The Influence of Faith on Culture
"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection."
— Colossians 3:12-14
The Power of Attitude
You know, I was thinking about something which I think is very important for us to all consider now. First of all, think about, if you will. The way a person carries themselves. Okay. Just think about I want you to think about that in general. Okay. Now, let's imagine that you're with a group of people and everybody is in a jovial, chipper mood. And Donald, the Debbie Downer show up, right? They're the ones who. The food's horrible. The service is horrible. The drinks are the drinks are subpar. I can't believe we're here. My gosh. What is so cold in this room by the Father Pieroni must be here somewhere. How could this possibly be? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And before you know it, everybody says, Gosh, what a drag this is. And the host says, what just happened here? Or imagine, if you will, the exact opposite. Somebody comes into that event and says, this is beautiful. My goodness, I can't believe how much work went into this. These people have worked extremely hard. What a wonderful evening. It's and cool in here obviously for the property somewhere in here because only he would keep it this cold. But that's okay. They love it nonetheless. They're my guys. All right. Truth be told, though, it changes the mood. That changes the mood in a very good way. Now. Why am I telling you this? Because I'm trying to give you the psychology. Of course not. Not at all. I want you to think about that when it comes to the holy Catholic faith and cultures throughout the world. Okay. Now you think about what our Lord spoke about today, the mustard seed. Think about the mustard seed. You know, I did some research about this because when you're teaching high school young ladies, they're very, very inquisitive and they ask very, very good questions. So I found out this muscle sheet is a little, little black, nothing seed. It's little, little black seed. So this, you know, but at the ground, you do what you need to do. Water, fertilizer, mulch, whatever. And it grows. Grows to be a big tree. And it produces fruit. Okay. But. Now last week, as I'm sure you probably remember, we also had a gospel about some seeds as well. We had two kinds of seats. We had the good seed which produced wheat, and we had the bad seed which produced wheat. Okay, now weeds in wheat. Okay. You all know what's going on there, right? And we heard at the end of that gospel that the wheat will be put in the barn. It produces good fruit. The wheat, they go in the fire to be burned. You think about heaven and hell. Okay. Again, nothing surprising there. But one thing that I think is important for us to remember is that that good seed can grow and flourish. Okay. I want you to think about the cultures throughout the world, past, present and now. Okay. Let's just take let's take some simple examples. Okay. The Middle East and the Orient.
Cultural Transformation Through Faith
Now, in case you're wondering. But if you say, oh, you're going to get all the Middle Eastern Easterners. Well, the nice thing is I'm a middle Eastern or you probably already know that by now, but my mom is Lebanese, so I can talk. Or people say, Oh, my gosh, how dare you know my mama, my little Lebanese grandmothers that were my people, not from them, but 100% Italian, by the way. Think about the Middle East now compared to what it was a Catholic continent. Okay. Think about that. Think about how that applied to the Orient or North America or South America or Eastern Europe or Western Europe. Think about how dramatically different things were. Oh, you know, they were oppressors and blah, blah, blah. I don't want to hear all that foolishness. I don't care about the redactions. I'm sick and tired of hearing it. Okay. Every Catholic man was. Was a horrible totalitarian. Every Catholic woman was. Come on. That's enough. That's okay. Every Catholic man came to America with one sole purpose to enslave all the natives. No. Darn it. Why didn't those Jesuits come out and go up north? Why? To enslave the natives who are meaner than that. That why they went to bring the holy Catholic faith. And they died for it. That's why they went to spread the Catholic faith. You think about what those tribes were like before and then after they received the faith. And, oh, by the way, Saint Isaac and Saint Rene and all those Jesuit martyrs, they had to die. They had a plan that see. Remember that blood of the martyrs, the seeds of the faith. They had to plant that seed. That seed eventually grew and flourished. And you had somebody, by the way, who a lot of us have a devotion to. His name is Neytiri. If you recall, she's a saint. And if you recall, she's also an American Indian. Wow. Incredible. How is that possible? And you think about what happens when those cultures lose the faith and where they go. Right. You think about some of the some of these people in this in South America who were very, very their cultures were very, very brutal or Mexico or wherever. Brutal, brutal cultures. Brutal, you know, into all kinds of horrible things. Right. And when the faith comes, what happens? Well, as an example, the women start to dress modestly. Go figure. Right. The men start treating their women like their wives and not their concubines. Go figure. The children are started, are learning how to study the faith. They start going to mass and. Oh, my goodness, God forbid this receiving the sacrament of penance. You think about the influence that you're saying, Oh, you're so pro Jesuit. Well, I like the Jesuits. I have a hard time with the modern ones, and they really break my heart. But I've studied about the Jesuits and I know who they are. These men were amazing. They would go into areas that were truly, truly pagan cultures and would convert the culture. Right. And then, of course, over the years, you would hope and pray it would stay that way. And, of course, you might have some ruler, some dictator, some tribal chieftain who says, no, we don't want them. Get them out of here. You got two choices, Jesuits. You can leave. Or we're going to. We're going to cut you up in pieces and feed you alligators or whatever. Okay. Those are your choices. Of course, most of the Jesuits said, well, I got to talk to my superiors. He wants me to do. But look at what happened. The faith leaves and what happens to the culture. It becomes corruptible again. It corrupts. It falls apart. And we have to think about why. Why? You know, you the the women go back to dressing like really and dressing in inappropriate attire. The men start shooting their wives horribly again. The concept of a love of a child becomes. I love the convenience of a child if there is no convenience to equip the children. Right. And it sounds like modernity, does it? Interesting. And ultimately men begin to lose their souls.
