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Catholic Church / Pacoima, CA

Christ Goes Against the Current

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.”Ps. 85

It is easier to go with the flow than against it. It is easier to follow the dictates of mass manipulation through media and what the majority says than to oppose them, because they would point fingers and criticize you. But when the majority is led by blindness or the deceptions of the world and the devil, the best course for you and for everyone is to swim against that current.

It’s rightly said: “Where is Vincent going? He’s going where the people are going.” I always considered this phrase somewhat humorous, but now I believe it’s entirely real, a human, psychological, or sociological phenomenon. In fact, there are many experiments that support it. We want to be with the majority, not in the minority.

The problem is that people are like many “Vincents” who just go along, as if they were in a herd being pushed by a blind force of instinct, without a wise head to guide and direct them. It might seem impossible and very uncomfortable to be in the middle of a herd where everyone is headed in one direction and you’re going the opposite way. Yet, perhaps that is the right thing to do, no matter how challenging, especially if you see that the majority is heading towards the precipice and destruction.

It’s true that it would be difficult to convince anyone that everyone is heading in the wrong direction, because we tend to believe that the majority cannot be wrong. But today, more clearly than ever, we see that’s not the case. Governments often win with a majority, only to have people protesting in the streets against them a month later, or fleeing the country to survive. Indeed, the majority can often be wrong, given our fallen human nature, in which we are inherently in darkness and only come to know a little of what reaches our ears often what we want to hear or what sells best, not necessarily the truth.

Also, because the majority often behaves like blind instinct: it does not seek its own good, only to be satisfied, regardless of consequences, without examining whether it’s right or wrong, true or false, etc. Thus, masses are like a herd, prone to being led by others, even without a sensible head to guide them towards a good destination. They could thus be led to their own destruction, as many mass manipulation media outlets have turned their backs on God, preferring lies to truth, darkness to light.

Today more than ever, we need voices that defend the truth, like prophets, and that ignite the light in many minds that are being led towards their own destruction. Wide is the gate that leads to destruction, and many go through it. Christ was not deceived by the enemies of the soul-world, demon, and flesh-and thus taught us to also go against the current, not to love the world and its darkness. Our vocation is to be the Light amidst the darkness, just like Christ Himself.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””John 8:12

Weekly Readings

Sunday: Am 7:12-15/Ps 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14 (8)/Eph 1:3-14 or 1:3-10/Mk 6:7-13
Monday: Is 1:10-17/Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23/Mt 10:3411:1
Tuesday: Is 7:1-9/Ps 48:2-3a, 3b-4, 5-6, 7-8/Mt 11:20-24
Wednesday: Is 10:5-7, 13b-16/Ps 94:5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 14-15/Mt 11:25-27
Thursday: Is 26:7-9, 12, 16-19/Ps 102:13-14ab and 15, 16-18, 19-21/Mt 11:28-30
Friday: Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8/Is 38:10, 11, 12abcd, 16/Mt 12:1-8
Saturday: Mi 2:1-5/Ps 10:1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14/Mt 12:14-21
Next Sunday: Jer 23:1-6/Ps 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6 (1)/Eph 2:13-18/Mk 6:30-34

Observances for the Week

Sunday: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday: St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Tuesday: Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Thursday: St. Camillus de Lellis, Priest
Saturday: St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr; BVM
Next Sunday: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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