Strive to Sacrifice, Strive to Love.

Reflection for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

So often we are confronted with the issue: what does it mean to be a practicing Catholic? I think so often we are inclined to say we are a practicing Catholic simply by the nature of our humanity. We like to fit into constraints and have a constant fear of being left out, of being in a place that doesn’t clearly define us. To be a practicing Catholic is to: Observe the Ten Commandments, Follow the 5 Precepts (Mass, Confession, Fasting, etc.), and to assent to all Church teaching. Now I don’t know about any of you, but I can remember a few times when I missed mass, or times when I have lied, or times when I have fallen into envy, all of which break the definitions and constraints of the definition of a practicing Catholic. Does that mean that when we do those things, we cease to be a practicing Catholic? Does that mean that when we question or doubt something, we cease to be a practicing Catholic? Of course not. As St. Paul tells us: “Test everything.” So then how do we define ourselves? Are we in a state of limbo between us and the Church? No, provided you are intent on forgiveness, provided you are truly at the foot of the cross, asking for Christ’s mercy, provided you are intent on receiving absolution. So, truly part of being a practicing Catholic is understanding that you are a sinner, that you are in need of God’s forgiveness. Which means understanding something very, very crucial: we are not perfect, despite what society tries to convey. No matter how much society tells you that we are fine just the way we are, we aren’t. We are a broken people, a people longing for the God we have become distant from due to our evilness. And it is unfortunate that this has happened, but it is the reality, and our existence is to get closer to God, and repair those separations that have been created.

Our life is the combination of two things: realizing we aren’t perfect, but working towards becoming as close to perfection as possible. That doesn’t mean we should try to be perfect in the sense of the secular world, and get a hundred on all of our exams by cheating, or lose 150 pounds just to look good for instagram. Being perfect means being more like God, which is ultimately more sacrificial, more loving.

Those of you from New York and the surrounding area might remember the story of Detective Steven McDonald. He was doing an undercover operation when a suspect he was interviewing shot him three times, one in the head, the throat, and the back. He was left paralyzed from the neck down and it left him quadriplegic and in need of a ventilator. But he is most famous for something almost unimaginable: he forgave the man that shot him. And he wrote about forgiveness in a book he wrote titled Why Forgive?

Some would say that he did this just for the press. But I ask you, if he really didn’t forgive the man, why would he say it - what did he have to lose? And the man stayed devoutly Catholic for the rest of his life. This is the Christian way of life, and it tells us two things about it. Firstly, being Catholic, being Christian, truly means being loving; it truly means being sacrificial. Secondly, being Catholic isn’t easy, and it comes with burdens that we think we can not overcome. But Detective McDonald did. Not only did he live a life that was beautiful, despite his extreme disability, he forgave the man that changed his life forever. He emulated Christ in the world, something that so many of us struggle to do.

By the grace of God many will never have to experience what Detective McDonald did, and will never have to face the tribulation of forgiving someone that did something so heinous to you. But we will have to face times in our life where there is a choice: Christ or society, good or evil. And at the time the situation may not present itself so clearly. For example, choosing to go to a sports game over mass doesn’t seem intrinsically evil, but by doing it, we say: I don’t need you God, I don’t need your grace or mercy, and I don’t need the teachings of the Church. Not only is it arrogant, but it is wrong. And it is the willing choice against Christ.

Isn’t this the idea in the gospel for today? Jesus tells us pretty clearly: don’t be hypocrites. Don’t be people that go around and preach the faith or act so high and mighty, but yet don’t practice or believe it themselves. Jesus explains that the Pharisees place burdens on other people but don’t embrace them or work to fix them themselves, nor do they practice what they preach. They act as if God has bestowed on themselves perfection, as if they do not need to practice the faith that they spread to the faithful. But no one is like God, and because we are a broken people, no one will ever be like him and be perfect. But we aren’t meant to be perfect. We are meant to strive for that perfection. And striving for that perfection is better than acting like we already have it, like the Pharisees. Striving for perfection, for being like God, meaning emulating sacrificial love, acknowledges that we fail short in many ways, that we don’t reach the mark all the time, but that we can be better. And it is by acknowledging our weaknesses that we work our way towards the heavenly reward of heaven. This is exactly what Jesus talks about when he says “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Therefore, life isn’t about being a model for other people in the sense that we act like we are perfect. Life is about showing others that are sinners, that have our weakness, but that we can turn to the father’s forgiveness and love. And it is through his saving power of mercy that we can work towards being better people, and emulating love in the world, just like Detective McDonald was. He wasn’t a perfect man, but he strove to be the best he could be by choosing love over hate, God over society. And that is exactly what we need to do: we need to humble ourselves to understand our limitations and strive to work on these, so that through our faith and emulation of Christ in this life, we can spend eternity with him in the next.

We have to understand that we aren’t Him. And we shouldn’t act like we will ever be totally like Him on this earth. But we can strive to be like him. We can strive to bring his love to this world, so it is as simple as this: Strive to Sacrifice, Strive to Love.