Dear Friends in Christ:
Aristotle wrote in his Nicomachean Ethics, “To be happy takes a complete lifetime; for one swallow does not make spring, nor does one fine day; and similarly, one day or a brief period of happiness does not make a man supremely blessed and happy.” The reverse is also true. One bad day or event doesn’t mean everything that follows is going to be bad. For numerous reasons, many believe that a single bad encounter or experience is totally determinative. It may be easy to jump to that conclusion, or one may simply reach that conclusion out of laziness, but it is not necessarily so. As Christians, we are, by our very nature of being believers in Jesus Christ, optimists. We live in hope, and we live by faith. We believe in the possibility of conversion and redemption. We see the goodness of God in all His creation, and that His will is for the ultimate happiness of every human being. We firmly hold this belief in light of the reality of sin and suffering.
In the 1960’s there was a popular notion of the Fundamental Option, suggesting that if a person made a fundamental choice for or against God, then the subsequent actions in one’s life were not relevant or determinative. This suggests the false notion that “niceness” is the key moral determination of a person. This “niceness principle” (it doesn’t matter what one believes or does if they are nice) gradually evolved into what the sociologist of religion, Christian Smith, has labeled Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD). Professor Smith surveyed thousands of Americans and distilled what they believed. In brief, MTD can be summarized as: 1. God exists and created and ordered the world and watches over human life. 2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other. 3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. 4. God does not need to be involved in one’s life except when He is needed to be a problem solver. 5. All good people go to heaven when they die.
There are many problems with MTD. As one can see, there is no personal relationship with God; no Jesus, no redemption, and sin is reduced to anything that violates being nice. God becomes either an idea or Santa Claus and life is reduced to the mandatory right to expectation of, feeling good! In this problematic view, if a religious person acts contrary to their faith or expectations, or if we do not experience earthly happiness and satisfaction in the manner that we expect, then religion is false, and all believers are liars and hypocrites! Too often in our contemporary society people are judged by a single act. One of the hallmarks of Pope Francis’ papacy has been his insistence on the primacy of the mercy of God. None of us are perfect. We are all sinners and fall short. We absolutely need God’s grace and mercy, and we are called to extend God’s mercy and forgiveness to others and to ourselves. At the same time, the world in which we live has been stained by Original Sin, but this world has also been redeemed by the blood of Christ crucified. Though the world has been redeemed, suffering is still a part of this life. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection do not exempt us from pain and suffering in this life, but rather enable us to live and overcome our earthly sufferings. Being a Catholic does not make one perfect, but it gives us a path and means to holiness. The sanctity of life is not “a one and done”. It is getting up and doing it every day. Some days we succeed in following Christ and living in his grace and other days we fail. When we fail, we do not curse God or others, we repent and try again. When others fail, we do not abandon faith in God or reject that there are commandments by which we are all called to live. When others fail, we forgive them. When we fail, we admit our sinfulness and seek God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The Christian life is a journey. Sanctification is a life-long project for us and for others. None of us should be judged or judge others by their worst act. Everyone is capable, with God’s grace, of conversion. Thank God! The life that God offers us in and through Jesus is far above and far superior to a life of “niceness”. Jesus tells us that He offers Himself so that “His joy may be ours and our joy may be complete!” (Jn 15:11) This joy can be ours here and in eternity if we repent and believe in the Good News! (Mk 1:15)
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy