Impractical

Yes, I know this will sound like I am saying something contrary to the faith, but bear with me for a moment. The Catholic faith is not very practical. Many times I have given advice according to what the Church teaches to be right, and people will say to me things like, "Father, that won't work", or "I'll lose my job if I do that", or "do you realize what names I'll get called if I do that?" They see a clear impracticality to the faith and they point it out to me.

This is why many (including Catholics) refuse to practice the faith at times. They see that if they do so people will insult them, they will not get promoted at work, and all sorts of other worldly disadvantages will happen to them. If we read the beatitudes we can see that Jesus knew this was the case, and He did not call it "impractical"; no, He called it "blessed". The faith is -- in the world's eyes -- very impractical. Catholic truth tells us to do things that do not "work" by the world's standards and run contrary to the world's wisdom.

The question, therefore, is not whether the Catholic faith is practical; it is not, and just about everyone sees that. The question is: can we accept that fact? Can we accept that the faith Jesus commands us to hold does not earn us a lot of money, or make us very famous, or popular?

If we make our life choices based on practicality, they will quite often be contrary to holiness. If we make our choices based on what God has revealed, then we will be truly blessed, just not according to how the world sees blessings. The faith is not very effective if you want to spend a life of vanity and congratulate yourself. It is, however, the only way to spend eternity in the joyful presence of God.