Seventh
Sunday in OT C 2019
Last
Sunday’s Gospel of the Beatitudes and this Sunday’s Gospel give us a radical
profile in Kingdom Living – living by the Gospel values of the Kingdom of
God. Listen to the words of the Gospel: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
These Gospel
injunctions go way over the top of reasonable expectations. Jesus is saying: Do to others as you would have them do to
you, and continue to do so to them no matter what they do to you.
This
teaching may thin the crowd of Jesus’ followers. It is a suggestion that goes directly against
common sense. Love your enemies…Give to
everyone who asks of you…Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
We are citizens. We are Americans. But more importantly, we are the disciples of
Jesus who are called to Kingdom living following the values of the Gospel. There are times for us as disciples of Jesus
that following the law is just not enough.
Rather, we are to live immersed in the mystery of God’s love.
Example for
us comes from with the passage in New York State on January 22nd of
the Reproductive Health Act that makes it legal to have an abortion right to
the moment of giving birth. Quite
bluntly, tragic law does not alter the sacredness of life. This teaching of the Church is clear and
unmistakable.
This tragic
legislation does not change what Jesus Himself has taught: All life is sacred. When life is threatened in any way, whether
by abortion, racism, violence, drug addiction or poverty, Catholics are called
to speak up and stand with those who
are being oppressed.
What are we
to do? We the parishioners of the Church
of the Holy Spirit must try to change the law but perhaps more importantly
change the culture in which we live. We
do that by living lives that demonstrates our genuine respect for life through
prayer, through supporting the agencies that support pregnant women with
alternatives to abortion, and making our pro-life convictions known to our
legislators.
No matter
what laws are passed by the New York State legislature, we are to live our
lives with Kingdom living, with Gospel living, with affirming that all life is
sacred. We need to begin with ourselves
and with our families and with our parish family and affirm the dignity of all
life as a precious gift of God. The conversion we seek must begin with
ourselves.
Equally
important to Kingdom living, to Gospel living is the Vatican summit that has
taken place this week on the protection of minors. The three themes of this international
conference called by Pope Francis to deal with the unspeakable crimes of clergy
sexual abuse are: Responsibility,
Accountability, and Transparency. The
Church has to take responsibility for this dark cloud in the life of the Church
and to commit ourselves to move heaven and earth to have a zero tolerance for
placing our precious youth in harm’s way.
There must be prayer. There must also
be action steps so that in our parish and in every parish our children are safe
in all the ministries of our parish life.
The Church must hold itself accountable for any and all incidents of
sexual abuse. Priests, Bishops, and
Cardinals are to be held accountable for any abuse or any cover-up of
abuse. Finally the Church must be
transparent. A culture of silence or
secrecy is not acceptable.
Coming back
to our Gospel, Jesus says: Forgive and
you will be forgiven. Give and gifts
will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and
overflowing will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to
you.”
For the
measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. What does this mean? Jesus is saying to us: “Stop the crazy, endless slaughter by
stopping it in yourself. Do not
participate in evil on evil’s terms.”
The
conversion we seek must begin with ourselves.
As we seek to change the culture of death and abortion in society, we
must root out within ourselves all that does not value the dignity of our own
life, the dignity of the lives of those around us, and the dignity of all
life. May we value the precious,
precious gift of pregnancy. May we be
supportive to the young families of our parish community. May we value the life of each and every
parishioner no matter how old or how young they are.
And as we
seek to have zero tolerance for the horrific sin and crime of sexual abuse, may
we value the sacredness and dignity of our own sexuality and the precious gift
of sexuality with all people. With God’s
grace, may we seek to rid ourselves of the temptation to pornography, the
temptation to exploit the sexuality of anyone.
The gospel
imperative is that we are to begin with ourselves and to be witnesses of the
mystery of God’s love in the way we live our lives. The voting booth is important and a beautiful
exercise of our citizenship, but as the disciples of Jesus we are called to
witness to a culture of love and life by the way we live our lives from day to
day, from moment to moment.
In loving
our enemies, Jesus has opted for the attitude of unconditional love rather than
the attitude of reprisal and revenge. Jesus calls us to move beyond the human logic
of reciprocity to the divine logic of superabundance. We are invited to be immersed in the grace of
God.
What
determines our response to a laws that support abortion? What is our response to a Church that has
violated the sacred trust given to its leaders?
What is our response to the Gospel demand that are to love our enemies,
that we are to do good to those who hate us?
It is our inner relationship to our loving God that determines our
response to whatever is happening. In
other words, circumstances do not control us.
We are to embody the love of God that is within us. Our identity as the disciples of Jesus is to
witness to the command of Jesus: “By
this all shall know that you are my disciples in your love for one another.”
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