you have worries, anxieties, distractions? What was going on in your heart?
Christ wants to share his heart with us; so set it aside.
Christ asks His disciples this question because he just took them off on a journey through Galilee so that he could teach them something that was important to Him, something from His heart. Today, Christ desires to explain something important to us, something from His heart. To be able to hear Him we need to set aside our internal distractions and truly listen to Him.
So whatever you were talking about - set it aside. If it was important the Lord will remind you about it later.
The scriptures confront our Christianity
What are the ways that we reject the teachings of Christ in our lives? This is hard to do because the natural response is for us to attack the one whom we find obnoxious - to tune them out or to ignore them. Yet, if we want to grow closer to Christ we absolutely need to allow the scriptures to confront how we live our Christian lives. The reason is that we can only grow in holiness if we can recognize the ways that we are not being faithful to Christ. That means we need to allow the Scriptures to challenge us to adopt a more Christ-centric view of the world.
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In a nutshell, the truth of the scriptures today is that Christ must die because we prefer Sin and death over God’s love.
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The truth of the scriptures today is that we prefer death to life. We choose slavery over freedom. We are more interested in ourselves rather than others.
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St. James - Where do the wars among you come from?
St. James shows this today in the second reading when he says “Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
St. James points out to us how empty our lives are. St. James is saying that we are selfish - in my heart - I am always right.
This means when someone disagrees with me they must not be right, they are unjust, and they might as well be dead.
I will use the most negative way of thinking of my enemies rather than loving them.
I covet them (for their freedom or for their wealth).
I label them as extreme, ignorant so that I don’t have to listen to them.
In this way I cut them out of my life, and in doing so
I miss one of the core teachings of Christ.
The disciples (like you and I) often miss out on this core teaching of Christ. So to make this point more clearly Jesus
Catholic = Universal
The word Catholic, as we use it in the creed is meant to convey the sense of Universal, Complete, open to everyone. In that way Catholicism is the way for us to live a “full life” or a “complete life”. How many of us realize that this is the gift that God has placed before us this week.
Christ teaches us to have an Abundant life!
Jesus took on flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary so that he could teach us how to live a complete, full, life - a life that gives glory to God. He does this by understanding how He needs to reveal the Father’s love to us in a complete way. He does this by calling us to conversion - away from our slavery to sin and into a way of living that overflows with abundant life.
When the disciples still don’t get it this is what Christ does for them and for us.
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”
How do I welcome children into my life?
Christ’s instruction is serious - if I can welcome a child in the name of Christ, I not only welcome Christ, but God the Father. When I encounter children (especially here in God’s house), what is my response? Do I find them distracting or fulfilling? Am I welcoming or not?
If I am not married, am I welcoming children into my life as God has intended (Selflessly) or (Selfishly)
Am I living my life so that my view of sexuality is uncorrupted by pornography - which leads to selfishness?
Am I living my life so as to become open to children according to God’s will?
Do I seek the sacrament of marriage before I seek children, or I have got that out of order?
If I am married, is my marriage open to receiving children?
Do I accept them as a gift to help me grow in holiness from God?
Do I/we look at fertility as a “problem” that must be managed through contraception and sterility?
Why does Christ use a child?
Because we all were one (once) and many of us have children. Christ uses children to lead their parents to take up the cross - 24 x 7 x 365 until the end of their lives. Once we have children we understand what it means to be “the last of all and the servant to all.” Children move us from Selfish to Selfless. They help us to imitate the love of Christ in the flesh, every day and all day.
With Children we live out the corporal works of mercy - feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, cloth the naked, visit the sick…
Children open our lives to Christ
We live in a culture that is increasingly becoming more selfish and self-centered, isolated and distant from one another. We are all clamoring that “we are the greatest”, and that is what ails us today.
Children are a natural way to evangelize
Children are an opportunity for us as Christians to proclaim the Gospel through the witness of Life - that God loves us and blesses us to grow in happiness and holiness.
Zone Defense
Often when my co-workers share a story about raising kids, I encourage them to be open to life by sharing what they are missing out on, what an adventure it is. I describe it as going from 2:1 to Man to Man to Zone Defense. Yes it is difficult, and sometimes drives you crazy, but at the end of the day, becoming the least of all and the servant of all is the greatest thing ever because it brings us into the heart of Christ.
Think about it!
God’s first gift to each one of us is the gift of life.
When Jesus came he said “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly!”
That is why his second gift to us is the gift of His life.
What will you be talking about as you drive home from Mass today?