The Collapse of Culture Without Faith
You start to lose your souls. They start to look at things as that which is worship, which is actually not. They start moving towards things that give them a sense of feeling. A sense of. Unnecessary, inappropriate comfort comforts when they're being told by so-called ministers that they have. Everything they need because they're good. As he boards his beautiful Learjet to go to the next location that they paid for. So again. I don't care if a guy has a private jet, I could care less. So. Why are they listening? Why are they listening to what this man has to say? It's very simple. He tells them what they want to hear. It's not hard. It's not difficult. It's not uncomfortable, you know. Think about it. Think about it. How many people in our little chapels? Well, not all of them or little. How many people in our little chapels or our primaries travel 45 minutes to an hour every Sunday to go to mass? Right. I want you to ask your friends and family. You know, the ones that you have in your families who go to mass and are serious about their faith. Ask them, how far is the parish from your house? Oh, you know, 5 minutes by walking. 2 minutes, but 2 minutes by my scooter. Wow. Huh? Oh. Why don't you go? Where's your parish? I go to Our Lady of Victory. Oh, but. But you're from Miami here, so. Yes, but my parish. It's a sacrifice, but I'm prepared to make it because I know what I'm receiving. There is truth. Which a lot of people, they're searching for the truth their whole lives and they never find it or they do find what they want. Okay. So again, something else I noticed was interesting. I did a study about this when I was in college that a lot of things that were being done or were becoming part of the norm in certain cultures were these men? And these women became I'm going to use the bad word here that most was already hates Catholic Christians. When they became Christians, they actually said, we can't do this anymore. We can't do this. And Saint Paul, as you know, he is so misogynistic. No, he's not. He's crystal clear. He's crystal clear what you do and don't do. He's crystal clear. He says this is bad. Why? And he tells us. Romans, get yourselves together. Stop acting that way. Read ROMANS Chapter one. It'll blow your mind. How beautiful that's written and how straightforward it is. Right? You can't do this anymore. You can't act this way anymore. You're no longer of the pagan cults. You're a Christian now. You are a son of God. You are a daughter of God. Wow. Then everything changes. People lose their faith and what happens? They go right back to it.
Searching for Faith in Modernity
You see young people in modernity. Who have they worship? They worship every day. They do. They put their iPod in their ears or whatever you call them. They turn on their tunes and they're worshiping all day long. Right. They're worshiping a little God or a little goddess in their hands. They're worshiping all day long. You know, I was in the airport. I was talking to Dear Father Dean, who's one of our one of our senior priests. Been around a long time. And I couldn't believe it. You see, people quit. It's Saturday morning. I was on retreat last week. Who does business at 6:00 in the morning on Saturday? Very few people. But boy, oh, boy, they were just going to work on their with their little gods and. I don't know if anybody's mind. Maybe now's a good time to knock out Rosary. Probably not. And more importantly, to worry about. That's modernity. But that's the way it's always been. When a man replaces God with something else, He loses God. He loses who God is. He loses why he is a Christian. And the sad part is when a lot of these cultures I was talking about, even the modern cultures, when they lose the faith, they go right back to where they were. Right back to where they were. They fall back into it. And of course, the sad thing is a lot of people don't even know why. You know, I was I caught something interesting before my retreat started, which really kind of kind of made me kind of sad just to come to the realization how many people are actually are in the world right now who used to be devout Catholics, but because of something, lost the faith. You're going to see more and more and more as much as I as much as it hurts me to say this sort of this has killed a lot of Catholics. And, my dears, you know, that I wasn't the reason. You know that you know that I came later than 19 years ago or whatever. But the truth is, you look at that and you realize, oh, my gosh, what happened here? You know, you hear rock stars who talk about when I was a boy, these guys are in their seventies now, what I used to the service. But, you know, where do you go to mass? I don't go to mass anymore. It's silly, but silly. Have you noticed, though, how when it comes to the young converts, how hungry they are to find that which they cannot find in the world, and it leads them into our arms where we all of a sudden become those who bring them to the faith. Is that not amazing to you? When a man is lost, he looks for something that will give him something he can't he doesn't have in his own life. Right. Unfortunately for some people, it's a relationship falls apart. Or booze or drugs. Or something worse. Pornography. Or. But it gives them a sense of consolation. But when somebody finds a true faith, they say, this is it. This is it. Or they find something else.
