THE RELIGION OF THE DAY
In this week's Homily, in response to the Gospel reading (Matthew 10:37-42), I spoke about the tendency to avoid focusing on the difficult aspects of Christianity. It is interesting to note that between last week's Gospel (Matthew 10: 26-33) and this week's Gospel, there was a section that was omitted from the Sunday readings. It reads, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law- a person's enemies will be the members of their own household" (Matthew 10: 34-36). Jesus' demands of being His faithful followers requires that Love for Christ must be the most important love in our life above everyone else- all must come second if we expect Jesus to consider us worthy of Himself. He expects his followers to pick up their Cross and follow Him, for without the Cross and without self-denial, there is no Christianity. These are hard words to hear and difficult expectations for us to follow, and it would be much easier to follow the trend of the modern world and follow a counter-religion which softens and negotiates these expectations with Christ by making everything appear joyful and filled with platitudes of love, avoiding any negativity, difficulty and darkness.
Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) a former Anglican Priest and Theologian who converted to Catholicism and eventually became a Cardinal, noticed this trend almost 200 years ago. He addressed it in his sermon, The Religion of the Day, the 24th Sermon found in his collection of Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 1, which was written between the years 1825-1843. It is fascinating that he identifies and addresses the same problems of "lukewarmness" and "avoidance" of anything deemed difficult in the Church as far back as almost 200 years ago, as we face today. I would highly recommend reading, "The Religion of the Day" (linked above) and also his other sermons as spiritual reading and to nourish ourselves as we continue to strive for the truth.
