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One of England’s
most celebrated
novelists and literary critics, Hilaire Belloc, had many
deeply-held convictions, none more so than his conviction that the Roman
Catholic Church was the true and authentic Church of Christ. This
conviction presented a problem to Belloc, particularly when he decided
to run for office as a member of the British Parliament in 1906. Belloc
knew his staunch Roman Catholicism would present an obstacle to his
being elected, especially given the anti-Catholic religious bigotry of the
Protestant majority living in his district.
But, rather than
betray his convictions, when Belloc stepped up onto the platform in city
of Salford’s public square to deliver his first campaign speech, the
audience saw the candidate holding a rosary in his right hand. If
that didn’t prove disquieting, Belloc used his speech to proclaim
his Roman Catholic faith. The candidate not only announced to the
audience that he went to Mass daily but that
he also knelt down daily to recite the rosary! It was the following
statement, however, that completely stunned his listeners. Belloc
proclaimed: “If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank
God that He has spared me the indignity of being your representative in
Parliament.”
Belloc’s
“in-your-face” style of declaring his religious convictions might strike
many people as out of place in today’s world, particularly for those―whether
they be Catholic politicians, parents, spouses, friends, acquaintances
or, even, complete strangers―who
place a premium in not rocking the boat, keeping the peace at all costs, or forging
some sort of consensus where “we all just get along.” Another
English novelist, G.K. Chesterton, is reputed to have said that these
people “don’t stand for something” and, as a consequence, “fall for
everything.”
In contrast, today’s
scripture applauds those who place a premium upon asserting and
upholding their religious principles, typified perhaps in Belloc’s
“in-your-face” style. The scripture suggests that Jesus’ disciples must
be strong and unequivocal in proclaiming God’s word in every generation,
whether or not the people in the audience happen to like what Jesus’
disciples have to say.
Discipleship can be
a risky and dangerous business as others attempt to whittle God’s word
down to a size they prefer as they bully, reject, or even persecute
those who proclaim God’s word. As disciples, however, we aren’t without hope if
only because today’s scriptures suggests four qualities we can
develop in order to proclaim God’s message more effectively.
These four qualities are: detachment, dedication, being a realist, and
resiliency.
The first quality, “detachment,”
means that disciples aren’t beholden to any person or attached any
particular thing
that might hold them back, cause them to be distracted, or to waver when
it is time to proclaim God’s word. For Jesus’ disciples, this means
setting and keeping one’s sights set on what is truly important, not
that which may be popular at any given moment.
Jesus encourages
such detachment when he urges his disciples to “travel light,” both
literally and figuratively. “He instructed them to take nothing for the
journey,” the gospel says, “but a walking stick―no
food, no sack, no money in their belts….” In effect, success in
proclaiming God’s word hinges upon one’s willingness to place one’s
trust in God rather than in one’s own devices. “Although I don’t know
what my future holds,” a disciple says, “I do know who holds my future
in His hands.”
The second quality,
“dedication,” is about having confidence and possessing the
steadfast attitude rooted not in oneself and one’s power but in
one’s unwavering trust in God’s abiding presence.
To proclaim God’s
word effectively requires working both with those who accept
God’s word―that’s
the easy part of the equation―and,
more oftentimes than not, with those who don’t accept God’s word―the
more difficult yet the most rewarding part of the equation. Through it all,
disciples remain confident that God is present with them and will see
them through the moments of triumph as well as those of difficulty,
tragedy, or apparent defeat.
Dedication, then,
isn’t a matter proclaiming God’s word when it is convenient nor is it a
matter of “being in the mood.” No, dedication requires getting your
mind set and letting your confidence lead you on. Disciples are
dedicated because they trust God’s promise to be with them “until the
end of the age.”
To proclaim God’s
word effectively requires a third quality, namely, being realistic
and, particularly, realistic about one’s chances for success. In short, the crowd
oftentimes won’t welcome God’s word with eager ears and open arms
because, when disciples proclaim God’s word effectively, those who are
really listening will experience God’s word piercing into the depths of their souls like a Wilkinson sword,
introducing sharp
discomfort and pain.
Experience
oftentimes teaches that there is a human tendency to “kill the messenger” when
one states the simple truth. But, as Thomas Merton noted in The
Seven Storey Mountain, “The souls of disciples are like athletes who
need worthy opponents if they are to be tried and pushed and extended to
the full use of their powers and rewarded according to their capacity.”
Effective disciples,
then, are realistic about their chances for success. They don’t measure
it in terms of the number of people who listen and applaud. No,
disciples measure their success in the one person who hears and changes.
Success is measured one by one not by adoring crowds and wild-eyed
throngs of well-wishers.
There is a fourth
characteristic that today’s scripture suggests disciples shouldn’t
overlook if they are to announce God’s word effectively. That
characteristic is resiliency.
