Homily for Ordinary Time 4 - January 31, 2021

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 4

January 31, 2021

Practice Makes Perfect

 

            Have you ever noticed that in the Gospels, whenever Jesus casts out demons, they always cry out that He is the Son of God – and Jesus tells them to be silent! Why would He do that? I mean, He really is the Son of God, which is something even His disciples struggle to understand.

            But Jesus doesn’t want demons to testify to Him. Demons are liars, and even though they’re telling the truth in this case, He doesn’t want these evil creatures professing faith in Him!

            You know who else Jesus doesn’t want professing His Name? Christians who don’t live like they believe.

            If someone’s doctor was overweight and a smoker, and he told you to stop smoking, eat right, and exercise, would you follow their advice? Unlikely. And if a person professes to be a Christian but then denies Jesus by their actions, having the name of “Christian” is equally as useless – in fact, it can be harmful to Jesus’ reputation in the world.

            Mahatma Gandhi always had a great admiration for Jesus, and was once asked why he never became a Christian. He replied, “Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians, you are so unlike Him.”

            Now, I want to make a distinction between people who seek to follow the Lord and fall short, those who seek to follow the Lord only partially, and those who do not even seek it at all. None of us live like Christ perfectly – I suppose that’s why we say we are “practicing Catholics” – because we will have to keep practicing all our life so that we get better at being Catholic.

            But there are those – perhaps even some here today – who are not following Christ, either with their whole life or with a part of their life. Maybe such people were baptized Catholic but haven’t made the choice to follow Him. Maybe they love the Lord but have a big aspect of their life that they’re withholding from Him. If that’s the case, ask the Lord to cast out the darkness of your life, as He cast out the demons in the Gospel!

What is that darkness? What are those demons? Perhaps it’s greed – we haven’t allowed the Lord to take control of our finances. Maybe it’s pride – we constantly want affirmation, praise, to be noticed and respected. Maybe it’s lust – seeking pleasure for its own sake. Maybe we haven’t allowed Christ into our Spotify playlist, our bedroom, or our school. Maybe we don’t believe some aspect of the Church’s teaching. Maybe it’s a relationship that constantly leads us away from Him. Maybe it’s an addiction that we don’t really want to be free of. Maybe we live one way at school or work, and another way with our “church friends”. Are you the same person with your grandma that you are with your buddies at the bar?

Today I challenge you – and I am challenging myself as well – to ask the Lord, “In what part of my life am I not yet a Christian?” Listen to His answer – then ask Him to invade that part of His life. When He enters our life, the darkness and demons flee.

St. Ignatius of Antioch once wrote to his friends in Rome, “Pray that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really be found to be one.” May this be our same prayer as well.