Homily: Spiritual Maturity

[00:00:01] Welcome to our guests at St. Mike's today. It's good to have you. Welcome. Those of us in the Catholic world, next year is a big year for us as Catholics. Why? Because if you didn't know this, next year we will celebrate around the world the 400th anniversary of the consecration of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It's a big deal for us.

[00:00:30] So if you didn't know this, after our first pope, St. Peter died, 267 popes ago, the first century Christians built a little chapel over his tomb on Vatican Hill right next to the Tiber River in Rome.

[00:00:49] Fast forward to the fourth century, Emperor Constantine, who was the first Christian emperor, his mom was St. Helen. He built a basilica over that little chapel. Then fast forward to the 16th century, Pope Julius II laid the cornerstone of St. Peter's Basilica, which we currently have.

[00:01:13] And as you know, in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, our first pope is buried underneath the high altar there. Pretty cool. So next month is the 400th anniversary of the consecration of St. Peter's Basilica. Anybody ever been to the Vatican? Ever seen the Swiss Guards, the colorful outfits, right?

[00:01:40] If you didn't know this, the Swiss Guard, they're between the ages of 19 and 30. They're all Catholic males who are single, born in the country of Switzerland. They make a two-year commitment. There's 135 of them. And it's kind of ironic. It's funny. They always say that the smallest army in the world protects the smallest country in the world for the largest flock in the world.

[00:02:10] The smallest army in the world, which is also the oldest army in the world, the Swiss Guard, protects the smallest country of the world, Vatican City State, for the largest flock in the world. All 1.5 billion of us, yeah? So those guys, they're pretty tough. They make a promise, by the way, to defend the pope even if it requires giving their life.

[00:02:37] And over the years, quite a few Swiss Guard have given their life in defense of the pope. If you didn't know this, for every one that you see standing there with their colorful outfits and that big spear, there's about 10 behind the scenes working. And those guys are trained, by the way, by former Navy SEALs and former Delta Force special ops people. You don't want to mess with them. Okay?

[00:03:07] Don't go up to them and do a tickle fight or anything, right? Not prudent. Okay? Many years ago when Father Joe Sachs and I were living in Italy, he and I got to know two of the guys from Swiss Guard. And one night we were having dinner with them. And after dinner, I remember thinking, like, these guys are really, really spiritually mature for their age.

[00:03:35] They were probably 22, maybe. But, like, they were super spiritually mature for their age. And their Catholic faith was, like, super important to them. So it's not just like they're their tough guys looking like Dwayne Johnson. Right? Their Catholic faith is really important to these guys. I mean, think about it.

[00:03:58] They're at the prime of their life and they give their life to come and spend two years defending the pope in the Catholic Church. Which it's got to be. Right? It's amazing. But it does bring up the question, I think, for all of us. Yeah? What does it mean to be spiritually mature? Hmm. What does that actually mean? Keeping in mind, of course, someone may have maturity of years, i.e., they're older.

[00:04:26] That does not mean they're emotionally or spiritually mature. They may be stubborn. They may be stuck in a rut. I mean, I don't mean this in any passive-aggressive way, but I'm just being honest with you. I've known many, many young people who are far more spiritually and emotionally mature than their parents or grandparents.

[00:04:50] One way to put it, spiritual maturity is not a matter of extensity of years, but intensity of years. It's not a matter of a calendar, but of character. In other words, somebody may have many years under their belt, but that does not mean they're spiritually mature. They may be phoning it in. They may come to Mass every week. That doesn't mean they're spiritually mature. We're happy you're here. That doesn't mean somebody's spiritually mature.

[00:05:22] We have to look inside. Yeah? We have to look inside and change. Somebody who's spiritually mature would be saying this. Instead of saying in their prayer, Lord, give me this and give me this and give me that and do that. They're saying, instead of, Lord, give me, Lord, make me. Make me a better person. Make me a better father. Make me a better spouse. Make me a better priest.

[00:05:50] That's when we see this transformation into not taking, but giving like somebody else. Ephesians 5. St. Paul talks about this, doesn't he? If you didn't know this, in Ephesians chapter 4, in Romans chapter 6, St. Paul says, we need to let go of the old self and put on the new man and the new woman. What does that mean?

[00:06:20] It means, put simply, we need to grow in spiritual maturity, which usually includes emotional maturity as well. You know, this week I was so blessed. I was so blessed. This week I spent about four days at a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. And I was there with the Trappist monks.

[00:06:44] If you didn't know this, the Trappist monks, they spend about 95% of their time in total silence. 95% of your day not speaking to anyone. Okay? And by the way, their morning prayer every day, 3:15 a.m., which is great for me. It's great for me. And I was talking to my buddy after I got back. I said, dude, I could totally do this. And he was like, yeah, but you talk too much, man.

[00:07:14] And I was like, okay, there's that, whatever. But every 3.15 in the morning, these guys are praying. Right? They got monasteries all over the country. It's amazing. And this is so beautiful because they're focused on their own spiritual maturity. If you're ever interested in this, really recommend a book by one of these Trappist monks. His name's Thomas Merton.

