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The fickleness of the human heart is often reflected on—especially when it comes to Jesus.
Here on Palm Sunday, we see the crowds praise Him with shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David!” And in less than a week the crowds will viciously scream, “Crucify Him!”
It is often remarked, and rightfully so, that the human heart is so very fickle, trending in and out of devotion and apathy.
Yet, as I sat thinking about this, it’s not always true that our hearts are fickle.
I have seen devotion to politicians more fierce and loyal than devotion to Our Lord. People’s favorite politician cannot be criticized without intense defending and followers rarely if ever critically examine behavior. When it comes to people’s favorite politician there usually isn’t much fickleness.
I’ve also seen devotion to musicians, actors/actresses, and other famous people with the same intensity. Even if the famous person does something heinous and horrific, still, fans will defend at all costs and excuse any bad or evil behavior away.
So, the human heart is not always fickle, but what’s interesting is that most often it is fickle towards people who should be our top priority—Christ and our spouse.
It’s often less fickle, or not fickle at all, with people we don’t even know and deserve none of our loyalty.
I think alot of it boils down to what the relationship asks of us. Christ calls us to holiness and many times we buck this call in pursuit of comfort, pleasures, and our own way. Marriage requires a dying to self for love of other and when we don’t want to do that, our love becomes fickle.
Idolization of politicians and famous people really requires nothing of us—there’s no higher call and so it easy to be devoted.
May we always check the fickleness in our hearts, Catholic Pilgrims, and worship Christ with loyalty and joyful intensity.
Have a blessed Palm Sunday.
We are safe and sound in Virginia and made it to our new home on post. Our stuff hasn't arrived yet, so we are doing the inside camping bit where we just spend a lot of time on the floor--sleeping, eating, sitting, podcasting. Mass was at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Petersburg, I must say, it was the most traditional Novus Ordo Mass I have ever been to and that made me very happy. In his homily, the priest gave the best explanation on why priests take vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. He said, "People often ask me, 'Why don't you (Catholic Church) let your priests marry?' Well, we try to live as we will all live in Heaven. There is no money in Heaven and no possessions, we all will be celibate, and our wills will all be aligned to God's Will." Now, some priests do marry in other rites and some priests that come over from the Anglican Church are married. This is a discipline, not a dogma. Priests are trying to live as Christ lived--poor, unmarried, and obedient to the Father. They don't do it perfectly but that is the goal. I thought it was a beautiful explanation and then he said, "For any man who thinks that taking these vows will make them miserable and strip them of freedom, that is simply not true. Whenever you allow God to fill your life, you gain more freedom and find your purpose." That goes for all of us, Catholic Pilgrims, no matter our vocation in life. You gain the most freedom and fulfillment when you surrender your life to God. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
Continue ReadingThroughout all my life, I have struggled with pride. In my late teens and all through my twenties, I thought that I could make the Christian faith what I wanted it to be. Essentially, this meant that it became so easy that it barely factored into my life. Yes, I called myself a Christian, but I thought: That church was optional. Prayer only mattered when I wanted something. Scripture was around for the virtue signal. I wasn't Catholic during those years, so Sacraments mattered nothing to me. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Sacrament. I lived how I wanted to live, because...well, Jesus loved me and most decent people went to Heaven. Since I was at least decent, I was assured my angel wings. Crazy how I once believed humans became angels upon death. I didn't even understand that we are fundamentally different beings. Anyway... I had no humility. Zero. By the grace of God, I woke up. I'm not perfect at all, but I did realize that our Catholic Faith cannot conform around me. When my pride pulls me to the ways of the world or towards my will, I must resist. Throughout all these years on social media, I have seen the pride that I once had in the comments. There are still so many people who think they can pick and choose what to believe; that they can conform Christianity to their desires and wills. St. Paul talks today about how Jesus emptied Himself and took the form of a slave, not counting equality with God, even though He is God. God humbled Himself to save us and I think we often forget that. When we bow at the mentioning of the Incarnation in the Nicene Creed, we are acknowledging the humility of God, that He would come as one of us. We bow out of respect for counting us worthy of saving in this way. If our God can be so humble, it is imperative that we humble ourselves and submit our will to God and His Church, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed Sunday.
Continue ReadingMy philosophy class at K-State was not so much a philosophy class as it was a Liberal Ideology 101 class. Most of the time was spent having various liberal groups on campus come in and try to persuade us to their side. It was very irritating, because that was not what I signed up for. It caused the professor and me to not be on friendly terms. He punished me, of course, by giving me bad grades and calling me out in class, but I really didn't care. I was the only one in class that ever spoke up and tried to debate against the messages that we were being force fed. It was a very isolating feeling because it felt like me against the world. Yet, it never failed that after each class, other students would come up to me and thank me for speaking up and they would tell me that they agreed with me. They were just too nervous to speak up. However, if I had to be the only one, though, so be it. I learned through that class that speaking the truth can be scary sometimes. You will be punished. You will be hated. Sometimes it will seem like you are all by yourself on an island. But, there are hordes behind you that just aren't as vocal. Here we are 25 years after 9/11 and, for a short period after, we were so united as a country. Suffering often does that, as crazy as that is. Which is why, I think the forces against this country saw that they needed to get to work right away causing division, because that fateful day made us come together in a way I've never seen in my lifetime. Those opposed to us panicked and set to work immediately to try to break the bond that had been created in Americans that actually love this country. They have succeeded in some ways, because we are fractured. All the noise makes us despair and feel hopeless, like all is lost. Yet, praying about this yesterday, I realized that the loudmouths will always seem like they are winning the day and maybe in some areas they are. But there are, also, sane, solo voices out there and behind them are hordes of sane, loyal, patriotic people who just aren't as vocal. Just like in my philosophy class. The loudmouths will always get more attention and make things seem skewed, just like my class. In honor of those that lost their lives on 9/11, may we live our lives with courage, virtue, honor, intelligence, loyalty and faithfulness. Not all is lost. We will never forget. God bless America.
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