The Catholic Current XX
[0] This is The Catholic Current with Fr.
[1] Robert Mettaig.
[2] I suppose it has always been the case that news, just by definition, if you're covering story A, you're not covering story B. If you've got your camera focused on this frame, the camera isn't focused outside of the frame.
[3] There has to be selection.
[4] That's inevitable.
[5] What concerns me is the principle for selection.
[6] All news is truth filtered through the spirit of the age.
[7] and whatever ends they see.
[8] Praise be Jesus Christ.
[9] This is Fr.
[10] Robert McTigge of the Society of Jesus, your early host for The Catholic Current, where we bring Christ to the world and the world to Christ.
[11] You're listening to us from the Station of the Cross Studios, your local radio station, and the iCatholic Radio mobile app, where we proclaim the fullness of truth with clarity and charity.
[12] As always, let's start with prayer.
[13] In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, Almighty God, through the intercession of St. Ignatius Loyola, we ask that you pour forth your Holy Spirit upon us, a spirit of discernment.
[14] they might hear your voice and obey your command.
[15] In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[16] Amen.
[17] Hey friends, it's Friday here at The Catholic Current.
[18] You know what that means?
[19] We start with, let's talk about this.
[20] You and me, we walk through a complex issue together.
[21] We end up with weekend readiness, reviewing the headlines of the week in light of the upcoming Sunday scriptures, so you'll be all prayed up for Sunday Mass. Curious title for today, No More First World Problems?
[22] And if you've been following politics as long as I have, you say, gosh, first world, Third World, Second World, I remember those terms.
[23] Do we still use those anymore?
[24] Well, I'm going to tell you why I'm using them now.
[25] During the height of the Cold War, what was called the First World were countries aligned with the Western Blocs.
[26] It was NATO, the United States, what we would call the good guys.
[27] And the Second World was the Eastern Bloc, the Warsaw Pact, China and its allies, the Soviet Union.
[28] And the third world were the non -aligned movement led by neutral countries like India and Yugoslavia.
[29] And it had very important political significance.
[30] But the Soviet Union is no more.
[31] The Warsaw Pact is no more.
[32] And if you doubt that, just ask Ukraine and Poland.
[33] But we still use the term first world, but usually in kind of a semi -serdonic, ironic sense.
[34] We talk about first world problems.
[35] So a first world problem is, oh my goodness, I plugged my phone in before I went to bed, but it turns out the charger wasn't plugged in and I woke up and my phone had no juice.
[36] The day is ruined.
[37] Oh my goodness, I have to save money to hire a clutter consultant.
[38] to help me clean out my closet.
[39] Oh my goodness, I'm going to cry myself to sleep tonight because the steering wheel warmer on my Mercedes -Benz isn't working.
[40] And we joke and say those are first world problems.
[41] Now, having lived in places other than the first world, I know that a whole lot of the world is worried about where the next meal is coming from and whether or not the water they're drinking has impurities in it.
[42] So a reference to first world problems is, gosh, you know, sometimes living a life of luxury can be high maintenance.
[43] And I want us to step back from that.
[44] And that's why I want to use the phrase zero world problems.
[45] And I read a book, you know, I've traveled recently, it was on an airplane.
[46] I was going to recommend this book because it's got some good insights and some good information, but the language...
[47] It's not just not family -friendly, it really is vulgar, and it makes some moral recommendations regarding the Sixth Commandment that are just intolerable for us.
[48] So I want to take his insights, and I'll even give the author credit, Aaron Clary.
[49] So I want to take his insights and some resources of my own and make a recommendation for you.
[50] So here's my thesis.
[51] We live in a sick world that is making us sick.
[52] We live in a sick world that is making us sick.
[53] And I want to follow the example of my late great mentor, Dr. Paul Weiss, who said, good teaching is the sound of an honest man thinking out loud.
[54] So that's what I want to do with you today.
[55] I want to think out loud about the first world problems that we have, that we live in a context that is sick and sickening.
[56] And oh my goodness, coincidence you decide, maybe divine providence.
[57] Lent is right around the corner.
[58] Let me give you my little prequel on Lent, my hot take on Lent.
[59] Do we really need another Lent again?
[60] How many times do we have to pretend to feel sorry for our sins, Father?
[61] And we have this childish notion that Lent is a Catholic thing where you've got to get schmutz on your forehead and For a couple of days, you got to do some jiggery -pokery about eating.
[62] And you can't eat meat on Fridays and Lent.
