Homily for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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In the stories of the Lord’s travels and speeches we’ve been hearing over the past few weeks, it appears that His actions constitute the very antithesis of a political campaign. Instead of well-orchestrated campaign stops with carefully-chosen sound bytes designed to pump people up to His message, He chooses first to absent Himself (going far north to Caesarea Philippi) and then to avoid crowds, passing beneath the radar on the backroads of Galilee. And, finally, He speaks of things that people don’t really want to hear:
+ last week: the unavoidability of suffering and the challenges of Christian living…+ this week: the necessity of setting pride aside and serving others with charity-laced humility.He teaches us that it is the lack of humility — mankind’s Original Sin of pride — that brought evil into the world, and continues to do so in our day. We read of evil in one degree or another in all three Scripture passages today, from an argument among the friends in the Gospel… to the besetting and condemnation of the good and holy person in the First Reading… to all - out war in the Second Reading.So, the question arises: Where, ultimately, does evil come from? It is important to note that God did not create evil, nor, as some suggest, does God allow evil to exist merely as part of His plan for salvation.Instead, God took a chance on love — real love — which would allow for the free will of His Beloved — that is — we humans. The rejection of this love, or at least ambivalence toward the love of God and all that it demands, is the source of evil, defining evil as a purely human construct.We tend, instead, to place evil outside of ourselves. (Think of the 1970’s comedian Flip Wilson who constantly claimed, of his evil deeds: “The devil made me do it!”) Therefore, we fail, or refuse, to take responsibility for evil and sin in our lives. The devil is, of course, real and not some folkloric character invented to embody evil and sin outside of our reality.However, Saint James, in our Second Reading, locates the source of evil beginning within an interior inquietude, as he describes:+ wrong-handed notions about prayer and Providence that lead people away from God+ passions that lead to conflict - and -+ envy that leads to murderEvil is the consequence of unredeemed human nature. By “unredeemed” is meant here a failure or refusal to accept the freely-given gift of redemption already won for us in Christ, because, primarily, of human pride. The imperfection of human nature chooses pride over love for God, even refusing, or dismissing, God’s plan for salvation, in favor of a worldview of one’s own making. This is an abuse of Free Will that leads to sins venial and mortal.
But both Saint James and the Lord tell us that sin does not define humanity. Saint James speaks of wisdom that is pure and peaceable… gentle and compliant… full of mercy and good fruits… lived in true sincerity.Then, in today’s Gospel, the Lord enacts a living parable, as it were, embracing a child, instructing His Apostles — and, therefore, us — to become childlike, without becoming childish, which suggests: the awe and the wonder, the openness and trust of childhood, defining the attitude all Christians should develop in our relations with one another. Children, of course, are not lacking in sinful inclinations, but they are lacking in the wisdom of which Saint James teaches.
To overcome evil in our lives, then, we can draw from the best of both childhood and adulthood, which will bring us the openness to life of childhood that leads to goodness, and the reflected-upon life experiences of adulthood which brings us wisdom, and leads to holiness.When we look back through the events of our lifetime, and especially as we contemplate present events, we might ask: Is there any real hope for good overcoming evil in the world — or even in ourselves? The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”The Lord reminds us that we can overcome evil and sinful inclinations within ourselves through childlike openness to God’s Will, His love, and His mercy, which will lead to recapturing lost humility and to renewing a self-sacrificing love for God and for others.Saint James tells us, further, that evil in the world can be faced and overcome when we cultivate peace. This is not political peace here, nor the mere absence of malice, but the “shalom” of God’s presence within, brought forward through wisdom, suffering in the name of goodness, holiness, and virtue… a peace that the world cannot give, as the Lord describes it elsewhere, but also a peace which the world cannot take away.Think here of Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, and many others during World War II, who went peacefully to their death in Nazi concentration camps during the very lifetime of some of us here, because their faith was their strength.More recently, two Catholic Saints have spoken of peace and its attainment on the world’s stage:+ In October of 1965 Pope Saint Paul VI spoke those famous words at the United Nations: “If you want peace, work for justice.”+ Then in December of 1979, Saint Teresa of Calcutta while receiving the Nobel Peace Prize said, “We are talking of peace. There are things that break peace, but I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war… a direct killing… a direct murder by the mother herself.”To cultivate peace, both within ourselves and amongst the people of this world, means to bring God’s love and the best of our human wisdom to every event, situation, and relationship of our lives.This means, of course, that one must first experience something of God’s love, and develop a higher level of human wisdom, because, as the saying goes, “Ya can’t give what ya ain’t got.”Love and wisdom must first be cultivated if we are to+ find peace
+ make peace+ empower peace to overcome evil.Love and wisdom are, then, cultivated, and lived in+ prayer+ quiet reading of Sacred Scripture+ frequent reception of the SacramentsWithout this spiritual activity:+ Love will seem a wispy non-reality.+ Wisdom will elude us.+ Peace of any kind will become impossible.Seek wisdom, then, and love from God, and Grace will eventually overcome evil, and peace in the world will begin to set foothold.