Today Jesus warns us not just to speak the right words of faith, but to put them into practice. (Matt 21:28-32) But how do we do that? You can see and hear me give this Homily on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLBYp4rEmOM
I have two suggestions. The first, is not just to go to Mass but to participate in it. More on that later. The second is to share our faith with others and listen to good teaching, for how else can we achieve the “Common mind” that St Paul urges on us? (Phil 2:1-11) Now may I give one warning about this. It is true that the Catholic Faith is based on the Bible, but the Bible needs explaining. The disciples knew their Bible (The Old Testament) but they needed Jesus expounding the scriptures to them, as on the Road to Emmaus, (Luke 24:27) before they understood who Jesus was and why he had to die. Reading the Bible without proper teaching can lead to all kinds of weird and un-Christian ideas.
Now if you’re reading this, or listening to it, then you’re already doing something about deepening your faith; but there are much greater minds than mine that might help you. If you are not good at reading heavy stuff, then can I suggest that the simple easy to read books on the faith by Fr Timothy Radcliffe are a good starter. Pope Francis has chosen him to be one of the speakers to the Bishops, and others, preparing for the Synod in Rome next week; so he clearly thinks highly of him. The other person worth reading is of course Pope Francis himself; but make sure you read what he has actually written, not his off the cuff remarks, nor what some people say he has said, often misinterpreting his teaching in the process. But although reading or listening to good teaching is worthwhile, the other important element in developing our common Christian mind is to share the faith with others in some way. Many parishes run prayer/study groups or lectio divina sessions, and hearing of the struggles and of the faith of others is a very good way of building up our own faith. I find the online/zoom Lectio Divina that I help to run is really good for me, not least because I get so many ideas from others in the Group on how to understand the scriptures, and some of those ideas end up in my Homilies !
Having encouraged us all to have this common mind, St Paul tells us that the best way of achieving this is, in our minds, to “Be the same as Christ Jesus.” And he goes on to expound this in moving words about Jesus “emptying” himself, assuming “the condition of a slave”, and “accepting death.” If we apply those processes to ourselves, we can already see that emptying ourselves means not coming to God with our own opinions set in stone. We must become more aware of what in our upbringing may have to be unlearnt. To assume the condition of a slave must surely mean being ever watchful for what our Master wants; and since our Master is God, we can see that this means being always awake to the next new thing, the next act of love, that God may be prompting us to do.
Accepting death is surely the hardest thing we have to do, if we wish to follow Jesus. This is why the Church celebrates her many martyrs, because they are such a great example to us. It is humbling every now and then to recognise how hard we would find it to die for Christ. Unlike the martyrs, we might prefer to keep our heads down and avoid the pain. But accepting death must also mean living our life as if we might die tomorrow, and that is something all of us can do. There are many examples of people who have done great things once they knew they were soon going to die. What we need to try and do is to think like that, even if we probably have many years of life ahead of us. To pray for a good death does not mean to be gloomy, but to use very moment of life that God gives us in the best way we can.
This is where the other thing I have already recommended, the Mass, becomes absolutely vital. For if we really enter into the Mass, rather than just watch it as it were at a distance, we will see that it is always an entering into the death of Christ, so as to be open to his gift of eternal life. One of the Mysteries of the Faith that we say so often at Mass sums this up well. “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.” And we call Jesus, present with us at Mass, “The Lamb of God” because he is the Lamb who is sacrificed for us, killed for us, so that we might have life. Every Mass is an entering into the death of Christ, which is why all Catholic Churches have a figure of Jesus dying on the cross in a prominent place. Our problem is that we are so used to seeing this kind of image that we forget to enter into it and be part of it, called to die with Christ so that we might live with him and for him. As St Paul writes to the Galatians “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (2:20)
Some non-Catholic Christians may ask us why we Catholics say that the Mass is the heart of the Christian faith when it is only mentioned a few times in the Bible. The answer is that it is only mentioned a few times because it is taken for granted. St Paul’s Letters were all read when the church was gathered, and so he takes it for granted that everyone knew what the Church did when they gathered in this way. This is why he only mentions what happens on the one occasion, as at Corinth, where it was being abused. (see 1 Cor 11:17-26) There he ends with the dramatic words. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” There it is again, a clear mention that at the Mass his death becomes present for us. But even though it is so important, the Mass is not like a class at school where if you do not concentrate you get told off. As long as we intend to be a real part of the Mass rather than a spectator, then how we take part will vary. Different parts and different words of the Mass and of the Bible Readings within it will strike us on different occasions; and different people will participate in the Mass in different ways. Feeling guilty because we are not concentrating simply misses the point. Simply being there with our fellow Christians and with the right intention is what matters. It is there that we are one with Christ in his death whatever we feel like, so that we can be one with him in his Resurrection, and this can happen in any number of different ways.
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