[63] But oh my goodness, you're not supposed to fast on Sunday.
[64] So whatever you gave up, as soon as sun goes down on Saturday, it's Sabbath.
[65] Party.
[66] Break out your cigarettes.
[67] Break out all the alcohol that you said you were going to give up.
[68] Bring on the donuts.
[69] And then it's Sabbath until 12 .01 Monday morning, ka -ching.
[70] Because a man's got to do what a man's got to do.
[71] Well, now that's actually a horrific approach to Lent.
[72] Some time ago, when I was a young priest teaching at a self -identified Catholic university, I went to some of the priests I know who are members of a religious community with which I have some familiarity.
[73] And I said, hey, the kids we're teaching, they're in serious physical and moral danger because of their own stupid choices.
[74] So let's preach on a common theme for Lent.
[75] And we urge the kids to give up alcohol and promiscuity for Lent.
[76] Because I said, we know this is what you're into.
[77] We absolutely know this is what you're into.
[78] Let's not kid ourselves.
[79] And it's really bad for you.
[80] Alcohol and hooking up are not your issues, thanks be to God.
[81] But Lent is a good time to find out if anything other than God has power over you.
[82] It's a good time to find out what is it that I'm unwilling to let go of and why.
[83] It's a good opportunity to find out what you can live without because, you know, life is uncertain.
[84] Life isn't just about always having everything that you want.
[85] A whole lot of life is learning to be at peace with what you have.
[86] Now, I've been a missionary.
[87] I've been in some rough spots in the world.
[88] And I know that lots of people really do live hand to mouth.
[89] And what most of the world thinks of as poverty is really different from how we define poverty.
[90] in the United States.
[91] Most people who are described as technically poor have food and shelter and running water and electricity and cell phones and automobiles and internet and access to medical care.
[92] That's not to say there aren't people in real desperation, but I think that we have allowed the redefinition of poverty.
[93] to overcome us.
[94] And we've allowed the redefinition of priority and want and need.
[95] And that puts us in spiritual and even physical danger, certainly moral danger.
[96] What I want to talk about today is that there are alternatives.
[97] I want to go back to my previous life, my before Jesuit life.
[98] I was living in Northern Virginia.
[99] I had an apartment in Falls Church, Virginia.
[100] And I was working at an office out in Herndon, resting that area.
[101] And it turns out that I could ride my bike because the office had a little gym and I could shower there and put on my suit and so on.
[102] And it was a nice workout.
[103] It was 17 and a half miles each way.
[104] I'm really sure I couldn't make that ride today.
[105] But here's what was really interesting.
[106] Most of the ride was on bike trails.
[107] But every now and again, you would come to a busy intersection.
[108] And at the intersection, I'd stop at the red light.
[109] And I'd look at the lines of traffic.
[110] And of course, this was early in the morning.
[111] All these white -collar workers with their big mortgages driving to office.
[112] And there were all these Beamers and Mercedes and guys wearing suits that I couldn't afford.
[113] And they were all chewing the steering wheel.
[114] They were all so very angry and miserable.
[115] And they would look at me with a combination of envy and resentment because I'm a guy in shorts and a t -shirt with my sun visor on and my helmet.
[116] And as far as they know, I'm just out for a ride.
[117] I'm just out for a bicycle stroll.
[118] Little did they know that I was one of them and that I would arrive at the office, my own torture chamber, shower, put on my prison suit of my suit and tie.
[119] and then work like everybody else at a screen and be miserable.
[120] And the thing that was sad was that this was considered ordinary.
[121] This was considered real life.
[122] This is why you worked hard and went to college, etc., etc., and save your pennies, so that you could be put on this economic treadmill of misery.
[123] And then you would upgrade and you would get a house that looked like everybody else's and you would be further enslaved to the homeowner association.
[124] And you would just work harder and harder to pay the interest on your debts for the more stuff and the more stuff and the more stuff.
[125] And you would generate progeny and they would be turned, they would be trained to want more stuff and more stuff and more stuff.
[126] And then the pain of that life would get so extreme that you had to medicate it somehow.
[127] And the medication was more stuff.
[128] More stuff.
[129] So that the cure, the cure, quote unquote, became part of the addictive process.
[130] The opportunity to have a step away from the slavery got you further enslaved.
[131] Almost as if.
[132] There was an evil intelligence behind it all.
[133] And I'm here to tell you, you don't have to live that way.
[134] I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTague, your host here every day at The Catholic Current.
