The right thing isn’t (usually) the easy thing

Christ spoke of the mustard seed to represent the small beginnings of His Church, which — like the mustard seed — would grow into a vast tree. And it did.

But much-demanded ‘easier’ doctrines over the centuries — in other religions, and some stunning counterfeits pressing into Catholicism – haven’t been the winning ticket they seemed. Did they, too, “grow” the Tree — the Church?

Nope. In fact, in the past 50 - 60 years, certain ‘easy’ preachings have not resulted in more fruit on the Tree — but saw many dropping off. In numerous places, Catholicism no longer seemed singular. Many Catholic schools – once seen by parents and grandparents as the right way to educate their children – instead obliterated Catholic truth. Priests and religious left vocations with others not replacing them, or they betrayed their calling while persisting in their ‘habits.’ Catholics in public life became entirely comfortable flouting anti-beliefs, then taking Holy Communion on camera. No shame in that anymore. Many faithful were led to believe that certain immorality isn’t a sin now. Christ is again being spat upon.

Today, those Catholics adhering to longstanding teachings, and who instill them in their families and witness to them publicly, are ridiculed as throwbacks and haters. But those who exhibit politically correct postures are esteemed.

New ways of being pastoral – like through ‘accompaniment’ and ‘gradualism’ – are touted. Contemporary Catholics have been told by some clerics that particular sins cannot be abandoned immediately, but must be allowed to ‘gradually’ diminish. But such cushy heresies are in fact directly at odds with true Catholic doctrine and teaching. Hard stop.

The tough thing now is standing for immutable truth, in and out of season. God’s Truth doesn’t change; neither do His laws of science, math, and nature. But they’re all out of season — the easy thing is to go along to get along, and hype the wrong answer. It’s blatent – in today’s contortion of laws (or the ignoring of them), attempt at revising history, pretense that fakery is fact, and in rewarding the offenders over the Offended.

Throughout history, when societies and empires left God, all sanity and right-thinking disappeared and they went mad. Birthrates dropped, suicides increased, economies collapsed, all hell broke loose. It’s on our doorstep.

To get a good refresh on his purpose, man cannot re-author reality. The Divine Author has set forth immovable boundaries on God, nature, and justice. And Christ’s followers must refuse to live according to delusion, no matter how prevalent it is.

Wherever society – or even the Church – is remiss in pointing out falsehood, remember that it’s not charitable to play along with others’ delusions.
True wisdom, it has been said, is the innate knowledge of things as they relate to God. And the fullness of God’s Truth is still found in the deposit of authentic Catholic teaching.

The cost is high now – friends, family, jobs, profits, maybe even our lives. But these are unparalleled times to be unmistakable ambassadors for Christ. People are starved for wisdom and Truth.

CHRISTINE VALENTINE-OWSIK is Legatus magazine’s editor.