Homily Notes 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. “Accompany First, Judge Last.”
“Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” This is St. Paul’s version of the Golden Rule which is in the 2nd lesson today. The Golden Rule demands a special kind of love. We might wonder if it is possible to love someone we do not even know if we can’t love those closest to us.
Pam Brekee was like a lot of people in Florida this week. She went to Lowe’s to buy a generator. She was worried about losing power at her house in Orlando as Hurricane Irma bore down on Florida. She had a special reason to worry since her father lives with her and he is on oxygen 24 hours a day.
As she waited in line the boxed generators disappeared one at a time. She moved closer to the head of the long line, but before she could get a generator they ran out. Pam broke down in tears as people rolled their generators away. All this was caught by television cameras. It seemed like another sad story as natural disasters have touched the U.S. and Mexico.
But this little drama took a turn. Suddenly Roman Santiago walked up and handed Pam his cart with his generator. He did not know exactly what was going on because he did not speak much English. You see, he is an immigrant who speaks Spanish. He just saw that Pam was very upset. He knew in his heart that she needed the generator badly. When asked why he would give his machine to a stranger he seemed surprised. Even though he could not say much to the English-speaking reporter it was obvious what he was feeling-love and compassion for his neighbor. Pam just said, “That man is an angel from God.” The action of Roman Santiago was a simple gesture, but it was also a moment when Pam Brekee believed God was acting.
Jesus speaks to his disciples about reconciliation in the Gospel of Matthew. At first glance, he seems to be saying you can take this love of neighbor thing so far, but only so far. After you try to make peace then you come to a certain point where you treat those who offend like a Gentile or a tax collector. In other words, you write them off. But is that what Jesus is saying?
If we remember our Gospel stories we know that Gentiles and tax collectors were the very people that Jesus reached out to. What Jesus was saying was that we must be willing to start over with a person who refuses to make peace in an argument.
Such people need to begin to learn the Gospel message of love of neighbor, forgiveness, charity, reconciliation. Christians are not to give up on difficult people, but we are to try to teach the offender through our example what it means to follow Christ. Too often, as we live our day to day life, we are tempted to cast people aside. We might put labels on them. We might not feel like they are practicing their faith well enough so we shut the door on them.
What is harder we might ask. Getting rid of the sinner, turning them away, forgetting them. Or striking up a relationship, maintaining a dialogue, challenging them gently, not giving up. The tactic is much more difficult. But that is what Jesus asked to do. In church life, this has very practical implications.
One example might revolve around young people approaching the church for marriage. Some are not practicing their faith. Maybe they have not attended Mass very much. Or perhaps they are living together. Debates have raged among the pastors of the church about what to do. Perhaps we tell the couple if they attend Mass for a certain number of Sundays they can get married. We might require that they move apart. Pastors might take the hard line believing punishment will change their behavior. But recently a different pastoral practice has taken hold which is that we should accompany the couple on their faith journey. Just like Jesus walked along with his disciples (many of whom were sinners of various types) until they became fully reconciled with God. We must do the same.
This Sunday, we are doing what we have done the last couple years. We are passing out a card in the bulletin because our religious education classes are starting soon. We want children and adults who have not received the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, First Communion and Confirmation to do so. Perhaps their families were going through crisis of one type or another at the regular age of reception. Then again, they might not have been introduced to the Gospel Message at all. We ask you to take the card in the bulletin and give it to someone you know that has a child that needs sacraments or to might need to receive sacraments themselves. The message we want to give as a parish is that we will begin to introduce people to Jesus wherever they are in their journey.
The gesture of giving our card concerning religious education to someone is a simple act of love, like giving a generator to a stranger, it could change someone’s whole life.