Crazy Catholics

Walking lock-step in the footsteps of Jesus

01/23/2021

Mark 3:20-21 Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

You have to be a little crazy to want to be Catholic. Why is that? Well, that is one of the surest signs you are walking in the footsteps of Jesus. In the gospel today, I think I have found my new "life verse," that is, the single Scripture passage that sheds light on my life and shows there is a “method to my madness.” In other words, it puts purpose and peace into the path I walk as a Catholic Christian. In Mark 3:20-21, Jesus is so busy with his ministry as the Messiah, he does not even have time to eat. How does his own family react to his lifestyle? We read: “When he relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’.” They thought Christ was crazy. Therefore, when people today think we Catholics are crazy, we see that the apple has not fallen far from the tree. The disciple has become like the Master.

Let me list a number of ways Catholics seem crazy to the society in which we life, which prompts people to exclaim: “He is out of his mind.” For instance, when a man pursues a priestly vocation and embraces “celibacy for the kingdom of God,” people think he is out of his mind. Jesus suggested this state of life in Mt. 19:12, saying: “Some of renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Priests are out of step with the world around us, but we are in lock-step with our Lord. And many say we are mad.

Crazy Catholics believe that the Eucharist is truly Jesus’ Body and Blood. What we receive at Mass is not a sign or symbol or a mere representation of Jesus, but the real Presence of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Christ declared clearly and categorically in Jn. 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, whoever eats this bread will life forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” That is why it is so hard for Catholics not to receive Communion during the pandemic being stuck at home. They are hungry for the Bread of Life. They are crazy like Christ and want to come to Mass.

Another teaching that demonstrates the daring it takes to be Catholic is marriage. Catholics truly believe that marriage is for life and between one man and one woman. Today, more and more people believe that is madness. But we are only listening to and living out what Jesus taught in Mark 10:9, saying about marriage: “Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” In other words, marriage is made by God, not by human beings, and the world will declare: “They are out of their minds.”

When Catholics clutch out rosaries and pay attention to the pope, we are seen as superstitious and stupid, unenlightened and dimwitted. But we are only doing what Jesus commanded from the Cross. In Jn. 19:27, our Lord looked at the beloved disciple (who represented all beloved disciples down the ages), and said, “Behold your mother.” When we pray the rosary, we behold our Mother Mary as Christ commanded from the Cross.

And our trust and devotion to the pope is only and off-shoot of our trust and devotion to the words of Christ in Mt. 16:18. Our Lord said to the first pope: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” But people say that Catholics are “out of our minds” in our love for Mother Mary and the successor of St. Peter. And that is okay.

One last example, although we could multiply examples until the cows come home, namely, confessing our sins to a priest, instead of “going straight to Jesus.” But what did Jesus himself say about forgiving sins? Christ said something crazy in Jn. 20:23. When the Risen Jesus appears to his apostles, he breathes the Holy Spirit into them and states simply: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” What an audacious act to absolve another person’s sins! It is either the height of madness or the depth of humility because we priests know we are merely instruments in the hands of the eternal Priest, Jesus Christ. People look at Catholics lined up for confession on Saturday afternoon and shake their heads in disbelief, and say, “They are out of their minds.”

You know, it is nice when you can get along with your neighbors, but when you are a Catholic, that never lasts too long. Sooner or later they will see what we do and hear how we live, and say, “He is out of his mind.” That is when you should smile and remember Mk. 3:21, because people said the same about our Savior.

Praised be Jesus Christ!