Good morning. Plain and simple, we are called to be different from the world. We can accept that and run the risk of being different or we can simply fit in, be different or be worldly, be about the truth or “belong to the world.” In today’s Gospel Jesus makes it quite clear that we are either on His team or not, there is no in between and if we are on His team we will be crucified with Him, but either way we in the end will be asked to account for our choices.
Just as Jesus was scorned and ridiculed, we too will encounter the same. There is a cost to being different. We need not look far to see how the world continues to jeer and scoff and spit in the face of Truth. Yesterday 43 Catholic organizations filed suit in federal courts to protect our rights to be different. People everywhere in this culture are reminded daily that they should not dare be different, and being truly Christian, truly living our faith is being different. We are called to make a choice, either the truth or the world; it can't be both ways. Let us take time today to pray for those who took a stand yesterday for religious freedom. May we all have the fortitude to stand up when called to choose the truth. We are called to be different.
We can likely all point to situations where in choosing to walk out of cadence with the rest of the world, to courageously free ourselves from the secular world around us, others have challenged us or perhaps even ridiculed us. As parents we sometimes are faced with the challenge of helping our children face the pressure of a world with varied options that encourage choices that run counter with their Faith. Sometimes even the most seemingly innocent, and even seemingly wholesome options, may encourage our children to think and act in ways that head in a different direction from their Faith; and the pressure to conform doesn’t always come just from their peers.
Let us make a point of talking with our children about the pressures they face. Assure them that all of us are up against much pressure to make choices which run counter to what God wants of us, and assure our children that the real measure of character is the our ongoing commitment to being the best of what God intends for us. Assure our children that it is okay to be different. May our children stand strong as did a young teen in Florida recently by the name of Margeaux Graham. Let our children look to the lives of the saints like that of Saint John Baptiste whose life we commemorate today. Let us pray to Saint John, patron of the abandoned, that we remain strong and that we may not abandon our faith. Let us choose to be different. Make a great day!
Today we recall the good life, gifts, and work of Saint John Baptiste de Rossi.
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