Homily—CTA—RCWP Liturgy
November 6, 2010
“It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view” (Oscar Romero’s Prayer). My friends, it has been our purpose, in lifting up the theme of this conference, “Faithful Prophets—God Alive in Every Generation,” to give us all a view of this—how God is indeed alive in every generation—how Jesus’ Spirit is continually renewing the face of the earth—no matter what the hierarchy says about all the truth being in—that there is no more to discover. Through our opening hymn, uplifting Mary of Nazareth as prophet, and our three readings today, giving us the prophecies, through word and action, of Micah, our brothers, Jesus, and Oscar Romero, we have scanned past and present and the challenge now falls to each of us by virtue of our baptisms, to be prophets for our day and into the future. Let us take a deeper look at these prophets, past and present to better understand their words and actions, their timeless challenges, and therefore to enable ourselves to more faithfully follow their lead.
Mary, our sister from
Mary continues in her canticle: Our God is merciful and compassionate, is the one who wipes away all our tears—and she would know too—being pregnant outside of marriage—something looked down on more so then, than now, at which a present-day musician suggested; “it wasn’t as if she could say, oh folks, no, you don’t understand, my baby is from the Holy Spirit! The God of her heart drew her close, as God does us, giving the strength we all need for the “turning” our Church so desperately needs today. Mary, our sister, prophet of your son, Jesus, the Christ, be with us!
I have read commentary on Mary’s place in our world being that of the “model mother” saying her “yes” to the incarnation. She was also considered a model “listener” –“she kept all these things in her heart.” But the Magnificat really gives the lie to any interpretation of her as an affirming, good, “yes” girl and nothing more. Mary’s words ring out across the generations and speak to us today, as the words of any prophet should. She is a model for any and all of us who are called to suffer in our own vocations as prophets, speaking and challenging with words and actions to continually keep our eyes on her son, Jesus, speaking the truth, “when convenient and when inconvenient,” as Paul was fond of saying.
In addition, I believe she was a profound “listener” as well—only through attention to the great heart of our loving God can any of us have the strength and grace to proclaim God’s words to our world. Reflecting on Mary, we learn that at times we too may have a sword pierce our hearts as we strive to follow her son—we may not have our lives taken as did Jesus and Romero, but we may have to endure excommunication, shunning by family and friends—but, whatever the cost, we must, we simply must be true to the message we have heard in our hearts.
The short reading chosen from Micah today is probably the one of his that everyone is most familiar with—that, “we do justice, love goodness and walk humbly with our God.”
What is probably most significant for us to remember of Micah is that he was truly against those in leadership, primarily the rulers in Jerusalem in his time who saw taking care of themselves as more important than caring for the needs of the people. He prophesied that because of this, God would destroy their temple. Micah’s challenge is one for our times as well. We all lament and criticize the popes and bishops who thought more of themselves and their temple than of protecting the children who were being abused by their priests; and we should! We rail at the bishops and the popes who enabled this abuse to go on and on and did nothing; and we should! But my friends, all of us must reflect too on the times that we have remained silent, rather than speaking a word, writing a letter, challenging a prelate—when we knew that something was wrong within our parishes. The present push to move back to pre-Vatican II times with exclusive, archaic language—returning to Latin, elimination once again of women from the sanctuaries of our churches, and as in my diocese, perhaps in yours too, elimination of all women from the chancery.
In my state of
to say nothing of the down-right wrongness of such an action. If we say nothing my friends, we enable these un-Christ-like actions to continue and are no better than our brother popes and bishops who are protecting themselves, their power and their way of life.
The theme of this conference calls each of us to get back to our roots. As Christians, as followers of Jesus, the Christ, we have to at least pretend to follow his lead. Back, when I was still attending traditional Catholic church services, I so longed to hear the message of Jesus uplifted—I wanted to be challenged “to put up or shut up” basically, and I just never heard that. We in our parishes must ask and demand this of our priests if we are not getting it—they can’t hardly deny us or say this is not theirs to do.
If our priests do not challenge us and themselves to live better lives, it is probably because of the same things that Jesus faced 2,000 years ago. After he proclaimed that the Scriptures were today, “fulfilled in their hearing,” and goes on to instruct those present to care for the poor in their midst—the lepers—the widows—the truly faithful ones—those he was sent to uplift—he calls his hearers to task for their narrow-mindedness in following the letter of the law concerning cleanliness rituals and who is worthy and acceptable in the temple, to the detriment of the needy right in front of them; they want to throw him over the cliff. Being liked, holding on to one’s power and the collection plate can never stand in the way of speaking the truth.
Reclaiming their priestly character, which is also the name of a fairly new book in conservative priest circles, happens in their mindset through the use of titles,
feminine and regal dress, with attempts to more and more separate themselves from the people, and these actions will only serve to bring their kingdom down.
Jesus was about establishing a kin-dom of believers who knew they were loved by their God; thus they could love God in return and their neighbors as themselves. Friends, we are called to follow his lead—none of us can bring about this kin-dom on our own; but as the Romero prayer says, we can begin the process, we can plant the seed, we can provide the opening for God’s grace to enter. We will be prophets for a future that is not our own. Let us pray that we can follow the challenge of Micah to simply do the just thing, love goodness and walk humbly with our God.
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