topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
04 September 05


 

A recent poll identified some of the things 18 year olds are clueless about.  These include: LPs, Swanson’s TV dinners; transistor radios; slide rules; a “Glide-o-Matic” transmission shift; and, party-line telephones.  Another poll identified some things Catholics under 40 years of age are clueless about.  These include: benediction; a monstrance; low and high masses; ferial and votive masses; midnight fast; black vestments; and, the answer to “Dominus vobiscum.”  [When told, they believe the answer is the Pope’s private telephone number: “Et cum spirit tu tuo.”]

While the immediate impact of Vatican II on those of us over 40 years of age was the change in the way we conducted worship, the Council’s long-range impact on those under 40 years of age (and of future generations, too) has been a growing awareness that God has personally called all of the baptized to be “a light to the nations.”  In the Council’s document on the laity, Vatican II reminded all the People of God that God has personally called and entrusted each of them with a mission to be that “light to the nations.”

That’s a catchy phrase and it sums up succinctly our moral obligations.  God has personally called each of us—in our own unique and unrepeatable way in all of human history—to be the light that breaks through the darkness, to illuminate what would otherwise remain hidden and, in this way, to bring about reconciliation and healing.  But, today’s readings from scripture define that personal vocation in a way that very well may provoke us to feel quite a bit uncomfortable.  Perhaps much of the reason we may feel uncomfortable is because we live in a society not only where “anything goes” because “everybody’s doing it” but also in a society in which being critical of others’ behavior—even if it is morally reprehensible behavior—is believed to be “politically incorrect.”

In today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel speaks directly to our personal vocations and mission to be this light to the nations.  What Ezekiel says is that we are to be “watchmen.”  This is where feeling uncomfortable begins.

In ancient days, cities erected thick walls with towering ramparts to protect themselves from barbarian invaders bent on the city’s destruction.  The watchman’s duty was to be vigilant standing high in the rampart, keeping an eye out for potential threats, and warning the city whenever a potential threat loomed on the horizon.  Due to the darkness, it was especially difficult duty for the night watchman.  Nevertheless, any failure to keep watch and to warn the city whenever one loomed on the horizon portended the potential destruction of the city and death for the watchman.

Remaining vigilant for potential enemies is certainly an important matter, politically speaking.  But, remaining vigilant for potential moral enemies is a far more important matter, spiritually speaking.

Listening to Ezekiel, God has personally called husbands and wives in a unique and unrepeatable way in all of human history to perfect each another in holiness.  As parents, God has personally called moms and dads in a unique and unrepeatable way in all of human history to teach children about the moral dangers they will face and must overcome.  And, in the workplace, God has called each of us in a unique and unrepeatable way in all of human to give witness to what it means to be a Catholic in the real world.

This expanded notion of vocation, one of a “personal vocation” through which we give a unique and unrepeatable witness in all of human history to our Catholic faith is something those of us over 40 years of age never really thought much about!  For us, “vocation” meant being married, ordained, or single.  But, as watchmen, God calls us personally to be on the alert to potential moral adversaries that threaten the well-being of other people.  It could be a spouse’s well-being, a child’s well-being, even the well-being of one’s boss and co-workers.

However, being a watchman does not mean being “busy bodies.”  Nor does it mean sitting in judgment on others.

What being a watchman does mean is carefully observing, contemplating, and most of all, whenever we foresee a moral danger, speaking up and sounding the alarm.  Any failure to do so, Ezekiel reminds us, leads to death.  Not only the death of others and potentially the community as well but also our own death.

As part of her act, the comedienne Joan Rivers leans into the microphone and towards her audience and asks, “Can we be honest with one another?”

Who wants to confront a spouse whose immoral behavior threatens to destroy not only one’s marriage and security but also one’s family?  But, drugs and alcohol, an uncontrolled temper and violent behavior, as well as participating in pornography and fornication do present moral dangers to a marriage.  Spouses must speak up about and sound the alarm, that is, if they truly love their spouse.

Who wants to visit with estranged relatives and discuss what has caused the estrangement, led to ill will, and ruined far too many holidays?  But, malice, arrogance, jealousy, and envy do present moral dangers.  Family members must speak up about and sound the alarm, that is, if they truly love the members of their extended family.

Who wants to discipline a teenager whose opinions about or flagrant violation of fundamental moral matters like deceit, alcohol, drugs, and illicit sex threaten not only to destroy the family’s well-being but also to destroy that teenager?  But, when a teenager “tap dances on the trap door of temptation,” parents must speak up and sound the alarm, that is, if they truly love their child.

Who wants to discuss with the importance of faith and its regular practice with parents who are wishy-washy about the practice of their faith, who do not regularly attend Sunday mass with their children, and are not catechizing them?  But, when parents fail in their moral responsibility to be the first and best teachers of the faith to their children, godparents must speak up and sound the alarm, that is, if they truly love their godchild.  Likewise, grandparents must speak up and sound the alarm, that is, if they truly love their grandchild.

Isn’t it much easier to remain silent, especially after we’ve been rebuked and rebuffed or even scorned and mocked for speaking up and sounding the alarm when we’ve foreseen or confronted someone else about a grave moral danger?  The truth be told, nobody wants to be a watchman and to speak up and sound the alarm about moral dangers, potential or actual.

