Decide.
“Decide today whom you will serve...” – Joshua
He had come to the end of his life and the end of his service to the LORD, and with all the leaders and people gathered, he wanted again to recommit the people back to the God. Joshua, if you remember, took on the role of leading the people into the promised Land after Moses had freed them from slavery in Egypt and led them through the wilderness to the edge of the Promised Land. But when the Israelites came into the promised Land they did a horrible job of settling in.
They divided up the land between the tribes of Israel and as time went by, they began to make compromises with the surrounding pagan cultures. They began to be comfortable with the sin in the land, and they even made compromises with other nations and gods.
Essentially, the story in Joshua is a story of the Israelites taking the great gift of what God has given to us, the Promised Land, and then blowing it… it’s about how over time through making compromises, through getting too comfortable with their sin, they begin to be unfaithful to God and they begin to even lose the Promise Land.
And so when Joshua challenges them saying, “Decide today whom you will serve”… he is essentially saying, “Decide today, no more compromises, no more serving the Lord half-heartedly… no more tolerating your own sins, no more serving other false gods. Decide today whom you will serve: God or your sin/idols…”
In the past few weeks, the Catholic Church itself has been struck by another storm, with the revelation of heinous acts of Archbishop McCarrick and the recent release from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report of those priests and religious who have preyed upon and abused those under their power and authority.
My heart aches and hurts so much for the victims and the evil that they had to endure. It makes me so mad that twisted, depraved, evil, perverted men who were priests and even a bishop would do the things that they did. And that some other bishops would simply move priests around or sweep it under the rug is even more unacceptable.
But I think what breaks my heart more is that these wolves in shepherd’s clothing took what was so precious, the trust of the people, the trust of youth that they would lead them to light and joy in Jesus Christ and instead inflicted such horrendous deep wounds of darkness and shame that may never truly heal, at least not without the grace of Christ.
Personally, as I read some of the news, my first response was, “What the @#$%^&*?!?! …..” And as a Catholic and a priest, I’m deeply and thoroughly disgusted, I’m angry, and I’m ashamed.
Back in 2008, when I decided to join the seminary to study to become a priest, I remember the great joy that everyone, my family and friends, had for me when I told them the news that I wanted to become a priest. But I also remember one day coming over to a friend’s house to pick her up and she told her dad that I was becoming a priest, and from the second floor of the house I heard him yelled back, “Why the *bleep* would you want to become a priest, what do you like little boys?”
And at that moment, I realized that if I became a priest, I would have to face this kind of ridicule. I would have to face the reality that the horrifying evils and sin that was caused by those unfaithful priests would be placed on me. But that’s ok. Because to live in this shadow of mockery is nothing like what the darkness and the suffering that the victims have to live with every day. And to be a priest, I believe, means being ready to take on people’s suffering and climb up on the cross with Jesus.
I have to be honest, the temptation to walk away was truly there. But I could hear Jesus saying, "Do you also want to leave?" and my soul cries out, "To whom shall I go?
You have the words of eternal life." It is the LORD who gives me life, who gives me joy. It is the LORD who when my family was falling into shambles brought us back together. It is the LORD who when I was in darkness and depression that he showed me a joy that knows no end.
And something within me burned like the call of Joshua: “Decide today whom you will serve…”
Today, no more compromises with sin. No more compromises with my faith. Yes, we, the Church, still need to courageously go into the different areas, especially the church’s recent past, and clean it completely out… Yes, we need better policies for keeping bishops accountable… Yes, we need to continue to be vigilant in protecting God’s children.
But at the root of all evil, is sin. A turning away from God. Sin is real, and it can be so diabolical. And every time we begin compromising our faith and the gift of life that the Lord has given us, sin begins to grow and fester. And it starts there. We need to stop compromising when we see sin and begin to root it out where we find it. First in our own lives, then in the Church and then the society around us.
The modern day saint, Dorothy Day said, “In all history, popes and bishops and father abbots seem to have been blind and power-loving and greedy. I never expected leadership from them. It is the saints that keep appearing all through history who keep things going.”
It is the saints who at one point or another hears the call to no longer compromise their faith. To not sink into comfort with the status quo but to radically give their life to Christ. I think of the early Martyrs who would not compromise even in the face of death, and the others throughout history: St. Benedict, St. Francis, St. Dominic, Padre Pio, Mother Teresa, St. Josemaria Escrivá and many more. Each one of them lived their faith uncompromised, serving Jesus Christ with their lives.
Brother and sisters, the Church today, now more than ever needs your holiness. It needs people like you and me to stop making compromises with our faith, stop making compromises with sin. It needs holy men and women to rise up and to begin living the life that Jesus Christ has already won for us. We need to start living like we truly believe that Jesus Christ is God, and that true joy and peace will only come from Him and Him alone. Not from pleasure, not from comfort, not from money, not from anything but Jesus alone! Only a life surrendered and subordinated to Christ is one of true joy and peace.
“Decide today whom you will serve.”
