Crazy Faith - Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

          Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis, believed that faith was a collective neurosis resulting from the longing for a father-god, wish fulfillment and fantasy.[1]  Put more simply, Freud thought that people who integrate faith into their lives are crazy.  Jesus thought otherwise.

 

          Our readings today speak of faith – confidence in God’s loyalty.  We hear of the faith of Abraham and Sarah that led them from their homeland to a place they were to receive as an inheritance, without even knowing where they were going.  We also hear of the steady covenant faith of the Israelites whose courage on the night of the Passover rested in the sure knowledge of the promises in which they put their faith.  And in our Gospel, Jesus teaches us that the promise of faith is an inexhaustible treasure that calls us to be vigilant and prepared for the unexpected.  Together, our readings show us that “[God’s] promises have found faithful witnesses not only in the ancient past, but throughout history.  Faith isn't a dead letter, but a lived experience.”[2]

  

          So what does it mean to live our faith?  Well, of course, it involves believing in God, praying and attending Mass.  But it’s much more than that.

 

Faith is seeing another in need and stopping to help rather than pass them by.  Faith is speaking out against injustice . . . and letting our principles guide our lives rather than being swept along by popular opinion.  Faith is believing without seeing, praying without ceasing and trusting without proof that God is, that Jesus is, and that the Spirit dwells within.[3]

Living our faith is living the way Jesus taught us to live – as servants:  servants of God, and servants of our neighbor.  “Servants need to be devoted to their tasks, refusing to let distractions, fatigue, or delay divert them from their duties.”[4]  Servants make the fulfillment of the Master’s wishes their highest obligation and their greatest concern.[5]  To live in faith we must integrate Jesus’ teachings into our daily lives, into our very being, even if those teachings sometimes sound crazy. 

          Today, we tend to live very compartmentalized lives.  We put on one face at home, another at work, and even another at Church.  We see family, work and faith as separate components of our lives, rather than as integrated parts of our whole being.  It’s even become taboo to simply speak about our faith at work or in a public forum.  But modern psychology is quickly learning that humans yearn for greater integration in our lives.  We are physical and spiritual beings, so we feel incomplete when we suppress one aspect of our being in favor of another.  Disaggregating our spiritual needs from our biological, psychological and social needs is unhealthy.  As Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology said, “[t]he individual who is not anchored in God can offer no resistance on his own resources to the physical and moral blandishments of the world.  For this, he needs the evidence of inner, transcendent experience.”[6]   Simply put, we need God in every aspect of our lives to give us the strength, the courage and the resilience to meet the challenges of this world.

Recent research supports Jung’s conclusion.  In a 2008 study by the American Psychological Association, prayer and going to church were rated as the most effective strategies for reducing stress.[7]  Unless you come to church on a day when I’m preaching.   Similar studies found that religious affiliation was tied to greater life satisfaction, hope and optimism, lower rates of suicide and alcohol and drug abuse, and a greater ability to withstand the increased pain and fatigue that accompanies life-threatening illnesses.[8]  So faith not only brings with it the rewards of eternal life (as if that weren't enough), but science confirms that faith also makes our lives here on earth happier and healthier.  As one theologian put it, men and women of faith “face catastrophe or confusion, affluence or sorrow unperturbed, face opportunity with conviction and drive, and face others with self-forgetting charity.”[9]  Call me crazy, but faith sounds pretty good to me.

          It even started to sound good to Sigmund Freud.  At the very end of his life, Freud had somewhat of a change of heart.  Though he remained a committed atheist, Freud began to see the positive effects that faith had on human development.  He credited faith in an invisible God with greater introspection, self-knowledge and contemplation among the faithful.[10]  It seems that psychology and theology agree on at least one thing:  to live without faith is, well, crazy.

Readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

---

[1] Marsha Wiggins Frame, Integrating Religion and Spirituality into Counseling (Pacific Grove, Brooks/Cole, 2003) at 11.

[2] John W. Martens, “An Alert Faith,” America, vol. 209, no. 3 (July 29-August 5, 2013) at 38.

[3] Patricia Datchuk Sánchez, “By Faith,” National Catholic Reporter, vol. 49, no. 21 (August 2-15, 2013) at 23.

[4] R. Alan Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. IX (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1995) at 265.

[5] Id.

[6] Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul 2002) at 16-17.

[7] “Stress in America 2008,” American Psychological Association at 6, Table 2, http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2008/10/stress-in-america.pdf

[8] E.L. Moss, K.S. Dobson, “The Place of Spirituality in Psychological End of Life Care,” The Register Report (Spring 2007) at 13.

[9] Charles Hefling, “Why Doctrines?” 2d ed. (Chestnut Hill, The Lonergan Institute, 2000) at 20.

[10] Mark Edmundson, “Defender of the Faith?” New York Times Magazine (September 9, 2007), http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/magazine/09wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=all.