He was amazed at their lack of faith[1]. This is the
tremendous sentence which closes today´s Gospel.
Sadly we live in
a society that has replaced I believe, with I feel[2]; we live in a society where personal values
or personal opinions or personal points of view has replaced [our] Christian morality. And when a prophet comes –a prophet
is someone who proclaims the truth- society tries to discredit the prophet, we
know this very well. Today we should realize that if Jesus Christ were walking
the earth, once more teaching in the synagogues as well as in His own churches,
He would be crucified again because our
lack of faith, and our attitude toward all those who proclaim the truth[3].
[And] All this leaves us with two
questions: First, do I have the
humility to handle to receive the truth? And
second: do I have the courage to proclaim the truth?
First question, do I have the humility to handle the truth? Morality
tells us that we are not the creators and arbiters of Truth. Truth is not what
we say it is. Two plus two is going to be four, no matter what we feel it could
be. It takes humility for us to agree that some matters are right or wrong
regardless of our feelings. Some people feel they have a right to steal from
work because they put in extra hours. Well, the moral law is quite clear. It is
a sin to steal. Theft is theft. End of story. Many people say that it is OK to
have sex outside of marriage because it feels great. Well, wrong is wrong, no
matter how I feel, I mean it takes humility to realize that there is a Higher
Authority that keeps us from justifying anything, rationalizing our way to
agreeing to anything. It takes humility to be a person of faith, a person who
lives his or her faith and Christian morality.
Second question: do I have the courage to
proclaim the truth? This is even more complex!
The proclamation
of the truth demands tremendous courage. Proclaiming the truth means being
crucified, being scorned, being criticized.
In the Catholic
Church we do not believe in abortion. In the Catholic Church we do not believe
in euthanasia. In the Catholic Church we do believe that using contraception is
cheating on God, for He is who makes the plans and he is the Master of life and
death. In the Catholic Church we believe that marriage is between a man and a
woman, and even though we understand people who suffer the painful path of
homosexuality, we cannot talk about marriage between two men or two women.
All this is part
of our Catholic faith. Our faith is not only Bible reading or only Sunday mass,
or only CCD classes. The Catholic faith is also the moral life that the Church
teaches. And of course there is always someone wonders aloud why the Church
speaks of moral when her ministers are full of immorality. It's true. But the
moral teaching of the Church comes from Jesus Christ who is perfect God and
perfect man. In other words: we need to remind ourselves, Jesus Christ is Truth
Incarnate. Those who reject the truth, reject Him. But those who have the
courage to proclaim His Truth, proclaim Jesus Christ. As simple as this.
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, we just heard
in the first reading. And the sentence is also for each one of us: Agustin,
Maria, José, Carmen, Kevin, Jim, John, Ed, Carlos, Stephanie: I am sending you
among your friends, among your neighbors, among your classmates to give
testimony of your faith. Be brave, be strong, and be bold, not afraid to call
yourself "Christian" in the midst of a world that mocks Christ and
the Church.
Perhaps this
morning we may borrow the beautiful words of St. Paul that we just heard at the
second reading: I am content with
weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of
Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong[4]
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