[135] Remember, rallying cry here at The Catholic Current is Christus Mundo, Mundus Christo, bringing Christ to the world and the world to Christ.
[136] We do it because our Lord says so, for the greater glory of God, the love of our neighbor, and the salvation of our own soul.
[137] After the broadcast today, go to thestationofthecross .com, get our resources list, download our audio as podcast.
[138] Everything you need to take us to your family and friends, we give to you.
[139] Together, let's take it around the world.
[140] world.
[141] We can do it with you.
[142] We cannot do without you.
[143] Let's do this good work together.
[144] Be back in just two minutes.
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[161] Praise be Jesus Christ.
[162] This is Father Robert McTague of the Society of Jesus, your daily host for The Catholic Current, where we bring Christ to the world and the world to Christ.
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[169] It's Friday.
[170] We have another round of Let's Talk About This.
[171] Topic today is No More First World Problems?
[172] My thesis is that we live in a sick world that is making us sick, and we have a really disordered relationship with material goods, and it's making us crazy, and it facilitates sin.
[173] And there are alternatives.
[174] And the reason that I'm talking about it today is because before you know it, Lent is going to be here, Ash Wednesday.
[175] Ash Wednesday is a time to find out if anything other than God...
[176] has claim on our loyalty, on our heart, on our preferences.
[177] And I want to give you some examples of how people get trapped in a sick system and then tell themselves that it's normal.
[178] When I was an undergrad, I had a summer job for four summers.
[179] And in fairness, you know, it wasn't so bad.
[180] I was working in an air -conditioned office.
[181] paid for my books, gave me some spending money.
[182] I was working for an auto insurance company as a claims adjuster.
[183] And so I was the guy who would pick up the phone and tell you, you're not getting the money that you think you need or deserve.
[184] And while all my friends were at the beach or doing other interesting things, I was reading accident reports by the thousands.
[185] Now, fortunately, I was only dealing with property damage and not with bodily injury.
[186] Here's why I bring that up.
[187] So I'm 18 years old.
[188] This is my first kind of grown -up summer job.
[189] I'm working in an office.
[190] I'm wearing a tie.
[191] And most of the people there were just four or five years ahead of me, just got out of college.
[192] And so this is summer of 1980 was when it started.
[193] And there was the belief that the way to get ahead...
[194] The way to make your way in the world was you would go to college, you would get your degree.
[195] Back then, school wasn't $55 ,000, $65 ,000, $75 ,000 a year.
[196] And it was more typical to get your four -year degree in four years rather than six today.
[197] And the idea was that you were going to get this really wonderful job that the guys who were a few years ahead of me hadn't found yet.
[198] So this was just, you know, temporary.
[199] This was just temporary.
[200] So the guys would say, well, you know, if you come back here next year, Bob, I'm not going to be here because I'm just got to pay the rent for a few months until I find my really real job in my field.
[201] Okay.
[202] And then a year later, I look at her.
[203] You're still here.
[204] And they said, well, yeah, you know, I got a new car and it's really nice.
[205] I went all in.
[206] It's got a cassette player.
[207] Ooh, cassette player.
[208] And it costs money.
[209] So I'm just going to pay that down a little bit.
[210] But next year, I'm definitely not going to be here because my ship is going to come in.
[211] I'm going to have my dream job.
[212] Next summer comes around.
[213] oh my goodness, look who's still here.
[214] Well, you know, got to engage, got to pay for the ring, got to have a down payment on a house.
[215] And I just want to emphasize how absolutely miserable this work is.
[216] You're the person that nobody wants to talk to because you never have good news.
[217] You were in an accident, maybe your fault, maybe it wasn't.
[218] There are people who are running around thinking that having a car accident is like hitting the lottery because now life is going to give you a new car.
[219] And so you're driving an eight, nine -year -old car, your car is destroyed, you put a down payment on a brand spanking new car, and then I've got to call you and tell you that that doesn't work.
[220] And then once I finished with that case, there was another case like it, and then another one, and then another one.
[221] It just never stopped.
[222] There was no sense of satisfaction at all.
[223] And then the following year, you'd show up and say, well, you know, the dream job hasn't happened yet.
[224] And I've got a mortgage.
[225] So that was kind of low -end office work.
[226] Now let's fast forward the tape.
[227] We're into the mid to late 80s.
[228] I'd run out of money in graduate school.
[229] And I'm working for a research corporation outside of Washington, D .C. Pretty high end, doing work in artificial intelligence, knowledge engineering, expert systems.
[230] People wore buttons that said AI.
[231] It's for real.
