“An idealist in an age of pragmatists, a romantic in an age of realism…”

Can we use these words to describe us as Catholic Christians? These words appeared in a “San Francisco Examiner” article describing a man about to retire, a man who sought the public good. This particular man shaped his life and his work based on the example set by others and on goals and values he personally espoused.

As Christians we are called to shape our lives by the example given to us by Jesus Christ. This model, imitated throughout history by the saints, is as alive and pressing today as it has ever been. The goals and values we should be pursuing are those set by God.

When we read the Bible, God’s Word, which our Church considers a Sacrament, a means by which grace is given, we tend to think of it as a historical document. Too often it becomes a story of long ago. We fail to grasp the fact that the Gospel is a living document. More than a document it is a living fire given to guide us through the power of the Holy Spirit. How do we apply this power?

Life in today’s world is marked by our unfortunate connection to materialism. It is a materialism that is more than a desire for things. Wants and desires, an “I can have it all” attitude surely exists. It is best evidenced in our children. Ask a child the meaning of Christmas and you will be shocked by the answer. The common response is toys, Santa, gifts, food, a party, time off from school. “Why do we give and get gifts?” “To be nice.” “What if we’re not nice?” “Santa won’t be happy.” “Why do we try to be nice to each other?” “Santa.” It becomes a round robin conversation where nice is equal to Santa and Santa is the reason for the season.

If materialism were only desire we could fight it through repentance, prayer, fasting, teaching, and the traditional methods of overcoming the sin of selfishness.

Unfortunately, this is not enough. Materialism is founded in society’s ever increasing push to secularization. Secularization is at its root realism. Realism is commonly defined as ‘a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary.’ If we can define it, it is. If we can produce it, it exists. If we can see, touch, smell, and taste it we can know it.

According to the Rev. Mark H. Creech, a commentator for the Christian News, “Secular humanism is that philosophy of life that emphasizes a worldview based on naturalism: the belief that the physical world is all that is real. It rejects theistic morality and supposedly defers to scientific inquiry. To a secular humanist, there is no divine purpose being worked out in the universe by Deity. Life has value and meaning only as we create and develop it. Being free from supernaturalism, the secular humanist opposes any absolute standards.”

In secular society materialism is more than simple desire; it is the way of life. This way of life has no moral basis. Life is “in the eye of the beholder.” Everything becomes subjective. Ethics, morality, law, humanity, and life itself are entirely situational and individualistic.

A good example of this trend toward secularization is the contrived distancing of “religious values” from public life.

In William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Blackstone wrote: “Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is an entirely dependent being.”

This legal tradition that acted as the foundation for the United States, its Constitution, and the interpretation of our laws since 1793 is now regularly ruled to be inappropriate, improper, and not worthy of discussion. The new secularization would rather have a make-it-up as you go along basis for law. God did not create us, we are not headed toward God, and all we have is the here and now, so “do it if it feels good.”

Are our modern lifestyle, global view, and personal beliefs nothing more than pragmatism? Do we say: “If I see it, or it is proven by science, I will believe?” Do we sow the seeds of unbelief in our everyday decisions at work or in the home?

The answer for us as Christians is to be witnesses. We must join ourselves to Christ ever more closely and to take on a Christian spiritual attitude. Making THE choice and placing our complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ is exceedingly difficult. It is a giant leap-of-faith that the world does not want you or me to take. It is the exact opposite of believing in luck, the quick fix or the fast buck. When we take this chance – a chance on God —“ we immediately mark ourselves as outcasts.

Once we become regenerated we become true believers and yes, we are in but apart from the world. We recognize our position in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We can no longer compromise or “blend in” with the world. Instead, we must be in the world, declaring repentance and through repentance salvation according to God’s Word. We must actively challenge the secular world view.

St. Peter tells us that we as Christians belong to God and that belonging to God carries a responsibility. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9).

The Gospel according to St. John tells of Jesus’ prayer on the night before he died. Jesus himself states that we are not of or for the world: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:14-15).

