When I was a deacon I was sent to a conference in Los Angeles. I spent two extra days in a parish there. The pastor was an Irish man and he was explaining how things work over there. He said that for years there was a man in the parish who used to lead the folk group. He played the guitar. Then one day he decided to start his own church. So he rented a building down the street and started his own church, just like that. That’s how it works in LA.
What if you could change whatever parts of the faith you wanted to? You could have women priests, married priests, divorce, contraception, etc. You could change some of the more difficult teachings like having to love your enemies, which seems a bit extreme after all and you could tailor it just to suit your own needs. You could believe what you wanted to believe. What would you end up with? a feel-good religion of nice ideas, of wishful thinking. It would mean nothing. It might make you feel better, but it would be empty. Why? because it would be man made, not God made.
The word of God and the teachings of God are demanding, but they are God’s teachings, not just something we made up. We are free to either take it or leave it, to accept it and struggle with it, or to walk away from it. When we come across parts of the Bible that are difficult, we tend to say it must be wrong, because it doesn’t make sense to us. I think it would make more sense to say it is right because it is the word of God, but I don’t understand it. Therefore I have to try and understand what it means, rather than discard it.
In this Gospel passage, Jesus is just after teaching about the Eucharist. He said, ‘I am the bread of life’ (Jn 6:48) and ‘Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will not have life in you’ (Jn 6:53). And the people said, ‘This is too much, who could accept it?’ and they walked away. But Jesus’ response is even more interesting. He didn’t go after them and say, ‘Let me explain’. Instead, He just let them walk away. The only thing He did was say to the Apostles, ‘Are you going to go away too?’ (Jn 6:67). In other words, ‘This is my teaching, take it or leave it.’ And it says that ‘As a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former way of living and no longer accompanied him.’ They couldn’t accept what He said, so they left, but He didn’t change anything He had said. How could He, if it is the truth? and this applies to all of the teachings of Christ, handed down to us. They don’t change. They cannot change, because they are truth, but we are free to accept them or not.
Jesus says to us, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’ (Jn 14:15). Above all this means putting God above everything else; above your wife, or husband, above your children, above your work and above your politics. God must be first and God assures us that if we put him first, everything else will follow. ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be given you as well’ (Matt 6:33). ‘If you put me first, I will take care of all your needs.’ The problem is that we usually think we have to get everything else in our life in order first and then we can turn to God. But the Lord is saying it must be the other way around. He must be first in everything. This also applies to the election. My faith comes first, politics second. I am a Catholic first, then a supporter of which ever party. My faith should be what guides me in how I vote.
Recently, on the back window of a car, I saw this Scripture reference: 2 Chronicles 7:14. I didn’t know what it was, so I looked it up. It is a perfect Scripture for our times. It says:
“If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Look at what is happening across the country and all over the world. Huge fires, floods and many volcanoes coming to life which have been dormant for years, even centuries. There is chaos in our society, with people turning against each other in acts of madness. More and more road-rage incidents are turning into shootings. ‘Oh, it’s just climate change.’ Is it? Perhaps it is exactly what it says in Scripture. When the people turn away from God and worship other gods, God’s blessing is lifted from the land. The people no longer have God’s protection.
Nature is part of God’s creation and is subject to him. Remember when Jesus fell asleep in the boat and the boat began to take water because of the storm? The Apostles were panicking and woke Jesus. He commanded the sea and wind to calm and it did! The Apostles said, ‘Who can this be, even the wind and the sea obey him?’ (Mk 4:41).
The flood during the time of Noah came and killed thousands of people, because they had become so evil. It was an instrument in God’s hands and part of how God purified his world. It is his world, not ours. We are currently seeing nature begin to do the same thing.
This is what happened time and time again with the people of Israel. When they got comfortable, they turned away from God and worshipped other gods. Chaos followed, their society began to fall apart and their enemies took over, until eventually they recognized their sin and turned back to God asking forgiveness. Are we worshipping other gods? Yes, the gods of money, pleasure, self. We have child sacrifice, which is abortion. All these things are abhorrent to the Lord. That’s what the word of God says. These things are detestable to the Lord..
In February 2021, in congress, a congressman publicly said, ‘…God’s will is of no concern to this congress.’[1] Thankfully someone immediately pointed out that on the wall behind him was written, ‘In God we Trust.’
To restore God’s blessing on the land, we have to do what God asks of us, which is to put him first, to repent of our sins, to confess our sins and to live by the ways of God.
People keep saying, ‘I don’t need to confess my sins to a priest. I can tell God I’m sorry myself.’ Sure you can, but that’s not what God asks us to do. God asks us to confess to his priests, because that is the gift He has given us and that way we are being held accountable to another person. There is no sense of accountability if we just tell God we are sorry by ourselves and it doesn’t take any humility to do that. That is why God established the gift of confession, which is one of the sacraments of healing. He wants to heal us. It is also interesting that any place where Our Lady has appeared, she always says, ‘Tell the people to go to confession.’ She doesn’t say, ‘Tell the people to tell God they are sorry for their sins.’
I find it interesting that at this time, many Christian leaders, Protestants, Catholics and Evangelicals, are all saying the same thing. God is telling us to repent and turn back to his ways and what we are seeing happening around us in society and in nature, are signs that we need to wake up.
If it were impossible for us to follow God’s teachings, He wouldn’t have given them to us. So it must be possible, but it does require a definite decision on our part. Trying to do it on our own can seem impossible, but God doesn’t ask us to do it on our own. He asks us to continually turn to him and use the help He offers us, which He gives us above all through the Eucharist, through Confession, through the Scriptures. God gives us all the help we need, if we ask for it, so we have no excuse to say it’s too difficult.
‘Lord where else will we go, you have the message of eternal life and we believe, we know you are the holy one of God.’
[1] Congressman Jerry Nadler, Feb 27th, 2021:
“What any religious tradition ascribes as God’s will, is no concern of this congress.”
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