[232] Ooh.
[233] I had my own Apple SE with a three megabyte hard drive.
[234] That's right, three megabytes.
[235] I'm living large.
[236] I'm making pretty decent money.
[237] I'm not rich, but I'm renting a townhouse.
[238] I got a little sports car.
[239] I got a gold card.
[240] And here's the situation I was in.
[241] Nothing was worse than going to bed at night because it was the last thing you did before you got up in the morning.
[242] And nothing was worse than getting up in the morning because I worked with crazy people.
[243] and the work we were doing didn't go anywhere.
[244] I'll just leave it that way.
[245] Why am I telling you all this?
[246] Because the scenario repeated itself.
[247] People got trapped in a job that they hated, and then they would buy toys to medicate themselves against the pain of being trapped, which got them further in debt.
[248] And then they would have to be further dependent upon the corporation.
[249] And on and on it goes.
[250] So you might start out and you might treat yourself to an Italian silk tie.
[251] You might get a new suit.
[252] You might get stereo equipment.
[253] You might get a computer.
[254] Then you get a car.
[255] You get a very expensive girlfriend, which leads to a very expensive marriage and a very expensive house.
[256] No one I knew was happy.
[257] No one I knew was at peace.
[258] You lived for the weekend.
[259] And you were just absolutely miserable the rest of the week.
[260] Now, when I think of those things, I'm not inspired to start singing.
[261] He's got the whole world in his hands.
[262] The question is, why do we do that?
[263] And is there no alternative?
[264] So I've been doing some reading recently about an economic and philosophical movement.
[265] called minimalism.
[266] And it offers an alternative that we live in a culture, we live in an environment, we live in an economic system that is oriented towards consumption.
[267] You've always got to have more and better.
[268] It's not enough to have an iPhone.
[269] You've got to have the latest iPhone.
[270] It's not enough to have a flat -screen TV.
[271] You've got to have the biggest flat -screen TV.
[272] I remember when they started to make civilian editions of Humvees available, the Hummers, and there were people who would get these massive Humvees, and they would be painted white, you know, which would show all the dirt and all the scratches and so on.
[273] That's like getting a main battle tank and painting it pink.
[274] It's a trophy or a talisman or medication, but it's not a tool.
[275] So I thank a great friend of the show, John Horvat, of Tradition, Family, and Property.
[276] And he has an excellent book, which I very much recommend, called Return to Honor.
[277] And the subtitle is important.
[278] He said, From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society, Where We've Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need to Go.
[279] It's a very important book.
[280] It's a very insightful book.
[281] I will confess because it's kind of disappointing because John's ultimate recommendation is people have to become virtuous.
[282] And part of me says, oh man, you know, that's never going to happen.
[283] Becoming virtuous is hard.
[284] I mean, C .S. Lewis had said, you don't realize how stubborn sin is until you make every best effort to try to become good on your own.
[285] It's a lot of work.
[286] And the only way the work works is with grace.
[287] And fortunately, we've got Lent to remind us that we're idolaters.
[288] We're idolaters.
[289] There's someone other than the living God sitting on the throne of our heart.
[290] We have an altar in our soul, but we don't offer sacrifice to God.
[291] We offer sacrifice to mammon, to the God of stuff, to the God of things.
[292] And can we at least have the honesty and the integrity to admit that it's making us sick?
[293] A friend of mine, John Cavanaugh, God rest his soul, did a lot of really good work on what he called advertisement and the formation of conscience.
[294] And he put together a slideshow, a PowerPoint show, of advertisements for different things.
[295] And of course, as you know, advertisements get dated in a hurry.
[296] No one is boasting about the newest cassette player anymore.
[297] No one is boasting about their VHS collection and their VCR anymore.
[298] No one is boasting about their bike that only has three speeds.
[299] So I would show these slides to the kids, my college students, and looking at these advertisements that were 10 or 15 years old.
[300] you know, big, chunky video cameras where you have to go to the gym to get strong enough to carry the video camera around.
[301] And I said, people sold their souls for things that you see as laughably out of date.
[302] But the things that you're selling your soul for now in five years, seven years, you're going to find embarrassing.
[303] Your kids are going to find embarrassing.
[304] And you probably don't even know where the charger is for it anymore anyway.
[305] So my suggestion is what we'll talk about in the next segment is rather than the first world problems, let's talk about zero world problems.
[306] What if we stepped away from the dance of frenetic consumption?
[307] What if we didn't yell more, more, more?