Nothing, including ourselves, is a being onto itself. We are part of the Body of Christ. We are required to do those things that energize us spiritually and prepare us to take on secular society. We desperately need those traditional forms of fighting sin: repentance, prayer, fasting, and the Eucharist. Above that we need to engage and witness our faith. We need to take the fruit of that repentance, prayer, fasting, and the Eucharist and engage the world. We must burn with the fire of the Gospel and with the power of the Holy Spirit. We must witness actively to our friends, family, children, neighbors, and especially to those who despise Christian faith.

“An idealist in an age of pragmatists, a romantic in an age of realism…”

Are we idealists and romantics for Christ? Can we be more than Thomas and believe not by seeing? Can we be impractical and visionary? This is what the saints did. This is what we are called to do.

“One day I stood for the very first time with a knife in my hand beside a naked corpse on a marble slab. My first dissection. Opposite me stood a Christian girl, also a medical student. We both took very deep breaths in spite of the slight odor, and our eyes were wide and staring. I touched the cold skin covering the body and drew back my hand, gripping my scalpel more firmly. I looked at my partner’s frightened brown eyes. ‘D’you want to have a go first?’ I asked unchivalrously. ‘No, you first,’ she breathed. Yet within two weeks it was all old hat. We could even… joke about matters which would make other people’s hair stand on end.”

Here, John White describes how, as a medical student, he was quickly desensitized.

What happens to us is that we become desensitized like John White. It’s not a fault thing really. It’s a natural human reaction. Perhaps it is the way our bodies and minds are made in order to protect us.

It happens in marriages, relationships, at work, with our hobbies, the shows and music we like. The honeymoon ends and the first spark dies. We get bored and want to liven things up a bit.

How long have you been going to church? 5 years, since birth, I was recently converted, for 80 years, all my life.

This happens to our faith as well. People complain. I’m not getting anything out of church. There is nothing new. I don’t feel anything. We don’t have the spirit here. I’m numb.

It’s really pretty sad to hear this. It’s especially sad when you’re in love. If you and I are in love with Christ, if we come every Sunday to worship Him, then the focus of our questions and longings is really wrong. It is not what I am getting. The question we should ask ourselves is, “What am I giving?”

John Piper in his book “Desiring God” captures this by saying “If you come to God dutifully offering him the reward of your fellowship instead of thirsting after the reward of his fellowship, then you exalt yourself above God as his benefactor and belittle him as a needy beneficiary – and that is evil.”

The PNCC is a catholic church. It’s not only our heritage but it is our faith. Salvation comes through the transformation of the person by their commitment and faith in Jesus Christ, their willingness to live as Christians with all that goes along with that commitment, and all of this made real, present, and alive through our central, primary, and renewing focus being the Holy Mass and the sacraments.

We are entrusted with preaching the Word of God. Our church believes that the proclamation and preaching of the Word of God is a sacrament. You and I are all entrusted with this and have an equally important mission. Our mission involves:

• Living and preaching Christ – if you want personal and church renewal this is what you must do – what you must give.
• Exercising your faith – primarily through Holy Mass and the sacraments – and not just on Sunday, and also through prayer. By this exercise you will be strengthened and renewed.
• Drawing others to Christ and the Church – through your actions, words, and life. At home, at work, everywhere.
• No compromise – in your faith in Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten son of the Father, who is co-eternal, who was born, lived, was crucified, died, was buried, and who rose from the dead. And… no compromise in the morality taught by the Church. No backsliding, no it’s OK.

If we ask the right question, if our goal is the worship of God and His son Jesus Christ, if we fully accept and take up our cross and our mission, then we won’t have time to be desensitized but will be renewed daily. As Peter C. Moore, says in his book “Disarming the Secular Gods” “. . . the ultimate judgment of love apparently sets people free to be go-givers rather than go-getters.”

We are people of the modern world – the technological age. Nothing in the world or in space is unconquerable. There is no limit to our abilities or possibilities. Even human life is in our control.

Swiatowid was an ancient Slavic god. For many reasons this ancient god is applicable to today – perhaps more applicable than he was to the people of the ‘fields’ the Polonians of 1,039 years ago.

Swiatowid was not the greatest god in the pantheon of Slavic gods and goddesses. Studies have shown that the Polonians did not even worship stone gods, but were deists – believing that the gods were represented in every aspect of the world: people, trees, animals, and nature. It is thought that Swiatowid was created in response to the Christianization that occurred beginning a little before the baptism of Mieszko I in 966. The pagan believers needed a representation of a god that was bigger, better, and stronger than the Christian God.

