The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time September 23, 2018
Fr. Albert St. Peter’s, New Iberia
Passion. Desire. Ambition. What do you think of when I say these words? Something carnal or worldly? Do they make you think of spirituality and holiness? And what do you think of when I say “purity?” Perhaps, you think of purity as something opposite to desire and passion; that someone who is pure simply doesn’t want is wrong.
St. James says, “where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions?” He points out that “disorder and every foul practice” come from “jealousy and ambition.” That obviously true. Just look at how so many politicians act. Or even consider the corruption we see in some bishops and priests who chase after positions of power and importance.
The Gospel confirms that problems with ambition were there from the beginning. Even the apostles are arguing with each other about who is the greatest. Just a few minutes before, Jesus outright tells them he is going to be killed and rise from the dead, but they disregard it. Of course, Jesus knows that they’ve focused on their own egos and so he rebukes them, turning their attention to a child. And 2000 years ago, in the middle east, being a child was almost like being a piece of property – they didn’t put children up on pedestals like we sometimes do today.
Jesus wants them to have perspective. St. James wants his readers to have wisdom. Both want the same thing for us. James tells us that this wisdom is “first of all pure.” Purity leads to wisdom. Wisdom saves us from wars and conflicts and perversion. Yet, the simple fact is we all have desires and passions. We all get jealous and have ambitions. How are fallen human beings like us supposed to become pure when we are so riddled with desire from the moment we’re born? Is there some way to get rid of all our desires and passions in order to become pure?
Actually, no. Not because God is cruel and wants us to do the impossible, but because purity is not the absence of passion and desire. It is the concentration of it. Purity is not less desire, it is more. Take a close look at what Jesus tells his Apostles after their argument. He never says, “don’t try to be great.” Rather than trying to take away their desire to be great, he gives them the roadmap to greatness.
God, who is greatness itself, designed human beings in His own image. Wanting to be great is written into who we are because we are meant to reflect the greatness of God. Notice that St. James doesn’t condemn all ambition, but selfish ambition. Now, typically, when we use the word “ambition,” that’s what we think of: the selfish desire to be better than other people. But if you mean ambition as in the desire to be truly great, there is nothing wrong with that.
So, the problem is not that the Apostles want to be great, but that they misunderstand what greatness really is and that they want too many other things. They want to be great, but they also want to be comfortable and important. Jesus’ response is not “don’t be great,” but “if anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” That is not a threat. It’s not a punishment. It is advice.
By serving others and by humbly accepting our littleness, we can receive true greatness. We receive Jesus Christ which in turn means receiving the one who sent him, God the Father. What could be greater than receiving God Himself? By very definition, nothing is greater than God. Now, it takes them a while and there are plenty of failures along the way, but the Apostles do eventually learn this lesson. They serve. They sacrifice. They are hated by the world: seen as little, unimportant, and worthy of being executed. Yet we now call them saints; We even include their names in the most powerful prayer on earth, the Eucharistic Prayer that turns bread and wine into God.
Being able to recognize and accept the paradox of becoming great by being small is what we mean by “wisdom.” This wisdom “is first of all pure” not in the sense that it has no desires, but that it has so much desire, such a strong yearning for one thing above all else that it is willing to sacrifice everything else to get it. The purest of people are not somehow less alive or less human and they are certainly not cold. Mother Teresa and Padre Pio were among the purest people on the planet, and they were passionate, fiery, and fully alive.
So, if you want to be truly great, if you want the greatness of real happiness, then be wise. If you want to be wise, be pure. If you want to be pure, then don’t try to not feel desire – instead try to focus your desire, to concentrate on a single desire above every other desire. And that desire should be a desire for God.
Still, that is only the beginning. We can influence our desires, but they are not actually under our control. Nor are they terribly reliable and consistent. So, purity, wisdom, and happiness all start with focusing on our desire for God, but they do not end there. Pray for God to increase your desire for Him. Ask him to give you a pure heart: one that is on fire with love for God. And just as fire turns other things into itself, pray that your desire for God consumes and turns other desires into itself.
But then, you have to work at it. Knowing God is not enough. Desiring God, even passionately, is not enough. You also have to choose God in each little decision, to exercise your free will. Wisdom is first pure: it desires God above everything else. But, then it is also peaceable, compliant and without inconstancy or insincerity: it makes the decision to “cultivate peace.” What destroys peace is giving into conflicting desires. To be peaceable, you have to say no to desires that are contrary to your central desire. That’s the difference between a mature Christian and a shallow one. A shallow Christian thinks its all about saying “no” to everything we want. A mature Christian knows it is about saying “yes” to what we truly want and that that larger “yes” requires smaller “no”s to the things that don’t fit.
That is morality. Not a life of “missing out on the fun” but a passionate pursuit, one that doesn’t waste time and energy on the distractions of the world and the devil and even of our own flesh and blood. These things might promise you entertainment and pleasure and comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness, for the greatness of God himself! Why settle for anything else?