Saturday of the First Week of Lent

Lectionary: 229 

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

In a nation and culture that professes multiculturalism, where people are free to embrace their preferred values, the practice of religion can become a hobby. Attending Sunday and weekday prayer services and bible study groups, reading spiritual literature, and visiting sacred shrines: all these strike some people as quaint pastimes. Even works of mercy like volunteering in a soup kitchen or women's shelter strike some people as good deeds for those who are so inclined -- but not required for a "good life." 

Even when we bring great zeal and conviction to these practices, can we clearly show we are different from those who passionately collect and maintain firearms? Both "hobbies" are guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, and both arouse fierce arguments about their purpose in an ever-changing world. 

How does the practicing Christian fit in our world? Is our presence required? Does our witness make a difference? 

We should consider these questions during Lent for this is the season when our manner and behavior are altered by our religious beliefs. 

I have to confess that working as a priest-chaplain in the secular environment of the VA Hospital has induced a healthy shock in me. I meet many wonderful, inspiring men and women; but I meet more "Catholics" who feel no compelling need to attend church. Invariably they say they pray and believe in Jesus; and invariably I accept their claims; but I don't believe them. Their "faith" makes no difference in their personal lives or in the world around them. Religion is only a hobby for them, and they have found far more interesting ways to spend their time and energy. 

One of the friars here at the Mount spoke of his first year in the Franciscan novitiate. He told his sister that he was spending a lot of time in the chapel with daily Mass, the Divine Office and communal meditation. She replied, "Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" Why would that be a surprise to the novice entering religious life? But, after completing that novitiate year, even the professed religious -- the professional religious -- forgets that he has vowed himself to a Life of Prayer. Many of us become so busy with our work we forget to do our work. 

Recently, Archbishop José Gomez, responding to the crisis in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, reminded his Church of the "universal call to holiness:"

All of us need the grace of a new conversion. This is what Lent is for. 
We need to be transformed once more by the person of Jesus Christ and the power of his Gospel. We need to live our faith with new sincerity, new zeal, new purpose and new purity. We need a new desire to be his disciples.
I cannot say it enough: We all need to rediscover the essential message of the Gospel — that we are children of a God who loves us and who calls us to be one family in his Church and to make this world his Kingdom, a city of love and truth.
The challenge we face — now and always, as individuals and as a Church — is to resist the temptation to only follow Jesus “half way.” We should never settle for mediocrity or minimum standards in our life of faith. There are no “good enough” Christians, only Christians who are not doing enough good. 

Clearly, relegating religion to professional religious has failed. The Protestant Reformation recognized that failure centuries ago as it challenged all Christians to heed the universal call to holiness. 

At one time devout Catholic families prayed urgently that some of their own children would be called to priesthood, the convent and the monastery. They took enormous pride in supporting celibacy by the gift of their children. 

But, if that era has passed, as it seems to have, then we can only suppose the Holy Spirit is demanding that every Catholic get serious about her faith and its practice. We can do without C and E's who crowd our churches on Christmas and Easter. There is enough dead wood in the Catholic population to start a forest fire, if only we would catch fire. 

...today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised.”