The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
Habakkuk 1:2-3;2:2-4  +  2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14  +  Luke 17:5-10
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Andale, KS
October 5, 2025

“… bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

St. Paul is challenging us when he commands us in today’s Second Reading to bear our fair share of hardship.  It’s a challenge made more difficult by the fact that we’re surrounded by a culture steering us in the opposite direction:  that is, towards more and more comfort.

“… bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

There are two parts to what St. Paul is saying here.

First, he’s commanding you who call yourselves Christians to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel”.  That’s the challenge.

But the second part of St. Paul’s command offers us hope, because he doesn’t say that we have to bear our hardship alone, in isolation.  Instead, we’re meant to bear our share of hardship for the Gospel “with the strength that comes from God.”

When St. Paul refers to “the strength that comes from God”, he’s talking about grace.  Human effort—that is, human strength—and God’s grace—that is, divine strength—are always meant to go hand-in-hand.  You cannot be an authentic Christian without both hard human effort and God’s free grace both working together within your soul.  If you try to get to Heaven only by your own hard work, without turning to God for His grace, not only will you not get to Heaven, but you will become very hardened and bitter.

On the other hand, if you try to get to Heaven only by God’s grace, without lifting a finger to work hard to cooperate with God’s providential will for your life, not only will you not get to Heaven, but you will become lazy and think that it’s everyone else’s job to care for you and your needs.  You cannot be an authentic Christian without both hard human effort and God’s free grace, both at work within your soul.

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Given all that as background, consider one specific problem in the Christian life.  Reflect on this problem in light of the fact that every October the Church calls each of us to consider more seriously the Church’s pro-life mandate.

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One way that Christians often over-simplify the spiritual life, and make it less than what God intends, is to think that the spiritual life is simply about “staying away from mortal sin”.  A well-meaning Christian might say to himself, “As long as I stay away from mortal sin, I’m on my way to heaven.”

Obviously, it’s incredibly important to stay away from mortal sin:  we might say it’s foundational.  But like with a house, you only build a foundation in order to put something on top of it.  When someone looks at a house, the foundation had better be there, and be strong, or the house is not going to be there when the going gets tough.  But when someone looks at a house, they don’t look at the foundation.  In the same way, when we die, and God judges our soul, the foundation had better be there.  But that’s not what God’s going to be looking for.

Here’s the question:  What are you building on top of the foundation?  Above and beyond staying away from mortal sin, you are called to choose among many good options in life, and do the greatest amount of good that you can during the years of your earthly life.  This is one of the reasons for using the corporal and spiritual works of mercy in order to make an examination conscience, along with also using the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes to make an examination of conscience.

So when Jesus judges your soul after you die, he’s going to ask, “What did you do for the least of my brethren?”  “Did you have faith enough to see me, Jesus, when you looked at the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the homeless?  Did you—so that others might know Me—instruct the ignorant, give counsel to the doubtful and comfort to the sorrowful, admonish the sinner, and pray for the living and the dead?”

Do not define your life, and your faith, by what you don’t do, saying, “I don’t miss Mass on Sundays and Holy Days.  I don’t break the big Commandments.”  These statements begin with the word “I”.

The life lived in faith, that Christ calls us more deeply into, is shaped by the sacrifices that we do make for others.  It’s not about what “I” “don’t do”.  Instead, it’s about what is done, for others.

Here we see what it means to be “pro-life”.  I’m not pro-life simply because I’ve never had an abortion, or encouraged someone else to do so, or co-operated with someone who committed abortion.  Viewing our faith that way is like saying that I’m a patriotic American because I’ve never flown an airplane into a skyscraper.

But a patriot isn’t someone who does not harm his country.  A patriot is someone who does make sacrifices for his country.  The men and women of our military who are overseas, in hostile territory:  those persons are patriots.  They set the standard for the rest of us to live up to as Americans.  Maybe we can only fly a flag outside our homes or businesses, or send care packages, or pray rosaries for the members of our Armed Forces, but those sacrifices will make a difference.

Likewise, God calls each Christian to be pro-life.  During this month of October, you are called by God to reflect seriously upon what sacrifices you will make to defend the right of the unborn to live.  How will you do what Saint Paul encourages Timothy in the Second Reading to do:  to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God?”