黃謙善神父 – 主日講道


Here’s a list of the seven deadly sins: pride, avarice, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth. We basically understand most of them, except perhaps for sloth, which is more than laziness. The best way to understand sloth is with a description. Imagine a man who’s successful in life: He supports and loves his family, succeeds at work, sleeps enough, exercises, and makes time for friends. When it comes to his relationship with God, he gives little time to this, and does the minimum for his spiritual needs. He’s not a bad person. But we know he has the sin of sloth precisely because, in other areas of his life, he’s driven.

In 2013, Vinicio Riva went to Rome and, during a large papal audience, reached out to kiss Pope Francis’s ring, and the Holy Father embraced him. The world took notice because Vinicio is severely disfigured due to neurofibromatosis. Here are two pictures (https://www.ncronline.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_slideshow/public/stories/images/DisfiguredMan.jpg?itok=cerWemjF; https://media.newyorker.com/photos/590951ec2179605b11ad3278/master/pass/pope-francis-kisses-face-580.jpeg). Normally, people stay away from him, which is why he said, “What astonished me is that [the pope] didn’t think twice on embracing me. I’m not contagious, but he didn’t know. He just did it; he caressed all my face, and while he was doing that, I felt only love.

If you had a magical power to change the world, what would you do (Matthew Kelly, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, 143-145)? “Superheroes use their powers to outwit the bad guys”; song writers use their powers to win the heart of the one they love. But, if we had the power to change the world, shouldn’t we use it for the greatest good, for the greatest number of people, and for the longest duration?

Believe it or not, we choose some of our anxieties. That’s because some are based on our world view. When we’re in high school and university, for example, we experience great anxiety to get good grades, but this is based on the world view that our identity is based on our performance. We should aim for excellence and do our best, but God doesn’t demand only A’s. If we believed and lived this truth, we’d have less anxiety.

Many of us struggle with highs and lows in our lives: When we’re high, we’re very high, but unfortunately unprepared for problems and sufferings that eventually come. If you’re the kind of person who gets surprised at suffering, such as when COVID-19 struck the world, this may apply to you. On the other hand, once we’re low, we’re distraught, forgetful that God’s still with us.

There’s a popular YouTube channel about exercise and one of the videos is entitled, “Can you touch your fingers behind your back? (Big Problem!).” An athlete should be able to put one hand behind their head and one behind their back and then touch their fingers—this flexibility will help them exercise properly.

If we’re suffer from any discouragement, God doesn’t want this. Discouragement is a normal part of life, but it’s not from God. In the past three weeks, I’ve observed these types of discouragement: 1) People getting frustrated with themselves, their mistakes and failures; 2) Someone admitted, looking back on this year, “I wondered if God would accept me, after what I’ve done”—that’s the voice of doubt; 3) “I’m sick of being at home. I can’t go anywhere”—that’s an exaggeration, but the feeling of helplessness points to a deprivation of meaningful human contact.

There are two things you can do to see God’s blessings in your life: 1) Perspective. Our life is probably better than we think. One time, the wife of author Michael Hyatt asked, “How was your day?” “Man, it was terrible.” “Really, what was so bad about it?” When he finished telling her, she said, “It sounds to me like you had a really bad 20 minutes, not a bad day.” He said, “That’s pretty much right, because the rest of the day was pretty great”

In 1965 Archbishop Sheen quoted Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist, that about a third of people who saw him didn’t have a “clinically definable neurosis,” but were suffering from “senselessness and aimlessness” in their lives ! It’s an existential crisis, a lack of meaning and purpose, an anxiety, and a problem of living. This reminds me of our culture, which is spiritually empty: We don’t seriously reflect on why we exist, the meaning of life, and what comes after death. Our emptiness has deepened now that we’re more anxious about our physical health and are more isolated.

Some of you might have enjoyed the movie Parasite, a Korean film that won last year’s Academy award for best picture. The film is very well acted and well made, but let me tell you why I think it’s not a good film: It’s because it justifies moral evil. In the film, there is a rich and poor family, and in order to have a better life, the impoverished family gravely lies, causes people to lose their jobs, causes bodily harm, steals, damages property, attempts murder, and kills. The movie does not portray these as wrong actions, but sometimes even makes light of them.
