Years ago, a priest told his Sunday assembly: “Two things keep you Catholic: Mary and the pope.” What I suspect he meant was that Catholicism is distinguishable from Protestantism—or any other system for that matter—by its allegiances and authorities.

If something is good, then more is obviously better. This notion is elevated to an axiom in our consumer culture, and it works just as well for food (have another helping), sweaters (I’ll take one in every color), entertainment (what this country needs is one more cop show), and stuff in general (Q: How many vehicles can the average American fit in the average garage? A: None! That’s where the house overflow is stored!).

Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Rambo, Wonder Woman, The Incredibles, Harry Potter, Frodo—and add your own favorites to this list—all have something in common. They do for the human race what the rest of us normally fail to do, which is to save it from some dreadful malignancy.

Money is the root of all evil homilies, at least in the minds of many Catholics. Of the themes people most detest hearing about from the ambo, preaching that fingers the wallet rankles right up there with social justice and anything else that smacks of “politics in church.”

A scene in the movie Schindler’s List haunts the viewer. Businessman-turned-brother’s keeper Oskar Schindler is trying to cultivate the confidence of a powerful but sadistic prison camp official. Schindler needs this officer in order to ensure the safety of his Jewish workers. But it’s hard to keep company with a man willing to gun down a human being simply for crossing his line of vision.

Didn’t Job get into trouble once, trying to fathom the mind of God? Anyone convinced that he or she should have a day in God’s court to cross-examine the Divinity about the ways of the world should reread Job 38-41 before proceeding.

In a celebrity-mad, TikTok culture, everyone is encouraged to acquire his or her 15 minutes (or at least 15 seconds) of fame. We are invited to be seen and heard, recognized and admired. We may start to feel almost invisible without external affirmation and acclamation, a pulpit to preach from, or a blog, or a Facebook or Instagram account to make our daily brilliance known.

Maybe there aren’t two kinds of Christians: the ones who think most people will be damned to eternal flames and good riddance to them, and those who trust God will forgive the lion’s share of us, no matter what we do.

Jesus once used a metaphor we don’t hear today that’s good to keep in mind when we hear this passage proclaimed. It’s the one about how new wine just doesn’t fit in old wine skins. When the new wine expands, the old stretched-out skins will burst, and there goes the wine.

The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts share a motto: “Be prepared.” The Red Cross employs the same slogan, and shares the idea with the Department of Homeland Security (next month, September, is National Preparedness Month), as well as the refrain to a popular song from The Lion King.