The Post-Christian World Is Our Common Concern
4th Sunday of the Year
One of the peculiarities of Mark’s Gospel is that Jesus is first recognized as the Son of God, not by any of his followers nor by any holy person, but by a man with an unclean spirit—presumably, it is the demon possessing the man who identifies Jesus and calls him out. How does this demon know who Jesus is? St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast the Church celebrates today, thought that demons, which are powerful, intellectual creatures, are able to know the mysteries of faith only by way of speculation.1 Whereas God reveals the secrets of grace to the angels directly, the demons are left to themselves to connect the dots and figure them out. At this point in the Gospel, not much has happened for this particular demon to have formed an idea about Jesus; however, Jesus did just return from forty days in the desert, where he was tempted by Satan himself. So, I would like to imagine, in the same vein as the Screwtape Letters of C.S. Lewis, that following those days of temptation, the senior henchman called a meeting with his cronies and filled them in on what he had discovered himself. Thus, when Jesus of Nazareth arrives in the synagogue in Capernaum and teaches with authority, this demon, who has been briefed, can cry out, “I know who you are––the Holy One of God!”
The world that St. Paul describes in the Second Reading is one fret with anxiety—anxiety for the Lord, anxiety for the things of the world, anxiety about pleasing one’s wife or husband. It must be said that particular passage doesn’t do justice to Paul’s fuller vision about how the various states of life are all one in Christ and how all are called to the same heights of holiness through relationship with Christ. It seems as if he’s saying that those who are married can only be anxious about worldly things; while those who are unmarried are anxious only about heavenly things. And while it is true that the sort of thoughts you have on a daily basis are largely different than mine for you and I simply live different lives and vocations, what I want to point out in Paul’s words is that, on both sides, there is anxiety. Now, what Paul means by anxiety is different than what we mean when we talk about anxiety in terms of mental health. For Paul, anxiety is care and concern, even worry about things and situations; and the wisdom of Paul’s teaching is that we can only be worried about so much, or that we can only give our full care and concern to one thing, so that it is good that you worry about things of the world, while I worry about things of the Lord, because both need to be worried about!
But, in light of today’s Gospel, I think there is a point of contact between my worries and yours. As I listen to the world, it seems that Satan has engendered a whole host of other evil spirits to exclaim the same as the possessed man, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” We are all aware that Christianity today is far from being in vogue. But I do not think it’s right to say that the world around us is non-Christian, nor that it is even anti-Christian (though there are occasional flare-ups of that sort). To my mind, the world today is post-Christian. It doesn’t not know Christ. It doesn’t even deny Christ. It has rather moved beyond Christ: “I know who you are,” “What have you to do with us?” This gives me agita, because it makes my work—our work!—awfully difficult! If the world didn’t know about Jesus, our work would be to proclaim the Gospel. If the world believed in a different god, our work would be to dialogue and debate. But, instead, the world accepts Christ—or, accepts the version of Christ it pre-determines to be acceptable—incorporates whatever it finds in his teaching and example to advance secular ends and promote secular values, and has left the person of Christ dead behind still hanging on the tree. What we are left with are people who equate being a good person with being a Christian, and not in the way that Christians always have. Christians believe that full human perfection and flourishing is reached through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ; but the world believes that the best follower of Christ is no better than the best follower of their conscience. And while there are without question good people who are not Christian, just as there are bad people who are, the truth is a matter of principle. We believe that in Christ is the fullness of life, and that Christ cannot simply be set aside for teaching and promoting the same values as the world with only the window dressing of religion to go along with it.
I spend virtually all of my time, in one way or another, thinking about that. I hope maybe, at least sometimes, you spend some of your time doing that too. But here is where my concern is about to become yours. How do we right the ship? I stand in front of people six days a week to tell them what I think about Christ, the Christian life, and the Church. I’m the chaplain of a Catholic school and the only reason I’m there is to teach the students about the same. I can preach and teach the Gospel from this pulpit and in the classroom, but I cannot teach your family at the dinner table. I can give you the key ideas and principles, but I cannot apply them to your daily struggles and concerns. I can tell you that the Christian life is worth living, but I cannot make you live it.
Today marks the beginning of Catholic Schools Week and the beginning of our Confirmation program, as our young people are here with us at Mass. What I want to say is that the task of evangelization, which is a task of education and formation, falls to each and every one of us. It must be all our concern. If the Church is to continue to live, we must all be worried about it. If conversations about Christ don’t happen outside this Cathedral and outside the Catholic school classroom, then there’s not much use for them to happen inside either. We must recognize how the post-Christian world has worked its way into our own thinking and living and return to the newness of the Gospel that is the light shining brightly upon the world that walks in darkness. We must ground ourselves in prayer, in relationship with God who reveals himself and his plan to us in Christ, and be nourished in our faith by the Church’s sacraments. We must strive to learn about what Christ taught and what the Church professes to be true, and accept it as the truth that gives direction and meaning to our lives. We must cultivate virtues and set aside sinful actions and dispositions that cannot exist side-by-side with the Spirit of Christ. We must all, in a word, be converted to Christ once again. The task of evangelization, of education of the Christian faith and formation in the Christian life, is one that falls to us all. For us to be successful in the mission entrusted to us by Christ the Lord, we must first make the demon’s words the sincere expression of our faith: “I know who you are––the Holy One of God!” so that the world may also know and come to believe.
Homily preached January 28, 2024 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I q. 64, a. 1.