Am I a Catholic?

There are times when people come to me with a frowning face and heavy shoulders, asking for some guidance in their lives and their relationships, and after sharing their stories they will take a deep breath and say with a sad voice,

“Father, it is difficult to be a Catholic.”

Sometimes I ask myself, what makes Catholicism difficult?  What is the hardest thing about being Catholic?  And I realized that the most difficult part of being a Catholic is “BEING” a Catholic itself.  Many of us in this world call ourselves Catholic Christians, but can we truly say that we are really living like Christ and living out the our faith as Catholics?  Often many of us are living our own version of Christianity, and our own version of Catholicism, the version that makes us the most comfortable and does not rock the boat, cause trouble or cause an argument if faith is on the line or being challenged.

In the book of the Prophet Amos, there was a priest named Amaziah.  He asked Amos to leave Bethel and prophesy somewhere else because Amos was rocking the boat, making waves or causing trouble against the King’s sanctuary in Bethel and his government, and Amaziah didn’t like it.  This was sad because Amaziah was a priest, a spokesman of God.  He was supposed to be an expert in the things of God, but he didn’t recognize God’s voice, or if he recognized it, he didn’t follow it.  It shows us that some of the difficulties facing the Church today are not completely new.

In our Church today we find the same thing, there are times that we Catholics, even social and political celebrities, even priests, preach a different gospel, a gospel that is comfortable.  There are occasions that we reject certain aspects of Christ’s teaching that comes to us through his chosen messengers.  There are circumstances that we put forth our own opinions as gospel truth, we put forth what we think is the right opinion.  And those opinions which we call “popular culture.”

Popular culture tells us that abortion is a human right.

Popular culture tells us that promiscuity, lust and self-indulgence are healthy and normal behaviors.

Popular culture tells us that so-called gay marriage is morally equivalent to true sacramental marriage.

Popular culture tells us that killing human embryos to harvest their stem cells is noble and praiseworthy.

When Catholics who promote these positions say that they are listening to their own conscience, it is certainly not true.  In fact they are listening to popular culture; they are accepting the comfortable lies instead of the uncomfortable truth.

We are called to be prophets, even if we are not qualified like the Prophet Amos who is only a shepherd and dresser of Sycamores.  But according to St Paul, God equips us with grace, a LAVISH grace, and overflowing and abundant blessing so that we could be God’s co-workers in the fulfillment of God’s mission.  There is a lavish grace but we are expected to do something.  As a  prophet by virtue of our baptism we are expected to live a blameless and holy life.  We cannot say to ourselves:

“It is OK not to go to church on Sunday after all, I am very tired from working all week.”

“It is ok to cheat in my business dealings after all, I’m donating something to the church.”

It is NOT OK!  We are Catholics and we are called to be prophets who should strive to live a holy life.  Let the witness of our lives be our main tool in preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  But if along the way we fail in the aspect of being Catholic and being a prophet, let us not be discouraged, let us not lose hope, let us always remember that God doesn’t give up on us, even when we choose to live in conformable lies.  He continues to call all of us to follow the steep path of salvation, to allow God’s voice resound in the deepest corner of our hearts through the preaching and teaching of the Pope, the catechism, and the example of the saints and to continue to have hope in God’s unconditional love, mercy and forgiveness.

Our conscience is like the radio that God built into our hearts; but it’s up to us to keep it tuned in to the right channel.