In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord expresses frustration about the behavior of the people to whom he was trying to bring the Good News. They found fault in the way he tried to talk to them and in the way he behaved.
Grounds for Criticism
Jesus’ hearers complained about John the Baptist for living in the desert, isolating himself from people, fasting and despising food and drink—they called him a mad man. When Jesus came and was eating and drinking and kept the company of all sorts of people, they complained that he was a partygoer. They framed John the Baptist’s ascetism as a form of madness and Jesus’s sociability as a laxness in morals. Either way they found grounds for criticism.
When people do not want to listen to the truth, they will find any excuse to avoid listening to the truth! No matter the invitation and your explanations, they will stubbornly be unresponsive. They will even be inconsistent in their criticism and criticize something from whatever end you approach it. If you eat, they will criticize you, and if you fast, they will criticize you.
The Power of Good Deeds
The antidote to this kind of behavior is to keep doing the right thing. Our good deeds and loving actions that reveal our faith and God’s presence within us are the only proof or justification we need.
The next time you’re misunderstood and you feel tempted to defend your faith and explain your motives, simply shut your mouth and let your Godly works speak for themselves. This isn’t easy to do, but we need to remind ourselves that God defends us far better than we could. He does it by doing his work through us, which is often the only language that disbelievers understand. It is difficult to argue with good works and it is difficult to argue with a way of life or efforts that are extremely fruitful. That is what Jesus means in the Gospel of Matthew when He says, “Wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
Works that Speak for Themselves
This is what you see with the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She didn’t use arguments to win people over, she let the work she did speak for itself. That is what Mother Cabrini did. She simply served the poor Italian immigrants, which spoke volumes about her intentions and her faith.
Eventually some people will be converted by this active faith, but others will remain blind to the truth due to their stubborn resistance. However, regardless of what happens to those who observe our Christianity, our faith will grow. The more we try to prove our faith by how we live our faith, the purer our faith will become.
May our actions, and not only our words, be a powerful witness to the value of our faith in Christ.
- Father Fred's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. You can view the Mass (and the Rosary at the 30-minute mark) on the Family Rosary YouTube page.
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