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We all know that
it’s one thing “to talk the talk” and that it’s quite another thing “to
walk the talk.” What this aphorism suggests is that it’s quite one
thing for people like you and me to espouse various things to other
people—especially
when it comes to telling others what they should do or how they should
live their lives—but
it is quite another thing to translate one’s words into actions as the
realities of daily life come crushing in upon us from all sides. Advice
is very easy to give and it’s very easy for us to espouse all sorts of
values and good behaviors. But, it is quite another thing to live in
the midst of other people—whether
that be in our homes, our workplaces, our schools, or where we recreate—and
to be exemplars of the way of life we find it so easy to profess.
While the nugget of
truth contained in this aphorism may be true for all of us, today’s
readings suggest that it is more true for priests. The prophet Malachi
tells the priests of ancient Israel that turning from the pathway they
talk about and must walk not only makes priests “contemptible and base”
before people but also earns wayward priests a divine curse. People
will condemn the hypocritical priest for leading a double life, Malachi
warns them. But, condemnation doesn’t end there. God also will condemn
them, Malachi says, because the priest has failed to “walk the talk”
and, by his example, has led others to conclude that they also can
falter along their pathway.
Jesus is even more
direct than Malachi, pointedly condemning the hypocritical behavior of
the religious leaders of his own day. For Jesus, the religious
authorities may “talk the talk” but they fail to “walk the talk.” How?
“For they preach but they do not practice,” Jesus says. “They tie up
heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they
will not lift a finger to move them.” “All of their works are performed
to be seen.” “They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in
the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and the salutation
‘Rabbi.’ ” These hypocrites do not place God before all else and serve
God’s people. Instead, they use their position to feed their own egos.
In both readings,
what very clear is that the priest must serve God first and live in
fidelity to God’s law. A priest gives testimony to his commitment not
simply by his words but, more importantly, by his actions. A priest
must “talk the talk” and also, and more crucially, must “walk the talk.”
It is no easy thing to do but it can be done, Jesus teaches, if one
views himself as a servant not a master and, as a servant, is humble in
what he says and does. Being a humble servant is the best homily a
priest can deliver, one that he preach effectively only by his example.
And, only this witness justifies the priest before God.
You may remember Fr.
Frank Mulranen who served for several years at Visitation BVM. For me,
Fr. Mulranen exemplified this scriptural teaching about priesthood. As
I observed Fr. Mulranen in his interactions and dealings both with
myself and other people, Fr. Mulranen never laid burdens on people’s
shoulders but always had something positive and upbuilding to say. He
didn’t lord himself over anyone but communicated a profoundly deep sense
of humility, always placing whatever he might be talking about or doing
into the context of one’s relationship with God. When Fr. Mulranen
spoke, the words weren’t carefully calculated and crafted in his mind
but emerged freely from the depths of his soul. And, in our
conversations, I noted that Fr. Mulranen exuded a profound sense of
peace, with God, with himself as God’s servant, and with all of the
people God entrusted to his ministry as a priest. Because he is a young
priest, I also found Fr. Mulranen to be a personal inspiration. He was
a good priest to be around.
For me, as an
ordained priest, today’s readings and my reflections about Fr.
Mulranen’s witness called forth an examination of conscience. I had to
ask myself: To what degree could what I preach in a homily, for example,
be used to condemn me? Do the values that I uphold provide the absolute
standard for the way I live my life? Is there any divergence between
what Scripture and Church teaching mandate and how I conduct myself both
in public and in private? These are important considerations and any
failure to “walk the talk” requires me—or
any ordained priest for that matter—to
confront hypocrisy, to turn away from it, and to conduct myself as God
expects.
Perhaps upon hearing
this message from scripture, some of us may have conjured up images of
priests who have failed to “walk the talk.” Their hypocrisy may have
“pulled the carpet out from under our feet” at some crucially important
and sensitive juncture of our lives or, perhaps, cut deeply into our
hearts because we expected so much more of them. I can’t count the
number of people who have complained about how an insensitive priest
hurt them in the past and, I am sure—having
formerly been a principal—there
are other priests who can’t count the number of times people have
complained about how I have hurt them or their child. Or, perhaps,
today’s readings conjured up the all-too-sad images of those priests who
have violated their sacred office, using the trust associated with the
priesthood to abuse others in search of some degenerate and immoral form of
self‑satisfaction.
The disconnect
between what a priest says and how a priest acts is deeply disturbing to
people and can prove to be especially injurious to people’s faith. As
these people have tried to “walk the talk” these priests have preached,
these people have learned the very sad and disheartening lesson that a
priest’s trustworthy words were not simply empty. No, they were also
utterly vacuous, perhaps as empty and deep as the pits of hell itself.
