Escaping the Cult of Human Omnipotence
Don't wreck your sanity by acting as if you have total power over everything in your life all the time. By the grace of God you just don't, and neither do the other humans.
June is the month traditionally devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and over the last twenty-four hours I’ve been reminded how deeply, powerfully, important this devotion is to me. I will tell you what that looks like in a moment.
First, backing up to Divine Mercy: Oh I love that one too. Love it so, so much. Why? Because it’s the Mercy of God, and I need as much of that Mercy as I can talk Him into coughing up.
You know what else? I love the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and not just because it’s quicker than the rosary.
You know what else else? I cannot recall the last time I prayed that one. Been a long time.
So, else else else, here is how we sum up my Divine Mercy and Sacred Heart devotions:
Whenever I think about Divine Mercy, I think about how much I love it and need it and how awesome it is.
I have a magnet on the water heater* [see photo below] of the Sacred Heart. Also I took a picture of a short prayer to the Sacred Heart that I saw in a church once when I was on vacation, and I saved it in my phone and tried to pray it every day, but . . . um yeah.
Seriously though: I love this stuff. Not because of the kitsch that goes with (loveable though it be), but deep in my soul. Divine Mercy, the Sacred Heart . . . these animate me. They make me alive.
So why don’t I pray lots of devotions to them? That’s our topic for today. (And then a lecture at the end, because I love you.)
Contemplating that question this morning, my instant internal response was: Well, if you really loved Divine Mercy, you’d make time to pray the chaplet. And of course, ditto for the Sacred Heart, right?
That’s what we say. We say that because our culture has drunk deeply of the myth of human omnipotence — so deeply that it has almost cult-like power over us, and I don’t bandy that accusation lightly.
The lie that we humans are able to be complete masters of our destiny is grounded in some truths. We do have free will. We are able to think, choose, and act. We are able to make some changes in how we behave and what we do. We are able to take some action to change our lives. And we are able to make some choices prioritizing what we value most.
The error is in thinking that therefore we have complete, absolute control.
We do not.
The Cult of Human Omnipotence looks like this:
We admire some story of a beloved underdog who fought all the odds, overcame, and accomplished admirable deeds. We rightly applaud this person’s focus and perseverance. We rightly take to heart the lesson that we, too, should strive to persevere in what matters most. So far so good.
But then, here’s where the cult gets involved: We wrongly conclude “If you only try hard enough, you can do anything you set your mind to.”
Um. Nope. No you can’t.
So. Here I am, a person with many resources and abilities, but also quite a few limitations. Could I choose to make praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and praying some suitable prayer to the Sacred Heart, the utmost priorities of my day?
Sure. I could. Instead, in terms of my private prayer life, Scripture, the rosary, Mass, and Adoration all usually sit ahead in the line, and none of those get as much time as I would like.
And again: Why do any of these not get as much of my time as I’d like? Because I am not omnipotent.
I have to make hard choices about how much time to spend with God and how much time to spend with my teenagers (who love God, but also still sometimes want to talk to me, too). How much time does my husband deserve? My car that wants the oil checked and my creditors who want the bills paid? Should I invest time and energy in the necessities of maintaining as good of physical health as possible, or should I give it up in order to free that time for a little more prayer — see how quickly I can shuffle off the mortal coil and exit gently-as-possible into that good night? Heck, prayer is a foretaste of Heaven, right, why not hasten our way towards the main event?
I don’t for a moment believe that “my work is my prayer.” My prayer is my prayer, my work is my work. As it happens, mine is not an entirely contemplative vocation. Furthermore, even someone devoted to nothing but prayer, living on the Blessed Sacrament alone and entirely consumed, day and night, in actively worshipping God . . . still sleeps. No saint, no matter how great his or her works, could endlessly add “just one more devotion.” Sooner or later the dance card is full, no more room.
That’s life. This life, anyhow.
Practical application time: Often in parish life we behave as if other people are omnipotent. “If it were important to you, you’d make time for ____________.”
This is the cult.
Should we encourage others, and ourselves, to examine our priorities? Of course. Should we all do what we can to properly order our days? Absolutely.
And yet:
No amount of determination will cause someone who cannot drive or does not own a car to be able to magically appear at parish events (including Mass) for which there is no viable alternate transportation option.
No amount of loving Jesus can change the fact that sometimes people really do have jobs to hold down that require working the hours that the sacramental prep meeting or the RCIA class is scheduled.
No amount of “you’ll find a way” changes the fact that caring for a sick or disabled family member is often one of the more exhausting and time-consuming sorts of blessings in life, and you just. can’t. do. everything.
And so, letting go of the cult, let us finish with some stern but hopeful words. Your parish staff and ministry volunteers are not omnipotent either. You can’t “find a way if you really care” to serve everyone all the time as much as you would like . . . even if your heart is 100% poured out in love towards every person who could benefit from your work. That’s reality, and it is a God-given reality.
Thus in prioritizing, consider that maybe parish ministry should be centrally organized not around serving typical “active parishioners” who are able to easily attend and participate in whatever happens to be on offer, but rather around serving those who are struggling most to access the sacraments.
*The water heater is in view of my desk, because my library-office is also the garage. So I mean, I gaze on that water heater daily, it’s not like I stuck my Sacred Heart magnet in some closet and shut the door and never looked back. Not visible in the photo: Divine Mercy magnet is covering a warning label on the lower left of the water heater.