Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (1/20/2008)

Dear People of Holy Name,

It was Karl Marx, the father of godless communism who wrote, “Religion is the opiate of the people.” Today there are many others who would join their voices to his, claiming there is no God and that religion is an anti-intellectual horror infecting humanity. Their evidence is all the atrocities committed in the name of God, beginning with the crusades down to our own day, where religious fundamentalism seems to be an incurable wound threatening humanity. In their minds, today’s gospel would be another example of how religion placates people in their suffering and glorifies personal indignities in God’s name.

At first read one could see how today’s gospel could be placating of human suffering. Jesus claims the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, victims of injustice, and the persecuted as the blessed. As if we are to like suffering and accept it as part of God’s plan for our lives. After all Jesus suffered and so are we not to suffer in order to be saved?

What such a view misses is the context in which the Gospel is to be proclaimed and heard. When we read today’s gospel, the backdrop is belief in the resurrection of Jesus and life eternal. In that context, the passage becomes a proclamation of hope for all who suffer and claim as victory, the overcoming of sin and death in Jesus Christ. It is precisely this hope that drives out pessimism, and fills us with the Spirit of God to make the changes in our world that will allow for God’s justice to be a justice for all.

No, suffering is not good in itself. We must work to rid the world of unnecessary suffering, suffering that comes from greed and inequity in our many cultures. The changes we need are systemic and may run counter to views embraced and clothed in religion. This is where we must turn to the one God that is above culture and trust in his guidance. It is at this point Jesus leads with great clarity, for he was not afraid to be counter cultural and speak against religious practices that were at odds with the will of God.

Conversion is not only personal it is communal as well. The tough but necessary dialogue we must engage in will be with those who challenge what we hold as sacred. Such dialogue allows for the prophets voice to be heard, the Spirit to speak, and ultimately to the affirming of what is God’s will and what is good in our way of life and what is not.

Jesus’ words were prophetic and it was his words that got him hung on a cross. That is why he can say, blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you because of me. He knows that in following him, we will share in his rejection and death until the world comes to live fully in the Spirit of God revealed in his being. Sadly, there seems to be unwillingness on the part of all religions to critique themselves in light of the true Spirit of God. Not allowing for dialogue is one expression of an unwillingness to seek, to learn and to teach the truth of God as revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If we truly believe in Jesus as raised from the dead and that he has sent his Spirit upon us, what do we need to fear? Honest dialogue, as tough as it is, will enlighten all engaged and lead us to a fuller sharing in the life of God. Will mistakes be made? Yes, as there were in the past, but conversion will lead us over time into the fullness of the Light. Engaging in honest dialogue places faith in the Church as the People of God, where discernment of the fruits of the Spirit becomes the ultimate authority and “pontiff” of the community.

The Petrine charism is unity among the people who work together to seek, know and live in the Lord Jesus Christ. God is with us and God’s Spirit is in and among us. This is what we profess, this is what we strive to believe and what we seek to live out in our day to day living. As we come closer to our goal, the dignity of every person with free will and personal conscious will be formed into the mind of Christ. To nudge ourselves in that direction we need to proclaim our faith in Jesus, as raised from the dead and live in hope that his victory over sin and death will be ours.

May the Spirit of God awaken in us the fire of his love and may he lead us all into the fullness of life in Christ. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo