August 17, 2025

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C

This year is an important anniversary for our Church. Seventeen hundred years ago, in the year 325, one of the most consequential meetings of Church officials, known as an ecumenical council, took place in the town of Nicaea in Asia Minor, what is today Türkiye. This council was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity after his army defeated another army about twice its size in the year 312 after putting the chi rho, the symbol of Christ, onto the shields of his army after seeing this in a dream. In the year 315, he issued the Edict of Milan, which legalized Christianity in the empire. While Constantine never made it the official religion of his empire, the fact that he was Christian and supported the Christian Church caused many of those in the ruling and upper classes to convert. One issue that became apparent was that, in the three hundred years that Christianity was either outlawed or outright persecuted, the isolated Christian communities had developed differently in different areas, and so there were differences in understanding about the proper way to worship as well as the divine nature of Jesus. So Constantine called the Council of Nicaea to settle some of these differences, and the end result was the Nicaean Creed, a short summary of the essentials of our religion. Although it was modified somewhat in the next council, Constantinople, it is substantially what we all say to this day at our Mass, those fundamental beliefs that are the crux of what it means to be a Christian, our profession of faith.

I think that it is worth looking at this time in the history of our Church because it gives us insight into our Gospel reading. Some, many of whom are not of the Catholic or Orthodox faiths, believe that this change from being faith under persecution to the favored faith was a bad thing. Here is their logic: when it is not easy to be something, in this case Christian, you have to want it, really want it, to put up with the cost of having it. When a group is popular, people will join up just so that they can say that they belong, but may or may not actually have any heart in their decision. This cost is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel. He is not trying to cause divisions; he is only making people aware of the cost that many will incur in truly living lives based on his teachings. In the First Reading, Jeremiah also suffers for his role as prophet, speaking the truth to the people of Judah. And the author of Hebrews in our Second Reading notes this: “Consider how [Jesus] endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart” [12:3 NABRE].

So the question before us today is this: how much has our baptismal commitments to Christ cost us? We still live in a society that is nominally Christian. We don't face the serious opposition that others have faced, such as Saint Maximilian Kolbe, whose feast day was last Thursday. He stood up for his beliefs in the concentration camp of Auschwitz in Nazi Germany. We here in Conway do not face the modern day persecutions of Muslim zealots, communist regimes, or atheistic dictators. Some would say that we are in a new age of persecution here in the United States, where society mouths Judeo-Christian values but in practice scorns anyone who actually practices or espouses those values or openly practices religion. I personally would be careful with this claim, since it overstates the cost we pay in comparison with those that have truly and greatly suffered for their faith. But there is a case to be made that we are paying a higher cost, which has the beneficial effect of making us examine just why we are willing to pay this cost.

Father James Mallon, a Canadian priest who has written the book Divine Renovation, when he was took on the role of vocations director for his archdiocese, would ask those discerning the priesthood to tell him why they wanted to become a priest [Waterford, CT: Novalis Publishing, 2014, p. 76]. He writes: “It was not uncommon for a candidate to respond by speaking about a desire for a deeper prayer life, to learn more about theology, to serve others, and to help others come to know Jesus. I remember the first time it struck me that what this candidate was describing was not a call to priesthood but a call to live out his baptismal calling. Everything he described as pointing towards the priesthood was entirely normative of ordinary Christian living …” This was the downside of Christianity becoming an established religion. No longer was the priest the leader of a small community navigating the path of learning, understanding, and following the path set out by Christ among the hostile forces of both government and social forces set against it. Now the priest was an established member of a class of people whose profession was to be religious so the rest of us didn't have to be. This is part of the problem that Pope Francis condemned as clericalism.

When Christ tells us today that he wants to set the world on fire [Luke 12:49], this is the polar opposite of the attitude of many who want a priesthood who spells out the minimum that the rest of us need to do to get to heaven. It is easy to look at religious leaders who we think assume too much power and status, but in reality it is often we in the pews who are to blame for much of it, since it is far easier for us to let them. Our role is just to pray, pay, and obey. Why should we take up the call that our bishop has made to evangelize? That's the job of the religious professionals of our Church. Why need we study our faith? That's the job of the clerics to do and give us the summary on Sunday. Today's Gospel says no to this, and says it quite strongly. It is not for the faint of heart. But then again, neither is Christianity, at least Christianity that is done correctly.

As Taylor announced that the beginning of Mass, next month we are starting the program called Alpha. This is a great program to rekindle faith in everyone, particularly those that have been away from church or want a recharge on exactly what it means to be a Christian. This is also an opportunity to evangelize our faith since we can invite someone we know who is unchurched or has been away for a while to get to know God again. Alpha has been used successfully in many countries and with millions of people, and is a proven way to get back to fundamental reasons why we need God and the Church. We need ask ourselves: will we use this opportunity to rekindle in us a fire that Jesus wanted to burn on this earth and pass that fire onto others, or will be simply assume that the professional religious will take care of this for us? Will we mouth the words of our Nicaean creed, or will we mean them sincerely?

Today we recognize in a special way those here who will be returning to school for the new fall term. Education is a mostly secular activity, a right-of-passage for all citizens to have basic literary and math skills to function in a technical society. So we will pray for the success of the students as well as the abilities of the teachers and staff to support this effort. But we should also take this opportunity to remind them that their Christian duty does not stop at the door of the church – Christ wants to light a fire in all of us, and what that means for our schools is the need to bring Christian values to our conduct, witnessing the love of God in our actions. The old hymn “They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love” is never more important than in the formative years of those that are completing their education. We pray therefore that they will not only learn the basics of life, but also the basics of Christian love.

As we continue with our celebration of the Eucharist, let this outpouring of God's grace give us the courage to live our baptismal commitments, no matter how difficult. Let us heed Pope Francis' warning not to succumb to clericalism, but realize that we are all called to evangelize, proclaim the good news, and deepen our faith through study and prayer. May we all realize that Christ wants to light a fire in all of us, but it is our own decisions in life that reject that fire by assigning it to someone else.