Homily: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Friends,
one of the things that has disturbed me over these past few years and
especially in these most recent months has been the development of what many
have called the “outrage culture”. This
means exactly what it sounds like it means, of course: that a “culture of
outrage” has developed among us in which the primary way that we interact with
each other and attempt to solve our problems is by becoming outraged whenever
someone says or does something that we don’t like. It has become tolerable to become outraged,
in other words, and we are reaping the results of this in places where extreme
tolerance of this has led to ongoing, violent demonstrations.
Before
I go any further, I’d like to say that I am not attempting to diminish any of
the issues about which people are upset.
Some of these are things that people ought to be upset about. What disturbs me is not that people get upset
(we’re human, with unique personalities, and we’re bound to rub each other the
wrong way or even treat each other poorly from time to time); what disturbs me
is that people immediately go from “upset” to “outrage” and that this type of
behavior is something that we’ve not only tolerated, but have given approval to
in greater society.
This,
of course, is really surprising because of the hypocrisy of it all. One of the characteristic features of the
“outrage culture” is that those who have become outraged tend to make loud,
public pronouncements about their outrage seemingly seeking to shame the ones
through whom they became upset into retracting or modifying their statements
and actions. This is hypocritical
because these are essentially bully tactics and if you ask anyone whether or
not bullying is an acceptable behavior among young people, the answer, of
course, is a resounding “no”.
Nonetheless, the “outrage culture”, which seems to thrive on bullying,
continues to grow stronger.
But
this is not the way that Jesus showed us as the way to resolve our differences,
right? Certainly, Jesus spoke very
strongly at times when necessary in order to confront those who were in the
wrong. Just look at his interaction with
Peter last Sunday. Peter tried to rebuke
Jesus when he claimed that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die and Jesus
strongly corrected him (it was no small thing to call him “Satan”!). But what Jesus didn’t do, was go onto
Facebook, Twitter, or his Podcast to continually blast Peter so as to shame and
discredit him, too. Those things are
things that you do to an enemy, whom you wish to destroy, not to one with whom
you have a relationship.
What
Jesus instructs his disciples to do when one of their brethren needs to be
corrected is a very practical course in how to do the spiritual work of mercy
of “admonishing the sinner”. He
instructs his disciples in this way not because it is the most effective way
(although it certainly can be the most effective), nor because it is the most
efficient (it certainly isn’t), but rather because it is the most loving way to
correct someone and to call him/her to conversion. Even when the process gets to the end and the
disciple is instructed to “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax
collector”, there is love there; because love desires the good for the other
and the suffering of being separated from the community of believers, while not
in itself good, is meant to soften his/her heart so that he/she might see the
wrong of his/her actions and finally repent of them and seek reconciliation.
This
is the function of excommunication in the Church: to create a painful situation
that calls the person in error to repentance so that he/she might not be lost
to sin, but rather restored to the grace of God. Ignoring the error of the person and acting
as if nothing is wrong is a very un-loving thing to do, since that person will
be judged by God for persisting in this error and, as God revealed to the
prophet Ezekiel, we will be held responsible for that judgment for not striving
to correct him/her and, thus, suffer the same punishment.
The
outrage culture doesn’t allow for this kind of loving work to happen. Rather, it immediately sets up one person
against another (or one group against another group) and says, “We are at war”. In that situation, there can be no dialogue
between persons or groups, but only bloodshed (either virtual or real). But this is not the way of the kingdom. Rather, the way of the kingdom of God is the
way of communion and dialogue—the way that begins with each and every one of us
looking at every other human being and saying: “You are my brother/my sister,
and, therefore, it is never ‘me vs you’, but rather ‘me for you’ and ‘you for
me’” This is the way Jesus spells out
for us and it is the way to which Pope Francis has been calling us over these
last years.
In
this way of dialogue, it is not expected that we will agree on everything. It’s not even guaranteed that we won’t be
insulted or have our feelings hurt! But
even in the midst of these disagreements and occasional insults, if we can stay
engaged with each other in dialogue that seeks communion, we will find a way
forward that will lead to greater harmony and respect for all. This means becoming vulnerable: that is,
exposing ourselves to uncomfortable confrontation and to the possibility that
we may be wrong about something or that we may need to give up a stance that we
hold dear. Have you tried to do that
recently? I don’t care who you are, that
is not an easy thing to do! But if I
have the love of God in my heart for the other person, then I’m going to do the
hard thing, because I know that it will be good for him/her. Please let me be the first in here to say
that I fail at this regularly and I pray for God’s mercy for each time that I
failed to “admonish the sinner” when I had the chance. My regular failures, though, do not change
the fact that I am continually called to do this good work (and God certainly
continues to give me plenty of opportunities to do it).
Friends,
perhaps I’ll close with an attempt to give you one thing to pay attention to this
week and beyond with which you might challenge yourself. One of the ways that we excuse ourselves from
this necessary work of mercy and instead give in to the “outrage culture” is to
be dismissive. By this, I mean that we
look at someone’s behavior and dismiss it as “Just the way that person is”, or
worse as “Just the way those people are”. I urge you to pay attention this week to how
often you are dismissive of others in this way.
Whenever you are tempted to dismiss another person, out of hand, pause
and say to yourself, “That person is a child of God, just like me. I wonder if
there is something that I can do to help correct the error I perceive.” If that person is someone in your community,
perhaps God will challenge you to engage that person in dialogue and confront
the issue directly. If that person is
outside of your community (someone you see in the news, for example), perhaps
then all you’ll be able to do is to pray and fast for him/her. Both are acts of love towards that person,
which can bring forth his/her conversion, true.
But even the very act of striving against being dismissive is an act of
love and so that is why I am urging you to start there.
My
brothers and sisters, God is never dismissive of us. He does not delight in seeing a sinner face
his/her particular judgment without repentance.
Rather, he always desires our conversion and he has made us infinitely
capable of turning away from sin and back to grace. He sent his Son to redeem us in order to
prove to us this truth and the Eucharist that we celebrate is both the reminder
and the re-presentation of that proof to us.
Strengthened by what we receive today, let us work to counteract the
“outrage culture” among us and strive instead to build a culture of mutual
respect and fraternity in which we challenge and support one another “to be
perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect”, so that the kingdom of God—the only
kingdom that can bring true peace to us—might continue to manifest itself among
us.
Given at St. Mary Church: Muncie, IN – September 5th,
2020
Given at Our Lady of Grace Church: Noblesville, IN –
September 6th, 2020
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