With Amazon.com, I am not sure if people visit bookstores all that much anymore, but when I used to hang out in bookstores, one of the largest sections always seem to be the self-help section.  Here in the developed world, the self-help industry is gigantic.  It is not just books anymore; every year dozens of self-help books become best-sellers, while multi-media products flood the market with quick-and-easy ways to turn your life around and achieve perfect happiness.  We have personal trainers, life-coaches, emotion-management consultants and modern-day gurus who travel the wealthy corridors of modern, secular society giving seminars and workshops on how to live-your-best-life-now, or how to release-the-potential-that-lies-within-you.  There is a lot of good sense and some pearls of practical wisdom in all this, which even sincere Christians can benefit from.
    Yet, there is a fundamental danger in the self-help subculture.  There is a potent anti-Christian gene in its very DNA.  The self-help mindset is convinced that happiness, a well-balanced life, a truly fulfilling life, is basically the product of our own efforts.  However, from a Christian perspective, that is a heresy; specifically the ancient heresy of Pelagianism.  If we could achieve our life’s purpose by our own efforts and the right techniques, Jesus would not have needed to come and save us.  But He did.
    Original Sin both damaged human nature in its very core, and also unleashed the powers of evil in this world.  The resulting battle for fulfillment, happiness, and meaning is a battle that we simply cannot win alone:  we need God’s grace.
    That is why today’s First Reading describes paradise as a work of the Lord.  That is why today’s Psalm describes God as a wise and good shepherd who guides and cares for His needy sheep.  It is also why today’s Gospel shows the destruction of the little kingdoms that the invited, ungrateful guests made for themselves; there is only one true king, Christ Jesus, and everlasting peace and prosperity can only be attained in His kingdom.
    Jesus illustrates this truth by including a curious detail in the parable we just listened to.  In ancient Palestine, one of the social customs at wedding banquets was for the host to provide a festive garment for all the guests -- it was almost like how the brides maids at weddings today all wear the same dress, and the grooms men the same suit/tux with a bow tie or vest to match the brides maids in color.  It could be something as simple as a colored scarf or shawl.  With all the guests wearing this garment, an atmosphere of unity and joy was created, and the special honor of the bride and bridegroom, who were wearing different garments, was emphasized.
    In today’s parable, the king comes in to greet the guests after the banquet has begun.  To his surprise he finds a guest without a wedding garment.  There are only two possible reasons for a guest not to have a wedding garment.  Either he sneaked in without being invited, or he did not care about celebrating the wedding and just wanted to enjoy the food and drink while doing his own thing.  In either case, such a guest is not a guest at all -- he has no relationship to the bride and bridegroom, and so he has no reason to be there.  That is why the king had him thrown out.
    When we try to follow Jesus (the Bridegroom) without accepting His will and the teaching of His Church (the Bride), we are trying to get into the wedding banquet while refusing to put on the wedding garment.  That is what so many public figures in our generation are doing when they say that they are Catholic, but then support things like abortion, embryonic stem cell research, homosexual marriage, and an isolationist immigration policy -- all of which directly contradict God’s plan for the human family.  Christianity is not a self-help buffet where we can pick and choose according to personal preference; it’s the revelation of God, and it requires humility, obedience, and trust.
    Finding what our hearts desire requires believing in Jesus, leaning on Jesus, following Jesus, obeying Jesus, and staying close to Jesus.  This is the first law of Christian spirituality.  As St. Paul writes in today’s Second Reading, “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.”  In other words, we can do all things in Christ Jesus, and not through any self-help technique.
    We all believe that, but even so, because our society is steeped in the self-help mentality, our faith is not always as strong as it should be.  One self-help idea that may be sapping our strength is sometimes referred to as the “prosperity gospel.”  The basic concept is that if we live a good moral life here on earth, God will shower material blessings on us, giving us smooth sailing through life on earth.  This is such a widespread and seductive idea that all of us have been affected by it.
    However, it is not a Christian idea at all.  Jesus promised that “the world will give you trouble,” (John 16:33) and He made it quite clear that to be His follower we must “deny ourselves and take up our cross every day” (Luke 9:23).  This means that the joy of Christianity does not consist of perfect comfort, bliss, health, and peace here on earth -- just ask the martyrs.  We are pilgrims here; our glimpses and whiffs of happiness are always accompanied by problems, sufferings, and difficulties.  To be strong, our faith must be built on that realistic expectation.  This is why St. Paul could say in today’s Second Reading, “In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.”  In good times and in bad, in sunshine or in the darkness of the valley of death, Christ remains our Good Shepherd.
    Today, as Jesus renews His commitment to us in this Mass, we need to truly renew our faith in Him.