Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 147

Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed...
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who will judge the living and the dead,
and by his appearing and his kingly power:
proclaim the word...

The scriptures today speak of persistence. We hear of Moses' persistence in prayer as his warriors engaged Amalek in battle. Saint Paul urged his protegee, Saint Timothy, to 

“proclaim the word, be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.”

In the Gospel Jesus, urges us to pray with the obnoxious persistence of the widow who pesters a wicked judge. 

Consumers are known for making many demands; they are sometimes obnoxious and unreasonable; but they are not known for their patience. Often, by the time a harried merchant has found precisely what the consumer wants, they've lost interest and the precious merchandise, finally arrived, goes to the dumpster. 

The same consumers have notoriously little patience with crises. Reacting to a worldwide pandemic, they may mask for a month and wash their hands for two months, but that should have taken care of the problem. After that it's somebody else's problem, and someone’s fault, and not the consumers’. A nation of consumers may rush into war, as when the United States was attacked in September 2001; but by the end of the war twenty years later, they could not remember what it was about or why they sent troops to Afghanistan, that notorious graveyard of empires.  

Unfortunately, the spirit of consumerism has entered the Christian and Catholic churches, and we too pray impatiently, expect more than we deserve, and often shop around for the doctrines, rituals, pastors, and churches that suit our political opinions and social concerns. Because they can drive to church, many Catholics ignore parish boundaries and drive across town to find the Church that fits their particular notion of what God should say and how the Mass should be celebrated.

Their religious loyalty is not unlike a consumer’s loyalty to Fall City Beer, Coca-Cola, or Naked Juices. They insist that they are true Catholics although they might support abortion on demand, assisted suicide, and other medical procedures that are neither therapeutic, corrective, or medical. Their religious affiliation does not influence their educational and career choices, their vocations or vacations, their entertainments, or their politics. They might take a cruise in the Bahamas but never a pilgrimage to Mexico City, Medjugorje, or Lourdes. 

The day is coming, and has arrived, when being Catholic costs more than occasional attendance at Mass. We are being warned by random attacks on Catholic churches and shrines all over the country. Recently, several Catholic children in Minnesota were murdered, and several others wounded, by a deranged gunman while attending a weekday Catholic Mass. Can it be purely accidental that well-armed deranged persons attack Catholics? Who armed them and put them up to it? 

How much are you willing to pay for practicing your Catholic faith?  The twentieth century theologian Balthazar described an interview between a hostile government agent and a compromising Catholic: When the Catholic assures the agent that our values are essentially natural values, and that our faith is very human and can fit into any society or culture without conflicts or divisiveness, the agent dismisses him as a harmless crank. That kind of religion is no more dangerous than gardening or bowling. One spouse goes out to watch football at a sports bar while the other goes to bible study and their evenings are not interrupted by Germany’s Gestapo, Russia’s KGB, or America's FBI. 

Being Catholic should cost you something. It might embarrass you once in a while. You might turn on the radio and hear something about Pope Leo, or a cardinal or bishop, and think, “Now what?” or, “I wish he hadn’t said that.” Or better, “I should find out what he really said before I get to work, to school, or see anyone who asks what I think about what they said.” 

The Bible teaches us about perseverance through years of hostility and long difficult times. So long as the Church is in this world and there are people in the Church, we’ve got our backs to the wall. There are moments when we wish God would come immediately with his kingdom of Justice and settle everything once and for all. But the Bible also says the Lord is giving us time to repent of our sins, hear the gospel, atone for the wrongs we have done, and make things right. In other words, we should be glad the kingdom of God has not yet come because we might not be worthy of the company of saints and martyrs. 

Catholics will never be good consumers. We do not shop around to find the church that agrees with our beliefs. Catholics are told what we believe, and discovering that the world has different teachings and that we thought differently, we search for a better understanding of our doctrines. We want to conform our opinions to our beliefs. Only a fool would say, “Well, I don’t believe everything the Church teaches,” without finding out precisely what the Church teaches and what it means. 

But, whatever the Church teaches, you can be sure it will cost you something. Every doctrine invites deep exploration into the mysteries of God, and serious reflection about the world we live in and how we are living in this world. Our doctrines save souls from hell; they’re not glorified opinions about arcane nonsense. Whether it’s the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Blessed Sacrament, or Purgatory, the doctrine challenges you to understand, embrace it with enthusiasm, and pay the price despite the loud complaints of an opinionated, ignorant world around you. 

Hearing that the bishop or pope has made another controversial statement, we look for its meaning, and ask God to give us the courage to speak the truth to our families, friends, neighbors and enemies. We cannot ignore a direct command from the Apostle Paul when that command comes with a most solemn oath:  

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,

who will judge the living and the dead,

and by his appearing and his kingly power:

proclaim the word;

be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient;

convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.