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If you have seen the movie, Moonstruck, you might remember
the conclusion—not the part when the family is gathered around the
table and, after Loretta Castorini accepts Ronny Cammareri’s
proposal of marriage, the family members raise their glasses, and
toast “Alla famiglia!” (“To the family!”)—but immediately
prior to that scene when Loretta’s mother, Rose, confronts her
husband, Cosmo, in the kitchen with his sin of infidelity. Rose
says, “You have a good life here. Don’t destroy it.” Then, after a
brief moment where Cosmo engages in some male bravado, he says to
his wife, “OK.” To which Rose responds, “And another thing. You’re
going to confession.”
This fictional but true account about sin, marriage, and family life
reminds us of a fundamental rule―one
that Jesus gave his disciples―which
must guide our lives as Christians and was just reiterated in
today’s gospel. Namely, when someone sins against or offends us,
our first obligation—what we owe one another in love, according to
St. Paul—is to “go and tell him his fault between you and him alone”
(Matthew 18:15). Just as love motivated Rose to confront her
husband Cosmo about his sin, so too we are not to broadcast that sin
or offense to others—no matter who they are—unless we first go to
that person and, in private, “tell him his fault” in order that we
might “win over” (or “save”) him from sin. We speak up not because
we fear being punished for not speaking up. No, we speak up because
doing so is an act of love that is aimed at the salvation of another
person’s soul. Our hearts overflow with love to such a degree that
we seek the good, even for those who have hurt or offended us.
How easy it is to reject this law of Christ in our daily lives! How
many wives complain to others about their husbands? How many
husbands similarly complain about their wives to others? Both
justify illicit and immoral behaviors and relationships because of
their spouse’s shortcomings and failings. How many siblings
complain about each other to their parents and friends? How many
co-workers complain about their fellow co-workers to bosses and
other co-workers? Students complain about teachers to one another
and their parents. Teachers also complain about their students to
one another and administrators. Tattle-tales, gossip, and rumors
abound because it’s so easy to broadcast to anyone who is willing to
listen what is wrong with everyone else because they have hurt or
offended us. And, believe me, there is a lot to broadcast because
none of us is perfect.
But, Jesus will have none of this on the part of his disciples.
Why? Because all of those words of complaint really say nothing
about the sins or offences that others have committed against us.
No, what all of those complaints reveal is our sinfulness, as this
is evidenced in our lack of love for those sinners. We simply do
not love enough or are not willing to love enough those who have
sinned against or offended us to confront them with the truth. This
behavior is sinful, Jesus taught his disciples, because Jesus was
very well aware of what God had told the prophet Ezekiel to tell the
house of Israel, “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” (Ezekiel 7:8). In effect, “the
sinner will get what is his due, but you will get the same—or
worse—because you have sinned worse by allowing the sinner to die.”
Like the people of Israel, Jesus is reminding his disciples, God has
appointed each of us to be watchmen, to be on the alert for any
incursion of evil—of sin—that has the potential to bring death to
others. Certainly that includes “big ticket” items like being on
the watch for addictions like alcoholism, substance abuse, child
abuse, adultery, and pornography. When these evils are perpetrated
against us, Jesus requires that we bring these evils to the evildoer’s
attention. There also are many other seemingly “smaller ticket”
items that we must be on the watch for and also bring to an
evildoers attention, including outbreaks of anger, cursing and
swearing, gossiping, all forms of deceit and cheating,
mean-spiritedness and revenge, coveting what belongs to others, just
to name a few. As these evils—what are called “sins of
commission”—raise their ugly heads in the behavior of others when
they sin or offend us, we directly engage those evils in battle as
we speak with those who have committed these evils in order to
dissuade the wicked from their ways so they won’t die from their
guilt.
We have also been appointed watchmen for those “sins of
omission”—evils spawned as we do nothing about them—for which we
will be held responsible. When someone clearly has had too much to
drink and is preparing to drive home, to say or do nothing is
sinful. When parents are slack in their responsibilities,
especially their moral responsibilities, toward their children, to
say or do nothing is sinful. The same is true when bosses or
employees mistreat, are dishonest with, or cheat one another in the
workplace. For anyone to say “It’s none of my business” and, then,
to walk away is sinful. Jesus teaches his disciples that their
business is to save people from evils like these. Any failure to do
so—a sin of omission—not only allows evil to prosper in the sinner’s
life but it also allows evil to prosper in our own lives.
During the past two weeks, I received several emails from
parishioners concerning my two most recent homilies in which I
stated (in the first homily) that “no one can call himself a
Christian and say that the answer to any moral question especially
that of when life begins ‘is beyond my pay grade’” or (in the second
homily) in which I stated that one cannot be an “ardent, practicing
Catholic” and state as fact that from the beginning, the
believing Christian community did not hold that abortion was always,
gravely wrong. What motivated these emails was the question, “Why
don’t the bishops just confront those public officials, tell them
they are sinners, and demand that they refrain from partaking of
Holy Communion?” You know, like Rose Castorini told her
husband, Cosmo, in Moonstruck:
“And another thing.
You’re going to confession.”
