I recently had a conversation with a young person who had stepped away from the faith. She acknowledged that she was no longer attending Mass, and that she was questioning just about everything faith-related. The conversation began with, “Well, I really respect the Catholic Church as an organization…” and was about to move into discussion of the liturgy, when I interjected with, “What about Jesus?” Not only did the question interrupt the conversation, but it put a bit of a pause on her thought process. From the look on her face, and the moments of silence, it became clear that she really hadn’t thought about Jesus. She hadn’t thought about Jesus, when Jesus is supposed to be at the center of everything that we do as followers of Christ Jesus. I say “supposed to be” because I know that there are many times when people who call themselves “Christians” lose their focus, or are lead astray.
Let’s face it. Our busy lives, with so many sources of information, are part of the problem, but the Church has a part to play in the confusion of words and focus. The Church, itself, has issued thousands, and thousands, of documents in its years of existence. All of these documents, liturgies, sacraments and more, have added to the over 900,000, words in the Catholic Bible itself! Trying to learn about the faith, and “everything Catholic” can seem daunting, but really there is just one Word, and that Word is “Jesus!” In John’s Gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).The Catechism of the Catholic Church alsosays, “Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely (CCC 102).”
Jesus is our reason f
or gathering each week: “Do this in memory of me,” (Luke 23:19). Jesus is the reason we serve others: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me,” (Matthew 25:40). We can’t lose our reason for being Church in the first place! We can ask ourselves any number of questions that can help us to keep our eyes focused on Jesus. Here are a few:
- Am I thinking about Jesus, and his sacrifice for me when I am at Mass, or do I just allow myself to get bogged down by all of the words?
- Do I take time to read about the events of Jesus’ life in the New Testament?
- Do I make a conscious assent to comprehend that those events in the Gospels really happened, and that they form the foundation of our faith?
- Have I listened to Jesus’ teachings, and followed them, even when doing so meant sacrifice, or inconvenience?
- Do I need to take a look at my priorities? Have I put Jesus at the center of my life?
We can all take heart! The journey of discipleship, the task of living as a follower of Christ, is a lifelong journey. We don’t get everything right, every single day. The key is doing our best to be Christ’s hands, eyes, and voice in our world today, so one day, we can hear from our Creator, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy” (Matthew 25:23).