[00:07:41] In 1948, he published a book called The Seven Story Mountain. Merton went from being an atheist to an agnostic to a communist to a believer to a Catholic to a Catholic monk. It's quite a journey. You could say the same thing about Dorothy Day who lived at the same time, Edith Stein.

[00:08:05] So, it's all about spiritual maturity and drilling down into this thing we call our heart to become a better human being. This is why we often say here at St. Mike's, the longest journey you will ever take is from your head into your heart. And that's also why a lot of people don't want to do it. Because you may find some stuff that we need to work on. Some people are like, nope. No thanks. I'm not going to peel back that onion.

[00:08:36] I'll stay on the surface. But here's the problem with that problem. It creates other problems. In other words, you never grow quite as a person. Doesn't mean you're a bad person. You're just not growing. You hit the stained glass ceiling of your faith. There's only so far we can go. And so we make that journey to the heart and spiritual maturity. Nobody can do that for us but us. Those of us who may be my age, I'm 53.

[00:09:06] Those of us who may be 53 and older, play along with me for a second if you don't mind. Can you imagine some of the stresses that younger people deal with today? I mean, just put yourself, imagine say you're 22. About to get out of college. Think about this. Did you know that the national debt in this country is $40 trillion?

[00:09:36] $40 trillion. If you're doing the math, that means every single American would have to pay $121,000 to pay it off. Every American. We didn't. Many of us here, we didn't have that growing up. But we're leaving that for our progeny. Many of them worry about social security. Is that even going to be around by the time I need it? Many of them are about to graduate college and they think,

[00:10:05] Am I even going to have a job due to AI? Some of the stresses that they face are just intense. And you say, well, you know, Waller, we had our own. Yeah, we did. But I'm guessing you would agree that nobody left us a $40 trillion debt to deal with either. Here's the irony.

[00:10:32] Some of those very questions of stress for these young people are the very, very issues that are bringing them into their Catholic Christian faith. Why? I'm going to tell you. Because many of them have grown up in a world where everything is questionable. There's nothing stable. It's all just coming and going. And they're looking for something real, something that's going to last, something that's solid, a rudder.

[00:11:01] You know where they found it? Right here. It's ironic. That many of these young people are the very ones who were bringing their parents and grandparents back to the faith. Many in my generation that I grew up with that no longer practice their faith. It's their kids that are bringing them back.

[00:11:31] What are some of the characteristics of spiritual maturity? Like if you say, if I see it, Father, how do I know if somebody's spiritual mature? I'm going to give you a few. Number one, I love this. The saints use this expression. Spiritual maturity means we have mastery of the mouth and temperance of the tongue. What a great line. Mastery of the mouth and temperance of the tongue. What does that mean?

[00:11:59] It means that what comes out of this thing, we can control. That's what that means. It means I'm not speaking when I shouldn't, but I am speaking when I should. Some people are really good about not gossiping, but they're really bad about not speaking the truth when they need to. It also means detachment. So what that means is my peace as a human being does not depend on what other people think. Some may like me, some may not.

[00:12:29] Whatever. My peace is with Jesus. He doesn't change. They have surrender. They surrender to God the things and the people they cannot change. Serenity prayer. They're passionate about what they believe, but they're patient with those who don't believe what they believe. Translation, if I am a Democrat, I have patience with Republicans.

[00:12:59] If I'm a Republican, I have patience with Democrats. I don't agree with them. I'm passionate about what I believe. I believe it. Good. Good. But I also recognize that even though I agree with nothing with this person, God loves them. And I have to love them too. Welcome to Christianity.

[00:13:21] Finally, one of the primary characteristics of somebody who is spiritually mature is they have a consistent diet in their life of prayer. It's not a firework. It's not just like they go to a retreat and they have a firework moment where it's butterflies and rainbows. They have a consistent diet of prayer in their life. Consistently. Hallmark of spiritual maturity. So I'll close with this.

[00:13:53] If you have followed some of the things that have come out recently by sociologists, it's been on podcasts a lot too, there's a phrase that has often been used as of late by many sociologists. And the phrase is this. Two words. Endless adolescence. Endless adolescence. What is endless adolescence? It goes like this.

[00:14:20] Imagine a 45-year-old man who spends four hours a day playing Xbox and PlayStation. Endless adolescence. Imagine a 45-year-old woman who gets her self-esteem by how many likes she gets on social media. Imagine several generations of people that spend most of the day doing this

[00:14:45] who forget how to have a face-to-face encounter discussion with another human being. This is what they call endless adolescence. And I mention this to you for this reason. Those of us here who are parents and grandparents, just a quick question to you. How do we avoid raising children who suffer from endless adolescence?

[00:15:13] Who can engage with another person? In a world that they grow up where they're surrounded by screens all the time. How do we do that? Just a thought from a celibate man, so take it away for what you want. My thoughts? Let them see your spiritual maturity. They will never forget it.