Homily for August
2, 2020
Eighteenth Sunday
of Ordinary Time
What Can Separate
Us from the Love of Christ?
“What
can separate us from the love of Christ?” St. Paul asks this rhetorical
question in the second reading. Nothing
will separate us – not trial or distress, not anguish or suffering, not coronavirus
or political upheaval. Those united to Christ “conquer overwhelmingly” all the
trials and tribulations of this passing world.
But we
live in a world that grows crazier by the day. Why do we not experience that
peace of Christ’s love? Why do we doubt that He has conquered? Two thoughts.
First, do
we focus more on the love of Christ or the trials of this world? Somewhere in
the middle of April I went on a media fast for a week – no social media, no 24-hour
news, no political opinion pieces. My mood improved drastically! We feel like
we have to stay connected to Facebook or Instagram or CNN or Fox News…and most
of the news is bad news. Do you want the
peace of knowing that Christ wins in the end? Don’t dwell on the negativity
that we see on social media. Yes, stay informed – but after ten minutes, get
off the internet and spend a half-hour in the Word of God!
Did you
know that St. Thomas Aquinas classified curiosity as a vice? We usually think
about curiosity as a good thing, but it was curiosity that led to the fall of
our First Parents. By “curiosity”, Aquinas means having a burning desire to
know about every scandal, every outrage, every controversy, every clickbait
headline, every article of bad news – most of which doesn’t help us at all.
Aquinas says that knowledge should always be seeking our Ultimate End – God –
and if it doesn’t tend towards God, then it drags us away from Him.
So, if
you want to know deep within your soul that Christ has conquered and that
nothing can separate you from His love, separate yourselves from the constant
steady stream of social media and news networks which will make us think that
evil is winning!
Second,
there is one thing that St. Paul does not
include in his list of things that are unable to separate us from God’s love –
and that thing is sin. Sin CAN
separate us from the love of God – not that God loves us less when we sin, but
that we cannot receive that love
because we have put up a wall between us and God. So the solution, then, is to make
sure our consciences are clear through Confession. If we feel a lack of peace
in our own life, it’s usually a sign that we have strayed from God – return to
Him through repentance and Confession – and then we will experience the peace
of His love.
My
friends, many of us are very concerned about the direction the world is headed
in. We can be troubled by the political unrest, anti-Christian ideologies,
riots, economic uncertainty, this virus crisis, and so much more. But nothing can separate us from the love of
Christ and the peace that He brings – our confidence is in Him. So disconnect
from unnecessary bad news and social media, and make sure your conscience is
clean in Confession, and you will have within your soul the peace of God.
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