Why Catholics Accept Hard Teachings

Why Catholics Accept Hard Teachings

Jesus said to his disciples: 'To you who hear, I say…' and then he went on with what he wanted to teach them.

By the words Jesus used, it seems as though this gospel is addressed not to everyone who is listening, but only to those who are prepared to hear the word of God, take it into their heart, and live it. Jesus is about to give many “hard teachings,” and he knows that those who are not prepared to receive it will either leave him or totally misunderstand what he is talking about. As in the Bread of Life Discourse in John Chapter 6, where Jesus gave a "hard teaching" by saying, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life within you.” In that case, many of the disciples left him saying, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

The sad thing is that still today, surveys show that the majority of Catholics and almost all other Christians don't believe in this foundational truth that Jesus is speaking of—the true presence of his body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. People weren't back then and still aren't today ready to hear Jesus' message. It's just too hard for the unprepared to hear and accept.

When Jesus heard his disciples murmuring about this “hard saying,” he said to them, “Does this shock you? Many of the disciples left and returned to their former way of life because of this hard saying, and Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Do you also want to leave?” But Peter, who was prepared to hear, said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” I can imagine Jesus saying in reply, “Good answer, Peter.”

While Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist is the only place in scripture where it is recorded that the disciples said one of his teachings was “hard,” today's gospel has many “hard teachings.” Hard teachings that we must be prepared to hear and take into our own heart. Things like: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. At some point in our lives, all of us have had to deal with some of these issues. These are “hard sayings.” Do they shock you?

Today's gospel is filled with commands from the Lord on how he wants us to live our lives, and guess what—not one of them is easy. Often, we can't truly hear and accept what Jesus is saying to us because we have not developed a strong relationship of trust and love with him. We have allowed the noise of the world to drown him out. We must consistently use the Spiritual Exercises of Daily Mass, daily rosary, daily morning and evening prayer, daily lectio divina, daily Holy Hour, and frequent Confession to continually improve our spiritual hearing, strengthen our relationship with Christ, and filter out the noise that all five of our senses are constantly receiving. This noise distracts us and prevents us from hearing the Lord when he speaks to us. I guess you could say the Spiritual Exercises I mentioned are our Spiritual Hearing Aids, helping us to be as Jesus said, “One who hears,” acknowledging that we can't do it on our own.

Through all the years of my diaconate formation, Jesus said many things to me and each member of my class that were hard for us to accept. Things like: don't listen to or look upon things that draw you away from me. Trust me, surrendering yourself to me body, mind, and soul, and I will be with you in all circumstances. Come follow me and serve me, my Church, and my people as a deacon. Upon hearing this call from Jesus, we may have felt unworthy—heck, most of us may still feel unworthy—I know I do, but we trusted him and were willing to give him our fiat, our yes, every day, to live in service to him for the remainder of our earthly life.

The topic of hearing—or not hearing—when God speaks to us had a major impact on my family when I was growing up. I was raised Baptist, but we never went to church consistently. The lack of God in my parents' lives caused all kinds of worldly problems within their marriage, which eventually led to divorce. Throughout those tough years, I know God was calling them, wanting them to come back, but the background noise was too much for them to hear Him. I am certain of this because there were times when my mom would come home from work excited, saying, “We're going back to church starting this Sunday.” And we would, but it never lasted more than a couple of weeks. Until later in life, neither of my parents could overcome the noise of the world—the static, the white noise—that the enemy used to prevent them from hearing God's call and to distract them from focusing on God.

Early in my formation, Deacon James Keating conducted a summer retreat for our class. Something he said that resonated with me was that every day after receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, he would pray, “Lord Jesus, please unleash in me whatever is needed for me to become a great deacon.” This prayer struck me because it presupposes that the Lord had already provided him with everything he needed to be a great deacon. We must regularly ask the Lord to unleash the gifts He has given us, enabling us to hear His voice, believe His message for us, and serve Him according to His will.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, as we continue to surrender ourselves to You, I ask with all my heart that You send the Holy Spirit upon us. Unleash in all of us whatever is needed for us to become great followers of you and the Church You founded—the Catholic Church. We ask all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.