Freedom to Say Yes
Dear Parish,
Last week, we kicked off our Philly Saints message series, which reminded us that we are made for a forever love. Should you have missed that message, please watch last week's Mass here or review last week’s letter here.
In week two, we find ourselves at a crossroads and an invitation from Jesus. If it's a very familiar passage to you, I invite you to try and enter into it anew by imagining yourself conversing with Jesus. Put yourself at the crossroads. Perhaps the exchange with Jesus even reminds you of another key moment of decision in your life.
As a young lady, Katharine Drexel traveled West and saw the great need, including schools for Native Americans. Her heart was stirred. She asked the Pope to send missionaries, and he suggested she go. Later, Bishop O'Connor, her spiritual director, encouraged her, “I was never so sure of any vocation, not even my own, as I am of yours!” On the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1889, she gathered her courage to, in her own words, “Promise Our Lord to please Him by entering fully into your plan of founding an order. As long as I look on self, I cannot. Our Lord gives and will give me the grace always to look at Him.” Her discernment unfolded over a period; she came around to understand God’s will. We notice in her words a transition not unlike the man in the Gospel. If he keeps his eyes on himself and his own possessions, then he will go away sad. But if he had managed to keep his eyes on Jesus, as Katharine committed, then he may have gained the courage to follow. Perhaps he would have eliminated that one thing that kept him from answering that stirring, which welled up in his heart and caused him to seek out the Teacher. Visit St. Katharine Drexel's Tomb at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter & Paul in Philadelphia, see details on flyer below.
An image of John of the Cross comes to mind. He described a bird tied to a branch. No matter if bound by fine thread or thick cord, the little creature is still bound and unable to take flight. Hence, the need to be free from attachments, to live detached from material things in order to be free to be attached to the one true Good. This in turn calls to mind one definition of freedom: to say no in order to say yes. In other words, to forsake one good or choice to be able to say yes to the greater good. Thank you, Cardinal Rigali for this wisdom! Sometimes we may welcome something into our lives without recognizing how it crowds out other goods.
Invitations to follow the Lord do not come every day, but each day is filled with choices. Some choices are between good and evil. In each case, we are invited to choose the good. And our conscience, if well formed, guides us in those matters. But, we do have a duty to form our conscience and to keep it sharp and alert. Other choices occur between goods: we are selecting one good over another. We cannot have both. These more subtle choices often require a discerning spirit and the advice of trusted friends.
For instance, St. John Neumann chose to commit his life to the priesthood at an early age but faced many obstacles, even his own bishop (in modern day Czech Republic), who told the graduating seminary class that he would not ordain priests that year, since they had “too many!” Undeterred, John traveled to America, eventually to be ordained by Bishop John DuBois of New York, and assigned pastor of the Niagara Area - over one hundred square miles of forested territory! He left family and homeland at God’s invitation to say yes to the harder life of being a missionary priest in the New World. You can visit his resting place in Philadelphia as well, at the National Shrine of St. John Neumann. A wonderful place for confession!
So, what might God be inviting you to say no to, in order to make a greater yes? Our Philly Saints offer us beautiful examples, but also much support as we live out our Christian calling to holiness imitating Jesus, Mary, and all the Saints!
Peace,
Fr. Joel
