A non-vanilla life

From many years of accompanying young Catholics, I’ve learnt that proposing to them to do the mediocre is as bland as it sounds. Doing the mediocre, offering the safe path, proposing the comforting option is all a bit ‘meh’, as they say. Especially for millennials, bold tends to be what’s best, even in their struggles with identity and fragility of commitment. They seem to be attracted to the challenge, the possible, the different. Perhaps this is because if you’re going to be seriously Christian in a world that is not, then you’re going to be a bit more open to something that calls for you to be daring. Accepting vanilla simply won’t cut it.

Given Jesus’ words from today’s gospel, we may think of him as an early adopter of the millennial way. Of course you’re supposed to love, he says. But don’t just take the soft option: love your enemies. If they hate you, do good back at them. If they belittle you, honour them. Show them both sides of your face, and keep the outfits coming. Give, says Jesus; I mean, really give of yourself. And forgive like there’s no tomorrow. Don’t just aim for the here and now; head instead for the horizon. And go get perfect.

The way of the Lord has never been the way of the comfortable. He didn’t live a cross-shaped life just for the heck of it. There was always a strangeness about the way Jesus lived, because his way was never about the comfort of conformity. He spoke boldly; lived simply; gave completely. Why? Because, as St Paul put it, the last Adam—God’s son, Jesus—was for us a life-giving spirit. It was this heavenly way that Jesus offered to those who would want to follow him.

The young Church of the early Christians, who also lived their faith in challenging times, found a word to describe how to live this way of Jesus. It is the word: parrhesia. Someone who lived with parrhesia was someone who learnt to speak humbly, honestly yet boldly in the face of challenge and power. They were uneducated people, by and large, yet we have story after story of our ancient brothers and sisters boldly stepping up to proclaim the name of Jesus, and his Gospel of salvation. The early disciples knew how to live a non-vanilla life, modelled on the heavenly Man, Jesus Christ.

We are their descendants; the river of grace that ran through their lives now runs through us. Baptism made you Christian; and there is nothing mediocre about being a disciple of Christ, because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.

On this Sunday when we are celebrating the jubilee of the Diaconate, it is worth recalling how the very first deacons, in that young Church after Pentecost, took up the way of parrhesia. They were chiefly entrusted with the ministry of charity, especially to the poor and vulnerable, but they also became bold preachers of the Gospel. We think of Stephen and Philip, in particular, who went out with their lives, and who gave their lives, to bring Christ to those in need. Or we might recall Lawrence, that great deacon of early Rome, who knew the true treasures held by the Christians: the poor who had come to Christ.

On this Sunday celebrating the jubilee of Deacons, along with us all who are celebrating this Holy Year as pilgrims of hope, in the name of Jesus, and with parrhesia, may we go out and give that gift of Christ given to us.