Look, I know that often in this culture today, being Catholic, letting people know that you love Jesus Christ, and just following his teachings, can be very hard and can cost you friendships and opportunities. Being Catholic is counter cultural. It is walking the opposite direction while everyone around you is heading over the edge of the cliff. But Jesus tells us not to be afraid to follow him. Everything is going to be okay!
What a great set of scripture readings for today’s Holy Mass! As I have grown older and hopefully wiser, I have come to really appreciate the passage we just heard from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
But it is in the passage from Luke’s Gospel we just heard proclaimed that Jesus shares with us the secret to a joy-filled and blessed life. I hope we will all hear his words and allow our lives to be transformed by them. Hold that thought too.
Let me make a deal with you. If you give me your full attention, I will keep this short! The Lord’s message will totally change your life for the better if you allow it.
Let’s set some context for our reflection. This world in which we presently live is not our ultimate home. This present earth is the place through which we journey to our true home in heaven.
I share that truth so that we can place into perspective all the energy and effort we spend seeking happiness in this world. All of us have experienced the doubts and anxieties when making new friends, moving to a new school, looking for a new job or just trying to hold on to the one we have.
Most of us want to belong, have friends, be accepted. We also want things that we believe will make our lives, better, easier, happier.
Take football for example. The college football season is over until late summer. Georgia had an exciting season but missed the Natty. Notre Dame made the Natty but couldn’t handle Ohio State. The NFL’s Super Bowl is already a week in the past. The Falcons never had a shot at the playoffs much less the Super Bowl. As an aside, I moved to Philadelphia over 40 years ago, met my wife there, and adopted the Philadelphia Eagles. So, for me, their Super Bowl win last Sunday was amazing, but in another week, I will have forgotten it for the most part.
One of the greatest saints that ever lived wrote about this universal reality. Saint Augustine who lived almost 1600 years ago wrote about his own search for happiness and it is not so much different from our own experiences today. For years, he sought happiness and fulfillment in the beautiful things and people of this world. But any happiness he found didn’t last and his heart remained restless. He wrote about this in his autobiography, Confessions.
“Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee, O God; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” (St. Augustine, Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1)
There is nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy the good and beautiful things of this world, or in seeking healthy and holy relationships with others, but we should always begin with God, the one who made all things and persons. Saint Augustine wrote eloquently about this too.
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! And behold, you were within me and I was outside, and there I sought for you, and in my deformity I rushed headlong into the well-formed things that you have made. You were with me and I was not with you. Those outer beauties held me far from you, yet if they had not been in you, they would not have existed at all.” (St. Augustine, Confessions, Book X, Chapter 27)
His message is both simple and powerful. While we can and should enjoy all the gifts God gives to us in the created world, none of these can fully satisfy our restless hearts. Only in God can all our desires be satisfied.
This is the message in our reading from Jeremiah. The Lord speaks of those who place their trust only in people and things instead of the Creator. They are like a parched, rootless shrub in the desert heat – a lifeless tumbleweed. But those who first place their trust in God are like healthy trees with deep roots that reach out to flowing rivers for refreshing nourishment.
Understanding this makes the shocking words of Jesus in today’s gospel make sense. Seeking God first brings something greater than the fleeting happiness of the present life. Seeking God first brings lasting joy and blessedness even during trial, tribulation, suffering, persecution, and loss here in this life. Seeking God first brings lasting glory and beatitude in the life to come.
Jesus Christ has inaugurated the Kingdom of God on earth. Most fundamentally, more than a place, the Kingdom is Jesus himself. He tells us that if you surrender to him and trust in him, not only will everything be alright, you will also be blessed beyond your ability to even imagine.
Look, I know that often in this culture today, being Catholic, letting people know that you love Jesus Christ, and just following his teachings, can be very hard and can cost you friendships and opportunities. Being Catholic is counter cultural. It is walking the opposite direction while everyone around you is heading over the edge of the cliff. But Jesus tells us not to be afraid to follow him. Everything is going to be okay!
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.” (Luke 6:22)
Lord, give me the grace to always follow you first, we pray in your holy name of Jesus. Amen.
Into the deep…
Image credit: Image credit: “Sermon on the Mount Altarpiece” (detail) | Henrik Olrik, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C): Jeremiah 17:5-8 | Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6 | First Corinthians 15:12, 16-20 | Luke 6:17, 20-26
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