Homily: 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Tomorrow, we celebrate Labor Day here in the United
States. If you somehow don’t know about
this holiday, let me assure you that it is not a day for labor, but rather it is a day to rest from labor. It is a day
important to citizens of this country because it is the day that we
collectively acknowledge the contributions made by laborers in building up our
country. Of particular importance, here
in the Midwest, is the acknowledgement that most of those laborers were
immigrants: our grandparents and great-grandparents who came from western European
countries to settle here and who built these towns where their families would
live for generations to come. It is also
a day, therefore, for us to acknowledge the contributions of the modern wave of
immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and Asia whose labor, in part,
continues to sustain and grow these towns, here and throughout the country. Yes, this weekend, we take a day of rest to
celebrate the prosperity that is the fruit of our labor. ///
As I was thinking about what Labor Day meant for all of us,
it also occurred to me that the idea of “a day free from labor” is also a very
Catholic idea. As Catholics, we honor
labor as a human activity that adds dignity to the human person. Through our labor, we bear witness to the
truth that we were created in “the image of God” as we share in God’s
creativity: harvesting the fruits of the earth and providing those goods and
services that advance human flourishing.
In doing so, we give praise to God by producing much fruit from the
gifts he has given us.
As Catholics, we also acknowledge our necessity to seek rest
from our labor. God himself modeled for
us the rest we should seek as he rested on the seventh day after completing the
work of creation. And so this rhythm of
work and rest became an integral part of the human experience. This “Sabbath” rest, as it is called in
Sacred Scripture, has multiple purposes: for it is not only an opportunity to
provide rest for our bodies, but it is also 1) a reminder of the original rest
that our first parents enjoyed in the garden of Eden as well as 2) a foretaste
of the eternal rest that we hope to enjoy in God’s kingdom.
Perhaps more immediately, however, it is a reminder of our
need to take a break from our human endeavors to acknowledge God, through whom
all of our labor is made possible, and thus to give him thanks. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it
states: “On Sundays and other holy days
of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or
activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s
Day, the performance of works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind
and body.” (CCC 1285) It also reminds us
that “those Christians who have leisure should be mindful of their brethren who
have the same needs and the same rights, yet cannot rest from work because of
poverty and misery” (CCC 1286), which is the situation that many who live in
this area must endure. Finally, it
states that “family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest” but
that “the faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to
habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health.” (CCC 1285) And all of this is to remind us, as Christ
has told us elsewhere in the Gospels, that “the Sabbath was made for man, not
man for the Sabbath.” ///
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus admonishes the Pharisees
for forgetting this principle. They had
forgotten that “the Law was created for man and not man for the Law.” To their credit, the Pharisees were striving
for authenticity in their religious practice (a virtue that I described in last
week’s homily). They had heard well the
words of Moses when he said, “observe carefully what I am teaching you to
observe.” In focusing on the precepts of
the Law, however, they lost sight of the Law’s true purpose: which was to help
them to grow in wisdom and virtue, and to remind them of the favor God had
shown to them. The Law, therefore, was
not concerned with keeping vessels clean, but rather with keeping those who used them clean. The purifying of vessels was meant to be a
symbol—a visible sign of an invisible reality—of the purification of heart that
one wished to obtain. This is what Jesus
reminds them of: that the purification of vessels and washing of hands is of no
gain if you harbor evil thoughts, hatred, jealousy, malice, and deceit in your
hearts. God gave the Israelites the Law
to invite them to live as children of God and to teach them how to do it. Unfortunately, many of them let themselves
become servants of the Law instead of sons and daughters of God.
Of course, this same lesson applies to us. In truth, labor that is burdensome is the
result of sin. When our first parents,
Adam and Eve, were driven from the Garden of Eden, God promised them that they
would reap the fruit of the ground by “the sweat of their brow,” that is, by
their burdensome labor. But even this
negative effect of sin was redeemed by Christ.
And so now we can say that “labor was created for us,” that is, for our
benefit, and that “we were not created for labor.” Thus, it is good that we reserve a day to
take leave of our labors and relish in their fruits. For believers, however, this should be more
than just one day every year. Rather, we
ought to consider every Sunday as “labor day” and so leave off our burdensome
work so as to be free to give the praise to God that we owe him, to connect intentionally
with our families and other loved ones, and to serve those in need around us.
And it is exactly towards this end that we gather in this
Eucharist: for here we give praise to God for our perseverance in his grace and
we also remember and renew our communion with him and with others, especially
the most vulnerable among us, as we await the day that he will return to bring
us to our eternal rest: to that “labor day” that never ends. ///
May the rest we enjoy this weekend be a reminder of the rest
we long for in heaven, where we will enjoy the fruits not of our labor, but
that of Christ’s. For those who will not
enjoy rest this Labor Day: may you feel the consolation of our prayers and be
strengthened in the hope that you, too, will one day know God’s perfect rest.
Given in Spanish at St. Joseph
Parish: Rochester, IN – September 1st, 2024
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