St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

The reason Christ is so unique is because He is, as we profess each week in the Creed, true God and also true man. Jesus is one person: the eternal Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. But ever since the Incarnation, when He became man, this one person has possessed two natures: human nature, and divine nature. Theologians call this great mystery the hypostatic union, the union of two natures, complete in themselves, in just one person. Jesus is God made man; not just an exceptionally wise and privileged man, but God himself, Creator of the world, who entered into the world in order to save the world.

There is an old story that can help us grasp this truth. The village blacksmith was a Catholic. Into his workshop one day walked the village atheist, who was always eager to argue and talk about religion. As he watched the blacksmith welding two pieces of iron together over the flame, he made a comment:  "That's what I mean when I say that Christ is not God. See those two pieces of iron, red-hot. You put them together with heat. They make one piece. That's what I think about Christ. He has only one nature - a human nature."

The blacksmith responded:  But suppose I took a bar of gold and bar of iron, heated them and worked them together. What would I have - all gold or all iron? Neither. There will be a piece of gold and a piece of iron, even though there is just one bar. Although they are entirely different, they make just one thing. That's how it is with Christ. He has the nature of God and the nature of man. Though distinct from each other, they make but one single person - Jesus Christ."

It is this hypostatic union which qualifies Jesus to be the world's only Savior and Redeemer, beloved of the Father, the answer to all our questions.

Because Christ is the answer, the Father tells us to "listen to Him."  We hear a kind of plea in that command, a plea that should make us think. Christ is the answer, but how much is He my answer?  How much do I really listen to Him?  How faithfully do I really follow Him?  He is the center of the universe, but is He really the center of my life?

There are three major voices competing with Christ's, three voices that we are always in danger of listening to more closely than we should.

First, the voice of popularity. We all like to be praised and popular, and so we all tend to pay a lot of attention to what other people are saying about us. If we let that go too far it can destroy our friendship with Christ, because the Catholic thing to do is not always the popular thing to do.

Second, the voice of pleasure. We all have a desire for healthy pleasures like food and drink, entertainment, intimacy....But because of original sin, these desires are out of balance. If we let them go wherever they want, instead of where Christ tells us they should go, we will become enslaved to our instincts, like animals.

Third, there is the voice of profit. Money is the great deceiver; it promises unlimited pleasure and popularity, and so it seems to promise unlimited happiness. But true happiness doesn't come from pleasure and popularity; it comes from a mature friendship with Christ, which money cannot buy. As Jesus renews His call to our hearts through this Mass, let's renew our response to that call.

Let's make once again a firm, conscious commitment to follow the Father's beloved Son, in spite of other clamoring voices, no matter where He leads.