It’s more convenient to close our eyes and to hope that a spouse will change, that relatives will come to our front doors, grovel before us, and admit their failure, that a teenager will be miraculously transformed, or that parents will have an epiphany and practice the faith they professed when they were married and brought their children for the Sacrament of Baptism.  Having been personally called by God to be watchmen, however, we have no choice when this is not the case.  Even if we don’t want to, we need to speak up and to sound the alarm—to be a light to the nations—about the moral dangers we foresee.  How could anyone of us possibly justify remaining silent when the consequence of our being morally mute is moral death?

Ezekiel reminds us that when we do speak up and sound the alarm about the moral dangers we foresee, God will not hold us responsible if others fail to respond.  It is when we fail to respond to our personal vocations by not speaking up and not sounding the alarm about moral dangers we foresee that God will hold us personally responsible:

…[If] you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.  But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.
 

To fulfill our personal vocations so that God will not hold us responsible for not speaking up and for not sounding the alarm, today’s gospel offers a pathway for us to consider when we need to deal with the moral dangers we foresee.  Like Ezekiel’s charge to be watchmen, this pathway very well may provoke us to feel quite a bit uncomfortable.

First, we are to go to the person and attempt to resolve the issue by upholding God’s moral law without demeaning the other person.

St. Augustine once wrote, “Hate the sin but love the sinner.”  While confronting another person’s potential or real moral failure certainly isn’t easy—it does require great courage—doing so demonstrates great love of God and neighbor as we honor another person’s dignity and allow that individual an opportunity to explain oneself.  An honest explanation might cast light upon what may have been a misunderstanding and the case is now closed.  Or, when confronted with the truth, that person may actually say, “I’m truly sorry, I dont know why I did it, but I will never do that again.”  Once again, the case is closed, as long as the person amends his or her ways.

Confronting a moral failure, then, demonstrates great courage and great love because it opens the door to forgiveness.  As Christ told his disciples in today’s gospel, “...whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

However, if confronting the individual privately fails to bring about healing and reconciliation, today’s gospel tells us, second, that we are then to go to the person once again.  But, this time, we are to bring another person who can confirm what we’ve observed and, at the same time, who can also extend forgiveness and reconciliation.  As Jesus said to his disciples:

Again, amen, I say to you, if two or you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
 

Once again, the goal of confronting another person about a potential or real moral failure is not to “prove” this person’s moral failure.  No, the goal is spiritual, that is, to offer the opportunity for that individual to see the truth and to amend one’s behavior.  At the same time, however, this also requires that we provide all of the support that is needed so that this individual, now aware of one’s failure and desirous of amending one’s behavior, will change.  We all know that change isn’t easy; it's not enough to point out moral failures, to forgive and, then, to expect change.  No, it’s essential that we also provide all of the support an individual will need to make that change permanent in one’s soul.

If these two steps fail, then—and only then—today’s gospel says “bring in the Church.”  That is, bring in all of the moral resources that the faith community possesses in order to help bring about healing and reconciliation for an individual whose moral failure has entrapped this person in evil’s snares.

As difficult as it is, it is sometimes necessary to break the boundaries of privacy and to intrude into another’s life.  This is nowhere more important than when moral failure is an established fact.  But, all of our sincere efforts to help an individual recognize one’s moral failure and to offer forgiveness to that individual may fail.  It then takes the strength of a courage and love that is present only in a community of faith to confront moral failure.  Why? Because the power of evil has so blinded this individual not only to the truth of one’s moral failure but also to the impact that one’s sin is having not only upon individual lives but also the life of the faith community as well!  This “communitarian dimension” of sin mandates that the community of faith and all of its members muster up the courage and love it will take to confront moral failure.

Looking at this model—which requires that all of us are honest and forthright about speaking up and sounding the alarm when we become aware of a potential or actual moral failure—who of us would want to go in alone and confront the person?  It takes an awful lot of courage and love to do that.  And, judging simply from human behavior, many of us lack courage and love because we find it much easier to gossip, to sling innuendos, to backstab, or better yet, to ignore that person by turning a cold shoulder.

Who ever would want to solicit another person and bring that individual in to confront the person?  It takes an awful lot of courage and love to do that.  And, judging simply from human behavior, many of us lack courage and love because we find it easier to form cliques of like-minded and judgmental people who balkanize marriages, families, and workplaces into warring factions.

And, who ever would want to bring in the Church?  Once again, judging simply from human behavior, many of us lack courage and love because many of us find it preferable to keep things private and to pay lawyers, psychologists, and social workers to do the work of confronting those who have failed from a moral point of view.  This certainly does present an interesting situation: many of us would rather that phobias, neuroses, and dysfunctional behavior be admitted to paid therapists than by seeking out a priest who can help this person admit to sin and flaws in their moral characters and heal them in the Sacrament of Penance…all for free!

Unfortunately, all of those behaviors are sinful on our part in that we’re demonstrating neither love of God nor neighbor.  And that’s to say nothing of the fact that we’re also neglecting the pathway Jesus instructs his disciples to follow in today’s gospel.

Polls most likely would find that most of us—whether we’re under 40 years of age or older than 40 years of age—don’t want to do what Jesus recommends it takes in today’s gospel if we are to respond wholeheartedly to our personal vocations and to be a light to the nations by speaking up and sounding the alarm about potential or real moral failure.  But, as St. Paul reminded us in this morning’s epistle, we need to do what Jesus recommends.  Why?  Because it is a debt we owe one another—a debt of love—one we owe to each other because each and everyone of us has already been forgiven by God in Christ Jesus.

 

A brief commercial break...
 

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