April 5, 2003
St Ann's, Marietta
Dear Friends in Christ, and especially, Dear Scouts,
As we grow up, and grow older, we all try to be the best person that we can be - we all try to do as much good as we can. This desire to be a good person is something that happens to us for a number of reasons. But one of the most important reasons, is that God has blessed us, by letting us be a part of the Catholic Church.
The Church offers us something that no one else has - something that helps us tremendously, as we try to be good, and as we try to do good. That something is what we call the life of the Sacraments. It is very difficult to be a good person, unless you believe that something has made you special. Many people believe they are special in and of themselves, but we believe we are special to God, because of Baptism. That is our beginning - that is where our goodness gets its start - and then later on, it is made even stronger when we are confirmed. And as we grow older, we understand more and more, that in the Sacrament of Penance, we are given a way to solve the problem of the bad things we might do - and all of us do bad things at times. And with the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, we receive the greatest help of all - we let Jesus Christ, who was God, and who was also the perfect man, come into our hearts and souls, and make us strong - make us better able to be good, and to do good, even when all around us, we see people doing exactly the opposite.
But belonging to Christ, and being good and doing good does not mean that we have an easy life. In the Gospel this morning, we hear a strong lesson about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It is summed up in one of the lines of the Gospel that says:
So there was a [great] division among the people over him.
We know, that in our time, there is still great division over Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to be humble, not to make too much of ourselves - He taught us to be generous to a fault, to give until it hurts to give - He taught us to be true to the commandments of God: not to curse or swear, not to steal, not to kill, not to lie, and to keep ourselves pure, and without greed - and He taught us to meet all situations that confront us, with love for our neighbor.
You don't need me to tell you that these ideals are not well-served in the world around us. You can see for yourselves that many, many people would rather take than give, would rather be powerful than humble - and many people do not think twice about giving themselves over to impurity, not caring what they do, not caring what they say.
And even though we try to be good, even though we have the Church and the Sacraments to help us, there is still the weakness that we share as human beings, and there is still, all around us, the temptation to do bad, the temptation to sin.
Because of that, and because these temptations will be with us all our lives, we have to make special efforts, every day, to know our Lord better, and to try to be more like Him - and being like our Lord, being good from the bottom of our hearts takes work and determination. That is what Catholic Scouting is all about - work and determination - learning to let yourself be guided by discipline and by study, by applying your skills to a problem and by solving the problem with steady determination, persistence, stick-to-it-iveness. Scouting works in cooperation with the grace that comes from the Sacraments, to make you a better person, and to make your lives more rewarding.
But Scouting teaches something even more important -something even closer to the heart of our Lord - and that is, that having a good and rewarding life, does not come just from accomplishing things, or winning awards, or becoming leaders. Having a rewarding life comes from service - from serving other people - doing good for other people, knowing that doing good for others will make us good, and make us stay good. You have all heard, "Do a good turn daily," and "Doing good is its own reward." They are old sayings, but they are still true.
Now today, we are going to give some special awards to some special scouts. But I want you all to remember something, especially everyone who is not going to receive an award. We give awards because it is good to recognize outstanding effort and achievement. And I want to encourage you to admire the talents and accomplishments of these award-winners, because admiring good things about other people, and admiring their accomplishments, makes us try harder to be better ourselves. And even more important, admiring other people, keeps us from being jealous. There is no reason here for jealousy, or for feeling left out. In the Scouts, just like in the Church, the accomplishments of a few, are the accomplishments of the many. Our Lord did not start the Church and make it work on his own - He had the help of His friends, the Apostles, to work hard, and make His dream come true. Sometimes the Apostles were jealous of each other. But the Lord was always quick to step in, and He would say to them:
I have called you friends...so do what I command you to do...love one another...and love your neighbor as yourself.
Dear Scouts, I want you to remember, after this Mass is over, this special lesson of our Lord - that we are friends, that our love for all people begins with our love for each other. I want you to remember that if you keep going to the Sacraments, and if you keep following the ideals of Scouting, then you will become more of the young men and women that our Lord wants you to be, instead of what people in the world might want you to be. And I want you to remember, above all, that the greatest award a Scout can receive, the greatest award that anyone can receive, has already been given to us. It was when Jesus Christ said to us: I have called you friendsÉso do what I command you to doÉ
With those words pinned like a medal, on our minds and hearts, we can leave here today, always prepared to be good and to do good, and to live up to the ideals of Catholic Scouting - for we have received together, the "Friendship of Jesus Christ" award, and nothing in the world could be better than that.
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