The readings for mass today seem to have a lot to do with Pope Francis’ recent comments about rebuilding the church, by not focusing as much on abortion, contraceptives and gay marriage and to focus more on proclaiming Christ’s love for people instead. A well balanced approach that portrays Christ’s love for every person seems to be what he is calling us to do instead of focusing only on a few aspects of our beliefs. He is right of course.
The Holy Spirit does lead the Catholic church and call for change sometimes, like the events recorded in the first reading for mass today. “The Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom, and also in a written edict.” This is exactly what Pope Francis did last week, when his comments about abortion, contraceptives and homosexuality were published around the world. He personally approved the publication of his comments before they were released to the public too, just like the king in the first reading today.
Isn’t it odd that today’s scriptures reflect this same situation as well? The king of Persia said that “the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house.” The king told the people that they were permitted to go and build a house for the Lord. Everyone was included, families, priests, Levites and everyone else whose spirit God had stirred. It was a request for everyone who felt this calling in their hearts to obey the Holy Spirit and go build the Lord a house in Jerusalem.
Pope Francis seems to be attempting to rebuild the Catholic church’s focus from a judgmental attitude, to an attitude of spreading Christ’s love, and service to others instead. The people in our world have fallen so far from God they are no longer willing to listen to some of our more difficult teachings. Continually dwelling on abortion, contraceptives and gay marriage, is turning people away from the church. Things have progressed so far that the church could dwindle to almost nothing if we don’t do something about how the public perceives the Catholic faith. However, we can not just accept things that are morally wrong either. Abortion takes a human life. This human life mattered. Human life matters to God, and should matter to us as well. Marriage and families are also the building blocks, the foundation of our societies and have been so since the beginning of time.
However, the Catholic faith encompasses so much more than what is portrayed in the media. We seldom talk about abortion, contraceptives or same sex marriage in our daily lives. Yes, the subject comes up sometimes, but that isn’t the scope of what we believe. You need only take a look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church to see what we believe about Jesus Christ and many other topics as well. These topics do not make the news though. Part of the problem isn’t so much that we are overly focused on abortion, contraceptives, gay marriage, etc., the problem is that the media picks up on whatever aspects of our faith will draw the most viewers or readership. Controversial subjects always draw the most viewers or readership. The nightly news is an example of that. Crime, war, scandals and many other exciting, but negative events are frequently portrayed in the news, but only a small sprinkling of good news is covered. It is the same with our Catholic faith. Priests that abuse children make more headlines throughout the world, than the water purification efforts that the Catholic church is doing for the people in Haiti.
Jesus tells us in today’s gospel “pay attention to how you listen.” When we listen to the news going on in the world, we choose what we pick up on by the condition of our own hearts. If we are seeking the good, we will see the good. We do not need to chase after the negative mentality that the media seems to focus on so much of the time. However, we do need to try and counter-act the negative light that the media portrays our church in.
It’s time for us to become more visible in the public eye, in a very positive way. Pope Francis is trying to do just that. Jesus said in the gospel today “No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.”
We need to bring the beauty of our faith into the rest of the world, for all the world to see, in order to counteract the negativity that is so often portrayed in the media. The media is very assertive in sharing the negative things about the Catholic faith, let us also be very proactive in sharing the positive aspects of living as a disciple of Christ in the modern day Catholic church.
We need to make sure that we never lose our focus that Jesus Christ is who the church proclaims. We should strive to make his love known for each human being first, before we try to convert the beliefs of people who do not understand our Catholic teachings.
This is the challenge, not only for us today but also in the future days that lie ahead.