The Authenticity of Catholic Living
You know, they find a group of people who say, oh, my gosh, we want you to come with us. We're going to worship Gaia in the forests and act like fools and idiots. You come with us tonight. We love you. They go out there on the wicket. You're what? What do you. Some fool? What's the matter with you? Oh, no. A wicket. But why? Because those people love me. Do they really? They love the fact that you provide the money for this stupid little worship service. Is that what you really. Think about being a Catholic. That love begins with the love of God. And love of neighbor as you love yourself. Catholic one on one right there. But when that leaves, when a man loses his love of God, he loses everything. He can't love anymore. Think about a good marriage, a good Catholic marriage begins. You know, I. I had to get on this gal one time. I love my children. I love a good. But you never talk about your love of God. Why is that? And she was dumbfounded. Like, How dare you? No, not out there. Me? Your marriage begins with love of God, young lady. That love of your children. Now, don't get me wrong. I know you love your kids. I know that. But if you don't love God, your marriage is not centered in the proper foundation. That's because you don't have the proper base, the proper foundation of your marriage. But as you know very well, my dear, you do. Everything else flows from God. You see, modern man sees God as that which much must love him. God loves me. Doesn't matter if I'm into some perversion or into some heresy or Lord knows what I meant to. God loves me just the way I am. Oh, dear parents. How many times have you had to tell you? Tell your children. Give me your car, cuz, you little brat. You're acting inappropriately. But you don't love me the way you do. I love you immensely. What you're doing is stupid. Give me your car keys. That happened to me when I was 16. Okay, but. I understand you're probably seeing the emotional stress you must be under. No. My dad was right. I was depressed. Just the way it is. Discipline. Good discipline. How do we stay disciplined? What do we do if we understand? First and foremost, it begins with love of God. Then we become like infectious diseases in a good way. Okay. You think about something. It's infectious. I just heard a quote that blew my mind. A man's psychology can be more infectious. Psychology can be more infectious than the flu. Now, again, this was a very, very intense situation these men were talking about. Right. You've got to keep it together because it affects everybody around you. Think about that. Think about my example at the beginning. Right. If you keep it together. Now, again, don't be afraid to speak to your spouses. Don't be afraid to speak your parents. Don't be afraid to speak to your spirit director, don't you? Don't be afraid, please. But if we keep it together, if we say this is a solid Catholic faith, it draws people, the mustard seed becomes that tree, and all of a sudden it flourishes and produces great fruit.
The Centrality of Mary
St Paul's talking about you're living these virtuous lives, know this aloneness and the Macedonians, you cases, they look at you and realize, oh my gosh, look at this, I want that. Okay. Well, here's the guidebook. Here's the rule sheet. Be prepared. Oh, no, no. It's too much. Sorry. Go back to your pagan culture. Build a great time. Enjoy this in this life. Debauchery and all the things you do next life. Well, I'm not going to be so good, but for now. Just think about how important truly is. You know, I don't think that's a thing you want to do. You put me you put me in front of anything else. But don't ask me to beg. I don't think. Okay. But I know my mother. God love. My mother would make all kinds of wonderful things. They don't need any more because they just don't like sweets. But when I was a boy. Right. But chocolate. Cookies, all these things. I'm sorry. I know, I know. I'm TiVo ultimate, but the truth is, my mother would make all those things from scratch, and I couldn't believe it. As a as a young as a boy, as a youngster, I couldn't believe it. But what it produced was this great sense of happiness. A Peroni, your mom make those peanut butter cookies. Yeah. So you left. Sure. Over. Producer. There was something very beautiful about that. But imagine, if you will, that somebody asks you a question and you speak to them clearly and concisely and say, yeah, I'm a I'm a Catholic By the way, you don't have to always add a caveat to say I'm a Catholic before attachment. Okay. You're not a Catholic in a subset. You're a Catholic. All right. I'm a Catholic. Where do you go to mass or leave victory? Oh, where is that? It's in Davie of Griffin. In Davie. Oh, okay. We're. Well, where do you go to mass? Well, you know, I've been away for five, ten, 15, 20 years. Excuse, excuse, excuse. