Religion and Life

Thursday of the First Week of Advent A-1

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 119 (118):151-152 You, O Lord, are close, and all your ways are truth. From of old I have known of your decrees, for you are eternal.

Collect Stir up your power, O Lord, and come to our help with mighty strength, that what our sins impede the grace of your mercy may hasten. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Isaiah 26:1-6; Psalm 118:1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a; Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples, “Not every one who says to me, Lord! Lord! will enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he who does the will of my heavenly Father, he it is who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me on that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and worked many miracles in your name? And then I will say to them, I do not know you. Depart from me, you wicked people. Every one therefore who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. When the rain fell and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house it did not fall for it was founded on rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof. (Matthew 7:21, 24-27)

Religion and Life When we consider the religious life of much of human history we can see a pattern. Man is religious, so much so that there are scholars who, while allowing that man is a rational animal, prefer to describe and even define him primarily as a religious animal. That is to say, they regard his distinguishing feature as lying in religion. They observe how — with the exception of the modern anomaly of Western secular culture and those cultures influenced by Western secularism — in society after society and culture after culture, religion is the all‑pervading fabric. Religious sacrifices and ritual and religious myth (“myth” used in the sense of story) seem to be present wherever there is man and society. But while there is this general pattern that man and society is marked by religion, I would also observe that there is an associated pattern. That associated pattern is that religion tends to be separated from daily morality. By that I mean that the gods are placated or appealed to with sacrifices and ritual but religion has tended to be that alone. I remember attending an informal lecture at the University of Sydney given by a scholar of Zoroastrianism. He defined religion as being a technology, a way of gaining various benefits and blessings from the powers above. This is done by ritual. Even though anthropologists point out that in most cultures religion pervades life, my impression is that this does not issue in a notably good and moral daily life. Religion in traditional societies is the general context of life rather than an all-pervading and personal commitment. That is personal conjecture and one that is meant merely to illustrate my main point. My real point derives from what our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel. Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” It is not enough often to pray, indeed to pray a lot — even though prayer is absolutely essential to religion and for any true relationship with God. It is not enough to offer sacrifices and engage in ritual. What God wants of us also is that we be good. Be holy, we read in the Old Testament, for I am holy.

The revealed religion of the Old and New Testaments is distinguished precisely by this, that the worship and love of God must include a very moral life. God’s commandments for everyday life must be observed if God is to be well pleased, and whenever this is not the case God is displeased with the sacrifices and observances of religion. Time and again the prophets inveigh against the people for their sacrifices because they oppress and disregard the poor, they are immoral in their everyday lives, and in general they do not observe the commandments of God that relate to one’s neighbour. So called “religion” is separated from personal and social morality. Of the Ten Commandments the last seven relate to right dealings with one’s neighbour. They require that we be good and moral in relation to others. Our Lord said to his disciples that if they love him they will keep his commandments, and his commandment is clear from his description of the Last and General Judgment (Matthew 25). In that description the Saviour makes it clear that a great deal will hinge on having lived a good and moral life: which is to say, being just and charitable and helping those in need. All this is to say that religion means doing the will of God, not only when fulfilling one’s “religious duties” at prayer or worship, but constantly in everyday life. The man of religion is such in his work office, at his work bench, in his profession or trade, among his friends and acquaintances, wherever he happens to be each day of his life. We are called to worship God day by day and indeed moment by moment precisely by endeavouring to do his will, which is the God‑given duty before us. Yes, God is the one and only God whom we are called to worship and love and pray to ceaselessly with all our hearts, but he is also the God of our moral obligations. The God of religion is the God of morality and of the right conscience. God is the God of one’s duties of state. God is the God of one’s daily work in life. He is to be wholeheartedly served there too. He awaits us in the moral obligations of life. Indeed, as the Church teaches, it is his voice that can be heard in the fundamental dictate of conscience. For this reason our Lord tells us that those who will enter the Kingdom of heaven are not those who merely say to him, Lord, Lord, but those who do the will of his heavenly Father.

The famous programme of St Benedict for the Christian life was work and prayer, prayer and work. We must pray if we are ever to grow in the love of God. It is the fundamental condition of holiness. But this prayer must pervade our work so that in all we do, in all our work in life, we are striving to do the will of God. Our religion must not be separated from morality, but must be manifested in and nourished by a truly good life lived in accord with the will of God our heavenly Father. Christ came to transform our hearts, and to give us the grace to do this.

(E.J.Tyler)

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