Fool for Christ

They said, “He is out of his mind.” Mark 3:2

When my sisters and I were going to QC Jail to preach the Word of God and bring merienda to the inmates, my sister asked her husband if he wanted to go with us. He answered violently, “Are you crazy?” Eventually however Charlie came along and towards the end (before the pandemic when QC Jail would be closed to visitors), he would even go by himself, a lonely figure carrying two bags of snacks one on each hand. 

Indeed when we serve God, some may think we are not quite sane! But we are in good company! How much more when men and women refuse to recant their faith? How many have been martyred because they stood fast for Jesus? How many have been beheaded, skinned alive, tortured on racks and placed in dungeons? How many have been thrown to the lions, burned at the stake or beaten to death? 

Then there are the saints who give up all their worldly possessions. People have historically called them ‘holy fools’. These days it is not so life threatening to be a Christian unless you live in Nigeria, Yemen, South Korea, Libya, Eritrean, etc. But to be a Christian and follow Jesus’ teachings require that we live a lifestyle totally contrary to the way the world has chosen to live.

The priest in this morning’s homily was saying that when he entered seminary for high school, he was quite idealistic. But then there were senior seminary students who asked if he had a girlfriend and he said he didn’t. He wanted to see if he could live celibate for the Lord. He was taunted for his choice. And so the world looks on and even encourages when women choose to kill their babies, when single people have one night stands, when married couples split up and look for other partners, not considering the emotional and psychological toll on souls that have been created by God to be pure and holy. 

Why is the world in such a terrible mess today? Because not many people are willing to be fools for the Lord! Are we convinced about what the Bible says? It isn’t always popular to accept what Jesus says, that He is the way, the truth and the life. And many think the Gospel of a crucified and resurrected Jesus makes no sense at all! If we seek the truth, if we want to be faithful to the truth, then no doubt the world will say, as they said of Jesus, “ They are out of their minds!”