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you say, well, seven, nine, 11 and five. What time do you what time you want to go to mass? You know what? I'll meet you there. Then you have to hold them accountable, right? Hey, what happened on Sunday, miss? Or what were you mean? We said. We said 9:00. You are serious. I was. And obviously you weren't. Then you start day and you have to actually speak to them about the hard truths that they need to hear. You know, bro, you've been away for 20 years. What do you do on that? You're married. You've got kids. What are you doing? What? Listen, lady, you've got kids. Aren't you going to ask with your husband? Oh, what? We have to be honest. If you really want to see that flourishing, you've got to do what's necessary. Okay. Our Lord gives us all of these gifts that we don't use. Sometimes a lot of people don't use them. You know as well as I do, the other religions are more than happy to tell you about their fun fest every Sunday or having to tell you, are you a Christian? What do most Catholics say? Oh no, god, you had a horrible catechism class, although I think I slept through every every Tuesday. Yeah, well, you know, I can give you all the stats of Maradona. Oh, good for you. Great. Is it going to get you to heaven? I don't know. Probably not. Think about it. My ideas. Think about it. If we truly, truly are to be the witnesses of the holy Catholic faith, we have to have the ability to allow ourselves to be that which becomes infectious in society in a good way. It spreads into society. And how? How does that happen? By acting in a good, holy Catholic way. The Catholic man does not go to certain places with the boys on Friday. And the Catholic woman does not get in the circle and complain about their husbands. You have to think about how important that actually is. If you're going to be a Catholic, if you've got a break with your husband, you go talk to your husband, girls. Same thing with you guys. You go talk to your wife. We talk to each other. You don't spread that cancerous problem, right? Oh, you know, he's horrible. And this and this. How many divorces do you think have happened because of that? You know, men who say, I'm not satisfied. Grow up, you. What's. What's the matter with you? Grow up. You're not sexy. Grow up. That applies to all men. You love your wife. Love your wife. You love your husband, your ladies. And by the way, kids, you love your parents. Because obviously we must be that which comes into society and shows them the divinity of God. The love of God and the true love of God. And obviously we cannot forget about this. What's the big element that everybody who calls themselves a Christian, quote unquote, forgets about this lady? This lady? Yep. That one right there. This lady. The media tricks of all graces right there, the Blessed Virgin Mary. And I'm going to tell you men right now. When you're evangelical, heretical, whatever you want to call those other religions, start talking to you about the faith. Go, Marion. Go. Marion Hart. Why? Because without her, there is no Jesus Christ. O Father, our Lord could have become any. You're right. But she answered the call. She answered the call. You tell your fellow men about the. The beauty and the majesty, the glory of Mary. You tell them. You know, you Catholics worship, marry you. How dare you tell me that I worship a woman? That's nice. Like poetry. I'm a Christian. I cannot commit idolatry. That's a mortal sin. But don't ever lose sight of the importance of Mother Mary. By the way, guys. How many of you have the courage to ask your fellow your fellow Catholic, made to seeing their daily rosary? Oh, my business. Really? None of your business. Of course, it's your business. I mean, you said Rosemary. Well, you know, that's my wife's response. What was your wife? I'm sorry. What's your wife's responsibility? What do you mean? Well, you know what I understand about 60. Somewhere in there, they see road. Who's there? That's my wife. What kids are you? I've been watching, you know, the latest and greatest conspiracy show where somebody get, you know. But jumping on that Rose was the wife and kids. You're the model, you're the example. You're the witness. You're showing them what they must do. You're drawing them closer to Mother Mary, who draws and posing more and more, and ultimately to the Eucharist. So we have peace fighters. Not lose sight of this part. Become, if you will, that which continues to help the mustard seed Holy Mother church to grow and flourish. Bring it into the world. Bring it into the world. Be a bit of joy. Charity. Discipline. My dear the God bless you. The name of the Father. The Son. The Holy Ghost.
Summary
This homily explores the profound influence of the Catholic faith on cultures throughout history, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a strong connection with one's faith to ensure cultural and personal flourishing. It draws parallels between the parable of the mustard seed and the transformative power of faith as witnessed in historical contexts such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Americas. The text highlights how the acceptance and subsequent loss of Catholic faith have impacted societies, enriching them initially and leading to cultural degradation when the faith is displaced.
The argument is further enriched by addressing the challenges of modernity and how replacement of faith with secular concerns leads to a loss of spiritual grounding. It emphasizes the need for Catholics to live authentically and passionately, allowing their faith to positively influence society. The homily concludes with a tribute to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a central and often overlooked pillar of the faith, urging the faithful to engage with the rosary as a daily commitment and to lead by example in both family and societal contexts.
- Keywords: Faith, Culture, Catholicism, Evangelization, Tradition, Virtue, Blessed Virgin Mary