One of the reasons that drugs are so destructive is that they are part of a reality principle that cannot be disobeyed. Just like gravity. You cannot disobey gravity, or any of the law of physics. Once, on a snowy afternoon, I was near the corner of JFK St. and Memorial drive in Cambridge. That is the corner where Harvard University begins, starting with the Kennedy School of Government. A young man, whom I can assume to be a student, barreled through a red light on a bicycle on his way up JFK Street towards Harvard Square. A truck driver on Memorial Drive began to go forward, but stopped after traveling maybe an inch. If the truck driver, stopped on Memorial drive, did not see him coming, then he would have legally pulled out on his green light and plowed into the young man. The bicyclist could assume that for him some laws do not apply, but the law of physics are not among them.

Likewise drug use is so destructive because like the laws of physics certain principles apply. “The more you try to control your world, the more your world controls you.” Even if someone does not believe in God, he or she is still subject to all the laws of the universe and that is one of them.

We believe in God, and we believe that God plays by certain rules and can even override some of them, but we cannot change them ourselves without divine intervention and this is one of the rules. The more we try to control our world, the more our world controls us. Drug abuse is really nothing more than an attempt to control our world. It is a way to change our perceptions so that we do not have to deal with reality. Then, follows the sinister discovery that this process of controlling the world controls us. One of the things I like to teach young people who use drugs is that I ask them if they want to be fifteen years old for the rest of their lives. They inevitably say no. In which case, I explain that drug abuse takes away from them the power to mature through the realities of life, so they stagnate at the age they began to abuse drugs. If it is fifteen, when they are thirty-five they will still be as mature as a fifteen year old, while everyone else is thirty-five. The more you try to control your world the more your world controls you.

We can see two opposing examples of this in today’s readings. First, we see the Old Testament reading. This is an example of God’s surprise crashing through our expectations. The Jews were living without hope in the Babylonian Empire. They desired to return to their land, for as we know through the news, for the Jews that land, about the size of New Jersey, is central to their happiness. It did not look possible to see a return to it under Babylon. Suddenly, a man who knew nothing of the God of the Jews, a Persian, a pagan, and an emperor becomes the powerful man who will free the Jews from the Babylonians and return them to the their land and even rebuild their temple. That is Cyrus of Persia. There are artifacts from him in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

God uses such a man who, to this day, is greatly celebrated for this was beyond their wildest expectations. This literally would be like if Saudia Arabia conquered the Middle East and then told Iran and Hamas to leave the Jews alone. It was considered then and today a great miracle of God. God at times crashes into our worlds and changes our expectations to go beyond what we would even consider.

Then we see the opposite situation and we need to look carefully at this one. The pharisees desire to control their world and, in doing so,they do everything they can to destroy Jesus. They work to undermine him, they spread false stories about Him and finally they try to set him up with the ruling power, the Romans. Matthew literally tells us that they are trying to trap Jesus.

Everytime I read passages like this in the Gospels, I think of these men with deeply black hearts. They are trying desperately to control their worlds and in due time they will be destroyed by this control. Jesus escapes each one of their traps, except the one He purposely enters. However, each time their plans are foiled, they become darker and darker of heart, and more and more bitter and controlling. They are not only losing the battle against Jesus, they are also losing their own soul for they want their world their way and by Jesus fighting them, they are turning in on themselves until they are left out of the whole plan of salvation and soon afterwards their whole country is lost.

These two lessons are important for us and can be summed up in that one sentence: “The more we try to control our world, the more our world controls us.” Demand your world, your way and it will be your destruction. Open your heart to expect anything from God when you seek a solution and He will go beyond your expectations. Do it your way and you will die bitter and dark. Do it God’s way and you will find life. This is an issue that is hitting our country today. So many are missing the message of Christ for they demand their world their way, their church their way and even in some cases their parish their way. This is the path to destruction. When we say, Lord may your will be done in my life. You will experience great things beyond your expectation. The choice is always ours.

God bless you,

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find at his website. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Mixcloud and here on Catholicismanew.
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