I have a friend who, when asked if he would like to get together for this or that, doesn’t just say, “yes.” His affirmative answer is, “I’m all in!”

In his enthusiasm, he indicates that he is totally committed, totally interested and going to give it his all. Even more, he doesn’t want us, when we invite him, to get any kind of impression that this would be a bother or that the invitation rates as just one among many.

The concept of “being all in” is part of the answer we must give to the calling of faith. Jesus wants all of our hearts, not just bits and pieces.

Of course in the world today, there are many for whom the answer to Jesus’ calling is a clear no thanks. Pope Francis wrote about this in his recent encyclical letter, “Lumen Fidei.” The letter cites the intellectual and philosophical trends of recent centuries that try to find truth only in human thinking and human accomplishments. If it can’t be verified by science, say “they,” well, don’t seek the false comfort of the mythical stories of religion. And those “stories” would include the Scriptures telling us of Jesus Christ.

But Pope Francis reminds us that science only tells us about this world, not about life eternal. The spiritual world, by definition, lies outside the competence of science. So the response is unsatisfying and faith still beckons.

There are still others, however, who respond to Christ’s calling to us about faith and life eternal in a positive, but only partial, manner. This response is encountered even among those who identify themselves as Catholic.

There is for such people, undoubtedly, a real desire to accept and follow Christ. But then come the distractions and pressures of daily life.

With everything from the family vacations to weekend sports to just being too tired to get up on Sunday, our most important obligation of Mass attendance becomes not the weekly fulfillment of our obligation of love, but a gathering that, if looked at it over time, “they” take comfort in saying that attendance was not too infrequent.

The need to fit in, not to rock the boat, to conform our business model or our life style to what is popular or defined for us by society becomes a source of compromises with our faith.

This is especially true in the moral area, centering particularly on family and sexuality. And so the thought goes, “as long as I am pretty much, a lot of the time, in most things, following what Christ and the Church teach or ask, I am ready for life eternal.”

Here’s where “all in” is so important. The calling that Christ has given us means that we must concentrate on the one thing only that matters. That is life with Christ.

Moses prepared the Jewish people for the coming of Christ by telling them that they must love the Lord their God with their whole heart, their whole mind and their whole soul. That applies to us, too.
Our identity as followers of Christ and as Catholics must put that first and foremost. A compromised or part-time faith is just not good enough.

Parents, this is one of the great duties that God has entrusted to you with the gift of children. Teach them the value of faith without compromise. Be courageous and insist that they take the faith to their own hearts and consciences.

The statistics of recent decades about the falling away from the faith by our young people are sobering. Often this takes place definitively right after high school. At times, it then is ratified when our children choose to cohabitate and not marry or to marry outside of the Church.

Jesus has told us that we will be asked to carry our crosses. His call and its demands on us in this world will not leave us unchallenged. But he is waiting for the response from us of my friend.

Catholic identity? Jesus’ call?

We must be “all in.”