Boredom is not an option for a Christian

Matthew 28:16-20 (Ascension, year A)

source: commons.wikimedia.org,  Fat Les, RanZag

Without a doubt, my favorite television show is Sherlock. This is an updated take on the story of Sherlock Holmes set in modern day London. Each episode shows the adventures of the amazing and talented detective. If you have seen this show, or even read any of the original stories, you probably noticed something interesting. When Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a mystery, he is a whirlwind of activity. He is completely focused on his mission and fully alive. At those times when Sherlock has no mission, however, he becomes a different person entirely. Without a case, he sinks rapidly into boredom. He becomes despondent and lacks direction completely.

Similar to Sherlock, many of us today are often bored and lacking in vigor because we have no sense of mission in our lives. It seems that this boredom tends to manifest itself in two main ways which I will call “busy bored” and “lifeless bored”. Being “busy bored” is very common, I know I often fall into this category myself. Many times we are running around doing many things. There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. How, you ask, could someone who is busy be bored? Boredom sets in because underneath all the business we can feel a general unease and disquiet because we lack a unified goal and direction in our life. We work hard, but what are we working for? We do many things, but why ultimately do we do them? To avoid facing these questions we can just throw ourselves into more activity. These questions struck me pretty hard when I was studying engineering at university. I worked hard and I enjoyed my studies - at least most of the time! Within all my busy-ness, however, a kind of boredom and uneasiness sunk in. What was the ultimate purpose of all this work? I often thought, “there must be more to life than this”. I lacked a sense of mission. The second kind of boredom, “lifeless bored” is what Sherlock suffers from when he is without a case. If you have ever read the books, you will know that when he becomes bored, Sherlock begins to take drugs as an escape from the boredom. Similarly, many people in our culture get into some harmful and questionable activities in order to escape their boredom: drinking, drugs, gossip and prying into other people’s lives, and throwing whole days away playing video games. In our country we are blessed with so many opportunities and resources yet we are often bored. Like Sherlock, for so many of us our lives lack vigour and excitement because we lack a sense of purpose.

We all desire to be part of some great mission. This desire is a part of our DNA. Think about this for a moment.  Who is one living person who you greatly admire for all the good that he or she does in the world? Try to picture this person in your mind. Now, imagine that one day this person contacted you to arrange a meeting. At this meeting, this individual presented to you a bold new plan for changing the world in some positive way. This mission is going to be very challenging and will encounter much resistance. Next, this person you admire surprises you by telling you that they have been watching you for some time and think that you have what it takes to be part of this mission. They offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a member of a team that will be working to bring about real change in the world. If this happened to you, how would you feel? Excited and full of energy? Nervous and afraid? Special and worthwhile? Certainly, we would have strong feelings and this is for just a human being! How would you feel if it was Jesus, someone you admire above all? Maybe it seems unbelievable that He would personally choose us in this way. Each and every one of us desires to be part of some great quest or undertaking.

In reality, Jesus does send us out on the greatest mission. This mission involves nothing less than the transformation of the world. Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus when Jesus returns to His Father. He has not, however, left us idle. Jesus hands on to His followers the mission that He Himself initiated in what is often called the great commission:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

In a word, the great commission calls us to evangelize. Recently, Pope Francis released an incredible document called the Joy of the Gospel in which he strongly reminds us all of this mission. He explains that all followers of Jesus, all disciples, must be missionary disciples. Each of us is meant to go and spread the good news that God has reconciled the world to Himself through the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. Pope Francis reminds us that we need to be explicit with this message. We need to draw all people to a relationship with Jesus because in this the human heart finds its deepest joy. There is also a clear social dimension to evangelization. As Pope Francis said: “Mission is at once passion for Jesus and passion for His people”. We are called to impact society, in particular, we must care for the poor. All of us are called to participate in this radical mission, whether we are married, priests, religious or single. Whatever our “day job” is, our ultimate job is to make disciples of all nations and build up the Kingdom of God. Jesus send us out on the greatest and most challenging mission imaginable.