[308] What if we learned to set our hearts on things that would satisfy and didn't decay?
[309] Then we could start to break the chains of our own enslavement, which is a really good image to have in our mind as we get ready for Ash Wednesday for next week.
[310] I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTague, your host here every day of The Catholic Current.
[311] After the broadcast today, go to thestationofthecross .com, get our resources list, download our audio podcast.
[312] Wherever you can find audio, you can find us.
[313] Follow us on your favorite platform, write a five -star review.
[314] We need to attract the attention of the listeners so that these conversations get the attention they deserve.
[315] Everything you need to take is to your family and friends we give to you.
[316] Together, let's take it around the world.
[317] We can do it with you.
[318] We cannot do it without you.
[319] Let's do this good.
[320] Good work together.
[321] Be back in just two minutes.
[322] Please do stay with us.
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[327] Praise be Jesus Christ.
[328] This is Father Robert McTague of the Society of Jesus, your daily host for The Catholic Current, where we bring Christ to the world and the world to Christ.
[329] You're listening to us from the Station of the Cross Studios, your local radio station, the iCatholic Radio mobile app, where we proclaim the fullness of truth with clarity and charity.
[330] Here we are, the third segment of Friday, another round of Let's Talk About This, questioning first world problems.
[331] Is there a way away from them?
[332] You want to stay with us for the whole hour?
[333] because coming up next week in readiness, reviewing the headlines of the week in light of the upcoming Sunday scriptures, so you'll be all prayed up for Sunday Mass. Now, my thesis is that we live in a sick world that's making us sick, and the primary instrument of the contagion, if you will, is frenetic consumption.
[334] It's manic consumerism.
[335] It is the economics of more and more and more.
[336] I want to give one more brief example.
[337] It was from a birthday party I attended, gosh, back when I was a novice.
[338] So about 35 years ago.
[339] And a family I know invited me to a kid's birthday party.
[340] His name was Mikey.
[341] And Mikey was five.
[342] And the backyard looked like a Toys R Us 18 -wheeler tipped over.
[343] And there was just...
[344] mountains of stuff.
[345] And Mikey walked out into the backyard like he was in five -year -old boy heaven.
[346] Because there was all this bright, shiny, battery -powered, plastic stuff.
[347] One of the reasons why my friends with young kids like me is I never buy their kids toys that require batteries and don't come with a lot of pieces.
[348] That having been said, so Mikey went from one wonder to another, but oh, the serpent was present in the garden.
[349] Why do I say that?
[350] Because Mikey wasn't the only five -year -old in that Garden of Eden.
[351] There were other five -year -olds, and they were as captivated and as eager as Mikey himself.
[352] for all the bright, shiny, beepy, plasticky things.
[353] So Mikey would be looking at a treasure and he'd see another little boy at a corner of the garden holding a treasure and Mikey would drop what he had and say, no, and then grab that.
[354] And then he'd see a little girl go over that airplane or a ball or no, no, that's mine.
[355] And then in the center of the garden was A car.
[356] An electric car for five -year -olds.
[357] It looked like a little Flintstone car.
[358] And so Mikey, in desperation, grabbed what treasures he had, dumped them into his car, and tried to get away.
[359] And then the other kids surrounded him.
[360] It looked like a zombie movie where they just broke through and got all the stuff.
[361] And he's crying, No!
[362] Now, it's kind of cute, slightly dystopian as a story about children, but it's very, very much what adult life is like.
[363] But what if we said, we don't want to do this anymore?
[364] Now, someone might say, Father, you know, that's really easy for you.
[365] You haven't seen a paycheck since 1989, and you certainly don't look like you've ever missed a meal.
[366] But some of us have mouths to feed.
[367] And some of us have bills to pay, and a lot of us have mortgages.
[368] So you need to shut up about the economic thing.
[369] And I understand that.
[370] I get that.
[371] You don't want to take financial advice from me. I will say, as an observer of the human condition, someone who lived in the world himself, lived a not very exciting, somewhat worldly life, it's bad for souls.
[372] It's bad for souls.
[373] to be animated by more and more and more.
[374] Consume, consume, consume.
[375] It's never enough.
[376] And so we poison ourselves with fast food.
[377] We poison ourselves with what we stare at in the screen.
[378] We get frustrated.
[379] We get unhealthy.
[380] And then we poison ourselves with medicine to deal with the unhealthy.
[381] And from every angle, we get further ensnared in the cycle.
[382] And I want to suggest that there's an alternative.
[383] And you might say, Father, I'm fine.
