10/27/2013 Homily Gospel reading: Luke 18: 9-14

Gospel reading: Luke 18: 9-14

Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P.

                  

The recent lecture here on campus had an enticing title, “The Persistence of Guilt in a Post-Religious Age.”  As always, the questions afterwards were interesting.   One question from the audience, more like a commentary, was given in a self-assured manner as the person commented that “modern science and technology have shown that morality does not exist in reality” and “we, as human beings, are not moral agents.” 

Still, no matter what science and technology have shown, evil persists.  People still commit harm against themselves and one another, in words, deeds and thoughts and omissions.

Sigmund Freud thought he had wrapped it all up nicely as he taught that the “demands of conscience (or the ‘super-ego’) are simply a continuation of the severity of the external authority.”

Not even the simplistic views of Freud are sufficient for dealing with the real world.

After all the explanations that seek to remove any vestige of morality and faith from the sphere of human behavior, we still remain with questions of a world complicated, not by the persistence of guilt, but by the reality of evil and, even, sin.   

Where do we turn?  Forget Freud, he also said that it was not reasonable to love your neighbor as yourself.  He held that he could not love a stranger unless that person offered him some benefit. 

Freud said that “not only would it be hard to love his neighbor, but that it would be wrong to do so.”  Well, if that’s how you understand love, then you’ll end up thinking you’re incapable of doing any wrong or evil.  He confused love with selfishness.

Even the most intelligent and gifted of individuals can also be very difficult to live with.

We need faith and honesty to make us real. 

In his recent interview in a leading Jesuit journal, Pope Francis was asked who he is, “who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?”  He responds, in all honesty, “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon. … I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of Jesus Christ, and I accept in a spirit of penance.”

No hint of a man burdened by guilt or any guilt-complex.  The Holy Father knows he is not perfect. 

Pope Francis knows that in life he has committed sins and that he needs God to forgive him.  I’m sure he would be among the first to ask forgiveness of any person he might have offended.

In today’s Gospel parable, we hear of two sinners.  One knows he is a sinner, while the other, from a self-imposed and mistaken sense of moral superiority, thinks he is not a sinner. 

One is humbled by honest recognition of his condition, while the other becomes arrogant as he prizes his good deeds. 

One asks for mercy, while the other seems incapable of giving it, even in his thoughts. 

One acknowledges that he needs God, while the other fellow seems to think that God needs him. 

Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes that “to sin is to betray – in love.  To have lost a sense of personal sin is to have lost a sense of being personally and deeply loved.”

He is not seeking to water down the understanding of sin, but place it more in our hearts, so that in our minds we don’t keep making excuses.  

When it comes to guilt and sin, rationalizations are not very helpful.  Rationalizing can take us further away from the wrong we’ve done, said or thought.   

Sadly, it also takes us further away from others and makes us think we do not need to be near Him - Jesus - the only one who truly cares to take sin and guilt away from us.  

 

It’s spiritually healthy for us to consider ourselves as Pope Francis does himself, as sinners. 

Jesus looks upon us and sees us for who we are.  He never turns away.  He doesn’t just know how to heal and forgive us, he wants to.   He believes in us.  Hopefully, we believe Him.

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Homily for XXIX Sunday (Oct. 20, 2013): Gospel reading: Luke 18: 1-8

Homily for XXIX Sunday Ordinary Time -C (Oct. 20, 2013)

 Gospel reading: Luke 18: 1-8

Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P.

 

For a time, I entertained the idea of law school.  As a political science major, it was often a topic of conversation with classmates as some of them are now attorneys.  However, in classes and later work in the political field where I had and interpret statutes and legal codes, I soon realized that law school and being a lawyer were not for me.  I found legal statutes as complicated as advanced mathematical equations!  Interestingly enough, I find philosophical and theological discourses easier to understand and, even, enjoyable to read. 

I don’t suppose the widow in today’s Gospel parable was a scholar of the law.  She might have found the legal system difficult to understand.  Given the precarious social standing of widows in the time of Jesus, she likely felt vulnerable in facing the legal system and judges. 

Still, she manages to get the just decision she needed.  Very likely, her survival depended on it. 

The widow’s expectation of a just decision was one thing, but the hope and need for justice were what kept her going.  You can almost picture the widow hanging around at the door of the tribunal, knowing that the dishonest judge would have to pass by eventually to get in or out.  Many days, she probably just out-waited him. 

For the widow and anyone facing great odds or a system stacked against them, the struggle can be overwhelming.  Each fall or setback must be matched with a continual getting back up on your feet. 

Persistence? Yes, but something greater was and is at work.  In a word, faith.  Perhaps a better term than persistence is perseverance – almost like persisting, but with sincere purpose, no matter how hopeless the situation might appear.  Appear hopeless, not truly be. 

In a similar situation or other difficult experience, what keeps us going?  How and why do we get back up on our feet and keep persevering, keep struggling and ….. keep loving? 

