Fr. Roberto's Corner
Entitlement:
As I mentioned in my homily, the song, "No Charge" (I encourage you to listen to it on YouTube or at least to read the lyrics online) is about a little boy with a sense of entitlement - he feels he deserves to be rewarded for some of the good things he has done to help his mother. Have you said or thought, "I deserve this because I have worked hard, because I am a good person, because I have sacrificed so much," etc.? If so, you have had a sense of entitlement. Feeling a sense of entitlement is not necessarily bad; it is okay to reward ourselves now and then for our hard work or sacrifice. However, sometimes entitlement is just a way of feeling sorry for ourselves. And sometimes we can feel entitled to something that is not good for us like stealing from work, looking at pornography, using drugs, etc. We are never entitled to anything that will harm us or others.
Here are some questions for you to think about by yourself or with others:
1.
Have you ever felt a sense of entitlement? What led you to feel that way?
2.
Has someone ever told you or made you feel that you owed them for something they had done for you? How did that make you feel?
3.
Have you ever felt that God "owed" you some blessing or favor because you had been so good? Have you ever tried to "bribe" God or bargain with God asking him to do something for you if you do something for him? Can you see the inappropriateness of doing that?
Our Christian Job Description
The main point of my homily last week was that simply because we are baptized Catholics we have certain obligations the Lord has given to us to do. The main obligations Jesus has given us are contained in the Great Commandment
- "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind...[and] You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39)
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and the Great Commission -
"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).
These are not options, they are obligations and commands of Jesus; they are our Christian job description.
In my homily I showed the diagram below that gives us another way to visualize the Great Commandment and Great Commission; another way to look at our Christian job description and the obligations it entails. The figure looks like a baseball diamond where each of the bases is a part or stage of our job description: First base is "Fellowship which consists of getting to know Jesus by having a personal relationship with him. That personal relationship helps us have fellowship with Jesus and with other members of the Body of Christ, other parishioners. We fulfill this obligation by coming to Mass or to some other parish event or group. Second base is "Discipleship," which consists of growing in Jesus, i.e., growing in our faith by being more regular in coming to Mass and in our prayer, by reading the Bible, going to confession, joining a small group, etc. Third base is "Ministry" which means we serve Jesus in some way by serving others. Finally, home plate is "Mission," and this means that we share
Jesus in some way with others. Here are some questions for you to think about by yourself or with others:
1. Where are you in this diagram? Would you agree with me that most Catholics never get past first base- fellowship- i.e., that most Catholics do no more for their faith than coming to Mass or to some parish event. Does that describe you?
2. How can you move to second base - Discipleship - and "grow in Jesus" by growing in your faith? How can you move to third base - Ministry - and "serve Jesus" by serving others in some way here in the parish or outside the parish?
3. What are some ways you can make it to home plate by "sharing Jesus" with others - Mission?
4. Do you believe that every Christian has the ability and potential to complete this journey - to make it from 1st base to home?
