Ordinary Time 25 - September 24, 2017

Homily for Ordinary Time 25

September 24, 2017

Life is Christ…the Rest is Just Details

 

            Have you ever seen those tee-shirts or bumper stickers that say “Baseball is life, the rest is just details” or “Basketball is life” or “Underwater basket weaving is life…the rest is just details.” I guess that was more of a ‘90s thing, but you can still see them around. When I see people wearing that shirt, I wonder what their family thinks because that shirt means that baseball is the center of their life and the family is just an afterthought!

            Would St. Paul wear a shirt like that? Golf is life? Fishing is life? Nascar is life and the rest is just details? I think St. Paul would put on a shirt the same thing he says in his letter today: “Jesus Christ is life – the rest is just details.”

            Life is Christ and death is gain – these words of St. Paul challenge us. Can we say them ourselves? That our life is equal to Jesus? That death is something to desire because it means union with God? Can we say that – or do we relegate Jesus to just one of the many details of our life, along with such obligations as bills and doctor’s appointments and homework?

            This is why I find the example of the martyrs to be so compelling. Since Christianity was founded, over 50 million men, women, and children have shed their blood for Jesus Christ. People from every walk of life have been martyred for Christ: every country, every century – children as young as 6 or 7 and elderly people up to 90; married men and women, schoolchildren, priests, nuns, and single people; rich and poor, strong and weak, and everyone in between – have been willing to shed their blood for Jesus Christ. For them, life truly is Christ and death is gain!

            I’d like to tell you the story of one of my favorite martyrs, a young man named St. Jose Sanchez del Rio. (story here: https://www.tfpstudentaction.org/blog/jose-sanchez-del-rio-hero-for-christ-the-king )

            My own conversion happened, in large part, because of the martyrs. I remember walking into the Coliseum when I was fourteen years old, realizing that right there on that spot over 10,000 men, women, and children died for Christ. Why did I not take my own faith more seriously, if they were willing to die for it? I realized that I needed to start to imitate them, and make Jesus Christ the center of my life.

            So how do we imitate the martyrs and truly make Jesus Christ the center of our life? Here are three practical suggestions:

            First, pray daily. And I don’t just mean recite words. I mean speak to the Lord from your heart, seek Him in His Word, spend time with Him. We can’t say that “life is Christ” if our time and energy is not dedicated to Him. Ten minutes per day will change your life. If you do not pray daily, you do not have Jesus at the center of your life!

            Second, seek holiness. We cannot love Jesus if we are not seeking to imitate Jesus, and Jesus is perfect. This doesn’t mean that we are always going to be perfect people – even Christians sin and miss the mark – but it does mean that every day, we seek to make a little progress in living more like Jesus: being more loving, more pure, more patient, more holy, more transformed by His grace. So, seek holiness.

            Third, live differently. When Jesus is the center of our life, that changes everything – the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the jokes we find funny, the parties we attend, the friends we spend time with. If our lives are exactly the same as people without faith, then Jesus is not the center of our lives – He’s more like an unimportant detail! Our faith must change us: our lifestyle, our choices must reflect our faith in Him.

            Pray daily, seek holiness, live differently. Is Jesus just an unimportant detail, or can you say with St. Paul that “life is Christ”?