Next week is the ultimate Sunday of the liturgical year and we will mark it as Christ the King. The readings towards the final Sunday have been directing our attention to the end of time, that is, the “eschaton”. Characteristic of the eschaton is our reckoning or our accountability. We will be judged and to be accountable, we are urged to be faithful through our perseverance. Consistency is a mark of perseverance.
The example of regularly attending Mass but irregularly going for Confession, is a form of sacramental inconsistency. This is not an attempt at sacramental-shaming. Rather, consistency is best observed in how we bridge our belief with our behaviour. How can we make sure that our actions match our assertions. In other words, how is this worked out in our sacramental practice?
Any person who goes for daily Mass but does not go for regular Confession is simply inconsistent. Why? Presumably daily Mass is motivated by the belief that Holy Communion is necessary nourishment for eternal life. But the hesitation at Confession does not make sense. How can one Sacrament be believed to be from Christ and the other is feared?
Consistency is a hallmark of fidelity and faithfulness to Christ is expressed through a consistent manner of living. Both Confession and Communion are sacramental expressions of diligent discipleship in Christ. The question is why are we stressing on regular Confession?
As we wind down Ordinary Time, the liturgy reminds us of the end of time. I had a parent and by no means the parent is alone in this scenario. Seriously straining to get ahead materially but sadly spiritually shallow. The concern is not that the parent was tepid or lukewarm. The annoyance was that I had to control my tongue. Right at the tip, I wanted to lash out at the person but thankfully I did not. I performed the baptism as requested for a child according to the ritual.
Unfortunately what marks us as human is, sadly, inconsistency. The steady practice of the faith is central to the Sundays close to Christ the King. Noticed how the examples mentioned above do not point to a particular gender because a person or a parent can be a man or a woman. The point is any one of us can be a person who is inconsistent. The reason for the neutral description is to respect privacy. If a person chooses not to practise the faith or chooses to live inconsistent with the faith, that person who has made a choice should be respected. For example, a couple living in a irregular union wants to have a child baptised. Both the man and the woman have decided that they do not intend to live according to what their Catholic faith requires of them. Fair enough, right? But according to Canon Law, there must be reasonable hope that a child to be baptised be brought in the practice of the faith and thus, the problem arises when the couple, in insisting on baptism, wants the Church to be a part of their inconsistency.
What was at the tip of my tongue with respect to the parent who wanted a child baptised?
I wanted to tell the parent that every single sen or cent garnered or accumulated, will never be taken through the portal of death. None of what we own, possess or hoard will or can ever enter heaven. We arrived in the world naked and when we return to the dust from which we came, we bring nothing with us. We may have achieved and accumulated. We may have scaled the pinnacle of success but in the end, God will not look at any of these material accomplishments.
He will look at the heart because where the heart is, there is also the treasure. We may have forgotten this truth because the lure of materialism is simply overwhelming.
To be fair, in the Genesis’ Creation narrative, God saw the material universe that He had created as good. Here, there is no repudiation of prosperity or plenty. So it is not a rich-shaming exercise. But coincidentally the month of November is also known as the month of the dead. It is a bit like the 7th lunar month of the Hungry Ghost. This year’s All Souls Day, what was noticeable at the Catholic graveyard, short of burning cars, condos, cash, cellular phones and credit cards, was food being offered to the dead. Never mind the earthly comforts and convenience burnt, at the base of the practice of leaving food for the dead is really a materialistic philosophy.
What is more in line with the month to remember the dead is the colour black. On All Souls Day, a black chasuble was worn because it was a meaningful memento mori, a reminder that there is a world beyond the material. If anything, what is called for when we think of death are two things. Firstly, if we care for our physical well-being, we should care even more for our spiritual soul. Secondly, the focus on eternity requires that we be consistent in the way we look at the world and also live our lives.
Perhaps going for regular Confessions makes a lot more sense at this time of the year. Like Saint Paul, many of us do not do what we should. We acknowledge that sin is wrong and yet we continue to lie, cheat, hurt other people’s reputation etc. We should not be surprised by our inconsistency. We speak of untimely demise, that is, people who die before their time. The underlying assumption is that there is a normal timeline which we are entitled to. To be born, to live, to have a productive life and to die at a ripe old age. The jarring disruption of an untimely death is a kind of memento mori to remind us of our eternal destiny, to jog and to jolt us to live according to that destiny that we have been called to. Our life can be snatched away at any moment because we are not meant to live forever in this temporal world. Settle our business now while we can before it is too late. If we are receiving Holy Communion consistently, then find time to also go for Confession.
