At the end of August, I learned the terrible news that two young children, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, at a Catholic school were gunned down. I saw the video of Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian girl in her twenties, viciously stabbed, minding her own business on a commuter train. Wednesday of last week, I saw, nearly in real-time, the most gruesome video of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And yesterday, my wife told me that our neighbor’s father, who was a healthy guy, collapsed and died in the evening.
I went to confession a few weeks ago on my birthday. I turned forty years old. I have been reflecting a lot on my life, and I am still coming to the slow realization that my years ahead of me could be shorter in length than the years behind me. So, I expressed to Father that I need to get things in order—the time to be a saint is now.
I surmise many of the readers, like me, have echoed the words of Sebastian Flyte from Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. In one scene, the main protagonist, Charles Ryder, engages in a discussion with his friend Sebastian about the state of their moral characters. Sebastian is lamenting the difficulty of being a Catholic. He says to Charles, “Who was it used to pray, ‘O God, make me good, but not yet’?”[1]Naturally, many Catholics may recognize that Sebastian is paraphrasing St. Augustine from the Confessions. In fact, when I told Father, “The time for me to be a saint is now,” I was echoing the same sentiment.
Memento Mori—the Catholic motto for “Remember your death.” It is a reminder that every single one of us will die. The race will be over. How will I finish it? How will you finish it?
Our gospel narrative for today finds Jesus in the city of Nain. The setting and narrative details are familiar, featuring a city gate and a mother with a deceased son, which connects us to the Old Testament pericope of Elijah raising the widow's son, as Jesus does in our gospel reading for today.
There is a Patristic spiritual application for today’s gospel. In fact, the gospel reading for today is an optional reading for St. Augustine’s mother, St. Monica’s feast day. Pablo Gadenz explains, “St. Augustine’s mentor, St. Ambrose, understands the widow as Mother Church: “Let the Mother of the Church weep for you, she who intercedes for all as a widowed mother for only sons, for she suffers with the spiritual grief of nature when she perceives her children urged on to death by mortal sins.” St. Augustine himself makes this interpretation: “His widowed mother rejoiced over that young man brought back to life. About people daily restored to life in the spirit, their mother, the Church, rejoices.”[2]
Some of us may be dead in our souls—a far disastrous reality than our mortal bodies dying. Many of our neighbors and relatives may be spiritually dead. For those of us Catholics who find ourselves outside the state of grace, go to confession immediately! The time is now! Your soul is in danger of damnation. Furthermore, let God’s grace begin to work in your life to live a life of holiness, to be a sign of contradiction in the world.
When we rise again in the spiritual life from the sacrament of confession, we, the faithful, must become mindful of sharing in the offices of Jesus Christ by virtue of our baptism: Priests, Prophets, and Kings. What can we do in this world where the spiritual battle is manifesting itself visibly? How can we do our part in this battle between good and evil? I implore you to live out your duties: 1. Pray for the conversion and salvation of souls dearest to you. 2. Proclaim the gospel boldly 3. Cultivate the kingdom of your domestic domain: get married, raise a family, and lead them to heaven.
God will provide you with the spiritual necessities to fight this battle. St. Paul writes, “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”[3]
Remember, you fight for Christ or the devil—there is no third.
[1] Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited. Kindle Edition.
[2] Pablo T. Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, ed. Peter S. Williamson and Mary Healy, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2018), 142.
[3] Eph 6:10–17, ESV-CE