I don’t know about you all, but I love taking Uber to wherever I have to go. I am sure Lyft and the other ride share services are fine as well but I guess I have brand loyalty to Uber. Beyond the value of the ride or the service, it just seems like I get into the best conversations with Uber drivers. This is why, I think, I like to sit in the front seat. It promotes conversation. And often the conversation seems to turn to faith issues.
This was the case recently when I was taking an Uber to the airport in San Diego after a veterinary conference I had there (and a motorcycle trip as well, but that is a long story for another day). The driver was telling me about how she was driving Uber to raise money for Christmas presents. She also gave me a summary of her relationship issues and how she was getting back together with the Father of her oldest child. How he had changed in attitude and responsibility since they were first together. I mentioned that it sounded like he had found faith. She responded that this was exactly what had happened and she felt that faith had brought them back together. I asked her did she have a particular denomination. She told me she was brought up Catholic and she went to church mostly but had one issue with the Catholic Church. I asked what that might be and she responded that it was the Church’s stance on contraception.
Seeing that I had prayed at Mass that morning for God to present me with a chance to profess His word to someone today, I decided to take a leap. I asked if she minded me trying to address her concern. She said that would be fine. I explained how Pope Paul VI spoke about his concerns over contraception and his predictions on how it would affect society. How contraception separates sex and relationships. How it increases women being treated as objects and being abused. How birth control failure increases the likelihood of that pregnancy being aborted. All points she had not considered. We separated on a very positive note. She thanked me and I wished her good luck and blessings with her ex-husband.
In today’s first reading, Paul describes his conversion on the road to Damascus. His plan, as a devout Jew and persecutor of Christians was to bring back members of The Way (what early Christianity was called) to Jerusalem where they would be tried and tortured or martyred. Instead Saul met the Lord and became Paul in one of the most famous conversion stories in history. Life changed dramatically for him on that day.
But did his conversion stop there on that road? I am what is called a Cradle Catholic. I was born Catholic and, as such, did not think I had experienced or would need to experience a conversion. I was ALREADY Catholic. But I think that we all experience ongoing conversions throughout our lives. Paul was not ready to spread the Gospel message to the Gentiles for 2 years after his first encounter with Jesus. He had to mature and grow as a Christian. I love the line that goes something like, “You cannot give what you do not have”. If we open ourselves to it, we grow as a person and as a follower of Christ everyday. We read the scriptures, and we learn. We listen to Catholic radio, and we learn. We go to Mass, and we learn. Our prayer life opens us to learn. And I think each of these opportunities to learn are like mini conversions as our lives are shaped to be ready for our own resurrection.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel to go out to all the world and spread the good news. I think part of that mission is to defend our faith which is constantly under attack in part because of the evil that comes from Satan. But I also think it comes from misunderstandings of the beliefs of our faith. Bishop Fulton Sheen once said, “There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate The Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.” And he went on to disprove the myths that lead many, including many Catholics, to misunderstand and walk away from the Catholic Church.
We have the responsibility to change that perception of Catholicism one person at a time. As I tried to do with the Uber driver. Did you know people think Catholics treat Mary as a replacement for God? That we worship her? We don’t. We honor her as the Mother of God. As the greatest saint and intercessor for us to her Son. We don’t worship statues either. We use them as reminders of those holy people who went before us and are cheering for us to join them in eternity. And the Real Presence? Well…it is real. Just read John Chapter 6 where Jesus says over and over that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Speaking symbolically? Then why did he not call back those who walked away at these words and say, “Hey..just kidding”. Or why did the apostles die holding onto this truth? Yup, sometimes the homilies are boring. Sometimes the music is boring. But we have Jesus waiting for us, to enter us at EVERY mass.
And we are told that we are behind the times. We don’t change our views as society changes. But the Church says, the Truth never changes. There are almost 40,000 churches out there with their own version of the truth but there is only one Truth and it comes from Jesus and handed down through the ages from the apostles. Bishop Sheen also said he could identify the Church that is true because it will be the one that the world hates…just as Jesus was hated by the world that he lived in. Hated for confronting his critics with the truth. John the Baptist was beheaded for proclaiming the truth.
So, are we ready to undergo conversion daily so that we can be instruments of conversion to those who do not or cannot see the Gospel? To proudly proclaim why we are Catholic and not apologize for being the church that Christ started.
