Ordinary Time 22 - What's In It For Me?

 

Homily for September 3, 2023

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

What’s In It For Me?

 

            St. Theresa of Avila didn’t have an easy calling. As a Carmelite nun she was very frustrated by the laxity and lukewarmness of the convent. Back in those days, many women would join the convent simply because they couldn’t find a husband, so sometimes their motives were less-than-holy. So God called St. Theresa to set about reforming the Carmelite order, urging them to pray and fast and sacrifice and stop gadding about in the world – which gained her quite a few enemies. Reforming an institution is definitely a hard task!

            One day she was traveling from one convent to another, on yet another mission to bring them back to faithfulness to God. The bridge, however, had been wiped away by a flood and she and her companions were forced to try to cross the raging river on stones. She got halfway across and lost her balance, and fell into the mud. In frustration she cried out, “O God, when will you stop putting obstacles in my path?” Jesus actually spoke to her and said, “My daughter, this is how I treat all My friends.” To which St. Theresa responded, “If this is how You treat your friends, it’s no wonder You have so few!”

            CS Lewis once said, “Christianity doesn’t take away suffering, it gives us a reason to endure it.” Misfortunes and hardship are a part of daily life – in fact, it’s the default. We tend to think that life should be easy, comfortable, and convenient, and that if it’s not, something must be wrong. But it’s actually the opposite – life is usually pretty hard, and we are incredibly blessed when it’s not. As Fulton Sheen once said, “Only a nation that recognizes sweat, toil, hardship, and sacrifice are normal aspects of life can save itself.”

            And this is ever true in our relationship with God. To follow Jesus Christ is to embrace the Cross – and this was rather jarring to Simon Peter. Remember, Jesus had just asked His disciples who He was, and Peter gave the correct answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” For this insight of faith, Jesus entrusted the entire Church to Him: “Upon this Rock of your faith I will build My Church, and I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven!”

            I bet that made Peter feel like pretty great stuff. Not only did he get the quiz question right of Jesus’ identity, he then gets promoted to the Vicar of Christ, the second-in-command to the Lord of all creation, the one who will be able to lock and unlock the very gates of Heaven! Pretty cool…and then Jesus says, “Oh, and by the way, I’m going to be crucified…and you will be too.”

            Naturally, Peter says, “Hold up a minute!” Yes, he’s concerned about Jesus, but I’m sure he’s also a bit concerned about his own legacy, his newfound authority, those awesome promises Jesus made to him. He wonders, “What’s in it for me?” He was having second thoughts when those awesome promises of power and prestige also involve crucifixion! As it turned out, Peter was crucified…in 64 AD, he was arrested by the Emperor Nero and crucified, but he said that he was unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord, so they crucified him upside-down instead.

            Many Christians have that same attitude towards their daily walk with Jesus: “What’s in it for me?” For example, recently a man complained, “I keep coming to church and praying every day, and my 401K keeps going down. What more do I have to do?” Well, are you praying to preserve your 401K from tanking, or are you praying to get to know Jesus? Are you coming to Mass just so that your cancer will be healed, or to surrender your life to the Lord?

            There is an answer to the question of “What’s in it for me?” – and the answer is Jesus. He doesn’t promise riches or success or good health or popularity…in fact, He promises quite the opposite. He promises the Cross…and He promises that with the Cross comes Himself. He often wants to strip away everything else so that the presence of Jesus is all we need, all we desire.

            I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth retelling…Mother Teresa was once taking care of woman who was dying and in great pain. The great saint was telling the woman that when she was suffering, she was so close to Jesus on the Cross that He could kiss her. The woman replied, “Please tell Jesus to stop kissing me!” But a profound truth – the Cross is where we find Jesus, and He is all we need.

            And the Christian life is nothing less than the Cross. Coming to Mass when you’d rather sleep in is the Cross. Praying when you’d rather watch TV is the Cross. Practicing humility is the Cross. Being faithful to your spouse is the Cross. Being obedient to your parents is the Cross. Standing out from the crowd is the Cross. Patience is the Cross, chastity is the Cross. There’s no escaping it. To be a good Catholic is to embrace the sufferings that come with our faith in Him. After all, we’re following a Lord who chose to reign from the Cross, with thorns as His crown, nails as His royal scepter, spittle as His kingly robes, mocking from evil men as the only accolades He received.

            What’s in it for us? Nothing but the Cross…and with the Cross, the joy of possessing Jesus.