Homily for tomorrow, Feb. 28, St. Kateri at Christ the King

Mass readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022814.cfm

Mark 10:1-12  

            For anyone who grew up around the time I did or earlier, you will recall that divorce was a pretty rare thing.  Not unheard of, but socially stigmatized and something that just wasn’t done.  Now contrast that with today’s culture, in which nearly half of all marriages end in divorce, and where divorce is pretty much an accepted thing.  I don’t read the tabloids except in the supermarket line, but it seems to me that every tabloid cover shouts about this or that celebrity marriage breaking up.

            In today’s reading of St. Mark’s Gospel, we are presented with Jesus’ clear and rather blunt teaching on marriage and divorce.  And while we perhaps don’t realize it today, Our Lord’s teaching was fairly radical in his time – counter-cultural even.  A man’s right to divorce his wife, who was more or less treated as his property in those times, was a pretty-much accepted thing, and the Pharisees could point to chapter 24 of Deuteronomy to justify that practice.  And while elsewhere Jesus claimed not to overturn the law but to fulfill it, in the area of marriage and divorce, He clearly is overturning the teaching of Deuteronomy, and pointing His listeners back to the way God created us and what God wills for us.

            Sadly, in our day Our Lord’s teachings on marriage and divorce are becoming more and more, rather than less and less, counter-cultural.  Easy divorce has been with us for most of forty years.  And while Jesus clearly refers to the complimentarity of the sexes – “male and female He created them” – we’re now seeing our culture and even some faiths completely change the very definition of marriage.  Facebook, I was reading the other day, now defines 56 different genders in which members can identify themselves.  Fuddy duddy that I am, I thought there were two!

            So here’s the thing – it is now more important than ever that we who are sacramentally married BE a sign to the world around us of what marriage is intended by God to be.  A sign to our children, our neighbors, our Church community, everyone.  And what is that that God intends us to be – a “one-flesh union” – both literally and physically, but above all that our union, our unity, come before all else in our lives.  That others look at our marriages and say “I want that.”  That others look at our marriages and say “wow – real, lasting, self-giving love is really possible.”

            Because what God ultimately intends us married folks to be is a symbol to the world of Christ’s self-giving, self-sacrificing love for His bride, the Church.  A sign of His persevering love for His bride, but also a sign of the joy of Christ’s love for the Church and the Church’s joy in being so loved.  That by our lives together and our sacramental love for each other, the world may come to know the love of Christ – a love which never ends.

Homily preached Sat/Sun, Feb 22/23 - St. Kateri at St. Cecilia

Readings:   http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022314.cfm

Some gospels, are soothing and comforting.  And some are uplifting and inspiring.  And some are challenging, perhaps troubling, maybe even upsetting.  Today’s Gospel, which continues Jesus teachings in His sermon on the Mount, falls into this last category, for me at least.

“Offer no resistance to one who is evil”

“Turn the other [cheek] as well”

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

            Challenging teachings.  Things that don’t come naturally to us.  Teachings He really means for us to put into practice.

            I thought and prayed about these words of Our Lord a lot over the last week or two, and with 20 minutes to a half hour commute each morning and evening, a lot of my thinking and praying occurs on the road.  On the expressway.  In traffic.   And yesterday, just as I was entering the on-ramp onto 590 and Winton, a black Nissan Altima (or more specifically, its driver!), sped up and cut right in front of me and I was filled with rage.  “Hey! Who do you think you are?” I shouted.  “Do you think your time is more valuable than mine?”  So I sped up and got on his bumper and followed him as he cut across three lanes of traffic.

            And this Gospel came back to me.  “Love your enemies.  Pray for those who persecute you.  “And I said to the Lord “Lord that’s easy for you to say, they didn’t have cars and traffic and idiot drivers when you walked the earth!”

            You know, it occurs to me that defensive driving means thinking of every one of those other cars in traffic as a potential enemy.  Hundreds of more or less anonymous people threatening me at all times.  But I also realize how often I can get upset or even filled with rage over their driving.  Wanting revenge!

            And I didn’t think I hold any grudges either – you’ll remember in the same vein as the Gospel, our first reading from Leviticus cautions us to “take no revenge and cherish no grudge.”  No grudges here, I thought, until not too long ago I heard a person died – this person had been my daughter’s boss awhile back – a person who had said some very disturbing and deeply hurtful things to her, such that finally she up and quit that job.  When I heard this person died I realized all of a sudden how deeply I was harboring my own grudge against him.  You can mess with me all you want, but you better not mess with my wife or my kids – I guess is my attitude.

            You see, whenever you and I feel harmed, whether it’s being cut off on the expressway, or when a loved one is emotionally scarred by someone, our pride kicks in.  Nobody is going to do that to me and my loved ones.  And our natural reaction, it seems to me, is to want to harm them in return.  Or if that’s not possible, to withdraw and let our anger simmer for awhile.  For a few days perhaps, or even a year, or even thirty.  I’ve seen thirty-plus-year grudges in my own family, grudges that have even been passed down to the next generation.

            And this attitude of a grudge, as well as the attitude of wanting revenge – these can be quite large.  We see the same attitudes play out in the world – Palestinians attack Israel so Israel retaliates against Palestinians who get revenge by another attack against Israel.  A spiral out of control.  In our nation we have the ultimate revenge – the death penalty – to punish those who’ve been convicted of horrible crimes.  The movie Dead Man Walking did a great job of putting the viewer in the shoes of the criminal and his family, as well as the victims’ families, who were hoping for some measure of peace by an eye for an eye, a life for a life.  I’m not so bold as to say exactly how I would feel if it were my wife or one of my daughters so savagely killed.  But I do know what Our Lord calls us to as Christians.

            We are called to look on every other person, the good and the bad, with the eyes with which God sees them.  Our God, who makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust, loves each of us, wants the best for each of us.  And if wanting revenge and holding grudges is our natural reaction to events in our lives, Our Blessed Lord is calling us to more.  Our Lord is calling us to a super-natural reaction, to shed our pride and instead, exhibit an attitude of kindness and gentleness and yes, even love.  It’s the only way to break the cycle of violence in far off middle east, and it’s the only way to restore the strained relationships in our families as well.

            Back in 2006, near Lancaster, PA, a deranged truck driver broke into an Amish schoolhouse and shot ten young girls, killing five, before taking his own life.   We hear of similar stories far too often.  The unusual part of that incident was the reaction of that Amish community, who came together and reached out to the dead man’s family, offering forgiveness to him and help to them.  “We must not think evil of this man or his family,” their community’s leader said.  In the midst of a horrible tragedy, in the midst of horrible darkness, they brought light.

            My sisters and brother, you and I are called to bring that same light to the darkness around us. Light to our families, to our community, to our nation, to our world.  By Christ’s grace and nourished at this altar, may we go forth from this place to be Christ’s healing presence in our world.  And we ask this in Jesus’ name.  Amen.