“I have made you contemptible and base before all the people, since you
do not keep my ways,” the Lord said to the priests of ancient Israel and
to any priest who follows in their footsteps. “I will send a curse upon
you and of your blessing I will make a curse.”
As Jesus’ disciples,
however, we need to be very careful about allowing another’s willingness
to conspire with the power of evil—even
if it is a priest’s—to
cause us to falter in faith as we journey along our pathway to God.
And, worse yet, we need to be very careful that we don’t use another’s
failure—even
a priest’s—to
justify a failure on our own part to understand that, as disciples, we
too are God’s servants and must stand humbly before God. It’s awfully
easy to point the finger of blame at others, especially those who serve
in public roles, and to avoid reflecting upon and questioning the depth
of our own witness to the gospel in the events of our daily lives.
Prior to the Second
Vatican Council, Catholics were taught to equate the word “priest” with
“ordained minister.” Many of us who are more than forty years old can
remember being taught that a “priest” is a special person. Some parents
described a priest to their children as “married to God” in order that
he could devote himself entirely to be “another Christ” (alter
Christus), living and ministering in the midst of God’s people.
Some parents also taught their children to think about the priest as
devoting himself to living a holy and spiritual life, striving to
fulfill all of God’s commands, like we are but, for the priest, it was
more like a “full-time job.” Because of this, a priest was someone to
look up to as a model for how we should love God and neighbor as well as
how we should be of service to one another in our daily lives.
Indeed, a priest
should be all of that. And, more. We were not in error for expecting
our priests to “talk the talk” of Scripture and Church teaching or to
“walk the talk,” too.
But, what the Second
Vatican Council urged the members of the Catholic community to recall
and oftentimes they forget is that through baptism each and every
Christian has been incorporated into the Body of Christ and to share in
his priesthood. When we were baptized, each of us was anointed with the
Holy Chrism and incorporated into Christ who was himself anointed
priest, prophet, and king. Through our baptism and anointing, each one
of us participates in God’s divine life, is a member of Christ’s body
and co-heir with him, and experiences the Holy Spirit renewing our
souls.
The idea that each
and every baptized person is a priest is one of the most profound of
changes in the structure of the Church proposed forty years ago by the
Second Vatican Council. And, it is something that all of us who are
baptized, whether we are younger than forty years or older than forty
years, must reckon with as we make decisions about how we live our
lives. Each and every one of us shares in the priesthood of Christ by
virtue of our baptism and anointing with the Holy Chrism. And, in light
of today’s readings, what we rightly expect of our ordained priests is
the same standard against which we must also hold ourselves
accountable. Each and every one of us is “married to God” and to be
“another Christ,” living and ministering in the midst of God’s people.
It doesn’t matter if the place we live and minister is inside of our
homes, our places of work, in our schools, in the civic arena, or where
we recreate. We also must “talk the talk” of Scripture and Church
teaching and “walk the talk,” just like we expect of any priest.
And, just as we
rightly hold our ordained priests to high standards and view any act of
hypocrisy as antithetical to the vows the priest made at ordination, we
should hold ourselves and one another—as
partakers in the priesthood of Christ through our baptism and anointing—to
just as equally high of a standard.
In that sense,
today’s readings present an opportunity for each of us who are not
ordained but nonetheless share in the priesthood of Christ to examine
our consciences. In a private moment, we need to ask ourselves: To what
degree could the words I preach to my kids, my spouse, my friends,
acquaintances, or co-workers be used to condemn me? Do the values that
I espouse to my spouse, my kids, my friends, or co-workers provide the
absolute standard for the way I conduct myself? Is there any divergence
between what Scripture and Church teaching uphold and the way I conduct
myself in public and in private? These are very important
considerations. And, any failure to “walk the talk” requires any of us—just
as it requires any ordained priest—to
confront hypocrisy, to turn away from it, and to conduct ourselves as
God expects.
It’s real easy to
hear today’s readings and to point the finger of condemnation at any
priest who has failed to fulfill his mission as a disciple, just as
Malachi and Jesus condemned those religious leaders who failed in their
mission. But, we must never forget that each and every one of us share
in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Whether we are ordained or not is
not the issue; the issue is that every disciple must “talk the talk” and
“walk the talk.” Failing to do so is hypocritical. Those are the
people Malachi and Jesus condemned, namely, those who are so quick to
condemn others but don’t hold themselves accountable to the very
standards they use to condemn others.
As partakers in the
priesthood of the baptized, our place is to stand humbly before God and
to offer our lives as a pure sacrifice, just as Jesus did. That is how
we offer God fitting service and praise, as St. Paul described it, and
respond, as Jesus did, to the spiritual and temporal needs of others.
In that priestly way of life is summed up all of the commandments: “You
shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your
mind, and with all of your strength. And you shall love your neighbor
as you love yourself.” |
HOMILY
