Dear St. Rita Families,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The new year and the coming of Our Lord are always times of refreshment, with budding hopes about resolutions and the promises of the months ahead. This year, however, that hope was tested immediately by the tragic events that unfolded in New Orleans and Las Vegas on the morning of January 1, and the state of the entire world likewise looms over the minds and hearts of many.
What is the average Christian to do in the midst of it all? The answer, fortunately, is simple: the same thing we always do! For the Christian, beginning again each day is nothing new. The Christian knows the interior struggle, the persistence of sinful desire and temptation, and likewise the virtue that is borne of the battles of each day. This is true whether we are the smallest, unknown Christian or whether we are the Pope or the President or anyone else. Those who are given to affect the course of world events in large ways are, like all people, formed by the individual choices they make in any given moment. And, it is God who Himself places the choices before us, who invites us to choose The Good in each of those moments, and who Himself guides the outcome.
It is important that we Christians, whose home is in Heaven, do not become too attached to the fixing of all things on earth. This caution is not about a lack of charity towards our neighbor, but rather about a subordination of the Second Greatest Commandment to the First. This caution is not to suggest we should remove ourselves from the cultural situation around us or that we should just hunker down and wait for the end. This caution is about ensuring that our methods and our means are consonant with the Gospel.
Why, in the name of promoting goodness, would we ever commit sin? Satan cannot drive out Satan – only Christ can do that! It can be difficult to suffer injustice perpetrated against us by another, and the temptation to respond to injustice with self-righteousness, hate, or undue violence can be strong. It is a delicate balance for many to maintain a sense of self-worth while suffering unjust attacks from another. The only way to do it is by being rooted in your identity as son or daughter of God. Christ’s example – all the way to the Cross – gives us the proper response.
Christ is unabashed about who He is, that God is His Father, that He is here to bear witness to the Truth, that He is a King. He is likewise clear that His Kingdom is not of this world. His first priority is obedience to His Father, and so He will not engage in the political machinations of the rulers of His time. He will only invite them into Faith, even if it results in His death. In other words, Christ knows that the way to peace is through conversion and faith. The way to conversion and faith is through hope and charity. Charity causes us to seek what is good for our neighbor without counting the cost. Hope enables us to suffer all sorts of injustices for the cause, because we are promised the final victory. Together they provide a powerful witness for our faith, so that others might be jarred into seeing that there is something beyond this world worth living for – namely, Jesus Christ!
What a different sort of witness is this than both of the tragic events on the morning of January 1! To kill others to make a statement or to kill oneself to make a statement – no matter the statement – is not according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a hallmark of Christianity that we would rather die ourselves than to commit sin. If that isn’t a testimony to the power of Faith in Jesus Christ, I don’t know what is. May the Lord bless you, increase your faith, fortify your hope, and strengthen your charity in the new year to come!
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen