Daily Retreat 04/27/08
2008 Apr 27 SUN: SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Acts 8: 5-8. 14-17/ Ps 65(66): 1-3. 4-5. 6-7. 16. 20/ 1 Pt 3: 15-18/ Jn 14: 15-21
From today’s readings: “ Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.... Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.... Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.... Whoever has My commandments and observes them is the one who loves Me.... ”
The Fullness of the Faith
We all are aware we live in a competitive world - the pressures that come with that aren’t altogether good, of course, but neither is competition something altogether bad, because, after all, the spirit of competition does much to cultivate excellence - although it’s perhaps even more true that the desire and demand for excellence cultivates competition. We’re all the beneficiaries of competition in the marketplace - the automobiles we have today, for instance, are much safer and more durable than what was manufactured twenty years ago, and the computers we have today are exponentially more powerful, yet paradoxically less expensive than what was available ten years ago. The marketplace competition is based on a combination of the elements of price, performance, and perception.
Cynics have noted that even religion is competitive, and, to be fair, there is some truth in the claim. Many answers have been proposed to man’s search for ultimate meaning, each different answer competing with the others - how does one sort through them? Simple - by seeking and demanding excellence in evaluating the criteria of price, performance, and perception.
We’re all familiar with price, the question of “How much is this going to cost me?” And I imagine we’ve all made bad decisions by the instinctive reflex to always choose the cheapest product - but that policy so often proves to be “penny wise, but pound foolish” as we discover we’ve acquired very little value, even for a low price. Yet in our modern world, so many settle on whatever religion will cost them the least - and here, I don’t mean cost primarily in terms of dollars and cents, as in terms of demands on a person’s time and moral fibre. So if a religion has a more permissive ethical code, that’s a “selling point,” and so, many denominations have marked down morality to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Christ posted His price clearly, saying, “If you love Me, keep My commandments!” So let’s be frank: genuine Christianity always demands and costs more than imitation Christianity!
So why would does one ever pass up the cheapest product in order to pay more for something else? Generally, it’s a matter of performance - what we get for our investment. If a collection of products all have the same performance, then it’s a “no-brainer” to choose the cheapest one. But when the costlier product offers more, when it has more features, better material, enhanced durability, etc., then the cheaper product starts appearing more and more for what it is - something cheap! After all, if something’s “worth it,” then it’s worth it! This goes for religion as well. For a quick example, consider that many Christian denominations, for instance, count only one, or two, or maybe three sacraments, whereas the Catholic Church continues to showcase seven sacraments! And some of those Protestant denominations, like the Samaritans in the Acts of the Apostles, have “only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,” whereas the true Apostolic Church (represented by Peter and John and their successors) is prepared to offer so much more, and even insists on more, and so “prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.”
But it’s not just a matter of price and performance - there’s also the issue of perception. Many times, an inferior product that is slickly packaged and aggressively marketed can outsell something clearly superior. This goes for religion as well, which is why, in his letter, St. Peter, the first Pope, insists that Christians “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope....” Taking that marketing advice to heart, Pope John Paul the Great circled the globe, constantly preaching and explaining the reason for our Christian hope, and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, is clearly determined to stick to that strategy. But Peter’s letters were not just for his successors - just as much as John Paul II and Benedict XVI, you too ought “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope....” But in order to give a full explanation, you and I need to study our faith, we need to pay the full price of discipleship, and utilize and advertise the full package of principled performance, and give our full heart to helping others come to the full perception of the fullness of the faith!
Acts 8: 5-8. 14-17/ Ps 65(66): 1-3. 4-5. 6-7. 16. 20/ 1 Pt 3: 15-18/ Jn 14: 15-21
From today’s readings: “ Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.... Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.... Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.... Whoever has My commandments and observes them is the one who loves Me.... ”
The Fullness of the Faith
We all are aware we live in a competitive world - the pressures that come with that aren’t altogether good, of course, but neither is competition something altogether bad, because, after all, the spirit of competition does much to cultivate excellence - although it’s perhaps even more true that the desire and demand for excellence cultivates competition. We’re all the beneficiaries of competition in the marketplace - the automobiles we have today, for instance, are much safer and more durable than what was manufactured twenty years ago, and the computers we have today are exponentially more powerful, yet paradoxically less expensive than what was available ten years ago. The marketplace competition is based on a combination of the elements of price, performance, and perception.
Cynics have noted that even religion is competitive, and, to be fair, there is some truth in the claim. Many answers have been proposed to man’s search for ultimate meaning, each different answer competing with the others - how does one sort through them? Simple - by seeking and demanding excellence in evaluating the criteria of price, performance, and perception.
We’re all familiar with price, the question of “How much is this going to cost me?” And I imagine we’ve all made bad decisions by the instinctive reflex to always choose the cheapest product - but that policy so often proves to be “penny wise, but pound foolish” as we discover we’ve acquired very little value, even for a low price. Yet in our modern world, so many settle on whatever religion will cost them the least - and here, I don’t mean cost primarily in terms of dollars and cents, as in terms of demands on a person’s time and moral fibre. So if a religion has a more permissive ethical code, that’s a “selling point,” and so, many denominations have marked down morality to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Christ posted His price clearly, saying, “If you love Me, keep My commandments!” So let’s be frank: genuine Christianity always demands and costs more than imitation Christianity!
So why would does one ever pass up the cheapest product in order to pay more for something else? Generally, it’s a matter of performance - what we get for our investment. If a collection of products all have the same performance, then it’s a “no-brainer” to choose the cheapest one. But when the costlier product offers more, when it has more features, better material, enhanced durability, etc., then the cheaper product starts appearing more and more for what it is - something cheap! After all, if something’s “worth it,” then it’s worth it! This goes for religion as well. For a quick example, consider that many Christian denominations, for instance, count only one, or two, or maybe three sacraments, whereas the Catholic Church continues to showcase seven sacraments! And some of those Protestant denominations, like the Samaritans in the Acts of the Apostles, have “only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,” whereas the true Apostolic Church (represented by Peter and John and their successors) is prepared to offer so much more, and even insists on more, and so “prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.”
But it’s not just a matter of price and performance - there’s also the issue of perception. Many times, an inferior product that is slickly packaged and aggressively marketed can outsell something clearly superior. This goes for religion as well, which is why, in his letter, St. Peter, the first Pope, insists that Christians “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope....” Taking that marketing advice to heart, Pope John Paul the Great circled the globe, constantly preaching and explaining the reason for our Christian hope, and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, is clearly determined to stick to that strategy. But Peter’s letters were not just for his successors - just as much as John Paul II and Benedict XVI, you too ought “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope....” But in order to give a full explanation, you and I need to study our faith, we need to pay the full price of discipleship, and utilize and advertise the full package of principled performance, and give our full heart to helping others come to the full perception of the fullness of the faith!
posted by FrPitstick | 4/26/2008
<< Home