"Come to me all you that are weary."
Matthew 11: 25 - 30
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070923.cfm
“I believe and profess all
that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed
by God.”
When I first heard that
statement, I was struck by how bold it was.
After a long period of prayer, reflection, stories and teaching, those
already baptized in another Christian faith now express their desire and
willingness to embrace Catholic Christianity at the time of Easter and then to
be formally accepted into the Church as Catholics. Unlike the non-baptized, these folks have no
need for another baptism. They have
already expressed their faith in Jesus Christ and are familiar with a Christian
tradition – more or less.
Yet, they have come to
examine more fully their call to embrace Catholicism and now are ready to
express publically their new belief. We
joyfully celebrate that event, along with the newly baptized, every year. What is “bold” about that statement are the
words: “. . . ALL that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches and proclaims
to be revealed by God” The statement is made after the recitation of the Creed
and then the candidate adds those lines. But, ALL of it? Well, I’m not sure what the word “all” means
other than everything. I find that not only beautiful but greatly challenging,
particularly in light of our present day.
How many Catholics, baptized
from infancy and raised in the faith, believe ALL the Church teaches? How many
of us, even us priest’s, understand the mystery of God’s action among us? That
can be answered only by each individual.
The Creed we profess on Sunday is one thing but how that teaching is
applied and explained is another for many.
With the newly professed we
too are asked to make that same statement as we live out our faith with all of
its beauty and radical call for conversion - "love your enemies, forgive
those who do you wrong, turn the other cheek, the last will come first and the
first will come last" is among the most daring of Jesus' teaching. So it is the morality which Jesus taught and
the number of doctrines and dogmas held by the Church. Yet, we know that
gradually, over time, the Holy Spirit has revealed the mysteries of God to
humanity.
In our Gospel this Sunday,
Jesus prays in gratitude for those who have embraced his teaching and been
consistent as his followers. It strikes
as a kind of come away and rest invitation from our Lord. A kind of let’s take a “time out” and reflect
together.
In ear shot of his disciples
he prays to his Father in heaven: “. . . for although you have hidden these
things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones . .
. for my yoke is easy and my burden light.”
Who are the “little ones” – children? Certainly, Jesus showed tenderness
toward children but more so consider the crowds who truly hung on his word,
witnessed his miracles and came to him for healing as they expressed their
faith in him – those on the borders, the “sinners,” the outcast, the rejected,
the simple folks of the country side, those without any influence on society,
the poor and forgotten. It is to these that Christ came not just to improve
their lives but more so to heal them of darkness and errors. To extend to all of us a meaning and purpose;
why God created us and how we, as beloved sons and daughters, are destined to
return to our loving Father, which God so desires for us.
We also know that the
“learned and clever,” the leaders of the Jewish faith as Pharisees and others,
were hostile and resistant to him due to their stubborn and closed minds. So, where does he go and to whom does he
preach the good news with success? To the “little ones” who perhaps at first
with some surprise on Jesus’ part, received him with great hope and
gratitude. To those who were learned in
so much more, their minds and hearts were fixed on narrow things.
So, this brings us back to
the original statement about embracing “all” that the Church teaches. If those
who accepted Jesus’ teaching and responded with faith were among the lowly and
simple what might this say about our own attitude? In the case of our newly accepted in the
faith, it is a moment of joy but also a time to continue the journey. To “believe and profess” all the Church
teaches is to embrace Christ and his Church in spite of our full lack of
understanding. Christianity is not a
test we pass or fail but a call to conversion and a new way of life. We are
called away from darkness (sin) and born as new children of light through
baptism.
Paul in our second reading
from Romans reminds us that we are in the spirit and that we must live not by
the flesh (material world only) but by the Spirit that we have received from
God in baptism and beyond. That means
that we open our hearts to a new reality, a new vision about who we are and who
God is. We see life somewhat differently than purely secular values which
basically dismiss God from its teaching and strongly present a morality based
in what’s good for me rather than what is good for the whole.
We live in a very
self-centered, somewhat narcissistic time. I can be the sole determiner of my
personal morality; there is no objective truth but rather each person
determines according to their own vision, what is true for them: subjective
morality.
That being said, rather than
reject the teaching of the Church, we are invited to embrace it and question
our own limitation and lack of understanding.
Why does the Church, for example, teach that artificial birth control is
wrong? Why does it so strongly speak out
against a woman’s “right” to seek an abortion?
What about marriage? Why does it
clearly reject what our society has embraced and redefined in light of present-day experience that a “marriage” is defined as between two loving persons
regardless of gender?
What the Church proposes to
us is not the freedom to reject simply through disagreement which leaves us in
ignorance but rather to explore, question, pray over, and seek
understanding. To embrace the mystery of
God beyond our understanding and to trust that God always wills our good.
There is a reason why our
Lord reminded us that we must be like a child to understand the mysteries of
God. My academic degrees and skills and
professional expertise all have great value of course, in this life. But, it
does not matter in the next. We will not be judged by our bank accounts, our
education, or our position in the world but rather by our faithfulness to the Gospel.
We have role models that can
teach us much about the core of the Gospel message: St. Francis of Assisi and
St. Teresa of Calcutta come to mind.
Here are two radical Christians centuries apart but in the same spirit
of the Gospel. If we can take our knowledge and skill acquired through learning
and important resources and apply that with the human spiritual force of God’s
love, then I think we may indeed have an unbeatable team.
Make room for God, be open
and bury our ego desire for self-control in favor of our need to place our
trust in God. Sometimes we must just follow the lead of our Lord and his Church
and trust that all will be well. “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
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