A/N: Yes, I accidentally wrote a whole essay. I edited it a little. Here are the questions that turned it into an essay.

Give a brief summary of the homily. 

What was the connection made between the usefulness of soap and religion? 

What do we need to do in order for religion to be relevant in our lives? 

Can you make a connection between our world today and what is going on in our communities around the country and the conversation between the soap guy and the priest? 

How are ashes and soap connected? 

What did you learn from the homily? 

What color vestments were the priests wearing today and do you know why they were wearing those colors?

In today's sermon, the priest talked about making our faith useful this Lent. He explained it by telling the story of a soapmaker and a pastor. The soapmaker argued that faith is useless because it's not doing anything to fight the evil in the world; the pastor's response was that by the same logic, soap is also useless because there are many dirty things in everyday life and soap does nothing to clean them. The indignant soapmaker retorted that soap cannot do anything unless you use it. Likewise, God cannot purify you unless you use His teachings (which make up our religion). It's almost like what our science teacher tells us: "If you don't want to learn, no one can help you." To make our faith relevant, we must slow down, reflect, and use God's teachings in our daily lives. However, the chaotic world is fast-paced and full of distractions. This is why we have Lent: to give us time to live slowly in reflection. (Interestingly, the Latin adverb "lente" translates to "slowly." A sign, maybe? But I digress.)

Our country is overrun by "Christians" who are, as the Apostle Paul put it, "neither hot nor cold." Their religion is useless because they are not actively using it. Rather, they go through the motions blindly. In The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape advises Wormwood to make sure that "the patient" uses his faith as a means to an end, not an end in itself. Thus, we see many "Christians" who make their faith useful only to the extent of using it for a goal as opposed to making it useful in their lives, not only mere causes. If they actually looked, they'd find that they are more activist than Christian, but they don't want to see that, so they bury themselves in causes. Some of them have already left the faith because they do not make it useful, yet they have not noticed. There are others out there who have never known the faith at all and are too bitter to want to, citing the same reasons as the soapmaker--that faith isn't solving all the world's problems, so it doesn't work. They do not know that since they have never used their faith, they do not make it useful, and that's why their problems remain unsolved--never mind that of course there will always be problems for us as long as we are on the earth; faith isn't like a magic wand that gets rid of them.

Ashes and soap are connected in that when one burns wood, the ashes become lye, and after several chemical reactions, the lye becomes soap. It was never said in the sermon--this is just my mind over-connecting everything, resulting in an essay-like thing here--but when you think of fire, the first thing that comes to mind is destruction, right? Yet soap is the thing we use to get clean. Here, we see that destruction is being used to accomplish a purpose that is ultimately good. You cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

The priests wore purple vestments because it is Lent, and it is represented on the liturgical calendar as purple. In a deeper sense, since Lent is our preparation for Easter, which celebrates the Resurrection of the King of Kings, it makes sense that the color for Lent is purple, which throughout history has been the color of royalty. Additionally, purple dye came from snail shells back then. An insignificant creature was being used for a higher purpose. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, just as Christ did. Fitting for Lent.

In today's sermon, I learned that to make my faith useful, I must use it first.