Easter 7 - A Better Way To Live

 

Homily for Easter 7

May 17, 2026

A Better Way To Live

 

            It was three o’clock in the morning when I was startled awake by a high school sophomore barging into my room and crying out, “Fr. Joseph, come quickly, they’re about to call the police!”

            We were on a week-long service trip to build houses for the poor, but one of the students named Peter may have come for other motives. He had quite a reputation in the school – rule-breaker, drug user, overall troublemaker. I was quite reluctant at taking him on the trip, but figured maybe God could do something in his life.

            But here I was at three in the morning, standing in the boys’ bathroom with the camp director and Peter, after other boys had accused him of doing drugs. I was too tired to be furious – maybe only disappointed. I took him off by himself and asked if he did it. Predictably, he denied it – but I knew it was a lie. So finally, in frustration, I said, “Peter, I’m offering you a better way to live. Jesus is offering you a better way to live. Will you take it?”

            He looked at me, mystified. If this were a Disney movie, we’d see this as a life-transforming moment, cue the dramatic music. But life isn’t a Disney movie. And after that week, I never saw Peter again, as he transferred out to another school. I still pray for him.

            This world offers us one way to live – but Christ offers us a better way. Christ is warning His disciples that they live in the world, but are not to be of the world. The “world” does not mean that this physical earth is in any way bad. It was created good, and it was given to humanity to rule in the Name of God. But we believed the lies from Satan that God could not be trusted, and that we could make ourselves gods – and in doing so, we gave the dominion over to the Evil One. So the “world” is Jesus’ shorthand for all of the lies and forces that are opposed to His Kingdom.

            And let’s be honest, we find these lies everywhere. We drive behind an Amazon delivery truck and it reads, “Warning: contents may cause happiness.” Really? Material things can make me truly happy? My box of Cheerios reads: “You deserve joy.” What have I done to deserve joy? And is a bowl of Cheerios the source of it? Jesus wants to offer us a better way to live. He has chosen us Christians in the midst of the world, to live as salt and leaven and light, but living according to the truths of Heaven.

            Let’s examine a few of the lies that the world tells us.

            For example, the world says that image is more important than reality. It amazes me that people can become rich and famous for being “social media influencers”. They may have nothing actually to say, but they’re good looking and so people follow them anywhere. Can anything be more shallow? Some of the teens at my school are all into a trend called looksmaxxing, which can be a pretty extreme focus on making sure we have the perfect physique. Back in the day, we called that the sin of vanity. A man’s strength is more than big muscles – it’s having the interior self-possession to die to self so to live for Christ. A woman’s beauty is more than hair and makeup – it’s being adorned with virtues and holiness. Jesus calls us to a depth of spirit that’s more than skin-deep. Holiness may not look Instagram-worthy but the reality is far more important than the image.

            We frequently receive the message that success is more important than doing God’s will. But as Mother Teresa likes to remind us, “God has not called me to be successful, but faithful.” The world thinks that the successful person is the one who goes to the best schools, climbs the corporate ladder, pads their bank account, is a “winner”. But at our judgment, God will ask, “Did you do My Will? I made you to be a garbage collector – were you the best garbage collector you could be?”

            In the early 1990s, a young Polish girl named Beata had graduated high school but had no funds to go to college, so she prayed about where to go next. She was invited to become a nanny to a wealthy family with one little boy in Italy, so she packed up and moved to a new country. Although this family was not religious in the least, Beata brought a small image of Our Lady to the boy, and taught him some prayers, both in Polish and Italian. The boy was fascinated by these prayers, and asked for more. Beata began bringing him to church, which prompted the young boy to begin asking his parents to take him, as well. Pretty soon, even after the nanny returned to Poland, the boy kept that fervor of faith growing – and we now know him as St. Carlo Acutis. But there would be no St. Carlo if it were not for Beata. To the world, it looked as if she was just a simple, uneducated laborer – but she fulfilled God’s plan for her life, and brought a saint out of it (she’s still alive, by the way!). Have you ever asked God’s plan for your life? And are you living it out?

            We hear the world say, make your own life, your own moral code. It boggles my mind how many people tell me, “Oh, God doesn’t mind what I’m doing.” Last week someone told me that God didn’t mind the fact that they were divorced and remarried, even though Jesus said clearly in Matthew 19 that “he who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.” Last month someone tried to tell me that God was okay with them being transgender because, as they said, “He made me this way.” No, He did not – we live in a fallen world with many disordered desires, and God has made it clear that there are only two immutable genders. It is an error called relativism to believe that we have the power to make our own ethical or moral compass. Truth is received from God; it’s not invented by man.

            Finally, the world does not believe that eternity is approaching. Driving up the Route 25 connector, you may have seen the graffiti on the rock wall that reads, “Live fast – die young.” The world lives by the motto, YOLO – You Only Live Once. If that were the case, then fill yourself up at the banquet of life! But we actually live twice – and this is just the appetizer. So don’t fill yourself up so much that you lose the hunger for eternity.

            My friends, if we are citizens of a country, we have to follow the laws of that country. As Christians, we are citizens of Heaven – just passing through this world on our way home. St. Claude di Columbiere said, “If you follow the truths of Jesus Christ, you will condemn the lies of the world, you will trample its idols underfoot; the world, henceforth, will want nothing to do with you.” True – rejecting the world’s lies will make the world reject us – but what a better way to live!

            Eight centuries ago, a teen girl named Chiara Offreduccio was living the life. Her family was one of the richest in town, with an estate that overlooked the plaza in front of the church. They were faithful, but shallow people – and Chiara already had her future picked out for her. Marriage to a fine nobleman, a wonderful life full of the riches that the world could offer. One day she was leaning out her window, overlooking the courtyard in front of the church, when she saw a poor beggar stand on the church steps and begin to preach that Jesus Christ alone was worth living for. As a crowd gathered to listen, this teen girl’s ears perked up. What a novel idea – to live for something deeper than just the shallow, vain life of parties, dresses, gossip and intrigue? Was there really a better way to live?

            That night, she went to meet with that beggar, who encouraged her to live according to the Gospel. He was dirt-poor, wearing a patched robe, but radiating joy. She wanted to join him, so she arranged to run away from home. A few days later, she executed the plan, and the humble beggar met her in the church late at night, welcomed her, and cut off her hair as a sign that she belonged to God alone.

            Her family thought she’d lost her mind, so they sent out search parties to find her. When they realized she had followed this young madman, they thought she’d fallen prey to a cult. Her uncles tried to bring her back, but miraculously her body became so heavy that they couldn’t budge her an inch. They eventually relented, and this young girl became known as St. Clare of Assisi, the first female follower of St. Francis of Assisi.

            The great St. Francis had offered her a better way to live – for God, for Heaven. That same offer is extended to you this day. Are you tired of the endless rat-race competition of the American dream? Does it all seem futile to you? If so, maybe you’re ready to reject the lies of the world and live that better life in union with Christ that He offers you now.