By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
Beware of some fallacies of today
29th Sunday in Ordinary time: October 17, 2021
Isaiah 53: 10-11; Hebrew 4: 14-16; Mark 10: 35-45
May your love be upon us O Lord, as we place all our hope on you, we say in response to the Word this Sunday. Hope is a typically Christian value that we are filled in abundance with, when we develop a true relationship with Christ the Risen Lord.
The basis of hope is faith, faith is nothing but this relationship we just referred to – a relationship that is born in recognising the Lord who communicates and in responding in the way that the Lord wants me to. When this relationship goes strong, whatever comes my way, I shall not be moved or shaken or disturbed or distressed! Nothing will ever perturb me! Because, Hope says things may go wrong for a while, struggles, temptations, troubles and difficulties might come your way, but do not lose heart – for God alone is everlasting!
The final word belongs always to God, to no one or to nothing else! At times this becomes too difficult to understand or practise, because the world teaches us things that are diametrically opposed to these values. In fact the call to hope is actually a call to unlearn these fallacies of the world today.
Every Christian is an ambassador of hope, we are apostles sent into this world to hold out hope to every person on earth. Holding out hope is not an easy task… it needs a tough unlearning of certain fallacies that the world teaches its beings ceaselessly!
Unlearning these first of all within oneself and then witnessing before the others is the call we have to live today, specially seeing all the tensions that are unceasingly on the rise, all over the world. Let us become aware of just three fallacies that we need to unlearn with urgency these days.
Fallacy 1: Life is all about happiness and pleasure
Fun, thrill, chill, prank, troll, freaking out, just do it… these are considered watchwords for today’s generation. At times we justify everything with a statement, ‘is it not to be happy after all that we do all that we do here on earth?’ No! Life is not merely about happiness and pleasure. There are difficulties, there are struggles, there are sufferings that come our way and they are not just part of our life, but crucial parts of learning in life.
Hence hope-filled personnel are those who are able to see beyond getting stuck to happiness and pleasure; there are various other values in life that Christ gives us and invites us to see!
Fallacy 2: I should be totally in control of my life
Planning ahead, programming things, forecasts and foretelling techniques: what are these but signs of desperate desire to be in control of things, of life and of everything that happens there in.
But in spite of all these, there are times when we are caught so unaware and unprepared. Just imagine how this whole experience of pandemic began, and all the circumstances that have surrounded us since then. Yes, life is not totally under our control but that does not mean we are at the mercy of chance! God is in control and the more we realise this, the more wise and mature we become.
A hope-filled person will never lose his or her cool before unexpected turns of life, because he or she knows for certain wherever life takes us, God is there with us and nothing happens without God’s knowledge!
Fallacy 3: Progress is striving to dominate everyone around
In the name of success, development and progress, what the world today teaches us is that we have to look at everyone around as a competition, a threat, someone whom we have to trample upon in order to make our way! The world is getting filled with more and more insensitivity, cruelty and inhumanity. There is craze for possession and power, without even considering the possibility of living a life that is free of corruption or exploitation. There is a widespread tendency to use persons and love things, to make pleasure more important than personal dignity, to value personal likes and dislikes far more than common good and shared vision towards true happiness.
Hope filled persons shall be counter witnesses to this situation, placing persons before things, relationships before comfort, love before success and peace before progress. They are around not to be served, but to serve; not to succeed but to live meaningfully; not to climb high but to live deep.
Overcoming these fallacies and unlearning the teachings of the world today might seem difficult, at times even absurd! But this is precisely what Christ calls us to… and he has been in every situation that we find ourselves in and he has lived a life as a perfect example of how we should. Let us look up to Christ our Hope, and stand firm in the way of life that he has taught us! Let us be hope filled persons, and fill the world with hope today, here and now!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.