For the last couple of weeks, I worked at the St. John’s Hospital here in Springfield as a full-time chaplain. My time at St. John’s hospital was an excellent opportunity for me to experience pastoral hospital ministry in a more intense way than usual. I had encounters that both challenged and strengthened my faith and relationship with God in a different way. I also had encounters that left me reflecting on the condition of our Catholic faith in the present times. One of such encounters was my visit to a mid-aged lady in her hospital room one afternoon, who described herself as a cafeteria Catholic.

When I visit patients, they usually understand that I am a Catholic priest because I dress like one and introduce myself as one. Because of this, they usually expect that I jump into giving them the Holy Communion or the other sacraments. But very often, I do not talk about the sacraments until after getting to know the patient and his or her treatment and health condition. And when I talk about the sacraments, I normally start by inquiring about the patient’s faith condition.

As a Catholic priest-chaplain, I visit mostly Catholic patients. But I understand that there are too many kinds of Catholics in our times. While some Catholics are practicing and are sacramentally disposed to receive the sacraments, others may be practicing but not sacramentally prepared to receive the sacraments. However, there are others who are non-practicing but asks for the sacraments. For these reasons, asking about a patient’s faith condition is, for me, a necessary step before administering the sacraments to them.

So, on that beautiful afternoon, I walked into this patient’s room. When I inquired about her faith, she told me she is a cafeteria Catholic. I never had of “cafeteria Catholicism” before that afternoon. So, I asked her what she meant. She graciously explained that the way I pick my foods at a cafeteria is the same way she (as a cafeteria Catholic) does with Catholic teachings. I smiled and asked about her relationship with the sacraments. I know that one ought to be in good condition with the Church (believing and practicing all that the Church teaches about our Lord Jesus Christ) to be disposed to receive the sacraments.

My encounter with this patient at the hospital left me reflecting on our faith as Catholics. Somehow, many of us have become cafeteria Catholics. Sometimes, intentionally and other times, unintentionally. We all know what the Church should and should not teach, believe, and practice. Our subjective interpretations of the catechetical and biblical teachings of the Church have become more important than the objective interpretations of these divine truths and moral teachings. Unfortunately, the rejection or abandonment of any of the teachings of the Church, catechetical or scriptural, indicates membership in the cafeteria Catholicism. This cafeteria Catholicism is different from the Roman Catholicism into which we are baptized.

This weekend, the first reading comes from the book of Jeremiah. It begins with, “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture.” After this scary pronouncement and later in the passage, the prophet proceeded to declare God’s intention to gather the remnant of his flock and appoint shepherds for them.

Jeremiah, one of the Old Testament Bible’s major prophets, lived in a time in Israel when shepherds (priests and prophets) had authorities that transcend religious boundaries. While there were kings and judges, the shepherds were revered authority figures.

During Jeremiah’s time, there were so many challenges and problems. Many of these were social, political, and economic dilemmas, which were rooted in the high moral decadence of the Jewish culture of the time. Some of these problems include infidelity to God, corruption, abuses in the places of worship, idolatry, apostasies, and an increased number of false prophets. The society also faced some difficult challenges. The invasions from their neighboring nations in the north and the long-standing drought were among the more devastating challenges that ravaged the Jewish society during the time of Prophet Jeremiah.

While these problems and difficulties prevailed, the people suffered political instability, economic stagnation, insecurity, and countless social crises. God saw all these and became embittered. His anger was on the shepherds, leaders of the people, who have abandoned the ways of God and preached the ways of men. These leaders engaged in false prophecies, idolatries, false circumcisions, and corrupt practices that destroyed the people’s faith and weakened their relationships with God.

The same problems that attracted the wrath of God upon the shepherds of the people during the time of Jeremiah seem to be present in our own culture today. Infidelity to God? In our times, we have men and women who parade themselves as Catholics but continue to support and enact laws that contradict the teachings of Christ. The abortion law, which directly contradicts the fifth commandment, is one example of this. Abuses in places of worship? The many bad liturgical practices, sexual and financial misconducts among some church officials in our times are abuses in places of worship.

False prophets? Ordained church ministers who agree with some of the teachings of the Church and disagree with others are no less false prophets. Idolatry? People who choose football games or other sporting, shopping, and business activities on Sunday mornings over going to Masses are no less idolatrous. They replace the worship of God with these activities to the detriment of their souls and the souls of the people they influence.

