There is a growing trend in the American Catholic Church that is disheartening at best and spiritually dangerous at worst. It is the shuttering of churches for federal holidays. This Sunday’s Gospel reminds us to “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22:21). Unfortunately, we are losing sight of what this means. When we close our parishes for federal holidays, we are rendering to the state what belongs to God. It is a lost opportunity to minister to souls who need us to be present on those days throughout the year. It is a refusal to put the needs of others before our own comfort and ease.
Ministry is deeply difficult and sacrificial. It is not a 9-to-5 job, nor is it a job that can be done halfway or in a lukewarm manner. It requires a willingness to be disliked, and even hated, for the salvation of souls. It requires us to go into the darkness many people are trapped in, including many baptized Catholics sitting in our pews but who are spiritually lost and in great danger. It requires a relinquishment of our desire for comfort and ease.
It is very easy, especially with the veneer of social media, to think things are going exceedingly well. On the surface it may appear to be so, but it only takes a willingness to dive more deeply into people’s lives to uncover the adultery, IVF, contraception, pornography, occult, LGBT struggles, promiscuity, technology addictions, abuse, family fragmentation, suffering, sickness, and lukewarmness that is so prevalent. I’ve dealt with all these issues in ministry and much more.
If I had taken the approach of running people through the Sacraments like a conveyor system, I would never have known these issues were lurking beneath the surface. I would have run children and adults through Sacraments while patting myself on the back for a job well done. I know what’s under the surface, which is why I’ve tried to dive deeper with people rather than remain on the surface. There’s no patting oneself on the back once you see reality.
This issue is profoundly connected to canceling Mass, Confession, Adoration, and ministry events on federal holidays. It reveals an attitude of comfort that is too prevalent in ministry. There is a mentality of ease and how we should view ministry as another job like a banker or post office worker. This is not why anyone should be serving in ministry. We serve to save souls. That’s the only good reason to be serving Christ in active ministry in the Church. Saving souls is brutally hard. If it’s easy, then something is wrong.
Something I quickly realized in ministry is how federal holidays are often the days families and college students are most available. The different priests I have served with and I had to make allowances to reach these souls in need. Our campus ministry retreats often coincided with federal holidays because this was when the students could afford to do an overnight retreat. They were less likely to come to an overnight retreat if it wasn’t on three-day weekend. I didn’t take the federal holiday off because the needs of my students mattered more than a vacation day for me. My ministry conformed to the needs of the people I served, not my own needs.
We must die-to-self to save souls. We are rendering to Caesar too much of what belongs to God, and the souls in our care are paying for it—be it through lukewarmness or through complete loss in darkness while they remain trapped in mortal sins. Ministry requires a willingness to walk into the tombs so that Christ can use us to bring out the Lazaruses in our midst or the Magdalenes overrun with demons. This requires us to show up when we’d rather be on vacation.
Our role in ministry is to save souls and help others grow in holiness. This means doing everything in our power to make the Sacraments and opportunities for spiritual growth as accessible as possible. Our parishes and other ministries should not be built around a secular business model. They should be entirely focused on the needs of those in our care. Our mindset should be eternal not secular.
Celebrating Mass, Confession, and opportunities for Adoration on federal holidays give working people another opportunity to get to Mass or to encounter Christ in a deeper way. They may not have other times in the year to attend a daily Mass. Confession times might be only when they are working. If parish staff are off on those federal holidays, there is no reason why the Sacraments cannot still be available. It may be that we need to run retreats or other events on federal holidays for the sake of the people we serve.
When I was serving as a Director of Faith Formation, the Lord put on my heart a passage from Matthew 14:13-22 [bold added]:
When Jesus heard of it, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” [Jesus] said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
In the Revised Standard Version, it says: “He was taken up by the needs of the crowd.” The Lord goes away to pray in union with His Heavenly Father. The needs of the crowd are so great that they seek Him out. They are hungry for Him. They ultimately desire the Bread of Life, but they don’t know it yet.
The Lord does not turn the crowds away. He does not shutter the church doors for the federal holiday. Instead, His heart is moved with pity, and He cures them. He is taken up with their needs, and He expends every ounce of His heart for them. The disciples don’t fully understand the call nor the infinite love of Christ. They are much too hard-hearted still, as are we. We don’t see with supernatural vision. We see with worldly eyes.
The Lord asks the disciples to give the crowd something to eat. He commands them to do it. They don’t understand the supernatural nature of the question, but it is revealing how quickly they want to be let off the hook. They want to send those in need away. How often we do the same, including me. Our hearts do not burn fully with the Sacred Heart, so we want to turn people away. “Don’t they know it’s a vacation day?” It is the exact same mentality that has crept into too many ministries.
The priesthood is called to provide the supersubstantial bread of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ to starving people. We live in an age when souls are starving to death. We need to be fed repeatedly to continue on the arduous journey. There are souls who are physically, mentally, or spiritually sick who need to be cured by Jesus through the Holy Eucharist, Confession, and quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. We are still called to cure the sick and be taken up by the needs of the crowd, whether priest, religious, or laity.
This is not only the obligation of priests. It is the obligation of all disciples. How many people come to us in need that we want to turn away because we are tired, struggling, clinging to comfort, busy, or hard-hearted? It’s happened to me many times. Our hearts are still too much made of stone, and we desperately need the Lord to give us hearts of flesh.
Ministry is a sharing in the needs of the suffering, lost, broken, grieving, and inconvenient. Ministry is exhausting, frustrating, demanding, painful, and requires every ounce we have within us and more through the graces Christ gives to us in the Sacraments and prayer. In those moments when we discover we are becoming lukewarm or hard-hearted, we need to commit ourselves to being fully united to Him and the needs of the crowd. We need to open wide the doors and let the weary find rest, healing, nourishment, strength, and peace in Him.
Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash
