“On a scale of one to 10, how much do you want it?”
Whatever “it” might be, there will be times when we must determine for ourselves how much we desire something — and how much we’re willing to sacrifice to get it. An answer of three is not very promising. An answer of nine might be different. The one who desires much will sacrifice much, but the one who desires little will sacrifice little.
So, what is it we want? Heaven? Relationship with Jesus? Freedom from sin? The answer to all of these is (hopefully), “Yes!” Yet the follow-up question can’t be escaped: Just how much do we want these things?
It is interesting to note that in our Gospel passage from Mark for Sept. 29, Jesus is not calling his listeners to cut sin out of their lives. If only it were so simple. What must be cut out are the causes of sin. We pray in the “Our Father,” “lead us not into temptation,” and yet, how often do we find ourselves being led into temptation by the very things and people we surround ourselves with? The Church calls these near occasions of sin. The greater number of near occasions of sin we have in our lives, the higher the likelihood that sin is precisely what will follow.
Now, some near occasions of sin are unavoidable (and in fact shouldn’t be avoided). Driving to work can be a near occasion of sin. The same goes for shopping. I’ve even joked before with couples I’ve prepared for marriage that, when it comes to opportunities to fail in charity, patience and generosity, even marriage is a near occasion of sin! Yet, we shouldn’t all sell our cars, avoid the supermarket, and live alone to avoid occasions of sin. What we need to do, rather, is acknowledge those places in our lives where there are unnecessary near occasions of sin and begin to root them out like weeds from a garden.
This is where our desire for virtue and freedom from sin comes into play. As it turns out, avoiding near occasions of sin is hard. “How much am I willing to inconvenience myself in order to uproot near occasions of sin in my life?” one could ask. Often enough, the answer is “Not much.”
In truth, our hearts are divided. We do genuinely want to follow God and to do what is good. Yet, another part of us wants to seek worldly things and according to a worldly logic. St. Paul once said when writing to the Galatians, “For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want” (Gal. 5:17). Our heart is pulled in two different directions: toward heaven and toward Earth, toward sacrifice and toward comfort, toward God who sustains all and toward creatures who tend toward corruption and decay.
Practically speaking, what are we to do? The first is to ask God for a pure heart. To be pure is to be made of only one thing, to be undivided and without alloy. God must heal our divided and mixed-up hearts.
Then, we act on the grace he gives us and start uprooting. Those friends and acquaintances in my life who lead me into vice rather than virtue? I need to start pulling back. The all-demanding claims on my care and attention to be found in technology, the internet and media? I must limit or set restrictions for myself. That idle time which prompts me to move toward the things of this world rather than the things of God? I may well need to impose some structure there.
The examples can be multiplied and made your own, but the upshot is this: If I want (and I mean truly want) right relationship with God and freedom from sin, I must be willing to genuinely inconvenience and trouble myself in the process of ridding my life of these near occasions of sin. The imagery of cutting off limbs and plucking out eyes was not accidental. The decision must often be forceful, decisive, and in some cases at least, permanent. Yet the good that is lost is nothing compared to the good we receive.
So, on a scale of one to 10, how much do you want it?
Father McGinnis was ordained a priest of the archdiocese in 2022 and is serving as chaplain at Providence Academy in Plymouth.
Sunday, Sept. 29
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