What’s your secret?  Hopefully, it’s the same as mine.  One that I do not always understand, but I know I can trust it – faith.  An overused and underappreciated term. 

Without it, I’m convinced, not only do we lose hope and the strength to continue, but we also lose sense of purpose.  In life, it seems we rarely get a complete answer when the question, Why? pops up on our radar.  Even so, in faith, we somehow perceive and trust that there is an answer. 

Not in a statute or law, but in Christ who not only told the truth, but puts flesh and bone on it.  Truth, what a concept!  No, what a person, what a Redeemer!  

Pope Francis writes that “following Christ is not a titanic effort of the will, the effort of someone who decides to be consistent and succeeds, a solitary challenge in the face of the world.”   “Following Christ,” in his words, “is not a never falling down, but an always getting up again.”   

Sometimes it might seem that all we have is prayer.  It won’t let us down.

Dr. Martin Luther King wrote that one night in a state of exhaustion and after many malicious threats on his life all he could do was turn to God and in prayer he said, “I’m at the end of my powers.  I have nothing left.  I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.”  At that moment, he said he experienced the presence of God as he never had before.

The signs of the time might indicate that injustice and evil often seem to win out, but such an attitude was not that of the widow in today’s parable.  Like many courageous and God-trusting people, the widow managed to always get up, time and time again.  She seemed to understand.   The time of this world passes by; the Lord’s justice and mercy are eternal and …. trustworthy.

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XXVIII Sunday Ordinary Time (C) – October 13, 2013 ~ Gospel reading: Luke 17: 11-19

XXVIII Sunday Ordinary Time (C) – October 13, 2013 ~ Gospel reading: Luke 17: 11-19

Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P.

 

Have you ever been frustrated by thinking up the perfect comeback in a discussion or argument, but well after the fact?  Or, maybe you have thought of how you should have acted in a similar moment, only to regret that the opportunity is now part of the past.

Personally, I have, on occasion, found such experiences, and my posterior thinking, to be a little frustrating.  However, maybe the Holy Spirit is at work in ways we might not fully appreciate in those moments.

Very often, our “reactions” run the risk of not being the most charitable.  We can often regret what we might say in certain moments of tension.  So, being slow to react can sometimes be a good thing.  Maybe we should be thankful.  Perhaps, such experiences of minor frustration have more to do with wishing we could have reacted better in a particular situation, instead of how we should respond.  

Reacting and responding might appear to be very similar and spontaneous in character, but they can be quite different.  They can be very different in origin, intention and effect. 

Reacting, very often, is more reflexive in nature and can be harsh.  Even the terms we use, such as to make a good come-back or get the last word, to snap back or recoil, do not conjure up images of cooperation and friendliness.

To distinguish the two, let’s consider the Samaritan leper who Jesus healed.  I would say that responding has as much to do with our interior disposition as it does with what we experience from others or on the outside. 

Jesus healed spontaneously and, I imagine for those ten lepers, unexpectedly.  Keep in mind that lepers in the time of Jesus were not the recipients of much care or concern from others.  Sadly, though, even rejection and the pain of isolation can harden the hearts of those who suffer. 

They all wanted to be cleansed, but it seems that the one grateful Samaritan believed that Jesus would do the good deed they clamored for because he trusted in the Lord’s compassion for them. 

That one man’s inner disposition was obviously different from the rest.  The Samaritan responded spontaneously because he had a grateful, not hardened, heart. 

He not only knew who to thank first, he also knew the good that had been done to him.  He was not only cleansed, but more than that, he was healed.  There one can discern the distinction – react or respond. 

In the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, St. Maximillian Kolbe saw the ten men pulled aside for execution.  When he realized that one of them had a wife and children, the saint stepped forward and offered himself in place of the husband and father.  A reaction?  No, it was a response born of love.

On the surface, St. Maximillian’s gesture seems spontaneous.  It was, but it was far from being rash or impulsive.  It was, truly, a response and not a reaction. 

Spontaneity in the name of love has deep roots of faith and gratitude.  

Gratitude is one very simple and holy way to make the sometimes mindless movement of the world slow down.  Try saying, “thank you” to others and notice the reactions you get.

As the healed Samaritan ran back to Jesus to give thanks, he seems to put time in reverse.  But in that moment, there was no backing up, but a going forward in faith.  

Fr. Henri Nouwen writes that one of his turning points in life occurred when he realized that his life belonged to others just as much as it belonged to himself.  He understood that because he trusted that no matter what, he was, like all of us, God’s beloved. 

With that a your starting point, be assured that while you might not always react in the most winning fashion, your response will be one that does not bring you regret, but more faith.

First, be grateful, then you will know the “who, what, when, where, how and why” of saying “thank you.”  Perhaps, it will be the first step of making the world more like a home for others, and for Christ.

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