The answer to that question is pretty straightforward, as we heard
in today’s gospel. The bishop of the diocese in which those public
officials live bears a moral obligation to confront them, first,
in private. This is exactly what the Archbishop of San
Francisco, George Niederauer, did this past week. In a public
letter, Archbishop Niederauer wrote:
Speaker Pelosi has often said how highly she values her Catholic
faith, and how much it is a source of joy for her. Accordingly, as
her pastor, I am writing to invite her into a conversation with me
about these matters. It is my obligation to teach forthrightly and
to shepherd caringly, and that is my intent. Let us pray together
that the Holy Spirit will guide us all toward a more profound
understanding and appreciation for human life, and toward a
resolution of these differences in truth and charity and peace.
In light of Christ’s teaching, some might disagree with the
Archbishop for making his statement public. However, the simple
fact is that Catholic politicians who state their opposition to
fundamental teachings of the Church or misrepresent them in
public—especially those relating to life—have already made public
their views, that is, they have made of themselves a potential
source of scandal to their fellow citizens. “I regret the necessity
of addressing these issues in so public a forum, but the widespread
consternation among Catholics made it unavoidable,” is what
Archbishop Niederauer wrote in this regard.
“If he does not listen,” Jesus said, “take one or two others along
with you….” Other bishops, archbishops, and cardinals have echoed
similar themes
to Ms. Pelosi (in public, to be sure; whether in private, I do not
know),
including: Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, Archbishops
Charles Chaput of Denver and Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, as well
as Edward Cardinal Egan of New York, Francis Cardinal George of
Chicago, and Justin Cardinal Rigali on behalf of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
For
his part, Cardinal George wrote: “While everyone could be expected
to know the Church's position on the immorality of abortion and the
role of law in protecting unborn children, it seems some profess not
to know it and others, even in the Church, dispute it.” Cardinal
George then stated: “The Catholic Church, from its first days,
condemned the aborting of unborn children as gravely sinful….This is
true today and will be so tomorrow. Any other comments, by
politicians, professors, pundits or the occasional priest, are
erroneous and cannot be proposed in good faith.”
In
response, to these and other statements, Nancy Pelosi's office
issued a statement on August 29 which stated: “While Catholic
teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do
not ascribe [sic] to that view.” Archbishop Niederauer
retorted, “That statement suggests that morality can be decided by
poll, by numbers. If 90% of Catholics subscribe to the view that
human life begins at conception, does that makes Church teaching
truer than if only 70% or 50% agree?....Authentic moral teaching is
based on objective truth, not polling.”
In light of today’s gospel, the matter does not end there, with the
bishops defending the Church’s teaching, as those who emailed me
might believe, and Catholic politicians like Nancy Pelosi,
disagreeing, as if the goal is “Can’t we just all get along?” Jesus
said: “If he refuses to listen to them, then tell the church.” When
Catholic politicians advocate policy positions that contradict
Church teaching on fundamental matters like human life, and these
people have been told about their error in private and then by two
or more witnesses, it is right, just, and proper that bishops,
pastors, and priests bring these matters to the church.
So I bring these matters to you, for you are the church, the “People
of God.”
Using today’s gospel as my point of reference, I ask: What do you
bind on earth that Jesus says will be bound in heaven? And when a
member of the Christian community—like those who profess themselves
to be Catholic politicians—violates what is bound on earth, is the
power of love that St. Paul wrote about in today’s epistle present
in your heart to sufficient degree that you will do something to
save the wicked from his or her way? If so, what is that going
to be? Exactly what are you, as the church, going to do about
it?
“Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another….Love does no
evil to the neighbor,” St. Paul told the Romans. To allow a member
of the Christian community—like those who profess themselves to be
Catholic politicians—to continue along their merry old way and not
to confront them concerning their sin, St. Paul teaches, is to do
evil to one’s neighbor. That is, in short, to sin by omission―doing
nothing and leaving the work of confronting evil to others.
Think about it: when others encourage us to change our sinful ways
and when we encourage others to change their sinful ways―like
Rose Castorini did with her husband, Cosmo, in Moonstruck―this
is a very good thing. The power of love present in our hearts makes
it possible for us to protect others and for others to protect us
from the power of evil. It takes an act of love to risk a marriage,
a friendship, or any relationship―even
that of a Catholic politician and his or her constituents―by
stating forthrightly our concerns about their immoral attitudes or
behaviors. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that our
interventions will work or that they will be painless. What we are
guaranteed is that we will save ourselves. Remember well what
prophet Ezekiel promised the people of Israel: “if you warn the
wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and if he refuses to turn
from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save
yourself” (Ezekiel 33:9).
When
Loretta first told her mother, Rose, that she was to be engaged,
Loretta’s
mother asked: “Do you love him, Loretta?” Loretta responded:
“Ma, I love him awful.” Then Rose said with a sigh in her
voice: “Oh, God, that’s too bad.”
Why would Rose say that? Because, as Rose later related to her
daughter, Loretta:
“ ’Cause when you love ’em, they drive you crazy, because they know
they can.”
Let us never forget that we bear a moral responsibility for others—a
moral responsibility motivated by love for them—and especially,
their salvation...even if they drive us crazy because they know they
can. It just demonstrates
the depth of our love
for the salvation of their souls. |
HOMILY
