How Do You Make Decisions?

Tenth Sunday in Course 2024

The great composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is quoted as saying “I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.” It seems appropriate to apply this statement to our first reading today, because the original man, whom we call Adam, answering to the Creator after disobeying God’s only command, says, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” He felt loved by the woman, whom we call Eve, and so he trusted her more than God. In fact, if you look carefully at his statement, Adam was really blaming God for giving Eve to be his helpmate. Challenged herself, Eve then points her finger at the serpent, and says "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." Everyone was playing the same blame game, and ultimately everybody lost.

But even in the curse of the serpent, Satan, we see the promise of a later triumph. God promises, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." We know that the woman was not Eve, but her ultimate offspring, Mary, Mother of Jesus. He was her seed, and even as the serpent bit Christ’s heel, wounding Him to death, Jesus crushed the devil’s head by rising triumphant from the dead. So for a thousand years before that earth-changing event, the psalmists cried out of the depths of abandonment, “Lord, hear my prayer.” And God heard that plaint, and gave each of us and together the gift of Jesus so that by our faith, hope and charity, we might be joined with Him and His Resurrection for eternity.

But we should take warning from Mozart. He was a great musician, but a terrible philosopher. We live today in a culture that is constantly asking “How do you feel about that?” And that culture asks us to act on our feelings, even if they don’t make sense. We ask how we feel about a politician, and answer, “he’s a big jerk, even though his ideas are good.” So we vote for the other guy, who makes us feel all warm and fuzzy and promises to bring us together in joy and prosperity. If you ever have done that, ask yourself if it made things better for you and your family. Maybe we should engage our minds when making a decision, particularly minds tempered by Scripture, and act on the question “what is the right decision for everyone?” Think before you act is an aphorism that has never gotten me into trouble. How about you?

St. Paul helps us to understand the troubles of life with all his letters, but today he seems to be aiming especially at folks whom we call “seniors.” That’s those of us who have stopped using the expression “if I die” and say, rather, “when I die.” Yes, our outer nature, our mind and body, is wearing away. It’s entirely up to us whether our inner nature, our immortal soul, is being renewed every day. Have we given up all our habits of sin? Those would be the ones that keep us enslaved to our passions, our selves. Sensual pleasure, need for recognition, desires for power over others.

Building up our innards. Do we pray daily? The psalmist recommends seven times a day or more. Do we do more for others than for ourselves? Do we hate or love our enemies; do we pray for them. We should examine our consciences every evening before retiring and repent to God for anything taking us in the wrong direction, making plans for doing good tomorrow.

St. Mark’s several stories about Jesus remind us that He, Son of God, is the strong man who broke into Satan’s house and stole billions of souls imprisoned there. His words and works were so counter-cultural that they have provoked human negative reaction for two thousand years. But we have a choice when reading about Him. We can reject Him and His teachings and His redemption, and go back to our petty quarrels and self-attention, making decisions that "feel right", or we can begin right now to accept His teaching, His redemptive sacraments, His life-changing sacrifice. That’s the choice; that’s the opportunity. Choose Christ and Life.