St Mary's Church 

Washingtonville

“Selfishness keeps you a boy, sacrifice makes a man”

Sociologists say that “24 is the new 18” and that’s not a good thing. This is ironic because most people think that because of social media that our kids grow up too fast. However, some of us worry that that people don’t mature until it’s too late. The average age a kid now knows about “the birds and the bees” is 3 ^rd grade now but the age at which a man and woman marry one another is getting later and later. This is also true for men entering the seminary.

You see simply knowing more doesn’t mean being more. Filling our heads with knowledge is a start but it’s not the end. Schools see that kids going to DARE class has had almost no impact on reduction of drug use, people knowing that Chinese food is bad for you hasn’t closed a single shop, and surveys show that roughly as many people “believe” in God or a higher power hasn’t made us all that much more holy.
Part of maturity is turning our desires into decisions and then turning our decisions into patterns. I may want to be thin but until I make the choice to stop calling for egg rolls at 8pm, walking instead of watching Netflix, and drinking water instead of Diet Coke my desires stay just that. 

If I could say one thing to people of all ages it would be don’t be afraid of a lived “YES” to the plan of God. Commitment actually frees you to be who you were called to be. Giving a generous yes, to God through an committed and courageous Catholic faith, a generous life to one’s husband or wife and then children, saying yes to a vocation to the priesthood and religious life requires and also forms a deeper maturity. It is a freeing yes which requires sacrifice (which is a form of love) and produces a fruit of generosity, faith and maturity!

Let’s pray for one another and for our “YES” spoken and lived in faith, generosity and maturity so that we can become the mature women &  men that our God calls us to be and not just his “big kids.”