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The Choice (The Two Ways) (Read this homily in German)

Homily
Sunday, August 27, 2006, 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B
St. Joseph Parish, Detroit

            St. Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, wrote a series of notes for a priest who would direct a month-long retreat called Spiritual Exercises. One of the meditations he recommends puts us at the same point where today’s Gospel reading leaves us (Jn 6:60-69). He calls it the The Calling of a Secular King Helps to Contemplate the Life of the Eternal King.

            He says, “Place before myself a human king, chosen by the hand of God our Lord, to whom every prince and every Christian show reverence and obey… see how this King speaks to all of his own, saying, ‘My will is to conquer the entire land of unbelievers; therefore, whomsoever should wish to come with me, has to be content to eat as I do, to drink and be clothed as I … he has to work with me by day, and keep vigil with me by night… because only in this way can he share in my victory as he has shared my toils.” And, later in the meditation, using one’s imagination to transform this temporal king into the true King of Kings, Jesus Christ, he asks the one who prays to see Christ, Eternal king, and how he stands before the whole world with the same speech, saying, “My will is to conquer the whole world and all my enemies, and so enter into the glory of my Father; therefore, whosoever should wish to come with me must work with me, because, following me in suffering, he may also follow me into glory.”[1]

            This marvelous passage written in the 1540’s, stresses the same message Christ leaves us in the Gospel today: pick a road, the road of Jesus Christ, or the road of living with your back to him. And every time we receive Holy Communion, we decide on the road of Christ, and turn away from the road of sin. So let us live up to our promise, and every day, say yes to Christ and no to sin.

            “This saying is hard,” they complained, “who can accept it?” Those who were complaining were not Jesus’ enemies, but his disciples. He had just taught them that to live forever, they had to eat his body and drink his blood, and it was too much for them.

            There are many teachings which are too much for modern man. I have preached on the need to confess in the sacrament of reconciliation, and some have said, “This is a hard saying, who can bear it?” I have preached the obligations of Catholics regarding the rejection of abortion, the efforts to stop it, and how this impacts their vote, and some replied, “This is a hard teaching, who can endure it?” I have proclaimed the truth, which will set all men free, regarding the evil of contraception, only to hear the complaints of Catholics, “This is a hard teaching, who can endure it?”

            This type of rejection is proper to the Cafeteria Catholic, who enters the world of Catholic Doctrine choosing what he likes and leaving what he doesn’t like. This is the sad fate of the relativist, for whom there is no truth. This is the result of a life lived with no faith in God, in revelation or in the Church. This is the soul that lectures the Church on “What I think,” and never listens to the Church teach the infallible truth that has been revealed by God for our salvation. As soon as someone starts, “I think God is,” or “I think religion should be,” or “I think this,” or “I think that,” you know straight off that this poor soul is a prisoner of caprice, for whatever he imagines or prefers God to be or say or do, that’s what he assert.

The contrary to this is a person of faith, who starts, “Jesus, who is God, has taught us this or that,” instead of, “I think this or that.” The person of faith starts not, “I think…” but “The truth is…” The person of faith asserts not private opinion, but public revelation. The person of faith lives not for his own preference, but for God’s will.

So here you stand today, with not only the teaching of the Eucharist, but with all the teachings of the Church. And when you come to communion, and say, “Amen,” you implicitly affirm everything the Church has to believe. Everything, all of it. If there is 1% of Church teaching which you do not accept, in fact you accept nothing of all the Church teaches. With Christ, it’s everything, or it’s nothing. Christ is a King who only knows two sides: those who love him, including those sinners who are repentant, and those who prefer sin to God. Either, or. No, there is no gray. You either say, “This is a hard saying, who can accept it?”, or, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

As your priest, as your brother, as your servant in Christ, I implore you, I beg you, take sides with Christ. Accept everything he teaches us through the Church. Outside of Christ there is only darkness and sadness, wailing and grinding of teeth, existential loneliness and the forfeit of all hope. But with Christ there is true love of God and neighbor, hope for eternal happiness, and faith in all those things which are true. Amen.