MARCH 4, 2007

"Work and pray; live on hay; so you'll have pie in the sky when you die." With these words, a Communist writer attacked religion and faith as a waste of time. Karl Marx, the founder of Communism called religion the "opium of the people", meaning that people were drugged by religion out of doing anything important or constructive with their lives. Others throughout history have tried to press the same idea; anything religious is pointless, empty and prevents people from doing better things with themselves, their time and their energy.

It is very true that we live in a world that consumes a great deal of our energy to just survive in the present. Those who are lucky to have one, or even sometimes two jobs, find themselves exhausted at the end of each day. Caring for a home and children, whether one or ten, eats up a lot of effort. Academic endeavors on all levels, from kindergarten to graduate school, if the person does do all that is expected and demanded to gain a good education, can be a full time investment. There are a host of activities that clamor for our attention: community organizations, clubs, volunteer campaigns, family and neighborhood gatherings, PTG, social groups, political campaigns, meetings, committees, and on and on and on. Most of us may feel like the baby in the playpen who has so many toys thrown in with him that he doesn't know which one to pick up and play with, so he sits and cries.

On top of all this, we know that we owe it to God to spend some time relating to Him: our personal prayers on rising and retiring each day; grace before meals; scripture readings; Mass on Sundays; confession on a regular basis; holy days of obligation; special services and prayer ceremonies; funerals; meditations; etc. Furthermore, the Church itself asks not just for our money in the collection, but is always trying to get us to join and help in some volunteer effort: Parish and school committees and boards; choir and lectors; adult education; CCD and school aides and teachers; Bingo and raffle workers. And the rewards offered for our efforts in prayer and volunteer work do not put a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, or food in our stomachs. Just "pie in the sky:" Salvation.

St. Benedict the Abbot had his motto, "Ora et Labora": pray and work. All he ever got out of it was satisfaction for living a meaningful and fulfilled life, and eternal happiness in heaven with God whose love and gifts were given to him first, and which were returned in love as a gift. Despite what Karl Marx, the Communists and other scoffers and detractors claim, is that really such a bad return on the investment of ourselves