Many of you know that I am originally from Chicago, from the Northside neighborhood of Rogers Park, one of Chicago’s most diverse and most densely populated neighborhoods. I have fond memories of growing up there until the age of 12. As most of you know, I remain a diehard Chicago Cubs fan, in winning seasons and in the tough seasons, of which there are many. Growing up in Chicago, I appreciated the wonderful museums there: the Field museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Adler Planetarium, and the Chicago Historical Society. Even as a child, I realized that Art Institute of Chicago was a very special place. Art collectors in Chicago recognized early on the importance of the French Impressionists in France in the 19th and 20th century, acquiring a lot of paintings that would later become treasured masterpieces.
I bring this up because I heard of a story about the great artists Henri Matisse and Auguste Renoir, who both have paintings displayed prominently in the Art Institute in Chicago. These men had a very close friendship. Renoir, who was much older than Matisse, suffered from arthritis the last several years of his life, but he still painted every day. Even when his fingers were too crippled to grasp the paintbrush, his wife would attach the brush to his hand. One day, when Matisse observed Renoir wincing in terrible pain with each stroke of the paintbrush, he asked his friend, “My dear Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you’re in such agony?” Renoir’s response was immediate: When I paint, “the beauty remains, but the pain passes.” Renoir was so passionate about his art that he painted every day until he died. His paintings are a testament to his artistic genius and to his dedication to his craft. Pain, suffering, sacrifice, and commitment are part of life for many great artists, such as Renoir.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus demands commitment of his disciples, a commitment that is beyond ourselves and our other relationships, beyond our earthly possessions, beyond any sacrifices we could imagine. We are not called to be half-hearted disciples who are complacent and lazy. We are called to make a total commitment with high standards, not a commitment of convenience that does not involve any risk or rejection or criticism from others.
French Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin is now remembered as one of the most ground-breaking Catholic theologians of the 20th century, even thought his writings were so revolutionary that their publication was prohibited during his lifetime. He was a renowned philosopher and paleontologist who spent a lot of his journey as a priest pondering the meaning of our human existence and our relationship with the divine in our lives. He died back in 1955. Teilhard de Chardin is remembered for this famous quote: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Perhaps that quote inspires us to look at the world and our lives in a different way. We can be so immersed in our humanness and in the values of the world and of our culture that we need to remember that we are indeed human beings comprised of both body and spirit - that there is more than just our material world and our material values.
However, in the midst of our journey of faith, we can never forget the presence of God’s grace and God’s mercy. Many of you may remember the Year of Mercy that Pope Francis declared back in 2016. Pope John Paul II once stated this about God’s mercy: “The present-day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the human heart the very idea of mercy.” What we often see in our world today is people wanting mercy for themselves both from God and from their fellow human being, but often not wanting mercy for others when they need it or desire it. We often can be very unmerciful to others.
Yet, Pope Francis gives us hope when he states: “Nothing unites us to God more than an act of mercy, for it is by mercy that the Lord forgives our sins and gives us the grace to practice acts of mercy in his name.” Perhaps the acts of mercy that we engage in will have a profound affect on our hearts and our behavior, which is a hope that Pope Francis has for al of us.
We have had some tough Gospel’s these past few weeks: Gospel messages that challenge us to take up our crosses to follow Jesus, to journey each day as humble disciples, to strive to enter the narrow gate. Indeed, Jesus never said that being his disciple was going to be easy.
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