Ordinary Time 31 - What If It's All True?

 

Homily for November 5, 2023

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

What If It’s True?

 

            Mark Hart was a young teen when he was forced to go on his confirmation retreat. He dreaded it. Oh great, some super-boring weekend where I have to listen to lectures. And, indeed, the weekend turned out to be as bad as he expected…until Saturday night. The teens were all having Eucharistic Adoration, and he sat in the back, leaning against the wall, bored out of his mind. The band was playing a worship song, but he wanted none of it. He just wanted to be done and out of there.

            And then – the most random thought popped into his mind.

            What if it’s…true?

            What if that Eucharist is really…God?

            All of a sudden, he was consumed with hunger to know. Was it really true? Was the Eucharist really God? Was Jesus really who He said He was? Are Heaven and Hell real? Is the Catholic Church really the true Church?

            For the rest of that night, he spoke to the Lord and asked the questions – and then when he got back home, Mark investigated the answers, and came to the conclusion that yes, all of this is true. It was the beginning of his conversion. He’s now a professional Catholic speaker and teacher, an expert in the Bible.

            St. Paul rejoices that the Thessalonians accepted the Gospel, not as a human teaching, but as Divine Revelation. But it still boggles my mind that there are many – yes, many – churchgoing Catholics who don’t believe that Catholicism is true. Recently one of our parishioners, who teaches at St. Joseph’s High School, was telling me that the school chaplain had requested an exorcist to come into the school and give a solemn blessing to the place, because some weird and creepy stuff had been going on. This teacher was sitting with another teacher in the lounge, talking about the spiritual warfare they had been experiencing, when another teacher there – a Catholic – spoke up and said, “Wait, do you guys really believe that stuff about angels and demons?” Uh, yes, they do. Christianity isn’t just a nice myth or a comforting philosophy that makes us feel better about ourselves – I am here to make the claim that everything the Church teaches is true!

             How can we be sure? Well, it’s not something we can scientifically prove, true. I cannot prove that I have a soul, or that the Eucharist is Jesus, or that Heaven and Hell are real. But there are many things in life I cannot prove – I cannot scientifically prove that my mother loves me, or that Julius Caesar really existed. It would be impossible to personally verify everything I’ve ever been told or taught. Instead of proof, we look for the evidence.

            And what is the evidence for the truth of Catholicism? Let’s look at several pieces of evidence (and this is not a comprehensive list):

            First, the Bible is a historical document, telling real stories of real people who really encountered God. We have over 6,000 manuscripts – fragments and entire books – of the Bible from before the end of the first century. In contrast, there are only 49 manuscripts about Aristotle’s sayings. Archeology has consistently backed up the Scriptures – for example, researches have found chariot wheels at the bottom of the Red Sea, showing that the Egyptians really did chase the Israelites through the Red Sea upon their departure from Egypt.

            Throughout the past twenty centuries, fifty million people who shed their blood for the Catholic Faith, showing that this is not an empty myth but a Truth worth dying for. In fact, the witness of all the saints throughout history is evidence of the truth of Christianity: the martyrs, the priests and religious, the holy marriages, the works of mercy, the scientifically-unexplainable miracles that have happened – all of these help to bolster belief that this is all true.

            These pieces of evidence do not prove that Catholicism is true, but they are pieces of convincing evidence. And I’ve seen enough evidence that I’m convinced. Our faith is not blind – the Medieval scholastics had a saying, Fides Quarens Intellectum – faith seeking understanding. We believe, and we look for reasons to back up our belief.

            But faith is not merely an intellectual exercise. Once we believe that Christianity is actually true, the consequence is that we must live like it’s true. This was the issue Jesus had with the Pharisees in the Gospel – the Pharisees believed, but didn’t live like it’s true.

            For us Christians, there are real consequences to our intellectual faith. If we really believe that Heaven and Hell are realities, which one are we living for? If we believe that our soul lives forever, why do we not take more care of it? If we believe that God really hears our prayers, why do we not dedicate serious time to daily prayer? If we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, why do we not spend time reading it daily and letting it inform our life? If we really believe that the Eucharist is Jesus, we would never miss Mass or receive without regular Confession.

            I gotta be honest, I believe with my whole heart and soul that Catholicism is true. Some of us here may not be there yet – and that’s fine, but seek. I’m not asking you to believe blindly. I’m asking you to examine the evidence and see if all this is real. St. Augustine said, “Truth is like a lion – you don’t have to defend it, just let it loose and it will defend itself.”

            I want to live my life like all this is true. Do you?