Homily - 21 August 2022 - The Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

 The Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Dear brothers and sisters,

The prophet Isaiah mentions a list of places with which most of us unfamiliar: “Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Jovan” (Isaiah 66:19). A few of us might recognize some of these names, but none us really has any idea where these places are. They must be significant, though, otherwise Isaiah would not have specifically mentioned them. So, where are they?

Tarshish is a mysterious place, in that we do not really know where it was. What we do know is that was across the Mediterranean Sea from Israel and Lebanon, either to the north, west, or south. Some scholars think it was the precursor of the city of Carthage in North Africa; others think it was in modern day Spain; others think it was southern Turkey; and still others think it was in Sardinia. In the Scriptures, Tarshish was known for its metal. Lud was east of Egypt in what is now Libya and was famous for its myrrh. Put and Mosoch are in modern Turkey, as is Tubal. Jovan was in Greece.

The principal purpose in listing these different places, so it seems to me, is simply – and importantly – to proclaim the diversity of the peoples to whom God reveals himself. Through Isaiah the Lord says that the peoples in the distant coastlands, although they “have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory … shall proclaim my glory among the nations” (Isaiah 66:19).

To put it differently, these different peoples, from various cultures and ethnicities, will know the Lord. This is why “they shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all nations as an offering to the Lord” (Isaiah 66:20). They will not bring them to the Lord as human sacrifices, but so that the people from the nations might offer themselves to God in recognition of his love for them just as we offer ourselves each time the gifts of bread and wine are offered to the Lord.

I focus on this today because of an incident that occurred here in Ashland just a couple of days ago at the high school. A young man of mixed ethnicity, who just moved to the area, was made to feel very unwelcome and self-conscious when he felt everyone looking at him and laughing him. I spent an hour or so with him that morning as we and his family attempted to sort things out. The inexcusable situation angered me and broke my heart. No one should every have to suffer such an affront to human dignity.

In our own day, when we set out to proclaim the Gospel and share the love of Jesus with others, we generally only speak to those who are like us. The Apostles, on the other hand, spoke of the merciful love of Jesus to anyone who would listen; indeed, we learn in the Acts of the Apostles that they preached to

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya and Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:9-11).

They were not so much interested in differences, but in bringing every person into unity in Christ Jesus through Baptism into his Body, which is the Church (cf. I Corinthians 12:13). This unity of faith superseded any physical differences that might otherwise remain. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in the Church.

The Apostles, those great pillars of the faith knew well that, different as we all may be, we all share in one fundamental aspect of humanity, namely, that “If you [O Lord] take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:24). For this reason, the Church has always taught that

the equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it: Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights based on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.[1]

Racism – in any form – has no place in the Christian heart, nor does it have a place in any form of human society, whether Christian or not. What happened in our community last week shows that we have a very long way to go in recognizing the fundamental dignity of every person; we have a long way to go in allowing the message of the Gospel to purify our hearts through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

We do not often ponder the role of the Holy Spirit in the process of our salvation. We should frequently call upon the Holy Spirit, using the words of the great Pentecost Sequence:

Where you are not, we have naught, nothing good in deed or thought nothing free from taint of ill. Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour your dew; wash the stains of guilt away: Bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray.

Our nation, which still claims to be mostly composed of Christians, is in great need of a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a new Pentecost, a new season of hearts set afire with the love of God.

We often witness today – as in times past - a great absence of genuine Christian love in the hearts of so many people who claim the name of Christian. These are those whom Saint Augustine calls Christ’s “hidden enemies,” those “who live unjust and irreligious lives are Christ’s enemies, even if they are signed with his name and are called Christians.”[2] We may feel powerless to bring about any change in our community or in the hearts of others, but such a feeling is incompatible with the Gospel. Indeed, we are commanded to “strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed” (Hebrews 12:12-13).

Here I am reminded of a line written by my favorite author, J.R.R. Tolkien. He said:

I sometimes feel appalled at the thought of the sum total of human misery all over the world at the present moment: the millions parted, fretting, wasting in unprofitable days – quite apart from torture, pain, death, bereavement, injustice. If anguish were visible, almost the whole of this benighted planet would be enveloped in a dense dark vapor, shrouded from the amazed vision of the heavens… All we do know, and that to a large extent by direct experience, is that evil labors with vast power and perpetual success – in vain: preparing always only the soil for unexpected good to spout in.”[3]

What happened to that young man can – and should – lead each of us to be more intentional in loving and caring for the stranger – the neighbor - in our midst. Anything less is unbefitting of a follower of Christ Jesus.

In 1910, the editors of the British newspaper The Guardian asked various authors for an essay answering the question, “What’s wrong with the world.” G.K. Chesterton, the prolific Catholic, wrote to the editors saying simply, “Dear Sirs, I am.” How many of us are willing to say, “I am what’s wrong with the world?” If we are not willing to acknowledge, we must implore the Holy Spirit to enlighten the darkness of our hearts in order to be more fully converted to Christ.

