Notes for my homily November 4-5, 2017, Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Tome, Cycle A
Malachi 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10
1 Thessalonians 2:7b-9, 13
Matthew 23: 1-12
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| Clare washing the feet of her sisters |
How often have we heard complaints against the church? We
may have even made some ourselves. Some church leaders react very defensively,
even if the complaints have some merits. I wonder how they would react if they
took today’s readings seriously.
The readings, especially from Malachi and Matthew, are
pointed critiques of religious leaders. Malachi castigates the priests for not
promoting the glory of God and for being partial in their judgments. Aren’t we
all equal before God, he notes, with the same Father?
Jesus condemns the religious leaders of his day for their
heavy-handedness and their seeking power and prestige. They say one thing but
do the opposite. In addition, they like to be called teachers and masters.
Don’t be like them, he urges. Don’t call them masters; you are not their
slaves; we are all brothers and sisters.
Paul, however, gives us an image of a true religious leader.
“We were gentle among you, as a nursing woman broods over her children.”
“With such affection for
you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our
very selves as well.” We religious leaders must be willing to give of
ourselves, even giving up our lives.
To be great we must, as Jesus notes, “be the servant.”
But these admonitions are not just for religious leaders;
they are for all of us. Pope Francis insists that all of us, by our baptism,
are “missionary-disciples.” We are evangelizers, each in our own way – some as
ordained ministers, others exercising other ministries in the church. But all
of us in our daily lives are all called to be signs of the Good News of Jesus
in the world.
I have seen this in the parish I serve in Honduras of Dulce
Nombre de María, the Sweet Name of Mary, your sister parish in Honduras.
There is Marco Tulio, an extraordinary minister of
Communion, who takes the Eucharist each week to a village for a Holy Hour, walks
an hour each way, no matter the weather or hour.
There are the youth groups and others that regularly visit
the sick in their communities and bring food to poor families. One catechist told
me how the catechists have taken the young children to visit the sick – about
40 kids between 4 and 7. Both the sick and the children profit by this work of
mercy.
Since October of 2016 our parish has sent missionaries out to
the villages of the parish. These are not professional missionaries but members
of the parish. They go out, two by two, to villages other than their own,
without cell-phone, without money, dependent on the people they visit. They are
missionaries of mercy, helping us discover the presence of the God of mercy in
our lives, our families, our villages. They are more missionaries in the Gospel
sense than I have been.
They do not preach. They are called to listen, to be the
“ears of God,” as they visit homes in a village, especially the homes of the
poorest, the ill, and the aged. They are servants of mercy, not teachers of
doctrine.
We are beginning to see the fruits of these missionaries.
The life of faith has been renewed in some villages.
But my favorite story comes from Plan Grande, where I live.
During Holy Week the two women missionaries visited a couple who wanted to get
married in the church. The couple was prepared and they were married outside
their home in the company of many people who brought tamales and other food for
the celebration, together with the couple’s children and grandchildren. They are
both in their eighties and wanted to be right with God before they die.
Evangelizing is not standing on a street-corner haranguing
people, though a public witness that shows the mercy of the God of justice has
its place. Much evangelizing takes place merely by being there, accompanying
people in times of sorrow and in times of celebration. We evangelize by who we
are – children of a loving God.·
This evangelization offers the encouragement of a Christian
hope – evangelizing not as masters or know-it-alls, but as nursing mothers
serving others with love and tenderness.
In many ways, by your solidarity with our parish, Dulce
Nombre de María, you are evangelizing.
As our pastor, Padre German writes in a letter to you,
“thank you for your solidarity; with your generous help we are a parish which promotes
the mission of evangelization and of charity with those most in need. You are
Good News and from a humble silence you make present the Reign of God in our
midst. And more: the manner you have of sharing and serving arouse in many of
our parishioners the desire to give themselves. The tenderness of God is
flourishing, as from their poverty they give part of their lives to assist the
sick, the elderly, and the widows. Thank you, sisters and brothers, for evangelizing
us through your charity.”
“You are missionaries,” Padre German continues. Noting my
presence in the parish as deacon. “St. Thomas as a parish gets out to the
farthest crossroads of the parish. There [our parish] is embraced and animated
by the face of God; it is supported with the healing and liberating embrace of
mercy; there the tears of those who are mourning are wiped away, helping them
to contemplate the heaven of the resurrection in their passage as pilgrims from
death to life, from violence to the ways of peace, from the walls of squalor
and egoism to the bridge of fraternity where we celebrate together and share
the table, with the tablecloth of solidarity and the providence of God. You are
here with us, singing in our choirs, going with our missionaries of mercy, with
our catechists and the children who share with us their desire to grow. Thanks
for your part in our family.”
St. Thomas has helped subsidizing the costs of our parish
where formation of volunteer pastoral workers is central to our evangelization.
You have helped also with our Solidarity Fund which subsidizes the costs of
serious medical and other needs. Buying El Zapote coffee helps an association
of small coffee farmers. And in other ways you have been helping the Church be
a servant of the poor. There is much more, but Fr. Jon wants me to limit this
homily to ten minutes.
Our pastor, Padre German, welcomes your accompaniment of our
parish of Dulce Nombre de María. Indeed, in his letter, he wants you to know
you are welcome to come visit. You can count on a heartfelt welcome, “receiving,
from the hands of the people, hot tortillas, refried beans, and the fraternal
coffee of sharing and celebration…. Let us continue walking together,
evangelizing, passing through the mire of pain, sorrow, and darkness, leaving
on every face the divine spark which brings new life…. God counts on you and
us.”*
In all this, we continue to pray for you and we ask you to
continue to pray for us.
We continue to move forward in our mission of being servants
of God’s people, not lording it over others, not laying heavy burdens on them,
not failing to serve them because they are impoverished and without power.
All of us are called to be servant-missionaries, servant
disciples, wherever we are. We are called to give of ourselves to others,
especially those most in need – in whatever way we can. We are called to live
as sisters and brothers in Christ.
Let this be our way of serving God, of being Good News, of
evangelizing – here in Ames and with us in Honduras.
·
We evangelize by being holy. But, as Thomas Merton wrote, “the saint preaches
sermons by the way he walks and talks, by the way [she] picks up things and
holds them in [her] hands.
*
“The parish, from its commitment and hope, awaits us. We can count on the shelter of friendship,
with hearts beating in many homes with a rhythm in harmony with the heartbeat
of our Creator; we can count on the hands of the worker who offer you hot
tortillas and ground beans as well as the fraternal coffee of sharing and
celebration…. Let us continue walking together, evangelizing, passing through
the mire of pain, sorrow, and darkness, leaving on every face the divine spark
which regenerates – which God alone can do. God counts on you and us.”
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