We need to ensure that we personally accept this mission of Jesus. As Catholics, we unfortunately can go our whole lives without embracing this commission of Jesus. When this happens, we end up serving the predominant mission of our society: getting by, keeping busy and trying to live a good life. Personally, I went for a long time without ever really embracing the mission Jesus has given us. I finally did this when I had the opportunity to attend World Youth Day in Cologne at the end of my time in university. I remember clearly the prayer vigil during at which Pope Benedict addressed a crowd of over one million young people late into the night. That evening, he challenged the youth to embrace the radical mission that Jesus has left us all: to go and make disciples of all nations and change the world in doing so. He invited us to be part of a revolution of holiness, which is the only kind of revolution that can bring about true change in the world. That night I felt as though the Pope was speaking straight to me and I wanted more than anything to be part of this mission. In my heart, I embraced this mission from Jesus. I think the World Youth Days have been one of the most transformative series of events in the recent history of the Church. At them countless individuals - both young and old - have personally accepted Jesus’ mission. It is impossible to forget images from the most recent World Youth Day in Brazil where Pope Francis addressed 2 million young people gathered at Copacabana beach with the image of Christ the Redeemer in the background. There again, the Pope echoed the the great commission: go and make disciples of all nations! It is crucial that we personally accept this invitation.

Whenever I watch the show Sherlock, it is sad to see Sherlock Holmes when he is bored. It seems like such a waste of talent. If we are honest, we must admit with sadness that the Church is filled with far too many bored Catholics. This is an incredible waste. We have been given an incredible mission that gives purpose and energy to our lives. Today ask yourself a simply question: have I personally accepted this mission from Jesus? We need to realize that if we are bored as Catholics, we are doing something terribly wrong!

King of the Ring

John 14:15-21 (6th week of Easter, year A)

This past weekend, many youth from the parish participated in an awesome retreat called The King of the Ring. During this retreat, boxing was used as a powerful metaphor for our life as Christians. This metaphor is very accurate. Following Jesus means that we will often have to fight against various opponents. Like a boxer we are also surrounded by a great many people. Some are on our side, cheering for us and giving us advice. At the same time, it is difficult to hear these voices because there are also some in the crowd who are cheering for our opponents. They also try to give us bad advice in an attempt to have us make a false move or give up. Being a Christian is much like being a boxer fighting in a ring.

When we follow Jesus, we will have to fight to love God and keep His commandments. This is the challenge that Jesus gives us in the gospel of today. Though we all need to love God more, in a real way, we all do love God. Though we all are need to follow God’s commandments better, we all are trying to live and love as Jesus did. It would be wonderful of this was an easy thing to do. It would be great if being a Christian could be all rainbows and unicorns all the time, but it isn’t. Trying to follow the commandments is a struggle against various opponents. First, we fight against ourselves. None of us is perfect. We are broken and selfish human beings. Though we often know the right way to act, it can be very difficult to do so. As Jesus said, “the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:41). Second, we sometimes battle against other people. Conflicts can arise simply because of misunderstandings. Sometimes because of their own woundedness, people will try to hurt us, often to make themselves feel better. Regardless of the reason, these blows hurt. Finally, we fight Satan. The devil is real and will do all he can to keep us from loving God and keeping His commandments. As the saying goes: the struggle is real. This, however, should not surprise us. Jesus Himself was a fighter. He fought for all that was good, true and beautiful. He fought for the weak. He fought to reunite us with God our Father. It should come as no surprise that if we want to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and keep God’s commandments, we will also have to struggle.

In this fight, many voices will try to prevent us from winning. As a boxer in the ring, you are surrounded by a great crowd who all cry out. Many of these voices try to prevent you from loving God and following His commandments. For an activity on the retreat, I had the opportunity to talk with a few youth about this Gospel, in order to brainstorm ideas for this homily. They focused on the fact that in our life as Christians we encounter many voices that hold us back. Some of these voices take the form of negative peer pressure from our friends. Some of these voices we perceive as coming from those closest to us, our own family. Some of these voices come from within our own head. Here is a selection of some of the things the youth heard these voices saying.

You need to get good grades at school. If you don’t you are a failure. Don’t go to Mass today. You are too busy with school and work. If you want to fit in, you need to go to this party where there will be drugs and alcohol. You’re not good enough. You’re not pretty enough. You’re not smart enough. Nobody really likes you.

The youth also described how these voices made them feel. Anxious. Alone. Weighed down. Defeated. In our struggle to love God and follow His commandments, many voices try to prevent us from winning.

