Sunday Sermon for July 28, 2024, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Readings: 2 Kgs 4:42-44; Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6:1-15
In the second reading, St. Paul urges the Ephesians to live in a manner worthy of the call they had received. He goes on to describe what this would look like: humility, gentleness, patience, and love. St. Paul does not stop there; instead, he goes on to say that within their call, they are also called to one hope. The context of mentioning one body and one Spirit suggests that this call of hope is to unity with one another as members of the same body, and with our Lord, Who is the Head of the body.
St. Paul enumerates several points of unity: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. Obviously, there can be no real unity unless we are united in truth and love. This brings us to the question to which we must all give an answer. Do we really believe everything the Church professes to be revealed by God?
There are many kinds of false unity: going along to get along, relativism, external conformity, etc. For instance, a ball team wears the same uniform, they have the same goal of winning the game, and they all agree on the same game plan as presented by the coach. However, some on the team may not agree on fundamental issues that are of far greater importance than those points of unity just mentioned. It may be that the players all get along with one another, but they may be of different faiths or they may disagree on moral issues. There is an external kind of unity in these cases, but unity in truth is lacking.
In our relativistic society, many have accepted the idea that each person can define his or her own truth. Clearly, this is false. People can differ over matters of taste or preference, but when it comes to objective truth, there can only be one truth. There are 33,000 Christian groups in the United States, each claiming to believe in one God and one Lord, Jesus Christ. However, since God is truth, there can only be one truth, not thousands of different truths that suit the opinion of each.
Many who call themselves Catholic do not believe everything the Church teaches. Some of this is lack of formation and proper catechesis. In such a case, the person may think something that is erroneous, but this is not done maliciously or with an intent to reject the teachings of the Church. Others seem to think one can believe almost anything and still be Catholic. Some of this may be the same lack of formation, but most of it is willful.
This is more understandable when we look at what happens in most dioceses. Most bishops have allowed various parishes in their diocese to teach and preach whatever they desire. There may be a few “conservative” parishes where the teachings of the Church are upheld, but there also may be a few very “liberal” parishes where one would be hard pressed to even know they were in a Catholic church. Of course, there are also parishes embracing anything in between. It is causing confusion for people.
In the first reading we hear about the Prophet Elisha feeding one hundred people with twenty loaves of barley bread. In the Gospel, our Lord feeds five thousand men, leaving us to assume that when women and children were counted, it would be well over ten thousand people. This demonstrates that Jesus is greater than the Prophets. But, if we leave it there, Jesus is nothing more than a Prophet. The Muslims would agree with that.
If we consider merely the crowd that followed Jesus, the signs our Lord performed, and His teaching of the people, some might think He was just a holy man or a teacher of righteousness. The Buddhists and the Hindus would agree with that. This is why subjective opinion cannot be confused with objective truth. People may be well meaning and sincere, but in such cases, they would be sincerely wrong.
It is a matter of objective truth that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Jesus told us we are made for the truth and the truth will set us free. Jesus also told us that He is the Truth! God has revealed Himself and His truth for everyone to know. It is our task now to conform ourselves to that truth. God knows all our preferences, but when it comes to His truth, He is not interested in our opinion.
Having been given the truth, we are now called to embrace that truth and to live our lives in accordance with the truth. This is not done in a proud or judgmental way. Rather, it is done in humility, gentleness, patience, and charity.
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
