29th Friday in Ordinary Time, October 27, 2023
Rom 7:18-25a, Ps 119:66, 68, 76-77, 93-94, Lk 12:54-59
Last weekend I had the opportunity to serve at a Mass where around 120 or so young adults were present for a retreat. When we think of young adults, we sometimes mischaracterize them as not being able to manage their behavior. Going back to my own youthful life (many years ago…), I will agree, that I was not always thinking clearly. But as I matured, I recognized the things I should and should not do. So goes it with St. Paul today, “I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want.” As I watched these young adults during Mass, I realized they were struggling with the same questions as St. Paul. After receiving the Eucharist, many had tears streaming down their cheeks. They recognized that their behavior was hurting their relationship with Christ and through Reconciliation and the Eucharist, they would be healed. Why is it then that we make poor choices and succumb to the very things we do not want to do? Well, for starters, God gave us free will. God loved us so much that He wanted us to choose, specifically to choose to love Him. He knew that if we did not have the ability to choose, it would not end up being an unconditional love for Him. That is not what He wants.
Secondly, in addition to our free will, we have this thing called concupiscence. That desire or emotion we have that drives us to make bad choices and do the very thing we do not want to do. It is often called our innate propensity to sin. With a well-formed conscience, our intellect will intercede for us, and work with our memory to understand if the decision we are about to make is good, or bad. On the surface, it sounds like St. Paul had some issues with concupiscence. I seriously doubt it, but at least it is somewhat good to know the apostles struggled with the very same things we do. Again, back to that free will God gave us. At least it is comforting to know the apostles were human too! And they ended up Saints.
I have hope in these young adults that they, too, may end up as Saints. With them recognizing not only their sinful behavior but also how much it hurt their relationship with Jesus. In talking with them afterward, it was the relationship with Jesus that mattered the most to them. They did not care about what the world wanted, or what their secular peers tried to get them to do, they rejected all that. They just wanted to love Jesus, love others, and hope others would love Jesus the way they did.
In many ways, these kids emulated what Jesus was saying today in the Gospel – Destroy evil with love. Jesus says today to settle your disputes with each other peacefully. If you do not, you may not like the end results. Better yet, do not let your concupiscence get in the way and force you to make a bad decision. Form your conscience well, slow down, and let your intellect help you do good, not evil. Be like these kids I saw, who loved Jesus and were not afraid to show it. Reject the world, and embrace our Lord. Only then, will evil be conquered.
Saint James Catholic Church 