[384] I don't, you know, you're talking about other people, but you're not talking about me. I'm not addicted to anything.
[385] I don't have an acquisitive spirit.
[386] Okay.
[387] It's going to be Lent in a few days.
[388] See how you do with fasting.
[389] And not just cutting a meal or cutting alcohol.
[390] How about this?
[391] Don't turn to electronic devices when you're bored.
[392] Turn to electronic devices only for news and not for entertainment.
[393] Oh my gosh.
[394] I mean, students thought I was...
[395] Torquemada or Savonarola when I suggested they fast from Facebook during Lent.
[396] Find out if something other than God has a hold of your heart.
[397] As I'm recording this, I have in mind a saint you might not know well.
[398] His name was St. Gabriel Possenti, also known as St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin.
[399] He came to my attention because apparently...
[400] He's the patron saint of handgunners.
[401] Now, depending upon the state that you live in, you might not be able to avail yourself of that kind of devotion.
[402] But he was known as a very, very worldly man, kind of a party animal, you know.
[403] And one day there was a plague in the town where he was.
[404] And so to...
[405] pray against the sickness, they had a procession with an icon of the Virgin Mary in the local cathedral.
[406] And as the icon passed them by, he heard this voice say, why are you living in the world still?
[407] Now, world is one of those funny words in scripture.
[408] It's a lot like flesh.
[409] Is it good or is it bad?
[410] You know, for God so loved the world.
[411] Okay, world is good.
[412] Those who love the world cannot love God, so world is bad.
[413] What about the word flesh?
[414] The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
[415] Good.
[416] If you are in the flesh, you cannot be pleasing to God.
[417] Bad.
[418] So, which is it?
[419] When St. John is talking about the world, when he's talking about creation in harmony with its creator, then the world is good.
[420] When he talks about creation, and rebellion against its creator, then the world is bad.
[421] Now, likewise with flesh, human nature seeking holiness, responding to the dignity of the incarnation of Christ, flesh is good.
[422] when flesh is in rebellion against spirit, rejecting the heights of dignity that the incarnation summons us to, then flesh is bad.
[423] So let's have a look at the first epistle of John chapter 2, a few verses, verses 14 to 17.
[424] St. John writes, Beloved, I'm writing to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.
[425] Now, if there are young men out there to whom that applies, Good for you.
[426] Keep on doing what you're doing.
[427] And if not, maybe time to man up starting Ash Wednesday.
[428] St. John goes on, do not love the world or the things that are in the world.
[429] Now he's not saying reject creation.
[430] He's not saying don't go out and touch grass.
[431] You should do that.
[432] When he talks about do not love the world or the things that are in the world, do not set your heart on the things that are in rebellion against God.
[433] And all of the apparatus of first world problems in the service of the idol of Mammon, that's the world, and it's bad.
[434] St. John goes on to say, if anyone loves the world, and again, we're talking about creation and rebellion, we're talking about idolaters, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that, so in other words, the love of the world, the love of worldliness, is what?
[435] He says, It's lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
[436] Yes, because the hallmark of spiritual immaturity and the hallmark of spiritual sickness is to say, give me that, give me that, give me that.
[437] Oh, I want that, I want that, I want that.
[438] And then all of that is inflamed by pride of life.
[439] Look what I got, look what I got, look what I got.
[440] I must be important because I have the things.
[441] And he says that lust, he says, is not from the Father, but from the world.
[442] Because remember, what God makes is good.
[443] Go to Genesis, God saw the world and saw that it was good.
[444] And then here's the kicker.
[445] The world with its lust is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
[446] Friends, there's no pockets in a shroud.
[447] You can't take it with you.
[448] And we have immortal souls.
[449] We're a hybrid of spirit and flesh.
[450] And all the hungers and appetites of our bodies are meant to orient us towards the only things that can really satisfy our appetite and aptitude for truth and beauty and goodness.
[451] And that is God Almighty.
[452] I remember reading in a spiritual journal once, an author said, Lord, let me live my life such that people will ask, if this be the servant, what be the master?
[453] So when you see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, when you meet a person who has a noble character, someone who loves goodness, that should inflame our heart and our intellect.
[454] Not for, I've got to own that, I've got to have that.
[455] I've got to make it mine.
[456] But where did it come from?
[457] Because we're meant not to know truths, plural, but truth with a capital T. Not just love good things or good people, but to love goodness.
[458] Not just to delight in beautiful things, but to delight in beauty.