Only if we first recognize our own sinfulness, only if we confess our sinfulness to the Lord, only if we receive the grace of his forgiveness can we become bearers of his merciful love to every person we meet. As more and more hearts are converted to the Lord, the darkness of sin is brought into the light and flees away. It starts with you. It starts with me. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. May the Lord not say to us, “Depart from me, all you evildoers” (Luke 13:27). Amen.

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[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1935; Gaudium et spes, 29 § 2.

[2] Saint Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 308A.6.

[3] J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 64, to Christopher Tolkien, 30 April 1944. In The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000), 76.

Homily: What's wrong with the world?

The Solemnity of Pentecost

Dear brothers and sisters,

On this great Solemnity of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and strengthened them for the proclamation of the Gospel (cf. Acts 2:3-4). In our own day, when we set out to proclaim the Gospel, we generally only speak to those who are like us. The Apostles, on the other hand, spoke of the merciful love of Jesus to anyone who would listen; indeed, they preached to

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya and Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:9-11).

They were not so much interested in differences, but in bringing every person into unity in Christ Jesus by Baptism into his Body, the Church (cf. I Corinthians 12:13). This unity of faith superseded any differences that might otherwise remain.

Those great pillars of the faith knew well that, different as we all may be, we all share in one fundamental aspect of humanity, namely, that “If you [O Lord] take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:24). For this reason, the Church has always taught that

the equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it: Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights based on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.[1]

Racism – in any form – has no place in the Christian heart. The protests and riots happening now in thirty or more cities across this land demonstrate that we, as a nation, have a very long way to go in recognizing the fundamental dignity of every person; we have a long way to go in allowing the message of the Gospel to purify our hearts through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

We do not often ponder the role of the Holy Spirit in the process of our salvation. We should frequently call upon the Holy Spirit, using the words of the Pentecost Sequence:

Where you are not, we have naught, nothing good in deed or thought nothing free from taint of ill. Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour your dew; wash the stains of guilt away: Bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray.

Our nation, which still claims to be mostly composed of Christians, is in great need of a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a new Pentecost, a new season of hearts set afire with the love of God. As we witness so great an absence of genuine Christian love in the hearts of so many people, we may feel powerless to bring about any change, but such a feeling is incompatible with the Gospel.

In 1910, the editors of the British newspaper The Guardian asked various authors for an essay answering the question, “What’s wrong with the world.” G.K. Chesterton, the prolific Catholic, wrote to the editors saying simply, “Dear Sirs, I am.” How many of us are willing to say, “I am what’s wrong with the world?” If we are not willing to acknowledge this, we must implore the Holy Spirit to enlighten the darkness of our hearts in order to be more fully converted to Christ.

Only if we first recognize our own sinfulness, only if we confess our sinfulness to the Lord, only if we receive the grace of his forgiveness can we become bearers of his merciful love to every person we meet. As more and more hearts are converted to the Lord, the darkness of sin is brought into the light and flees away. It starts with you. It starts with me. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Amen!

---

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1935; Gaudium et spes, 29 § 2.

A follow-up, of sorts, to Tolton, racism, and Rome

Just a little over a month ago, I wondered what the Servant of God Father Augustus Tolton would think today of the city of Rome, especially considering a disgusting piece of graffiti which - as of yesterday morning - has still not be removed:

An article published today by the International Business Times suggests that "Italians be [sic?] racist sometimes," particularly in the area of football (or soccer, for my American readers).

While the article is not directly related to the Eternal City, it is an interesting read, if for no other reason than, as Carlo Tavecchio says, "Soccer mirrors the social tensions faced by Italy, as well as other nations."

What would Father Tolton say of Rome today?

Going as far back as the days of the ancient Republic, the city of Rome has always been inhabited by people from everywhere around the Mediterranean Sea, giving the ethnic makeup of ancient Rome a wide diversity.

We see something of this in Suetonius' account of the funerary ceremonies for Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. After describing the way the Romans mourned the loss of the man to whom they gave the title Imperator (though without permission to use the title), Suetonius remarks that the "public grief was enhanced by crowds of foreigners lamenting in their own fashion - especially Jews, who came flocking to the Forum for several nights in succession" ("Divus Iulius", 84, in The Twelve Caesars).

In his book A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, Alberto Angela draws an interesting picture of the populace of what was then the capital of the world:

Actually, a large portion of the inhabitants of imperial Rome would be categorized today as immigrants or aliens, because they came mostly from the eastern provinces of the Empire; [sic] places located in present-day Turkey, lands that the Romans referred to with the catchall term, Greek (Asia, Galatia, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Bithynia), or from places throughout the Middle East, with Syria in the lead.

Considerable numbers of Rome's inhabitants also had North African origins: families from Egypt or from the fertile provinces of Cyrenaica and pro-consular Africa (Libya and Tunisia). Not to mention immigrants from Mauretania (Algeria and Morocco).

He goes on to note that "at least six of every ten inhabitants of the capital (if not more) were not from Rome or from the Italian penninsula," a figure he describes as "astounding," and this when the city had some 1.5 million inhabitants.

Today, the city of Rome is home to some 2.9 million people, about 10% of whom are non-Italians (half of whom come from various parts of Europe). Rome may be the Eternal City, but some things here do change.

