Pastor's Letter -- August 22, 2021

It is my choice!

My beloved parishioners,
How often in our conversations do we hear the above expression or a similarly worded expression? To make a choice is to exercise the right to choose. This implies a degree of freedom from whatever could impede such choosing, as well as a freedom to choose one thing from the other. We must have heard someone say, or we might have said it ourselves, “I am free to do whatever I want…” Again, this is true, but the speaker must not forget that they are also responsible for the consequence of this freedom. What I am trying to point out is that freedom has a corollary – responsibility. We are free creatures; but we are rational creatures as well. Freedom is foundational to who we are as humans; but this freedom is not an absolute. Our freedom cannot be free-range and unbounded. It has limits. For example, my right to life does not entitle me to use that freedom at the expense of another. The freedom to do whatever I want does not extend to taking another person’s freedom to live. And because freedom is not an absolute, we cannot make a god of our freedom and worship only at the altar of license. We must always remember that our freedom is a gift, which, to be whole, must be put at the service of and regulated by right reason.

God could have created us as robots, doing only whatever God wills. But in his inscrutable wisdom, God made us humans capable of willing and choosing the good. Since the fall of our first parents, this capacity to will the good has suffered a grave blow. Hence we continue to struggle with an ever-present inclination to evil. But thanks be to God, through the merits of Christ’s incarnation, and his redemptive suffering, death and resurrection, we have received abundant grace to live our lives in fidelity to God’s commands (Cf. John 1:16).

In the first reading for this weekend, Joshua rallies the tribes. “Choose today,” he said, not tomorrow, not the day after. Today. The urgency of the choice does not allow for procrastination, as though delays could have perilous consequences. And the people wasted no time in choosing the Lord. They had seen all the wonders he worked, and they knew that the gods of the neighboring countries could not be compared to the God who delivered their ancestors from slavery at the hands of the Egyptians and fought their battles for them against their enemies.

Like Joshua, Jesus challenged his disciples to make a choice for God. He had just told them he is the true bread come down from heaven, and unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood they would have no life in them. Does this shake their faith? Absolutely! Many stopped following him and returned to their former lives. But did Jesus back down on this challenge? Certainly not! Instead, he asked the twelve if they wanted to leave like the others. Notice that Jesus respected their choice, and did not stop them from leaving. This same Jesus invites us to be his disciples today. He is aware that we might refuse his invitation; but his joy would be that we respond like Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the word of eternal life…” He will not impose a choice on us. He wants our choice to be free and without duress.

The difficulty of Jesus’ teaching that made the disciples leave him to return to their former life is not different from that which confronts us today. The dwindling in the number of Catholics who attend Mass regularly and live their lives in accordance with the teaching of the Church, and the drop in the number of Catholics who believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, are only a few examples. Just like the disciples, we too are in a moment of crisis. And moments such as this require a choice, one that would determine the direction for our lives. We are invited to make our own Peter’s confession of faith in a moment of crisis. Peter could have gone with the crowd and walked out on Jesus. But because he was a man of great faith, he trusted in Jesus as the one whose word saves. And his confession emboldened the others who remained.

This pandemic is not just a health crisis, but also a social and religious crisis. We all feel the pain this has caused us as individuals, families, church and society. Some Catholics are yet to return to Mass on grounds of health and other considerations. While this might be a choice for some, for others it is a necessity. We pray that the Lord would come to our aid and put an end to this pandemic for our good and the good of our world.

When God created us, he made a definitive choice. He said, “I chose you.” He made us humans, and not robots, or any of the lower animals. That is a choice. Now, he wants us to choose him. Why do we delay? God accepts our choice of him and our love freely poured out, whether like deluge or morning dew. Today, as in the days in which Joshua lived, there are many who worship other gods: money, power, pleasure, comfort, security, self-interest, and countless others. We as present day people of God must make the definitive choice for the Lord, and say with Joshua and his people “We will serve the Lord.” This must be the fundamental motivation for how we live our lives.

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!
With blessings from my heart,