Thurs, Week 23 OT – I September 11, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert Vermilion Catholic, Abbeville
It’s supposed to be different. It’s supposed to make us stand out. The Gospel way of life is meant to make us different. “Other schools aren’t so strict about uniforms or Sunday practices.” Yeah, most schools don’t have Christ at the center. “Other kids get smartphones when they’re 8.” Is being like other kids your only goal?
Don’t you see? Jesus wants us to live a different kind of life. I gave some random examples, but I could just as easily have used vaping, exchanging spicy pictures, or wild partying as examples… and many others besides. This world is doomed. It’s very broken, full of evil, and very very temporary. Being like everyone else in the world might be more comfortable at first, but that’s like being in a canoe on the river and saying you’d rather follow the river over a 200 foot waterfall because paddling upstream is uncomfortable.
Yesterday, a man was killed because he dared to “paddle upstream,” because he dared to challenge the assumptions and ideas of the people around him, because he dared to confront people about the harm they were doing to themselves and others. Look, I’ve probably only ever watched a few 30 second clips of Charlie Kirk and I honestly don’t know much about him, but I know we agreed on one thing: Jesus Christ is Lord. Make that two things: we also agreed that pursuing the truth is more important than pretending to get along with everyone.
Well, that kind of differentness was too much for someone, so they took his life. That’s supposed to make people afraid… and it will. For all the bravado we’ll see in the next few days, there will be many people who decide not to stand out so much. God grant me the grace not to be one of those people. God grant me the courage to speak the truth, to resist the lies of the world, and to actually live the Gospel truth that clashes so starkly with the collapsing culture around us.
If only it were that simple! For as many people who will be silent out of fear, just as many will become violent out of revenge. That’s still the world! Jesus says to love your enemy, to do good to them even when they strike you. Twenty-four years ago today, our country was attacked and I, like most Americans, was ready to get back at the people who did it. That war cost many lives and deeply wounded many others, including people I know and love. Was it all bad? Probably not. We can and should honor the soldiers who strove to serve their country at great personal cost, but that doesn’t justify everything else. I don’t claim to be able to judge the whole thing. But I know there’s a difference between justice and vengeance and that wars often break more than they fix.
We’re supposed to think differently than the world. Our morals are supposed to cost us time and money and opportunity. Actually, that’s the wrong way to put it. We’re not supposed to stand out because we’re so proud of our own morality. Our relationship with Jesus Christ is supposed to cost us. “Morality” is one aspect of that relationship, but it’s not the goal and it doesn’t make sense by itself. Why love our enemy? Why refuse to go with the flow of lies and falsehood? Why avoid giving in to lust and pride and greed and gluttony? Because we follow Jesus Christ and that’s how he lived… how he still lives. Jesus is not a past figure, he is alive! And we follow him here and now.
That brings me to the last trap I want to warn you about. The first trap is giving into the world’s lies because it’s comfortable. The second trap is to seek revenge, to use the world’s methods to fight the world, which is just another form of the first trap. The third trap is comparing ourselves to others. And that’s why Jesus goes from telling us to be different from the world to warning us not to judge or condemn others.
Yes, we are supposed to be different than the world. Jesus is clear that we get “credit” for loving our enemies when most people would just hate them and be done with it. But being different is not the goal. Again, the goal is Jesus Christ! He doesn’t want us to sit down and say “that person did this, so I’m going to purposely do that other thing instead.”
Well-meaning Christians sometimes tell people to “be the bigger man (or woman)” and do the right thing. That’s so close to the truth, but misses it in a very important way. That puts the focus on ourselves. The goal isn’t to consciously “be better” than other people. The goal is to love Jesus Christ and to love like Jesus Christ.
Here’s an analogy. If you go to an archery competition, do you aim at your competitors target? Or yours? Is the way to get a bullseye to focus on what they did wrong? Or to focus on your own target? Your target is love, not “being the better man.” Being better is a byproduct of love just as winning an archery competition is the byproduct of hitting your own target. Jesus tells us we’re supposed to be different as a heads up so that we’re not discouraged by the trouble we get into for following him. That doesn’t make getting into trouble the goal, though. The goal is always, always, always to know, love, and follow Jesus Christ.
So, the last trap is comparison. It is judgment. It is focusing on yourself in comparison to others so that you take your eyes off of Jesus. Instead, do the right thing regardless of what others are doing. If others are better than you, doesn’t matter. Do what you’re supposed to do. If others are worse than you, doesn’t matter. Do you’re best. If you’re surrounded by terrible people, you can’t stop trying to grow in holiness just because you’re “better” than them. If you’re surrounded by saints and amazing people, it’s not an excuse to stop trying because you’ll never be as good as them. Being as good as them isn’t the goal.
Your goal is to get closer to Jesus Christ in your life, in your circumstances. Comparison is the thief of joy because it distracts us from God. Judgment isn’t a sin just because you might get it wrong, it’s a sin because it also focuses on the wrong thing. Yes, we absolutely can and should say to people “hey, what you’re doing is a sin, it’s evil, and you should stop.” The problem is when we then say to ourselves or even out loud “I’m better than you” or “you’re worse than me.” You don’t get to decide that. All you get to decide is whether or not you’ll do the right thing in your life, regardless of what the people around you are doing.
If you do that, you’ll probably stand out sometimes. Don’t let that distract you or discourage you. People might try to hurt you because of it, don’t let that distract you or discourage you. The world will lie to you about what matters most, don’t let that distract you or discourage you either. No lies, no revenge, no judgment. Instead, as St. Paul just told us, “let the word of Christ dwell you richly.” Above all else, “put on love… Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Why? Because Jesus Christ has conquered sin and even death itself. If you follow him, so will you. I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds a whole lot better than anything else this mess of a world can offer.