Optional Memorial of Saint Augustine Zhao Rong, priest, and companions, martyrs

 Lectionary: 384 

When they sow the wind,
they shall reap the whirlwind;
The stalk of grain that forms no ear
can yield no flour;
Even if it could,
strangers would swallow it.

I'm sure I knew what virtual meant when I was young, and perhaps I heard the phrase virtual reality, but it was oxymoronic. It was something that appears to be real but is not, like mirages and legerdemain. 

If you took virtual reality seriously you were sowing the wind and could expect disappointment at best. 

I don't know that the truth has changed since my youth but there seems to be a lot more invested in virtual than in reality today. Truth itself is brandished as a virtual reality.

It would be easy to point to some political investments that are doomed but I won't go there today. Instead I think of the lyrics from a song in Showboat, the Broadway play and movie. The gambler Gaylord sings to Magnolia, the captain's lovely daughter, 

Only make believe I love you,

Only make believe that you love me.

Others find peace of mind in pretending -

Couldn't you?

Couldn't I?

Couldn't we?

The song is so lovely and the story so sweet it brings tears to my eyes. The playgoer wants to believe and has to believe it. It's called suspension of disbelief and every storyteller counts on their listeners, readers, and audience to not call their story nonsense. This temporary ceasefire between truth and falsehood is fine where it is, in  romantic stories of happiness and sadness. 

And if you have no belief in God you might as well go along with the conman gambler and give him your heart. Buy an elixir of love, snake oil, Brooklyn bridge, and Arizona gold mine from him! But if you're a born skeptic like me, or restless until you rest in God, you abide your time for awhile and wait for reality without the virtual to appear. 

Our faith in Jesus may appear like another bad investment to many skeptics. They hear stories about the Church and its people, and generate more stories, to shore up their disbelief. They prefer stories of success that can be gained with small investments. One has only to study hard in school to get rich someday! Even if you're born in poverty and speak with an accent and don't look like anyone's grandchild, you can make it. You could be president of the United States! Or failing that, a senator. No one has to enter through the narrow gate or walk the lonesome valley with the Lord. 

But finally, when the day comes that we lose faith in virtual relationships and other falsehoods, we turn to the Lord. We take up the crosses assigned to us and discover delight. Who would have supposed the way of penance might be joyous, energizing, satisfying, and hopeful? Who ever heard of humble service as enriching and empowering? 

Like many others, we find peace of mind not in pretending but in believing in and following the One who has died that we might live.