Since disciples
freely offer God’s word as a gift, people are equally free to reject it.
Realistically speaking, then, disciples inevitably will experience
rejection and, because of this fact, they must be willing to “let
yesterday be yesterday” and to “begin today anew.” Jesus advises those
he sends forth to proclaim God’s word to be prepared to move on without
lingering over their failed efforts if only because, realistically, people will reject
God’s word.
Resilience, then,
means beginning anew and not becoming mired down by yesterday’s
rejection. There’s the old adage which says, “Don’t get down into the
mud and wrestle with the pig. Both of you will get dirty. But, only
the pig will have fun.” The difference between resilience and failure,
then, is that resilience emerges from a strong “will” while failure
emerges from a stronger “won’t.” Disciples are resilient when, at the
end of the day, they don’t gripe and complain about yesterday. Instead,
they vow, “I will try again tomorrow.”
Each of us can
probably point to instances when we knew we had to hold our ground
against unclean spirits―to
exercise the authority Jesus has given to us as his disciples―but
we were afraid to do so. It might have been when we needed to correct a
child, to chasten a spouse, or to put an end to an injustice. For
whatever reason, we flinched because we were more attached to the things
of this world than we were detached from them. We weren’t steadfast in
our confidence that God was with us and, consequently, we failed to
proclaim God’s word. Instead of being realistic in our assessment, we
overestimated what constitutes success. And we found ourselves
having little or no resilience, possessing a strong “won’t” instead of a
stronger “will.”
Perhaps because
we’ve experienced failure in our mission as disciples, we oftentimes
don’t think about think about what a wonderful gift it is that God has
called us to serve others by proclaiming God’s word. It isn’t a
call reserved to sisters and brothers and priests and bishops. No,
this gift is given to all of the baptized…to spouses, to moms and dads,
to young adults, teenagers, and little kids, to aunts and uncles and
cousins, and to neighbors and coworkers. God calls all of us to
serve one another by proclaiming His word and contributing our time,
talent, and treasure to building of God’s kingdom and advancing the culture of life.
According to St.
Paul, God chose each of us for this mission, not yesterday, or last
week, or when we were infants. No, God chose us before the world
began. God has planned our existence and purpose in life, infusing each
of us with a mission that was no divine afterthought. And, that God
sent His only begotten Son to redeem us is proof about just how valuable
each of us is to God and how important our part is in the mission of
proclaiming God’s word “to all the nations” (Mark 16:15).
Aware of this great
gift―what
is, in reality, a divine initiative―we
also must recognize that God has given us everything we need to be
successful. Jesus did not
leave his disciples to their own devices. Instead, the gospel reminds
us that Jesus gave his disciples authority over unclean spirits and
instructed them to take nothing along as they preached God’s word. In
effect, their authority over unclean spirits hinges upon the disciples’
willingness to trust only in God rather than in their own devices.
But, it is up to us as Jesus’ disciples to develop the detachment, the
dedication, the realistic attitude, and the resilience that will enable
us to contribute our part to building of God’s kingdom and to advance
the culture of life by effectively preaching God’s word.
While that is the
positive side of the mission, we also need to recall that there will be
those days and times when we will be ineffective. In these moments,
Jesus told his disciples in today’s gospel, we may just have to shake
the dust from our feet and move on, as difficult as that may be. But,
rather than fearing what the future may bring, remaining behind where
others do not accept God’s word, and not forging ahead into the new
territory where God is leading us, we should take heart from the words
Jesus used when he brought his sermon about the Beatitudes to a close:
“Blessed are you
when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward
is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who
were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12)
In any generation,
it’s all too easy to deny our deepest religious principles and even our
own consciences for fear of being rejected. Jesus’ disciples do so at
great peril to their souls because, over time, Jesus’ disciples will
become the very things they should have stood against. All that
the forces of evil need to prevail in this world are
enough good people who do nothing.
To contend with
these evil forces in this generation, as Hilaire Belloc did in his, we
needn’t fear boldly proclaiming God’s word. As St. Paul reminded us in
today’s Epistle:
“In him you also,
who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have
believed in him, were sealed with the promised holy Spirit, which is the
first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s
possession, to the praise of his glory.”
God has called us
and Jesus has commissioned us to drive out many demons in this
generation―especially
those of
materialism, consumerism, secularism, of eroticism, prestige, and lust
for money―by
anointing us with the Holy Spirit. Now is the time for us to anoint our
brothers and sisters with the oil of God’s word and to allow God to cure them
through our ministry of the evils plaguing their souls.
As disciples who
“travel light” and armed with the detachment, the dedication, the
realistic attitude, and the resilience we need to proclaim God’s word
effectively, this is how we
contribute in our time, talent, and treasure to building God’s kingdom
and advancing the culture of life. |
HOMILY
