Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: Ignoring Christ? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 7/15/26

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LTACL: Ignoring Christ? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 7/15/26 · The Catholic Current

• 0:00
  Let me ask you this. What do you think about being ignored?
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  I, I'd say it depends. And when I go out into pub—
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  to the public, which I try not to do because, you know,
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  the public is there, but when I'm out in public, I'm really
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  very happy if I'm ignored, if nobody notices me.
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  It's one of the ways that God proves that he loves me is when people
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  leave me alone. But what if you didn't want to be ignored?
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  Uh, for example, you wouldn't want to be ignored if you had published a
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  book, to give an oddly specific example.
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  Uh, there was an American poet from the early 20th century,
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  Don Marquis, and he said this: publishing a
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  book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal into the Grand Canyon
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  and waiting for the echo. He knew the pain of
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  being ignored when he wanted to be noticed. Well,
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  what if the person being ignored is
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  Christ? What happens then? Stay with me,
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  I got a story to tell. Hi, I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTeague, your host
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  here every day at the Catholic Coming to you from the Station of the Cross
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  Catholic Media Network. Let's take a closer look.
• 1:09
  Glad you're here. I've been reading through the Gospel of Matthew
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  recently, and there's a passage, a passage of the
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  Gospel that comes from Matthew
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  11. And listen to this. Our Lord is in a bad mood.
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  Jesus began to approach the towns where most of his mighty
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  deeds had been done. Since they had not repented. Woe to
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  you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds
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  done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have long
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  ago repented in sackcloth and ashes.
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  But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre
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  and Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you.
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  And as for you, Capernaum, Will you be exalted
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  to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld. For if the mighty
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  deeds had been done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
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  it would have remained until this day.
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  But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land
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  of Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.
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  That's what our Lord says in the Gospel of Matthew. Why, why is
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  he so worked up? Well, he went to Chorazin,
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  he went to Bethsaida, he went to Capernaum, And he
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  preached the word. He did his mighty deeds, miracles,
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  healings, exorcisms. And the response of
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  the people was meh.
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  They just went back to what they thought
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  was more important.
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  It takes one's breath away to have seen all those
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  miracles, to hear Christ himself preach, and to just
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  go back to business as usual. Now he compares these 3 cities
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  that had witnessed miracles and authoritative proclamation
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  of the gospel from Christ himself. He compares them first
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  of all to Tyre and Sidon, which were at the time notoriously
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  wicked towns. And as for Sodom,
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  well, let's just say that it never
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  really recovered from the divine retribution.
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  Whatever they did, they really made God mad.
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  And from what I hear, it wasn't just a failure of hospitality,
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  but that's another story for another time. So he said,
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  look, profoundly wicked cities are
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  going to fare better than those who've met Christ and
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  then ignored him. Now, mind you, these 3
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  cities— Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum— They
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  didn't try to kill him or stone him or throw
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  him off a cliff. They just went back
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  to business as usual.
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  And now we might be tempted to pray like the Pharisees. Instead of praying,
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  Lord, I give you thanks I'm not like other men, uh, like this tax
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  collector over here, might be tempted to say, Lord, I give you thanks I'm not
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  like these cities. I'm not like Chorazin and Bethsaida.
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  Uh, in Capernaum. But no, no, no, not so fast.
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  Whenever we see in Scripture an accusation, a rebuke,
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  a correction, especially from our Lord, the first thing we need to
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  do is run to the mirror. We need to have an examination of conscience.
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  We need to cry out in prayer, is it I, Lord?
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  Probably is. So if
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  you or I have heard the gospel, if we've met Christ,
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  if we've witnessed miracles, if we've received them in the sacraments,
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  and we're not better persons— not
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  necessarily feeling good about ourselves, but being godly persons
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  seeking for holiness and being conformed to Christ— if
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  we're not doing that, we're bringing upon
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  our heads the same kind of judgment that
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  these 3 cities deserved. What do we do about that?
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  Go to confession. Go to confession.
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  Go to confession. Examine your conscience first. Go to confession.
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  Do your penance. Reform your life. I have to do it.
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  You have to do it. And then what? Well, there are
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  people who still at this late date— and time
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  is running out, make no mistake— there are people who at this late date still
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  haven't heard Christ, haven't met Christ,
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  don't know his gospel, his power, his authority, his resurrection.
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  And it's up to you and me to get busy to introduce
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  people to Christ. You might be bedridden, you might be home
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  with kids, you might be like on a— locked in a cloister, you might not
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  get out much. Lucky you. And then we
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  have to intercede for those poor souls who
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  don't yet know Christ. Pray that they may know him
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  while there is still time. And then there are others,
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  sadly, sadly,
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  who have met Christ, who knew Christ,
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  who turned to Christ, and then drifted,
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  shall we say, or have decided to walk another
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  path, or have found a new priority.
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  We need to make reparation for them because they have offended
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  our Lord and wounded his heart. And we want all
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  of them to come back while there is still time.
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  What's the moral of the story? We got work to do. We got
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  to put our own house in order. We've got to proclaim Christ wherever we can,
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  intercede for those who don't yet know him,
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  make reparations for those who knew him and
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  walked away. We've got a lot to think about
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  and a lot of work to do, and it'll probably be better
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  if we do it together. Let's get busy.
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  Meanwhile, think on these things today, take them to prayer, and talk about
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  it with those you love. Go in peace, and please do pray for me,
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  for I am a sinner.