I like religion.
So when people tell me
that they are spiritual but not religious
I am often tempted, in my annoyance,
to reply that I myself am religious
but not spiritual.
I don’t actually say it,
because I am from the South,
where our mothers teach us manners,
and to say “bless their hearts”
rather than what we are really thinking.
But, still, I am tempted.
So when people tell me
that they are spiritual but not religious
I am often tempted, in my annoyance,
to reply that I myself am religious
but not spiritual.
I don’t actually say it,
because I am from the South,
where our mothers teach us manners,
and to say “bless their hearts”
rather than what we are really thinking.
But, still, I am tempted.
The serious point behind this snarky remark
that I am tempted to say
is that things people often dismiss
as “religious” and seemingly therefore “unspiritual”—
things like rituals and creeds and institutions—
in fact have a vital role to play in our spiritual lives.
We human beings are embodied, social animals
who only flourish when we share our lives with each other,
but who need habits and rules and boundaries
in order to do this.
And this is no less true of the common life
that we live in the presence of God.
When we need to pray in times of crisis
a spontaneous prayer may not come to our lips,
but an Our Father or a Hail Mary might.
When we are lost in spiritual confusion
and do not know exactly what we believe,
we can draw comfort in words that express
the faith professed by the saints down through the ages.
When we find ourselves in times
of cultural transition or upheaval
we can look to the Church
for a sense of stability
and a source of guidance.
I like religion
that I am tempted to say
is that things people often dismiss
as “religious” and seemingly therefore “unspiritual”—
things like rituals and creeds and institutions—
in fact have a vital role to play in our spiritual lives.
We human beings are embodied, social animals
who only flourish when we share our lives with each other,
but who need habits and rules and boundaries
in order to do this.
And this is no less true of the common life
that we live in the presence of God.
When we need to pray in times of crisis
a spontaneous prayer may not come to our lips,
but an Our Father or a Hail Mary might.
When we are lost in spiritual confusion
and do not know exactly what we believe,
we can draw comfort in words that express
the faith professed by the saints down through the ages.
When we find ourselves in times
of cultural transition or upheaval
we can look to the Church
for a sense of stability
and a source of guidance.
I like religion
because it answers to a deep human need
for structure and stability,
even—especially—as we seek to stand
before the face of the living God.
for structure and stability,
even—especially—as we seek to stand
before the face of the living God.
And Jesus,
contrary to what some will tell you,
also likes religion.
He lived his life immersed
in the rituals, creeds, and institutions of Israel.
He was a devout Jew who embraced
the traditions and Law of his people
as the God-given means by which
one could live in God’s presence.
He was circumcised on the eighth day,
he visited the temple in Jerusalem as a boy,
he read Scripture in the synagogue as a man.
And we can see Jesus’ pro-religion views
on display in today’s Gospel,
for in healing the ten lepers
he instructs them to do
what the Jewish Law requires:
to show themselves to the priests
and to have themselves declared “clean.”
contrary to what some will tell you,
also likes religion.
He lived his life immersed
in the rituals, creeds, and institutions of Israel.
He was a devout Jew who embraced
the traditions and Law of his people
as the God-given means by which
one could live in God’s presence.
He was circumcised on the eighth day,
he visited the temple in Jerusalem as a boy,
he read Scripture in the synagogue as a man.
And we can see Jesus’ pro-religion views
on display in today’s Gospel,
for in healing the ten lepers
he instructs them to do
what the Jewish Law requires:
to show themselves to the priests
and to have themselves declared “clean.”
So Jesus liked religion
and entered fully into the practice of Judaism.
But as much as he liked religion,
as much as he recognized its necessity,
he also recognized that it was not enough.
He recognized that religious practice itself
can so occupy us that we miss its whole point,
which is to sustain our relationship with the living God.
Nine of the ten lepers in today’s Gospel
are so focused on fulfilling the demands of the Law
that they fail to recognize in Jesus
the God who gave the Law
and who has healed them.
It is notably the Samaritan,
the foreigner who is an outsider,
the one who believes in God
but does not worship in the Jerusalem Temple,
who recognizes what Jesus has done for him
and returns to give him thanks.
As important as proper religious practice is,
its presence did not guarantee that the nine
would recognize how the power of God
was at work among them,
and its absence did not prevent the Samaritan
from glorifying God,
from falling at the feet of Jesus,
from giving him thanks for his healing.
and entered fully into the practice of Judaism.
But as much as he liked religion,
as much as he recognized its necessity,
he also recognized that it was not enough.