The Servant of God Father Augustus Tolton - the first publicly acknowledged black priest in the United States of America - spent six years in Rome at the Propaganda Fide (from 1880-1886) preparing for his ordination to the priesthood. In the January 7, 1889, the Atlanta Constitution published a quote of Father Tolton about his time in the Eternal City, words that were first published in The Washington Post (though the Constitution does not provide the details). The Servant of God said:

I encountered no prejudice whatever and after my ordination celebrated mass for four weeks in St. Augustine’s, Rome, where princes and potentates worship.

As I consider the current situation of the city of Rome, I wonder if he would be able to say these same words today. I hesitate to say I do not think he could.

I was disturbed yesterday to read that a group of angry Romans burned down a refugee asylum last week:

After local residents living in council-owned accommodation in Tor Sapienza, Rome, were told they were facing eviction on Wednesday, tensions with the local migrant population who live at the ‘Smile’ centre at the taxpayer’s expense came to a head as a number of dustbins were set alight. This is not the first time the centre has been targeted – in November last year, locals threw home-made bombs and rocks at the building.

Passions were then inflamed by complaints of sexual assault of local girls by migrants. Riot police were in heavy attendance at anti-migrant demonstrations in which residents chanted “the blacks have to go”.

Many of the immigrants from Africa and elsewhere have come to Rome seeking a better life for themselves and for their families, but what they have found here is not what they were promised or what they hoped for:

One Ethiopian from the centre, who said he came to Europe to avoid jail: “I’m afraid and I do not want to stay here anymore but I cannot go home… Outside, people would call us ‘Black pieces of s***’, but inside, with the police cordon, it felt like being back in prison”.

Along one of the routes I take a couple of times each week to buy Dr Pepper, I walk past a revolting bit of graffiti:

"No negri" is Italian for, "No blacks".

This graffiti has been there for at least four or five months (and probably longer; it's a newer route for me) at what seems to be a relatively major intersection, although the small swastika, which seems to be crossed out, is newish (I took this picture this morning and remember the swastika being there before). Given how quickly the city painted over the "Super Pope" graffiti, I'm shocked this bit of graffiti remains.

Father Tolton, pray for us and for Rome! 

A News Round Up - 9 September 2014

Some news you may have missed:

• Everyone of California's 23 state universities has "derecognized" InterVarsity Christian Fellowships, a Christian collegiate group, because its leaders are Christian and non-Christians cannot lead the group. You might think it would make sense for leaders of a Christian group to be Christian, but academics in the U.S. do not think so.

• President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe recently declared that all descendents of the British who are in Zimbabwe "should all go back to England." Never mind the fact that many of these descendants would have been born in Zimbabwe. Several years ago the priests of my diocese took part in a racism seminar in which the presenter told me "you cannot be racist if you aren't white." And he meant it. President Mugabe shows the falsity of his words.

• The sale of Lego building bricks (which I loved as a boy and still enjoying playing with today) has surpassed even the sale of Barbie products. The increase of sales, we are told, is due to the success of The Lego Movie, which was a brilliant critique of contemporary American life, even if most Americas were oblivious to the criticism.

• As the militant Islamic army of Boko Haram gains yet greater strength in the north of Nigeria, more than 90,000 Catholics have fled their homes in the Borno state.

• Eight members of the Islamic Society in Boston, where the "Boston Bombers" worshiped, have been connected with the Islamic State Syria and Iraq.

• Following the horrendous report last week that at least 1,400 children were sexually abused over a 16 year period by members of an Asian Islamic gang in Rotheram, England - even as officials were aware of the abuse and chose not to act for fear of being labeled as "racists" - Raymond Ibrahim has written an article in which he claims that Muslims sexually enslaving children is a global phenomenon. To prove his assertion, he cites instances in Australia, the United States, Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt; certainly, he could cite others, as well.

• The man police have arrested for the beheading of 82-year-old Palmira Silva in her home in Edmonton, England on September 4, 2014, Nick Salvadore, is a recent convert to Islam.

• 32-year-old Ahmad Abousamra, the son of a Boston doctor, has been added to the Most Wanted List of the F.B.I. for running the social media campaign for the Islamic State.

• A new taxi service has been established in New York City (She Taxis - She Rides) which employs only female drivers and will only transport female riders. Now, I understand the meaning and the purpose behind such an endeavor, but can you imagine the public outcry and cries of discrimination that would ensue if a taxi company was establish that would only employ male drivers and only transport male riders?

• Seven years ago scientists declared the Aldabra banded snail to be extinct, a victim of global warming. Now, however, the snail has been alive. One can't help but wonder what other declarations resulting from global warming will also be proved false.

• GoFundMe has shut down a woman's attempt to fund her abortion - a fund the Illinois woman called the "Stop Bailey From Breeding Fund" - through the web site because the fund is "not appropriate for our site". I commend GoFundMe for their sense of public decency.

• The Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago is currently facing a lawsuit after a gargoyle fell on Sarah Bean and killed her, though the church passed an inspection in 2013.