Kevin D. Magas, Contributor
“Name: Kevin Magas; Country of Origin: United States; Height: 5’8”; Weight: N/A!; Religion: Catholic.”
The fact that religion is put on par with other commonplace considerations, suggests a modern tendency to place our lives into neatly defined compartments. In other words, people often separate their identities into such categories as love lives, school lives and work lives. In this framework, religion, if talked about at all, is hardly a compartment at all. It is conveniently labeled as relevant to identity on a religious day of obligation, like Sunday for Christians or Saturday for Jews. Religion rarely spills over into the everyday life of the believer, because it remains restricted to its proper sphere of relevance on one day a week.
Religion, on the other six days a week for the average American, remains hidden and private. There is a creeping notion that religion is just a personal belief and should be kept private so as not to offend anyone. For this reason, religious considerations rarely enter the public debate before being dismissed as “religious sectarianism.” It seems that many Americans, beneath their guise of tolerance and openness are really saying, “You can have your belief, and I’ll have my belief, but if either one is a religious belief that you actually take seriously, then we have a problem!”
Religion addresses who we are in such a powerful and primary way, that it cannot possibly be reduced to just another category. Religion answers the deepest questions of the human heart: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Because of this, religion is of high importance. It is an existential reality, dealing with the central questions of our existence and not the periphery of what we will wear today, who we will talk to or even, does that girl like me like me? Religion shapes the whole of a person’s life. It shapes what we will love, the relationships we enter into and what we ultimately hope for.
As a result, it is bothersome to be called “religious” or hear offhand comments such as, “Well, you are more religious than me.” What does that really mean? Does it mean I put more energy into the religious compartment than the other person? Does it mean I emphasize the religious aspect while others choose to emphasize their love lives or their lives in the “real world?”
For me, religion is the lens through which everything else is seen, the worldview that places everything else in its proper place and order. It is not another file on the computer but the operating system itself.
So, what could one as a Catholic do to combat this widespread compartmentalization of religion? The first and most important step is to erase the notion that Sunday is for God and the other six days of the week are religiously obsolete. Instead, the Church calls each Catholic to transform the world in Christ and bring others to the new life that He offers—truly a 24/7 commitment if we were ever given one.
If Christ is Lord, then He is the Lord of my life. I do not belong to myself, and I am not the architect of my own destiny. Inviting Christ into every aspect of our lives involves a loving surrender that significantly alters the way we approach each day. We cannot place Christ into a compartment, because he demands all of who we are. And, the next time you bubble in your religion on a survey, remember that it is not one among many items of your identity, but rather, is the very source and summit, the very life of God working in you.
Kevin D. Magas
PDF 
