5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
First Reading: Is 58:6-10
Second Reading: 1 Cor 2:1-5
Gospel Reading: Jn 8:12 

“If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil; if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.”

That is the message of this Sunday’s First Reading.

“I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified,” St. Paul says in the Second Reading. Thus “your faith might rest not on human wisdom, but on the power of God.”

Years ago, when I was editor of The B.C. Catholic, I made a similar decision. Although I received letters frequently urging me to condemn this error or that, I decided to proclaim the truth simply: to teach that two plus two makes four, not to waste time or space proclaiming that it does not make five, six, etc.

My first reason was that there is no end to such untruths. The second was that it is difficult to condemn untruth without being uncharitable to persons, whose motives only God can judge. The third was that if people see error in writing – no matter how clearly or emphatically the writer condemns it – they often mistake it for truth.

We are tempted to think that condemning untruth automatically puts us on God’s side, the side of truth. We are tempted to think that the more forcefully we condemn evil, the more we adhere to what is good.

In the example of the First Reading, we are tempted to think that fasting from food and drink – in obedience to the law – will satisfy God, instead of what he really wants: that we let the oppressed go free, share our bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into our homes, and clothe the naked.

Actually, we demonstrate the Spirit and his power best not with “plausible words of wisdom,” but with what Venerable Fulton Sheen cited as the three ways to spread the faith: kindness, kindness, and kindness.

“Words of wisdom” may be necessary, for those who can deliver them. “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church,” said Blessed Fulton Sheen. “There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.”

They draw most of their wrong belief from hearsay and the media. To counteract their ignorance, we must “not only keep the faith and live in it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Keeping the faith means knowing the truths of our faith – like those in the Creeds – in an adult way. Professing it means affirming it and expressing our allegiance to it “without equivocation” – without ambiguity or double-talk. However, it is principally by bearing witness to it – acting according to our belief – that we spread the faith.

All this takes courage, for, as Christ warned us, “the world” hates us because of him.

We should be proud to bear witness to Christ, for it “makes an extraordinarily valuable contribution” to society, said Pope St. John Paul II: it helps to ward off “a headlong plunge into the most dangerous crisis” that can afflict the world, namely a “confusion between good and evil.”

If we live what we believe, we are public benefactors. In the Gospel Reading, Christ called us “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” He told us to let our light shine before others so that they may see goodness in us and give praise to God.

If we are questioned about our faith, then, we can answer with proud confidence. Yes, we believe in God, for atheism is not a reasonable alternative. Yes, we are convinced Catholics, for only the Catholic Church has the fullness of the truth that God has revealed to humans.

Father Hawkswell is again teaching The Catholic Faith in Plain English, with new insights in both print and YouTube form at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. Father is also teaching the course in person on Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre (4885 Saint John Paul II Way, 33rd Avenue and Willow Street, Vancouver) and on Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon in St. Anthony’s Church Hall, 2347 Inglewood Avenue, West Vancouver. Next week’s topic is “Matrimony.”