Let the faith live loudly within us

23^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2017:

We get an interesting gospel this week for our reflection.  Jesus is giving us some down to earth concrete suggestions on how to deal with some daily issues and problems.  For example, what do you do when there is division or disagreement within the community?  What do you do when someone sins against you?

This is down-to-earth practical advice.  And that got me thinking a little bit.  One of the problems what we face in trying to live out our faith in these modern times is the problem of thinking about faith and religion as something that shouldn’t affect our practical down-to-earth lives.  I’m sure no one here would literally say: My faith will not affect my daily life.  But, our culture really sets things up in such a way that we are discouraged from living out our faith in the public square.  It’s perfectly fine to be a Catholic, to be a Christian; but, it better not affect how we vote, how we participate in civil government, how we carry out our civil responsibilities.  How many times do we hear: “personally I’m opposed to something, but I won’t let my faith tell other people what to do.”  This leads to a separation between our life of faith and our daily lives which can really be problematic.  Our faith is not a part of our lives, it is a part of everything in our lives.  We should always ask Christ for guidance in all our actions and decisions. 

Someone sent me a clip this week of Senator Diane Feinstein who was questioning Amy Barrett, who was nominated for an appeals court position.  The Senator says: when reading your writings and speeches you get the sense that the dogma lives loudly within you, which is a concern.”  Wow.  What prejudice!  This made me think two things.  First, could we really say “the dogma lives loudly in me.”  That’s one of the best compliments anyone could every give me or any Catholic.  I really hope it lives loudly in me.  Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God.  I’m one of his followers, his believers.  I hope that his truth lives loudly in me.  Second, what kind of weird world do we live in that having the faith live loudly inside of us is a “concern.”

We all need to recognize that our culture is subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, trying to get us to divorce our life of faith from our daily lives.  That’s why it’s important for us to be committed to Christ every day of our lives.