I think one of the earliest lessons we learn has to do with cause and effect. In other words, from a very young age, we come to realize that our thoughts, words, actions, and even our omissions all have consequences. For example, how long does it take a newborn baby to realize that if he or she keeps crying, there will normally be a response from mom or dad, whether that be food, attention, or something else. When children get a little older, they learn the nuances of this lesson. If you don’t listen to mom and dad, you get sent to your room or you get grounded, or you lose privileges. If you are nice and obedient, you stand a better chance of getting something when you ask for it. The older we get, the more weight our actions carry and they have more consequences, both good and bad. Even our ideas begin to have consequences!
I remember having one of those lightbulb moments about all of this. I was about 9 years old and was really into playing darts at the time. I had a dartboard in the room and my parents were very reasonable, the main rule was that I could only throw darts at the dartboard and nothing else. At some point, I had seen this little story on the news where a guy was so good with darts, he could frame people’s head with them. Since I had younger brothers, I knew I had to master this skill. I managed to convince one of my brothers to let me frame his head with darts and after the first two throws, things were going perfectly. After the third throw, my brother was running around the room screaming with a dart in his head. Bad ideas, bad actions have bad consequences ////// just like my good idea to bribe him with a quarter had the happy result that he never told my parents.
But as much as we understand and accept this truth about consequences in our day to day living, I want us to consider another part of our lives where we might not make the same connection. When it comes to our spiritual relationship with God, to our life of prayer, does it have any real consequences? Are we truly people of holy ideas and holy actions? And do these good and godly things actually have an effect on how we live, the decisions we make, and the company we keep?
The truth is this: Faith demands consequences. We cannot be people of faith if we do not speak out against immorality. We cannot claim to be people of faith, if our faith isn’t reflected in the lives we live and the choices we make. One way this faith might show itself is by refusing to allow our government to continue any immoral practice. In a particular way, this week, we, as American Catholics and people of good will, have remembered the grim anniversary of Roe vs Wade, the decision of the Supreme Court to allow abortion. Many Americans have elevated this court decision to the level of one of the articles found in the Bill of Rights. The fact is that the majority of Americans are against abortion. Those who march and protest throughout the country and who pray for an end to this terrible practice, do so because they are people of faith and people who deeply love their country. They cannot sit back and allow lies and evil and death to continue.
It is the same for every issue. As Catholics we cannot allow our country to take advantage of the poor or the sick, to shore up its economy on the backs of poorer nations, or to promote our national interests with conflict or bloodshed. We cannot sit back and be non-committal to evil around us. We cannot hide behind the excuse that “I am not perfect” or “Who am I to judge” or “I don’t want to rock the boat” or any of the other things we say to rationalize our silence or inaction. Wherever and whenever we see evil, we must react against it. Faith demands consequences, it demands action. True faith cannot be complacent around sin and evil; it cannot make friends with injustice.
The call of our Faith as Christians is urgent and immediate, just as the call to faith was urgent for the first disciples, for the people of Corinth, for the people of Nineveh. Faith must have consequences. Faith needs to be dynamic. Faith is bound to be counter-cultural. Faith changes the world. Faith is manifested in the integrity of men and women who live who they are.
You and I are called to be those people. People, whose lives are informed by their faith, defined by its character, and forever changed by saving action. It was faith that allowed the people of Nineveh to repent and be saved by the message of Jonah the prophet. Faith reminded the people of Corinth that St. Paul was right, this world is passing away and the eternal world is far more important and real. And Faith, enabled Peter and Andrew, James and John to leave behind their fishing nets and everything else they knew to come and follow Christ. True faith had true consequences in the lives of each of these people and even now, thousands of years later, we can see its effects and how it defined everything they did.
May faith begin to have consequences in our life. May it be reflected in the friends we make, the words we say, the things we do, and the people we aspire to be. May we have the courage to be people of faith.
