Homily

As we hear today, St. Paul wrote the Colossians, telling them to:

"See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world, and not according to Christ."

A poll taken by George Barna’s Cultural Resource Center in September 2021 gave the following results taken from Americans who claimed to be Christian.

• 64% of American Christians believe that all religious faiths are of equal value. Muslims hold that the sins of revolting against a ruler, theft, adultery, slander, and drinking alcohol can be punished by penalties that include the amputation of hands and feet and flogging. According to Islamic belief if you are Muslim and convert to another faith, the penalty is death. Obviously, they don’t share the opinion of 64% of American Christians that all religious faiths are of equal value.
  
  
• 66% of American Christians said that having faith is more important than the faith you practice. Mormons believe that God the Father was once a man who became a god, and that he has a flesh and blood body. He also has a wife and together they make spirit babies, which have lives with Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. Later these spirits are then sent to earth and given human bodies and that is why we are here. And they believe there are many, many gods in existence, not just one. Then there is Sanataria, which uses animal sacrifices. Eating the sacrificed animal is considered a sharing with the Orisha, who only consumes the animal's blood, while the worshippers eat the meat. That’s great for barbecue, but it seems to me that these differences from Judeo-Christian belief are actually important.
  
  
• 57% of the Christians polled believe in karma. I suspect they mean “karma” not in the strictest Hindu and Buddhist understanding, but more in the sense of you get what you earn and deserve. If you do good, good things will happen to you. If you do bad, bad things will happen to you. Hmmm…so what would we say about Jesus on the cross? Or the Christian martyrs in the Colosseum? Was that karma coming to the Lord and His saints?

Today, more and more, people will join a church not because of what it teaches, but because of how they feel about attending there. They may have been Lutherans but now go to the Baptist church because it has a great program for kids. They may have been Catholic but now attend a "mega-church" on the other side of town because they love the music there. And they may change again, because they are not so interested in what any church teaches as the truth. And, in fact, they are not really interested in the truth itself. They're more interested in how a church makes them feel, because they have their own beliefs that they will continue to hold on to despite what may be preached or taught to them. Who can know better than them what is right or wrong for them? But, if you don’t like what is preached here, find another church that agrees with you, because who can actually teach you anything you don’t want to hear? Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Saints Ignatius, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, St. Therese of Avila, and even Pope Benedict the XVI—great minds and great souls and great teachers of Christ’s truth, but who cares what they have to say because I decide for myself what I think is right or wrong.

For 2,000 years holy men and women have held these moral principles as a part of the truth revealed by God, but today for many people, if they don't "feel right" about some moral truth, they reject it on their own authority. For many centuries some of the most brilliant Christian thinkers have held to this position or that teaching, but now if someone isn't "feeling it" they will refuse to accept it on the basis of their own brilliant intellectual and spiritual powers.

It is a very dangerous thing when people no longer care much about the meaning or purpose of their life in this world, when they no longer consider it to be an important question. It is a dangerous thing when people do not accept that there is any need to embrace a well-established moral/ethical code that is comprehensive and relies on an authority that comes from outside of themselves, and is greater than themselves, even an authority that is Almighty God.

Comedians used to joke about “Catholic guilt”, but I think there is no guilt stronger than the one that enlightened society tries to place upon people today who do not follow the new morality, which they insist is the ultimate in human freedom and compassion. Why? Because they say so.

Once again, St. Paul instructs us:

"See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world, and not according to Christ."

St. Paul is talking about spiritual powers that pagans thought controlled the world. Today modern Americans do not believe in spiritual powers that control the world. Instead, we have the internet. Who needs the Bible?

And so, dear friends, let us guard against becoming slaves and prisoners to empty, seductive philosophies that begin in pagan thoughts. No one on the internet will shed their blood for you. Let us be sure that we always embrace the truth of Christ, Who at His circumcision sheds His blood for the first time as He begins His work of salvation for us. Glory to Jesus Christ!