Homily

I watched an ad on TV this past week which encouraged everyone to “follow your passions!” Oiy, yoiy, yoi…no, no and no! Absolutely not. Do not follow your passions! But what are the passions? In Eastern Christian theology passions described as our internal desires, drives and appetites, which push us to act this way or that way. Passions are not emotions, but all emotions come from our passions. So, while passions are more than just emotions, that is the easiest way to talk about them, so I will do that here. It’s tempting to think then, that there must be good passions and bad passions. Love is caused by a good passion and hate by a bad passion. But this is not so.

The Fathers teach us that we should never live according to our passions (and certainly not according to our emotions.) Rather, we should live as rational, thoughtful people. For example, we should love God because we freely choose to do so and because it is the right and proper thing to do. It’s true there may be feelings or emotions connected to our love of God, especially at certain times, but we should not love God based on our feelings. If the love of God depends on our passions, what happens to it on any given day when we are just not feeling it? Do we love our children just when we are feeling it? Or is it because we choose to love them despite how we may feel on any given day? And what about our spouses? My friends, we can fall out of bed but we can’t fall out of love. There is no accident involved. We choose to love, or we don’t.

I remember reading a story in the Register-Guard about a burglar who was arrested eleven times in 5 months for theft. That’s about every two weeks. This man is obviously following his passion, but would you want to cheer him on? “Follow your passions,” that’s the order of the day.

As a modern society we like to think we are very sophisticated, scientific and reasonable people. But the way many people are acting in this current virus outbreak often shows how false that premise is. Why were people buying up all the toilet paper? Because they were afraid there wouldn’t be enough for them. Why were they afraid of that? Because other people were buying all the toilet paper. Why were other people buying all the toilet paper? Nobody knows, but it doesn’t matter as long as I get mine. And now I have to park my car outside the garage because there is no room in there. Carefully consider what you are reading or listening to. Is it based on factual information or is it basically meant to elicit a sense of fear, so that you will keep reading and listening?

One of the big differences we find in our society today is the reliance on feelings and emotions as guides to life, instruction for good living. People used to rely on a moral code, based on religious faith, or God’s law. Most people used to believe there were certain commandments for good living that were not only reasonable but also had the authority of God behind them. It’s true that people would still disobey them. We are all sinners. But most people did not question the existence or the validity of these rules, these God-given guides to life.

Not so today, as we see one moral law after another being struck down in the court of popular opinion first and then in the courts of law after that. If you say that your moral beliefs come from God, you will likely be told to keep your religion to yourself because obviously many people today do not believe morality has anything to do with God. It should only depend on what people want to do, and whether we think it’s okay for them to act according to what they want to do. How could that possibly be wrong?

Even if one tries to argue on the basis of logic, reason and actual science, these arguments can be brushed away by simply stating that other people want, or say they need, the freedom to do this thing or that thing. And we find ourselves in places where a sixteen-year-old boy cannot buy cigarettes because it’s bad for his health, but he can have drastic and life-changing surgery done without his parents’ consent because he believes he is actually a girl. We’re told we cannot deny his feelings, but obviously his parents’ feelings count for nothing. We are modern, compassionate people, but we have to be told by the media, politicians, actors and sports figures where we are supposed to be showering that compassion. Where is God in the public arena during this current time of trial by virus? Nowhere to be found except our private lives.

The law of Christ is given to us because of His great love for us, so that we may live fully human lives, so that we may better love one another and our neighbor. We cannot depend on our passions to help us find that love, share that love, or live in that love. We have to live according to the law of Christ, and to choose genuine love, and choose it over and over again, growing more and more in it each day so that it shapes and fulfills our very souls.

We can’t let ourselves abandon truth because people will call us names, and we can’t trade truth for lies because we are afraid popular opinion, or even the disapproval of our relatives. We must follow the law of Christ if we wish to live in the love of Christ, for He comes not to condemn to death, but rather to raise us up to life with Him. Our passions can never be trusted. They are totally unreliable. How often do we act in ways that even we cannot explain? And now when we may find ourselves unhappy, afraid or irritable because of the current situation, even less should we rely on our feelings to guide us.

But the law of Christ is a sure and certain guide for those who want to live well, and when we obey it (not because we feel like it, but because we believe it is true)…when we obey it we are choosing to follow the Lord. He will never lead us astray.