4th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cor. 1:26-31)

  One of the sad things about church life is that people choose to leave the practice of the faith.  Some declare themselves to be atheist.  Others say they are agnostic.  Such people feel they have left the Catholic Church behind, that they have outgrown their need for God. But somehow, they cannot escape the values they grew up with.

                James Joyce, the great Irish Catholic writer of the early 20th century experienced this. Joyce grew up in Ireland in a Catholic home. When he was a young man, he said he was at war with Catholic dogma.  He was not married in the Catholic Church.  He didn’t have his children baptized.  When he died, he didn’t receive the last rites. 

                Yet, when he wrote novels, his characters were imbued with a Catholic world view.  He couldn’t shake off the influence of the Catholic church.  We have many writers and filmmakers who are the same way.  Joyce saw how the common person was touched by religious belief.  He observed how faith in God sustained people in times of great trial.  Joyce observed how anyone could belong to the church, which led to one of his most famous lines.  He described the Catholic church as “Here comes everyone.” Ironically, he saw the far-reaching influence of the church.

                St. Paul writes to the Corinthians in the epistle for this Sunday.  His letter is meant to lift people’s spirits.  Early Christianity had converts in the different classes of society, but most Christians were ordinary people, most were poor, many Christians were illiterate.  We need only think of the first apostles who were common laborers, fisherman, prostitutes and housewives.  The influential people of society looked down on Christians.

                Celsus, the 2nd century Greek philosopher smirked at Christians.  He penned many vicious attacks on the Christian church.  He wrote once, “We see Christians in their own houses, wool dressers, fullers, the most uneducated vulgar persons, like a swarm of bats, ants creeping out of their nests, frogs holding a symposium round a swamp or worms in a corner of mud.”  Such were how Christians were often viewed.

                But what did St. Paul write?  Paul writes that God deliberately chose the foolish to shame the wise.  He chose the weak to embarrass the strong.  God chose the lowly, the despised of the world. He did this so that no one could boast of their own talents when the church succeeded.  God wanted the world to see that it was only by grace that the church succeeded. 

                I had a Christian friend who once said,  “The church has had so many scandalous failures throughout its history. One must wonder how it ever grew. How is it still a force in the world? Somehow it must be proof that it is divinely inspired."

                The one thing that has been a constant in the church has been that it has championed the principle of human dignity.  Each person is made in the image of God.  No matter what your race, no matter your economic status, whether you are man or woman, young or old, each person has dignity.  And every human being has rights that must be respected.  People aren’t material objects to be used and then thrown away.  Each person is a child of God, loved by their creator.

                All that sounds so basic, like common sense. Yet, in today’s world there are leaders referring to displaced people as vermin. Poor people are called trash by leaders of government.  Unfortunately, it happens so often today that we can become desensitized to such language.  We need to push back when we hear such insults.  Disrespect for other human beings can lead to terrible social sins. Certainly, it has no place among people who claim they follow Jesus.

                We need to always remind ourselves that we are the People of God.  Every soul is important.  We are the Catholic Church.  We are at best when we say that all people have a place in our communion.   Yes, we are Catholic and here comes everyone.