Christanity Done Poorly

Addressed to students at Trinity Junior High School

          Boys and girls, G. K. Chesterton, one of the great Christian writers of the 20th century, once famously said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” Now that sounds counter-intuitive and strange because we should try to do things as well as we can, and not poorly. But Chesterton’s point was that some things in life we have to do ourselves, even if we mess them up, even if we do them poorly; and he gave the two examples of “writing your own love letters” and “blowing your own nose.” Even if we do these things poorly, we should do them ourselves, they are worth doing.

          To this category I would also add Christianity. If I can paraphrase Chesterton, he might have said, “Christianity is worth doing even if it is done poorly.” In other words, you don’t have to be perfect to be a Christian. Rather, Christianity is for the imperfect, those who do things poorly. Of course, we want to do things better tomorrow than we did them yesterday. But Christianity is for those brave souls who write their own love letters even if they sound awkward, and blow our own noses, even if we still have “bats in the cave.” “Bats in the cave” is how a teenage friend of mine once described snot in your nose.

          This is why confession is an essential ingredient of Christianity; confession means that Christianity is worth doing even if it is done poorly. When we mess up – and we all mess up, even Mr. Edwards who everybody thinks is perfect – we can go to confession and try again. Today as you go to confession, try to think of at least 3 sins you’ve committed. Think of one sin against God, like missing Mass or failing to thank Him for your gifts. Think of one sin against others, like disobeying your parents or lying to friends, or copying homework or cheating on a test. And think of one sin against yourself, like abusing your body with alcohol or smoking or eating mostly junk food. Everyone has three major relationships – with God, with others and with ourselves – and that’s where we are most prone to do things poorly, but these relationships are still worth “doing.”

          Please join me now in saying this brief Act of Contrition. We all learn different versions of this prayer, so here’s one everyone can remember. Wherever you are in the school right now, just repeat after me, “Oh my Jesus, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner.” That’s short enough for anyone to remember.

          Let me conclude with another quote by Chesterton. He said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” And why do we not truly try Christianity? It’s because we don’t want to do it poorly; we want to do it perfectly. But the truth is that “poorly” is the only way to do Christianity; everyone does Christianity poorly. So, now go blow your nose, and get those bats out of your cave, and I’ll see you in confession.