Homily

In today's Gospel, Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah, "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light; And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, a light has arisen." I began to think how different my life might be if I were still sitting in darkness, if the light of Christ had not shined upon me and I was not a believer. How different would my life be if I were not a Christian?

Most obviously I would not be a priest preaching to you here today. I'd be doing some other kind of work perhaps in business or teaching or managing a crew at Burger King. Or maybe I'd be on welfare or in prison or hooked on drugs—it’s impossible to say.

Would I be married, once, twice, three times? What would I think about the nature of love and commitment, and how would my views on marriage and family life be different from how I see them as a Christian? Would I believe in equal rights of all persons from conception to natural death, or would I hold that some lives are more important than others?

How would I know what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad? Probably I would adopt the views of most Americans, and I suspect they would include the values most human societies, even non-Christian societies, hold to be true based on natural law and the need for peace and harmony in the community—so, I might believe it is wrong to harm others, or to steal or lie, and that a person should generally obey the laws of the land. In many ways, our culture still has a moral code that contains, for a good part, the same moral code that Christianity holds. But where there are differences, the matter can be quite serious. Since our country, generally speaking, no long holds to the Christian idea of the sanctity of life or the equality of each human being, abortion and euthanasia have become acceptable. Would I accept these also if I were not Christian? Even many people who call themselves Christian have thrown over 2,000 years of moral belief in these areas of killing human beings.

If I were not Christian, what would I think is the meaning of my life? Would I see a point and a purpose to my life and if so, where would that understanding come from? Would there be a focus point for living or would it be largely just moving through life making decisions and choices along the way with no final goals in mind except shorter-term results, such as raising a family or doing well financially, or having a successful career? I would wonder if my life would center more around material satisfaction or the desire for pleasure, found either legally or illegally, or would I take up a cause and risk my life to save whales or travel to war-torn countries to help take care of innocent orphans? Why would I possibly think of doing that?

Most Americans believe there is something that exists after the end of this mortal life, but if I were not a Christian would I be one of them? Or would I just avoid the question as much as possible? I cannot imagine what it must be like to think that all that I am simply disappears at death, and that's the end of it. I can't imagine what that would be like, but if I were not a Christian maybe that would be my philosophy.

How would I see myself progressing in life and as a person? What would be the measures I would use to chart my growth as a person, my progress as a man? What would I think about virtues and what virtues would I want to grow in? Could it be I would desire success, or love, or fame, or knowledge, or wealth, or what else? And then there are the questions that come with each good. What is love, and how do you grow in it? What is success and where can it be found? What kind of fame is worth seeking out or the price that might have to be paid to become famous? What kind of knowledge is worth pursuing and what kind of results can you expect from gaining this knowledge?

We see, as our nation moves more and more away from Christian values, the chaos that this is bringing to our society. Now we are being taught that you cannot know whether a person is male or female unless they tell you. You may have a male or female body, but your gender can be quite different, and you should know that some people are both male and female. Don’t even trust that science can tell you if a person is man or a woman. But our Christian faith teaches us that gender and sex cannot be separated, and your physical body truly matters. You were not assigned a sex at birth. Your sex is a very important part of your human identity. To think differently has huge implications in many areas of life, especially in marriage and family life. And both of those are already under attack in many other different ways.

If I did not have the light of Christ I cannot absolutely say how different my life would be and yet even thinking briefly about the possibilities it makes me stop and thank the Lord for calling me to His light, because no matter how often I may fail in living up to His calling, I truly dread to think about what my life might be like if I did not believe in His truth, if I did not have access to His pardon and His grace, if I did not know of His love for me today, and if I did not trust in His promise of everlasting life. I thank my parents most sincerely for raising me in faith.

In stopping to think on the possibilities of a life without the light of Christ, I realize how grateful I should be for the gift of my faith, even though I live in it most imperfectly. I hope you will think about it also. Thinking about the importance of faith in our lives can help us to embrace it more firmly, believe it more clearly, live it more completely. Not just for us, but to share our faith with the world as well, so that no one will have to sit in darkness, so that everyone might come to see and live in the light of Christ.