[459] And if we are on the hamster wheel, Hang on, I'm going to mix metaphors in a really violent way.
[460] You're probably going to want to write this down.
[461] The hamster wheel is on a downward spiral.
[462] How about that?
[463] I tried to fit in an albatross there too, but I can't make it happen.
[464] It's a downward spiral.
[465] That acquisition for more and more and more is a mania.
[466] It's a frenetic consumption.
[467] We spend money we don't have.
[468] to buy things we don't need, to gain the approval of people we don't like and who don't like us.
[469] And then we teach our children to do the same.
[470] And then we go into debt and have our children invest years of their lives so they can be better equipped to get on the hamster wheel too.
[471] It's insane.
[472] It's unnecessary.
[473] If you want to find an account of how to find alternatives, I'm going to recommend to you what's in our show notes for today.
[474] Friend, Lent is less than a week away.
[475] It's not just an occasion of pretending to be sorrow for sin so that later we can pretend to be grateful to be saved.
[476] Let's not have another Lent like that.
[477] God forbid.
[478] But rather, rather, let's admit that we're in chains, that we've made our chains, and God wants to set us free on the condition that we stop loving our chains.
[479] We're in a world...
[480] that is not only sick and sickening, but crazy and crazy making.
[481] And God is so good in his mercy, he offers us this opportunity for a jailbreak.
[482] Think on these things today, take them to prayer, and talk about it with those you love.
[483] I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTague, your host here every day of The Catholic Current.
[484] Be part of the conversation.
[485] Follow what we're following by following us on Gab.
[486] That's G -A -B dot com.
[487] The channel is The Catholic Current.
[488] You can influence the conversation.
[489] You can contact us at thestationofthecross .com slash askfather.
[490] Comments, questions, suggestions, recommendations, objections.
[491] We read everything that you send.
[492] And I said some challenging things today.
[493] Things you might disagree with or things you might want to correct me about.
[494] So please do contact us at thestationofthecross .com slash askfather.
[495] We're in this good work together.
[496] Be back in just two minutes.
[497] Please do stay with us.
[498] Have a question or feedback about today's episode?
[499] Want to suggest a guest or a future topic?
[500] Go to thestationofthecross .com and help influence the conversation.
[501] Praise be Jesus Christ.
[502] This is Father Robert McTague of the Society of Jesus, your daily host for The Catholic Current, where we bring Christ to the world and the world to Christ.
[503] You're listening to us from the station of The Cross Studios, your local radio station, the iCatholic Radio mobile app, where we proclaim the fullness of truth with clarity and charity.
[504] Here we are, Friday, the last segment, Week in Readiness, You and Me. reviewing the headlines of the week in light of the upcoming Sunday scriptures.
[505] So we all prayed up for Sunday Mass. I want to give you guys a heads up.
[506] We're operating with a new template here at The Catholic Current.
[507] We've been on the air since 2018 together.
[508] Thanks be to God.
[509] We've got over 1 ,500 amazing episodes in the archives, and we want to give the newbies an opportunity to hear some classic episodes.
[510] If you're listening on terrestrial radio, you get to see how many times I can say in an hour, dark -brooding, melancholic Irishman with an apocalyptic imagination.
[511] And for our veterans, I think sometimes it's useful to have your memory refreshed.
[512] But here's the bonus.
[513] In addition to the classic episodes on Mondays and Fridays, there's going to be new podcast material on your favorite podcast platform.
[514] And that'll be 10 to 15 minutes on Mondays and Wednesdays.
[515] And if you're really bold and brave and you want to find out how exactly true it is when I say I have a face that was just made for radio, that podcast material is available also.
[516] with a video component on our YouTube channel, our Catholic Radio YouTube channel, under the playlist called Let's Take a Closer Look.
[517] That's coming out on Mondays and Wednesdays.
[518] That having been said, let me tell you about some of the headlines I have been following.
[519] Everyone is talking about Doge, Department of Government Efficiency.
[520] Let me tell you about some of the money that has been spent in your name.
[521] And for each expenditure, I want you to jump out of your chair and yell, My tax dollars at work.
[522] So you have paid for $60 million for indigenous peoples and Afro -Colombian empowerment, $37 million for female empowerment in Colombia, $25 ,000 for vegan local climate action innovation in Zambia.
[523] Hey friends, do you notice one of these things that have in common in addition to the fact that you didn't vote for any of it?
[524] None of it is measurable.
[525] It's not like we're painting the house blue and, you know, the house, you know, that the job is done and the house is painted blue.
