Homily for Christ the King Sunday
November 24, 2024
“Isms” Against The Kingdom
I went
to college at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, which, at the time,
was one of the top-10 most polluted towns in America. Due to the steel mills,
there was always a yellowish haze in the air, and a stench pervaded every
breath. We used to joke that students smoked cigarettes so that they could at
least breathe filtered air!
But the
funny thing is that after a few months, we couldn’t even tell. Our noses acclimated
(or perhaps we lost our sense of smell!). It’s amazing how we sometimes don’t
even notice the atmosphere around us, because we just live in it and it doesn’t
strike us as “a little off”.
So it is
in our world. We live in a post-Christian world, but we often don’t notice the
poison in the prevailing culture. Sometimes we breathe it in, not realizing
that it is antithetical to our Faith. What are some of the poisons that draw us
away from the Kingdom of Christ? I would like to mention four.
One is materialism
– the idea that the only thing that matters is the material world. It was about
twelve hours after Halloween that all the Christmas decorations made their
appearance in stores – all of which were directly aimed to increase consumption
of goods. A strong economy is wonderful, but we are more than just consumers –
we are souls – and we are made for more than just a good job and material
success – we are made to become saints.
A few
years back we had a young man at the school where I teach who was growing
tremendously in his spiritual life – going to Confession regularly, beginning
to pray, really seeking the Lord. His parents, however, wanted to send him to
one of the most prestigious Fairfield County private school, so that he could
get into a big-name college. Unfortunately that school was very secular and
taught many things opposed to a Christian worldview, and the reputation of the
students was one of wild partying. I begged and begged for him to not attend,
but his parents insisted it would be good for his future. Recently I spoke with
one of his friends and asked, “How is Sean doing?” He just sadly shook his
head, and shared that he lost his faith, due to his environment. It broke my
heart – he had all the success that the world could offer – but what does it
profit a man to win the world if he loses his soul in the process?
Christ’s
kingdom is the primacy of the spiritual over the physical. For example,
the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen once defined prayer as “wasting time with
God”. Wasting time? Getting nothing productive done? Exactly – that’s the
point. We are not just measured in terms of GDP and productivity; we are
measured by the Father’s love and our eternal destiny in Him.
A second
one is hedonism. This is a big term for a simple idea: that pleasure is
the greatest good. If it isn’t fun or delightful, if it’s ever difficult or
boring, it’s not worth doing. I had a young man in one of my youth groups who
would constantly be coming up to me and saying, “I’m bored!” I would say, “Go and
talk to the others…go and listen to the presentation…go into Adoration and
pray.” But to all of those suggestions he would say, “It’s boring!” I wonder
what will happen if this young man gets a desk job someday! We live in a world
of constant entertainment and satisfaction – how many food products sell
themselves to us by saying, “Indulge your cravings” – as if every pleasurable
desire needed to be satisfied!
Christ’s
Kingdom, however, is one of self-denial. One time a young monk came to
the old Desert Father Saint Poemen and asked him, “How can I find God?” To
which, the old saint replied, “How can we find God if our bellies are filled
with cheese?” In other words, if we have every pleasure in life at our
fingertips, how will we ever make room in our life for God or for the joy of
sacrifice? Christ says we must deny ourselves to follow Him.
A third
insidious line of thought is secular humanism: the belief that human
beings can master the entire world without the help of God. When the Covid
cases were just starting to drop and people were finally opening up after the
lockdown, a local governor got up on national television and declared, “God did
not do this. We did this; science did this. God did not do this.” Even if we
wouldn’t put it so bluntly, our world tells us that we are on our own to solve
our own problems, but with enough science and technology and hard work, we will
be able to end suffering and improve our world, by our own human efforts.
Christ’s
Kingdom, though, is one of utter dependence upon the Father. Christ
Himself did nothing without the Father – and He urges His followers to have
that same desperate dependence. There was once a saint named Bl. Anne-Marie
Javouhey who started an orphanage over her father’s obstinate objections. It
got so bad that her father refused to speak with her – and to add to her
problems, the orphanage ran into tremendous debt and could not even buy bread
for the poor children in their care. Anne-Marie ran to the chapel to pray, but
felt assured by the Lord, who told her, “Why have you doubted that I would care
for you? Go back to your children.” She went back to the orphanage, to find
with surprise that her father had showed up with a wagonload of food, saying,
“Well, I couldn’t let my daughter starve.” She said that the miracle wasn’t the
food – it was how God moved her father’s hard heart. We must live in utter
dependence on God!
A final
one is Minimalism. Remember the old Staples ad campaign with the big,
red “Easy” button? One press of the button and all of our problems would
disappear. We like things that are easy, convenient, simple. The least amount
of work is the best. I mean, they even have self-cleaning litter boxes…
In
contrast, Christ’s Kingdom is one of self-gift. Rather than doing the
least, He gave all, and to follow Him is to do the same. St. Francis of Assisi
desired to give himself so much to Christ that he traveled to Egypt in the
hopes of being martyred by the Muslims. He was able to gain an audience with
the Sultan, who listened patiently to his message. Much to his disappointment
at the time, the Sultan simply sent him back to Italy. What could possess a
saint to desire martyrdom? Only a desire to give more and more to Christ,
holding back nothing, not even his own life.
So, as
we live in a poisonous atmosphere, full of philosophies antithetic to the
Kingdom of Christ, how do we place ourselves under His Kingship?
We begin
in our own hearts and minds. As they say on the airplane, make sure you put
your own mask on first, so you can breathe the pure oxygen, before you can help
others. St. Paul tells us, “Do not conform yourself to this age, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind.” So let us renew our minds by studying
the Scriptures and the Teachings of our Church – what does God think about
success, money, relationships, suffering, the meaning of life?
Then we
turn to our families and homes – does your family reflect Christ’s values:
sacrifice, humility, holiness, prayer? Is your home a monastery where people
can breathe the clean air of Christ, or is it infected with the burning desire
for success, pleasure, comfort, money? We then look outside our home to our
community – do we have regular fellowship with other believing Catholics?
A couple
friends of mine told me that they sent all eight of their kids to public high
school, with the caveat that they would evaluate after one year, and they would
ask the question, “Who is changing whom?” If they were improving their peers
and the atmosphere of the school, leading them closer to Christ, then they
could stay. But if the school was changing them, and they began to adopt the
values antithetical to the Kingdom of Christ, then they would find another
school. Are you bringing the Kingdom of Christ to the world, or is the world infecting
you with its toxic philosophies?
We do
not live in a world that is under Christ’s Kingship, but we can build a
counter-culture where we can breathe the pure air of His grace. This Kingship
is one that looks very different than what the world considers success: it is a
Kingship of self-denial, humility, purity, utter dependence on God. And in a
culture poisoned by toxic fumes and philosophies, the Kingdom of Christ is a
breath of fresh air.
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