By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily Oct. 16, 2014, feast of St. Hedwig of Silesia, while celebrating Mass at St. Hedwig Church, a Polish-American parish in Long Island, N.Y. St. Hedwig was a Polish Queen. St. John Paul II was elected pope on her feast day in 1978.
In his Exhortation, the Gospel of Joy, Pope Francis criticizes those "sourpusses" that we sometimes find in the Church. I'm sure we all know who they are — those people who would take the joy out of Easter Sunday. The Pharisees and the Scribes were the sourpusses of Jesus' day. They made religion a burden rather than a blessing. Sometimes these sourpusses can be very zealous — as the Pharisees were — but their zeal, like that of the Pharisees, is a "bitter zeal." You can see this bitter zeal in those who point out peoples' faults not so much to help them but to humiliate them, to put them down.
Do people look at us — and instead of seeing Jesus reflected in our lives and our actions see something of the Pharisee or Scribe? Apparently, many people do see us in this way — they think our Catholic faith is just about a bunch of rules and regulations that they don't understand and certainly don't want to follow.
I am not saying that our religion doesn't have its share of rules and regulations, and some are less important than others. But every society has its rules — that's the only way you can have people live and work together. But the rules and regulations are means to an end — rather than the end itself. When we confuse "ends" and "means" we can fall into the error of the Pharisees and Scribes — we can fall into legalism, and we can fall into the type of religious hypocrisy that Jesus criticized in very strong terms. Woe is us, in that case. And if that's the case, those who would accuse us of being Pharisees might not be wrong.
But hopefully that it not the case. For to be a Christian is not a burden — it is a gift. To encounter Jesus Christ is the best thing that has or will ever happen to us — and, of course, to share him with others is our joy. Rules and regulations have their place. The word "religion" comes from a Latin word meaning "to bind." Again, as I said, the rules and regulations of our religion are means to an end. They are means to lead us to friendship with Jesus; "woe is us" if the rules and regulations become a substitute for that relationship with Jesus.
'When we confuse "ends" and "means" we can fall into the error of the Pharisees and Scribes — we can fall into legalism, and we can fall into the type of religious hypocrisy that Jesus criticized in very strong terms. Woe is us, in that case. And if that's the case, those who would accuse us of being Pharisees might not be wrong.'
In that sense, following the rule of Christian living in no way has to be a burden to us — or to anyone else. The 10 commandments weren't given to us to take the joy out of life — they were given to make a joyful life possible. The rules of Christian living — the way we try to learn to live in virtue and to avoid vice — do not inhibit our freedom; they make freedom possible. That is the freedom of the children of God — the freedom not to do as I please but the freedom to do as I ought. Thus, following the rules of Christian life, living a virtuous life, makes it possible for you to give yourself to God and to your neighbor. In this sense, a life of virtue frees you; and a life of vice enslaves you.
Today, of course, we celebrate St. Hedwig, Swieta Jadwiga. Here we see someone who lived virtuously — following the commandments — and in doing so gave of herself — to her God, to her family, and to her people, especially to the poor. She was no "sourpuss" — she saw her faith not as a burden but as a gift — and she shared that gift with joy.
Today, we also remember with joy — and with Polish pride — the election of Karol Wojtla as Pope John Paul II in 1978. St. John Paul II joyfully shared Jesus Christ with the world. His invitation, made the day of his installation as the successor of St. Peter and vicar of Christ, still rings in our hearts: Be not afraid to open the doors to Christ.
Accepting Christ into your personal life, accepting Christ and his Gospel into the life of a society and a nation, is not a burden — for Christ and his Gospel, with its demands, is not a problem. It is the solution. So don't be afraid to live your life as a friend of Jesus.
St. John Paul II always reminded us that our faith is both a gift and a task: To have asked to be baptized is to have said I want to be a saint. And so, as John Paul II said, it would be a contradiction for us then to settle for a life of mediocrity marked by a minimalist ethic and a superficial religiosity.
The lives of these two saints should inspire us Polish Catholics — and not only Polish Catholics — to live our faith with joy. May we never be satisfied with mediocrity in the practice of our faith and in our efforts to share it with others. Mediocrity begets melancholy, not joy. You might find mediocre "sourpusses"; but you'll never find a mediocre saint.
