Homily for Sunday, September 22, 2024

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time | 7 Habits of Highly Effective Catholics - Habit 3, Study

[Father Paul]

I remember attending a conference as the Niagara Catholic District School Board chair. I was sitting at a formal dinner with several directors of education. Of course, the conversation turned to matters of faith. I casually mentioned that we should hold our principals and teachers accountable for delivering the religious curriculum. I had suggested something akin to an EQAO testing for matters of faith. Once the laughter stopped, one of the directors of education asked, quite sarcastically, "What would we test them on? How we pray the rosary?" I was only mildly offended by this, but it brings out a problem I see in our contemporary religious landscape: a lack of appreciation of the science behind our religious experience. I'm not talking about science in terms of physics and biology; I'm talking about science in terms of a very well-thought-out body of knowledge. Somehow, this generation is in danger of forgetting our faith's content.

To illustrate this, I got a call once from a very concerned grandmother that her granddaughter, who was receiving first communion, had no idea what she was doing or why she was doing it and had no knowledge of even the most basic teachings of our faith, even the divinity of Christ or the real presence of Jesus. Of course, I resisted asking her how often her parents went to church. And I won't be able to fill that gap here in 10 minutes. But this is the third habit of being an effective catholic: we need to know the faith.

But getting back to my original conversation about the content of theology, I was miffed. I had spent eight years in seminary formation. The first three years were an intense study of medieval philosophy, according to St. Thomas Aquinas—his Summa Theologica, the language of all modern theology, has over 3000 pages. But then, we spent 4 years studying theology - Scripture, sacraments, dogmatic theology, documents of Vatican II, catholic moral teaching, catholic social justice, and canon law, and that's in addition to one year spent living in a parish. So there's a lot to study.

I had a dream when I was younger. It was a vision of heaven. And heaven in the dream was this giant shopping Mall. There were lots of happy people there, and it was beautiful with all kinds of wonderful waterfalls and sights and sounds. In this mall, there were all kinds of stores that you could visit, and everything was free, including the food court. The mall actually just went on forever, and I didn't want it to end.

The study of Catholic theology is like that. So when I suggest five things you need to know or to learn, those stores don't ever end, they don't run out of stock, and they don't close. So you walk into one of these stores, pick something up, and say, "What's this, and how do I use it?" and it explains it. Or someone in the store, some saint, will tell you about it. And I have to say, some of this stuff is cool.

So, tell me, you ask, what do I need to know? Only five things:

1. God is real. As we learn more about God, we learn more about ourselves, our issues, and how much God actually loves us and cares for us.

2. This is not all there is. Death is not the end; eternal life and salvation wait for us. There is something spiritual in each one of us. Traditionally, this is called a soul, but it is deeply connected to God, who is also spiritual.

3. The Kingdom of God belongs to everyone. This message of salvation, this good news about eternal life, is not just meant for a chosen few but for everyone. We have a responsibility not only to make this known to everyone but also to love everyone the way God loves us.

4. That God forgives sin. The two things that bother us most are what happened in the past and what might happen in the future. Accepting Jesus's salvation is to be relieved of these fears.

5. The Kingdom of God has arrived. Jesus is alive and our saviour. He is in the process of teaching us how to live and why it's best to live that way. He's teaching us what freedom is. And Jesus is God.

I want to mention this in the conclusion. I find God's revelation to be incredibly clear. Here are just a few examples:

• John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.

• Or Revelation chapter 22:6, These words are trustworthy and true.”Or Genesis chapter 1: “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”

• Or John 10:9: I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

All these passages are very clear. I conclude with one of the clearest. It’s about choices:

“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Deut. 30:6-20