In this fight, the Holy Spirit is in our corner, ensuring us of victory. While on retreat, the youth talked about the numerous people that each of us have in our corners like our parents and good friends. Though Jesus does not fight our fights for us, as He explains in the Gospel of today, He has given us the Holy Spirit, who is the strongest support that we have. The Holy Spirit is like like the trainer that each boxer has in his or her corner. The trainer advises the boxer and gives encouragement. The trainer is the most important voice of all to listen to. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Paraclete. The word Paraclete means a number of things such as advocate, counsellor and consoler. In contrast to all the negative voices they hear, the youth explained that the Holy Spirit will say things like this to us.

You are beautiful, good, and God’s beloved son or daughter. You are never alone no matter how lonely you feel. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t succeed at first. Try your best. Life is a journey. God has a great plan for you. Respect and take care of yourself by not giving into the pressure to drink and do drugs. No matter how bad things seem, they will get better. Don’t loose hope.

The youth also described how it made them feel knowing that they had they Holy Spirit in their corner supporting them. Hope. Cared for. Trust. Peace. Loved. The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift from Jesus, He is our greatest support in our battle as followers of Jesus.

In order to ensure ourselves of victory, we need to take some practical steps to ensure that we are able to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are very busy and noisy. Here are two practical things we can do to ensure that the voice of the Paraclete is not drowned out:

1. Actively seek silence and solitude in order to listen to the Holy Spirit. In a boxing ring, the boxer cannot normally hear the trainer over the noise from the crowd. For this reason, in between rounds, the boxer goes into the corner to be with and listen to the trainer. Likewise the voice of the Holy Spirit is a quiet one. In order to hear what He is saying to us, we need to choose some time each day to be in silence and solitude. Turn off your phone, music and computer. Give the Holy Spirit a chance to be heard. Start with five minutes.
2. Keep a journal of the good things that the Holy Spirit says to you. You can do this during your time of silence and solitude! We have all at times heard the Holy Spirit’s voice of encouragement and love. Sometimes it is in something we read, sometimes through the voice of a friend or other times when in prayer. Unfortunately we tend to forget quickly these good and encouraging things. We focus on the negative voices. To combat this tendency, it can be very powerful to write down in a book the truth the Holy Spirit shows you. Write down all the things you love about yourself. Your talents and good qualities. What makes you a good friend. The values you want to live by. Often write down the blessings that happen in the day. Simple things like a nice conversation with a friend or the time you were able to show kindness to someone. Keep all this in a journal and refer to it often, especially when you are down and feel like giving up.

Our life as followers of Jesus is a battle. Loving God and keeping His commandments is not easy, but it is a something truly worth fighting for. Never give up, especially when you are knocked to the ground. Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to help and console us. Today chose to take some steps to ensure you can hear His voice above the crowd. Decide to spend some few minutes each day in silence and solitude to write in a journal all the good and encouraging things that the Holy Spirit has to say to you. With the Paraclete by our side, victory is assured!

Jesus, the answer is always Jesus!

John 14:1-12 (5th Sunday of Easter, year A)

 Late Roman Empire apsidal mosaic from the Church of Santa Pudenziana, Rome

Before they die, a leader will often give to their followers their Last Will and Testament, in which they give one final teaching or last set of instructions.  For example, St. Pope John Paul II wrote a Last Will and Testament that was published after his death. This document was quoted in newspapers around the world. For good reason, people tend to pay close attention to the Last Will and Testament of famous leaders. In such a speech or document, leaders gets one final opportunity to leave some “last words” with their followers. They tend to make these words count!

We should pay close attention to the Gospel of today because it is part of Jesus’ Last Will and Testament. The Gospel passage that we just heard is from a section of the Gospel of John that is usually called the Farewell Discourse. This section comes right after Jesus has washed the feet of His disciples at the Last Supper and right before He begins His Passion. It is the last opportunity that Jesus has to speak with His followers. In the Farewell Discourse, of which we heard only the first part today, Jesus does three things:

1. Offers consolation. Prior to his death, Jesus wants to comfort his followers by making sure that they will be taken care of. He wants them to ensure that their “hearts are not troubled”.
2. Sum up the purpose of His life and teaching. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is clear about His mission: He has been sent by the Father to reunite us with the Father and make us His sons and daughters. Jesus does this both by revealing the Father to us by His words and actions and by His Passion death and resurrection. Jesus is clear that He and He alone can perform this vital mission.
3. Appoints a successor. Because He will soon be returning to His Father, Jesus will no longer be present to His disciples in the same way. Jesus however, will not abandon them. He explains that He will send a successor to be present and guide all His followers. This successor is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.

