May 17, 2003
Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the signs of the times, and a sign of just how strongly evil can get a hold on the times, is the excessive fascination our society has with the individual, and with self-satisfaction. The reigning personal pronouns of this era are: I, me, and mine. The goal sought by most people is personal fulfillment, and the daily slogan of millions is, "What have I done for myself today?". The most evil thing about this fascination with self is that the people responsible for selling it, and for making a profit from its marketing, aim most of their efforts at young people - at our children. A lifetime of keeping yourself happy and comfortable doesn't seem too bad to a child faced with the uncertainties of the world, and that fear is very attractive bait for the sellers of the ego culture. But the tragedy of being self-centered eventually happens - those devoted to being self-centered eventually discover they are alone. All we have to do is remember the icon of self-satisfaction - Howard Hughes - He managed during his lifetime to get everything he wanted - but he died a sad, lonely death, cut off, by paranoia and fear, from all human love and affection.
Even though money and power are very tempting powers, none of us want a tragic, lonely death for ourselves, and certainly, not for our children. And that is why, brothers and sisters, we are so committed to each other, to family, to community, to togetherness. And all this togetherness we enjoy is given to us by the strength of one person - Jesus Christ.
He draws us here, He fills us with the grace we need to be many, yet one in Him, and He fills us with the vision that we carry into the world - a vision that we know, from history, and from our own feelings, is the most effective counter-agent to he evil which fills the world. The Lord has made us one in His Body, yet at the same time, many in His Church. And He has made us "Knights" of Columbus. What Knight of Columbus thinks of himself, without thinking of his brother Knights - what Knight thinks of himself without thinking of his wife, his children, his church and his country? Our lives are filled with a power that compels us to others, and that compels us to share our goods, our riches, our talents and skills with others - and it is a manifestation of what God has given us in Jesus Christ - for we reflect, in our imperfect human way, the Lord's desire to give Himself for the sake of others - and we express this desire not as solitary individuals, but as a body, even as the Lord gathered around Himself, the Apostles, and the women, and all who wished to follow the Way of His Word and Truth.
The words of St. John, in the second reading, are a beautiful expression of what we celebrate, as believers in Christ first, and as believers in our own ability to unite and organize, second. He says:
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before [God]...[that] we should believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another...
It is as community, as family, that St. John teaches us about ourselves - he says "we", not "I" - and "our", not "mine" - and he declares that the Spirit has been given, not to "her" or to "him", but to "us."
This is the first way that being Knights of Columbus is a blessing for us, and for the world, in that together, many individuals forming one body, we show the world, and especially the young people, that true happiness and fulfillment come from working together, and from giving together - and the recognition of this blessing is the first gift that this Convention brings before God at this Mass, and offers to Him with all gratitude.
And the second is also made clear in this reading from St. John, when he tells us that we shall know in our hearts whether what we do is right or wrong - not because of any special knowledge we possess on our own, but because of the special knowledge that God puts in us though the power of His Son - especially by our hearing of Christ's word, and our celebration of His Sacraments. This is what St. John means when he says that "God is greater than our hearts and knows everything." What a relief it is, that we do not need to listen to the babble of the world to find direction and approval for our lives, and for the work of our lives - but that we can listen to the feeling that lives in our own hearts, and know, because we know God is in our hearts, that what we do is right or wrong.
How can we be certain that God is in our hearts? First, by going to Him in the Holy Eucharist as often as possible. If Jesus Christ is the vine, and we are the branches that spring out of the vine, and upon which the fruit of the vine is to appear, then it is the life that comes to us from the vine that will make the fruit possible. That life is the Body and Blood of Christ, which He gave, and which is given for us at every Mass. It is the life which begins in the ground of the Father, flows through the love of the Son, and blossoms into fruit under the light of the Holy Spirit. And what should we do, not if, but when sin attacks us, making us weak in spirit, so that the branch we are, withers and begins to separate from the vine? The Sacrament of Penance is what we should do - for in Penance, in Confession, Christ becomes the master gardener, He reaches out to this withered branch we have become, He lifts us up out of the mire of sin and selfishness into which we have fallen, and by the power of His forgiveness, grafts us back upon the vine, and restores to us the life - His life - that was ours before. If necessary, He will do this as many times as it takes, for as long as we live. Such is the gift God gives us through His Son, and no matter what the degree of our sin, if we ask, He will restore us, and speak to us once again, from the center of our being, from our hearts. This is the second gift, after togetherness, that God still loves us one by one, and through His love, makes us worthy to love one another. Our presence here, at this Mass, testifies to this awareness, and to our gratitude for this second blessing.
Dear friends, the life of Faith, the life of the Sacraments is at the center of everything the Knights of Columbus do and stand for - and with good reason. We want to be right, we want to do right, and we want to make others aware of what God can do for them. But none more than our children - for it is our children that evil most wants to lure away from good, since habits formed early in life, are the habits hardest to escape. If a child listens and hears incessantly, and begins to believe, that he is the center of the universe, that she is deserving of everything, and that getting everything the world has to offer is the be-all and end-all of life, then sadly, another Howard Hughes may be in the making.
But our work, begun in God, grafted by forgiveness onto the vine of Jesus Christ, and filled by the wonder of the Eucharist with His holy life and energy - our work is to teach the children, by the example of our lives and by the example of our works, and by the example of what we, we achieve together - that life is only good if it is for others, that I am only happy if I am a part of we, and that what is mine is only worth having, if I can make it ours.
Today, we come before God, as His devoted Knights in Convention, in solemn assembly, and we ask Him to fill us with the light of the Holy Spirit, that by our love for Him and for one another, and by our life of Faith and the Sacraments, many will be shown that there is a greater being than the being of one, and a greater happiness than the happiness of the world. And we ask further, that, by the fruits we bear, many may be drawn onto the vine, into the Church, into the family of God, into the heart of His protective and ever-renewing love. In these ways, may the Knights of Columbus continue to fulfill, and bring others to understand, that wonderful command of our Leader and Lord:
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
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