WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:07.440 There's something remarkable about the life of Saint John Henry Newman, the man whose optional feast day we celebrate today. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:12.080 He was one of the most brilliant religious minds of nineteenth century England. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:19.120 A respected Oxford scholar, a celebrated preacher, and a man who had everything to lose by becoming Catholic. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:20.879 And he lost a great deal. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:26.879 He lost friendships, he lost his position, he lost his standing with the Anglican community. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:33.359 He was misunderstood, criticized, and regarded by many as a traitor to the religious tradition he had once defended. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:34.960 So why did he do it? 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:40.000 Well, because Newman came to believe something that every Christian must eventually confront. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.439 Faith is not simply believing what is comfortable. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:48.000 Faith is having the courage to follow God wherever that truth leads you. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:49.759 That brings us directly to St. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:52.320 Paul's words in today's first reading. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:58.479 Paul tells the Galatians, It is those who have faith who are children of Abraham. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:04.560 Now, to appreciate what Paul is saying, we need to understand the argument taking place in the early church. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:12.879 Some Christians insisted that Gentile converts needed to observe the Mosaic law in order to belong fully to God's covenant people. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:15.200 Paul challenges that understanding. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:22.719 He reminds them that Abraham was counted righteous because he believed God long before the law of Moses was given. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:30.000 In other words, Abraham's relationship with God began not with his accomplishments, but with his trust. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.400 And what did that trust require? 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:39.599 God told Abraham to leave his homeland, his family, and everything familiar and journey towards a land he had never seen. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:44.159 Abraham did not receive a detailed map, he received a promise. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.879 And sometimes that is all faith gives us. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.040 Not a map, but a promise. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.640 That's precisely what happened in the life of John Henry Newman. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:59.840 Newman was born in London in eighteen oh one and became an Anglican priest and a fellow of Oriology, Oxford. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:01.680 He loved the Church of England. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:04.560 He was not searching for an excuse to abandon it. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:09.599 In fact, for years he worked to renew it through what became known as the Oxford Movement. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.199 But something happened as he studied the early church fathers. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:23.840 The deeper he went into the history of Christianity, the more he began to recognize a continuity between the ancient church and the Catholic Church that he could no longer ignore. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:29.120 He studied, his studies were leading him somewhere he had never intended to go. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:32.080 And here's what makes Newman so fascinating. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:36.159 His conversion was not the result of a sudden emotional experience. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:44.800 It was the fruit of years of prayer, intellectual struggle, historical investigation, and an increasingly demanding conscience. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.280 He was not asking what religion would make my life easier. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:54.639 No, he was asking, where is God leading me and where am I willing to follow? 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.879 In 1845 he received he was received into the Catholic Church. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:00.639 He was forty-four years old. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:01.759 Think about that. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:10.400 At an age when many people have already settled comfortably into their careers, convictions, and reputations, Newman was willing to begin again. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:16.960 Because he understood that the purpose of faith is not to make God agree with us, it's to allow God to change us. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.919 And there's another beautiful connection with today's reading. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:24.159 Paul says, the one who is righteous by faith will live. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:26.479 Notice that word, live. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:31.280 Faith is not merely an intellectual conclusion, it is a way of living. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:35.360 Paul is not dismissing the importance of good works or obedience. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:40.159 He is teaching that salvation cannot be earned through our own efforts. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:46.879 It is a gift, a gift received in faith, and a faith that must then transform how we live. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:49.520 Newman understood this distinction. 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:55.919 He was a brilliant theologian, but he knew that intellectual knowledge alone does not make someone holy. 00:03:56.159 --> 00:04:05.680 In one of his sermons, Newman wrote, I fear not that I shall have to give up my faith, but that I shall not have faith enough to give up all for it. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:09.120 What a remarkable examination of conscience. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:12.719 We often worry about whether we have enough knowledge of our faith. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.399 Newman asks a much more uncomfortable question. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:19.920 Do we have enough faith to surrender our lives to Christ? 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:25.839 Because there's a difference between knowing the truth and allowing the truth to govern your life. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:29.439 You can know the creed and still resist conversion. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:33.279 You can defend Catholic teaching and still refuse to forgive someone. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:38.879 You can attend Mass every single day faithfully and still keep certain parts of your life close to God. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:46.720 And you can spend your entire life studying Christianity without ever surrendering yourself completely to Christ. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:51.680 Newman's greatness was not simply that he discovered the truth of Catholicism. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:56.399 It was that once convinced he was willing to pay the price of following it. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:00.160 There's a final detail about Newman I find especially moving. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:10.800 His famous prayer lead, kindly light, was written in 1833, years before his conversion to Catholicism. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:16.959 He was ill, traveling home from the Mediterranean and facing considerable uncertainty about his future. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:21.680 In that prayer he wrote, I do not ask to see the distance scene. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:23.759 One step is enough for me. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:25.759 One step is enough for me. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:27.279 Isn't that Abraham? 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:28.879 Isn't that Saint Paul? 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.240 Isn't that what the Lord asks of every single one of us? 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:35.199 We want God to show us the entire plan. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:39.279 We want certainty about absolutely everything, even our future. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:42.879 We want to know that following Him will not cost us anything. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:44.879 We want to stay comfortable. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.680 But God rarely gives us the entire road. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.399 He gives us enough light for the next step. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.319 That's where faith begins. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:56.399 Perhaps today that step is returning to confession after many years. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.240 Perhaps it's forgiving someone. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:03.439 Perhaps it's abandoning a sin that we have just learned to live with and justify. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:10.079 Perhaps it's finally accepting the truth of the church that we have resisted because it challenges the way we want to live. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:14.399 Whatever the question is not whether we can see the entire road. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:17.759 The question is whether we trust the one who is leading us. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:25.519 So Saint John Henry Newman reminds us that holiness does not belong simply to those who know the most about God. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.319 It belongs to those who are willing to follow him. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:34.399 Abraham left his homeland, Paul surrendered his former ways of understanding righteousness. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:39.120 Newman surrendered the security of life he had spent decades building. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.480 Today the Lord asks something of us. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:47.199 What are you still holding on to that prevents you from following Christ completely? 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:53.600 Newman did not know where every step would lead him, but he knew whom he was following. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:02.000 May we have the same courage, not simply to admire the truth, not simply to defend the truth, but to follow the truth even when it cost us something. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:03.199 Amen.