Sometimes its that one word in a homily

The summer after my junior year of college I went to training at Fort Lewis for about a month. The first Sunday myself and other from my class were released to go to Mass. We came in late and we had to leave right after communion. Father actually told the others to wait until we received the Eucharist to line up.
Back to my point: I don't remember anything else about the homily (and we had missed the readings) except that Father said that Christians are supposed to be "counter-cultural". That word and its connotation made and still makes me cringe. However, the word was so shocking that I couldn't help but remember it and it has marinated in my mind and soul for these eight years. I was thinking about it tonight for reasons that I can't recall and I felt compelled to share with you my take on the main point of Father's homily in my own words from my Northwestern experience:
Father's point was that we are called to be "counter-cultural" that is to say, more than just salmon swimming against the current. We are called to change the course of the river until it flows the direction that we as Christian salmon are swimming. We shouldn't just content ourselves to be different and separate as we the Pilgrim Church swim up the stream, but we are called to transform our world, to change the "streams" we swim in.

Thanks for reading.
May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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