Sometimes it takes a little doing to interpret the Gospel or
other Scriptures. Sometimes there is a
parable or another story that doesn’t just jump off the page to us and
we’re not sure exactly what Jesus is
saying. However, that is not the case
tonight. He is very clear and direct. “If you acknowledge me, I will acknowledge you. If you deny me, I will deny you.”
From His lips to our ears. We
understand what He says. Jesus
is exhorting us to bear witness to the Gospel openly and fearlessly and
if we do so, He will claim us as His own on the final judgment. It is important that we do that, to bear
witness to the Gospel. We do that in a
number of ways. Really, it can be
summarized in the fact that we do it by how we live.
First, we follow the Commandments, which are not burdensome. Indeed, the Commandments are attainable, they
are not impossible. To some degree, the
Commandments are not only Judeo-Christian. They
apply to every nation and culture. I do
not think there is any place in the world where it is legal to steal or
to kill. Therefore, the Commandments are
really just basic building blocks of life. The
Beatitudes are a much higher calling. They
call us to lead a life of virtue and in some degree, the Beatitudes are
never attainable. When are you meek enough
or humble enough? When are you poor in
spirit enough? It is an ongoing challenge
with the Beatitudes to live a good and virtuous life.
However, we bear witness to the Gospel in how we speak and
even how we dress. There is a
contradiction when the Christian does not dress modestly.
How we exercise our freedom especially as we are so free. We have so much to be thankful for, we
Americans and, thank God, hundreds of millions in Europe,
increasingly so in Europe.
Now I am looking at my Polish family. They
are Australian and Polish. Now that you
are free, you are even more responsible. We
are all responsible in our freedom to live the Gospel.
Someone told me that in Poland
when it was difficult to be Catholic, it was easy to be Catholic. Now it is easy to be Catholic but it is
difficult to be Catholic. Kind of crazy,
isn’t it? Now that there is freedom and
prosperity, it is more difficult to keep God first and foremost in our
lives.
We’ll be judged. We live the
Gospel by how we treat those who are poor, marginalized, or defenseless. “Whatever you do for the least of these
brothers and sisters, you do for Me.” How
do we help those who are poor or marginalized? No
one in the world is more marginalized than the child in the womb. There is no more dangerous place for a baby to
be than in his or her mother’s womb. Isn’t
it crazy? It is especially true of a girl
baby in India
or China
today. They are not wanted and often times
they are eliminated. We are responsible
for this and we have a political system in which we are free to
exercise not only our vote but also our voice. There
is no such thing as a Catholic vote nor should there be as such. Catholics are all over the board.
It is almost as if the whole pro-life issue is just another
little question. How can it be just
another little question? It is the most
important question, isn’t it, when millions and millions are perishing,
defenseless in the womb. If we do not
speak up for them, we are denying Christ.
The Scripture tells us what will happen if we do speak up for
those who have no voice. We will be
persecuted and that is why we are so quite. That
is true even in the Church. I’m guilty as
well as most priests. We are reticent to
discuss those issues that are really important because someone is going
to get offended: six over there, four over
there, three over here, two over there. Write
emails, nasty letters to the Bishop, “I’m not contributing to the
parish anymore…” We wimp out more often
than not and just give you some pablum week after week.
Everybody goes home feeling better. But
that’s not the Gospel. The Gospel comforts
the afflicted but afflicts the comfortable. It
is supposed to and we are comfortable for the most part.
Persecution. Jeremiah,
the great prophet, was persecuted. You
heard him say, “I hear the whisperings of many, terror on every side. Denounce, let us denounce him.
All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep
of mine.” Jesus
says, “What I say to you in darkness speak in the light.
What you hear whispered, proclaim on the house tops. Do not be afraid of those who can kill the
body but cannot kill the soul.” There was
a coin that I suspect some of the listeners of Jesus
were familiar with, a Roman coin. You probably heard this story of this coin. It had an ox facing an altar and a plow. The altar represents sacrifice and the plow
represents hard work. Inscribed on it,
“Ready for either.” The
idea of the coin apparently was that as a Roman
citizen, we are ready for either sacrifice for our nation, for the
empire, for the emperor. Death. Or we’re ready to work hard for our empire. It was a perfect coin for Christians to adopt. We should be ready for the altar of sacrifice
or the plow of hard work with our lives for Christ. Today, I’m sure the inscription would probably
be read for us “Ready for neither”. For
we seek comfort at such a great price and in doing so we lose the
essence of what it is to follow Christ, which has got a lot to do with
the cross. Malcolm
Muggeridge said, “The
only ultimate disaster that can befall us is to feel ourselves to be
home on earth.” There should be that
tension in us that we’re not real comfortable here.
Once we get too comfortable here, we are in danger.
Yes, we will be persecuted if we follow Christ
but then Jesus comforts us. “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin
yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge? Even all the hairs of your head are counted.” A beautiful image. “All
the hairs of your head are counted.” Are
you not worth more than many sparrows? “Everyone
who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before My Father.”
The
question is fair to pose to you, to me, to all of us, “Do people know
you are a Christian?” I mean neighbors and coworkers. Do
they know that? Maria
Shriver last week at Tim
Russert's memorial service said that Russert always carried a rosary
around. He would always say to you, “I’m going to pray for you”.
He would take the rosary in his hand and say (pointing to the rosary),
“I’m going to pray for you. I’m going to pray for your family.
I’m going to pray for your uncle” or whatever. You knew he really
meant it. He would actually do it. They knew he was a
Christian. Do people know that you are a Christian? It is a
very important question. Because “If you acknowledge Me I will
acknowledge you; if you deny Me…” We know the rest.