Friday, October 25, 2-24

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ephesians 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59)

We live in an age of expressive individualism.  It is not that everyone wants to be different, but many want to choose their group of identity.  Within that group each person wants to shine as superior or unique.  This is hardly the unity to which today’s first reading calls Christians.

The Letter to the Ephesians exhorts Christians to take to heart the body to which Baptism has made them members.  They are to love other members of this body and to practice its underlying principles and precepts.  In these ways the body will attract other members, bringing about greater unity in the world.

These are two competing spirits – expressive individualism and Christian unity.  We must choose between them.  It is not that those who opt for Christian unity lose their individuality but that they see one another as friends not rivals.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 22:30.23:6-11; John 17:20-26)

Today’s first reading illustrates the difficulty of a divided organization to achieve its purpose. Paul is brought to the Sanhedrin for trial about false teaching.  Fulfilling the gospel mandate to be “as shrewd as a serpent but as innocent as a dove,” he exploits a division among the Jews.  Part of the Jewish Sanhedrin believes in the resurrection as Paul certainly does.  Part doesn’t.  Paul creates a wedge between the two parts so that they fail to convict him.

In today’s gospel Jesus prays for unity among his disciples. He emphasizes those who live beyond the place and the time where he is.  He asks the Father to make them one in mind and heart.  He sees such common belief and desire necessary if the world is to know the truth.  That is, if the world is to know that God the Father sent His Son Jesus out of love for it, Jesus’ followers must give united testimony.

 Unity challenges us today.  Educated people want to think for themselves, and many derive ideas at odds with official teaching.  For this reason there are thousands of churches with the name “Christian.”  Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has bishops who along with the pope declare what is necessary to believe.  They are generally good men worthy of our trust and obeisance.

Homilette for Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Memorial of St. Peter Claver, priest

(I Corinthians 6:1-11)

Paul’s list of wrongdoers in the first reading today is revealing. Most of the sinners transgress the boundaries of passion. Talk of the “sexual revolution” almost makes it seem that sexual sins were invented toward the end of the last century. The New Testament, however, underscores the prevalence of sins of the flesh down through the ages. In fact, we should note how Jesus as well as Paul emphasizes the power of God to spare humans the dismal consequences of illicit sexual gratification.

We might also take note of how Paul writes of “sodomites,” not “homosexuals.” The two are not co-terminus as not every homosexual engages in sexual activity. The necessary distinction reminds us that being homosexual is not immoral and that homosexuals deserve the same respect as any other person. In fact, in the present age of sexual license homosexual adults living chastely may deserve admiration.

Most noteworthy about the passage, however, is the primacy of communal conflict on Paul’s list of vices. Christians are not to fight publicly with one another since open conflict undermines the reputation of the Church as well as its unity. Disagreements will erupt in any human organization, but they are to be resolved amicably. Paul’s emphasis on unity indicates the social nature of sin. When Christians sin, they not only offend God but also one another. The Church has a mission to be a light to the world. Sin dims that light so that non-Christians may not know Christ.