He recognized that religious practice itself
can so occupy us that we miss its whole point,
which is to sustain our relationship with the living God.
Nine of the ten lepers in today’s Gospel
are so focused on fulfilling the demands of the Law
that they fail to recognize in Jesus
the God who gave the Law
and who has healed them.
It is notably the Samaritan,
the foreigner who is an outsider,
the one who believes in God
but does not worship in the Jerusalem Temple,
who recognizes what Jesus has done for him
and returns to give him thanks.
As important as proper religious practice is,
its presence did not guarantee that the nine
would recognize how the power of God
was at work among them,
and its absence did not prevent the Samaritan
from glorifying God,
from falling at the feet of Jesus,
from giving him thanks for his healing.
It is really no different among us Christians.
St. Augustine wrote:
“Some people may indeed,
through membership of the Church
and acceptance of all her doctrine,
be free from spiritual leprosy:
but they fail to recognize
the one who cleansed them,
and become inflated with pride”
(Questions on the Gospels, 2.40).
We can behave as if our religion
and its rituals and creeds and institutions
are all we need.
We receive our sacraments at the appropriate moments
and we go to Mass on Sunday, at least most of the time,
and perhaps we even pray before meals
and in moments of crisis.
And all of these are good things, holy things.
But they are the floor, not the ceiling.
They make possible an encounter with the living God,
but they are not a guarantee that we will recognize him
or even notice his healing touch.
And, at their worst, they can become,
as Augustine noted,
a source of pride.
They can tempt us to think
that we have the God-thing
managed and under control,
that we know where to find God when we need him
and how to obtain from him what we want.
St. Augustine wrote:
“Some people may indeed,
through membership of the Church
and acceptance of all her doctrine,
be free from spiritual leprosy:
but they fail to recognize
the one who cleansed them,
and become inflated with pride”
(Questions on the Gospels, 2.40).
We can behave as if our religion
and its rituals and creeds and institutions
are all we need.
We receive our sacraments at the appropriate moments
and we go to Mass on Sunday, at least most of the time,
and perhaps we even pray before meals
and in moments of crisis.
And all of these are good things, holy things.
But they are the floor, not the ceiling.
They make possible an encounter with the living God,
but they are not a guarantee that we will recognize him
or even notice his healing touch.
And, at their worst, they can become,
as Augustine noted,
a source of pride.
They can tempt us to think
that we have the God-thing
managed and under control,
that we know where to find God when we need him
and how to obtain from him what we want.
But, as the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar noted,
“If we treat God as a sort of religious vending machine,
he will show us that he is anything but that—
that he is a free, living God” (Light of the World, 355-356).
Religious practice is not a prison
in which we lock God up,
so that he is ready to be at our beck and call.
As St. Paul put it in writing to Timothy,
“the word of God is not chained.”
And if we think our religion
contains God in this way,
then perhaps we need outsiders,
maybe even those who claim
to be “spiritual but not religious”
(bless their hearts),
to remind us of the unchained Word of God
who took flesh among us in Jesus Christ,
who scandalized the pious
and died on a Roman cross
accused of blasphemy.
“If we treat God as a sort of religious vending machine,
he will show us that he is anything but that—
that he is a free, living God” (Light of the World, 355-356).
Religious practice is not a prison
in which we lock God up,
so that he is ready to be at our beck and call.
As St. Paul put it in writing to Timothy,
“the word of God is not chained.”
And if we think our religion
contains God in this way,
then perhaps we need outsiders,
maybe even those who claim
to be “spiritual but not religious”
(bless their hearts),
to remind us of the unchained Word of God
who took flesh among us in Jesus Christ,
who scandalized the pious
and died on a Roman cross
accused of blasphemy.
It is right and just that I like religion.
But while I like religion,
I should love Jesus,
for in the end it is Jesus who will heal me and save me,
not my adherence to rituals and creeds and institutions.
So let us practice our religion with joy and humility
for God has given it to us in freedom
so that we might recognize Jesus,
and let us pray that all of us,
insiders and outsider,
religious and spiritual,
might come to know the mercy of God.
But while I like religion,
I should love Jesus,
for in the end it is Jesus who will heal me and save me,
not my adherence to rituals and creeds and institutions.
So let us practice our religion with joy and humility
for God has given it to us in freedom
so that we might recognize Jesus,
and let us pray that all of us,
insiders and outsider,
religious and spiritual,
might come to know the mercy of God.