These are the important points that Jesus makes throughout His Last Will and Testament.

The farewell discourse of Christ should fill us with peace and consolation.  A portion of today’s Gospel should should very familiar because it is often read at funerals. This is the part when Jesus explains to His followers that there are many rooms in His Father’s house. Whenever I hear this, I am struck by how personal this message is. Imagine that you have been away from your family for years. Perhaps you were working abroad or studying in some foreign country. Finally the moment has arrived for you to return home. After your plane lands at YVR, you take a cab back to your family home. When you arrive at the house, you see your loved ones waiting for you at the front door. You leave the cab and embrace them. Eventually you are shown inside the house to a room that has been lovingly prepared just for you. If this happened to you, would you not feel special? Would you not feel peace and consolation? Jesus’ words are meant to make us feel this way. He wants us to know that we are taken care of not just now, but for all eternity. Jesus has prepared a room has lovingly been prepared just for each one of us.

In His Last Will and Testament, Jesus makes us clear that He and only He can prepare this place for us in the Father’s house. I really enjoy visiting students in the school or in catechism class. Sometimes I ask the student some questions. Regardless of the the question, students invariably give the same answer each time: Jesus! They think that this is always the correct answer. With respect to this Gospel, the students would be right. Jesus tells His followers that He is the way, the truth and the life. We need to remember that Jesus is not saying that He is a way, a truth and a life. No, what Jesus is saying is very provocative and very challenging. He is the way, the truth and the life. With this He affirms the thinking of those students.  It is as though He is saying, “the answer is Jesus, it is always Jesus!” What does it mean that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life? By telling us this, Jesus reminds us that of a few things:

• Because He is the way, everyone who goes to heaven goes there because of Jesus. Anyone who is reunited with God, regardless of when they lived or what religion they professed is reunited because of Jesus, whether they believe in Him or not.
• Because Jesus is the truth, He alone fully reveals who God is and how we should live as human beings. Certainly we can find truth in other religions and philosophies, but the fullness of this truth is only found wholly in Jesus.
• Because He is the life, all human beings benefit from being in a relationship with Jesus Christ. He alone can fill the human heart.

Jesus is very clear in His farewell discourse that He and He only prepares a place for us in the Father’s house.

We need the courage to hold fast to this message and not water it down.  Jesus’ statement that He is the way, the truth and the life was incredibly provocative and controversial when He said it. It is no less radical today. In our western culture it is considered rude at best and hateful at worst to claim that there is one truth that is applicable to all people. In the name of tolerance, we are told that all truths are relative. In this way of thinking, though I could say that it is true and right for me personally to follow Jesus and His way, I could never say that that is true and right for all people. Inconveniently, however, Jesus says just that! Now, I am not suggesting that we shove our beliefs down other people’s throats. It is helpful to remember the words of St. John Paul II:

We must make clear to all our brothers and sisters that the Church imposes nothing; she only proposes.

The Church imposes nothing, but she proposes everything. We need to make sure that we propose to others what Jesus wants us to propose. This is hard for me. When I am speaking with friends who are not Christian it is easier for me to say that I try to put Jesus at the center of my life and this makes me happy. It is a lot harder to say that I believe that it is best if they too try to put Jesus at the center of their lives. It is not easy to propose to others that they will be happier and live a better life if they are in a relationship with Jesus and follow the way of life He showed us. It is hard but that is the message Jesus has left us. It takes courage to hold fast to this message and not water it down.

The Last Will and Testament of someone is a very special and even sacred thing. We pay close attention to the last words of someone. We respect them and would never want to change them. In His farewell discourse Jesus fills us with consolation in knowing that we are taken care of. At the same time, He leaves us with an incredible challenging message: I am the way, the truth and the life. Let us respect the Last Will and Testament of Jesus by holding fast to this message and ask for the courage to propose this message to those we encounter. Or in the words of those students: Jesus! The answer is always Jesus!