Homily, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Come Holy Spirit...

The past 5 weeks have all been about the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, the great gift of love that the Lord Jesus leaves us: the Body of Christ given for us, that we may become the Body of Christ. 

St. Augustine points out that when we receive the Bread of Life, unlike when eating other foods that become part of us, we ourselves are incorporated into the Body of Christ. 

Today, Scripture leads us to contemplate how we are to care for that Body; how faith leads us to action.

Moses: “Hear the statutes and decrees…that you may live.”

The Lord: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me.”

St. James: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

In the seminary in Rome, once you were ordained a priest and were in your fifth and final year of formation and studies for the priestly ministry, you moved down to a corridor on the first floor reserved for student priests called “First Rectory”. 

There was an air conditioned lounge on that corridor, with couches a mini fridge, an espresso maker, and a TV.  Seminary High Life.  Priestly Bling.  That TV only picked up 4 channels (I thought to myself: this must be what it was like for my parents growing up?)

Those channels were Fox News, BBC, CNN, and a crazy Italian channel that showed American classic movies ridiculously dubbed into Italian.  (You loose a certain something of movie magic when you see that iconic little alien say, “ET chiama la casa”).

Anyway, the TV bounced between Fox and CNN most days, depending on who had “dibs,” who was there first.

One evening a particular news commentator was on and he was on a rant.  One comment in particular caught my attention: “If you go to your church’s website and see the words ‘social justice,’ run as fast as you can”.

Now, to be fair, he was critiquing the idea of social justice that it is always and everywhere an imperative of a governing body to take away from the “haves” and give it to the “have-nots”.

Most people hear the words “social justice” and understand that we have a responsibility to care and love our fellow man.  But some people respond to “social justice” in one of two extremes, either “You made bad choices so you deserve to be poor; that’s social justice” or, on the opposite extreme “You have a lot and I have a little, so Yes, I have a right to take your property, and the government is there to make sure that happens!  That’s social justice!”

Both are equally flawed propositions. The truth of real social justice is NOT that a governing body become a Robin Hood of sorts.  Nor is it that those who are struggling to make ends meet must be doomed to stay there.  So where then is the truth?

The truth is that our actions, our decisions, must be shaped by the faith we profess.  Right action in this regard is discerned when what goes into our minds and hearts (the Word of God) and what comes out (our actions) are in harmony.  When they are not in harmony, we’re no better than the Pharisees whom the Lord blasts as “hypocrites”.

“Humbly welcome the word [of God] that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls,” St. James urges today.  Let God’s word be the guide, let his precepts be the guiding light in all we do . . . it’s not just a matter of right and wrong, it’s a matter of salvation.

The Lord gets flustered because the Pharisees honor God with their lips, “but their hearts are far from [him].”  Going through the motions isn’t enough.  Adherence to a moral life dedicated to the true good is not something we do to earn God’s love, but rather it is our response to his love.  If our morality is not a response of love to the one who is love, it’s worthless, and we’ll eventually abandon it.

The Church has based its social teaching on two primary principles: solidarity and subsidiarity.  BOTH must be in place for the protection of human dignity and the true flourishing of peoples and societies.

First, the Principle of Solidarity – it could also be expressed as “friendship” or “compassion”.  It’s that expression of closeness with those who are suffering, that “I’ll be with you come hell or high water” kind of attitude.  It’s the fact that, yes, I am my brother’s keeper.  I have a responsibility (hear that theme of “response” in there?) to make sure that I do my part to alleviate the sufferings of others.  I respond to the needs of others around me.  This solidarity was beautifully expressed 11 years ago in NYC, and again in the surge of financial and spiritual support that is still sweeping over Japan as they rebuild from their massive earthquake and tsunami. There was in both instances, and many more like them, a tremendous outpouring of solidarity, of compassion and communion.  You’re hurting, I am here for you.  I will do what I can to love you through this mess.  That’s the response that builds up society.  That’s solidarity. 

Second, the Principle of Subsidiarity puts forth that nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as effectively by a smaller and simpler organization.  We hold that “smaller and simpler organization” to be the individual, who bears a responsibility first and foremost for himself, and must be free.  The next level up the chain is the family.  If the family can do it on its own, they must be free to.  Examples: a mother discerns it’s time to let her teenager decide what to wear today.  A city lets its homeowners choose heating by electricity or gas.  Or the Federal Government gives States the freedom to set certain laws, like speed limits.  If the smaller can do it, they must be free to do so.

Again, subsidiarity and solidarity must walk hand in hand, so that human persons, created in the image and likeness of God, are never trampled underfoot, and so that a centralized power doesn’t disregard the freedoms that belong to all people.

It’s a balance that must be lived out, that must be intentionally acted upon.  Living that balance is a primary way that we exercise our faith, that we walk the walk, that we manifest to the world the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Brothers and sisters, hear these statutes that you may live!  Honor the Lord with your lips AND your hearts – let your love for him overflow into your love for others, particularly for those who need you most.  How will you stay unstained by the world to offer back to God your pure religion?  It all depends, even your salvation, on how you respond to the love that the Lord offers you.  Care for his body.