Dear Friends,
John the Baptist is one of the towering figures in the season of Advent. He is, as we heard Isaiah quoted in today's passage from the Gospel of St. Mark, “a voice of one crying out in the desert,” preparing the way of the Lord. As we prepare for the way of our Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas, John the Baptist stands in this season calling us to prepare the way of the Lord and proclaiming repentance. We know what repentance generally is: renouncing our sins, doing penance for them, striving to live by virtue instead of vice. The word “repentance” literally means to turning around. Repentance is turning around and going down a path other than the path of sin. Taken a step further, repentance is turning around and changing the way we think. St. Paul tells us to “put on the mind of Christ.” This is repentance: changing our way of thinking to put on the mind of Christ and think and see as Christ thinks and sees.
All of this serves as an introduction to a comment on I read on Twitter in which someone stated, “God wants us to have as long and fruitful of a life as possible.” The comment further insinuated that God's ultimate desire is for us to be prosperous and successful. While this can be interpreted as “prosperity gospel” thinking, it also is a part of what is “moralistic therapeutic deism.” Moralistic therapeutic deism is probably how many people view Christianity, and if we put on the mind of Christ, we turn away from moralistic therapeutic deism. There are five basic principles of moralistic therapeutic deism:
- A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
- God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die.
Put on the mind of Christ, for these principles, while they sound like Christianity, are not the mind of Christ. Jesus Christ makes life better but doesn't make life easy; He doesn't promise success, prosperity, or even happiness on earth. At the same time, Jesus makes it clear that He came so that we may have life in abundance (John 10:10). He promises to be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Jesus reminds us that we are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31), and He urges us often to not be afraid. Nevertheless, how do we experience that life in abundance? By conforming ourselves to the Heart of Jesus Christ; by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and following Jesus; by living out in our lives the dying and rising of Jesus Christ. What God wants of us is to become more and more like His Son—this is the mind of Christ.
As we continue through Advent, we will continue to strive to put on the mind of Christ, particularly looking at what Christianity is all about and what our role and participation is meant to be.
We are saints under construction, putting on the mind of Christ and striving to imitate Christ in all things. Have a great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt