The Soap and Water of Our Faith

There’s a story about a priest and his friend, a soap maker, who were out taking a walk. The soap maker said, “What good is religion? What good is Jesus? Look at all the trouble and misery in the world. People fight. People steal, People kill. People hate. After thousands of years of talking about goodness, truth, and peace – after all the prayers, homilies and teachings, things haven’t gotten any better.”
The priest said nothing. They continued walking until they noticed children playing in a mud puddle.

Then the priest said, “Look at those kids. You say that soap makes people clean but see the dirt on those youngsters. Of what good is your soap? Soap has been in the world for thousands of years, but those children are still covered with mud.”

The soap maker protested, “But Father, soap does no good unless people use it.”

“Exactly,” replied the priest. “So it is with the teachings of Jesus. They are ineffective unless they are applied and put into practice.”

In today’s gospel, Jesus reads this passage: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…” (Luke 4:18-19).

That, in a nutshell, is the Lord’s mission. And Jesus is telling us that this is our mission, as well. We must apply the Lord’s teachings and put these into practice. It is, in essence, the soap and water of our faith.

The second reading (1 Corinthians 12:12-30) reminds us of what we should already know: that the Church is the Body of Christ, and we are its members. We all have a vocation. And that vocation should be lived with integrity. As St. Paul says, there is no vocation that is greater or lesser than the others. All are of equal importance. If God is calling some people to the vocation of marriage, they should live that vocation well, just as those who have been given the vocation to be a priest, deacon, or religious. Same if your vocation is that of a teacher, accountant, healthcare worker, first responder, or even a student for the time being. Each one of us is called to faithfully live out our vocation.

St. Paul is also saying that each ministry in the community should be carried out for the good of all its members. In other words, the Church must grow and be strengthened through the cooperation of each of its members.

I’d like you to clear your mind of all thoughts for a moment. I want you to ask yourself, what part of the body of Christ am I? (Because each of us is a very important part.) Am I Christ’s arms and hands? Do I reach out to those in need? Am I the leg and foot? Do I go where Christ is needed? Am I the eyes of Christ? Do I see what is needed and act upon what I see? Am I the voice of Christ? Do I proclaim the Word of God by the words I say and the things I do? What part of the body of Christ am I? What are my gifts? Am I using these gifts to build up the kingdom of God?

If you have ever taken one of those tests to discover your life passions and charisms, one of the activities that you are asked to do is to recognize and name your own gifts. This is not an easy thing to do. As Stephanie can attest, I will often ask her, “So, what am I good at?” But here’s the thing: when we can name our strengths without becoming so absorbed with ourselves or losing any sense of humility, that’s when we are able to better recognize how we can use these gifts for the good of others and to share Jesus with others.

A few months back, I began looking at how to re-energize our peace and social justice activities at the parish. I’ve been working with our various Community Outreach ministries, and we’ve formed a new group called the Parish Social Outreach Ministry. Our focus will be on four ministry areas: direct service, legislative advocacy, global solidarity, and community organizing and development. All our activity will be reinforced through formation and education in Catholic Social Teaching. Catholic Social Teaching applies the Gospel values such as love, peace, justice, compassion, reconciliation, service, and community to address modern social problems.

Some of the things we’re looking into would be providing direct service to those suffering the pain of poverty, working to eliminate the evil of racism, educating one another on the need to carry out the principles of Catholic Social Teaching through our parish activities, possibly working with those in jail or prison, and so much more.

We are just starting out on what will be a long journey – and there is so much that needs to be done. But we cannot do this alone. I strongly encourage you to look into our community outreach ministries and get involved. We need to have this entire Body of Christ helping us out to make this a reality.

Just as Jesus proclaimed, each one of us is being called to be Jesus to the world: so that the poor will know the good news, that the captives will be rescued, that the blind will see, and the oppressed will be freed. And we do this by using our God-given gifts and talents and by working together. And just like those people thought in our first reading, this may sound like a sad and difficult message – but it’s really a glorious message. We just need to hear it with a new set of ears. So, let’s stop our sadness and weeping, and start celebrating. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. When we work together, we can achieve anything, because there is strength when we gather as a community of faith.

The value of our Catholic faith lies in its witness. And just like soap, the teachings of Jesus won’t do us any good unless we apply it and put it into practice. The words that Jesus shares with us today are spirit and life – the soap and water of our faith; the soap of a strong faith and the water of the constant practice of our faith. When we live according to God’s word, when we live in God’s presence, and when we become Jesus for others, then we will find true happiness and peace.

What more could we possibly need? What more could we possibly want?

Learn what Jesus tells us that we need to do in our mission to be his disciples. Click here.