Homily

When it is getting close to the time when you leave on a nice vacation, you start getting a little happy about it, don't you? I was. But this past Monday, I felt differently. I'm thinking, "There are so many details to take care of, and there is so much work to do here, and it's such a long trip, and what if it's rainy every day, and they'll all be speaking Spanish but there won't be any Taco Bells. Yo quiero Taco Bell, per no es posible en Madrid." So why did I feel that way on Monday? I have no idea. It was strong but it didn't last until Tuesday.

One of the goals of our life in Christ is to never act, mentally or physically, on our passions, or out of our passions. And what are our passions? Simply put, our passions are any type of desire, need, want or impulse to think or act in a certain way. Most people think of passions as being the same as emotions, but in the Christian sense, they are not. Emotions are passions, but not all passions are emotions. For example, "thirst" would be considered a passion, and that's not an emotion. "I want, I need a glass of water." That's a passion at work. And passions can be good or they can be bad, and that's why we should never, ever respond to our passions blindly. Instead we should use our intellect, our rational mind, to decide what to do rather than simply following the direction of our passions. Passions may suggest things to us, but we never should act upon them directly. They should always be filtered through and commanded by my rational self, formed in Christ, powered by His divine life. I don't mean that we are constantly stopping ourselves and always pausing to make a decision about every thing we think or do. We are also forming our Christian lives so that many of our rational choices are automatic. For example, by the time we are 16 or 17, it may become natural for us not to hit our brother even though we feel like it a lot. "And he deserves it. And how come he can do that and I can't." (The passions that drive our thoughts may be more difficult to control than the passions that drive our actions but even those can be reined in.)

So how can thirst be a passion that must be rationally under control? If I'm thirsty, I just get a drink of water, right? How could that ever be a moral, ethical problem? You are hiking with a friend in the Willamette National Forest on a hot August day and you are lost in the woods for hours. There is one cup of water left in your one canteen for the two of you. Your passion tells you that you are thirsty and you should drink water, just like it did the day before at home. What should you do now? Follow your passion and drink all the water? And may I point out today it is taken for granted that anyone who wants to aspire to greatness must "follow their passion." In modern culture to be passionate about something is considered to be the mark of a superior person. People who want to follow their passions are people to be admired. But I think that one question which would stop many, maybe not all, but many, would be the simple question, "Why?" They might be able to give a simple answer, such as, "I want to make a lot of money and be successful" to which the same question could be put, "Why?" And after maybe a few more levels of "Why?" it might become more apparent what the true underlying passions are that tempt this person and are they truly the passions they want to live to serve? After all what if you're very passionate about homicide? Should you follow your dreams, as we're encouraged to do today?

The woman in today's Gospel did not act out of passion when she touched the cloak of Jesus. She acted out of faith. No doubt her passions were prompting her to throw herself in front of Jesus so that He would notice here, and to beg Him for healing with tears and sobbing so that He would have pity on her. But faith told her something different, and faith was right.

Jesus tells the synagogue chief, "Don't be afraid." Don't give in to your passion. "Do not fear." That was one of the trademark phrases of Pope John Paul. "Don't be afraid." Don't let the passion of fear and anxiety and mistrust and apprehension rule over you. The passions that are emotions probably are among the strongest type of passions we face. Fear, anxiety, apprehension, worry, mistrust--these are in the category of "power emotions." It is not wrong that these passions come to us any more than it is wrong that we get thirsty. But they definitely are not GOOD for us, and that is why we should try to never allow them to direct us. If I had acted on my passions this past Monday, I wouldn't be going anywhere tomorrow. And then I would be dealing with a whole different set of passions today because I had cancelled. My rational mind knew my negative attitude on Monday was wrong, and I would not act on it. Oh, what a surprise, on Tuesday I had a completely different attitude.

Here is one key that perhaps you already use, but I recommend it to be helpful when the passions of fear anxiety, mistrust, worry and similar thoughts bother us. "And what if it does? What if it does happen, what if it really turns out like that? Then what?" Instead of rolling around in passion stew let's put some objective, rational thought to it. "And what if it does happen?" Now instead of being stirred in the pot of emotion, we try to look reality in the face.

Example: You're in an airplane 32,000 feet above the earth and you hit some very strong turbulence, and your plane is bucking and jumping all over up and down and side to side, and the passion, the fear that you might crash, starts to well up inside you. Two choices: you can let it go wherever it wants to go, and it can buck you harder than turbulence, or you can ask yourself, "And what if I do crash? What will that mean?" Well, a very brief period of me screaming at the top of my lungs, and then I pray that after a million years in purgatory Jesus will welcome me home. Oh, and isn't that the goal of my life anyhow? Isn't that how I want to end up? (Except for that million years in purgatory part--I'm working on that.) And what if it does? And what if that happens? And what if my fear becomes reality? And what if my worry comes true? And what if it does?

The woman in the Gospel could have had all kinds of fears and doubts about approaching Jesus, but they didn't keep her away. They led her to Faith instead, and that's what she chose. The father was upset but Jesus told him, "Do not be afraid, just have faith."

We may not even be able to banish all fear, worry and doubt from our lives but we should always fight against them with our rational minds, as difficult as that can sometimes be, with troubles like, "What if I crash?" or, "What if a gypsy steals my wallet in Barcelona?" or, seriously, "What if it's cancer?" And what if it is, what then? The answer will lead me, in faith, to Jesus, or it won't. If it won't we need to ask Him for that faith, so that we will be fine if we just touch the tassel of His robe, and we will be fine because He has the gift of life-everlasting and death cannot defeat us who are in His hands.