Who was Swiatowid? Literally he was the god that sees the whole world. Swiatowid had four faces, two male and two female. The four faces on a stone column looked to the four directions, north, south, east and west. He saw it all and was, to his believers, all knowing and all powerful.

The modern age has adopted this ancient Slavic god as its standard-bearer. In today’s world it is easy to know and see all, even to be all. We live in the age of globalization and globalism.

We have the conveniences of the Internet, modern communication systems, mobile and satellite phones. We can be in touch with the news and events of distant places. Modern transportation has bridged the gap. In a few hours we can be in Europe, Asia, or the Near East. We can go to the store and buy cookies from Poland, vodka from Finland, art from Africa, technology from Asia. Even space flight can be made available to the average person.

All of this pales in comparison to the high level technological and medical advances that are to come. Among the advances we easily recognize are nanotechnology, cloning, stem-cell research, organ transplant and replacement, and the use of living cells as containers for vast amounts of data. Science offers us choices without conditions. I can choose who may live, for how long, and then I can choose when to die.

Two or three generations ago our immigrant grandparents and great-grandparents kissed their families goodbye. The opportunity to see them again or even to communicate effectively was slim. A young woman leaving her rural village may have been saying her final goodbye to her parents. Today we live in a society where there is rarely a final goodbye. We can go back and forth as we see fit. Distance, cost, and time are of little concern.

Have we become the children of Swiatowid? This idea should be a cause for reflection and personal concern. Each of us takes advantage of the conveniences of modern life. No one wants to go back to a time that did not offer the benefits we enjoy. This is a false nostalgia. We all want the pill to keep our cholesterol low and our blood pressure down. We would rather spend time with our children and grandchildren then wash clothes by hand or shovel coal into a furnace. We do appreciate what we have – although we forget to be thankful on occasion. Maybe we loose perspective.

Our perspective is the key fact – the essential element. Do we throw ourselves at the feet of Swiatowid or do we call upon the man on the cross? What is my choice?

On Good Friday we Catholics kiss the cross of Jesus. Some of us kiss each of His wounds – His head, hands, feet, and side, a beautiful act of tenderness and compassion. This is an action that we need to repeat daily – an action of love. Regardless of our amassing unlimited power – we cannot truly love; we cannot truly live, without setting the world aside – setting Swiatowid aside for Jesus.

We can see the world and experience it – but we cannot know the world without looking through the lens of Christian faith. It is possible to accept everything our minds and hands create. However, an acceptance of everything without judgment is an illusion. Jesus showed us a life that was based on the two greatest commandments – love of God and love of neighbor. A world without these uniquely Christian elements will lead us to death.

Yes, Swiatowid is more applicable today if we set aside Christ and choose him. If we choose to worship a god of stone – a god out of our own hands – we will miss the redemption that is universal and eternal. This is the redemption offered to us through our repentance and faith, and as the founder of the PNCC stated, in our becoming regenerated.

Jesus was not a creation in response to outside influences. Jesus in fact is God, co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The entire Old Testament was a progression from creation to Jesus. Like Advent, it was a preparation time. The Old Testament revealed Him albeit indirectly, pointed to Him, prophesied about Him, and was fulfilled by His coming. Twelve days after Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, which is God’s revelation to the nations in the form of the Three Kings. Jesus is God’s revelation to humanity and every revelation throughout history is done in the person of Jesus, the Son.

There are of course many examples of the Lord speaking and interacting with men and women in the Old Testament, of the pre-figuring of Jesus as the Passover Lamb, and in the words and prophesies of Isaiah which are especially clear to us.

This revelation is more than a man named Jesus who lived 2,005 years ago. Jesus did not begin and end in a span of 33 years. He is eternal and His message, His word, His way of life, His Spirit – the Holy Spirit is present, available, and completely applicable today.

Jesus and Swiatowid are choices. Jesus does not exclude or reject the world – for He moved upon the world as it was created, as the voice of the Father. It is really about choice. Jesus for the sake of my salvation and the salvation of the world or Swiatowid for the sake of the world alone. As for me and my family we choose Jesus.