Are You Comfortable?

Are you comfortable was asked by our priest at mass this evening. I wanted to raise my hand and say, "No, I am very uncomfortable because no matter how I sit, I am hurting!" (I had fallen a week before and injured my tail bone.) Come to find out, the priest was not asking me personally, but trying to find out if we like the way the world is turning out to be with the Las Vegas murders, gun control issues, abortion, and so on. He mentioned that he was not talking about "the hard pews we have to sit on."

Being uncomfortable with what is happening in America today, with society's values different than what we remember, can cause anxiety. It seems that every day we hear about violence; sometimes far away or sometimes in our own homes.  Do we want to be comfortable regardless of who we hurt or step on? Many believe that if something makes us uncomfortable nothing should stand in our way to make us comfortable even if it means aborting an unwanted baby, divorce, or using guns so that we can become comfortable. But will it make us better people? Is this what Jesus wants? Even after we do whatever we need to do to become more comfortable, will it make us feel better?

"Jesus' message is not a comfortable message in our modern world," the priest said, and it made me think that to follow Christ's teaching a person has to be some sort of a super person. It is so much easier to go with the flow, even though our conscience knows it is not the right thing to do. It made me think of the seventies, when everything seemed to be okay; divorce, sex, and speaking on issues whether it was right or wrong. A man on television said, "I grew up when everything and anything was permissible but it no longer works in this day and age."

I remember in places I worked where jokes were the norm whether they were sexist, racist, political, or anti-anything and no body seemed to care. The message that our priest was giving is that to follow Christ there will be times when we feel uncomfortable. Do we reject Jesus and live a life of disobedience when all we have to do is seek a relationship with Christ by recognizing and changing what we are doing wrong?

We are living in a time when we are not sure what is going to happen in the future. Many of my friends have told me they feel anxious and have a fear that some horrible thing may happen. I suppose it is like sitting on a time bomb and not knowing when it will go off. Prayer is needed more than ever and it is important to remember that feeling uncomfortable in this day and age might be a good thing.

"God, make me so

uncomfortable that

I will do the very

thing I fear."

Ruby Dee