14 July 2014 - hypocrisy isn't hip, it's hype

14 July 2014 - hypocrisy isn't hip, it's hype

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.

Jesus cannot just be an add-on to our lives.  If we are trying to find our own life but just add Jesus on where he "fits" conveniently it won't work.  We can get a lot of the externals in place without truly changing our hearts.  We can be sacramentalized without being evangelized.  We can be present in the Church and our hearts can be elsewhere.

Bring no more worthless offerings;
your incense is loathsome to me.
New moon and sabbath, calling of assemblies,
octaves with wickedness: these I cannot bear.
Your new moons and festivals I detest;
they weigh me down, I tire of the load.

When we live on this superficial level we become the people Paul warns us about, people who "make a pretense of religion but deny its power" (cf. 2 Tim 3:5).  We do not experience the blessings and the power of the Christian life because we are not open to it.  In Christ we are blessed with "every spiritual blessing in the heavens" (cf. Eph 1:3) but we only experience this when we actually live for him.  When we have the externals of religion squared away we are tempted to use those achievements to bargain with God.  We are tempted to try pay him for his grace by showing him that we have checked off all of the boxes on our Good Catholic list.  He will have none of this.

When you spread out your hands,
I close my eyes to you;
Though you pray the more,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood!

We can't be Christians in name only.  Peter tells us that "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears turned to their prayer" (cf. 1 Pet. 3:12).  We need to let his word change us if we want it to bear fruit.

“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”

We are not wrong to check the boxes of mass attendance, sacramental life, and the other things we do.  These are indeed necessary.  But they can't be merely boxes.  They must be part of a broader laying down of our lives for the sake of Jesus.  He tells us that "whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."  

When we truly make him the center of our lives we don't risk hypocracy.  We don't risk the scandal of being in the pews on Sundays but living like the world for the rest of the week.  When he is truly first his word changes us.  His priorities change us.  

Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.

Love for others begins to mark our own lives because his love for them is manifested in us.  This is what happens automatically when we put Jesus first.  The first step in putting him first is praise.  In praise our hearts acknowledge the truth of who he is.  Our hearts build the habit of living under his lordship when we use ours wills to praise him.

He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

So let's start living for the kingdom!  Jesus wants to give us his own heart.   Let's receive his prophets, his righteous, and his little ones generously.  If we are indifferent to them, if we are indifferent to orphans and widows, it can only mean that Jesus hasn't changed us as deeply as he wants to change us.  Praise is the first step.  It will sustain us as he makes his own heart present within us.