Indifference

I gave a talk this past weekend at a youth retreat. The topic was about "Living between Heaven and Earth," and I talked mostly about what Christ taught us at the Garden of Gethsemane. The scene at the garden has, to me, always been one of the most intriguing scenes in Jesus' life. Christ never appeared more human and vulnerable and it was while so human and vulnerable that he openly accepted his fate. It was this willingness to choose to do God's will notwithstanding his doubts and fears that serves as a great example to me, and should to all of us. If he can carry that cross, we can most certainly bear ours.

In the garden, Christ alo directs his disciples (and us) to watch and pray. The disciples, of course, fall asleep. In many ways we have fallen asleep as well, consumed by the business of today's world and forgetting to live our lives as Christians. This forgetfulness is the first step of a learned and dangerous indifference.

Our "falling asleep" is an act not of selflessness but the opposite. Well, what if we are just tired. I mean, we've got to sleep sometime. While that's true, if we are always asleep to the needs of others, we become an island, separate from our community of faith and ultimately a little farther away from God.

Our intentional wakefulness is required to be vigilant about helping those who need help and is a necessary component of our faith. Our faith does not happen by accident but comes through a process of discernment. This process moves along only to the extent that any contemplative study of our faith is accompanied by this wakefulness that puts our faith into action, so to speak. Without this wakefulness, even the best intentioned will invariably get lost within himself and his faith risks failure. Without the energy and sustenance that comes from participating in a community of faith, a person's faith risks being much less than it could be.