24th Sunday after Pentecost 11.11.07 Good and bad
The problem of having wheat and tares side by side is that the wheat might be corrupted.
So many Catholics have lost their faith by following the lax ways of the world around them.
What we have to do is keep the fire burning, maintain the intensity of our faith, without becoming insular, ghettoish, holier-than-thou, or writing people off – in fact we have to convert them.
If you put good and bad people together it can go either way. In fact what we have in practice is that some bad people become good and some good people become bad, and others stay where they are.
What we want (and obviously God wants) is that the bad people become good, and the good people stay good.
We have to stay good to such a degree that we not only are strong enough to resist evil, but to overcome it.
That takes a lot of faith, a lot of prayer and a lot of application.
There are two obvious areas where we are breaking down in the Church as of now:
One is that churches are empty most of the time, locked most of the time. Every church should be open, people say – to which the answer is that we cannot do that because there is too much vandalism around. To which the answer is that vandals can only operate in an empty church and there should be someone praying around the clock in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
In other words we need more people in churches, praying, atoning, adoring. This chorus of prayer will reach heaven and bring many blessings upon the earth.
The other breakdown area is that Catholics are not sufficiently involved in the cultural, moral aspects of our society.
When an issue arises like abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, cloning, same-sex marriages, we have to rise up and be counted.
Bad men flourish when good men do nothing.
There are so few who attend meetings, vigils, rallies etc. Not everyone can, not every one can go to every event or deal with every issue. But speaking generally, we are an apathetic lot.
The two areas of breakdown are related. If we don’t pray we will not act. We gradually lose any sense of outrage. If we don’t act our prayer will become remote from our ordinary lives and we will see ‘Church’ as just something we do on Sundays.
I say outrage, but then we have to balance all this with charity. We are not meant to kill or harm evildoers, but rather win them over.
People will go with the flow and be influenced by what others around them are saying and doing. If most people went to Mass, most people adored the Blessed Sacrament, then others would join in. They would feel they were missing out if they did not.
How can we heal these areas of breakdown? We have to pave our own way here. Our first thought is to let others start something and we might join it. Each of us has to be first to cultivate enthusiasm. We cannot all run out and start a movement and that is not required. We are not all called to do everything. Each one must take stock and discern what is required of ‘me’ at this point.
The main quality lacking is zeal for the cause. We must pray more, and from that foundation we must all do more. Doing precisely what will become clearer from the prayer.
Never losing sight of the overall point that we must try to convert others, without despising them. We share the compassion of Christ for the sheep without a shepherd. We want what is best for others and the best is Christ. On the Last Day may there be only wheat and no weeds.
