THE ‘GOOD OLE DAYS’:
Scripture: “Because I called and you refused, extended My hand and no one took notice; because you disdained all My counsel, and My reproof you ignored…Because they hated knowledge, and the fear of the Lord they did not choose…Well, then, they shall eat the fruit of their own way.” – Proverbs 1:24-25, 29-31
Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord Who has revealed Himself to His people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion.” – CCC #2110
Brothers and sisters, whenever I am speaking with friends my age and older, the conversation tends to migrate to the ‘good ole days’ when as kids we could stay outside all day and play, coming home only for lunch and dinner, and returning when the street lights came on; when you could leave your house and car unlocked without fear; there was such a thing as ‘penny candy’; coffee was fifty cents; going out to dinner with the family without having to break the bank; people had manners; kindness was abundant; and all churches were full.
We certainly don’t see these things in our world today. What is missing today (including our own area) that was prevalent then and people were not afraid to accept and acknowledge – is God. Most people throughout the world have replaced God with themselves.
Just because we say that we are Christians, or that we believe in God, doesn’t always make it so. Brothers and sisters, when we remove the Lord from our hearts and lives in order to follow our own wants and desires, our own path without any regard of how our actions will affect others, we have made ourselves a god. Whatever we believe that we cannot live without, we will wrongly worship it.
For instance, many feel they can’t live without their mobile phone, or they live their lives based on social media, or follow celebrities or sports figures to slavish degrees. All these things become our god – instead of the One, True God. None of these things can lengthen our lives by one second or get us to the Heavenly Kingdom; only the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, as Jesus said in Luke’s Gospel: “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; but whoever rejects Me rejects Him Who sent Me.” When we don’t make room for God in our lives – in our hearts – common sense and wisdom tells us that He will go to where He is welcomed, where He is cherished, where He is loved; and this will have consequences for us.
And, if we refuse to make God present in our lives, how then are we able to make Him present in the lives of other people? How will they be able to turn from distress, anguish, grief, if we are unable to show them that there is hope – and Jesus Christ is that hope?
Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we want to live like we did in the ‘good ole days’ then we must bring God back into our lives and our hearts, so that when anyone looks upon us they will be able to see that God does exist, He is with His people who love Him, and His love is for all who come to Him.
There is an old saying, that, “All that is needed for evil to triumph is that good people do nothing.” Let us never fear to stand up for Christ brothers and sisters, Who gave His life for our very souls. Salvation is always free, but in order to receive it, we must first drop the façade that we don’t need Him in order to take His hand and be lifted up. Remember, darkness is vanquished when Light appears.
“He who trusts in himself is lost.
He who trusts in God can do all things.”
-St. Alphonsus Liguori