Why this homily matters?
What happens when we do things that we have to do? The likely response is to go through the motions. If you are going through the motions with your religious life, then you are not likely growing in Faith. With a lesson from The Karate Kid, Fr Mike gives us a powerful lesson on how to grow our Faith in God.
Key Points
A Royal Example of Duty
The death of Queen Elizabeth II has naturally caused us to reflect on her life. Her being the Queen was in fact a product of circumstance. She only became the Queen because her uncle had abdicated the throne. She never thought that she was the Queen because she had earned it. Queen Elizabeth did what she was asked to do. She did her duty and what her role obliged of her. She never made the mistake of thinking that she was an interesting person herself. And thereby she became remarkable.
Everyone of us knows what it is like to do something because you have to do it. Not because we dreamed of it but because someone asked us to do it.
Our general response is to do it very half-heartedly. Think of our approach to our chores as we grew up, we just went through the motions. This also occurs with our Faith.
Grow Your Faith
When it comes to our relationship with God, going through the motions can lead us to being stuck . Our relationship with God does not get better.
The disciples in the Gospel ask Jesus to increase their Faith. Faith is something that can grow. And, if it can grow it is alive. God wants our Faith to grow. So the question becomes what can we do to accomplish this?
We may know the motions when it comes to mass. But if we are going through the motions, we will not grow our Faith.
Paint the Fence to Grow Your Faith
In the movie The Karate Kid a teenager, Daniel Larusso, learns karate from Mr. Myagi. As part of his training, Mr. Myagi tells Daniel to sand the floor in a specific way. The next day he asks him to wax his cars in a specific way. Finally he asks him to paint his fence again in a specific way. Daniel views these tasks as irrelevant to the stated goal of learning karate. So, he gets frustrated. However, not everything is as it seems. These tasks represent defensive blocks for kicks and punches.
If the point of the motion is unknown, we are likely to cut corners in how we approach an activity. If we don’t know the point, the activity becomes meaningless.
Similarly, all our actions at Mass and in our prayer life should have meaning. We need to have a worthy goal in mind.
Mere duty is slavery. Going through the motions is a trap. If it is only an obligation, these actions are a recipe for burnout. We don’t grow and we get stuck. So is the solution to avoid duty? No, duty is not the enemy.
When we look at heroes like the first responders at 9/11, they would say they were only doing their duty. They ran into danger, many at the cost of their lives. So, duty is not the enemy. It is the minimum as per the Gospel. But duty is not the point either. We need the right perspective.
Leaning into Your Faith Journey
What is Faith? Faith is not a thing. It is not like a gas tank that needs to be filled up. Faith is trust in another. Faith is therefore a relationship. So if you are saying to God to increase your Faith, then you are asking to strengthen your relationship with Him. So Faith is not a thing but it is also not a feeling.
Faith is not something that feels like. Faith is something that does. It is a way of being – a spirit of love, power, and self- control. These are not feelings but ways of living. We did not receive a spirit of timidity or cowardice.
Exorcists are some of the greatest people for their strength of Faith. These people need to be 100% confident in their Faith when they deal with demons. They have to walk in Faith every day. They have to trust in God to act. Otherwise, they may be possessed themselves.
They lean into their prayers and put their hearts into it. They stretch themselves to put their complete trust in God.
What would happen if we prayed like that? What if we said to ourselves “God if you are not here, then I am lost”.
We grow when we go through the motions and we put our heart into it.
Become an Expert in Your Faith
Malcolm Gladwell popularized becoming an expert based on 10,000 hours of study. For example, The Beatles spent years in Europe before they became stars. They honed their playing and writing abilities there. Far from an overnight sensation, they had struggled and prepared themselves. Bill Gates similarly developed himself from the age of 13 to 23 to become an expert in programming.
But it is not 10000 hours of practice that is required to be an expert. Rather it is 10000 hours of deliberate practice. Fr. Mike describes that his guitar playing peaked after 4 years and now he just plays the same old songs.
We grow by performing our duty but also putting our heart into it.
Queen Elizabeth did her duty but she did it like she had chosen it and that she believed it was worthwhile. Her heart was in it and it made all the difference.
In our Faith, we should be trying to be saints. We should do what is asked of us with our whole hearts keeping that goal in mind. Meaningful tasks oriented to a worthy goal.
Suggested Homily
Scripture References
Luke 17:5-10
Habakkuk 1:2-3
Timothy 1:6-8