Townspeople's Faith

Seeing how faith makes sense of the senseless

07/07/2024

Mk 6:1-6 Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Last year I gave a series of homilies at daily Mass called Apologia Pro Vita Sua, which means “a defense of one’s life.” Basically, I wanted to explain why I decided to become a priest. I asked rhetorically in that homily: “Why would any healthy, red-blooded, virile young man choose a life of celibacy, church service, and a salary slightly above the poverty line?” Why would any sensible young man pursue the priesthood? It makes no “sense.”

So, why do it? Well, I gave several reasons in those homilies, but in the end the only adequate reason is faith. That is, faith teaches me there is more to life than what meets the eyes and the four senses. As Heb 11:1 puts it: “Faith is assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” When a man looks through the eyes of faith, he begins to see beyond his five senses – that life is really about more than money, sex, and power – suddenly the senseless priesthood starts to make perfect sense.

The gospel today ends with the rather tragic line: “Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith.” Jesus was visiting Capernaum, a town he knew well, maybe too well. And because they knew his family intimately – heck, they list them by name – that familiarity blinded them to his divinity. You may have felt the old adage this Fourth of July weekend: “The only thing better than seeing family come is seeing family go.”

Sometimes we struggle to see each family member as a child of God, and so did the folks in Capernaum. They doubt Jesus is the Son of God because they know his earthly family too well, at least on the surface level of the senses. But detecting his divinity would require faith, which peers beyond ordinary sight. In other words, you won’t become a priest without faith and you won’t see Jesus is God without faith.

You know, even though Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith of the people of his town, I am constantly amazed at the loads of faith of the people of this town, especially of I.C. Church. Let me give you some examples. Did you know we currently have a seminarian from I.C., Ben Keating, studying to be a priest? A young lady from I.C. named Josie Nunez is entering the Olivetan Benedictine sisters in Jonesboro this summer. Two priests have been ordained from our parish in the last 15 years: Fr. Juan Manjarrez in 2012, and Fr. Omar Galvan in 2021. Their faith helps them see how an apparently senseless vocation is perfectly sensible.

A 2019 Pew Research Poll showed 70% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, because they believe it is a symbol. Now, that’s bad. But think about this: 30% of Catholics DO believe in the Real Presence: that Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity sits on this altar like he stood before the townspeople of Capernaum 2000 years ago. That’s amazing faith. That faith is why roughly 2,000 I.C. parishioners attend Sunday Mass each weekend. You could be doing so many other things, but you come to Mass. Why? Because your faith helps you see Mass is more than meets the eyes. The Bread and Wine is Jesus’ Body and Blood.

Take another example: our daily Mass crowd often swells to 100 people. Now, there is no natural or logical reason to come to daily Mass, except as a sheer act of faith. We might be motivated to attend Sunday Mass on pain of mortal sin if we miss. But as Dc. Charlie says, “There’s no purgatory time” for missing daily Mass. And typically, 20-30 Hispanics come to the 7 a.m. English Mass even though understand very little English. Why on earth would you get up early, drive across town, listen to a language you cannot comprehend, just to nibble on a tasteless white Wafer? No sensible person does that! But for our daily Mass crowd, their faith makes sense out of what looks like a senseless waste of time.

We have started our new campaign for a beautiful back altar for the Blessed Sacrament and other parish improvements. And several families have made very generous donations. Thank you! But two weeks ago I received an all-cash donation from a Hispanic family for $1,000. It came in an envelope stuffed with 50 and 20 dollar bills. I know that family well and they are not rich by any stretch. That donation did not come from their surplus because they have none. Think of all the urgent and important things they could do with that money!? Such sacrifice makes no sense! And that is true. Unless you walk by faith rather than dollars and sense.

My friends, the only explanation for such outlandish, irrational, unnatural behavior is faith which makes all the sense out of the apparently senseless. To make choices based on faith in Jesus, and not by any other worldly calculus, alone explains why young people choose the religious life, why 30% of Catholic crack open the doors to church every Sunday, why people attend daily Mass in a foreign language, why anyone give until it hurts and beyond. Today Jesus is amazed at the lack of faith of his people, but I am amazed at the loads of faith of our people, everyday.

Praised be Jesus Christ!