It’s’ so funny. Yesterday I was thinking about how the idea of God loving us is irrational, and today during the homily Fr. Alphons spoke about something so closely related. The same is true for us. When we come to believe in the truth of the Gospel, we often appear in the eyes of the world to be irrational.
He shared what it means to embrace the Gospel like a child. A child doesn’t need to figure out the answer to everything, but trusts and accepts. The rational person will become a lunatic trying to come up with the answer for everything. But most often, we fall into thinking like the society we live in which that tells us we need to be rational. We need to do what’s best for us. And sometimes being irrational is confused with being irresponsible or childish. But there is a big difference. Being irrational, as in not always feeling the need to do what makes the most sense, frees us to see the bigger picture.
The rational person doesn’t forgive and forget. The rational person doesn’t love others more than he loves himself. The rational person doesn’t pray for those who persecute them. All these things are not rational. They’re irrational.
Christianity is completely irrational.
Faith. Believing in something that cannot be proved (the existence of God). Hope. Hoping in the impossible (life after death). Love. Loving those that are hard to love (our enemies). Faith. Hope. Love. These are the marks of an irrational person. These are the marks of a true Christian.
Christ was completely irrational. Everything about him. He was the King of Israel, yet he was born in a manger and worked as a carpenter. He came to set His people free, but he was arrested, beaten, and crucified. He himself was perfect and without blemish, but he spent his time with those who were considered great sinners rather than the “righteous” Pharisees. He died but then rose again after three days in fulfillment of age-old prophesies. Christ even said ““There is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Completely irrational. Every detail of Christianity is absurd to the rational mind because it goes against all rational logic. But through the eyes of faith, hope, and love…it is the greatest reality. It is truth. It allows us to have faith, hope, and love…and this reality of God’s irrational, crazy love for us and our call to love like Him may make us irrational…but it transforms and renews us. And we are forever changed. What a mystery.
