Homily: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
On
June 24th of this year, the United States’ Supreme Court overturned
the decision in the case “Roe v. Wade”, which established a legal right to
acquire an abortion in the United States.
In doing so, the Court made it possible for individual states to make acquiring
and/or performing an abortion illegal. Since
then, a number of states have enacted laws to limit the circumstances in which it
would be legal to acquire and/or perform an abortion: laws that will save thousands
of lives each year.
The
Catholic Church in the United States celebrates October as “Respect Life Month”,
during which we work to raise awareness of the ways in which the dignity of
human life is being disrespected and/or disregarded and, thus, strive to
inspire individuals to work to restore respect and proper protection for every human
life: from the zygote in her mother’s womb, to the elderly person who has no
one to care for him, and everyone in between.
This first Sunday of October we celebrate as “Respect Life Sunday”, in
which we give thanks to God for the gift of life and recommit ourselves to
invigorating our work to protect the dignity of human life. Therefore, it is good that we pause and give
thanks today for God’s providence that has led to the overturning of the “Roe
v. Wade” decision that has made it possible to increase legal protections of
unborn human lives. Let us applaud God right
now for this great grace.
One
of the realities that we have all had to face since this day is that this
decision by the Supreme Court is only one small step (albeit an incredibly
important one) in the work of increasing respect for human life at all
stages. In many places in the United
States, abortion will remain legal and widely available. Our work of giving witness to the rights of
unborn persons and to supporting mothers in need who choose to give birth to
their children is as important now as it has ever been. And this is only a small portion of the work
that our pro-life ministries entail: for they also include work to protect the
elderly and seriously disabled from the threat of euthanasia, work to abolish
the death penalty, and (the often forgotten) work to protect the rights and
dignity of immigrants. Thus, in spite of
this important victory for unborn persons, it may seem that we have an insurmountable
task ahead of us still.
This
is what makes the reading from the prophet Habakkuk especially relevant today. In many ways, he (like us) looked out into
his society and observed current events closely. He saw that, through no provocation of their
own, the Assyrian army was making their way to the Israelite territories,
enslaving the people of each nation that they conquered. Habakkuk thus calls out to God, demanding an
answer: “Where are you, God? You promised to protect us from our enemies, yet
here we are under threat of destruction by this army of pagans! We are striving
to be faithful. Why do you not seem to care?”
Habakkuk looked for a sign that God was still close to them.
God
provided that sign in his response to Habakkuk.
He told him: “Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that
one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to
fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely
come, it will not be late.” The “vision”
was God’s promise to the Israelites to deliver them from their enemies, which
was foretold in the deliverance of the ancient Israelites from slavery in
Egypt. In a way, God tells Habakkuk to
remind the Israelites that, although the work of deliverance seems to be
insurmountable, he will still deliver them.
Therefore, they must be faithful: trusting that God will be faithful to
his promises.
In
the Gospel reading, Jesus delivers a similar message. There, his apostles approach him and ask him
to “increase their faith”. Jesus
responds by teaching them that the quantity of faith is not important (for even
a small amount of faith, exercised faithfully, is incredibly powerful), but
rather that the quality of their faithfulness is what is important. This is the meaning of the example of the
servant: the servant is called to continue serving, trusting that the master
will provide him with what he needs at the time he needs it, instead of seeking
benefits before their time. In other
words, by his faithfulness the servant helps to bring forth the good, even if
he doesn’t experience it in his own time.
Okay,
so how does all of this apply to us today?
As I said earlier, in spite of the victory that has been achieved for
life (that is, that it is now possible to protect unborn persons from abortion
in the United States), we still have a seemingly impossible task to build a “culture
of life” here in the United States. To
this I will argue that the overturning of the “Roe v. Wade” decision is a
prophetic message from God: that is that “the vision [of a culture of life]
still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint”. Generations of Catholics, as well as other
Christians and persons of good will, have been faithful to the work of
promoting the legal protection of unborn persons here in the United States, in
spite of the fact that they knew that they might not see its fulfillment in
their lifetime. Thanks be to God, we
have seen a sign of its fulfillment. Our
duty now is to continue to work faithfully towards the vision, trusting that
God, who sees beyond all space and time, will make fruitful our faithfulness in
its time.
As
an example for us, I will turn once again to Saint Theresa of Calcutta, whom I
have mentioned over the last few weeks.
In many ways, she was the most “pro-life” of us all. In every person she encountered—from the most
forgotten person in the streets of Calcutta to the most prominent leaders of
nations in the world—she saw the image and likeness of God. Forgetting herself completely, she feared
nothing for herself, but only that Jesus would be neglected in the needs of
someone she or the sisters in her community encountered. Her faithful witness to the dignity and
rights of every human person turned the hearts of millions of people to
recognize the same. Our faithful witness—that
is, yours and mine—has the same power.
Therefore,
my brothers and sisters, we have only to decide, each day, to be faithful. This means, first and foremost, that we spend
time in prayer, drawing close to God in Jesus.
Then, that we give ourselves lovingly to others for love of Jesus (that
is, loving them because Jesus loves them and, therefore, loving Jesus through
them). These “others” are those closest
to us: those in our own households and in our own community. Truly, the whole span of those whom our
pro-life ministries seek to serve are present in our families and in our community:
pregnant mothers who need support, elderly persons who need accompaniment and
respect, immigrants who need shelter and support, the imprisoned who need love,
compassion, and forgiveness, and so many more.
We
do this, of course, not only from a sense of duty toward God, but also out of
our gratitude for what we have received from God: for we are only sinners who
have been treated mercifully by him. Therefore,
as we offer him our worship today, let us give thanks for the faith that has
restored to us our dignity as sons and daughters of God; and, with the strength
of this Eucharist, let us recommit ourselves to work faithfully to build a “culture
of life”, trusting that God will manifest its fruits in their own time, and that
we will experience the reward for our faithfulness in the eternal life to come.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – October 1st,
2022
Given in Spanish at St. Joseph Parish: Delphi, IN – October
2nd, 2022
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