This week, let us pray for God to touch and transform the lives of our leaders (parents and civic leaders) and shepherds (priests and bishops). May they not lead us astray but to God, who is the source of all good things. Amen.

Our second reading for this Sunday from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians is one of my favorite readings in the Church’s liturgy.  It is packed with powerful phrases that get to the heart of what it means for us to live as people of faith, that the Father “destined us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:4-5) and that “we might exist for the praise of His glory.” (Eph 1:12)

As I read through this reading again, the verse that struck me was the following: “In Him we were also chosen.” (Eph 1:11)  The word ‘chosen’ immediately called to mind the new series on the life of Jesus called The Chosen.  It seems as though more and more people are encountering this series and sharing how much the depiction of Jesus and His disciples in the series has been fruitful to them.  In a story I read about the series, the filmmaker Dallas Jenkins described his desire to present Jesus in a way that is “a little bit more personal, intimate, immediate.”  In my experience with this series, the series has definitely accomplished that.

This past week, I was helping to lead a summer program for high school students focusing on our call to discipleship.  In a session that I led on prayer, I used a clip from the series, the one of the miraculous catch of fish.  I invited the participants to pay particular attention to the face of Jesus as He spoke to Peter and as He observed the miracle unfolding.  As I watched the clip with them, I was struck with the eyes of Jesus, how He looked upon Peter with great love as He invited Him to trust, putting out the nets after an unsuccessful night of fishing.  Then, I was moved by the joy in His face as He watched Peter and those in the boat haul in a huge catch of fish.  I then invited the participants to realize that they could use that image, that gaze of Jesus, to give them an idea of how He looks at them – with love, with delight, with joy.  He does so because each of us has been chosen by Him, chosen to be His beloved children, and chosen to live the fullness of life that comes from following Him.

I would invite all of you to do this little exercise as well.  If you go to your favorite search engine (or directly to YouTube) and search for “the catch of fish The Chosen” you should see a video that is about 5:19 in length.  Watch that video with particular attention to the face of Jesus, then bring that image of Jesus to prayer, allowing yourself to be the object of His loving gaze toward you.  Doing so can be a powerful way to enter into prayer, and it is an image we can go back to over and over again as we are invited to live with constant awareness of our being chosen by Him to be His adopted children.

Father Alford     

One of the most beautiful things about our Christian faith is that we have all the guidelines for doing the right things and avoiding the wrong things. These guidelines come in different forms throughout the scriptures. The Church has also articulated them through the many books of the sacred deposits of our faith, particularly the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2052-2534). While we find these guidelines of our faith in both the bible and the catechism, they are summed up in the ten commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).

In two of my most recent bulletin articles, I have discussed the third commandment. This third commandment is about honoring the sabbath day and keeping it holy.

In this issue, I want us to reflect on the fourth commandment – honor your father and your mother. While we first see this and the rest of the ten commandments in the Old Testament, St. Paul commented on all of them in various places across his epistles in the New Testament. In his letter to Ephesians 6:1-3, he noted the promise that God attached to the fourth commandment. This promise, “…that your days may be long… carries a lot of weight for St. Paul. So, St. Paul proceeded to say that whoever honors his father and mother have more chances of having a good life on earth.

As Christians, we can always interpret this fourth commandment to mean different things in different contexts. But in this reflection, I want to see how it applies to us in the ways we treat our parents (and their bodies) when they pass on to the next life. Do we honor them by keeping their wishes and decisions as they made them? Or do we dishonor our parents by doing what we want with their bodies and their decisions once they pass on?

Recently, I traveled to Nigeria for the funeral of my father. During his burial, a problem arose with the place of his final rest. He had decided where he wanted to be buried. Some members of the family wanted to do otherwise during his burial. They insisted on a different place, though not without legitimate reasons. But the question I was able to ask them was, “Is this about our convenience or about honoring our father even unto death?

Many people have witnessed this problem, especially with some of our devout Catholic men and women. When these staunch Catholics pass on, anyone would expect that their children will accord them a befitting catholic funeral in the most sacred and honorable way. Unfortunately, the reverse is sometimes the case. This treatment of one’s parents is highly dishonorable and goes against the fourth commandment.

Honoring one’s parents is a commandment we should do well to keep even when our parents have passed on to the next life. Praying for them and keeping their wishes and legacies to the best of our strengths is not just a charity. It is also a moral obligation based on the fourth commandment – honor your father and your mother that your days may be long (Exodus 20:12).