‘The Business is in the Mess’ of Catholic life
We always want the clean Catholic experience. But the truth is, ‘the business is in the mess!’
From the episode, “Biblical Proportions Realness”
Catholicism is an adventure and a journey, and like any journey, it's far from perfect.
In fact, the truth is, the essence of being Catholic is found right in the thick of the messiness of it. It's in the hard moments and the struggles we endure with our faith. It's in those times when we grapple with God or find ourselves in an internal battle, trying like hell to shed our vices and grow in virtue. Yes, it’s messy.
I remember a morning several years ago when, after my morning prayer, I offered a special prayer through St. Joseph’s intercession, asking God to help me to be a ‘ mirror of patience’ that day. For those who don’t know, one of St. Joseph’s titles is “Mirror of Patience”. Despite feeling so very confident that this day would be different from the day—and days—before, I lost my patience with my kids about an hour later. I wished then, as I do now, that the Catholic life could be as clean as praying for patience for just that day (“Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow”) and succeeding in it. But it isn’t. The trying-and-failing cycle seems endless sometimes.
“Disappointment is part of that mess.”
That’s one of many examples of how living the Catholic life and trying hard to be holy brings us into he mess of making the effort, failing, and having to try all over again. Disappointment is part of that mess. The effort is part of that mess, because we’d rather not go through the pain of the effort. The desire, not just the effort to change, is part of that mess because we’d rather be content with who we are, no matter how flawed and vicious we may be.
It’s tempting to lower our standards and to be content with the easy path, because that path is the clean one. Mediocrity doesn’t call us to the mess of moving toward greatness. Instead it allows us to wallow in our lowliness, and gives us license to rebrand it as “acceptable”. But that is not how God made us, or what he made is for.
God made us for greatness. The capacity for that greatness is part of who we are, and so mediocrity is literally contrary to our nature. Greatness is in our nature. That means the path to greatness—the mess—is compatible with our nature; even a necessity, if we are to be who God created us to be.
The mess is where the business is. The mess of Catholic life is not the exception that should be avoided, but the reality that we should embrace and accept without expecting to find the perfect/clean experience. So embrace the mess. It's where we find growth and transformation. It's where our faith becomes real. In acknowledging and navigating through the mess, we encounter God and discover our true selves. It’s where we we receive the grace and the strength to rise after each fall. So, here’s to finding beauty in the unpredictability and grace in the chaos of Catholic life.
Ave Maria, Virgo Fidelis!
