Who is trying to kill me?

Homily

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time A1

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

25 June 2023

AMDG +mj

Who is trying to kill me?

It's easy to miss the point of this weekend's scriptures, so I'm going to ask a dramatic question if I may.

Who is trying to kill me?

From the threats against Jeremiah, to the lament of the psalmist, to the reminder from St. Paul that we are alive only insofar as we participate in the death of Christ, to the teaching of Jesus to not be afraid nor shy away from those who will try to kill you, it's clear that our relationship with God is a matter of life and death.  It can't be anything else, always and without exception.

It's no accident that everywhere in the world where Christians are being killed, the faith is on fire, as are the lives of Christians who know that you're only really living if you know what you will suffer and die for.  Whereever showing up for Mass is a matter of putting your life on the line, true life is increased.  Wherever it's comfortable to go to Mass, the life of the faithful is in decline.  There are countless true stories of Catholics who were once arrested for practicing their faith, who stopped practicing as soon as it became easy.

To put another point on it, you're not really living your faith unless someone is trying to kill you.  That probably sounds like hyperbole, but it's not. It's a shame, actually that our relativistic culture tolerates Christians quite well.   We might say the Church is under persecution, but it's not really.  The Church can be mocked by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in LA, and by others, but more often, it's ignored.  See how easily we fell in line last summer during the decisive vote on putting reasonable protections on defending innocent unborn life.  The amendment lost 85% to 15% here in Douglas county, and we tolerated the defeat quite well and went on with our lives.

It's one of my greatest pet peeves how easy it is to ignore or cancel the Catholic faith here on this campus.

But it's my fault.  I'm not living my faith in such a way that anyone is trying to kill me.  Even the evil one has figured out that if he persecutes me, I might fight back, but if he makes me comfortable, I'll lie down.  The reality is that my Christian life is covered in fear, despite Jesus inviting me not to be afraid of those who kill the body. Why does he say this.  Because I am to have already given my life away, in my baptism I died to a comfortable, horizontal existence, and rose to a life marked by courageously suffering and dying for who I love.  This is how a soul is saved, and it's always going to offend someone, so much so that being a real Christian is always a matter of life and death.

Catholics' favorite lines in scriptures are the ones where those who sit in back are lauded, those who put in two cents are celebrated, and those who pray in secret are repaid. This is all true and good, but there's more.  There's the prophetic dimension of our lives that comes out clearly in today's Scriptures.  Anyone playing it safe is gonna lose.  Anyone afraid to share their faith has already lost.  For our relationship with God is our life, and so the practice of my faith can only be a matter of life and death.

As it is, nobody is trying to kill me.  In response to today's Scriptures, it's a good day to wonder why.