In today’s readings, we hear this exciting line: Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what the will of God is, what is good and pleasing and perfect. While praying over these readings, I kept being drawn to the word “renewal.”
Renewal of the mind. What does that mean? In Greek, it not only has the connotation of renewal being a complete change for the better but also the implication of “renovation.” Now, that makes sense. As a former construction worker, I’ve done many renovations.
A renovation means you take something old out and replace it with something new, something better. We tear out the kitchen cabinets and put in new, sturdy ones. We get rid of the old appliances and replace them with up-to-date, energy-efficient ones. Tear down a wall to make the space more open, and so forth. The thing about renovation is sometimes it takes a while. It’s not always a one-and-done thing. Sometimes, renovation takes years, and even the best renovation will have to be renovated again in the future as it begins to be outdated or damaged over time.
So, the renewal of the mind, too, is not a one-and-done thing. It’s a process. We must constantly be on the alert for things that have crept into our minds. Thoughts that don’t align with our beliefs. We are constantly bombarded with information, whether from social media, television, music, or even what we read or the conversations we have. Until we, like Peter, have that moment when we are opposed to God’s plan. We all have moments like that when we reject the cross. We reject the plan that God has in our lives because we are in dire need of renovation. Peter went on to become the church’s first Pope and died crucified for his faith. His mind was renewed and renovated. The man who once rejected the cross now embraced it.
So, how do we renovate our minds, then? First and foremost, we must receive the grace from the Sacraments. That gives us the “raw material” we need to work with. It’s not enough to just receive it, though. My father once gave me five gallons of paint to paint a kitchen with. That paint kept sitting in the corner until it eventually went bad. It wasn’t enough to have the paint; I needed to apply it to the room. The same goes for grace; it’s not enough to just receive it; we must use it. Apply it. Cooperate with it. That means examining our lives to see where we apply the “wrong paint” and where we let the paint sit unused. To remove and prune anything that stands in the way of God’s grace working in our lives. Then, add in things that will help. Holy reading, proper movies and television shows, the holy rosary, time in prayer, and adoration. These paintbrushes enable us to apply the paint of grace into our lives.
Conversion is an ongoing process that takes a lifetime, and while there may be some mountaintop moments along the way, there are also valleys and dips. It isn’t always easy, but discipline is essential. We must continually deny ourselves the pleasures of the world and instead fill our lives with the pleasures of heaven.
That’s what it means to take up our cross. True freedom lies not in doing whatever we can but whatever we ought to do. Let’s get to renovating!
A homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: September 2nd, 2023