My Priest, My Coach

Two years ago my husband made the decision to take control of his health by doing P90X, a ridiculously intense workout system that takes 90 days to complete. Instructor Tony Horton invaded our home for three rounds {9 months, give or take}. He then moved onto Insanity with Shaun T. and has recently started Insanity – The Asylum. If you think I’m promoting these programs, you’d be wrong. I look at Tony and Shaun and see that while they are the guide for the program, you have to be a willing participant and follow it to a “T” if you are going to get the maximum benefit. They are unchanging in their approach because they have a tried and true method. They are unapologetic. They want you to “Bring It” or “Dig Deeper.” Anything short of that is a waste of your time.

So, you can imagine how the following exchange would go between Shaun T. and one of the participants on the video:

Participant: “Um, so, I was wondering if you could be nicer to me and expect less because I have no reason to ‘dig deeper.’ I just want to do this program my own way…except I want the same results that you obviously work hard for.”

I won’t even answer for Shaun T. because I imagine it would be lots of yelling and ugly words, followed by suicide drills. Lots and lots of suicide drills.

How does this really tie into our Faith? Well, a great deal of what I cherish about the Faith is its pragmatic, logical approach to life. The Truth of our Faith is static, unchanging. It does not rely on our belief. It is a tried and true system, but like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it.

The Church has always taught, maintained and guarded the Truth through the centuries. Even now, when the secular world wants Mother Church to bend and sway to meet a temporal demand, She resists and holds fast for a reason. What people often fail to realize is that the Church doesn’t have the authority to change what Christ left us.

I had an epiphany once that had to do with the current trend among mainstream American Catholics. Now, I don’t want to divide folks into categories but what I’m writing begs a distinction between two different approaches to worship. To follow what I’m saying, I need to address the two types. There are those who are orthodox – folks who strive to follow the teachings of the Church in spite of their shortcomings or lack of understanding. These are people who are not necessarily “holier-than-thou” or “sanctimonious,” but average people. They stumble and fall daily in their walk with Christ. They strive for obedience despite their objections. They humble themselves before God and realize He knows best rather than their flawed self. Then there are those who are heterodox. A sad reality in our culture is that Catholics have too often succumbed to the pressure and adopted the mentality of non-Catholic influences – society, secular news, non-Catholic family members, anti-Catholic mindsets, work, etc. It has wedged itself into how we want to be catechized – as if we had a choice in the matter! If our Faith is our identity, our heritage, our family, we have simply lost our way as American Catholics.

It’s time to reclaim our Faith, friends.

Our priests are our spiritual coaches. If we are going for the best spiritual results {i.e. heaven} we should be no less satisfied than someone committed to a rigorous workout program. In fact, we should be dedicated to spiritual workouts more than an exercise program. Come on now! We’re talking about the other side. The Glorious friendship with God in His heavenly kingdom. Eternal happiness. Are you getting excited at that thought? You should be! This is why it is of utmost importance that our priests deliver the Truths of our Faith, to inspire us to learn more and live in accordance with our Faith. Let us allow ourselves to be nurtured and fed God’s True Word, which is rooted in His love. We should feel so on fire that we would follow our priest to hell to put out the furnace. So, where are we falling short?

We can’t choose to live in willful defiance of what the Church teaches. What does that mean for our souls? What would we rather have? Eternal happiness with God? Or, are we willing to trade it in for the temporal pleasures that come along with any of the things that reject the tenets of the Faith? Are we “going for the gold” in all things that have a definite shelf life here on earth or are we putting energies into things that are going to give us the greatest reward we could possibly imagine in the next life?

If you, or someone you know, believe in the following, it is time for a spiritual overhaul:

• Missing Mass without a valid reason is fine and not a mortal sin – False
• Missing Mass while on vacation is always ok…you get a vacation from Mass too – False
• Confession is unnecessary {including thought processes of “I can take it straight to the Big Man and be ‘ok’” or “I don’t need a priest to confess my sins”} – False
• An annulment is a Catholic divorce – False
• Not being a good steward of our earthly resources is ok – False
• Being divorced, in a relationship and receiving Communion without an annulment is ‘ok’ – False
• There are “special circumstances” that allow any good and practicing Catholic an exemption from the ‘no birth control’ rule – False
• Being in a state of mortal sin KNOWINGLY and receiving communion anyway is ok – False
• Unbaptized babies go to Limbo – False
• Moral relativism is ok because God will reward us with heaven/grace no matter what we do – False
• Annulments cost too much and some good people just can’t afford to pay their way out – False
• Communion is bread and wine – False
• We can do whatever we want, go to Confession and it’s all good – False
• All poor people need is to pull themselves up by their boot straps – they don’t need charity – False
• Catholics can live together before marriage – False
• The Pope can change the view of the Church on abortion, birth control, women priests, living the homosexual lifestyle – False
• You don’t need to follow the rules of the Church, just the ones that speak to your conscience. A well-formed conscience just means that you thought about it a lot, and not necessarily that you kept studying what the Church teaches beyond RCIA or Confirmation – False
• We should not be concerned with the well-being of illegal immigrants – False
• You can be a “good Catholic” and dissent from major if not most of what the Church teaches – False
• NFP is just Catholic birth control – False
• Tithing is for Protestants – False
• Believing in and/or cooperating with abortion either materially or formally does not affect my ability to be a “Catholic in good standing” – False {this particularly applies to politicians who are at the greatest risk of scandal and putting their soul in peril due to their public platform of placing the “common good” above their duty to Christ’s Church first}
• I don’t need Mass because I am a good person – False

Ask yourself, am I being challenged to be a better Catholic or am I simply complacent with what I know? If the answer is no to the first, then roll up your sleeves. We’ve got work to do, and I’m anxious to share with you. Until next time…