[526] My personal favorite here is $7 million for the American Bar Association to promote the resilience of Eurasian legal sector and civic activities and $52 million for unspecified something or other to the World Economic Forum.
[527] Oh, here's one.
[528] I've got to add this.
[529] $40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants.
[530] I recognize the words as English.
[531] I just don't know what that means.
[532] So there's that.
[533] As we're recording this, the Holy See says the Pope slept well during the night and is now resting.
[534] Presidential candidate in Romania was arrested for it.
[535] It looked like he was going to win, as far as I can tell.
[536] And then something positive here from Sky Night Magazine, from our friends at the BBC, where your tax dollars also go to work.
[537] There's going to be a seven -planet alignment or planet parade visible in the night sky in February on...
[538] on February 28th, this Friday.
[539] We're going to put a link to that so you can look to the sky and sing the praises of our Creator.
[540] Now let's turn to the Scriptures.
[541] If you're following the Novus Ordo calendar, the Pauline rite, we're looking at the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
[542] And boy, these are not feel -good Scriptures.
[543] From Sirach we read, When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear.
[544] So do one's faults when one speaks.
[545] I take that to heart of someone who preaches, teaches, and broadcasts for a living.
[546] And then we have St. Paul, 1 Corinthians, the sting of death is sin.
[547] Ouch.
[548] And then we have the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6.
[549] Jesus told his disciples a parable.
[550] Can a blind person guide a blind person?
[551] Will not both fall into a pit?
[552] Oh my.
[553] I think it goes on to talk about hypocrisy.
[554] Remove the splinter in your own eye.
[555] And then here's the kicker.
[556] A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
[557] Let's tie all that together.
[558] We spend a whole lot of time and energy insisting that we're not really sinners.
[559] And that we don't really need a Savior.
[560] See, if we believed, if we believed that we are sinners and that our sin merits for us eternal separation from the God who made us, the God for whom we are made, if we believed that that's what sin does, then we might be more enthusiastic about having a Savior.
[561] And we might not...
[562] be arriving in church on Sunday with smoldering, scarcely concealed resentment because the God who made us, saved us, and sanctifies us would like to have a little bit of our time to teach us and feed us with himself.
[563] Friends, I have spent decades of Sundays standing in the foyers of the Church of St. Typicals, and almost without exception, I see universally a reluctance to be in the presence of God.
[564] And even as people drag themselves into the front door of the church after strolling through the parking lot, they bring that much speed, energy, and enthusiasm for racing out the door as quickly as possible.
[565] and running each other down to get out of the parking lot because they want to get away from God.
[566] And people who believe that they're sinners who need a Savior, people who know they need mercy and have mercy available to them, don't act like that.
[567] And I know, because I am a sinner, that it is all too easy to accumulate bad habits.
[568] bad attitudes, bad thoughts, and it is all too easy to set our hands, our eyes, our thoughts, and our hearts on things that are not God.
[569] And all too much of what is in the world is presented to us as seduction when it's really addiction and worse.
[570] And in God's providence, This coming Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent is going to begin.
[571] And that's why I'm committing all of Tuesday episode to give you my pre -Lenten advice to get us ready for Lent.
[572] Friends, let's be clear.
[573] If we only play at being sinners, we can only play at being saved.
[574] And we might fool others, and we might even fool ourselves.
[575] But we're certainly not going to fool God.
[576] Friends, we have accustomed ourselves to dragging about the chains that we have made.
[577] It's insane.
[578] It makes us sick.
[579] It makes us hard to live with.
[580] It poisons the world.
[581] And it gives no hope to our children.
[582] So let's agree this Lent, in the year of our Lord, 2025, is going to be when everything changed.
[583] when we decided to be serious about Christ crucified and risen, about the power of his precious blood, and our absolute and desperate need for mercy, so that we can end Lent and begin Easter knowing that we have been through a battle, and with God's grace, we have been victorious.
[584] May God's holy name be praised now and forever.
[585] I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTague, your host here every day at The Catholic Current.
[586] Join us on Monday for a classic episode, and the Tuesday episode is going to be all new material, and we're going to be talking about how to get ready for Lent.
[587] Let's fight and win.
[588] After the broadcast today, go to thestationofthecross .com, get our resources list, download our audio podcast.
[589] If you can find audio, you can find us.
[590] Take this to your family and friends.
[591] Together we'll take it to the whole world.
[592] Through the intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, may Almighty God bless you.
[593] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[594] Thou in peace and please do pray for me for I am a sinner.