Let's be Radicalised by Christ
It is exactly when our faith is tested, that we truly understand what it means.
Jesus has some, not just hard, but humanly impossible sayings, and today’s Gospel reminds us of what supernatural grace it takes to be a Christian.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same”
In scanning the responses to Charlie Kirk’s assassination last night I noticed a familiar, and understandable, pattern. It was one of division.
One after the other I read that ‘we’ cannot co-exist with ‘them’
That this is war
Anyone who allows division, scattering, a ‘them and us’ mentality to animate their response to this tragedy, has already let the devil win.
It is exactly when our faith is tested, that we truly understand what it means.
This is a theme which catholic Norwegein novelist Sigrid Undset deals with in her epic tale Olav Audunssøn
“Its easy to be a good Christian, Olav, as long as God makes no more demands upon you than inviting you to church to listen to beautiful songs and asking you to obey him while he pats you with his fatherly hand. But a man’s faith can be tested on the day when God does not want the same thing he wants” Olav Audunssøn
And a word of warning against the human desire for vengeance from the Abbe to Dantes in the great Count of Monte Cristo
Abbe Faria: Here is your final lesson - do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, Vengeance is mine.
Edmond Dantes: I don't believe in God.
Abbe Faria: It doesn't matter. He believes in you.
If we are going to let Charlie Kirk’s assassination radicalise us, let it be towards the radical nature of Christianity. Let it be in participation with His body on earth, drawing from His bloodstream, that’s radical! Let it be in leaving the City of Man, where vengeance, bitterness, division and war are the answers, for the City of God, where Love alone is the answer. Let it be in building families, living in hope, proclaiming the face of truth and gnawing on His flesh to nourish our empty and yearning bodies. That’s radical.
Yes, we need to read about Jesus, but if we are going to have the supernatural grace to live the humanly impossible Christian calling, we need to consume Him.
We can’t stand, let alone fight, without food. We can’t be Christians without Christ. That’s exactly what led us into this mess in the first place. We need the supernatural graces which fall upon us in the sacraments, if ever there was a time to make that discovery, it’s now!
Charlie Kirk requiescat in pace.
You are right, Catherine. But we must also be prudent and recognize sinners who are willing to repent and those who are not. Jesus told His apostles when preparing them for the mission on which He was sending them: if anyone does not receive you or listen to what you have to say, leave that house or town, and once outside it shake its dust from your feet" (Mt 10:14). Of course, unlike the culture of death, Jesus didn't tell the apostles to kill those who rejected them, rather He told them not to waste their time with them.
Never was there a better Gospel reading for the tragedy and senseless murder of Charlie Kirk!!