I get the same question over and over again, “How can we attract more people to the Church?” I believe this question is posed with good intentions, but I think it misses the real point of who we actually are as the Church. As a matter of fact, I used to ask similar questions when I was a younger person, as a seminarian and newly-ordained priest, too. I used to get so frustrated about what can we do “more” to attract others back to the Church, but I have seen and learned to see and embrace reality as it is — way above a simple aspiration and hope. The only way to bring people back into the Church is nothing more than what the Church has done for thousands of years. It is very paradoxical and hard to accept at times because the only real, life-giving, and substantial way to eternal life itself is the Christ Way.
From the beginning of the Church, believers and our life of faith, the Christian community, and intentional discipleship have been called the Way. I believe it is so simplistically beautiful in capturing our faith as a journey and Christ is that pathway to eternal life! He IS the only way that is worth our personal, lifelong effort, sacrifice, and decision to let go of lesser goods, temptations, distractions, or deterrents to choose to follow Him at all costs. Furthermore, to understand the Christ Way is to truly embrace the call and vocation to discipleship because He is not just some intellectual or humanistic system of thought, ideology, movement, or way of life but the One that is worth living, striving, and sacrificing everything for.
When we think we think of our faith as a journey, on the way toward Christ, it becomes more personal and intimate. Faith is not simply a set of intellectual understanding or doctrine to be understood but a relational and personal quest and adventure to discover, struggle, question, doubt, persevere, overcome, and learn to fall in love all over again. Just as with any journey that we might embark on in life, the road is not always smooth and easy. Just as in nature and society, not everything is nicely paved, cared for, detailed, and labeled. In a long journey with unknown roads, we will hit potholes, rough spots, unseen matters, and challenges, but they are the things that make the journey adventurous and real. Even though we do not like surprises and things that cannot be controlled or understood, we know that, no matter how well we prepare, we cannot know or control everything. There will always be an element of surprise but that is what makes life unique and the present moment worth living, us on our toes, and save us from our own dullness and controlling mindset.
When I think of the life of faith as an adventure, many of my favorite movies do highlight this important aspect, too! All the main characters in many adventure or meaningful movies are called to go beyond their comfort zones and current ways of life to embark on a journey full of trials and hardships. Some struggle more than others, but all learned much! The trials and challenges imposed on the heroes are what make them relatable to us and stronger in their character. As a matter of fact, it is exactly in the pains and sufferings of life — the things that we dislike and try to avoid — that we grow, mature, and find our very own selves in unexpected and unimaginable ways. We will never know our true potential when life gets easy and things go our way; but when the trials and hardships hit, through our genuine perseverance and endurance, we become stronger through the test and purification process. Imagine that in our very own spiritual life of faith and discipleship as well!
I know no one wants to hear this, but it is exactly what we need to hear because life with Christ is truly a journey of self-abandonment and self-discovery. With Him, we have to let go of what we have built for ourselves to truly seek who we are and what we are called to be as His disciples, sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and instruments of the Holy Spirit. The journey of letting go, being tested and tried, formed and reformed by love is really hard and personal, but it is the most freeing and liberating because we are able to discover what we never know about ourselves when we remain comfortable. Life gets dull and we get bored when we live in our very own bubbles of creature comforts, we constantly get worried about losing things and keeping them at all costs, but we do not know how to live and truly be free from the enslavement of this world.
Too many of us have been consumed, held back, and defined by the things of this humanistic, secularistic, and consumeristic world. We spend so much time chasing after “more” but never have enough, not having enough peace and contentment because our greediness is bottomless. Many of us have become hopeless and lost because we do not have any real purpose or meaning, just living for the moment and with what is appealing. We are constantly being scared of losing it all, yet becoming envious and jealous of others thinking that we deserve more, but nothing really satisfies or fills us deep from within because we are empty, shallow, and purposeless.
So, what can we do? Do not be afraid of taking a journey of leaving what we have built for ourselves to find Christ Jesus! We cannot be afraid of embracing the Christ Way to truly die to ourselves and live for Him, or else we will become impoverished and poor because of our shallow and fragile emptiness and void. We can only live the bigger, more realistic, transcendental, and eternal life when we abandon, let go, and die to our very own selves. Only in letting go of what we have come to know, define, and build up to hide our fragile ego and its desires to have “more” quantifiable and egocentric stuff can we truly discover what it means to possess, live, and be free to embrace the real quality of life, happiness, and truth. That is why Jesus is the Way! When we walk with Him and learn from Him, we can rise above our pitiful existence and shallow happiness to truly be content, and free, and live fully in His grace. We have the One who has taught us what it means to live with His very own life and example in laying down one’s life to truly love, free, and give life to others.
In an age of unprecedented abundance of many blessings and conveniences like never before, many are still unhappy, unfulfilled, and lost because they have never ventured beyond themselves and their identity based on worldly and mundane goals, goods, and desires. So many are lost and unhappy with themselves, of others, and of their lives in general because they do not know who they truly are, hence life is just a meaningless existence trying to be filled with quantifiable, earthly, mundane, and ever-changing goods, pleasures, and desires.
That is why we have to be sick and tired of doing the same thing to leave what is false behind and take the journey of faith leads us toward an adventure that is much more than what we are comfortable with, built up for ourselves, and demanded of others to make us happy. The courage of embarking on the adventure of faith in Christ Jesus leads us to a wider perspective, horizon, and understanding of ourselves created, made, and loved by Him who formed us in His own likeness and image — not just for this present world, but for eternal life.
The more we chase after changing, temporary, and shallow goods and happiness, the more we end up unhappy, unfulfilled, and lost because we chase after ever-changing things instead of transcendental, everlasting, and eternal beauty, truth, and goodness that only come from Him who created all things for good and to last forever. Therefore, to travel on this journey of faith as pilgrims, leaving our nests and kingdoms, we embark on the adventure of egocentric sacrifice and abandonment to seek, understand, love, and live for the eternal and everlasting truth that liberates and frees us from the enslavement to meaningless worldly goods and fixed our hearts on things that are above and everlasting.
Life in itself is a journey with many challenging and unseen ups and downs — it is messy and not perfect. Whether we are willing just to travel from one point to the next to get to what we want or embark on an adventure that is beyond ourselves, that is a personal choice that each and every one of us has to make for ourselves! More than traveling, we are pilgrims on the way of truth, goodness, beauty, and life that helps us to personalize the faith that has been handed to us and makes it our very own personal, self-giving gift and commitment to God who has formed us out of love and desires that we love Him back and spend eternal life with Him. Therefore, the journey of faith is the journey of discovery, seeking understanding, and embracing the deeper, transcendental, and everlasting meanings of who we are, where we are going, and what we are called to be greater than any social or human-made definitions or joys. It is waiting for us, and all it takes is that we are willing to leave our shallow, temporary, humanistic goods and comforts behind, be courageous as to persevere and seek higher things, to be humble as to expand our understanding and horizon to greater and eternal goods, and especially to finish our walk on the Christ Way.
I Thirst (John 19:28) with Father Khoi 