Today's reflection

I wasn’t feeling inspired by today’s readings, so I thought that I would talk about something a little bit unrelated.

Sunday afternoon I was awoken by someone calling on the phone at the house. It wasn’t a usual call in that the person wasn’t asking about a place to stay or how they could volunteer with us. The call I got was from someone having a religious argument with his girlfriend, and he wanted some help. He wanted to talk to one of the religious staff, but he settled for me when he found out I was the only one around.

The first question I got was if we as Catholics read from the Bible. I was expecting to get something a little harder than that. I said that of course we did. Even though during Mass we read from a book that is called the Lectionary, all the readings contained in it are taken directly from the Bible.

He then put the girlfriend on to talk to me. Since she was the antagonist, I was expecting a tough question. But all she asked me was if I believed in Jesus. I was so surprised all I said was, “yes.”

While this exchange was not as intellectually stimulating as I was hoping it would be, it reminded me of the obligation we have to defend our faith. Whether it is on the street or at home or with friends, we must be ready and willing to speak about our beliefs as Catholic Christians. Part of being ready is to arm ourselves with the knowledge that is at the very foundation of what we believe. And so we have to ask ourselves how exactly we go about that. Mass and daily reflections as a staff are a good start, but hearing someone else’s thoughts on the faith only can go so far. We must keep ourselves educated on matters of our faith and internalize the beliefs that are our keystone. Others can help in this endeavor, but we must make the effort.

Contained in what Jesus tells us today in the Gospel is a call to action. We are called to hear the word of God and then to put that word into deed. And so we must ask ourselves- do we open ourselves to hearing the word of God in everything we see and do? Do we take up the challenge of defending the faith when it is presented to us? When we do identify God in these things, are we stirred to action? If we desire the gift of heaven, then we must do these things.