Readings
for
3 November 2002
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's First Reading is from The Book of Malachi, beginning
at the 1st Chapter and the 14th Verse (Mal 1:14b-2:2b,
8-10):
For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is feared among
the nations. And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If you
will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name,
says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse
your blessings; indeed I have already cursed them, because you do not lay
it to heart. But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused
many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the
people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in
your instruction." Have we not all one father? Has not one God created
us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our
fathers?
Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 131 (Ps 131:1-3):
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
Today's Epistle is from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians,
beginning at the 2nd Chapter, and the 7th Verse (1
Thes 2:7b-9, 13):
We were gentle with you, like a nurse taking care of her children.and so,
being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not
only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very
dear to us. For you remember our labor and toil, brethren; we worked
night and day, that we might not burden any of you, while we preached to you
the gospel of God. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when
you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not
as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at
work in you believers.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, beginning at the 23rd Chapter,
and the 1st Verse (Mt 23:1-12):
Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and
the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they
tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. They
bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they
themselves will not move them with their finger. They do all their
deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their
fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats
in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being
called rabbi by men. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have
one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father
on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called
masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among
you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and
whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Sermon
for
3 November 2002
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The temptation to use today's First
Reading to relate the present clergy scandals to the failure to teach the
people and seminarians the Catholic Faith is well-nigh irresistable -- and
I don't know that I want to resist.
The Modern(ist) tendency in religion
is to say that everything is relative -- that rules and regulations are human-made,
and subject to re-examination every generation or so, and that what appeared
wrong to our forefathers may be OK today. Even God becomes subject to
redefinition and marginalization. "He is, " they say, "a cultural
construct, and as a masculine ikon, does not reflect the needs and understanding
of [women, minorities, the trangendered, etc.]"
Right and wrong become relative, situational,
and arbitrary. A devotion is preached to the good and the innate niceness
of humanity, and diversity is eulogized. The mystical in its most nebulous
sense is invoked, and sin, evil, and cruelty are brushed aside.
Where then is He whose "name is feared
among the nations"? Who then gives glory to Him or His name? Whose
knee bends at the name of Jesus? Who, nowadays, has even heard that
Jesus is God, that He is present, body, blood, and divinity in the bread
and wine of the Eucharist?
Who has heard that there are moral
and ethical standards that we must measure up to? Who has kept to the
ways of the Lord, to the Faith given to the Apostles and transmitted to us?
Who is preaching partiality, and "special needs" nowadays?
Who is preaching that we have one
father? Who believes that God created us? And as
Malachi says:
"Why then are we faithless to one
another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?"
Who then is surprised at what people
do when they are not taught righteousness and virtue?
In today's Epistle, St. Paul shows
us a better example of what a priest and leader should be. He talks
of working day and night, of taking care of his people, and of preaching the
Word of God. Paul believed in God -- wonder of wonders!
And he glories in the fact that they
received it as the Word of God -- not the word of men, nor as situational
guidance, relevant to the modern(ist) moment. He was not a burden --
or an affliction -- to the Thessalonians.
In the spirit of today's Gospel, I
note that the very modern and relevant prelates who take great delight in
destroying "obsolete" churches also build great palaces of something-or-other,
where it is somewhat difficult to decide whether it is a church or an Olympic
Hall. They are not meek, mild and humble, either. They "they
love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats..." -- usually in the
sports arena nowadays.
Let us, rather, seek peace, as the
Psalmist sings:
"O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me."
And let us:
"...hope in the LORD, both now and forever."
In the Name of the Father +
And of the Son +
And of the Holy Spirit +
Amen.
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