Homily

I am sure that if I asked you, “Do you want to be good?” you would all answer “yes!” So would I! And no doubt there are times when I really, truly do want to be good, as good as I can be. But perhaps more often it is more accurate to say that I am willing to settle for being just “good enough.”

Good enough so that I don't think that I'm a bad person. Good enough so that at least some people like me and there aren't too many people who hate me. Good enough so that I can walk through life without feeling a sense of shame or failure, at least most of the time. Good enough so that I can do some good for some people, sometimes. Good enough so that I don't end up in jail, at least not so far. I know that it would be best to want to be as good as I can be, but I do think I'm willing to settle most of the time, for being just good enough.

I don't find myself constantly striving to seek after virtue, or excellence, or holiness or a life that is thoroughly and completely saturated with faith. I mean there are times when I'm very willing to have a life like that, but they don't come very often, and my good intentions don't last very long. One of the reasons why it’s hard to be as good as I can be is that I would have to completely and totally surrender myself and my life to God, much like Peter did when Jesus told him to come to him on the waters. Peter is truly willing to do it, and he steps out of the boat, walking on the waves. But very quickly he becomes afraid and he starts to sink. If he had just stayed in the boat everything would have been okay, right? He would have been safe. He never should have thought about walking over there to reach Jesus. It was good enough just to be in the boat. He didn’t need to have walk on water faith, did he? Those would be like my excuses, all too many times.

Our faith is about a relationship with the Risen Lord, the Lover of Mankind. And then it's also about our relationships with one another in the body of Christ, and even about those outside of the Church. It’s about our relationship to Christ. For so many people one of the biggest and the most important relationships they have is with their spouse. But what I have learned over 40 years is that very few people regularly work on that relationship. Good parents will work in a regular way on their parenting, on how and what they need to do for the benefit of their children's well-being, but often times not so much on what they need to do for the benefit of their spouse, for the good of their marriage. Married people can spend more time thinking about how not to make their spouse angry than they do thinking about how to better make their spouse feel loved. This most important earthly relationship is often taken for granted. "After all, we're married—why should I be expected to put a daily effort into becoming better married?" I can only wonder what would happen to the divorce rate if married people truly worked at their marriages every day, by their intentions, not by luck, or chance, or circumstances, or just when they felt like it.

So too with our lives in Christ, what would happen if we simply paid attention every day to our relationship with Christ? What if every day I worked at becoming a better disciple, by my intention? No athlete expects to win a game simply because he or she shows up for a competition. No person expects a promotion because they are not the worst employee. Nobody should expect they'll end up as a doctor simply because they were accepted at a medical school. Being a Christian should mean like being a good wife, a good father, a good athlete, I am willing to put in the time, the energy, the effort to better myself as a disciple. And not just from time to time, but on a regular, even a daily basis; I should be intentionally working on living as a Christian.

Probably we will not have some great spiritual experience that will push us into a deeper faith. Instead, it is a work we must intentionally choose to do, as we choose to direct our lives on the path of the Gospel. It may not be dramatic, but it should be a regular desire and goal practiced in concrete ways.

Do I need to pay more attention to my prayers? Then what can I reasonably do to increase or improve my prayer time? Even if it is in small ways that's okay if it means I will be able to do it. Do I need to have more patience with the kids? It's a great goal in general, but unlikely to be practiced unless it becomes more concrete. It might be better if I work on being patient with this child, and to break it down even more, with this child, especially in the morning. That's a goal that is a bit more practical than patience in general, and to ask the Lord's help in doing so is a way to grow into a more faithful life.

Maybe I find myself having a problem with anger. Working on anger in general probably won't help. But narrowing it down, let's say if I often get angry while driving, I choose to work on that. If I ask the Lord's help every time that I get behind the wheel, and make it a daily intentional habit, it will not take a long time to see results. And I do so because I want to be a better Christian. And more than that, if I become less and less angry on the road, I will also become less angry in other areas of my life. If I become more patient with this child, I will become more patient with other people as well. If I find ways to improve my prayer life, I also improve my relationship with Jesus, who will surely help me in all my efforts to be less angry, more patient and to live a better and fuller life in grace.

Big, great efforts to improve our Christian lives are fine, but so often they end up being very short-lived because they are too great to sustain, just like Peter who was only able to walk a short distance on the water before he became afraid. Smaller but constant, daily, intentional working on our lives for the good of our souls is usually the way we will be able to grow and increase in our faith. But if we are not intentionally working at it in our lives it will not magically happen. We will still follow Christ, but only as far as it feels safe and easy. Let’s decide to do better than that and truly focus, every day, intentionally on living as Christians. And then, just like He did for Peter, I know that Jesus will hold His hand out to us as well.