Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Collect of D-Day
Eighty-two years ago

 Lectionary: 358

For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine
but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truthand will be diverted to myths.
But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist.

As we pause to remember D-Day and the horror of World War II, we hear Saint Paul's warning about "myths." I am reminded of an excellent lecture I heard many years ago; it concerned myths and American spirituality, and was presented by a Lutheran minister. 

He spoke of the American imagination which separates symbols from reality. We are hugely entertained by Mickey Mouse and his companions. We might use those imaginary characters to teach our children certain moral lessons, but we don't expect mice, ducks, or dogs to interact in human language with each other or with us.  

Gene Roddenberry famously created Star Trek to address American social issues of racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Although his Captain James Kirk continually searched for vulnerable women, especially among his subordinates, the show was greeted as a leading edge in thoughtful, ethical entertainment.

However, influenced by the entertainment, some people regarded warp speed travel and transporter beams as entirely possible despite the resistance of common sense. Trekkies were convinced they were watching actual scientific developments that would certainly come. But because increasing acceleration requires more energy, Einstein predicted that accelerating to the speed of light would require all the energy in the universe! It ain't gonna happen. 

Nor did Roddenberry account for sin. The show expected that, by the 25th century, poverty would be eliminated from the Earth -- and the entire populated universe. (Although, if interstellar travel were possible, the first 21st century explorers would not yet have arrived near the nearest star by the 25th century.) 

And, as our common sense Redeemer said, "You always have the poor with you." Greed, jealousy, ambition, and anxiety will create inequity and injustice until the Judgment Day. As G. K. Chesterton said, 

"Original sin is the only doctrine that's been empirically validated by 2,000 years of human history."

Many of the myths spawned by Star Trek found no scientific support, neither proven nor speculative. And yet many otherwise-intelligent people believe them, as Saints Paul and Peter warned us. 

However, to my astonishment, the Lutheran lecturer told his colleagues, Catholicism offers a way out of America's faith in idle myths. (I was the only Catholic in the room.) The Catholic Church's faith in the Blessed Sacrament represents the Incarnation of Jesus. We believe in certain historical facts which have mythological significance for us: he actually rose from the dead, and he sent his apostles to make disciples of all nations. And the myth of transubstantiation is real, an actual fact. 

The New Testament's use of the word myth gives it negative connotations. However, we need those myths that are grounded in reality. Beyond historical facts like Mary's virginity, Jesus's divinity, and his resurrection, we believe in and share the Body and Blood of Jesus at every Mass. They are true, credible myths because they shape our lives and lead us to a promised destiny that is as real for us as the bed we sleep in and the food we eat. They can be disproven only for those who have no faith in God, no joy in life, and no hope for humanity.